Visit me at www.anothernewseason.com

Moving... Again

NO --- we are not physically moving again - I'm madly in love with our new home.

It's my blog that's moving. I've been having huge issues uploading photos and losing posts, so I'm moving on - moving up to Wordpress.com. I'll eventually have my own .com name but for now join me over at the new and improved blog:

click the image to be directed to Another New Season

Snow Delay and a Valentine Snack

I think I will use SNOW as my excuse for not finishing my filing, if you don't believe me look at these pictures of our 2 year old playing in the foot of snow that we got last week.

Claire was fascinated with the snow she kept scooping it up and throwing it in the air!

You really shouldn't believe that the snow caused me to slack on the filing really I just got busy and FORGOT!

Well the files are, well still in a pile. We've had a few unexpected distractions this week and I promise that by Monday I will continue the filing excitement. While you wait I'll share what I spent my day doing yesterday:

Making these cute and yummy Valentines snacks!

I used the technique from Bakerella.

Aren't they cute???

They were really yummy!!

You have to check out www.bakerella.blogspot.com - she makes amazing cupcakes too!

Filing Overhaul - Part One

Photo courtesy of Richard Dudley

I'm finally ready to tackle the filing cabinet. It took me a long time to decide what method I would use to file our paperwork this year. I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to waste time filing, which lead me to decide to mix two of the options that I listed HERE.

My plan is to go paperless as much as possible.(Option 1) Our credit cards, bank accounts and Verizon bill will all be online only. I'll set up my blackberry to remind me to pay these bills each month. I will only file a printed confirmation paper when I pay these bills online.

All other paper work will be filed using Option 3 -Like bills in a single file folder. For example all of our credit card statements go in one file folder, "Credit Cards" instead of having a folder for each individual credit card company. All of our utilities (phone, electric, gas etc) go in one general "Utilities" folder.

Here is an idea of what my files will look like:

INCOME: (pay stubs or other income documents)

LOAN: (Yes we're still paying off our wedding)

UTILITIES: (electric, phone, cell phone, trash, oil, gas, etc)

CREDIT CARD: (I hope we won't need this category for long)

INSURANCE: (includes: Medical, car and renters)

HSA: (our health savings account will have it's own folder so I can keep track of our medical expenses)

CAR: (car loan info, repairs etc)

IMPORTANT PAPERWORK: (We have some important info like a copyright release for our wedding photos and other miscellaneous stuff.)

CHILDREN: (This is used for everything from Baby Well Check reports, cards the kids receive and other memorabilia for the kids)

I'm sure I'm missing a few categories. I hope that by the end of the week I can carve out a few hours to get this done and post some pictures of a pretty and organized drawer of files!!

I'll also share with you how we organize all of those pesky product manuals so that when your new remote goes crazy and you can find the TV manual to reset all the codes!

No fresh herbs?? No problem!

I have been having a hard time finding label refills for my P-Touch label maker, so I'll be postponing my great File Overhaul for a few days. But I'm getting ready, the piles of paperwork are ready too!

I wanted to share about a nice little product that I was introduced to by Money Saving Mom . It was a great deal last week at my local grocery stores so I thought I'd give it a try.

I love using fresh herbs when cooking but in the winter it's sometimes hard to run out to get the herbs that you need for a recipe. Well I was cooking one of my favorite recipes Farfalle with Zucchini. It calls for some fancy lemon basil, which I did not have. I didn't even have any fresh basil so I popped out this new product:

Dorot Frozen herbs.

These are cute little cubes of frozen herbs. 1 cube = 1 tsp of the herb. They have a variety of herbs to choose from. For this recipe I needed Basil.

I plopped in 4 cubes (4 teaspoons) into the recipe

And the final product - see those pretty little specks of basil. The flavor was great. I'll be stocking up on these for wintertime cooking!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm participating for the first time in Menu Plan Monday

I'm hoping that this will help encourage me to keep up my meal planning because it saves me so much time, money and frustration in the kitchen come dinner time! So here's a look at our week

Breakfasts: this week: Cereal, Quiche, Pancakes, Eggs, Yogurt

Lunches: PB&J, Grilled Cheese soup and Soup, leftovers (x2), chicken nuggets

Dinners:

Monday: Zucchini W/ Farfalle, Salad, Garlic Bread

Tuesday: Chicken, Asparagus, Rice

Wednesday: Soup and Sandwiches (we have small group at our house on Wednesdays so dinner is quick and simple!

Thursday: Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes and veggies

Fri - Sunday: Freezer meals, Salad and leftovers

**I'm leaving on Thursday night to go to CT for the weekend a desperately needed "mommy retreat". I'll be bringing the baby with me so it will just be Kevin and Claire home for the weekend. I'll pull out some casseroles from the freezer so they are ready for him to pop in the oven and there's always leftovers!

Organizing Files - Paperwork Overhaul!!

Photo courtesy of Peter Skadberg


Moving into a new home creates lots of opportunities to re-organize. Because it is the start of a new year I've decided to tackle my paper files.


I love to organized…repeat… I LOVE TO ORGANIZE, so this is an exciting task for me! I'll be tackling next week (once I can get a refill for our Labeler!) If you wanted to follow along with me I'll be posting some guidelines here and tips to make organizing your paperwork easier.


But first I have to decide … Should I change my ways??


I've been searching around the Blog world to see if there is an easier way to file paperwork. I'm so tired of having so much paper around!


Option #1:
I've realized that most of my bills I pay online also store my statements online, so why should I keep them here? So that would mean that I don't have to keep credit card statements, bank statements, cell phone, phone or electric bills. Hmmm… That kind of makes me nervous, lets move on to option 2


Option #2:
File monthly. Instead of having a file for each individual bill file each bill monthly. All bills paid in January get filed in a "January Bills" file. That way if I need a bill I can just find it in the month that it was paid. This would make filing time so much easier!


Option #3:
Keep filing the way I did last year. I usually file like bills in a single file folder. For example all of our credit card statements go in one file folder, "Credit Cards" instead of having a folder for each individual credit card company. All of our utilities (phone, electric, gas etc) go in one general "Utilities" folder. (photos to come)


Share how you file your paperwork. What system do you use, if any. Do you still have piles of filing to do from last year? Leave a comment below and share you tips!

Busy week - let's enjoy the view...

I've been busy and super stressed so in order to de-stress I took a walk outside in the snow to take some pictures of the beautiful view

Enjoy...

Inspirations

I've been spending tons of time looking online for ideas and inspiration for decorating. I found a great site http://theinspiredroom.net/ I'm in love with this site. She posts beautiful photos of rooms that are just gorgeous!

We have a little space in our kitchen above the "hand-washing sink" (more on that later) that I wanted to turn into a spice rack area. I found my inspiration on The Inspired Room Blog HERE

Here are a few pictures that I ADORE!!!

Country Living, photo credit: Keith Scott Morton

Country Living, photo credit: Steve Gross & Sue Daley

I'll post pictures of how our spice area came out once it's done, we've got the shelves up and we're making a trip to Ikea this weekend to pick up the rest of the jars that I need. This has been my favorite projects so far and I'm really happy how it's been coming out! Pictures coming soon!!

What are your favorite blogs or websites for design? Leave me a comment and let me know. I'd love to see some more great inspirations!

Back Online and Savings Galore!

Well we're back online and I'm back to blogging. I thought I'd start things off by sharing a few of the BARGAINS we've been able to snatch up over the last few weeks. I want to encourage you if you don't already use coupons and hunt down deals to start this year, you can save TONS!!


Target

We got all of this 90% off:

Cute boxes:


Pretty gift bags:

More gift bags (these play music):

A total of 18 bags, 4 gift boxes and tons of gift tags.

For under $4.00!!!! We won't need any gift bags next year!!

We even scored 2 boxes of Choxie truffles for .50 each... they were gone before this picture was taken!

Next up, groceries!! Giant and Walmart . . .

Christmas Blessings 

 

This Christmas was very different for many reasons. Every Christmas since being married we've spent Christmas morning at Kevin's parents house, they always do a great job of hosting Christmas and we love celebrating with them. This year I knew my brother would come down from CT and that my dad might come down for Christmas day. We didn't really expect to change our plans.

 

 

My sister called about 3 weeks before Christmas and told me that they had discussed it and really wanted to join us for Christmas.  My sister is newly married with a beautiful little girl who I haven't had enough time to snuggle, so this was welcome news. This also meant that I had better start getting things ready for their arrival.

 

 

The original plan was that they could stay at a hotel and my brother and dad could crash at our apartment on the couch or air mattress. Well it didn't quite work that way. After doing the math my sister realized that a hotel stay was out of the question. Adding an extra week on to our rent and "moving in" early was 1/3 the cost of the hotel, so that's what we did. Our new landlady is amazing  and gladly agreed.

 

 

At this point we were not living in the new house, nor was it adequately furnished for other people to stay there. So we got busy. We brought over pieces of furniture that we knew we'd need, bought some folding tables for  Christmas dinner. Broke out the air mattresses. Then came planning Christmas dinner, which I was eager to do. This also meant that I had to go through my kitchen digging out every utensil that we might need. Into boxes knives, spoons, whisks, Pyrex dishes, pots pans, towels, tablecloths and the kitchen sink (well, not the kitchen sink, we have 3 in the new place!)

 

 

I realized a day or two before everyone arrived how crazy this was!! Luckily my brother was there all week and helped out so much.

 

We moved in the necessary furniture, food, cooking supplies and everything came together just in time and we had one of the best Christmases in a long time! I do think that this might become a new tradition, and next year it won't be quite as stressful and no one will be eating gas station subs for lunch!

 

 

There were some moments that made this Christmas memorable

 

• EARTHQUAKE!! - On Saturday morning (12:04am) we had an earthquake! I didn't know we could have earthquakes in PA but I guess anything is possible. We heard a loud noise and then everything shook. I don't think any of us would be too proud to say that we were pretty frightened by it!

 

 

• FOOD,FOOD,FOOD - I wouldn't say that the food Christmas night was my best, it was far from my most creative cooking and I hope to do better next year. HOWEVER my brother rocked in the kitchen! We had a delicious breakfast on Christmas morning and he made an amazing tortellini, spinach, sausage and fresh mozzarella dish!!! He's a great cook! Someone marry him already!

 

 

• NO THANKS - my favorite response to a gift this year would be Claire's over dramatic tossing of the potty book we got her - obviously it's just not time for potty training yet!

 

 

• NO FIGHTING?!? - This is probably the first time in years that my sister and I spend more than a day together and did NOT fight. Yes, we're adults but we have very different views and both have strong opinions and personalities - let's just say I hope it stays this way. We had the best time together, even when doing dishes!

 

 

• CANDLES ON THE TABLE - I'll have to go in to this more later, I loved that we had a semi-formal dinner. I've really missed one thing about our family holiday meals and that is the formalness - not to sound stuck up or like "one of those Connecticut girls" ( this is something my friend Daireth called me a lot when we were in New Zealand and I ate a lot of bruschetta and brie cheese). I really think that the holidays are a time to break out the FANCY!! Use your formal dishes, light some candles, make a special meal, have some wine and spend a nice long meal with family! This is something that I am looking forward to doing more of now that we have a large enough home! 

   What do you think?? Formal? Casual? Fast Food?? How does your family spend the holidays?

 

 

Update on Painting and Moving

The living room is painted!

The kids bedroom is painted, next we'll take up the carpet and put down an area rug.

The spare room (sewing/craft room) is painted. 

Sorry for the bad picture it's a really small room but the color turned out really nice. Now we have to figure out how to set this room up. We've decided to use it for all my random crafts and sewing that way all the dangers of sewing stuff will be safely closed up and out of reach!

We are almost done the painting, we decided to strip the wallpaper in the bathroom so we have one small painting project to do before we move in. We just have to decide what color we'll paint the living room. Any suggestions?

We are officially moving in on January 3rd, but we have started paying rent so that my family (Father, Brother, sister and her family) can stay in the house over Christmas. 

I'll be over there today putting up the Christmas tree!

Meal Preparation - Part 3 - Your Freezer

Freezing food is one of the easiest ways to make your mealtimes easier and it's one of the easiest ways to preserve food. For those like me who don't have a nice big chest freezer in the basement don't worry you can still take advantage of the freezer space you have!

What can your freezer do for you??

1. Save you time when preparing your meals

2. Always have a meal in the freezer

3. Stock up when there are great sales!

Save yourself time

One of the biggest time saver when I'm making dinner is that I usually have some of the ingredients prepared in the freezer already.

Cooked ground beef and chicken are perfect for making cassaroles or crockpot meals that require pre-cooked meat. Chopped onions, peppers and stirfry mix are all great for easy prep of recipes that you might saute or stirfry. I love having strifry veggies prepared in the freezer, then all I do is add some chicken and a splash of soy sauce, olive oil or other seasonings and make some rice and Voila! you have a quick meal! Frozen Bananas are great for making smoothies or banana bread.

Always Have a Meal in the Freezer

Many of you have heard of Once a Month Cooking (OMAC), when you take time each month to cook a bunch of meals so that you have food for the whole month. While I love the concept, it's pretty unrealistic for me with two little one's and not much storage space.

I do this a little at a time. If I'm cooking a meal like lasagna, which usually makes a 9x13 size pan I always make it in a 9x9 pan and make 2. One I will cook for that night, the other I will prepare and then freeze for another time. This can be done with many different meals and can be a lifesaver when you "forgot" about dinner. I do this with cassaroles, sauces, waffles, pancakes, and quiche.

My latest favorite way to have meals in the freezer is our Small Group's "Cooking Club" - at least that's what we call it. A friend of mine, Rebekah, started this great group and it has doubled in just 3 months! We all love it. Sometimes I think I love it the most!!

How it works: Each person cooks or prepare one meal for all people involved, (for example, instead of making 1 lasagna for yourself, make 5) then we lug our coolers to church where we exchange meals. You don't have to be as cool as us showing up at church with your Igloo cooler, you can exchange your meals wherever you'd like. The best part is that I get to stock up my freezer with 5 meals!! We do this once a month and it's perfect I always have one meal a week in the freezer, ready to go! So I go home with 5 meals for my freezer! This is a huge time saver and so simple!!

Here are a few great links about freezing meals or food exchanges:

http://www.dinnersinthefreezer.com/

http://www.cookingamongfriends.com/

http://www.mealmakeovermoms.com/moms-club/

Stock up When There are Great Sales

There are a few stores in my area that have great meat sales a few times a year. I usually use those sales to stock up on meat. This is especially a great deal because my husband works at one of these grocery stores so we get 10% off!! Ok Ok enough about our nice little discount, back to stocking up...

For those of you who know, I'm addiced to couponing - yes - addicted! This has been such a financial blessing to our family and to our friends who I've shared my "coupon experience" with.

There are times when I have come home with 10 bags of Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers for FREE or very close to free! I also stock up on butter, bread, chicken nuggets

Sometimes I spend a few hours baking and freeze a bunch of muffins, pancakes, breads and other goodies. Doing this can be a real timesaver! I have been known to make extra cookie dough and freeze that for a quick snack. You can even make your own babyfood to freeze! (I may just do this this spring!)

C O M M E R C I A L B R E A K.......

I want to take a minute here to do an un-paid advertizement for Ziplock's new Vacuum bags.

I've used them a bunch now and I'm ready to give them my stamp of approval!

Basically it's a very inexpensive way to vacuum-seal your freezer bags. It comes with a hand operated pump and the bags are really reasonable (especially when you have coupons!)

See that tight seal on the lovely red peppers I just stocked up on last week. Beautiful - and no chance of these peppers getting any frost burn!

The Ziplock company can feel free to send me one of these starter kits to giveaway if they want to be daring enough to be my very first official giveaway!! --- anyone out there--- no---oh well it doesn't hurt to ask!

I could go on and on about all the things you can freeze but I'll save that for another day. I hope to share more details about all of this in the .

Let me know what intrests you the most and I'll be sure to discuss those topics first! Be sure you click on COMMENT below to leave me a comment!!

I'd love to know what your best trick for freezing food or your favorite meal to freeze is? Leave me a comment below!

Meal Preparation - Part 2 - Starting a Stockpile

I had discussed in the previous post that I like to have a good stockpile of food on hand. I think that it really helps when you're on a tight budget. Because of the move I've decided to focus on having a good size stockpile of food in our new place. This includes canned goods, frozen meats and prepared meals. I think that stockpiling food is becoming a more common thing because of the uncertainty with our economy. That is not why I'm stockpiling. I'm doing it because I want to save money!

What should I have in my stockpile?

It depends what you eat. Don't stock up on black olives and artichoke hearts if you don't like them or if you don’t have a recipe for those ingredients. I usually have a bunch of casserole and crockpot recipes that use the items that I have in my stockpile. Usually I only have to get meat (unless it's in the freezer) and some kind of side/starch.

Here is a good example of what could be in your stockpile:

Assorted Pastas
Cream of soups (mushroom, Cream of chicken, Cream of celery)
Canned Fruits
Spaghetti Sauce
Enchilada Sauce
Canned Veggies - Corn, green beans, olives, Carrots
Tomato Sauce
Diced Tomatoes
Stewed Tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Dry Milk
Condensed Milk
Evaporated Milk
Black Beans
Kidney Beans
Northern Beans
Chick Peas
Pinto Beans


I usually have an extra one of each of the following so I don't have a melt down when I use the last drop or when I grab the mayo and realize that the bottle had been put back in the fridge empty!


Ketchup
Mayonnaise
Soy Sauce
BBQ sauce
Honey
Mustard


In the next post I'll discuss what's in the freezer!

Meal Preparation - Part 1 - Menu planning

Because of the craziness of packing, stripping wallpaper and painting I've noticed a common problem - What's for dinner?


When life is normal I've found that the most time and money saving thing I do for our family is plan our meals. I'm usually pretty organized with meal planning but this has fallen to the wayside these last few weeks and I'm determined to get back on track. I thought I'd do my first mini-series on Meal Preparation and Food Stockpiling. If you have any specific questions please leave a comment and I'll try to address them.


Meal Preparation - Part 1 - Menu planning

This is a pretty easy place to start but it is crucial! When I didn't plan my meals I would just go to the store meander through each aisle and just throw whatever looked yummy. This wasn't the best plan for our wallet so I had to make a change. The way I do meal planning is simple. I keep it simple so that I don't get overwhelmed and quit.

There are many ways to do this, some people like to look at the weekly flyer and plan their meals based on what's on sale, some just sit down with their cookbooks and pick what they want to eat that week, I plan based on what I have on hand and I try to roll one meal over to the next day (more about this later). I've found that this saves us a lot of money and time, and for me TIME IS MONEY!!

LOOK AROUND

Always take a quick look in your fridge, cabinets and freezer to see what meals you might have that are already prepared for that week. Jot down all the meals that you have already prepared in the freezer. I try to plan around 2 meals using items that I already have. For example I usually have plenty of crushed tomatoes, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, beans, rice and frozen chicken around. With these ingredients I could make a few different dinners: Etoufee, chicken and rice casserole or chicken enchiladas. I would only have to pick up a few items to make these meals and it wouldn't add much to our grocery bill.


Another good tip when planning your meals is to buy meat in bulk or whole. For example a whole chicken can be roasted and enjoyed with potatoes and veggies, then the leftover meat can be made into soup or a casserole the next day. The same goes for roasts and meats like sausage. I try to make more than I need for that first meal so I have enough for the next day. For example this week I cooked up some Italian sausages. Day 1: Spaghetti with sausage- Day 2: Homemade sausage and onion pizza. I even chopped a little into an omelet for breakfast!

On to the Planning

I usually plan my menus one week at a time. To get started grab a notebook, scrap paper or your computer - you may want to grab your cookbooks or recipes box too.

First write down the meals that you can make from items you already have. Jot down a few more meals that you'd like to have . Like I said above there are many ways to do this and you can pick the way that works for you. I do check the sales ads in the paper before I plan my meals. If there is a great deal on whole chickens I'll plan my meals around that. I also take in to consideration the different seasonal veggies that are available

Flip the paper over. Write down the ingredients that you need to make those meals. Remember to plan your lunches and snacks. Go to your pantry, cross off all the items that you already have. What is left is your grocery list (aside from your staples, milk, bread etc.) Now jump in the car (don't forget your coupons!!) and head to the grocery store. Stay tuned for Part 2 - Starting a stockpile.

5:16 AM Club

I just joined the a bunch of ladies over at Sarah Mae's Blog to take part in the 5:16am club. Sounds exciting, right, well I figured that I'm up around 5am every morning feeding Caleb so I really should just STAY up and enjoy a quite time like I've been wanting to for months.


For a long time I've known that I should start my days with a short devotional time. I always found some excuse, usually my pillow and blankets won this battle. I've noticed a significant difference in my attitude and how productive my days are. This morning I woke up made some oatmeal (no coffee, sometimes it's just too much work for only me! - I've got to get one of those Tassimo coffee makers!) sat down and found a good online devotional site (this just works for me!) Grabbed my bible and spent some HIM time! It really encouraged me and the devotional for the day was very relevant!

Psalm 23:5(b) "...You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows". I really feel like lately He has filled my cup to overflowing!

When I was a teen I loved the band Considering Lily, not sure what they're up to these days but I wanted to share some of the lyrics of one of their songs that I always liked. This song always reminded me where to turn when I needed to be "filled"

Cup by Considering Lily

My soul's as dry as a valley of bones
As I walk this desert called Earth
There's dust in the tracks of the tears I cry
I'm as helpless as a babe at birth.
I stumble to the last mirage I saw.
And I fall to the sand.
Close my eyes breathe a desperate prayer
When I open them there you stand

CHORUS:
Here's my cup.
Fill it up Fill it up. Fill it up and up.
I will taste. I will drink. I will savor life.
Oh let it overflow my cup my cup.

Stripping Wallpaper - Some Tips

We've been busy stripping wallpaper for the last few days and today was our first of many "Painting Days".


We stripped wallpaper in the foyer and the lovely vine border in the kitchen. Now let me say that stripping paint is no fun!! My fingers are raw from all the peeling (YES, I used my fingernails most of the time, they worked best). I do have a few tips that I've learned from our 2 day wallpaper stripping adventure.


#1: PEEL FIRST: peel off all of the top layer FIRST! you may not get all of it off but try to get most of it off, this is time consuming but really the easiest way!



#2: BUY A GOOD WALLPAPER STRIPPING AGENT: Do not believe those who tell you that warm water or water and vinegar works, it doesn't work that well at all! Go to your local home improvement store and spend $5 - you won't regret it! It made the job so much easier! It even had a nice scent.



#3: USE A GOOD QUALITY SCRAPER: We tried to use a cheap $2 scraper and it was crap. Again this is worth spending a few more dollars on. We bought this one from Home Depot. It was great.


This is what worked for us. It made the job pretty easy. We have 3 more rooms to strip so I'll find out if this works on all the different types of wallpaper.



Because I'm a dork I took before and after pictures so here ya go...




We've been busy stripping wallpaper for the last few days and today was our first of many "Painting Days".


LIVINGROOM BEFORE:










FOYER BEFORE:





FOYER AFTER







KITCHEN BEFORE:

KITCHEN AFTER

THIS is why KEVIN rocks :

He is always taking the time to bless me each day!! Today THIS was a big blessing - cleaning the snow off of the car this morning! (Bad picture - taken with my cell phone)

Check out My Husband Rocks .... HERE

I love Potterybarn Outlet

I was out "browsing" at the Potterybarn Outlet that is in our area. I wandered over to the outdoor furniture section - mainly because of the huge red sign that read "70% OFF".


I found a neat outdoor wicker corner seat, it would be perfect for the sunroom or outside at the new house. I looked at the price tag and it read $99.00, not bad but I figured the cushion and pillows were seperate. So I asked an associate. Not only were the cushions included but the price listed was BEFORE 70% OFF!!! That means this chair was only $30.00!! She also pointed out that there was another just like it availiable!! So I snagged both chairs and the cushions (which still need covers) for about $63.00 inculding tax!!! (these were in excellent condition too!)


I thought that was a good deal until I got home... when I found out that it was an amazing deal. I googled the chair and found it ... the regular price (which is what Potterybarn.com is selling it for is ... $799.00 for ONE!!! amazing!! That's 97% off!!!

Who in their right mind would pay $799.00 for this in the first place!?!?!


Either way if you have a Potterybarn Outlet near you check it out... quick!!

Now I just have to find covers, or make some!!



Here's a picture of it Click the image... to go to Potterybarn's website...

Welcome to "Another New Season"

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and make an actual working blog. The idea of this blog comes out of a need to grow as a wife, a mom and a Christian woman. I noticed that although I spent alot of time reading other great blogs and being so very encouraged I wanted to share my life, as honestly and humbly as I could. Also many friends have nudged me to give this a try!

I wanted to expand my blogging to more personal and relevant things. I realized that I'm in a new season in my life - I'm a wife and a mom - I was in denial for the last 2 years but I've started to realize that I truly am becoming quite the domestic gal... and I really enjoy it. This new and improved blog will also share my many attempts at being crafty, creative and frugal.

I'll post my usual family photos occasionally, but I'll try to stay on task, and focus on only a few topics! Over the next few weeks I'll be working on the exact way I'll do this but until then I'll be chronicleing our family's move out of our apartment into a new home (which we will be renting). I'll share the story of the new HOME later... but it is a blessing from the Lord and I know that I'll have lots to share once we are moved in!

So, come along with me on this fun journey! I need all the advice in the world so please shoot me an e-mail anytime! I'm new to blogging so I'll be learning how to make the website better looking and more fun for all of you! So bookmark this page!! There will be much more to come!