I Fold...Even when I don't want to...

After finishing the dresser for our master bedroom, I needed a solution for a problem I have had for a long time.  I don't know if everyone has the same problems I do with t-shirts, but I have always struggled to find a way to organize Eric's shirts so that I don't have to refold EVERY shirt EVERY time I want to put ONE away.  It drives me nuts - like "I refuse to do laundry because I know I will have to refold all those stupid shirts" nuts (Ok - it isn't the only reason I don't do laundry but still).  I used to fold all of our shirts with the front on the inside.  This has never worked but I stuck to it for several years.  Then we moved into a master bedroom where a dresser would not fit anywhere, so we were forced into hanging almost everything for 5 years.  This kind of worked, but it turns out I don't particularly like hanging every item of clothing either.  Plus, deciding which shirt to wear somehow still meant at least 2 shirts had to be rehung...or they all just ended up in a pile that never seemed to go away.  So when we bought our house, I definitely wanted to get Eric's clothes back into a dresser.  Besides, my clothes needed more closet space...

I knew the old way of 'front on the inside' wouldn't work, so I started folding them with the logo on top.  A little more time to fold each shirt but easier to find the one he wants, right?  Kind of...almost.  I still opened that drawer with dread because at least half would need to be re-folded.  I will never understand how someone can't look for one shirt without messing them all up - including myself!  So I starting looking on Pinterest just to see what other people have tried.  The best option I saw was instead of laying the shirts flat, you stand them up with the logo out so you can see every shirt at the same time.  Like this, and this.  Amazing! Who thinks of these things?  Why did it take me so long to figure this out?!

Well, I can happily say that when I put away clothes I don't have to re-fold more than 2-3 shirts - which is amazing for me.  Now I just have to figure out how to get the laundry done without having to do it myself...I  want my own Rosie!!

Cancelled all of my appointments...

Last night I was looking into my sons eyes during his bath; he had some sleep I thought I missed it that morning. Then we were upstairs in my husbands office and it was back! Not sleep, it must be pink eye! I let my husband know, he didn't want to believe it. We just booked a mini vacation the other day to get away this weekend. So began my cancellations! We were able to cancel the hotel and resort. I let my friend know who was going to watch our son. I was in a conversation about my son's IEP with his teacher - so I also let her know he wouldn't be in and to warn everyone! Last, I emailed his Autism Therapy Office to cancel everything this week. At least until we find out what he has going on. 

I have some phone calls to make this morning. I just remembered I have a nail appointment, my husband said "don't cancel that" but then I said "our son isn't going to school so I can't go" and he said "oh" - he was sad for me. It will be just fine if I wait one more week. I need to call the doctor first thing to get an appointment. Then I need to call the dispatcher for his bus.  The appointments never end!

The only other time my son had pink eye is when we went on vacation with our friends, and we met up with them later. They had stopped at a restaurant and their kiddos played and picked it up from other kiddos. This time it looks worse. 

The bright side is that (since we won't have any appointments to go to) I can really clean the house! I might even organize a little! I wish I had a bigger kitchen...there are times that I think I have too many tools or baking pans and then I say "Nah that's silly, I need a bigger kitchen!" I don't have a pantry anymore - it's full of stoneware, baking dishes, and various containers. I'm running out of space for my pantry items. I have been thinking of some ideas. My other Peas are going to help with my backroom, which is just off of the kitchen. I have seen a fantastic idea to out a piece of board above your front load washer and dryer to use as a folding station. I really want to do that. I think this week I will be cleaning out my backroom since I will be spending a lot of time in there washing things anyways! 

I hope your week is good and remember to not itch your eyes!

Banana Ice Cream

If your looking for a fast, easy and heathy treat - this is for you. All you really need is sliced frozen bananas and any add-ins you would like. I keep a little ziplock in my freezer with peeled and sliced bananas for times when I feel like something cold and creamy, but all you really need is 3 hours to freeze the bananas.

Last night I made Banana Cocoa Ice Cream using just these two things:

 I put 3 peeled, sliced and frozen bananas (I froze them 3 days ago so they were a little brown, but worked just fine) and two teaspoons of cocoa powder into the Ninja. I used the blade and then used the ice crush setting for 1 minute, stopping once to scrap the sides. The bananas will look like small little chunky pieces.  I then took out the blade and used the mixing attachment on the dough setting for about 30 seconds to smooth it all out. If you don't have a Ninja you can use a blender or food processor.

When your done it should look something like this.

It is now ready to eat.

You can mix it with almost anything. Change out the cocoa powder for a nut butter, crushed candies or maybe some cookie crumbles. I hope you enjoy your new heathy treat!

How do you say Ombre?

I have always wondered what the correct way is to say Ombre.  In fact I go out of my way to not say it - just in case I say it the wrong way (which I think is pretty much any way I say it).  Omber? OHM-bruh?

Om-Brey?  Who knows - I just say "You know when you have the color that goes from light to dark?" and pretend that I just can't remember the right word.  It's kind of funny considering how much I love the look - on furniture, on the wall, in the garden, even for a cute summer hair look.  This wont be the last project I do this way - I have a wall and one other project in the works, and by in the works I mean I think about it every time I walk by...I just need to pick up my paint brush and do it...

Have you ever seen something and just thought “I have to do that”?  I do – a lot.  Of course I can’t actually do everything I see, find or pin – I just can’t figure out how to get that water slide from my bedroom to the pool I don’t have yet… but every once in awhile I find that one project I can do right now.  This time it was a dresser.  In fact it was this great ombre dresser from one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love.  It's also Project #230 in their book, if you want better directions for how to do it right.  I am sure you will see lots more projects inspired by them.  When I saw the dresser they painted I became obsessed.  I knew I wanted a new dresser for our master bedroom and the ombre look would be pretty cool, but dressers are farther down the to-do/buy list than things like a kitchen sink, cabinets or flooring.  Yes, I was living without any of those for months (around 18 months actually).  However, I wanted to do this NOW not someday and I was in luck - Eric had to work late for a few weeks which meant no house projects and free time for me.  So I decided I wanted to paint the dresser during that time.

 

I looked at resale places, online for cheap dressers for sale and on Craigslist.  Nothing in my price range or the style that I had in mind – Bummer.  Then I started wondering if any of the dressers I already owned could be used - and that’s when I remembered my sad little wood dresser shoved into our spare room with lots of other things we haven’t unpacked yet.  We’ve had it for over 10 years and I can’t even remember where it came from.  It was plain wood – no stain, lacquer or sealers that I could tell.   I pulled it out and measured it – fingers crossed that it would fit the spot I needed it to.  To my surprise it did, and I started to see the finished project and decided to go for it.  Then I had to wait…for 3 more weeks until that free time when Eric wouldn’t be home.  I wanted it to be a surprise.  Obviously I couldn’t hide that I was doing something, but I didn’t want him to see it until it was done (or at least mostly done).  

After cleaning all the dust off, I filled all the scratches it had gotten over the years, then sanded and cleaned it again.   Once it was ready, I quickly primed it, hoping it would dry before Eric came home.  Not to be – he came home and saw the dresser laid out.  He thought it should stay a wood grain, but it was too late since it was already primed (oops...that may have been my plan all along).  I kept how it would be finished as a surprise for the next night.

 

Our master bedroom has teal/navy blue walls, with white, grey and yellow accents and I had left over grey paint from our dining room, so I decided to use that with white to create the paint gradient.  I knew it would be impossible to match the colors so I made a little extra of each one to keep for later touch ups.  I painted the outside and bottom drawer the original color, Darkest Forest by Dutch Boy.  Then added white to three jars until I had the right color combination.  I managed to apply two coats of paint before Eric got home.  He was really not sure what he thought of the different colors – and since they weren’t laid out in any pattern, I know it was hard to tell how it would look.  Once it dried overnight and I put the drawers in, he was surprised by how much he liked it.  I was originally going to find new knobs but decided after a week or so to try painting the knobs to match – definitely the winner for me.  This project cost me nothing but a few hours of time – gotta love a free project that helps get your house organized.  Did I mention this dresser replaced a box and a pile on the floor?  We have had this dresser in the bedroom for awhile and it still looks pretty good - I just had to find a tray for all the random pocket things to go on.  I still hate folding but at least now I have something pretty to look at when I'm putting everything away.

Lime Shrimp Dip and a BIG Win!

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday, yesterday we became Super Bowl Champions!!!  Words cannot express how happy our house is. The Seahawks with the 12th Man did it, this was our year! Now on to food, because the 2nd best thing about a Super Bowl party is the food. I made a Lime Shrimp Dip with tomatoes and avocados. I got the idea to make this from a salad recipe I saw on one of my favorite blogs.

The first thing you will want to do is chop 1/2 a cup of red onion and mix it in a small bowl with the juice of 4 limes, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Set the mix aside to marinate. Chop up a 1lb bag of large cooked and peeled shrimp (I got the ones with the tales on and just pulled them all off before chopping), 2 large avocados, 4 roma tomatoes, 2 big jalapeños (seeds removed) and a 1/4 a cup of cilantro and put them all together in a large bowl. Add the onion mix (make sure it sat for at least 10 minutes) and stir it all together.  I served it with corn chips. 

This photo shows it without jalapeños and cilantro.  You can leave those out if you want to make it a little milder.

The dip was a big hit and everyone kept saying what a good idea it was!

Go Seahawks!!!