I Put the PRO in PROcrastination

Oh boy.  It's the same thing every year, every holiday.  I think 'OH I have PLENTY of time! I'll worry about Thanksgiving after Halloween.' But then after all of the Halloween MADNESS is over, I take like a two week break and do like absolutely nothing lol  Then I get all stressed out trying to plan Thanksgiving!

And really you can substitute any holidays in place of Halloween/Thanksgiving.  Because apparently I learn from my mistakes lol

So today, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I am working on these FEW, EASY, NOT TIME CONSUMING AT ALL, projects:

• class treats for 77 kids
• photobooks for the grandparents Christmas gifts so I can use the Snapfish coupon B1G2F
• Christmas card pictures 
• chalkboard design for the Christmas card picture
• Christmas cards
• pictures for Thanksgiving so I can get them into the photobooks since the coupon expires on the 20th!
• photo prop ideas for the photo session so I can GET IT ALL DONE AT ONCE and save whats left of my sanity/hair
• a fabric scrap skirt for my youngest for school on Wednesday/Thanksgiving
• a cute shirt to go with the skirt
• a fabric scrap skirt for my 10 year old that doesn't look just like the one for the 7 year old because well, that would just be LAME lol
• oh and about 50eleven other things I'm forgetting at the moment lol  

Oh my.  Now I'm tired lol

Guess I should get to it!!!

Caprese Salad - For a Tomato Hater

I love the look and idea of the Caprese Salad.  I love all of the different ways to make one on Pinterest. I've tried making this one, and I realized something I had forgotten ... I hate raw tomatoes!  I hate the texture, they make my mouth itch, and the taste is AWFUL.  Not great for the whole 'fresh from the garden awesomeness' I was hoping for.

Then I decided to do something I NEVER do ... I decided to experiment.  I am like the ANTI REBEL in the kitchen.  It scares me to go away from the recipe, BUT ... I thought I would give it a try.  Well I LIKE what I've come up with here so I thought I would share for the other Tomato Haters out there!!

Not So Raw Caprese Salad

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 - 1/2 white onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced (I like garlic lol)
2 Roma Tomatoes, chopped smallish (or whatever kind you like or grow)
My House Seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder)
Fresh basil, chopped
Balsamic Vinegar
Mozzerella Cheese, cut into stripes

1.  Drizzle EVOO into a pan on medium heat, add garlic and saute for a few minutes.  Add diced onion to pan and saute a few more minutes.  Add tomatoes to the pan and cook on medium heat.  Add seasonings to taste and continue to cook until the tomatoes are NICE AND MUSHY lol.  This step is totally up to you, cook them as long as you need to get the taste you want.  I need like 15 minutes lol.

2.  Pour the mixture into a bowl and top with chopped basil.  Drizzle balsamic vinegar to taste.

3.  Take your mozzerella strips and top with tomato mixture and enjoy : )

If anyone has a different take on this, I would LOVE to hear it!  I'm thinking about making this and adding it to some baked chicken as a sauce! YUM!

Let's Call Them GOALS, Not Resolutions :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Last year was a good year in terms of getting my house and my life closer to where I want them.

I'm determined that this year will be even better.

I want to set some goals. I have issues with setting goals. I worry that it sets me up for failure if they're too big, and I don't fail, then the goal wasn't big enough.

So I'm just going to write some things down and we'll see how it goes.

1. I want to get a cleaning schedule in place for this ... place. I was looking around on here the other day and saw a post I did LAST January with ALL KINDS of awesome cleaning/organizing links that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about. I have a bunch of cleaning stuff pinned too and this is something I REALLY need to focus on this year.

2. I want to post more often. Whether it's here or there, I need to post more. I'd love to say that it's to hone my writing skills, but really it's because I have ABSOLUTELY no memory. In looking back at pictures from earlier in the year I realized that I remember less details than I would like, but when I read posts about events/pictures I remember WAY more. So I need to carve out time, hopefully on a daily basis, to write out anything and everything I want to remember.

3. I want to work on some projects around here. I have an ever growing list of things I want to do, thanks to Pinterest!, that I really want to get done. They range from organizational projects, to decor projects, craft projects to repurposing projects. And as soon as I finish up my Christmas gifts I'm jumping RIGHT IN!

4. I want to make better use of my time. I have really struggled with this. Sometimes it feels like the only thing I get done in a day is going to the gym. I get home and I basically don't get much else accomplished. I feel like HEY! I got my workout in! I'm doing something great for myself! I don't need to do much else! LOL and then I don't. SO I need to find a way to get my workouts in because they are EXTREMELY important to me, but not make it the only thing I do in a day.

5. I want to enjoy my family time more. I've noticed that I've enjoyed time with my older 2 girls SO much more lately and I LOVE it! I would like to work on things with my youngest. She's 6 and still pretty tough. I need to spend more time with her and more time working with her. I want to have as good a relationship with her as I do with my 2 older girls :)

So there it is. Nothing earth shattering, but a good place to go when I get distracted and need something to set me back on track :)

Hope you all are having a lovely New Year!!

Lil Summer Break

So lately I've mostly posted my WIWW posts {IF that} and it seems harder and harder to craft these days let alone POST anything!

We've been SO busy this summer and the days that we're not busy I'm totally enjoying doing absolutely NOTHING LOL.

So I'm {totally late} taking an official SUMMER BREAK from posting. I'll be back after they go back to school {16 MORE DAYS!} crafting and posting my heart out.

16 MORE DAYS UNTIL ... THE.BEST.YEAR.EVER :) All the kids ... in school ... ALL DAY :) I can hardly freakin believe it but yes ... after almost 14 FREAKIN YEARS it will finally happen. I will be ALONE for 6 HOURS EVERY.SINGLE.{week}DAY.

*THROWS CONFETTI*

Not to say that I haven't enjoyed the summer with my crazies kids, I HAVE! But I'm also ready for the BEST.YEAR.EVER. to start!

So I'll see ya'll in a couple{ish} weeks! And if ya'll miss me I'll {HOPEFULLY!} still be posting over here :D Enjoy what's left of this lovely summer ... I know I'll be trying ;)