Busy bee

I haven't posted in a while but I've definitely been keeping myself busy. I just realized that I have a little over a week until I go back to work and I haven't tackled half of the projects I wanted to do.  Just to give an update on the meal planning, I did stick to it last week but only took a picture of the Ma Po tofu.  Meatloaf night really wasn't that exciting.  I've never made Ma Po tofu and it turned out pretty good.  I made a mild version for my son and then added all the hot pepper later.  It was really spicy!

Earlier last week I tackled the linen closet. Its really embarassing and was a disaster. It's really deep so I was always looking all the way in the back and was too lazy to put it back neatly again.

My solution? Why baskets, of course. I also kept all the stuff that I don't use often behind the baskets and the first row of towels and linens. I brought in a stackable shelf to keep all the small loose things. Here's the linen closet two hours later...

The baskets are lined but I had to throw them in a wash and I am making tags for the baskets.  I also ordered a label maker and will be labeling everything as soon as I get it. Dork!

I didn't get to do much else because on Monday the contractors came in to work on our bedroom bathroom. It's taking a little while to complete but I'm so excited to have a more spacious shower! They completely gutted the bathroom and installed new plumbing, insulation and cut into our office closet to create more space. I'll show the before and after pics after it's complete.

I didn't get to do much over the weekend because Dave had to work and I was at home with the kids. Ethan and I made my favorite healthy snack, ants (red ants cuz all I had was dried cranberries) on apple.

Meal Planning

So I'm going to try this meal planning craze that I' ve attempted in the past but failed. Mainly because I got lazy or had a craving for something else. But now I really have to get my act together because the amount of food that I waste is ridiculous. I think to plan to cook everyday is a little presumptuous, especially once I go back to working full time, so I will try to have at least one day of take out or eating out.

Monday - chicken crescent roll casserole
Tuesday - meatloaf with mashed potatoes, green beans and apple sauce
Wednesday - ma po tofu
Thursday - birthday dinner (i ain't cooking!)
Friday - girl's night out birthday dinner (hooray, i get to cheat twice this week!)
Saturday - leftovers night
Sunday - frozen pizza night

Lazy Hump Day - tissue wreath project

So today I did absolutely nothing.  Well, I did absolutely nothing with my husband. He is currently studying for his doctorate in physical therapy and is in school full time. That's right, I'm his sugar mama. Well today he had the day off and we just hung out with the baby, napped and watched Ellen together.  This almost never happens so we both indulged in this rare occassion.  I highly recommend it to other parents no matter how many "projects" you may have.  The projects will always be there.

Anyway, I thougth I'd post this valentine's craft that I made yesterday, which inspired me to start up blogging again.  This is called a tissue paper wreath and I made it based on this image from Pinterest. Since I had limited supplies on hand, I improvised a bit.  I used a cardboard circle that I had left over from a Martha Stewart kit and glued 1 inch pink and red tissue squares with a glue stick.  I used the dull end of a pen to adhere the tissue paper to the wreath by placing it in the middle of the tissue square. I used two pieces of tissue paper to complete the entire wreath (that's all I had, anyway).  Then I used some red ribbon to hang it up on an entrance mirror. Ta da! Festive!





This proejct took a whopping 15 minutes to complete. So easy and your kids can help too but I was too anxious to wait on my 3 1/2 year old and just did it myself. I do have other projects in mind that involve his grubby little hands.

Rebirth of "Eternally Learning"

So after a long hiatus from blogging, I decided to start again to document our upcoming projects. So what have we been up to, you might ask? Well, to start off, we sold our townhouse and bought a single home all in 3 months. Praise God! We had both settlements on the same day and three days after, we were sleeping in our new home.  With that said, we have a lot of projects ahead of us and I've been a busy gal, checking out other blogs and obsessing over ideas on Pinterest. I'll start posting some of our before pictures at the house so you all can see the slow transformations.  Our first projects were boring and non-asthetic.  My husband was obsessed with recessed lighting so now we have them in our living room and basement and just about every light in the house has a dimmer and is controlled from multiple locations.

Oh....and I had a baby! I guess you would say that was our biggest project of all during my blog hiatus so we are happy to report that we had a healthy baby girl.  Her nursery is not yet what I envisioned it to be so be on the lookout for a before and after post.

So during my maternity leave, I hope to tackle as many projects around the house.  I hope to also do some crafting and diying since I have some time in between being a full time cow and a pooper scooper for my little girl.

Stay tuned for more....

Getting pregnant is now cute!

One of the challenges I faced when I got pregnant was trying to get my clothes to fit as long as I could (yes, I did the rubber band trick) and finding cute pregnancy clothes. It was either Peapod (expensive!) or Motherhood, a cheaper version but fairly standard.  And although Target and Old Navy had some options as well, some of the styles were a little more basic for my liking. Now, I'm seeing more and more retailers like Ann Taylor Loft and now Forever 21 tapping into this 1 billion dollar industry and coming up with maternity wear that's cute, hip and affordable. So go on, get pregnant, and still look cute! Although...there's nothing cute about vomiting, swollen feet and mood swings.  Unfortunately, there's no way to cover that up~

Ready...Set...Eat

I've been getting lazy and frankly too tired to update my blog with pictures of what I've been cooking but trust me, I have been cooking. Since my husband is now a full-time student, we had to cut back on our eating-out and using food out of our pantry..GASP! I usually leave my pantry food for blizzard days. It is satisfying to know what one is capable of making with a can of chickpeas and some spices. Here's a collection of meals that I made and since I only have a minute to scarf down my food before Ethan pulls me away to play, I took them with my iPhone so they're not great quality. Enjoy!

Pulled pork tacos

Braised chicken with gnocchi and mushroom sauce

Fish chickpea curry over rice and naan

Chicken Donburi

Mandu Guk

Full belly

Hi Ann Taylor Loft..when did you become so cute?!

As I was browsing my favorite blogger's pages, I noticed a lot of people posting super cute outfits and all of them were linked to Ann Taylor Loft. Now, I'm not a regular shopper but they've revamped their entire line. The clothes are perfect for that stage where you don't want to look like a tween and you're not ready to go into Talbots, just yet. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of them...