2016

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Sheila

For the last several years, we have taken a “Spring Beach ” trip in addition to our annual Summer trip. The reason for this trip is to attend a cheer competition. The competition is usually on Saturday and Sunday, we arrived on Thursday to have a couple of days to enjoy. Because the weather is usually chilly , this trip gives us a chance to enjoy all the other attractions at Myrtle Beach besides the beach. This trip is probably the coolest so far that I remember being here, the odd thing is that we are here in late spring when typically the weather is warm enough to at least enjoy the outside pool.

We did enjoy shopping almost the whole day and found several great bargains that I am going to share.

Nike Factory Outlet- Found Haley and Kendall shoes for $10 each. Zach got a new pair for $20.
Stretchers – Matt found a cool pair of sneakers that are more dressy and they ended up costing $35.
Crazy 8- The entire store was 40% off. Lily found a new outfit, Kendall a new shirt and a pair of shoes, Zach ended up with 8 long sleeve shirts for next year, a vest and 4 summer dress shirts. I ended up spending around $130 for all.
Old Navy Outlet- I am so excited because of these items are actually mine. I found a one piece swim suit and another suit that was separates, 2 pair of shorts and a pair of sunglasses. Matt found a pair of sun glass and each of the kids got a new shirt for $125!
The Disney Outlet- 2 nightgowns for me and a shirt for each of the kids for $48.

As you can tell we ended up spending a long time shopping but it was fun and we are all excited to have new clothes and shoes.

Signs of Spring Wordless Wednesday

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Sheila

Miscellaneous Monday

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Sheila

Our menu plan is very simple for this week. Leftovers for Monday and Wednesday and Pulled Pork on Tuesday. I want to try and clean out as much of the refrigerator as possible before our trip.
I am working hard to achieve a good work/life balance. I am finding it impossible. Work is crazy busy and the kids are crazy busy as well.
I am really looking forward to this trip just to have some down time without feeling rushed or like I should be doing something else.
The weather is starting and predicted to start warming up, I still do not have a plan for the square foot garden so I need to get this down on paper soon.
The heat is back on in our house. I am hoping that once we leave on Thursday, that will be the end of the heat for the year.
I have given myself a goal to earn $200 from Swagbucks by December of this year. I am so close to cashing out my first $25 that it is tempting to purchase an item that is 100% back but I don’t want to spend any money. So I will patiently or not so patient wait till closer to the end of the month to achieve this.
Zach is continuing to make huge improvement in soccer. He was able to score 2 goals this weekend and made 2 stops as goalie.
Lily has found her backhand spring at cheerleading! It is so nice to watch her tumble!

Saving on Saturday-04/09/2016

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Sheila

Today has definitely been a day about saving, really more about saving time than money but they both are pretty important around here. First a little of the background, one of the ways that I have been trying to control our budget and spending this year is with grocery purchases. We have only spent $1250 for the first three months of the year, I focused on using the items that we had on hand and we were able to clean out and reorganize a lot of our freezer space. In March, we used up all of our ground beef, so we need to start replenishing our supplies. On Thursday, Matt and I managed to make a huge grocery trip which included our local “meat market”. Now back to today, we need to “process” the thirty pounds of ground beef we have purchased. I decided that since the weather outside was cold and windy, I would prefer to spend the day in the kitchen. I am very pleased with the results. Total time spent was approximately 7 hours, but this includes lunch and snacks for the kids as well as clean up and a couple of breaks. We were able to make the following:

3- cheeseburger pies (This are a quick and easy dinner to reheat)
4- Baked Ziti- We are sharing one with our friends for lunch tomorrow and another is already on our summer beach list. The other two will be easy Sunday lunches for this summer.
4 sets of Salisbury steaks- (a little bit more work than the cheeseburger pies but can turn out a dinner in 30 minutes).
20 one pound bags of pre-cooked ground beef. This is one of the easy ways to plan ahead and can be used in everything from spaghetti to Hamburger Helper.
Breakfast casserole for Sunday morning
Mexican rice and sausage dip for snacks and dinner today.

We will need to purchase chicken for delivery in June but otherwise we should be stocked up for the summer.

Did you save today?

5 Things Friday

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Sheila

This week turned out to be extremely busy! I had planned to post at least twice during the week and as you can tell that did not happen. I even have pictures loaded of our spring flowers. The weather is rather screwy right now. We are expecting a hard freeze this weekend and then hopefully on to Summer.
Zach was “Owl Star” in his class this week. He got to take the owl to a lot of different places. This is a privilege which also included extra homework. Zach wrote 3 journal entries about their adventures and complete 3 questions each day for show and tell. My favorite picture of the week is soccer practice.

3. Lily has been preparing all week for the “Story Telling Festival” at her school. She and her friend presented the book 22 times today. The really cool fact is that I participated in the very first “Story Telling Festival” at the Elementary School.

4. Lily is also “Star Titan” this achievement is awarded each month to one student per class. I am very proud to say that all three of the little kids have now been selected this year.

5. As part of being student of the week, Zach filled out a list of questions. His answer to “what makes you special?”— I have 4 sisters
“Who is your hero”– Jesus.

Custom – Kitchen

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Sheila

The factor that started our kitchen remodel was seating for our growing family. At Christmas, I was disappointed that not only could we not all eat in the same room but I was limited in what I could actually prepare because I simply did not have the counter space.

When we made the decision to replace all the cabinets, I knew that we would not be able to afford high end cabinets with all the cool features. I am very pleased to say that we have achieved some really cool features and I honestly feel that we are utilizing every each of space in the kitchen currently.

Today, I want to share the special touches that make our kitchen one of a kind. First is the custom tile work.

This area is behind our stove and I forgot to get a picture after the gout was placed but just look at how cool it looks. Matt and I talked and we really did not want to place full tiles behind the stove. We did go ahead and place the sticky mat until we decided what to do. Zach was watching us work and the idea came to me that he could finish this section of tile using the pieces that we had cut off of other tiles. Zach completed about 3/4 of the area before Lily decided he needed help. The only guidance I gave him was not to place two of the same tile together. This is an awesome custom feature that I am assured will not be repeated anywhere else in the world.

I have already shared about my favorite cabinet. Which is also very custom, here is a reminder picture.

Another feature that is very unique is the electric outlets that are part of the counter top. These were Matt’s suggestion and after a bit of rewiring that we still need to complete, we will be able to plug up and use ALL of my crockpots at that same time as my Kitchen-Aid mixer.

The final custom cabinet is probably the one that took the most time and effort to figure out. It also ended up costing around $50 to complete. But in reality is saves a ton of space and actually allows me to have all the utensils I need within reach. This cabinet is directly beside the stove and is actually a double sided pegboard.

Currently we still need to do some touch up painting and add quarter round to both the back splash and floor. But we are very close to being at a finishing point with this project.

Here is the progress we have made.

The Back Splash

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Sheila

I am super excited because we were able to finish the back splash in one Saturday! I knew it would make a huge difference but I am still surprised at how great it looks.

Just a reminder of what we started with…

Our friends used a mat to complete their kitchen remodel and we decided to copy it was awesome. We first cut and place the double sided sticky mat to the wall.

Next we laid out the tile and cut to fit around things. We started on the bottom and worked our way up.

It took about 4 hours this morning to get all the tile in place.

After Zach’s soccer game, in which he scored his first goal! Our friend came over to help with the gout. I am still amazed and LOVE the way it all turned out.

We will be working on the finishing touches and I will share tomorrow a couple more of the custom features we have included.

Favorite Cabinet

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Sheila

I have several “big” goals for this weekend, both in real life and on-line. We are planning to install the back splash for our kitchen. At that point, we will have completed 3 of the 4 planned steps. (The Plan). The on-line plan is a little bit more complex. I want to share all the wonderful features of the new kitchen in addition to a ton of features and finally have a post with the entire process via links. This post will hopefully be the first in a series.

We order new cabinets prior to removing the old one. I did not realize how badly damages and nasty aka toxic the old lower cabinets were. We literally used a shovel to remove the floor underneath due to mold and mildew. We were not able to find a cabinet to fill the last five inches before the door frame. In addition, I regretted losing my spice cabinet. Then I searched pinterest and found the perfect solution.

Matt was able to construct this cabinet that perfectly fits in and total spent on it was ZERO! He used salvaged wood from several other projects in addition to casters from an old television stand. This is my absolute favorite cabinet.