Getting ready for Hardwood Floors to be Installed

I have been working for the last two weeks around this Pile-O-Hickory that my hubby milled into flooring:

And clearing off this large Bookcase: You can see I still need to clear off a few items...

And finding a way to put all food items from Here somewhere accessible.  We added this pantry because my small kitchen didn't have any kind of food storage.  No doors yet, something that is yet to come.

You see I must clear out all my furniture from my living room, my dining room, and now this has morphed into a larger project and I must remove items from my cabinets.  The hubster is planning on tearing out ALL my cabinets and building me new ones!!!  Which requires tearing out this nasty drop ceiling which makes me feel all small in my kitchen.  Making room for 42" cabinets that I won't be able to reach up to get anything from, but making me feel even shorter than I am, and at 5'8" I am not all that short.  This is my little

 This is my little kitchen with hardly any storage.  We plan to move the fridge over right next to my pantry and then have more counter space on the other side of the fridge.  Both corners will have storage, the one by the dishwasher will have a corner blind pull out and the other will have a Lazy Susan. 

This side won't change much, but we are planning on two pull out drawers on that end cabinet, and a cookie sheet cabinet on the other side next to the Lazy Susan in the corner, then the cabinet on the end will have an awesome spice pull out...that is being designed by the hubby.  I have other ideas for storage options that I am putting in with my hubby designer.  We have limited space in this kitchen so we are trying to make the most out of it.

Tearing out this little wall...there is nothing in there (see the small box with screws in it...yep, we checked a wire is all that is in there.)  This area will become my main level desk (can you see a nice desk with cabinets above it).  I need a space for our personal office (separate our Business from our personal life).

And the hubby has a vision for our fireplace so the brick and mantle will be removed...and some kind of slate/granite or such will take its place.  Then the handy man that he is will build me a gorgeous mantle out of Birch.  We love birch in this house...all our cabinets will be Birch

The lack of posting is because of my mess and I am just exhausted these days trying to work (sub and my UPS job) and getting all the other stuff in life done.  I am succeeding at getting a lot of the processed items out of my house, the cost isn't low, but I know it is important for our health to eat whole foods.  I will have to get some recipes up that we have tried with reviews.  One that was just AWESOME! was Black Bean Sweet Potato Burgers!  They were so yummy I was eating the left overs cold.

Cleaning out...freeing up space

After a few weeks into the New Year and I am still sticking to my goals.  It has been a challenge, but this is what I have done so far:

1. Added to our savings accounts!  YEAH!  That is a huge feat for us as this is usually our slow time and we are removing $ from our savings accounts. 
2. Changed what my pantry looks like.  I have added TONS of beans, rice, healthy granola, nuts, seeds, lots of whole foods (Organic if I can)
3. I have removed the unhealthy chips from our pantry and replaced them with Organic Tortilla Chips (Costco for $4.xx).  Removed any white rice, and crackers that were loaded with processed junk.
4. Loaded my fridge with TONS of veggies and fruits.  Costco is great for things like bananas ($1.32/3lbs.), Organic Carrots ($5.49 10lbs), Organic Spring lettuce mix, Organic Spinach ($3.49 for a LARGE container), sugar snap peas, etc.  I am keeping to the Organic produce as much as possible which requires shopping at several stores.
5. I have spent a little time doing something with each kid every day.  For Jacob he loves to "help" me cook dinner every night, so we spend our time measuring and stirring, and laughing about our messes.
6. Jalynn wants me to race her on Mario Kart...FUN!  We laugh so hard!
7. I have been working hard at clearing out old paperwork from our office.  So far I have shredded 2 trash bags full, and recycled 2 trash bags full of paperwork we no longer needed.  I narrowed down what we need to keep to 3 small file boxes.  After 7 years I finally have a grasp on what we need to keep and what can be tossed!  

So, I feel pretty good about my hard work this past 20 days!  Now, I have 2 more weeks to get things moved so we can install our hardwoods.  According to my hubby he wants to build our cabinets and tear out all our old ones...that is to be determined as that requires MUCH more work.

Ahhh, it's New Year's Eve...ALREADY!

Where has 2010 gone???  I know everyone says "time flies" but I sure seem to notice it more so now that my kids are both in school!

I have been thinking about the New Year and what changes I want to make, and I have taken this week to start getting those things prepared.  Most people make resolutions that don't last...I am going to make a few each month instead of a list at the beginning of the year that overwhelms me!  I don't want anything to feel like a "chore" otherwise I won't do it at all!

January's List is this...and may change! :)
1.  Loose the extra weight that I am still hanging on to (Eat healthier and get more Exercise)

• I should be able to conquer this goal in a couple of months.  I don't have much to loose!

2.  Get our financial life MORE organized!

• I have savings account that I have neglected, and I plan to use it!
• I set up 10 savings accounts yesterday (things like: Vacation, Auto Repair, Auto Replacement, Auto Registration, Vision expense, and of course our emergency fund that I call our RICH FUND)
• Set up a separate savings account for our business!  (This should help me to keep our $ straight and not have it all lumped together!)
• I am also faithfully taking a % from every check and dividing that up into emergency, taxes, liability insurance, and Retirement)  I plan to raise the % every month!  (We can't do a set amount being self-employed)  (Did you know you should be saving 40% of your income every month?)
• I'm going to try to split my check up into 2 different accounts so that a portion of my little check automatically goes into savings each week!
• Get tax stuff prepared and turned into our accountant by the first part of February!

3.  Spend more time with my kids!  I'm putting time on my schedule each day to spend some time doing something each kid wants with me each day!

4.  Organize and declutter one area each week!

That should do it for January!

Christmas Week Menu

It's that week already!  Time sure flies from the fun overnight Black Friday Shopping to Christmas morning!

Do you have your menu planned for the week?  I worked on it last night and I am trying to utilize the items I have in my pantry...sort of clean out some of the foods that I shouldn't be eating anyway!

Monday: Spaghetti and Salad
Tuesday: Breakfast Night (probably pancakes)
Wednesday: Tacos
Thursday: Big Salad and homemade rolls
Friday (Christmas Eve): Still sticking with our Pizza Friday and we are making Snowmen Pizza!
Saturday (Christmas Day): For breakfast we have Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, Waffles, and Morningstar Breakfast Links, for dinner we are heading to my Father-in-Laws.
Sunday: Left Overs or a Popcorn and Fruit Night

After all the goodies, I like to keep things simple and incorporate fruits and veggies!  Maybe I will make some hummus to dip some veggies in for snacks this week!


I'm linking up to:

Crayola Glow Explosion Spin Magic

Amazon has this great deal for the Crayola Item

It isn't $5.99 anymore, but $9.98 is still a great deal!  Plus you can submit for a $2 Rebate

Thanks! Couponing to Disney
Kristin also has the instructions to get FREE 2 day shipping for joining Amazon Mom
I think my son will enjoy this for Christmas.  I was looking for something really cool that he would enjoy.  I like the $7.98 price tag after the rebate!

Denver Groupon Today

Great Groupon today if you know someone who loves to play Paintball.

Paintball Groupon

$59 for Two People to play

Things to do in Denver during the Holidays

 Here is a great link for things to do during the Holidays!


http://www.denver.org/milehighholidays/holiday-events