The fruits of my life

I have been wanting to blog about becoming an empty nester for almost a year. I want to not only create a place for me to look back on to see what we did in the early years of our newly found freedom, but also to encourage other women who are in the same nest I am(or soon will be) "I'll have so much more time"    "How will I ever fill my days without my girls here?"    "Will my superman and I get bored with one another?" I truly thought I would have more time!!  2016 was a heck of a year for our family from beginning to end! I hope to share so much with you in my posts from fun adventures we took, crafts we did, restaurants we tried, heartache we endured, and how to make to most of life on a daily basis.  One thing I have found to be true...I don't miss all the laundry

Have you ever sat in front of your TV, watching a cooking show and thought, I can do that....Well, I do that ALL THE TIME. I yell at cooks on Chopped like others yell at football players on Sundays. I think of course, the chef's can hear me. I cheer for the home cooks on Master Chef the same way. I have watched this show the last 6 seasons and am thoroughly engrossed in season 7 at the moment. The season finale is next week . I CAN'T WAIT! I'm pulling for 5th grade teacher Brandi Mudd to win! She's super cute and comes from a background of cooking for her family and friends in much the same way that I do. My love language is definitely food. I truly am my best me when I'm in the kitchen. Cooking for my family is such a joy, and when I get to cook for friends I love to show off. After telling my Superman and girls that I wanted to be on Master Chef for the last....well all of the seasons, I'm doing it. I filled out my registration online today to go to the o...

It's January 29th, a mere one month into the new year and I feel like I am alreay behind. Our youngest darling daughter is graduating this year from high school and a quick 3 weeks later our oldest daughter is getting MARRIED!  Seriously!  I have no idea how this schedule is going to look, we have showers, grad parties, batchlorette party, graduation day, rehearsal dinner, DIY wedding crafts, and the Wedding day itself! I may be sleeping the rest of the month of June. Our girls sure are fantastic and I wouldn't miss a single moment of the craziness that is about to happen.. Here is a quick peek at the photo sessions from both Pumpkin's engagement session and Noodle's Senior pictures...       They're Getting Married in June     She's graduating in May

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What are we eating this week? Here is the link to this weeks menu... WEEK 2 Things have been a bit crazy around here because of a new class I'm taking, Noodle had a gymnastics meet, Pumpkin is directing a one act play and is Crew Head for show choir  and my Superman had to travel to Dallas. Whew! So I haven't had a chance to make any of these dishes yet, but I promise to post them once I do.  So, I started this training class this week called BOLD. It's a cross between sales training and life coaching offered by Keller Williams. I love being a Realtor and want to make sure I am doing the best I can for my past, current, and future clients. Having that said, this class is really challenging me and taking me WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY outside my comfort zone. It requires cheering! For myself. Ick. I was a cheerleader in high school and a year in college, so the concept is not foreign to me, but standing up every hour on the hour in a room with other agents and shouting, yes SH...

I admit it, I love excel. I use it for just about everything I need to keep track of. Time blocking, finances, real estate, and of course my menu and grocery lists. I am on a quest to keep things at my finger tips because this year is going to be crazy with my pumpkin graduating from High School and then going off to college and my real estate business is really booming right now. So instead of re-creating my menu every week I plan to spend the next couple of weeks making a menu with a grocery list (my goal is 10 weeks) and then printing several copies of both. I will keep them in my newly made family menu binder, that will also include take out menus and coupons.  The first two weeks I am taking from my current favorite cookbook "Now Eat This!"by Rocco Dispirito  You can find it here on Amazon.  I used his menu right from the book. Check out my week 1 menu HERE !  I will finish the menu for next week and get it to you next Wednesday....

I wanted to share the photo book Shutterfly helped me create this morning. Can't wait until it arrives.  Click here to view this photo book larger You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books . Start your own today.

I'm not really sure why or when we started calling her Noodle. It could have been when she was still a squirmy little baby or because she was a lanky toddler. Or honestly because her name starts with an N and I was cooking spaghetti for dinner one night and called her that by mistake and it just stuck. Noodle, actually has many nicknames, noodle, nattie, nat nat, nattie no butt (she really hates that one), etc... Regardless of what nickname we call her by, she almost (she's a teenager) always answers with a smile and willing attitude. At the beginning of this school year, superman and I were really worried about how high school would affect her personality. You see our other daughter, uh hem Pumpkin, was quit the punk freshman year. And we were sincerely hoping to not have to endure the frustration again. Much to our surprise, Noodle, has had no suck punkish qualities so far this year. She is loving freshman year and getting involved with band, FCA, theater and orchestr...

Yes, I am a terrible blogger... I have good intentions of getting things posted in a timely manner but...well, life is busy! Just a quick re-cap, today is the first official day of summer break for my girls, so that makes me a momma of a freshman and a senior in high school. Super freaky! Summer is not as laid back as I would like, my sweet pumpkin has a job working at the local lazer tag place and noodle is busy with friends, summer gymnastics practice for high school, and looking for babysitting jobs. The month of May went by in a complete blur. I need to get pumpkin's senior pictures scheduled but her work is creating an issue. I can't  believe I have a senior in high school. I remember doing my senior pictures...wasn't it just a couple of years ago? WOW. So, the kitchen. The room has actually been done for a while, I'm am just slow in sharing. One of the things we did hire out ,is the granite. Here are some pictures: After removing the old counter top, we ...

So I really did have better intentions of blogging more this year, and well as you can see I have it's been a while... I have been abundantly blessed in my job this year. The real estate market is gradually picking up and interest rates are still so incredibly low. It has been a blast helping people sell a current home and buy a new home. I wish I could put into words how excited I am when I see "that look" on my clients face when they walk into "their" house. It's like the desire to do cartwheels tempered with the prospect of making a offer that crosses their faces at the same time. It can almost make me giggle. Then comes my favorite part...the negotiation. I LOVE IT! So, if you or someone you know is looking to buy or sell please pass my name along. I wanted to share a bit today about another question I get quite often... What should I upgrade in my house? How much should I do? I am always happy to come have a look to determine what needs done an...

Have you ever asked yourself this question? "Who am I?" or said "I need to find myself?" This isn't just a question we ask ourselves when we are teenagers or young adults. I find myself asking this question a lot lately. I have been struggling to keep my quiet time with God everyday. I was once so faithful with this and lately I have let other things and business get in the way. I started with a new firm this year and have found it more demanding than my last. While, I have been continually blessed in my busyness I have found difficulty in finding balance. The further I came from spending time daily in God's word and simple talking with Him the more I found myself asking, who am I? This is the week we celebrate Easter. I felt a deep desire to be in the word this week and to renew my commitment to God to spend time with Him daily. To worship Him, to learn more about Him, and live as He asks me to. John 13:3 says; Jesus knew that the Father had put all t...

What happens when 16 women from different states, backgrounds, and generations come together in an amazing house for one long weekend? One Wild Weekend! I think any woman would be excited to have a weekend away. From schedules, requirements, stress, and laundry:) I look forward to this week almost as much as I look forward to date night with my Superman. This annual trip for me came about when my friend Cindy told me I was going with her. This is Cindy and her loving husband Tim: Isn't she just beautiful? Since, this is my blog, and Cindy isn't here to dispute it, here is how I remember the story's beginning. Cindy is my friend and was my girl scout co-leader. We met at an info meeting for scouts and I asked her to help me out with the troop. Because I am a bit of a control freak, I wanted a co-leader to be a fun lady who would have a blast with the girls, and do what I needed done. Which was basically show up and go on fun trips with us. Cindy is...

Am I a tree hugger? Sometimes, I mean I like trees and all, I am thankful for the beautifully breathtaking world we were given to live in, I even recycle most of the time. But as I found myself making household cleaning supplies recently I wondered if I was going granola? As it turns out, I'm just cheap thrifty! My friend Anna told me she had found a recipe to make liquid laundry soap and that it would cost only one cent a load of laundry!!! Holy cow, Tide (my preferred brand) costs me about 50 cents a load. We we decided to do it. It took us about 20-30 minutes to make it and then it needed to sit overnight before we could combine it with more water and put it in our re-usable tree hugging containers (SEE I RECYCLE). We used this recipe: Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value 4 Cups - hot tap water 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar 1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda * ½ Cup Borax - Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir ...

Wednesday nights right now are the only night that we have with nothing going on. No kids to drive around and no commitments! Check out our calendar... I have had to color code every person in our family. For example, I am pink (of course), Superman is blue, My pumpkin is green, and Noodle is purple. Then family/church stuff is in orange, Birthdays are in aqua, and immediate things to do is red. Seriously? It's super chaotic! Some weeks I don't know how we will accomplish everything and others run smoothly. The usual hiccups come when something extra enters the scene. For example, a meeting at school for one of the girls, or kids that want to decorate a couch (more on that Sunday), or, well, anything that isn't a already known about! Wednesday's are 2-3 cups of coffee days. (Mostly because I LOVE coffee an unhealthy amount.) While say, our busiest day, Thursday, is more like 5 or so cups of coffee. I am doing my best to balance my coffee with water but Thursda...