Five and a Half

Charlee's favorite statement to announce to strangers, friends or anyone is.

"I am five and a half."

A fact she learned from her cousin Luke and now it is her mission to announce it to the world.

And oh, did you notice her orange cheek?  On picture day she snuck a carrot with her into the car and ate it like corn on the way to Pre-K and has the mark to show it.  Never boring, or predictable!

Sewing with 5 Year Old

In the middle of the selling, and moving chaos we stopped to do a little sewing.  Charlee was so excited she got to use Grace (the name of my sewing machine). 

I love teaching her new things and watching her learn.  She is slow but percise.  She is more patient then me.

We measured and cut out the fabric for our project

Then we did the pinning. Because you have to learn the basics right.

Look at those big 5 year old girl hands practicing sewing straight. And that foot pushing in the pedal

We took it slow and steady she kept it on the right seem allowance.  It took a little over an hour.  Time well spent.

Charlee's first sewing project was a little pillow for her Birth Mom Elle, she was so excited to give it to her.  I messed up the finish edge, but Charlee's seams were perfect.

I am so glad I took a moment out of my craziness right now to do this.  Who knows maybe next time we'll attempt a pillow case.  Sorry we are not taking any orders right now, and will not be opening an Etsy shop . . . yet.

For Sale

“Nothing happens until the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change”– Arthur Burt.

The past 10 months we have been getting ready to put our house on the market.  That is a job!  Now that the excess furniture is in storage, the unused items are boxed, some walls have been repainted.  We get to have a nifty little For Sale sign in our yard. 

You can see all the details here.

With a busy husband, a 5 year old only in preschool and also a job, this has been a work in progress.  The hardest part has been the emotional good bye.  

This is our first home, we were only married 4 years when we bought this home.  It is Charlee’s first home, and Fred’s first home.  The parties, the get togethers and just hanging out, with friends and family.  So many memories created in these walls. We have loved this home, it has been our sanctuary from the world.

I have scrubbed and shined every inch inside and out, sometime with my tears, this house has been a blessing in our life.  It’s time for this home to be a blessing for others. 

There are new friends to meet, new memories to create and a new place to live.  Where that is we don’t know yet.  Once we have said our farewell to this home and welcomed the new owners in, we will find our next home. 

Please share if you know someone wanting to live in a great neighborhood, with an amazing ward family and an amazing view.

For all my Auditing Friends & Their Spouses - Enjoy the BS (busy season)

It Only Took Me 15 Years to Make DInner

**UPDATE**  comments fixed.  Leave a comment for your chance to win a Fresh 20 Cookbook

Well, FRESH, healthy and great dinners.   I have always struggled with meals.   I did do the freezer meals  (1 day cooking 28 meals frozen), a few times.  I liked them but I would not do them every month.

My mother in law has taught me a lot about cooking; I could do a large meal for a large family.  I have found great recipe’s for when we had friends or family join us.  I just could not climb the “wonderful dinner every night” wall. 

I knew I was not up to the mustard as a cook is when I had my Young Woman Class over for a “how to prepare the meal activity”, I handed Whitney a box of scalloped potatoes.  She held the box and blinked, she said “I have never made anything out of a box before.”  WHAT?  When its made in your kitchen its home made right?  

Yeah that day I learned I was falling short in the cooker department.  (Charlee calls chefs cookers.  So now it is in my vocabulary).

6 months ago the heavens parted, the angels sang and I discovered
The Fresh 20 Meal Plan.
 I was listening to the For Crying Out Loud Podcast and Melissa Lanz was sharing about her Meal Plan The Fresh 20. 
5 MEALS,
made from 20 FRESH INGREDIENTS,
feeds 4 PEOPLE ,
meal plan,
emailed weekly with SHOPPING LIST,
 and NUTRTIONAL INFORMATION. 
For $5 a MONTH.  
You can choose between CLASSIC, GLUTTEN FREE or VEGETARIAN.
Click the Link to get all the details.

I have tested this for 6 MONTHS, (that’s 24 weeks, or 120 dinners) and I am never going back.  It has seriously changed my life.  I am not exaggerating.  Along with great recipes, and shopping lists, my favorite part is the step-by-step guide.  I have learned how to cook, how to sweat the veggies and why that is different then sauté.  Cooking without the box is better when you are walked step by step.  Karst, has liked most of the meals and he is eating a lot more veggies.

 

The first few weeks before going to the grocery store I would google image some of the items I did not recognize to know what I was looking for at the store.   But after awhile I have the hang of it.  

3 weeks after starting the menu plan I went through my cupboards and gave all my boxed and processed food to the food bank.  Knowing the Fresh 20 Recipes are designed for 4 people, I use the suggested serving size for portion control.  We usually have the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Over the last 6 months I have been replacing my old kitchen tools for newer, more appropriate versions.    By the way Harmons Grocery Store here in Utah has had all of  THE FRESH 20 ingredients, plus a lot of kitchen gadgets that make prep work easier.  My pantry now holds items like Barley, Orzo, Brown Rice, Couscous, Grape Seed Oil, Kosher Salt (it is NOT the same as table salt), and Quinoa.

We have not loved everything we have tried.  But I learn about different foods and recipes’ with each one I try.  Just last week I made pancakes – from scratch!  I have made homemade Humus, Chicken Milanese, Shrimp Scampi, and Tuscan Soup all from scratch.  I liked some of these recipes enough to make again to share with friends or family.  The first month we would sit down to eat and I would ask Karst to guess how many bottles or cans I opened to prepare this meal, and the answer was usually 0 or maybe 1 (black beans).  (my instgram "wyomingmade" has more pictures of what I have made #thefresh20)

There is a prep guide, what you can prepare a few days before to help with meal prep time.  For the most part, I am able to get the meals from, ingredients to the table in 30-40 minutes.  

One of my favorite things about making dinner now is, Charlee is by my side, both of us in our aprons, her stirring me cutting and chatting away.  And someday when someone hands her a box, she can look confused because WE DO NOT COOK FROM BOXES!

In April Melissa Lanz released her first cookbook: The Fresh 20 Cookbook.  Of course you can buy it on Amazon and Barns and Noble.  The cookbook has a seasonal meal plan, 16 meal plans, 150 dinners. I however will be picking up my copy in the next week at The Kings English.  I will pick up a 2^nd copy to give away.  

Want my second copy? 

1) leave a comment about the last boxed meal you made 

2) convince me why you deserve the book (ie you have ate cold cereal for dinner more than once in the last month).

I paid for my menu plan with my hard earned; money and I will be buying the books with my own hard earned money.   I want to share with you what has changed my life and not because I was bribed or "encouraged." 

Your welcome to join my family any night for dinner . . . just remember if I cook you get to clean up after me and us cookers know how to make a mess, be ware.

Thanks Melissa Lanz and The Fresh20 team, you have changed my life!

W H Y ?

What if you got the chance to get your WHY question answered, completely and to your understanding, but it would only be one question.  Which would it be?


W H Y?
don't I crave spinach like I crave chocolate?
do people bug me?
can't I be nice to the people who bug me?
doesn't Charlee sleep for 12 hours?
are some people empty vessels, that need acceptance, get acceptance, but are still unfilled?
can't I keep up on my home the way I expect too?
can't I keep in touch with the people I want to?
do I get mad at my husband for things that are not his fault?
does it cost so much to live?
do we work too much, watch every penny and don't feel like we are getting ahead?
are people so nosy?
can't I ask someone for help when I need it?
do 49% of unplanned pregnancies to single women between the ages of 18 and 40 end in abortion and less than 1% end in adoption?
do I want to sell all my baby things and move to the next phase?
can't my car stay clean for just 2 days in a row?
doesn't my body adjust better to a low calorie diet?
am I afraid of showing my tender thoughts?
can't I just be grateful for all I have and enjoy?


Answers anyone?  Oh that's right these are my problems I get a lifetime to work on, and either I will figure them out or I will move on.

When a 4-year-old Finds a Feather

A few weeks ago, Charlee figured out, if you press really hard into a feather pillow you could pull the feathers out.  She was obsessed with this.  Of course we explained this was not a good thing, there was some time out done.  We hoped she would get over it.  

Daily, her and I laid down for some quiet time.  Books are read, the timer is set, no one gets out of the bed until the timer goes off.  Sometimes she falls asleep, sometimes I fall asleep.  The timer goes off I wake up, she wakes up, and we go on with our day. It had worked well for about 6 months.

About a month ago, the timer goes off, she is very quiet, I think she is probably asleep so I lay there for a few moments, I can tell she is moving around.  I look over and this is what I see.

It isn't even the whole pillow, maybe just half.  It is one of my older pillows so I figure she pulled a feather through and the seam tore.

 Charlee is loves it; she is feeling all the feathers, talking to me about how soft they are.

I cannot wrap my head around this mess.  I don't even know where to start, so I grab the camera, because really who is going to believe this story?  I need proof.

 Holy Shit was said a hundred times, under my breath.

 She stood up and it went everywhere.  I am on the phone with Karsten, I sent him pictures and he did not understand what was going on.  He came home.  I started cleaning up.  Half the problem was they were so light, that when you tried to grab a handful the feathers would move.  I filled up 1 garbage bag, 2 vacuum bags we did laundry at the house and I took the large bedding to the laundry mat.

Even though it has been a month I am still finding stray feathers under things.  Just walking around you would look down and feathers were stuck to your legs.  UGGH.  

Of course I shared this on facebook and instagram, because this story is made for social media.  

Here is a bonus for you blog readers, something I did not share on face book.  2 days after the incident in my bedroom, we are driving up to Heber and she throws up all over the back of my car, she had ate chocolate milk, cereal and a granola bar.  Yes a piece of me died cleaning that up in 10 degree weather. 

2 days after getting sick in the car, I opened her door Monday morning to see this

Charlee had done it again.  My sweet little 4-year-old TORE OPEN ANOTHER PILLOW!

 She bit a hole in the seem until she could get her fingers in there and pull.

The first time I thought it was an accident, I never imagined she would try to open a pillow. I thought it was an accident.  The second time, there was no smiling and playing.  

So for a month she has not gotten any new toys or treats at the store since that money goes to new pillows.  

I thought I was over this but just looking at the pictures makes my stomach spin.  

Are We Still Friends?

Seriously you have been neglected!  Their are 2 MAJOR things that keep me from posting as I wish.  I have over 30,000 pictures on my hard drive and my poor little MacDaddy which is now 5 years old can not handle too much.  When I have time to be on the computer I am moving pictures to other drives and organizing them.

2nd is it is not easy to do updates from my phone.  I can post one picture at a time or have no edit options.  GRR.  I have been thinking of switching to another blog to make this easier.  I am sad to say my Facebook is more current then my blog, (my head is hung in shame).

If you have any suggestions on how I can resolve these issues quicker and get back to real blogging please bring it on.

A few highlights for now:

Us 

To Charlee's delight Santa brought her too much for Christmas

Charlee is a Wyoming girl, she lives for the snow and finds every chance to get cold outside.

Charlee makes a great tree.  She is LOVING her pre school, and has a blast there.

Charlee turned 4 and per her request she got a cow cake.  She enjoyed every bite.

More posts to come!!

huh? blog? I have a blog? oops I forgot

Poor little neglected blog, you look so sad.  We have been doing so much lately and I have been working on our home and blah blah blah this blog is not on fire so it keeps getting moved to the bottom of the to do page.  Here are some random pictures that should have been posted months ago.

For us Summer was:
Cousins
Trips
Sunshine
Extra Sassy

Why Dance? Why Now?

Since 2010, has been to a few dance recitals, to watch friends.This is how Charlee started her persistence in being in dance.  

Along came the potty training escapade, which was not going so well.  I told her if she could keep her panties dry, she could start going to dance class.  When she would go to the recital I would point out that none of those girls were wearing diapers.  She was interested and tried a little better but the hook wasn't there yet.

So I took her to the dance studio, she watched other kids her age learning and playing.  Again I pointed out that she would have to keep her panties dry to be able to go.  I grabbed a form, put on our calendar how many days she would have to be dry before I would fill out the form and when the next class was that she could go.  10 days, she did it no accidents.  I felt we were finally there.

After her first class

Charlee went to her first class and loved it and the kids.  She knows when dance class is each week and looks forward to it.

After each class she passes out

Dance . . . Dance . . . Dance . . .

Every Tuesday she went, running in there excited to see her dance teacher and her friends. She is learning how to be in a class setting, and following directions, in a fun setting.  For a 3 year old she does pretty good, but she is easily distracted by other things and playing with the kids.  Miss Tami her dance teacher is very patient with the little kids and helps to keep her focused.

Charlee with Miss Tami her dance teacher

She does a tumbling class and then a ballet/jazz class.

Charlee showing off her almost hand stand

Time to Shine

The beginning of June she had her first recital, we were gone the week before so she missed the two dress rehearsals.  When the time came she got on stage with her friends and tried to remember what to do.  There were no tears and she did not freeze, that is success at her age. 

After her dance she got a medal from Miss Tammi

Papa brought her a rose to celebrate her success.

Don't Stop Now

As long as she is having fun and enjoying it, we will continue to let her dance.  No more classes until September.   As far as the potty training, it is better then what it was, its not 100% yet.