Menu Planning Monday...

Well last week was a semi success!! We went out to eat once and ended up just skipping over dinner once AND even though I went to the grocery store with a list I still managed to forget sweet potatoes for my sweet potato chicken enchilada, oops. So here goes...

Monday: Sweet Potato Chicken Enchilada

Tuesday: Shepherds Pie

Wednesday: Pineapple Pork Chops (going to try something brandy new every week I decided!)

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (this was excellent last time)

Saturday: Valentines Dinner out at the Melting Pot!

Sunday: Breakfast For Dinner

Monday: English Muffin Pizza's

Besides the menu planning today we have on tap

1) Clean bedrooms and kitchen

2) unpack 1 (maybe 2 not going to push it though) Tote

3) Make our Valentines!

4) Register for Tumbling Tykes

So time to get started!

Oakwood in the Wintertime

Today the weather was so wonderful (at least compared to what it has been...) I had the opportunity to go out with a friend and check out a cemetery that has been on my list of places to go to for a very long time now. Oakwood Cemetery in Troy NY is supposed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the State (possibly the country? not sure on that one but I will look it up later!). But that aside this place is simply beautiful, the architecture is amazing and the carvings on most of the stones is just incredible.

Now since we have gotten all of the snow and ice lately alot of the cemetery was off limits simply because we didn't want to trek through all the mess (though it didn't stop us from trying to find a cache...more on that in tomorrow's post) but we did get to find Uncle Sam's grave (yes THE Uncle Sam...he was a real person...) and alot of amazing architecture along the way.

This cemetery totally gave me new meaning for the word Hugemongous :) from the vantage points that we got to the place seemed to just go on for ever and ever, truly a city for the dead. And all we got to see today was a small portion of it. We do have plans to go back however in the spring time, when all the trees are blooming. Then we can make the trek over the hills and see the mausoleum section which I am told is simply incredible, where the mausoleums seem like mini mansions.

A little tid bit...

It's late and I'm tired, so I am just going to leave this little tid bit...

It's pretty amazing how a decent fitting bra and a great friend can brighten your entire day.

Maybe I will elaborate on that in another post...then again maybe I wont :)

Friday Firsts - Sledding!

Last Sunday the weather finally cleared up enough for us to take Cassie out sledding for the very first time! Over all I think she enjoyed it, though she certainly did not appreciate being dragged through daddy's foot prints :) once we got to where it was smooth sailing she was good to go (and or whenever she noticed mommy with the camera she was also all smiles...).

This was also the first time that we let her down to walk around outside, at first she didn't know what to think of the incline on the drive way, but she soon got the hang of it and was running all over the place

And I just had to post this video (don't worry there is no sound with it your speakers are (probably) working fine) It is best when viewed full screen then you can really see how displeased she was with being dragged through Daddy's foot prints...until she sees Mommy with the camera...I thought it was a classic :)

Plans and Progress - Basement edition

Well turns out we are making pretty good progress on our basement makeover. Thanks to my Grandfather and Matt we almost have all of the framing work done for the family room side! Cant do much of anything on my Mom's apartment side until we get a bit of a thaw (and all the snow gone) so we can have someone come and give us an estimate for her entrance.

So like I said we have been going straight forward getting everything framed out for the family room side, and incidentally my mom's bathroom :). Next up is getting all the plumbing ran, and/or reran, and the electrical followed by the sheetrocking.

So I am going into design mode. And since this last Snowstorm threw us a major curve ball in the form of a non-working snowblower and we had to take a chunk out of our budget to replace said snowblower (because seriously. not. shoveling. that driveway of ours :) and we are in need of a heat oil delivery for which the delivery truck needs to make it up the driveway) looks like we are going to really have to chomp down on that budget and find some really spectacular deals!

Such as this one :)

We are planning on making the family room a kind of a fun zone with games and what not so I came up with the idea of putting a swing down there...Matt took it one step further and said lets not do one but two and not have them stationary but put them on tracks so you can move them around...Well I went searching and the ones we originally liked were around $70-$80 soooooo not in our budget!

Then I found this lovely....perfectly priced at $16 so I ordered two :)

They may be plain and white right now, but I figure with a little bit of DIY TLC I can turn them into something fun and colorful like this ($80 chair from Better Homes and Gardens)

And while we (ok I) are (am) talking seating arangements, we were planning on having a bunch of bean bags down stairs (again going with the fun theme), but I was searching online today and holy schmoly, those things are pretty expensive for a decent size one...We will keep it in mind, however I seriously don't think we should be paying $100 a piece for some chairs (still cheaper {and more fun} than a couch though in retrospect).

I did find this though (also $100 and didn't really get great reviews) ...

The thing that I liked the most about it is that it unzips and lays out flat turning into a "bed" pretty neat huh? I think the design looks pretty straight forward so again I am going to look into going the DIY route and price out what fabric and foam filling would cost to make my own (and therefore also fix the issues that people who bought the pictured item didn't like). It reminds me alot of the "spare bed" my grandma Handy made for my dad that I got to use for all my sleep overs. And having two girls we wont be having *any* of those in the future now will we :)

Wordless Wednesday - For the love of Snow and/or Sparkly Red Shoes

28 in 28?? Sure why not...

All right I may be the last one on board, but here goes nothing...28 posts in 28 days? we shall see...

A friend of mine, Miss Mandy over at Big City Baby has issued a challenge to post one blog post a day for the entire month of February...February being the shortest month of the year I figured I would give it a shot :) and given the fact that 3 of my other friends...KC, Alisha, and Janelle have also taken up the challenge I will have constant reminders to post!

So who knows, it may just be a sentence or picture. But at least it will (hopefully) get me using my brain for a couple minutes every day!