He calls me..............GRACE!

Well, have ya missed me? Again? This time I do have an excuse. Stayed tuned!

My husband has many names he lovingly calls me. My given name; my maiden name; baby; biatch (most the times well deserved); judy, judy, with the big ole bootie; and now he's added Grace to his repertoire.

We live in a traditional florida home. One story, block construction, stucco exterior. There is a step up to the front entryway and one down out the back doors to the pool deck. And two little steps leading from the kitchen to our garage. It seems I can do the one step, no problem..........but the two step? Let's just say I won't be doing that Texan dance for awhile now!


*Yes, I know I need a pedi*

Last Wednesday morning I was busy running around trying to get everything going for the 30 people we were having over for Boo Bear's birthday party. I am so a last minute person. I had already done my usual morning routine and had just come in from hanging the laundry on the clothes line. I went to start the baking of the 60 cupcakes and decided I needed a coke to keep me going. Of course I am trying to lose weight so i needed a diet (YUCK) coke and I wanted to splurge on the cupcakes so I had to go to the garage refrigerator because diet soda does NOT deserve prime real estate in my convenient kitchen fridge. Location, location, location!!!

Hmmm, at 8:45 AM, I seemed to have missed the steps and broke my foot. I called my pregnant friend (who ended up delivering two days later) to come help me. I wobbled and hobbled and managed to do all the baking and food prep for the party. Then went to the docs, where I spent the next four hours having no less than 6 docs (sports team med docs) keep asking me, HOW DID YOU DO THIS???? Yup, two stairs.


So now I am laid up for at least 6 weeks, these first two(if I'm lucky, only 2) in a non weight bearing cast. Allow me to remind you I have four children, one of which is a 28 lb., 16 month old WHO DOESN"T WALK. It is also the dogs days of summer!!!!!!!!! And my birthday boy just got HIS cast off last week.

So, that's why he calls me Grace..........and why I've been away. Off to catch up on my google reader reading!!!!!!!!!

Hope your Fourth was as Fun as mine!

We had a great Fourth of July! We had about 20 people over for a shrimp boil. I didn't take any pictures of the party, but here is a little decoration I made the day before:






I used the easy, peasy tutorial The Nester provided. The picture doesn't do it justice......I love it! I hung it on a mirrored vanity I use as a sideboard in my dining room. The vanity is begging to be painted, but I've put her off until the weather is less STIFLING!



One of our guests took this adorable picture of Bunny Boo (with Bugaboo in the background) in all her red, white and blue glory.

What did you do for the fourth????

WFMW: Five Ingredients Or Less Edition

It's Wednesday so I'm putting up a tip and participating in Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer. Today she is asking for favorite recipes using five ingredients or less. It's summer time and any time spent in the kitchen can seem like too much! That's why we love to make cucumber sandwiches. They are perfect as an appetizer or for lunch. You can make up a batch of the cream cheese spread and leave it in your fridge and make the sandwiches on demand all through the week. It's what we call summer living!


INGREDIENTS

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian salad dressing mix
2 loaves French bread, cut into 1 inch slices
2 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
1 pinch dried dill weed

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise and Italian dressing mix. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.

Spread the cream cheese blend onto slices of French bread. Top with a cucumber slice, and sprinkle with dill.


What's for dinner at your house tonight? Go pick a recipe over at Rocks In My Dryer ~ it's sure to be a success.

I'm baaaccckkk......kinda

It's been a long blog break for me, but I am gonna try to begin again. I am finding it difficult to achieve balance with blogging and life.

So here's to fewer posts, shorter posts, and a happy home life!

Drink with me!

"hippie chik designs" is born!

I had a very good friend move to Georgia. We met when our first born boys were babies. We got pregnant at the same time and had girls 2 days apart. I got pregnant with #3 and she waited three months , but not to be outdone, she had twins: a boy and a girl! I finally caught up with Bunnyboo.......and we are forever even! Our kids are very close and were devastated when they moved "home" to Georgia. Georgia is where my friend was from and she met her husband at Georgia Southern University. After marrying, they moved here to his hometown in Florida. She remained a country girl at heart and couldn't wait for the opportunity to move back.



We did everything together and had minds that just worked together. You know what I mean? Once we got those brains going there was no telling how high we could go. It definitely scared our husbands!



We were forever putting all of our kids together, throwing food on the table and getting going on whomever's house we were at that day. Furniture was being moved, closets reorganized, rooms painted, or new recipes tried. One of the things we loved to do together was Yard Sale. We went to plenty and even hosted quite a few! She is taking this to the next step and though I am jealous, she is allowing me to be a part ~ vicariously.




"hippie chik designs" is born. She has opened her own booth at a antique shop in Loganville, Georgia. I am making her start a blog so I can keep track of what she's doing and add my 2 cents! Please go visit her and leave a comment. Tell her what you would buy if you were shopping her booth!



Obviously, if you are lucky enough to live near Loganville, Georgia you MUST hurry over to Bygone Treasures antique mall and buy all her good stuff before someone else gets there!

WFMW: Laundry Quandary

With 6 of us laundry is a daily chore. I do at least a load a day. Most days it's two. So if I didn't get a system it would quickly become overwhelming.

Here is how I solve the Laundry Quandary in Bahama Shores: Laundry Baskets!

Each basket serves a purpose. I have four of these big mamma jammas. In addition each of my older children have smaller baskets. My Man and I have another of the big mamma jammas we use as a hamper. Bugaboo also has her own hamper that is cute and matches her nursery. I also have a traditional basket with the side handles that sits on top of our front loading washer.

Here's the process:

In the morning, the kids bring me their baskets with the dirty laundry in them. They leave their baskets in front of the laundry room door. I drag my hamper over and start sorting the clothes.
We use three of the big mamma jammas to hold clothes once they've been sorted. The one closest to the door holds most colored clothes. The middle basket has whites that WILL be bleached. The last basket is for items that need to be washed in cold water. The basket that resides on top of the washer is for towels and sheets.

Whichever basket is most full gets thrown in that day. If there is more than one brimming, two will get done. Never more than three because I know realistically I won't have time to fold and put away that much. I time them so I am constantly flipping laundry. We upgraded to a front loader and a high efficiency dryer last year, but I am convinced the dryer uses more energy as I usually have to do two cycles to get the clothes dry!

On to the folding! I use the fourth big mamma jamma to bring the dried clothes into the living room. I set up the kids baskets on the trunk and turn on a DVR'd show I've been wanting to watch. I fold the clothes and put them into each child's respective basket. I then take my man and my clothes and any towels, etc. and put them away during commercials. When the kids get home from whatever activity/school they take their baskets to their rooms and put their clothes away. I have trained them to lay the clean clothes out on their beds and sort them into what drawers they go into. Then put them in the RIGHT place. I will do spot checks. With Boo Bear, I still have him come get me once he's organized his piles so I can watch him put them in drawers. When I've been lazy at this step, his drawers have no organization and everything just shoved into whatever space he has. He is also famous for returning clean clothes to the laundry room to be cleaned again instead of putting them away!

They then use their baskets as hampers for the night and everything starts over again the next day. I do the baby's laundry separately for now and so when her hamper gets full I pull it to the laundry room and wash hers in a baby laundry detergent. Then it goes into the big mamma jamma and back to her room where I fold and put it away. I have bought her a basket like the big kids and as soon as I finish this last bottle of baby laundry detergent, she'll be in the rotation!

This is what totally works for me........let me know if you have any questions. If not, go see what works for others at Rocks in my Dryer.

SPT: Home Sweet Home

This week's assignment is Home Sweet Home.

I could have gone with the obvious and taken a picture of our house. However, we are in the process of painting our house and she is currently stripped down and primed. She is showing her private parts and is not comfortable with baring it on the internet.

So in honor of my blog name, I chose to take a picture of the street sign that says home to us. Sweet.

Wave to me if you find yourself doing a driveby! If not, STOP at Amuse~Bouche to see other's homes.