It's snowing here...a lot!

The past few days have been downright BORING! We've been stuck inside with colds and paralyzed by the fact that outside is covered in snow. I don't mind driving myself in the snow, but I really don't like to take my son as I don't trust the other drivers. We typically don't get a whole lot of the white stuff here in the greater Seattle area, but we do get a bit. This past week I would venture to say we have had more snow that all of last year combined. Don't quote me on that though, I didn't do any research. :)

We started the week off on an ok foot, we did our normal activities on Monday. Tuesday we had school and although it was only 25 degrees or so and snow was on the ground, the kids had a great time. Wednesday school was cancelled because of the "threat" of snow and wouldn't you know it...nothing fell. It was 35 degrees and the roads were better than the day before but we didn't have school. Late that night, the powder fell and fell and fell and fell. We didn't have school the next day or the rest of the week. We officially started winter break almost a full week early!

Why are we not taking advantage of the hills and going sledding you ask? Well, that's because we aren't prepared here in casa de la smalltowncitygirl. We haven't been boot shopping this year yet, we haven't purchased any of the sledding equipment that we promised ourselves we would be getting this year, and we have colds! YUCK! I have it the worst of everyone. I haven't been sleeping well because I cough myself silly and wake up DH. So, I've been sleeping on the couch...yippie!

As I'm typing, we are having more snow fall. It really is beautiful out and I love the quiet that the snow brings with it. It's as if the world is being insulated. It's really something. I'm hoping that this lovely virus that is infecting my body will pass with the weekend...keep your fingers crossed for me. Then we're off to shop for boots and sleds. Hopefully the stores still have something!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Our goofy little tree.

After trying and trying to rearrange our furniture to fit our tree in the same place we had it last year, I gave up!

Here's the problem: I made curtains over the summer and blocked off about half of the light from our front window by doing so. But I made up for it when we moved the couch away from said window and put it agains the brick red wall as seen in the picture. We have space for the tree in front of the window now, but i was afraid that the dog would knock the tree over every time she tried to look out the window. I didn't want to deal with that. I tried to combat this issue by moving the couch back in front of the window so I could put the tree against the red wall like we always do. When the furniture was all in place, I went out to get the mail. When I came back inside, it was like walking into a dungeon!

Here's the solution: I decided to put my furniture back to it's original position and just get a smaller tree! So, I hopped myself and DS into the minivan and headed to Walgreens where we purchased ourselves a very sweet 4.5 foot artificial tree with lights already strung. I put that little guy up right on top of our endtable and we LOVE it! I think it's one of the cutest trees we've had yet.

Here's the outcome: What do you think?



I still have to put more presents under it, but not too shabby so far.

Do you all put up a real tree or do you go the artificial route like me?

Kid free weekend = SUCCESS!

This past weekend was blissful! Hubby and I had a kid free weekend. That's right, Friday evening to Sunday afternoon without the interruption of our son. It was fantastic!

My MIL picked up our son Friday after she got off of work and took him out to dinner, the next day was on to the science center and walking all around the city. He had a great time. The highlight for him was the bus ride to the science center! He has wanted to ride a bus FOR_EV_ER!! And he finally got to.

Our weekend was much less active but none the less exciting!

Friday evening, we got Chinese take out and some movies. We ate dinner at our table and got to talk about adult things without censoring them. We finished dinner, and had no dishes...woo hoo! We then watched Baby Mama, had popcorn and snuggled on the couch. Sappy I know!

Saturday, hubby had to work so I got to spend the day doing whatever I wanted! I slept in until 9:15!! Grabbed Starbucks and headed for Kohls. I bought myself a new handbag, wallet and some jewelry. It was so quiet for me. I also headed over to Target...and got to skip looking at the cars for once! Strolled on into Cost Plus World Market and then headed to the grocery store. It was a wonderful day to myself. When hubby got home, we decided to eat the Chinese left overs and watched Drillbit Taylor and had popcorn again.

Sunday morning, I went walking (at 6:30 am) with my friend like we always do so that Hubby could sleep in too. When I got home, we went out to breakfast and then visited the new mountain bike park. I was really impressed with the area! We then headed over to MIL's to have dinner and pick up DS. He was so happy to see us, which was nice. But he did have a great time.

Looks like we all did. As much as you love your family, it's sometimes really nice to have a break. Especially when you get to spend some kid free time with your spouse. It makes you realize why it is you like the person.

Our weekend was a SUCCESS!

Soooo tired....

I have not been sleeping well lately. I think it's because hubby and I are in desperate need of new pillows. I really need to just go out and pick some up. Bbut silly me...I'm having a really hard time justifying the expense. Do you know that a good pillow can cost in the upwards of $20+? Come on! That's a bit much. I've had my share of the cheapo pillows though and they just aren't the same. I really need to just break down and buy new pillows.

Have a favorite brand? Please share. I want to be off to the land of nod quickly and stay there for a looooonnnnnngggg time.

Oh yeah, I have a four year old. That's not going to happen any time soon. :(

Well, one can dream right?

So what? I like to make things!

My hubby often time teases me about being "Amish". Now mind you, I would have thrived had I actually been born Amish and I would LOVE every minute of it. But he teases me none the less.

I'm a very crafty person. I enjoy working with my hands and creating something from a pile of stuff that isn't really anything on its own. I love cooking, crochetting, scrapbooking and just plain old crafting. I'll try just about anything once.

Recently a friend told me about a friend of hers that has started making her own laundry soap. I thought the idea sounded great and decided to try it. Let me be the first to tell you that if you haven't tried it, you should! The stuff is fabulous! You can find the recipes here. I personally used recipe #4. I think at some point I may try one of the liquid types, but for now the powdered one is sooooooo easy, I think I'll stick to it. I'm on my second batch and I still have supplies left from my original purchase. I've been completely happy with the results of this detergent and have passed on the recipe and a sample to my mom, MIL, and several good friends. I also tried the white vinegar in the rinse cycle to remove any leftover soap residue (it actually acts as a fabric softener surprisingly) but it does leave a slight vinegar smell in my clothes so I put one dryer sheet in with the load in the dryer. Another GREAT side effect of the vinegar in the rinse cycle is that it will brighten your clothes like no body's business! I was shocked! The whites were whiter and the colored clothes were brighter. I love the whole idea homemade laundry soap and vinegar rinse.

In addition to making my own laundry soap, yesterday I was perusing the grocery store and came across plastic freezer jam containers by Ball. These were located right next to the SureJell. I thought they were cute and decided to buy some. So I did and I bought the SureJell too. I already had strawberries in my cart so I was well on my way to homemade jam! My mom has preserved jam and jelly for our family for years and it always tastes better than store bought varieties. This combined with the fact that my 4yo will not eat jam with "chunks" made it really easy for me to decide that I wanted to try and make my own jam. I'm calling it jam even though it doesn't have "chunks" because I did use the whole fruit (not juice) but I did puree the crap out of it so as to remove any trace of "chunk". This process was soooooo easy again and it made me 6 cups of jam. I put one in the refrigerator and the other 5 plastic Ball containers in the freezer for later use. My son was so excited to see that I was making him special jam that he asked me for a PBJ for dinner last night. I of course declined because the jam had not finished setting. :) The whole process to make this jam took about an hour. Not too bad for homemade jam! I will do it again. The recipes come inside the SureJell and they give you lots of ideas for different varieties. I think I might make some up for gifts at Christmas too.

I know that being Amish is a lot harder than just making homemade soap and homemade jam, but I think they have the right idea and I might adapt more of their simple living lifestyle. Not only do I get to be "crafty" but I end up with something useful out of the deal too...and I save a bit of money in the process. Not too bad for a days craft.