Where Does The Time Go?

February has been a slow blog month for me. Do you ever feel like you don't have enough time to do the things that you want to do? Or need to do? That's how I've felt this February. I've been busy doing things I enjoy, but then I'm not able to do things that need to be done. And vise versa.

I've been out of town some, worked late, gone to parties, and I've been cooking more since Nick is home for more than a weekend. Even this afternoon I feel like I have 100 things to do, but all I'm going to do is blog, babysit, and work on my school lesson for tomorrow. I might have to clean some since my in-laws are coming later this week.

I'm not an extremely busy person, but my days seem to go by too fast. There are certain things that have to get done by a certain time. School work, grocery shopping, sometimes laundry. Then there are things I want to do, but they often get put off for later or never. Blogging, exercising, watching the TV shows I recorded from last week are all on my to do list.

Part of my time problem is organization. I love organizing things, but I'm bad at keeping those things organized. I can spend days organizing my desk at school only to have that messed up a day later. Same thing with my closet and kitchen. I wish I lived by this phrase, "a place for everything and everything in its place." I like to put everything in a certain place, but I have trouble keeping it there for longer than a few days. This problem leads to bigger messes and the inability to find things when you want them.

While I'm still working on getting some things done (cleaning out my closet, organizing recipes, and shopping) I'll show you what I have gotten done this month.

I took our bag of change to Publix, and turned it into cash. All you do is pour your change into the coin machine, take your receipt to the cashier, and they give you the cash. They kept about 8% of my money, but this bag turned into more than $100! Gather all your loose change. You never know how much you might have!

We painted our bathroom from yellow...

...to blue!

And we started on our next bathroom. Nick has spent the past few days tearing down the wall paper and fixing the wall for us to paint. Hopefully it will be done before our weekend company arrives.

Hall bathroom BEFORE.

Hall bathroom NOW.

Hopefully I'll be able to show you an after picture this week!

On the organization side, I started organizing my photos from the past year. I like to write who is in the photo and when and where it was taken. After this I am putting them in photo boxes in the order they were taken. I am labeling tabs in the boxes by month and year taken. Hopefully I'll be able to keep these photos in their place for a while.

This weekend, I made the Pioneer Woman's lasagna. Sarah Barry gave me her cookbook for Christmas, and it is great! The recipe in the book is a little different from the one on her blog. Instead of parsley flakes (on her blog) the book uses real parsley, and instead of mozzarella slices (on blog) she uses shredded cheese in the book. Both look good. So I guess you can do whatever you prefer. I took pictures to practice food photography, but mine do not compare to the PW's. I have never made lasagna before, and I thought this was great! That Pioneer Woman can really cook!

For bread, I bought a loaf of already sliced Italian bread. I chopped a garlic clove and smashed it with the flat part of my knife. I melted the garlic and butter and brushed it on the bread. Wrapped in foil, I threw it in the oven with the lasagna for about 15 minutes. It was yummy too!

I also baby sat this tiny child. Stephen Small! And he walked all over my house!

Hopefully I'll be able to get more things done in March. After all, I do have spring break to look forward to!

February

February is going by so fast! Most people like to associate February with Valentine's Day. I am not a big Valentine's Day fan! Nothing against those that are, but Nick and I don't buy presents or make a big deal out of it. If anything, we may cook a nice meal. We never want to go out to eat because we always think it will be really crowded. However, this year's Valentine's Day may be my favorite. I'll explain......

Nick has been working in Gainesville, FL, from Sunday to Friday for weeks. He has not spent more than 2 nights at home since the week before Thanksgiving. He was off a week at Christmas, but we spent that time in Mississippi. He drives 5 hours home every Friday, and he drives 5 hours back to Florida every Sunday. It is sad, and I'm ready for him to come home and stay home.

Back to the Valentine's part. I think this was my favorite because:

1. This past weekend I went to see him! Except I did not go to Gainesville, I went to the lovely town of St. Augustine! I'm flew down there Thursday night, and came home today(Valentine's Day).

2. Since I flew on Thursday, I missed school on Friday. We ended up having a 'snow day,' and I did not have to use a sick day (I'll save that for later)! I am also off on Monday because it is President's Day. Missing school is always fun!

3. This is Nick's last week in Gainesville, for a while.

4. The Valentine's Weekend was spent in a fun town with good food. We also stayed in a beach condo! It was too cold to sit on the beach, but the beach is always fun!

5. My parents came with me to St. Augustine! My dad's cousins and aunt live in St. Augustine. We had a really good time visiting and eating with them.

Take a look at our trip:

Our view of the beach. Even though it was cold, it was still pretty to look at.

There was a Wii in the condo. Nick and I played a lot (he always won), but we also got momma to play! They were playing tennis with drinks in hand!

This is my great-aunt Bibba's house. I love old houses with big front porches. The trees surrounding the house are great too. Bibba has lived here for more than 45 years!

These are some other great houses heading to downtown St. Augustine.

Walking around downtown. Palm trees everywhere!

This is a Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine. We toured the inside, and it is beautiful.

More scenery around downtown.Along with palm trees, we also saw a lot of orange trees. Our cousins even had hundreds of oranges sitting on their porch. They picked them to save them from the freeze! How nice would it be to have fresh oranges all the time?Beach pictures! It was cold, but walking on the beach is always great!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope yours was lovely!