9 Weeks Left and I'm Starting with a Clean Closet

Well spring break is over. It was hard to get mentally motivated to go to school this morning. However, I only have 9 weeks left in this school year!! I'm checking the days off on my calendar.

While on my break I did get a few things crossed off my to do list.

I slept, drank coffee, cleaned, shopped, cooked, gardened, walked. It was fantastic!

Take a look at one of my accomplishments this past week.

Closet Cleaning/Organizing

BEFORE

Shoes all over the closet.

AFTER (may not stay this way for long, but I'll try)
My shoes neatly lined up and in one place. It looks like I have a lot of shoes, and I do. However, many of these are as old as the sweaters I threw out. I couldn't get rid of clothes and shoes in one day.

More on vacuum sealing. I went to Target in search of finding some organizational tool. In honor of my dad, I was looking for some good containers. I found some, along with the vacuum bags.

I filled the bags with big winter sweaters and sweat shirts.

I filled one large bag with at least 17 sweaters. Why do I have so many sweaters?

Then I zipped up the bag and put the vacuum hose to the hole in the middle of the bag. I vacuumed until no more air could escape.

I turned this pile....

into this pile.
Amazing space saver! Now the sweaters can fit at the top of my closet instead of taking up 2 shelves.

See my new containers at the top of my closet in the picture below. They have dramatically helped my closet make over. These containers also come in pink and green.

I tried on everything in my closet. Some things twice. It took 2 days to get this all complete, but it was worth it. However, I have not moved all spring/summer clothes into my closet. I was really just trying to clean up my winter things. The summer clothes will be another day.

Happy Organizing!

The Bathroom of Many Colors

A while ago I mentioned we were painting another bathroom. Well, after a long week of working on it, we (and by we I mean Nick) got it finished in time for our weekend company.

After Nick pulled off the wall paper, spackled most of the wall, taped up the edges of the room, and made 11 trips to Lowes, we picked out some paint samples.

We were trying to match the color of the wall paper, but that didn't look so good. Then we started getting frustrated and just decided to go with brown.

However, this was still a hard decision. Which shade of brown should we choose?

We decided to go with a color that was in the same family as our bedroom. It is called Milk Toast. Good name for a bathroom.

We are happy with it. Take a look.

BEFORE

AFTER

We are taking a break from painting. Our next project is to fix our leaking pool. I can't wait for pool season!

What Have You Been Eating?

This post will hopefully inspire you to cook something, or it may just make you really hungry. Take a look at all the food I've been cooking and eating lately.

Some recipes are provided. Others are not mine to share, or they have already been shared.

Let me start with some food I picked up. Last weekend I ate from Derk's for the first time. For those of you that do not live in Montgomery, Derk's serves a nice plate lunch. Meat and veggies kind of place. They also have a good selection of meats, along with a variety of wine and beer. Nick and I picked up this lunch and some steaks to cook that night.

Our fabulous steak dinner.

We haven't cooked a good steak and baked potato in a while. I like a lot of sour cream on my potato. Below, Nick was proud of the way he cooked our steaks. They were delicious!

Next are some items I cooked when I didn't want to go to the store. So I rummaged around my cabinets and fridge and came up with a few ideas. I always like to keep ground beef or chicken in the freezer for nights like this.

First I made some cheese and chicken quesadillas. For some reason we had a lot of cheese in our fridge. I decided to use most of it on these quesedillas. So I pulled out the chicken, cut it up, and cooked it in a skillet. Then I shredded it apart to put in my quesadilla.

The layering process. I used a lot of cheese!

Cut it into triangles.

Add your favorite toppings.

I have also made some fried chicken fingers.

Whenever I fry something I like to make an assembly line. Start with the meat. Next, dip it in egg and milk mixture. Then dip in dry ingredients.

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

salt

pepper

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

about a table spoon of paprika

a little chili powder

chopped parsley

Assembly line

Tip: When frying I like to use one had for wet and one hand for dry. This makes the process easier and not as messy.

Heat oil in skillet (cast iron is the best), and fry!

Yum!

Oldies but goodies.

Next are some things I have cooked and blogged about before, but they are so good that I had to mention them again.

I recently made my chicken noodle soup. I served it with a good salad and some French bread drizzled with olive oil and toasted in the oven.

I also made what I call Texas Caviar. But you could really call it anything you want. You could also add anything you want to this recipe. I make it by combining all ingredients below, let it sit in the fridge overnight, drain, and eat with scoop Tostitos.

Finally, the sweets!

For 2 different occasions I made dessert. I also have a lot of these left over.

First I made a Chocolate Chip Coffee pie. This is the first pie I have ever made, and it was good! This is not my recipe to share, but by the title you could probably figure out what it includes!

I also made some St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies. Using food coloring is always fun!

Well that is what I've been doing lately. Cooking and eating. Maybe I need to go on a walk now. I also need some new food ideas. What have you been cooking?

SPRING BREAK!

Finally, it's spring break!

Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking. "Being a teacher is so nice/lucky/easy because you get spring break, summers, and all those other holidays off." Well if you had to be around 160 thirteen year old children five days a week you would know that spring break is not only nice to have, but it is necessary!

For this spring break I have big plans! Besides resting at home, watching my TV shows, and going on long walks, I have a few things on my to do list that need to be accomplished this week.

First I would like to organize my recipes. See below. All the papers are different recipes. The book is where I will record them.
Next, I would like to do some yard work. Putting new flowers and herbs in pots are a must!
Third, I want to finish organizing my pictures.

Finally, I am going to cook, exercise, clean my house, relax, and blog!

If you don't get spring break, I'm sorry. If you need a break, come by my house. I'll make you a drink!

More to come soon!