For sale...

{First, before you check out what I have for sale, I apologize for the picture quality! It was a snapshot from my phone and does not do it justice for how beautiful it is. I wasn't thinking and gave it away before I took a better picture of it. Trust me, it is beautiful! I am sure the people who saw it vouch for me. I will update with a new picture as soon as possible.}

"Lead me, guide me, walk beside me."

9"x11"

Wooden plaque

Hand crafted

Hung with a cream ribbon (not shown)

Black plaque, cream letters, distressed finish with a glossy top coat

These are a perfect holiday gift!

$12.50 plus shipping and handling, unless you are local.

 In that case I can deliver.

If you are interested please contact me at joncasfam at gmail dot com

Boy after my own heart...

In so many ways Bode is just like Jeremiah.

He is kind.

Loves to be around people.

Very social.

He is loud.

Has twinkly blue eyes.

He and Jeremiah share so many facial expressions.

But in this one area I have one way he is like me...

Every meal can be made better by making it into a sandwich!

I have been doing this forever.

Oatmeal sandwiches, egg sandwiches, spaghetti sandwiches,

basically anything is better between bread.

Bode has caught onto this wonderful truth.

This day the sandwich was a spaghetti-o sandwich.

(I miss bread... 3 more weeks then I can have some)

Then there is this little stink.

She is a pure terror...I mean... delight in our home right now.

She is 20 months old and has been going through the terrible 2's since about 16 months.

Oh how I love this little girl.

She tries my patients, pulls the books out of the book shelf,

 and unrolls all the toilet paper, but I wouldn't trade her for anything.

Her hair is slowly growing in.

I can flip it out with the curling iron and put a little clip in it.

She calls it her "purries" aka pretties.

It stays all cute and curled for all of 10 mins before it falls flat.

She sure looks cute for 10 mins though.

I finished my 21 days of HCG drops and 500 cal diet. Yay! In all I lost 16 pounds. I didn't cheat once and I am very happy with my results. Now I get to slowly add in more calories and eat yummy food again. Well all except sugars and starches. So no sandwiches for me. I do this part for 3 weeks then I get to start adding them back in. It has been hard but worth it. I am so ready to go to the gym and eat food again!

Take a tour...

I was planning on doing my "10 on 10" day on the tenth but it morphed into a house tour instead.

So here everybody, take a tour of our new house...

Walking through the front door.

I have plans to paint the cabinet and tweak it a bit, but for now this will do.

Right off the entry way there is a half bath, a closet and a laundry room.

I LOVE my new washer and dryer. They make doing laundry to quick and easy. Now I just need to find a laundry folding machine and we will be good.

The living room.

I like this space. It is so great to have a room that is kid and toy free. It almost always looks like this except for the mounds of laundry that pile up on the couch. Again I need a laundry folding machine. I am going to add some curtains or some kind of window treatment to the big window.

 I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I have a love hate relationship with the fire place. I love the idea of it. It is pretty, decorating it for the holidays will be so fun. It will be a picturesque Christmas eve with a fire going but other than that I don't really care to much for it. It takes up valuable space. Space that would have been perfect for my piano (which is currently resting in  my little sister's living room for 2 years until I have space for it again). The big hole above the mantle is hard to decorate and really, who needs a fire place in the desert of Arizona?

The kitchen is my favorite. It is big and inviting. We are having Thanksgiving at my house this year and I am excited to have my mom, sisters and sister-in-law's over to cook in in the kitchen. The only minor glitch is the fridge... it is tiny. I am currently looking to replace it with something bigger.

One thing that had to be addressed as soon as we moved in was the big arcadia door. At night it turns into a big black whole from the inside, which creeps me out, and a big open peep show for the neighbors. Before we moved in I knew I was going to need to get big curtains for that window. I looked online  and check out a few fabric stores just in case I decided to make them. Either way it was going to be expensive. With that much yardage buying fabric was out of the question. So I started looking for curtains. I found these at the JC Penny home store for 60% off. yay! I really dragged my feet with them though. I bought them and almost took them back. I was afraid that people would think that plaid curtains were to country. But heck! I love them. They are so very me. And if "me" is a plaid country girl then so be it. I love my big plaid curtains :)

Up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs is the computer area. To the left is the kids bathroom. Although they prefer our bedroom. Probably because it has a pool aka a big tub.

Then there is the loft/playroom/family room/ preschool area. The kids trash this room everyday. I could care less, it is up stairs and I don't have to step over toys all day since it isn't the main living area.

Then there is Bode's room. He loves it. He is particularly proud of the "Radiator Springs" signs They are the traffic signs he picked out at Hobby Lobby. Soon we will be moving the white sleigh bed out of  his room and into Laine's room where it belongs. But that requires getting a new bed for Bode and getting Laine out of her crib. I am not ready to do either of those things so it will stay how it is for now.

Then there is Laine's plain room for now. Next spring when she graduates into a big girl bed we will decorate it more. Right now she could care less. I am however very excited to get together her Christmas present this year. It will add some fun to her room.

Finally we have the master bedroom. It is full of boxes, unhung pictures and laundry.

 So we will save that for another day.

Bloggers block...

I have sure lacked in the blogging department these days. I am going though some writer's block or more accurately called Bloggers Block. I haven't taken any picture lately, no funny stories, just life. So here you all go. A whole post about life.

Unpacking has been going s-l-o-w. I have the house fully functional and decorated. I love it. But the garage, closets and cupboards are another story. They are a MESS. I have no idea where to put a ton of stuff. Books, old papers, lots of craft supplies and holiday decorations to name a few things. We are going to have to build some shelves to make things more functional around here. The kids love their rooms. They love the loft area. I love it too. It can be a total mess up there and the whole bottom floor in clean. So nice to not be stepping over toys all day!

Jer's new work days are great. I love having him home on the weekends. Have I said that before, yes. Will I say it again, yes.

I wasn't going to blog about this but since it is all my poor brain can think about I guess I will. I have been doing the HCG diet. I have heard only good things about it so last July I bought a bottle. We moved in August and I decided it wasn't a good idea to start a strict diet right in the middle of moving. Boy, I am glad I didn't make that mistake, because seriously, this is one strict diet. It is 21 days of HCG drops along with a very low, I am talking 500 calorie, low diet. And can I just say that is works! I started 10 days ago and have lost 9.6 pounds since then. Putting me at 156.4 pounds. It feels great to feel good in my clothes and dare I say that my jeans are too big for me right now. I hope to loose another 6 pounds. *fingers crossed* All that good stuff out of they way, here comes the cruddy part...

I HATE the diet part. I know that no diet it easy, but this one is especially tough. There are very few food choices. The HCG makes me not hungry, but that hasn't taken away from the want of food. I cannot stand the thought of eating another piece of chicken. gag. Cooking for my family has been the pits. Everything smells so good and looks even better. I also feel very moody. Sorry husband. I nearly went into a crying fit because I wanted to eat a sandwich so bad. (ridiculous, I know) I have 11 more days of HCG drops, then 3 days of a continued 500 cal diet. Then is it on to 3 week of no sugar or starches. So basically the 1 phase of South Beach. Then after the 3 weeks I can start adding in regular foods.  

I am really quite proud of myself. I have not cheated once. I know this is a drastic diet. But after months of going to the gym and trying to reduce my calories and not loosing a pound. I needed to do something drastic. I am very excited for the HCG part to be over so that I can go back to the gym. It is a nice release to go run and lift weights.

I started preschool this morning. I really enjoyed doing it. I have 4 kids and I think it will all work out great. I have too many fun things planned for this year.

I am getting back in to my crafty mood. It is just too hot to be a crafty and cozy in the summer. Not that it is any cooler right now, but I can feel the shift of the weather and now we are going to start cooling down. I have been craft blog hopping and have made an ever growing list of fun fall crafts to make. I think I am even going to have a Fall Swap party at my house this year for a bunch of ladies I know. It is going to be a fun fall season :)