Welcome home!

So, I haven't posted on here in a while...oops!

Change of plans! A while back I posted that we would be staying in the same apartment we are in now for a while, but that has all changed :)

While doing laundry at my friend Grace's house Tuesday, I noticed a "for rent" sign for another townhouse in her neighborhood. We decided to take a look, and scheduled an appointment to go see it. We showed up at the townhouse a few minutes ahead of the scheduled 1:00pm appointment (hubby is always early) and we waited. And waited. Nobody else ever showed up. Nick noticed that somebody was in the house and was looking at us through a window, so we rang the doorbell. It turns out it was the current tenant, who had heard nothing from the landlord about our appointment. We didn't even go inside, and we didn't care to. Who wants a landlord who doesn't show up to your appointment?

At this point we were a little frustrated, and a lot discouraged. We ran some errands, and drove through a sweet little neighborhood close to the Lowe's that Nick works at on the way home. What can I say? It was just meant to be. We saw this sweet little house that was obviously updated and well maintained...with a "for rent" sign out front. I immediately called the number, and made an appointment to see it 30 minutes later. We loved it. But we were in competition with 2 other people who also loved it, and it was all left up to the landlady. Turns out, she loved us...and she called me last night and told me we got it!

It really is perfect. Completely new inside, washer and dryer, stainless appliances, and beautiful tile and hardwood floors. And Max and I can easily walk to Lowe's when Nick is at work :) Perfect.

Oh. And the same day, my sweet brother and (future) sister in law found out they got the apartment they were hoping to be starting their new life together in. God is so so good.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think"
Ephesians 3.20

Things We Love: Baking Soda + Peroxide

Who would have thought something so simple could be so effective?

I have heard that baking soda and peroxide, when used together, is a fantastic cleaning agent.  BUT before now I really haven't had a reason to give it a shot.

The sink in our house is old, but is really in pretty good shape.  The problem? After years of renters and no dishwasher (so it gets ALL the grime) (and yes, we live in the stone ages), it is nasty.  Don't get me wrong...I have spent a lot of time scrubbing it until I am blue in the face...but I have never had very much success, and our sink looked like this:

I am really even embarrassed to show this picture. It is brown, grimy, and completely disgusting.

Until I cleaned it with baking soda and peroxide, that is.

All you do is mix about 1/4 cup of baking soda with just enough peroxide to make a paste.  Then just spread it around on whatever you are cleaning (because apparently it can clean anything)...

I just let it sit for about 5 minutes and work its magic, then scrubbed it down with a sponge, rinsed, and...

Presto! We have a clean sink and life is good :) 

HOMEMADE oatmeal cream pies

Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, I am getting braver in the kitchen :)

These are so good. And so easy. And this is coming from the girl who, once upon a time, couldn't successfully bake cookies from a simple mix!

I will seriously never buy oatmeal cream pies again.

Here is the link for the recipe:
http://bloomingonbainbridge.blogspot.com/2011/11/oatmeal-creme-pies.html

I doubled the icing recipe, and you should too. I don't really think there would have been enough if I hadn't. I ended up with 16 pies with this recipe. And we will probably eat every last one of them. Nick even likes them, and he doesn't really care for sweets!

DIY: Menu Board

One of the things I have struggled with as a new mom and wife is menu planning. Every night, when it is time to cook, we struggle with trying to figure out what to eat. And it almost never fails...as soon as we decide on something and I start to cook, there is a missing ingredient that is absolutely necessary. OR I wish I had started cooking earlier/used the crockpot. The other problem is that because of our lack of planning, we end up buying groceries that we don't use, or going out to eat way too much.

I have really been working hard to fix this problem over the last month or so. I look up recipes I want to try, make a list of meals (according to hubby's work schedule, since he works odd hours and is a picky eater), and then make a grocery list from there. It has worked like a charm. And it has also made me try cooking new things since I plan ahead. The only problem is that my notebook wasn't cutting it for the menu portion, and the all-purpose dry erase board on our refrigerator kept getting erased by accident. A designated menu board was the answer!

This was seriously so easy, and so cheap. I just re-purposes an old frame! Painted it red, wrote the days of the week on scrapbook paper, glued letters saying "menu" at the top, and put it all together. I LOVE how it turned out. It's cute, looks great in our kitchen, and best of all...keeps me organized!

just an update

Holy cow. Is it really possible that my son is 10 months (and 3 days) old???

Max is working on his fifth and sixth teeth, and is SO close to standing without holding onto anything. I feel like the second he masters standing he will probably just take off running.

He loves the swing, if you can't tell :) We have been going for a run to the park when the weather is nice...one major perk of living in a big town. There are lots of neighborhood parks, and one happens to be walking distance from our house. I couldn't help but post these sweet pictures!

We were looking into buying a house, and even went last weekend to look at one we thought we really loved. BUT it ended up needing more work than what we wanted to do, so we decided not to go that route. We are thinking about staying where we are a little longer, saving money, and eventually buying a great fixer-upper that we can turn into the perfect home for our family.  Everything will happen in God's perfect timing, and we are pretty happy where we are for the time being!  No more living out of boxes in case we do move though...we are going to make this our home until we have a new home.

My "learning to cook" bit is going splendidly! I am behind on posting, but I have several recipes that I have tried and need to post. Soon. Promise. I even made homemade oatmeal cream pies tonight (no, I'm not kidding, and yes, they are delicious)!

Oh, and I just have to say...my newest obsession? The Temperance Brennan books by Kathy Reichs.  Nick and Max gave me a Nook for Christmas, and I have really gotten into this series. We are already obsessed with the Fox show, "Bones," and these books are what the show is based off of. They are fantastic. You should read them.

Well, enough with my rambling.  Sorry if you were expecting a more interesting post ;) At least there were stinking cute pictures of our sweet little man!

My best friend

Yesterday, Max and I spent the whole day doing laundry at our friends Grace and Kevin's house, and then we ate dinner and spent some time hanging out with them. It was fantastic. And it made me realize how blessed I am to have a friend like Grace in my life.

I honestly don't have too many people around that I would call friends, and I'm ok with that. But if I didn't have Grace as that one really good friend, I would not be ok with it at all. She goes above and beyond to be a good friend to me, and she is one of few that are accepting of my life as a mom. Sadly, I have lost friends because of differences in lifestyle after Max arrived, but that was definitely not the case with Grace. Even though she and her husband don't have children (yet), she loves Max and loves hanging out with both Max and I, which is good because he is always with me :) Everyone needs a friend like Grace. Seriously.

So, Grace, if you are reading this, thank you so much. For knowing how to install the carseat. For always welcoming our whole family at your house. For always knowing when Maxi B's cupcakes are necessary ;) Thank you thank you thank you for always always being a wonderfully supportive and fantastic friend. I love you!

Oh, and here are pictures, as usual :) #1 is Max with his "Aunt Grace" eating fries at the WFU game we went to a few weeks ago and #2 is Max helping me with the laundry I mentioned above

Chicken Taco Chili

My favorite kind of recipes are the ones you just throw in the crockpot and leave. This is one of those :)

My amazing future sister in law told me about this recipe. I found it online, but changed it up a little...

Ingredients:
2 cans of black beans
1 can of kidney beans
8oz can of tomato sauce
2 cans of Rotel
16oz of frozen corn
1 small onion, chopped (or to taste)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 packet of taco seasoning
2-3 chicken breasts

Directions:
Put all ingredients EXCEPT for the chicken in the crockpot and mix together. Put the chicken breasts on top. Cook in the crockpot on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours. 30 minutes before serving pull chicken out and shred, then put it back in the crockpot for the remainder of the time. Serve with cheese on top and tortilla chips on the side if you like!

So good y'all...enjoy!