Samantha

Here it is! I was reminded by Jaymee that I had yet to post the card I had promised, and I finally got it finished today during naptime. I love the color combination, the flower, the twisted wire, the birthday saying, everything! This is one of my favorite cards yet. It took some time to complete (have you ever tied wire into a knot? not easy!), but it was worth the wait!

It says "May every part of your BIRTHDAY have happy in it!"

I used dimensionals on the back of the flower and also on the blue layer of the flower to give it height. I just love my dimensionals! I used 42 on these 6 cards alone. :-)

Here are the card stats. I had stopped posting the ingredients I used to make my cards because it requires keeping track of the brand names of every single piece of patterned paper I use, but I will go back to listing them, just in case someone wants to copy my ideas. I also like to give credit to the paper companies I use the most. I think they deserve some of the credit, don't you?

Samantha Ingredients:

Cardstock: SU Cameo Coral (card), SU Old Olive (layer), SU Tempting Turquoise (circle)

Patterned Paper: Love, Elsie: Roxie Telephone (fabric with adhesive backing)

Accessories: pink buttons from Archiver's, black wire from Archiver's, SU Scallop Circle punch, SU 1 3/8" Circle punch, dimensionals, tiny glue dots (for the button back)

I call this card Samantha. Yes, I have begun naming my cards. I think it's fun. Kind of like those stores (can anyone say Pottery Barn?) that name their collections of bedding and furniture. Yeah. That.

My Latest Shopping Trip

Well, now. Let me tell you about my shopping experience today.

I'll keep it short and sweet.

I walked into CVS armed with 6 coupons, $24 in CVS Bucks from my last trip there, and The List.

I walked out with:

32 lightbulbs

8 rolls of paper towels

6 toothbrushes

2 packages of pads (sorry to any guys who may be reading this)

1 stick of deodorant

1 tube of toothpaste

1 bottle of mouthwash

1 ($20!) blood glucose monitor

I paid (don't hate me): $4.86

I actually paid $6.75, but then I realized that she had charged me for two extra boxes of lightbulbs, so I ran back to the store to claim back my $1.89.

Yeah.

Good stuff, Maynard.

Yeah, about that...

So we didn't end up having the squash casserole for dinner tonight, but it is on the menu for tomorrow! We hadn't had pizza/movie night yet this week, and since Mike took Griffin out (to Pizza Street) on a "man date" yesterday for lunch... another blog altogether... he wasn't in the mood for pizza, but I seriously needed a break after having a very long, trying day with the boys today. So he picked up Chinese on his way home. I was good and ordered Egg Foo Yung (sp?), which I don't even want anyone to tell me is actually bad for me... but I'm sure it is bad for me somehow. Salt, maybe? I order the veggie one, so it's just eggs and vegetables.

Does anyone have a good all-natural pizza recipe, or a brand of pizza you especially like that is made with natural ingredients? I like California Pizza Kitchen, but I'm not sure about the health factor there.

Anyway, I'm off to RedBox to return Flawless (a superb movie, Mike and I both REALLY enjoyed it! highly recommend it) and rent our movie for the night!

Yellow Squash Casserole

This is a recipe that came with my CSA order last week. We will be having it for dinner tonight, since we have all of the ingredients. I will probably double the recipe, actually, since we have about 4 pounds of yellow squash! I'll let you all know how it turns out. :)

Yellow Squash Casserole
from cdkitchen.com

2 pounds small yellow squash
1 medium onion
water
salt to taste
2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese (reserve some for topping)
1 cup whole milk (or use 1/2 milk and 1/2 heavy cream)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
2 cups RITZ cracker crumbs (save some for the topping)

Directions:

Wash the squash well and cut into bite size chunks.
Place in a pot with the chopped onion, add about 1 1/2 cups water, and sprinkle with some salt.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the squash are just barely tender.
Drain well and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the aquash/onion mixture, cheese (save some for the topping), melted butter, milk, egg and about 3/4 of the cracker crumbs.
Mix gently until all is combined.
Pour into a lightly greased or buttered baking dish.
Combine the reserved cheese and crumbs and sprinkle over the squash mixture.
Bake in a 350 degree oven about 25-30 minutes.

Whole Food? What's That?

I am finding out! It will be a long, hard process, but I am going to be trying my very hardest to stick to a "whole foods" way of living. I am headed toward diabetes at a train's pace... okay, maybe not the speed of the trains that run through our town, but at a FAST train's pace. And my children have diabetes on both sides of their "family lines," so I think it's only right that I make a concerted effort to help us all live healthier lives so that we can spend a long time together as a family, God willing!

I made my first "official" trip to Whole Foods yesterday, and although it is definitely not on The Grocery Game plan, it was a very productive trip. ("official" in that I did my entire week of grocery shopping there, with this new way of eating in mind the whole time) As a dear friend of mine often says, "It is better to spend more on good quality food now than on doctor's bills later." I have always agreed with this statement, but my actions where food is concerned have never matched my beliefs. So now I'm going to work on my actions!

Last night for dinner, we had a rotisserie chicken, white peach slices, homemade guacamole and chips, tomato slices with fresh ground salt and pepper, and carrots. I got home from the grocery store at about 7:15 last night, so we were all starving, and cooking was not an option. So we just threw some stuff on the table and sat down to eat.

I am lazy where food is concerned, and although I love to cook, when it comes to the average weeknight I usually just end up throwing something together (usually not something very healthy).

Anyway, I could say a lot more about this, but I think the proof will be in the so-called pudding. So I will be trying to post recipes and menus on here so that you all can see what we're eating, but also so that you can try the recipes if you want to.

My Guacamole

2 ripe avocadoes -- cut in half, then remove seed by whacking with big sharp knife and twisting out, then scoop out avocado with spoon
1/4 or 1/2 tomato -- cut into chunks, remove the seeds
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 or 2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp salt, or more to taste

Mash avocado with fork or spoon. I like mine chunky, so I don't mash it too much. Add other ingredients and mix together with spoon. Serve immediately. Even with the lemon or lime juice it will still turn brown after a couple of hours. Enjoy!

New Book, New Card

Is anyone looking for some good reading material? These are books by Peggy Chrusciaki (remember Angela and Clayton, who I have mentioned on here a few times? Peggy is Angela's mom). I am about halfway through the first book, and can I just say, they are AMAZING!? I am totally engrossed in the story now, and I can't wait for nap time so that I can read more! It is the story of Ellis Spencer, whose parents and sister are killed in a natural gas explosion at their home while Ellis is away at college, and Simon Garrett, who is an extremely ambitious med student coming from a family with many issues, who feels he needs to prove something to the world. Um, yeah. Is it nap time yet?

This is the new birthday card I made a couple of days ago. I'm working on another card that has stunning colors, and some really fun patterned "fabric paper"... bet you are on the edge of your seat, and just can't wait to see it! ;)

And yes, that is Starbucks coffee you see in the background. I love me some Starbucks! My favorite is the White Chocolate Mocha, nonfat, no whip. I also like the Mocha Frappuccino, on really hot days.

I hope to get that other card finished today, but I'm not promising anything, because, well, you know, I have two good books waiting for me to read them. They're calling to me...

A Trip Down Memory Lane

We went to get our family pictures taken today. Finally!! We were supposed to have them done before Christmas last year, because that was going to be what Mike's whole family exchanged as Christmas presents. Yeah... um. Didn't happen. But we finally got it done!! We went to Wally World, and the lady who took our pictures was very nice, and understanding, and great with the boys. She was older, and had trouble lifting them up sometimes, but they loved her antics to get them to smile.

Griffin kept acting like he was going to jump off of the "picture platform," so she was thoroughly freaked out by the time we were done, but she said that all in all, they were some of the easiest kids she had taken pictures of. Yeah. Right. They probably say that to all of the parents. But the boys were good, for the most part. They only tried to climb up on the "picture stools" (which they were strictly forbidden from doing, lest the picture lady get fired) a few times, and Griffin knocked Sammy off of a wooden bench once and made him cry, but other than that, they were really trying to reign in their enthusiasm and behave.

When we were done, we all went to McD's to play and have lunch. There were a little girl and boy there playing, and we got to know them pretty well as Mike chased them screaming and yelling through the tubes in the PlayPlace. Fun stuff! Mike is tired. Sammy also got to be "The Monster" and chase all of the kids as well. For some reason, Sammy is often cast as "The Monster" or "The Bad Guy" or "The One To Run Away From." Since he is usually the smallest, I don't really understand this, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that he is the least likely to actually catch the kids running away from him. The downside to having him be "The Chaser" is that he generally loses interest in the game at hand very quickly, and will wander off to do his own thing while the other kids are still running away from him. Then everyone becomes thoroughly confused, and they will start to look for Sammy and remind him that he was chasing them. "Oh yeah," says Sammy, and wanders off again.

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. All 2 1/2 minutes of it. Maybe it IS true, that a child's attention span is as old as their age!

An update on Diamond: She is doing okay, but had been having tummy troubles yesterday from the antibiotic she has been taking for the past few days. I haven't talked to Bonnie to see if Diamond's little stomach was settled yet, or if they will switch her antibiotic. Her face is healing nicely, though, and there haven't been any complications from the actual bites. Pray for Bonnie, though, as she is trying to get all of the loose ends tied up that result from an animal attack on a child. It is a tedious process, and yet time sensitive at the same time. I won't go into all of the details on here, but suffice it to say that it has been very stressful, emotional and heartwrenching for their family.

My grandma will be moving here at the end of August! Well, not HERE, but only about 45 minutes away from here, instead of 3 and 1/2 hours away. Yay!! But speaking of emotional processes, she is in the process of packing, giving away and moving 30 years worth of "stuff" that accumulates when you live in the same house for that long. She and her husband built the house she lives in now, and it is full of memories for her, and also for the rest of the family.

For me, it is the only house that has been a "constant" the entire time I have been alive. Every year, the family would go there for Thanksgiving, eat a big dinner, rest a bit and watch TV, and then bundle up and go outside to collect hedgeapples that had fallen from trees around Grandma's acreage. We collected them in a little red metal wagon, and then we'd all gather at the neighbor's fence, which was surrounded by trees, and throw them as far as we could into the neighbor's yard. (The neighbors were okay with this arrangement, by the way.) It was one of those family traditions that you wish would stay the same.

Grandma would have a puzzle set up on a table in the living room, and there was usually a little group of people sitting around it working away. We would all watch It's a Wonderful Life, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Charlie Brown Christmas, and Garfield Christmas on TV on Thanksgiving night, and then all of us kids (there are 6 of us, although 3 of us have children of our own now) would pile into our sleeping bags on the living room floor and whisper and giggle our way to sleep.

In the morning we would wake up to toast, coffee, juice, cereal, scrambled eggs, little sausages, and homemade pumpkin and banana bread. I always loved breakfast at Grandma's! Then people would either head home, or sometimes we would get to stay for an extra day.

My sister and I spent a week at Grandma's house every summer for several years, too. We sewed our own dresses, played the piano in the piano room, learned how to do latch hook, and threw a big "wiffle ball" back and forth over Grandma's garage roof. We also loved to go for walks in the tall grass that grew in the "field" on her land that she would mow a path through every year. We would come inside and do a "tick search" when we were done.

Christy would inevitably end up with a bloody nose at least once every summer at Grandma's house. The air is a lot drier there than it is where we live. We would go to the library and rent movies, and sometimes even go watch one at the theater. I can remember one time when we went to see a movie, and I had a really bad headache, and Grandma sat there and rubbed my hand to make the headache go away. She said there was a pressure point in there somewhere. It certainly took my mind off of the headache, anyway! I don't remember the movie at all, but I remember that.

Yes, there are a lot of memories in Grandma's house. I will take some pictures when I go sometime in the next few weeks. Mike and I will be making a trip up there soon (without the boys!) to help out with the moving process a bit, and bring home some things that Grandma won't need or doesn't have room for in her new place.

Wow, I just took a trip down memory lane there. I have been writing for over an hour! I should probably go feed my family dinner. The boys are playing happily outside, as I watch through the window. It has been very hot today, so they won't be out there long, but they love to be outdoors!

Okay, time to get off the computer!

Pray for This Family

Hello faithful blog readers. I have some disturbing news today, and any of you who pray, please say a prayer for this sweet little baby girl. My friend Bonnie, who I have mentioned, oh, forty or fifty thousand times on here (!) went through an awful experience last night. Her baby girl, Diamond, was attacked by a ferret. Diamond will be fine, thank God, but has 19 bites on her face and scratches on her body. The doctors don't think there will be scarring, and Bonnie says that she looks a lot better today than she did last night. I just wish I could be with them right now!!

They spent the night in the ER and are being released today. The worst part of all of this is that Bonnie and Diamond are not at home, but on a road trip with friends (who must be absolutely mortified, as it is their pet ferret), and Bonnie's husband Caleb is here at home and has to be feeling so powerless to help them right now.

It was a life-altering experience for Bonnie, and I haven't talked to her in depth about it as she had very few minutes left on her cell phone, but I just wanted to ask everyone to lift their little family up in prayer, both for Diamond's well-being, and also for the emotional well-being of some of my best friends on this earth. Prayer is powerful!

Thanks, people!

New Cards!!

I have updated my card website, www.thekidwellfamily.net, with the new cards I have been creating lately. I added a Christmas section, because I have been working on some new Christmas cards. I can't wait for the new Stampin' Up! catalog to come out in August!! There will be new colors and TONS of new stamp sets for me to drool over and make cards with! Tee Hee! SOOO exciting!! Also, I just ordered a TON of new stamp sets from the Retiring Sets list, and I'll be receiving those soon. Yeehaw!!! I can't wait to go play in my stamp room. :)

Weekly Savings for July 12th

Shelf Totals: $375.00
Spent: $228.45
Saved: $146.55
Savings of: 39%

This week I shopped at HyVee, Walgreens and Hen House. My biggest savings was at Walgreens -- I saved 53% there. I don't think I'm going to keep going to CVS. My savings are the greatest there, it seems, but I have to wait until Monday evening for the list to come out for that store, so that means I either have to wait until a weeknight to do my shopping there, or go the Saturday after, when many of the great deals have already been wiped off of the shelves. Three stores is enough for me, thank you very much!

A Family Picture

Too bad it wasn't taken at Wal*Mart. Mike's family has been waiting since Christmas for us to get our act together and have our family picture taken. They have all had theirs taken, why can't we seem to manage to get it done? We have never even had one taken with the boys! Can you believe it? It has been 5 years since our last professional photo shoot, and obviously, our children had not yet been born. Soon, we will get to a place with a backdrop and good lighting... and then everyone will have the long-awaited professional picture. Until that time arrives, here is this one. ;)

No Posing Here!

Rather unflattering, but truly genuine! Mike snuck in and snapped these pictures during a rare naptime for me. Sammy had climbed onto the couch to snuggle with me after he woke up early from his nap, and Mike says the flash woke him up. I had no idea I was being photographed... obviously... but I don't show enough pictures of me on here, so now I am forcing myself to show even the unflattering ones.

Miles loves to lay all stretched out on the couch for his "cat naps."

Doesn't this post just make you want to grab a blanket and curl up for a nap of your own?

Have A New Kid by Friday

Part book review... part life change!

Dr. Kevin Leman writes some GOOD books, people. He is a psychologist, and he has written books on birth order and personality, but this is the first I have seen from him in the area of parenting. I would highly recommend his book Have a New Kid by Friday to anyone and everyone... and I have!!



The basis of the book is this: "How to Change Your Child's Attitude, Behavior and Character in 5 Days" and it is amazing!!! It works!!!!



It has required a lot of hard work and consistency on our part, but the payoff (well-behaved kids... most of the time) is WELL worth the extra work. Here are the main points of the book, but I would recommend actually reading it to get real-life examples of how all of these theories work in action. In fact, MOST of his book is spent in question/answer format dealing with specific issues that many parents deal with. Here is what I learned.



Things your children learn from you, both good and bad:

1. Attitude

2. Behavior

3. Character



Things you should show your children:

1. Acceptance

2. Belonging

3. Competence



*The Keys are Consistency and Follow-Through.* (easier said than done, no?)



Rules to Learn During the "School" Week:



1. Say it once. Turn your back. Walk away.



2. Let reality be the teacher.



3. Respond, don't react.



4. B doesn't happen until A is completed.



The Top 10 Countdown to Having a New Kid by Friday



10. Be 100% consistent in your behavior.



9. Always follow through on what you say you will do.



8. Respond, don't react.



7. Count to 10 and ask yourself, "What would my old self do in this situation? What should the new me do?"



6. Never threaten your kids.



5. Never get angry. (When you do get angry, apologize quickly.)



4. Don't give any warnings. (If you warn your child, you're saying, "You're so stupid, I have to tell you twice.")



3. Ask yourself, "Whose problem is this?" (Don't own what isn't yours."



2. Don't think the misbehavior will go away on its own.



1. Keep a happy face on, even when you want to do... something else.



--- Excerpt from pg. 289, Have a New Kid by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman



Here are our experiences with the program so far.



The issues we wanted to work on were:



bedtime -- our routine took about 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes more if Mike fell asleep while rubbing their backs, and included reading, singing, back rubbing, holding, and a song and dance routine... literally, there was one book that we "sang" and they danced around the room... and then inevitably, one or the other of them would be out of their room after we left, saying they needed to go potty, or a drink, or whatever, you name the excuse...



listening -- they heard us, but they didn't listen to what we were saying... and they sure didn't respond immediately to what we said



obeying the first time -- kind of the same thing as listening, but should we really have to repeat ourselves 20 times, or count to 3, or threaten with a spanking, or put them in time-out, or sit them on our knee and give them a lecture, or... whatever, you name it, we'd probably tried it... before they would actually (rather grudgingly, with nothing close to a cheerful spirit) obey us...



behavior while out of the house -- those of you who know us know EXACTLY what I'm talking about... enough said



hitting/kicking/pushing/insert rough behavior here -- it was getting out of control, and I felt like I spent all day dealing with not only the bad behavior itself, but also with the tattling that resulted from it







And here is where we are now:



bedtime/naptime -- we have established a routine that includes

1. they take their shirts off and leave them where they can find them

2. they get their drinks

3. we go with them to their room and wait until they are in bed (naptime, when they are reluctant to go upstairs)

OR

3. they go upstairs to their rooms and get into their beds (bedtime)

4. we wait 5 minutes and then go upstairs... they get "smiles or swats" depending on if they are in their beds being quiet or jumping around and being noisy... (we are still working on this one... we started out saying "after you have been quiet for 5 minutes, one of us will come tuck you in," but we have found that they just lay there and talk, or jump around and talk, or walk around and talk AND jump around... and we have to wait around until they have been quiet for a few minutes, which puts bedtime on their terms, not ours.. that is changing)

5. they go to sleep -- whole routine usually takes about 10 minutes, maximum



listening -- they listen and usually respond after we tell them something once... sometimes it takes a little while before they respond, but if they don't respond at all, I wait until they ask me for something, and then inform them that they will not be getting the desired thing (snack, Play-Doh time, computer time, outside time (a big deal around here), or, only if it is an extreme occasion, lunch) because they did not obey me earlier. This has happened many times, and they caught on QUICK. Mommy is just full of surprises these days!

obeying the first time -- this is going MUCH better. I am finding that I don't have to tell them more than once to do most things. If it is something that has to be done NOW, then I don't follow Dr. Leman's advice to the letter, but only because Sammy IS only 2 (and a half!) years old, and he doesn't have the comprehension/understanding/follow-through awareness that Griffin does. Sammy doesn't get the whole "delayed punishment" thing quite yet. But soon he will. Oh yes. His behavior has changed a lot already. I think it is because I expect him to obey. I turn around after telling him what he needs to do and give him the choice to obey or disobey. When he realizes that I am not going to stand around or lean over him and hover until he has done what I told him to do, he usually chooses to just get it done and come find me.

behavior outside of the house -- This method has been working very well when we are out of the house. I can tell him to sit down in his chair at a restaurant, and then I turn around and continue a conversation with another adult at the table. When he realizes that he is not going to get any more of my attention until he has done what he was told to do (and then most of the time he gets praise), he shapes up real fast. He was even very good at Grandma's (Mike's mom's) house a couple of evenings ago. He got tired toward the end, and was loaded up on sugar, so he was fussy, but still not nearly to the degree that he would have been before we started changing our expectations of the kids.

hitting/kicking/pushing -- I have noticed a change here too. I have implemented a new rule. The person who tattles sits in time-out with the person they tattled on. Unless, of course, the tattling was justified. If the other person was in danger because of what they themselves were doing, or if one of the boys was seriously hurting another of the boys, I take it a lot more seriously than the standard "He LOOKED at me and I saw his tongue and he didn't stick it out at me but I saw it and I didn't like it and I am so offended" kind of tattling that often goes on around here.

So to sum it all up, we love this new way of parenting. It may not be new to many of you out there who have had a lot more time to figure out the whole parenting thing, but it helps me as a parent to have a list of "rules" for ME to follow that are changing my childrens' behavior as well. And I am finding that I can use the rules in dealing with anyone, not just my kids! I'm learning to respond, not react. And that I DO always need to follow through on what I say, or I will not be respected... by anyone, not just my kids. And that I need to be 100% consistent in my behavior. And that I can ask myself "Whose problem is this?" when presented with any situation, and it helps me to stay calm when someone is "making me mad."

Well, it is 6:45am, and Sammy just came out of his room. I am going to make pancakes for breakfast this morning.

Oh! Before I forget... we had a deer right behind our backyard fence yesterday. She was little, but we didn't see any other deer around. Normally there are 5 or 6 walking around together. I got out my camera, put on the big zoom lens, and got all ready to take the picture... and the camera battery wasn't charged. 90 minutes later, when it was fully charged, the deer was long gone. But I'll watch for her to come back, and see if I can get some good pictures. She was SO CUTE!!

Weekly Savings for July 5th

So here I am, once again, reporting on my new pastime. :) It has obviously affected my blogging! Actually, the thing that has affected my blogging the most is my OTHER new pastime, training my kids to obey me the first time, every time. Which is a whole other blog.

This week's totals are:

Hy-Vee:
shelf total: $109.71
spent: $65.39
saved: $44.32
savings of: 40%

Hen House:
shelf total: $53.84
spent: $44.50
saved: $9.34
savings of: 18%

Walgreens:
shelf total: $185.11
spent: $83.41
saved:$101.70
savings of: 55%

I won't shop at CVS this week; there is no time! It would have made my savings percentage even better, though, so it's a shame.

Mike worked a half day yesterday, and we went to TGI Friday's for a birthday party yesterday evening (Happy "21st" Birthday, Caleb!! *wink, wink*), and then watched the Grand Finale (yeah, we got there a bit late!) of the fireworks display at a local place, and today Mike is helping said "21-year-old" Caleb with some trees/branches in his yard, and then he will work on our dryer vent. Tomorrow we will go to church in the morning, and then visit Mike's parents after the boys' naps. We usually get home at bedtime when we go to their house, so that will be our day tomorrow!

Oh yeah. About the dryer. It sounds so easy. "Work on our dryer vent." HA!!

He has been working on it on and off for the past month or two. Pull out the dryer, empty the "tube" going from dryer to outside the house, put dryer back. The dryer never seems to get all of the clothes dry, and one cycle takes almost 2 hours, so we run it twice, which means I only get one or two loads of clothes done every day. Not Good!! I have had to buy extra shorts for the boys this summer because of it. I wish our homeowner's association allowed clotheslines, because I would definitely have one if they did!! I might get one anyway. What can they say? I'd be helping the planet out. ;)

So, the dryer... the lint has not been collecting in the lint trap, but in the tube which goes all the way from the laundry room, under the entire kitchen floor, then out the back of the house at the level of the backyard deck. I was SURE it was something wrong with the lint trap itself, and that a new dryer would solve the problem. But Mike was sure that it is a problem with the "tube" (not the technical term, I know) itself. Sure enough, Mr. Technical was right once again!

There were holes all over in the "tube", so we now have a 5' x 1 1/2' hole in our basement ceiling to accomodate installation of the new "tube". He has almost completed the excavation of the old, wimpy "tube", and is installing a new, fresh, galvanized steel "tube" that will hopefully work much better and provide our dryer with many more nice, happy, lint-collecting years.

Anyway, after all of that, here are my averaged Grocery Game totals for this week!

shelf total: $348.66
spent: $193.30
saved: $155.36
savings of: 45%

Much better than last week, and my stockpile is almost completed already! Such a good feeling to have on hand the things you use on a daily basis. No more running to the store for things at the last minute, and having to buy it at whatever price they happen to be selling it for that day!

My Kitchen -- Before and After

Before

After

I had a lot of work to do, and I finally (without even the aid of coffee... I have been drinking tea instead of coffee for a few days, and I am much more mellow, fewer ups and downs. As I sit here drinking a Dr. Pepper. Oh well. At least my kitchen is clean.