Monday, March 31, 2014

In threes right?

    As if I couldn't complain any further, now I have a plugged up ear. It's been plugged for about three days and it is driving me insane! I have been trying all suggestions I can find but none have worked so far. It doesn't hurt. There is no pain it's just muffled and plugged which allows all noises to enter in the one good ear. And let me tell you.., three kids generate a TON of noise - almost too much for one little ear to handle. 
   I had a fleeting second on the car ride yesterday while shopping but like I said, it was so fast. I'm trying really hard not to agitate the ear but I'm also trying really hard to get my hearing back. Oh well.., add that on the list of things I am waiting to recover from. 
    Speaking of that, my ribs have been feeling ok. It's my lower back, hips and the top of my ankles that are slowly me down drastically. I have tried awfully hard to avoid pain meds aka ibprof but I have failed in that a few times. 
    Oh and last but not least but I'm sure you know that misery comes in threes so whats the third one?? IT SNOWED and it accumulated. Just as everything had melted away and most of the icky, grey, dirty piles of snow in parking lots and sides of the road have whittled down IT SNOWED!
    That's depressing. Thanks a lot Disney - I am totally convinced that this is extreme marketing for Frozen and Disney now controls the weather., lol. 
    Ok, that is all. I'll keep my pity post short besides the wee folks are starting to creep towards me as I feverishly type to get this post up. 
    Have a great Monday!!

Friday, March 21, 2014

It's breaking - and its time for a change with some Frozen influence

    There's been a break in the weather.., gone are the negative numbers and we've welcomed upwards to 54 degrees!! Finally the ice, cold, soul crushing winter is breaking!! 
    
    Ok - so that might have been a bit overly dramatic but it feels like it has nearly been FOREVER since we had beautiful weather and didn't have to bundle up just to run from the house to the car without catching frost bite! 

    With this break in the weather coming I've been getting excited about upcoming projects. I'm currently working on Lulu's room. She has washed away her hope for a rainbow wall and has actively pushed for ..., wait for it...., Frozen-ish themed room. (Shocking? I know. Who saw that coming?? Btw that was a pure thick layer of sarcasm right there just in case you didn't pick up on it.)

    We are slowly weeding out pieces of mismatched furniture in her room and creating a "Big Girl" room. Keeping her white washed drawer bed is good for now but there is plans to eventually bring back her natural wood crib and convert it to a full sized bed. So for a little bit longer she will have a white bed and a natural wood dresser - but I'll try not to get hung up on that. 

   She's getting rid of the solid wood desk that was a hand me down from me from my mum. She's getting rid of a toy sorter bc it just collect crap and that is something we want to work on getting rid of. For now we'll be keeping the gigantic wooden Lalaloopsy doll house. 


 I told you it was seriously mismatched! 
Wanted to wait until the rooms were figured out before moving forward. 

    Lu has decided that she wants to have a reading nook in her room. (She also has super high hopes that she wins a local coloring contest that the prize is a Kindle Fire - her fingers, toes, everything is crossed for good luck!!) 

    So after brainstorming some ideas we made a trip to Lowes to check out paint samples. She chose a light blue and a light lavender. Just on a whim we crossed over to look at the discount paints and found a gallon of light blue paint very similar to the one she picked out sitting there for only $5! We nabbed that sucker up! (So it's a tiny shade off but we saved $25 right there)
Since the weather is still sucky and we want to paint with the windows opened we are holding off on the lavender paint. 

    While we were there we walked by some carpets and I saw a grey toned one that looked like snowflakes and since the new house had carpets all ripped out (which will later be replaced when our dog passes - its a long story but she's getting old and its just easier this way for now to wait) we brought over all the old area carpets from the old house. The one in Lulu's room could easily need replacing so as much as it was a tough pill to swallow paying what we did for the small amount of carpet (in my opinion) I was balancing the savings from the blue paint towards the carpet - and the Hubs has a Lowes card so we saved a bit there. 



    A couple days later I checked my email and saw the Frozen sale on Zulily.com and got sucked into that one! There it was - the Elsa wall decal! Perfect to surprise Lu with for after we paint her room. The price was the cheapest I have been able to find it but the shipping hurt a bit - shipping always does no matter where you want to order from doesnt it? Well luckily I had a bit of a balance in my PP account so in a round about way I only paid $7 out of pocket for the decal. Not too bad. Now keeping it a secret will be the hardest part. 


    With a can of blue paint and a new carpet already in stock - oh and the secret Elsa decal, Lu and I sat down to talk about seating for her nook. At first she wanted a table and chairs so she could "teach" the younger kids to read. But I explained to her that's what the kid desk in the office is for. I took a big gulp of being discount savvy and went to the Pottery Barn Teen site. She instantly fell in love with a leanback lounger. More surprisingly it was a design that I didn't think she would like but she didn't budge from her initial "OMG I LOVE THAT" freak out. 

    After a talk about taking care of our things so they stay nice and last longer, I told her we had to talk with Daddy about ordering the chair. So we had another discussion about taking care of our things, even more so now that she's moving on to the next phase of possessions. Gone are the simple plastic toys and furniture, here comes the more expensive, nicer and grown up items.

     In light of her recent selfless act of donating her hair to Locks of Love and her agreement to take care of her new room - I ordered her the chair. Luckily I was able to score some savings on that as well so it wasn't such a hard pill to swallow. 
from Pottery Barn Teen website

    This transitional phase is all new to us and I'm just hoping we're going about this the right way and the easiest way. Our first born is growing up and as clique as it sounds she's growing up way too fast! I feel a bit saddened by weeding out her baby/toddler possessions but it's also exciting to see what we create for her childhood. 

    I wish one of those home crasher shows would just show up one day at our house to do complete make overs of the bedrooms. Or at least win a room make over giveaway - lol. Oh and I wish I knew someone, anyone who liked to paint and would do it for free or beers! I hate painting. Bleck! And I wish we had warm weather right now so we could get this painting done so we can move onto the next kid's room!! Poor T.W has one wall done - ONE! 

    We still have a few things to hammer out like window treatments and shelving - oh and storage. What do you think? I'm letting her take most of the lead but helping along the way. Is 6 years too young to start working on a "Big Girl" room? How did you transition from baby to big kid? 





Some not so fine print but just wanted to make note of it - Zulily link above is my referral link - purchases have not been swayed in any form aside from what the "boss" likes



Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Picture me this!

    It's going to be 50 degrees here today!! Thats practically a spring/summer day compared to what we've been having! To top that off there is hardly a breeze!! 

    Bear and I are going out to enjoy some fresh air - or at least non stale house air - I'm not too sure how fresh the air will be with all the salt and dirt being kicked up BUT we'll be out of the house for a good part today. 

    Do you follow me on Instagram?? We're sure to post some pics! 
    Come join in the sun!!    http://instagram.com/3sweetbirds

Monday, March 10, 2014

When one door closes...

    I'm sitting here at the table while my younger daughter is napping and my son is playing with a bowl full of water. Inside that water are a few of those magic grow capsules that contain those cheap sponge figures he is patiently waiting for the capsule to melt and decipher the sponges inside. He melts my heart with his love of exploration. 
    A few posts ago I talked about distance and relationships. I think its about time I come to grips on some relations that I have wondered about but ultimately have realized that I've been blown off. Without naming or pointing fingers why and how I'll merely say that its mostly family members. Sure - I will miss the close relationships I had with them or so I thought I had. I will miss dropping in a line or two out of the blue. What will be hard for me to do is to not go out of my way if I spot something of interest or use to them. Forget it. I have other things I can concern myself with.
    Bottom line - I will be nice and friendly but as far as our close friendship - it's fizzled. That's sad but it happens. Come a time in the future where they may come back - I will proceed with caution. Sorry but it's true. My life, my family and my time are moving forward. I will not grieve or feel green that I longer have your end of a friendship. I will surround myself with positive. 
    I just realized how cryptic this all sounds. Without sounding like a greeting card - Life is too short. And I don't want to waste my time worry about not being friends with them. *sips coffee and breath*
    That is all. I'm going to sit here and watch my son play in this gigantic bowl of water. Yes, he and his younger sister were completely confused and perplexed this morning when I told them they could paint using their fingers and instead asked for brushes and wipies but he'll go arms deep in a bowl of water. He makes me giggle. He loves good clean fun :) 


Monday, March 3, 2014

Getting our #NewTraDish on with Ragú®

    We LOVE putting our spin on traditional dishes in the kitchen. My kitchen co-pilot aka my son likes to explore the bits and pieces of recipes and combine them to create something new. Some ideas are awesome while most are just not - he's 4 years old though - haha. 

    We were given an amazing opportunity to create our spin on Ragú® No Boiling Lasagna. And I might say we created one delish Tra-Dish!

    First we had to choose which Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce flavor to use. It's great to know as a mum of three kiddos that each jar of Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce is made with 11 juicy tomatoes making it its richest, thickest recipe.(*versus their previous OWS formula.) with more than a full serving of veggies in every half cup.


Lets dig right into this shall we??

We love Lasagna. We also love Chicken Parmesan. 
They both have cheese, they both have sauce, 
they both are served with noodles!
So we've smushed together the two and call it
  Lazy Layered Chicken Parm Lasagna

This is great for anyone looking for a delish meal that is fast 
and easy with a new twist.


Lazy Layered Chicken Parm Lasagna

1 jar of Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce
1 package non-boil Lasagna noodles
1 – 15oz Ricotta cheese
1 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 brick of Mozzarella cheese
1 egg
14-17 chicken nuggets
Optional - a thinly sliced zucchini

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees to cook the chicken nuggets. (This step will help them from becoming over soggy.)


While the chicken nuggets are cooking, beat the egg and mix in the Ricotta cheese and shredded Mozzarella cheese.

*beware of sneaking little hands nabbing mozzarella bits

Spread a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan followed by a layer of non-cook lasagna noodles. Coat half of your Ricotta cheese mix on the noodles, a layer of thinly sliced veggies if you want then a layer of sauce. *I like to use thinly sliced zucchini here. 







By now the chicken nuggets should be done. Pull them out of the oven and let them cool a bit. Set the oven down to 375 degrees. 

On top of the sauce apply more noodles followed by the rest of the Ricotta cheese mix. Slice chicken nuggets in half and apply a layer on top of the Ricotta cheese mix. *Slicing the nuggets in half helps when cutting and serving the lasagna.



Just like Chicken Parmesan apply a layer of sauce then sliced mozzarella cheese.





Cover and bake for 30-40 minutes.
Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes.
Let stand 10 minutes.
Serve and Enjoy!!

Ooey gooey melted mozzarella! 

Want more ideas on what you can do with a jar of Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce? Visit Facebook.com/RaguSauce. There you will find easy and delicious Authentic Italian recipe ideas. 

You can also enter the Ragú®Sweepstakes for a chance to win great Authentic Italian themed prizes, including a grand prize trip to Italy for a family of four at www.RaguSweeps.com!


What would you create with a jar of Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce? What traditional recipe would you put your own spin on? 




The not-so-fine print **We were provided with 2 jars of Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce to create our Tra-Dish Recipe. Many thanks to Ragú® and Modern Mom for the amazing opportunity. **





Sunday, March 2, 2014

Distance and relationships

    I am familiar with distance and relationships. For the first few years of college I dated a townie so on school breaks we were about 2 hours away from each other. It was nice because he would come and visit me often, I guess it helped that he didn't take working seriously. (That wasn't the reason we parted ways - it was rather bittersweet how it ended and perhaps I forced it but it was inevitable that we weren't moving forward in the same direction. I missed him and his huge family for a while but that's a story for another time.)

    I also had a friend in high school that I tried to keep close with until she left to join the Navy. We tried to continue to write (YES snail mail - before Facebook and all that jazz was up and running). Our relationship quickly fell apart as she was consumed by training and boys - oh the boys! We met up a few times back at home when our breaks fell into place but she soon got married and the rest is her story. A few months ago I found out that she's moved back into the area with her parents. It's so weird to have a conversation with her over Facebook now adays. I miss that friendship a lot. 

    I had a friend who had moved to New York then she moved back to Maryland. I am so elated that she was finally able to be happy and she recently had a son but I miss her to pieces! 

    My one bridesmaid who was my co-worker at the time is trying to have a reunion with everyone but I am  not remotely interested in going. I guess I'm doing this to myself here on this one. I have just moved on with my life from that crew. This would be where having kids separated myself from them. 

    I don't talk to many people from my high school. I don't care to. I can't and wont force a friendship that has expired. Those people were my stepping stones into adult hood. Thanks for the memories and what not but if I haven't talked with you since we graduated eons ago, chances are you're just another person on the street. 

    Recently I have noticed my SIL becoming distant. Sure she lives an hour away but her and I used to share messages and texts on a daily if not weekly basis of deals, steals and freebies. Those have completely died out. I guess I don't mind it terribly much since I am pretty busy and I'm sure she is busy too but I guess I miss it in a way. 

    I don't like the feeling that I keep going "out of my way" on something and get rare results back. I've been feeling that a lot with my brother as I'm trying to clean our house and get rid of baby things - you know things they may be needing now that they're having a baby. I literally had to push him over here to pick up the crib mattress. 

    I guess I don't know where this post is going really. I needed to vent a bit of people being distant, becoming distant or my leaving them in the distance. I hope this is just part of growing up and isn't solely based on the fact that my three kids are my priority and not them. 

    Do you have friendships and relationships that have survived distance? How do you shake the feeling that it's one sided?