Cleaning feels so good!

I am in the middle of doing a deep clean at work to get ready for a big group of guests coming through tomorrow. I love rearranging furtniture, straightening the books on our bookshelves, pulling down old drawings and random clutter, and organizing the kitchen. Having a clean space really opens up your home. I truely feel trapped when things are left on the counters, the carpet is covered in dog hair, the beds aren't made, and laundry is all over the floor. And aside from freshening up the place, cleaning keeps these 4 teenage boys staying at my work busy! Bwahah, bwahahaha ***insert evil laugh***...

A little bent out of shape over lasagna

Doesn't this look delicious? I made a big lasagna dinner at work for my coworkers and kids in the shelter Monday night. Normally we have food made and delivered by a company who cooks for other housing programs, but we wanted to do something fun and different this week. Our Italian Family Feast, as we called it, included a selection of meat and cheese lasagnas, salad, garlic bread, and sparkling cider followed by tiramisu for dessert. It was really fun to have staff stay late, come in during their time off, and invite some of our volunteers over, too. But back to the point of this post...Now a couple of my co-workers are sick, and they suggested that it was my food that has caused this! This seems to be a logical and reasonable thought for someone who finds themselves eating food that was previously unfamiliar to them. But I promise I didn't poison them! I responded to the email that mentioned the illnesses and suggested we toss the leftovers and let them know I had been sick with the flu last week and over the weekend, and had passed it on to about 10 other people during that time. I tried to assure them that it probably wasn't food poisoning, rather just a fierce flu bug.
I'm bummed that I spent alot of time and had good intentions in making a nice dinner, and people think it was old, spoiled, undercooked, etc. food. I understand how they could question it, but it still makes me feel a little bad about it  :(

Baby has a bird on her head...

Of course not really, but check out this new hat I bought for Raleigh tonight. Well, I ordered it tonight, so hopefully it can be made and shipped soon!

I ordered a berry colored hat with a green beak and owl ears and brown rings around the eyes. Should be cute! I love the orange noses but I didn't think it would go well with the berry portion of the hat.

Wow, the flu SUCKS!!

Obviously, we all hate being sick. Raleigh has been coughing and stuffed up with a runny nose for about three weeks. I called the doctor who just suggested lots of fluids and rest for her. Raleigh didn't seem upset or uncomfortable, but you still feel bad for such a little thing. Wednesday I was at work and started feeling my stomach churn around 10am. I made it to my parents house to get Raleigh around 1pm before I really got sick with the horrible, pukey, achy flu! Matt was at work so I was stuck being sick and trying to care for Raleigh (and Anderson the black lab) for the rest of the day. My anxiety about this set in and I had a mini breakdown around the time I was hanging over the toilet and Raleigh was using the toilet lid to smash mommy's head from above. Uh! Matt wouldn't sleep in our room Wednesday night in hopes that he wouldn't get sick. Wrong! It hit him early Thursday morning. It took us both at least through Friday to recover from the flu. I am still congested and feel like I am a floating balloon head. Whewee! Hopefully this is the one time the flu will be passed around this house this flu season! Hope everyone out there stays healthy and energized this winter!!

Sick Matt & sick baby Raleigh : (

Wednesday Friend Dinners

I love my friends! Almost every Wednesday one of us hosts the others for dinner at their house. This started when we just had Raleigh, and Matt was taking an evening class, leaving me lonely and bored while he was gone. We bounce around between our house, Natasha and Bianca's, and Rachel and Alex's. Sometimes my parents or Tristin will get in on the action too. We try to mix it up with taco night, spaghetti or lasagna, or bbq's in the summer. Usually the go-to is pizza; quick, easy, and deeeeelish! Weekends are always busy with differing work schedules, football games, other friends and family to see, so I like that Wednesdays work for us all so we can get our time in with each other. Our time together has become more important lately, since we have Raleigh, Bianca and Kevin are planning a (next) winter wedding, Rachel and Alex are brewing baby Annabelle or Henry, and life in general is somewhat chaotic with work and school for everyone. Last week Shereen was in town from Las Vegas and joined us :) So good to see her! Family is always there for us and we see them often, but making sure I stay close with my friends is a bit of an effort sometimes. I'm so glad that I am as important to them as they are to me! Love you girls!

Me, Natasha, Rachel, Raleigh, Shereen, and Tristin. Missing Jackie and Bianca in this one.

House for Sale! House for Sale!

...Not really...yet! I want to sell our house SOOOO bad right now!!! This is all that is on my mind lately. I lay in bed awake at night thinking how much we need to have saved to cover all of the expenses of realtors fees, closing costs, and heavens knows what else is tacked on to the sale of one home and the purchase of the next. When will it make sense for us to sell? How long will I have to wait for things to bounce back?!?! I envision an old (maybe new) craftsman bungalow. A big back yard for our kid(s) to play in and to BBQ and entertain in. At least 4 bedrooms so nobody has to share. 3 bathrooms. And a brick fireplace with an awesome mantle. Ahhhh, one day soon...

If you know anyone that wants an awesome townhome, you know who to call ;)

My first blog entry!

I was thinking to myself the other day and decided I was going to start a blog. I've never been a big blog follower...I casually look at two. But I decided I like that the two blogs I do peruse offer the simple ideas and thoughts about day to day life. So that is what this will be; the simple things that I spend my time thinking about. Things I get excited about. Things that make me happy. Stories I hear that are worth sharing. Maybe a good vent every now and then! And of course lot's of gushing about how sweet my little girl is!

I'm not sure how this will turn out or what exactly it is that i am loking for from blogging, but here it goes...!!!