Snow much fun! Silent Saturday

Have a great weekend!  Love, BJ

Organizing the Basement

This task became much larger than expected.  Half of my basement is finished with toys where the other half is storage, all of our decorations, saved clothes for the boys, and those things you save because you will use them again, well so I say.  Most of the stuff in that part of the basement has been in boxes for years and have made probably every move we've made, which is 4.  Like I said in my New Years Resolutions, I was going to get this house organized and get rid of all those things we haven't used in years.

First thing Steve and I did was pull all of it out.  This is what it looks like empty.

It was too embarrassing to show the before picture!  This is what it looked like all pulled out.

Crazy, isn't it?  We then proceeded to go through every box and decided if we needed it or if we could get rid of it.  I got rid of all of my old school books.  What can I do with them?  I'm not using them and if I go back to teaching, they'll be out dated, so I sold them all!  All the rest of the teaching stuff I donated to my sons school,  I'm sure some new teacher could really use my stuff, even if it's a few years old.  

We then went through and organized all the Rubbermaid containers of baby and kid clothes.  Being that I have kept all of the boys clothes in case we have any more babies, I have several tubs.  I even have a couple of containers that were passed down that Da Freakout hasn't grown into.  I can't pass up good clothes.  Like I've said before they grow out of them way too quickly!

It took us three days to get through everything!  Poor Steve has moved those boxes for years.  At least now he has a few less.  Once everything was put neatly away, this is what it looks like.

There are still a lot of containers, but once we are finished having babies, we can slowly get rid of a few more.

I don't know if Steve feels any better, but I feel a little relieved.  It almost feels like a load has been lifted off my chest.  I'm hoping once I'm all done with the entire house, I'll feel a whole lot lighter.  Hopefully by then, the scale will start reading that I am too.  Here is a picture of the playroom once everything was organized and put away.

Up next.... The Craft room. UGH!

Love, BJ

Bacon, Cheese and Potato Chowder and a HOT COCKTAIL

Since it's cold outside everywhere, I thought I would give you a little soup recipe to warm those bones, and a cocktail to get ya cookin!  


What you need:
3 cups milk
1 can potato soup
2 cups of frozen southern-style hash browns
1 cup cheddar cheese
2 slices bacon
1/4 cup green onions

Mix the milk, potato soup and hash browns in pot, heat on low until hot, about 1 hour or so.  Pour in bowl, top with cheese, crumbled bacon and green onion.  ENJOY.  I double and sometimes triple this recipe, it's not very big if you want to feed the entire family.








After Dinner Mint
1/2 oz White creme de menthe
3/4 oz Southern Comfort
1/2 oz vodka
fill with hot chocolate

Stay Warm and Enjoy!  Love, BJ

Clothes for boys

Mothers of boys, I'm wondering if you have the same problem I do?  What is that you say?  It's finding CUTE clothes for your little boy.  I have the worst time finding really cute clothes for my handsome little men.  I don't like to spend big money on clothes that they are just going to grow out of, so what does that leave us, Walmart, Target, Kmart, Kohl's, Carter's, and  Children's Place?


Occasionally I will find something cute for my little men at these places, but not when I really need something.  Don't get me wrong, they all have cute stuff once in a while, but not like little girls clothes.  Any store you walk into has wall to wall children sections of precious little girl's outfits, and if you wade through it, you'll find those 3 or 4 racks of clothes for the little boys.  

A lot of my little boys clothes are hand me downs from my wonderful cousin Angela.  Her boys are always dressed to the tee.  These are two sharp dressed little men. I am so thankful for her and the clothes she buys her little guys.  I have Rubbermaid containers of clothes in my basement for Da Freakout that he will get to wear.  Here are her little men.

Eric Singer, Gene Simmons

Josh and Connor

(the handsome little Woody is Sam, Barry's little man)

Those are one heck of costumes, right?!  They always look good!

When I do go shopping, I always go through the clothes section, just to see if I run across something that strikes my fancy.  Honestly the time I find the most clothes that are affordable is at the end of the season clearance.  Last year in the spring, I bought Chaps shirts for both boys for Christmas at $3.00 each.  Heck, you can't get clothes at Walmart for $3.00, so I found sizes that they would be in this winter and bought them up.  Here is one of my purchases.

Cute, right?!

I wish I had gone to school for design so that I could make my boys and other little boys affordable, cute clothes that everyone loves.  But since I didn't, if you have any friends that design clothes, ask them to come out with an affordable boys line, PLEASE!  If you have any suggestions for me, I would love to hear them also.  Good luck and pass along any deals you find please!

Have a great day!  Love, BJ

My Favorite Weight loss Must Haves

First off I want to thank all of you that have become followers or are reading this finding something you enjoy and becoming a follower.  I truly appreciate each and everyone of you!  I could have never imagined the wonderful response I have gotten for my little ol' blog.  I love it, and each of you!  I did say I had a big surprise for you all when I hit my 200th follower, well, I did hit it, but have also hit a small wall.  My big surprise was a giveaway, a really cool giveaway, but the owner of the shop still hasn't given me the final green light.  I am soooooo sorry.  I promise, as soon I have the green light I will have something really great for you all.  I hope this doesn't change your mind about becoming a follower. Anyhow, to today's post...

I was called by one of my best buddies Leslie from college this past weekend.  

Leslie from my wedding

She asked if I would be in her wedding in September.  I was thoroughly excited. You know how exciting it is to get engaged and start all of the fun of planning your dream wedding?  For those that haven't experienced it yet, it's an amazing thrill.  Anyway, I got all giddy for her and thought back to those days for myself, then I thought about how I'm going to look in a dress, and reality hit me.  UGH, I love to dress up, but I'm not my college self, well, correction the weight I was at my wedding.  So I decided I have plenty of time, and the weight loss/eating better and watching better starts now!  

I want to share with you the things I use and can't live without when I'm truly watching my weight.  First is a great diet Journal or notebook that you can write down your calories.  YES, it's a lot of work, but it's the only way I have found that I can be accountable for the calories I intake.  This is my favorite

This one breaks everything down for you, it has stickers for when you do good, it has a chart in the front, and it has a small food guide in the back.  The best part about this one, is it's small enough to fit in your purse or diaper bag.  I found mine at Barnes and Noble.

The next must have is The Biggest Loser Complete Calorie Counter

This has every food that you can think of and all the nutritional info in it.  It is also small enough to carry around in your purse

If you have an iPod touch or iPhone, The Fitness Pal app is pretty cool to have.  You wouldn't need the two above if you have it.  It counts your calories for you, tells you how many you have left, and you can put in your exercise and it calculates how many food calories you have remaining.  I love this because I'm really bad at calculating how many food calories I have after exercising.  Usually I don't, then I haven't eaten enough calories to loss the weight. I think that sounds so weird, but I learned that if you don't eat enough calories, you can't lose the weight.  

I think it's important to have a great pair of running or walking shoes.  If you don't know, they are different.  If you run, they are made differently than walking shoes, are vise versa.  So whichever you choose, please be sure to have the right shoes.  I like these

It's important to try on several pair and see what's comfortable for you.

I also feel that the only things you need are one of these

or these

I learned the last time I decided to lose weight that I didn't have to spend big money for a gym membership or a lot of equipment.  All you need is some open road and get out there and walk.  Watch what you eat, and yes you can eat the things you love, but you have to count the calories you intake and burn out!  Bob Harper said on the Biggest Loser one time, if you want that dessert, you can have it, but limit it to ONCE A WEEK, not anymore.  

I have found that all of this works, if you put the time into it.  You have to ask yourself, is your health and happiness worth the work?  We all make choices, choices for ourselves and our families.  If you want something badly enough, you will choose to do it.  I hate the excuse I don't have time, that's crap, just sayin.  30 mins 3 to 4 days a week, can be found for yourself.  Like Nike says, JUST DO IT!  Be strong, and power on.  You are not alone, I'm here doing the same thing.  If you need motivation I will be here to PUMP YOU UP!    

All of the products shown are things I purchase with my own money, nothing was given to me for review, and they are all my personal opinion.

Have a great day, and make it the first day to your weight loss success!  Love, BJ

Magical Monday Blog Hop

Here is a blog hop from a site I Love, Love, Love, Link up and enjoy the fun! Follow me and I'll follow back! Love, BJ

Why didn’t I become a doctor?

I will be the first to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed college; I stayed there long enough to become a doctor but I am not one. In fact, I am not even using my degree. I love my  job, it brings me tremendous satisfaction to share my passion for our second amendment, and how can you call getting paid to play with guns work.

It is times like these that make me wish I would have used my wealth of knowledge to become a pediatrician. It is 10:30pm on a Sunday night and I am writing this post as I listen to my son coughing.  The rhinovirus and its cure would have been my first major medical breakthrough. They would have made me king of everything if I could cure the cold.

In my younger days I would have thought that I could bottle that wonder juice that cured snot nose kids and I would be rich. Now, it would be free. I could give a good poop about how much money I could make off of that stuff and feel paid enough to be able too make my little guy less sick.

I may run out to Toys “R” Us and buy a toy microscope. I could catch some of Sam’s snot when he coughs on one of those little plastic slides and get started on a cure tonight. I just need some test animals and a few dollars for the ingredients for the cure.

I will give you guys a list of what you will need and a good description of how to make this wonder drug on next week’s blog. Wish me luck!!!

Barry