Today I don't feel like doin' anything...

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you probably noticed that I didn't post one yesterday. These past couple of week have just been crazy--I've been so busy and I have absolutely no idea what I've been busy with! Obviously this past week Joe was on a work trip in Dallas, which left me alone with the kids all week. Although I was on my own, I was still able to paint my bedroom, paint Joe's closet, keep the house clean, and most importantly: keep the kids alive. Yesterday morning I was so happy to have Joe home: he woke up early when the kids woke up, took them downstairs, and let me sleep in till 10. I can't remember the last time I did that! At that time, Joe and the kids came upstairs and we all hung out in bed until 11. It was a perfect Saturday morning--just what we needed after missing him all week.

After we all slowly got the day going, we ate some lunch then hung out by the pool for a few hours. We ate fruit picked off of our trees, splashed around, and laid out in the sun (well, more like clouds--it was a weird cloudy day here yesterday). Most of all, we got some great quality time as a family in. Its insane how much we missed Joe--after nearly 5 years of marriage, I still was like a kid on Christmas when I got to pick him up from the airport!

So, I'm sorry for not posting yesterday, but I'm not sorry. I was spending the day with Joe and the kids and having a relaxing day--something that seems to be rare these days. I feel like I'm constantly on the go, so it was nice taking a break from it all :).

Today, we are driving down to San Diego to have lunch in Balboa Park with some of Joe's cousins who are visiting from out of town. Ironically, they live in Dallas (where Joe was) but were out here for work the same time Joe was out of town. Joe was able to visit his aunt and uncle and some of his other cousins while he was there--and I was so jealous! I wish I could have gone! I'm excited to have lunch with them today though :).

If you're like me and you're constantly on the go doing stuff, be sure to take some time to yourself to relax. You can't just go go go and not expect to get run down. Take a day and just lay around doing nothing--I'm constantly telling myself that I'm not a robot, and I need to take a break. Yesterday was that day for me, and I feel so refreshed! Now go take a nap ;)

Sprucing Up Your Closet

Who says closets have to be ugly and dingy? When we bought this house, the closets were a WRECK. They were all painted with a flat white paint--so of course they had scuff marks all over them. Our downstairs closet was so gross and I never wanted to go in there. I finally got fed up and just painted it one day--and now it looks clean! Our master closet was another story though. We have a pretty big walk-in closet, and of course it was painted with that same flat white paint. There were scuff marks everywhere, shoe scuffs on the wall, dirt smears--gross. I think we all know by now that I like things to be unusually clean--so its amazing that I lasted 2 years in this house without painting this closet. With Joe out of town this week, I thought I would surprise him with a little closet remodel. Joe, if you're at the airport right now and reading my blog, 'x' out of the screen right now :). Since I'm a weird one who prefers a dresser over a closet, this huge closet is all Joe's--so I wanted to make it somewhat manly. 

Here is the 'before' picture. Plain white (dirty) walls. 

The camera flash washed out all of the scuff marks on the walls, but they're definitely there. Also had luggage stacked on the shelf and piles of hats sitting on top of the shelf. 

First and foremost, I went with a grey-and-white color palette. Sue me. Its my current paint-duo obsession, and I'm just gonna go with it. 

Ah, fresh paint <3

Once the paint dried, I put all of the clothes back in the closet. The clothes are organized into categories: long sleeved shirts, v-necks, crew-necks, collared shirts, suits/dress shirts, and pants/shorts. It really isn't hard to keep up with the organization once its done :)

I went to Home Depot and bought thumb tacks so that I could hang all of Joe's hats around the ceiling in the closet. Now they aren't stacked up on the shelf; they're displayed nicely so that he can choose one easily. 

So much better, right?

It just looks clean now! And manly ;)

And lastly: Now that he has a suit-and-tie job, he's accrued quite the collection of ties. He had nowhere to hang them, so he had all of them draped over a hanger. I wanted to give him something where he could hang them up nicely so that he could see them all and (again) make an easy decision on which tie he wanted to wear, so I went to Home Depot and bought this $14 towel rack. If you're friends with me on Facebook and saw my status the other day about 'hanging something up by myself' --this is what I was talking about. That's right: miss independent here--hangin' stuff up all by myself ;)

Overall, the closet looks fantastic and I know Joe is going to love it. Not only is it much more presentable for when we're showing people around our house (yes--who doesn't want to see our closet?!), but its also got way more functionality (and looks pretty too--which is a must for me)  ;) This is Joe's new "man closet." 

Homemade Apple Butter

I saw this recipe for homemade apple butter on Pinterest--I had never tried apple butter, but the pictures make is look delicious--and I've been craving it ever since. I've got an apple tree right in my backyard, so there really was no excuse for me to not make it. The whole process is very time consuming--but well worth it. 

First, grab your apples. As you can see here, I used half store bought Fugi apples and half of some apples off of the tree in my backyard.

Peel, core, and chop up your apples. 

Toss all of the ingredients into the crock pot and stir them up so that all of the apples are coated nicely.

And viola! Homemade apple butter! 

Adorable, right? I'm thinking this might make a great gift around Christmastime ;)

Ingredients:
5 lbs of peeled apples (about 18-20 small apples), cored and chopped very small
4 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of ground cloves
1/4 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. of salt

Directions: First peel and core your apples. I used a peeler and peeled each apple, then used my apple cutter to take the core out. This process took me around an hour--this process could have gone a lot faster if I had one of those counter top apple peelers that takes the core out--if you have one of those, then you're one step ahead of me ;). 

Once you're done with that, toss the apples into a food processor using the chopping blade and pulsate until the apples are in small pieces. Next, you'll put all of your chopped up apples into your crock pot, toss all of your ingredients in, then stir until the apples are all coated.

Then turn your crock pot onto high and leave for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. After the three hours are up, turn the crock pot onto 'low' for 5 1/2 - 6 hours, stirring occasionally.

Finally, spoon the apples into the food processor and puree them. Once its pureed, you can put them in jars and refrigerate them. A lot of sites say that apple butter stays good canned for 18 - 24 months--if you don't eat it before then!

This may be my new favorite Fall-time recipe; my house smells amazing and the apple butter itself is delicious! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

As you all may know by now, Joe has been out of town all week and comes home on Friday. I had to be sure to get my baking in--as he hates it when I bake when hes home (because he always wants to eat it!). I've been so busy with house projects this week--today was literally the only day I could get some baking in--so I made this pumpkin chocolate chip bread and an apple butter (NOT to be eaten together!). I'll post the recipe for the apple butter tomorrow, but this pumpkin loaf was SO quick and easy to make--and it DOESN'T have 3 cups of sugar in it!

Ingredients:

1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 tsp. of vanilla

3 eggs

1/4 cup of sour cream

3/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 2/3 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of baking powder

1/2 tsp. of baking soda

1 cup + 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, divided

Separately mix the wet and dry ingredients together, then combine.

Toss in the chocolate chips

Pour into loaf pan then sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top

Bake then enjoy!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* degrees. Grease and flour loaf pan and set aside.

2. In large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt TWICE.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla, and sour cream until smooth. 

4. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk together until smooth. 

5. Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips.

6. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top. 

7. Bake 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

8. Cool in pan on a wore rack for 20 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy! 

A Terrific Reminder

Today I'm re-posting an article I recently read. It's a terrific article and a great reminder that nobody is perfect--it was a real eye-opener for me and something that I will keep in mind now and in the years to come. I originally read the article here.

Dear Mom,

I was 7 when I discovered that you were fat, ugly, and horrible. Up until that point I had believed that you were beautiful—in every sense of the word. I remember flicking through old photo albums and staring at pictures of you standing on the deck of a boat. Your white strapless bathing suit looked so glamorous, just like a movie star. Whenever I had the chance I’d pull out that wondrous white bathing suit hidden in your bottom drawer and imagine a time when I’d be big enough to wear it; when I’d be like you.

But all of that changed when, one night, we were dressed up for a party and you said to me, ‘‘Look at you, so thin, beautiful, and lovely. And look at me, fat, ugly, and horrible.’’

At first I didn’t understand what you meant.

‘‘You’re not fat,’’ I said earnestly and innocently, and you replied, ‘‘Yes I am, darling. I’ve always been fat; even as a child.’’

In the days that followed I had some painful revelations that have shaped my whole life. I learned that:

1. You must be fat because mothers don’t lie.
2. Fat is ugly and horrible.
3. When I grow up I’ll look like you and therefore I will be fat, ugly, and horrible too.

Years later, I looked back on this conversation and the hundreds that followed and cursed you for feeling so unattractive, insecure, and unworthy. Because, as my first and most influential role model, you taught me to believe the same thing about myself.

With every grimace at your reflection in the mirror, every new wonder diet that was going to change your life, and every guilty spoon of ‘‘Oh-I-really-shouldn’t,’’ I learned that women must be thin to be valid and worthy. Girls must go without because their greatest contribution to the world is their physical beauty.

Just like you, I have spent my whole life feeling fat. When did fat become a feeling anyway? And because I believed I was fat, I knew I was no good.

But now that I am older, and a mother myself, I know that blaming you for my body hatred is unhelpful and unfair. I now understand that you too are a product of a long and rich lineage of women who were taught to loathe themselves.

Look at the example Nanna set for you. Despite being what could only be described as famine-victim chic, she dieted every day of her life until the day she died at 79 years of age. She used to put on makeup to walk to the mailbox for fear that somebody might see her unpainted face.

I remember her ‘‘compassionate’’ response when you announced that Dad had left you for another woman. Her first comment was, ‘‘I don’t understand why he’d leave you. You look after yourself, you wear lipstick. You’re overweight, but not that much.’’

Before Dad left, he provided no balm for your body-image torment either.

‘‘Jesus, Jan,’’ I overheard him say to you. ‘‘It’s not that hard. Energy in versus energy out. If you want to lose weight you just have to eat less.’’

That night at dinner I watched you implement Dad’s ‘‘Energy In, Energy Out: Jesus, Jan, Just Eat Less’’ weight-loss cure. You served up chow mein for dinner. Everyone else’s food was on a dinner plate except yours. You served your chow mein on a tiny bread-and-butter plate.

As you sat in front of that pathetic scoop of mince, silent tears streamed down your face. I said nothing. Not even when your shoulders started heaving from your distress. We all ate our dinner in silence. Nobody comforted you. Nobody told you to stop being ridiculous and get a proper plate. Nobody told you that you were already loved and already good enough. Your achievements and your worth—as a teacher of children with special needs and a devoted mother of three of your own—paled into insignificance when compared with the centimeters you couldn’t lose from your waist.

It broke my heart to witness your despair and I’m sorry that I didn’t rush to your defense. I’d already learned that it was your fault that you were fat. I’d even heard Dad describe losing weight as a ‘‘simple’’ process—yet one that you still couldn’t come to grips with. The lesson: You didn’t deserve any food and you certainly didn’t deserve any sympathy.

But I was wrong, Mom. Now I understand what it’s like to grow up in a society that tells women that their beauty matters most, and at the same time defines a standard of beauty that is perpetually out of our reach. I also know the pain of internalizing these messages. We have become our own jailors and we inflict our own punishments for failing to measure up. No one is more cruel to us than we are to ourselves.

But this madness has to stop, Mom. It stops with you, it stops with me, and it stops now. We deserve better—better than to have our days brought to ruin by bad body thoughts, wishing we were otherwise.

And it’s not just about you and me anymore. It’s also about Violet. Your granddaughter is only 3 and I do not want body hatred to take root inside her and strangle her happiness, her confidence, and her potential. I don’t want Violet to believe that her beauty is her most important asset; that it will define her worth in the world. When Violet looks to us to learn how to be a woman, we need to be the best role models we can be. We need to show her with our words and our actions that women are good enough just the way they are. And for her to believe us, we need to believe it ourselves.

The older we get, the more loved ones we lose to accidents and illness. Their passing is always tragic and far too soon. I sometimes think about what these friends—and the people who love them—wouldn't give for more time in a body that was healthy. A body that would allow them to live just a little longer. The size of that body’s thighs or the lines on its face wouldn't matter. It would be alive and therefore it would be perfect.

Your body is perfect too. It allows you to disarm a room with your smile and infect everyone with your laugh. It gives you arms to wrap around Violet and squeeze her until she giggles. Every moment we spend worrying about our physical ‘‘flaws’’ is a moment wasted, a precious slice of life that we will never get back.

Let us honor and respect our bodies for what they do instead of despising them for how they appear. Focus on living healthy and active lives, let our weight fall where it may, and consign our body hatred in the past where it belongs. When I looked at that photo of you in the white bathing suit all those years ago, my innocent young eyes saw the truth. I saw unconditional love, beauty, and wisdom. I saw my Mom.

Love, Kasey xx

How To: Paint a Striped Wall

Let me just start with: I LOVE stripes. I've wanted to paint a striped wall in my room for forever, but Joe was never on board. A few months ago I painted every wall in my room a light grey, and apparently Joe felt like it was too boring. He wanted some more color in the room--so I suggested that I paint stripes to break it up. He FINALLY said yes, and I figured this would be the perfect week to do it since he is in Dallas. Once everything was all said and done, the whole project really didn't take much time at all; the longest part of it is just taping it off. Here's how I did it: 

This is my 'before' picture. Plain grey wall, all ready to go. (Don't mind my makeshift nightstands; I'm currently shopping around for new ones) 

Step 1: Tape off your wall. Grab your measuring tape and measure the entire length of your wall. My wall measured in at 175 inches. Divide it by how many stripes you want (until you get a nice even number). My stripes ended up being 6.25 inches wide. I marked both the top and bottom of my wall so that when I taped it, I would be sure to get straight lines. The stripes with the tape across them were the ones that weren't going to be painted. 

Step 2: Seal off the tape. I learned this trick from Pinterest: using the base color of your wall, paint along the tape line to minimize paint bleeding. It seals off the tape so that you get nice straight lines.

Step 3: Paint the stripes! Here is the first coat of white paint. Looks crooked and ugly, but once the tape is peeled it should look great. 

The whole wall of stripes. Be sure to let the paint completely dry before peeling the tape off. I'm guilty of being impatient and peeling it while its still wet--but I made sure to hold off on this one just to make sure my lines were crisp. It definitely helped that I was painting Joe's closet while the stripes were drying :)

The finished product! Nice crisp lines, minimal paint bleed, and a much cuter room. I'm in LOVE with how this turned out! Now to just get those nightstands to finish off the look ;)

I started this project last night; taping off the wall and "sealing" the tape off (so that it would dry overnight and I could just start painting first thing in the morning). Start-to-finish, including taping, this entire thing took somewhere between 3 and 4 hours--not nearly as gruesome of a project as I thought it would be. I will absolutely be doing stripes in more rooms :) 

Thankful for this Life

I've been feeling very blessed lately--and for no particular reason. My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I've been thinking about everything I've accomplished in these 25 years I've been alive. I feel like I've accomplished more than most people my age--in the sense of being married for 5 years and counting, having two kids, having owned a condo, owning a house--I live a very good life. This is not me bragging or rubbing it in anyone's face; rather, its me being thankful for everything I've been given.

Nowadays, it seems like there isn't much of a family sense anymore; everyone gets divorced without even trying to work out their problems. People cheat--and you know what? That makes me even more thankful for Joe and the amazing 5 years we've been married. Nobody is perfect, and everyone has their issues--but I can honestly say that we rarely fight and have an amazing relationship. He is such an amazing dad to Maverick and Madison (where nowadays it seems like all I ever hear is "my husband wont stop playing video games to play with our kids" or "my husband would rather be out with his friends than stay at home with his family.") This makes me so sad. Joe and I love spending time together! Sure, we have our separate hobbies; he goes golfing with his friends, and I go get pedicures and shop at Hobby Lobby. But at the end of the day, he's the one who I want to spend time with and he comes before anyone else.

I seem to have this 'mom thing' down. I am far from the perfect mom, but we have our routines and it seems to be going great. My kids are such happy little kids, and that's what's most important. They are always smiling and laughing (okay--when they aren't fighting), and they are well-behaved and have good manners. I had friends who's kids were awful to be around, therefore I no longer hang out with them. Its so sad when people let their kids rule the household--that is NOT the way its supposed to go. Kids need structure and routines--not to be able to boss the parents around and run the world. I honestly feel sorry for those kids--because when they start school, no one is going to want to play with them because they're too bossy. Take control of your kids before its too late. Its better to do damage control now than when they're teenagers. I don't have perfect kids; they throw fits, hit, bite, scream--but I don't allow it and there are repercussions for their actions. This whole 'parenting' thing is basically a big game of trial and error--just don't give up on it. Find what works for you and your kids and go with it. Don't let them just run wild. We've all seen those kids at the store, and guaranteed we all roll our eyes at them.

Most importantly, try not to compare your life to someone else--NO ONE knows another person's true story and you don't know the struggles they took to get to that place. Perfect example: a few months ago, Joe and I took the kids to Target. We put them in the shopping cart and went in the store. Within minutes they were both screaming and crying for no reason at all. We nipped it in the bud and stopped it quickly. Right after they stopped crying, a dad walked into the store with a screaming toddler in his shopping cart. Looking frantic, he looked over at Maverick and Madison, looked back at his son, and said "look--THEY'RE not crying! Why can't you be well-behaved like them?!" ...if only that guy had been in the store 2 minutes prior, they would have seen that we were all in the same boat. Don't assume that someone has it better than you because they have well behaved kids, a big house, lots of money, etc. That stuff doesn't matter, and it could change at any minute. Be thankful for what you have, and cherish it while you have it. That brings me back to the reason for this post: talking to friends recently, even they have commented on what a great life I have--and I have to agree with them. Talking outwardly about it I tend to downplay it because I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, but you know what? I absolutely love my life. I'm married to my best friend, we have our beautiful kids that we are enjoying watching grow up, and I have an amazing house that I feel blessed to live in. Some of you may think that I "wish I had two arms" --but I don't. Really. Ever. Everything I've been through has gotten me to where I am today--and where I am today is pretty amazing.

Don't be ashamed to be thankful for everything you've been given. It all could change in the blink of an eye, so appreciate it while you can. Just some food for thought <3