The Builder

I have officially lost it. I made it a goal to make a piece of furniture solely out of pallets. I printed out the plans and made my modifications since I was using primarily 1x6's. I also modified the plan to be 12 inches taller than the original and have another shelf. In the end, the only thing that cost money were the screws, brads, glue, stain, hinges and door pulls.

I'd say it was a success. It's not perfect, but that wasn't my intention. When you build with pallet wood you are going to have to deal with wood that isn't the same thicknesses, species or even widths. It can be frustrating, but that's why I decided to embrace the rustic haphazard-ness of it all.

The picture I'm showing you was not too long after I brought it inside. I left it sitting on cardboard for a few days just in case. YOU TOO can build with pallet wood!

p.s. I used a chop saw (thanks Dad for the loaner!), circular saw, drill, brad nailer, pocket hole jig and another saw which I can't remember the name of to cut out the curvy bottom part.

Planning Ahead

Guys, I'm feeling super proud right now. I decided to expand our clean eating recipes and so have been trying a ton this week. I've also been making our protein bars (something I've done before, but got lazy about). Mmmm. Protein bars are so much better when they are homemade. I've been stockpiling the freezer with extra dinner for lunches later too. Yummo. It's been a good week.

Since I can't label the photos on my phone, I'll tell you what the pictures are.
Tonight for dinner we had meatloaf. This was so incredibly good. Holy cow. The ingredients included brown rice and ground turkey along with peppers and yogurt. It was crazy good. I can't say it enough. Good. Good. Good.

I've been making egg whites for trevor every morning and this recipe takes the guesswork out of it. Totally delish and not disgusting as egg whites can sometimes be.

Yesterday we ate steak soup. Steak!! Oh my. So good. And yep. Totally clean and simple. Also, I made it in the crockpot and that steak was soooo tender. Mmmmm.

I also took some pictures of my freezer. Those are old butter tubs filled with brown rice and steamed veggies. And then of course the soup. I also included a picture of my protein bars: carrot cake, chocolate cake and chocolate peanut butter crisp.

My kitchen has been a disaster this week, but seeing my freezer full has made it all worth it.

Typical

My new life consists of two solid hours of getting people ready for the day. It starts at 5:50 am when I get Samantha up for the day. I don't wake anyone else up, because it's just too durn early. We spend the next 40 minutes getting her ready and then it's a quick prayer and outside to catch the bus.

Next I come inside to find Trevor in the shower. I pick out his clothes for the day and steam all the wrinkles out of his shirt and pants and then lay everything out for him on the bed.

By this time 20 minutes have passed (Trevor takes the longest hottest showers known to mankind), and now it's time to wake up Logan. Logan needs longer time to get ready than Samantha since he only has one speed, and that is known as snail speed around here. I help Logan get breakfast. Trevor comes out of the bedroom and is out the door and on his way to work.

Logan finishes up breakfast and gets dressed, brushes teeth, I check his backpack to see what he forgot, etc. etc.

Now it's 7:50 and time to go wait for another bus. Another quick prayer, and it's out the door. We never really know how long we will wait for this bus.  Since it covers such a large area, it's hard to know if it's on time or behind schedule. So we wait and wait. Finally the bus comes.

By this time I'm thoroughly cold and go inside and pull a thick blanket on me while I sit on the couch playing candy crush and waiting to hear signs of children stirring. Sometimes I fall asleep. If I fall asleep and phoebe finds me, she tiptoes around trying to be quiet so that I may continue to sleep. She's such a gem to have around!

I'm not sure what next year will have in store for me. Trevor says he likes the kids at different schools. I'm not convinced. Only time will tell...

The big change

I took Logan out of his school and put him in a charter school. It was a really hard decision but one that needed to be made. Samantha and Logan are at different schools now.  I don't love this situation,  but I loved the other situation less. It's going to be a tough couple of months until school gets out.

Logan gets to wear a uniform now. I'll post a picture when I get one.

http://youtu.be/ETceDD1yrFQ

Let's see if I can make this work this time...

oh yeah, and Happy New YEAR!!!!!!!!!

OH man have I been having major pain in my arm and shoulder lately. It has kept me up all night a few nights. It aches literally all day long. I'd really love to just chop the stupid arm off. Dumb arm.

I told Trevor that I'm ready to have surgery. I know. If you know me, you know it must be pretty bad to have driven me to this point. I'm terrified of doctors, hospitals, needles, knives, blood, eh and whatever else is encompassed in a hospital. Also I'm terrified of anesthesia. You think they'd do surgery with me awake?