Ella's room: lamp

It's no secret I love a good deal. Who doesn't?

I've had my eye on this lamp for Ella's room redo for awhile now. I was waiting to see what fabrics I chose for her bed quilt before choosing a shade. I consider it a splurge at $49.00 for just the base.

we've been busy...

We survived Halloween. Ella woke up on Sunday morning (we went trick or treating on Saturday night) and the first thing she asked was, "Is Halloween over?" I told her it was. She asked if it would come again. I told her not until next year. She wanted to know if she could dress up again. I said, "Of course! Do you know what you want to be?" She pondered the question for a few moments and finally told me, "Jesus or a butterfly." Then she ran off to get some breakfast.

We've been busy. I guess I should say Lynn has been busy.

With the weather cooling down, we decided to make the switch between Ella's room and the office. They're right next to each other, but Ella's room has two outside walls and it seems a bit cooler in the winter. We FINALLY got her new bedroom furniture--I won't go into all the details, other than to say it was a major pain. I wanted to find another set, but Lynn really liked the design of the pieces. They are darling.

project planter boxes--check--and a simple summer recipe

Plant flowers in the garden boxes on the porch--check. One project down, 341 to go. It only feels that way. I'm loving the way the boxes turned out. I love gerbera daisies so we added yellow ones along with pink geraniums and some white-flowered trailing thing. I've never been a big fan of geraniums, but for some reason that changed this year. The boxes are self-watering, so the project won't take a lot of maintenance.

While at the nursery we also purchased starts for our garden. Planting them will be our activity for family night tomorrow. We're keeping things super simple this year--pumpkins, zucchini, lettuce and tomatoes. I also planted some basil seeds so I could make grilled chicken brushetta throughout the summer.

It's another of our family favorites and is sooo yummy! It looks and tastes fancy schmancy, but it's simple to make. Here's the recipe: 

GRILLED CHICKEN BRUSHETTA

sundried tomato salad dressing (We use Kraft sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing and marinade)
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
2 c. mozzarella cheese
1 small package fresh basil, chopped

Marinade chicken in 1/2 to 1 cup salad dressing.

In a bowl, combine, tomatoes, cheese, basil and about 1/2 c. dressing.

Preheat bar-b-que grill to medium heat and cover half with heavy duty foil. Grill chicken on uncovered side of grill about six minutes. Turn chicken over and place on foil side of grill. Top with tomato mixture and grill an additional 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and topping is heated.

*We used five chicken breasts tonight instead of eight, since that's all we needed. We just loaded up on the topping. We also used our George Foreman grill instead of the bar-b-que to grill the chicken. We placed the grilled chicken on a baking sheet covered with foil, added the topping and baked it in the oven at 400 degrees for about eight minutes. It came out perfect. We served it with broccoli and watermelon chunks.

projects in the house and diligence

Are there certain words that just resonate with you? I love the word diligence. President Thomas S. Monson defined it as "constant, steady effort." It makes me feel like everything doesn't have to be completed all at once and is doable. Over the next little while, the word diligence will be a great reminder to me to stay calm. Let me explain.

Every once in awhile, I'll ask Lynn, "Okay, what are we avoiding?" I know, a very dangerous question, but also necessary at times. I can't say we've really been avoiding, it's more the craziness of the last couple of years put us in survival mode, so many projects were simply put aside. There are things that simply need our attention, so we now have three big projects in the works.

Project One.
Personally, I've been avoiding the storage room downstairs that's overflowing with "stuff" that needs to be gone through and either thrown away, given away or used. A lot of it is paper--memorabilia type stuff and scrapbooking product. I know I've mentioned before that the paper chase is my biggest organizing challenge. It was driving me nuts, so for the last couple of weeks, I haul out a box or two a day and go through it. It feels good to clear things out.

Project Two.
The front yard is looking great. The backyard, we've avoided. It's time to start working on it. We hauled in six yards of soil last weekend and Lynn, Patrick and Ella spread it throughout the flower beds. I love the smell and look of the dark soil. Now for plants and flowers.  I have in mind something simple and low-maintenance with splashes of color. We also need to fill our planter boxes on the porch rail (see below).

Project Three.
Ella has about three inches to grow until she'll hit the ends of her crib. I know, I know. She started asking for a "big girl" bed, so we've been looking. We ordered a set--bed, dresser and nightstand--on Monday. It arrived bright and early today! Three big boxes on the porch. I'm not ready. I called Lynn and he said he'd put the bed together tonight, but I reminded him I don't have bedding yet! Here's the other part. We're switching Ella's room and the office. And the office needs to be painted. Even with the little blips, this is going to be a fun project.

I'll keep you posted on our progress with each project. Our aim is "constant, steady effort" and keeping things simple. I find when beginning a large project, it helps me to make a list of "what I'd like to do" and then a more realistic list of "what's doable or most important."

I'd love to hear what you've been avoiding and your plans for tackling the project. We can keep each other motivated.