Spring Break

I am loving break! How about you? Even though our break is shortened by one day, thanks random March snow storm, I feel that I am getting a lot done. I am also getting quality time in with Dave and our families too. Also, I am getting some laziness in which is important, you have to make time to be lazy!

I finally reprinted our kitchen. I love the yellow I picked out last spring, but then...I painted the whole first floor gray at the end of August. It's a beautiful, light but pleasantly gray type of gray. So, the BAM IM YELLOW kitchen didn't blend as well. Mom, the retired interior designer, always says that the colors in your house need to to flow. This yellow started to bother me because it did not flow well into the gray. I knew I had to lighten it up, but it just a pain in the butt to repaint a room that I spent SO much time making perfect last spring break.

Alas, I caved in on Friday. After 2 months of debating yellows in my head again, I settled on a lovely light yellow called Haystack by Glidden. It is still a happy kitchen yellow, but has some green to it. Plus it matches all the artwork we brought home from Italy specifically for our "Tuscan" themed kitchen. It only took me about 5 hours on Friday night to repaint. Dave picked up an short extra shift and by the time he got home at 9:30, our kitchen was done.

I love the new color! It is so soft and sweet and it does flow much better with our beautiful gray. It is amazing what a new coat of paint will do to you:)

Yesterday we spend the entire day doing fun things together. We got up early, made breakfast, went back to sleep for a while, did some errands, went to Easter Service, took a walk, made dinner together and finally, spontaneously decided to go see Olympus has Fallen. Good movie!

Today we are sleeping in, and by we I mean Dave because I can't sleep much past 7:30 anymore;) I made a light Easter breakfast of French donut muffins, hard boiled eggs, fruit and yogurt and of course coffee. We have a big dinner at mom and dads today so I want to keep things light so we can enjoy it!

Now I am wondering what I should get into? Shall I go back to sleep and rest? It is spring break after all?!?! Or, should I go to them gym? Maybe I should work on the Gallery Wall up the stair well....hmmm...or maybe I should read a book. So many choices! Maybe I can fit them all in today!

Pinterest Nums

In the Bland house, we use the word "nums" a lot.  It originated from my mother, in feeding pets as I grew up...num nums was the name for food to all cats and dogs.  Dave and I adopted the word apparently.  We used say it just to Frodo when we put his food out but now it pops up in our everyday language when talking food.  Hence, the title of my post this evening - Pinterest Nums!

I hate for our food to be bland, ironically enough;) I don't like making the same thing twice in a few weeks time, and I really enjoy trying out new things when I have the energy.  Today was one of those days.  I wanted to make a yummy yet healthier type meal, so instead of finding new recipes on Pinterest, I looked at my own boards to try to make something I have already liked and pinned.

Here are the two I have tried:

Cheeseburger Wraps



Pinned from here.

To go with it...

Black Bean and Corn Salad



Pinned from here.

These are pics taken from Pinterest.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the food because we ate it quickly. Both recipes turned out amazing!  I used whole wheat tortillas for the wraps and since we don't have a GF grill, I just pressed them in a warm skillet to make them golden all over.  I also used organic ground beef from Wegmans.  Gotta make sure our meat is healthy and grass fed, no extra junk in there!

My family loved the wraps and there is so much you can do to change them up...I am thinking mushrooms, Dave is thinking bacon...lots of variety possible.  The corn and bean salad was light and yummy and even though I didn't have any avocados, it was tasty.  Avocados would have made it yummier though!  You could even break out some tortilla chips and get your salsa on with this salad, or serve it on tacos, or even put it INSIDE your cheeseburger wrap!  WHY didn't I think of that earlier?!?!

So that was my culinary adventure for the evening.  Lets see what else I can get into!

Life since...

My poor blog.  It's so neglected.  Life has been so busy, not so Bland as usual, and the blog just seems to be the thing that gets the back burner.  Today I am really sick, and am in need of things to keep my mind off how painful this cough is.  Here are some things I'd like to share to catch you up on our lives, nothing too earth shattering!

1.  I joined a gym.  Planet Fitness.  I try to go 3-4 times a week to work off all this flubber.  It doesn't seem to help but I keep trekking through it, some day I'll be skinnier;)
2.  I am trying to change my family over to mostly organic, clean eating.  It's hard to do.  It's expensive.  It will be worth it in the long run.  We definitely don't stick to it all the time, since we love to eat out and order in a lot, but we are getting better.  We eat a ton more fruits and veggies then we ever did, which is a good change.
3.  I love mushrooms.  Who knew?  My whole life I hated them, then when I changed the way I shop and eat, I fell in love with them.  Give me mushrooms sautéed in olive oil and/or red wine, and I would be good for life.
4.  Downton Abbey has found it's way into my heart.  And my parents hearts.  And my friends.  We are all obsessed.
5.  Raising an 8th grader is seriously tough work.  Especially when she lives in a different place half the week where we have no way of teaching her how to be responsible.
6.  Do we want a baby?  People keep asking.  Everyone is having babies, its the thing to do.  But us?  We go back and forth.  We want one, one day.  When God says we are ready.  We still aren't trying all that hard, but we aren't preventing.  Doesn't mean we don't or can't, just means we want it to be right.  I've never been the kind of girl who just wants to be a mom.  I do want to be, but I'm not obsessed about it, plus we have our hands full with a 13 year old which a lot of people our age can't understand.  It'll happen when it happens:)  You've been officially filled in.
7.  MSA is coming up over the next two weeks.  I'm the alternate coordinator and official helper.   That means I doubt you will hear from me again before it is over;)
8.  I'm writing a book.  Except that has been on the back burner too.  But I have an idea, actually TWO ideas, and I am excited to see where it takes me.  Probably no where, but it'll be a fun adventure.
9.  I'm going back to school.  In the fall.  Maybe.  I'm crazy for going beyond my Master's degree, right?
10.  I have about 25 to-dos for the house, like always.  Like repaint the kitchen (yes...I know, I just painted it last year) and doing DIY board and batten on the stairs and our stairwell gallery walls and painting the master bath and fixing that darn hole above the microwave and getting the man cave back in order...I need to make an official list.  I love our house.  I love decorating it.  It'll be a never ending job;)

That's my life right now.  I promise to blog more.  I love blogging, really!  Toodles!