Get In There

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-tate/mom-pictures-with-kids_b_1926073.html

Take a Moment to read the article linked above. Mind you, I don't normally read much, if anything, on Huffington because I have better things to do than get irritated with most of what they put up. But I love, LOVE, this article for so many reasons. 

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I will say this, as the oldest child in my family there are no lack of pictures of me. Professional, personal, etc. Pictures with camels, in front of Pyramids, at Disneyland, etc. All of these places were neat, wonderful places to be. But the ones that I cherish the most are the ones with my parents and grandparents. I have a handful of pictures that I've seen with my Mom and Dad before my sisters came along. I think of that and then read this article from The Huffington Post and think, "I really need to make an effort to be in pictures with my daughter." Because, as a daughter, who's turning 33 this month, it goes by in a heartbeat, in the blinking of an eye.

With everything going on in the world, we need to remember to be in the picture with our kids. Even if it's been a few days since we showered, we have no makeup on, if we're in our sweats, or are in our PJs all day, etc. The things I remember the most about my childhood are the things that don't involve a lot of pomp and circumstance.  Dancing in the living room with my Mom and eventually my sisters, playing hide and go seek in our apartment in Egypt, Mom teaching me how to paint, helping her cook, etc. 

As a first time Mom, hopefully not a last time Mom, I want my daughter to have pictures of us doing silly things, of every day things because one day I'll be gone, or even worse, one day she'll be gone.  It is a blessing if our children outlive us. Being named after an aunt who died at the age of 7, having been with some friends just before their little one passed away, and holding a baby who was stillborn... There is no gurantee that we will outlive our children, or that our children will see us into our elderly years.

Go take those pictures. Be there for your kids. Give them memories. Show them your priorities. Teach them everything you can. Teach them to be confident, show them in pictures that you were happy to be their Mom no matter what was going on.  One day the picture above will be what my daughter sees in how happy she was to be going to the zoo for the first time, and it will remind me that she cried and cried when we left the elephants because she loved them so much. The small things in life were still important. In a flash boys will be a top priority and what others think of her. Those aren't her priorities at all right now. Capturing this moment will make me nostalgic, and to remind me that she will always be my baby no matter how old she gets and where she goes in life.
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This month at our Babynet KY meeting I'm setting up a photo booth. We're going to capture silly moments, goofy moments, and all I ask is you just bring yourself as you are. No special preparation. Bring your kids as they are, bring yourself as you are, as you always are.  There will be silly hats, chalk boards with phrases, scarves, and everything else. Have fun with it. Be in there with your kids. Love WHERE you are with them. Where they are in their lives will only be this very moment. 

Weighing In

My actual starting weight was 233.2 and I am down to 230.8 this morning. I'm pretty happy with that :) Just gotta keep it up!

I've got a little bit of a cold this morning, but I'm betting that will get better after I get out and walk/run for a bit. 

I've got little bit watching Super Why! At the moment and my husband is off getting an alignment done on our vehicle and then will come home and mow the lawn and then start the first day of his second job. Not going to see much of him today, but stuff has to be done and things need to be paid for :)

Hope your progress is great too! Keep it up! I'm about to go put M in the stroller and start over with Week 1 Day 1 of Couch to 5K because apparently you're only supposed to do it 3 times a week, not 5 days a week, with this App so I'm just going to do it one more day and then start with week 2 on Monday and have tomorrow as my off day :) Also going to do some leg work today :)

Happy Saturday :)

Only Me

The only person in the way of me getting healthy is... me.

I have no excuses. In fact after yesterdays post I remembered I downloaded a $5.99 app (that is now significantly cheaper I believe) MONTHS ago so I could use my jogging stroller.  Couch to 5k. So yesterday after my post about Mari being sick and me not working out, I loaded her up in the stroller that we keep in the garage because the thing is a monster, and went at it.  And I didn't run every time it said run because I figure I'm going to have to cycle through this program a few times before I'm where I need to be.  But I need to do it. For myself, for my husband, for my daughter.  And the humidity is over 50% so it feels like I have a blanket over my face with a wash cloth stuck down my throat.  Yes I live in the south. No I have not gotten acclimated to the humidity.

For right now, I'm going to commit to doing it every day and slowly adding in weights and what not.  Mari did my stretches with me tonight. She thought it was silly and fun, and I want her to get used to seeing me do it. I want my good habits to become her good habits.  And her being outside is better for her than the inside air, especially with being sick.

I have the perfect neighborhood and the perfect stroller to do this and a daughter who loves to be outside and read books, so why not do this?

We had high fiber pasta and homemade tomato sauce for dinner, and Mari and I ate watermelon for dessert.  Then we went outside.

And as a side note, the Purification oil by Young Living... yeah. Get it. Mosquitoes LOVE me... and I do not have one bite for going out to run/walk at dusk after eating melon. I made a spray of it and water and sprayed it all over me and Mari and they avoided us :)

Well, gotta get back to the wonderful housewifely duties that I have before we all need to hit the sack.  I love my life as a wife and a Momma :)

Hold it right there!

Best laid plans...

So I've worked out a total of twice since I posted my challenge to myself and others.  Why? Well two out of the three of us are sick at the moment.  My baby girl is presently asleep propped up against my chest (shes a tummy sleeper so that doesn't work out so well with her laying on her belly on her bed and being able to breathe), and my husband is presently at work probably taking copious amounts of Dayquil and praying that the work day would hurry up and be over with so he can come home.  And I'm guessing he's staying home with Mari tonight because I teach Bible class.

THis means I'm not getting laundry done, dishes, and such while Mari is asleep which is what I normally do.  I'm also not able to lay her down and get some night time chores done for the first couple of hours while she sleeps.  I'm ever so thankful for Winnie the Pooh right now because watching it keeps her happy. I might be going against what the pediatric society tells me I shouldn't do, which is let her watch TV like this, but she doesn't want to play, shes stuffy and miserable, and doesn't want me to leave her side for more than about 5 minutes. We're watching movies. Period. I did get a load run of darks this morning and after she wakes up she'll help me unload the dishwasher and I'll load it back up again, but the floors being swept will have to wait, the dust will have to pile up, and the tub wont get scrubbed today.  That's alright because I'm enjoying the snuggles which are so rare these days, even if it sounds like the snuggles are coming from a baby elephant :)  

So we will continue to eat healthy for now, though I got myself a bag of M&Ms last night at Walmart because I wanted chocolate and it was a long day of fighting a toddler who didn't want her nose wiped. I'm going to call that my splurge for the week.  I'm making roasted chicken with carrots for dinner tonight, I'll make a can of green beans to go with it and some rice or rolls, I haven't decided which carb to go with yet. Probably rice because it's easier.

Thats my update thus far. We'll see what Saturday brings on the scale, right? :)

Eating Whole and Healthy on a Budget

This is a big step for me right here. I'm making my budget accountable as well as my waist line.

I had some comments last night that people would love to join me BUT they don't have the money to eat healthy.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that yeah... you do.  We do and right now our budget is very limited due to some price increases on other bills we cannot get rid of, house repairs and what not, my weekly grocery budget is $100 dollars, which realistically is more like $45 because I spend more at the beginning of the month for things like meat in bulk at Sams Club and bread for the month. I should also point out that that money is supposed to include any toiletries.  So if I can get good whole, healthy, foods on a budget... then you can too.

Things that make us accountable and tips for staying in a budget:

-We have to take money out of grocery to eat out, so we have people over.
-It takes one hour to make pizza. One hour. In the time you decide what you want on it, order it, and it gets to your house you can make your own pizza.
-We don't hardly use coupons. Most coupons are for things we don't use and if we do find some good ones, often you can print them offline.  I print mine off of Swagbucks because it adds up points, more on that later.
-Make as much as possible, even snack foods.
-No sodas, we buy some juice because we have toddler, but we drink a lot of tea which is cheap and healthy.
- Eat before going to the Mall or out shopping, or bring snacks with us like bananas.
-SWAGBUCKS, I'm on Subscribe and Save on Amazon for my shampoo, Maris coconut oil for its MANY uses, and dish washer detergent. This way, I don't have to worry about it and I don't have to figure out how to get it in our budget.  I average about $25 dollars a month in how many Amazon Gift cards I get on Swagbucks.
-We go to Farmers Markets when they are about to close. Why? Farmers are now trying to get rid of their produce because they don't want to take it home and will make you a deal to take it with you.
-I know when Kroger marks down their meat, which often includes their free range pork and chicken and beef. Get to know your butcher.
-I inventory my pantry, freezer, and fridge. Which once you have a master list... it's not that hard to do. That way I know what I have and makes meal planning so much easier.
-I always have a list. ALWAYS. And if something isn't on my list, I don't need it. There are list apps on phones if you don't have paper to write it down :)
-I make my own cleaners, they involve vinegar, water, and essential oils. If I need a scrubber, theres baking soda.
-We cloth diaper. I have a spread sheet if you'd like to see the cost comparison. But basically I've spent $200 dollars on diapers that she will be in until she potty trains and it increased our water bill by $10 dollars a month. The "ew" factor goes away after you realize that the diaper isn't the grossest thing about a baby.


We have one car. I go grocery shopping once a week, sometimes more depending on how fast we go through bananas or eggs.

This might be controversial among some, because I know I have strongish feelings about it sometimes too. I don't always buy organic produce because unless it's on sale, and I try and buy local as much as possible, I find it important, but not so important that I'm not going to buy produce I need because I cannot get it in organic or cannot afford it. I'd love to be able to have a garden, and we wanted one this year and it just didn't happen. It WILL next year if the Lord wills.

Just a few things about how our budget works and why we are so strict about it.  Trust me when I tell you that we have no lack of food. It's just prioritizing and knowing what your family will and wont eat.  Buying only what you need and only buying what you want as a treat.  And by treat, I mean rarely.

We're doing our best to pay off debt and get savings built and this is the only area where we have any kind of control over. And its up to us to me, as the Homemaker, to keep up with it. My husband has trusted me to do this and he's trusting me to get him healthy :) And I can do both on the limited budget I have.

Realistic Goals

Before we got our daughter (within 48 hours) I made excuses to not go to the gym. When I realistically had time. It's amazing after you have a child how much of that time just gets sucked away in the best possible way and you realize the way it was before was not better... just not nearly as busy as you thought.  Well it might be, just a different kind of busy.

So I'm setting realistic goals.  We cannot afford a weight loss program but I have a major sports nutrition back ground, and doing everything but take the personal trainer certification, I KNOW what to do... it's just doing it.  Remembering that now I CAN do it, just cut out all artifical everything and eat everything in moderation and exercise more.  The exercise shouldn't be a problem, just shutting this thing down and not turning on the TV for little bit and I will get my 10,000 steps in and then some.

By thanksgiving I want to be down 20 pounds. By winter break, I want to be down another 5. And I'm gonna have to do this Mommy style.  No gym. No diet plans. Eating homemade real food, minimizing how much processed we use, upping our vegetable and decreasing meat and bad fats.  Eating fruit for dessert but not denying the occasional frozen yogurt or small piece of cake.

I'm going to post weekly weight loss every Saturday and what I've done.  I have the following work out tools:
-16 1/2 month old daughter
-5lb hand weights
-Yoga mat (which will probably only come out during nap time, when I've tried to use the yoga mat while my toddler is awake... yeah... it doesn't go well)
-5lb medicine ball
-Resistance bands (2 varying degrees of resistance)
-Chair
-Jogging stroller

I will rest on Sunday, but every day I will do a moderate amount of cardio, meaning I will do what I do with my daughter and then add at least another 20-30 minutes if at all possible of walking or jogging.  Arms on Monday, Torso (abs, back) on Tuesday, Legs on Wednesday, flexibility on Thursday (yoga, pilates), Friday is weights free full body, and Saturday will be some from each body section.

I'm offering a challenge to all you Mommas or ladies who want to do this with me.  We can keep ourselves accountable like a Weight Watchers meeting.  I have a MyFitnessPal account. Or we can message each other our weight loss.

I have a lot of weight to lose overall. But even losing 5-10% I will feel better and hopefully keep up with it.  Doing this through the holidays will be part of the challenge because Thanksgiving could be my downfall but I don't want it to be, but I want to enjoy it too.  Just remembering that Thanksgiving is only one or two meals :) Just go back to it when you can kinda thing.

I wont end in December, I need to be healthy, which means I need to get this weight off of me.  I am 230 pounds. There. I put it out there. I keep making excuses to not do this and I need to. For my husband, for myself, and overall for my daughter so that she is raised healthy with a healthy body image.  Not raised to be skinny, raised to be HEALTHY. There is a difference.

Do this with me. Join me.

There's a first time for everything

This time last year M was on her second cold and I felt like I knew what to do. Almost 2 weeks ago now she got her 10th cold and I knew we were in it for 10 days but we had so much to get done that we didn't really slow down much. I kept her home to try and get her well but I still had to be out and about for the fundraiser and so my husband graciously let me do that and watched her at home.  A week later she was still pretty stuffy but kind of in a high functioning stuffy state. I thought she was coming out of it.  This last Thursday we even had company over and she was acting perfectly normal except for the occasional nose wipe, I figured she was coming out of it.  Friday morning, she woke up on fire.  I checked her temp, 100.5.  I put her in a lukewarm bath and she perked up sorta, I popped in Winnie the Pooh and she didn't want to watch it, which told me something was wrong.  An hour later before she went back to sleep, her temp was up close to 102, so I gave her some medicine to bring it down because I could tell she was listless and couldn't get comfortable to sleep.  I also noticed when she breathed that there was a rattling in her chest.   The medicine didn't work.  Shawn came home from work and I called the doctor.  They could see us that afternoon.  She wasn't talkative, she didn't want down to walk... and if you know my daughter at all, thats not her.  She talks from the time she wakes up until she goes to sleep, she wants down, she doesn't want to be still, so her being completely still was alarming.    I gave her a book in her car seat and the book didn't move. She didn't want it but didn't have the energy to put it on the seat next to her.

We got to the doctor and waited. And waited. And waited.  Finally we got in and her temp was up over 103.  She was miserable, she was so tired but she couldn't stay asleep for more than about 10 minutes at a time.  It scared me so much because she's never had a fever like this, ever.  All of her fevers have been below 101.  They listened to her chest, ran strep tests, and decided it was pneumonia. The P word. In a 14 1/2 month old.  Trying to stay calm, I asked the doctor what I could have done to prevent it or where she could have gotten it from because she alluded to the fact that they only usually see this in kids who are in day cares.   I stay at home with her.

Mom guilt. Heaping doses of it.  What could I have done?

IN this case, nothing.  It was a mild case, and it may have been just something that happened.  There are strains of pneumonia that spring up from colds and it could just have been that.  I love my daughter so much and I hate seeing her like that.  It's hard because she still can't tell me whats wrong.  She just cries.  Shes been telling us when she wants "dink" and "ater ease" (water please) but the thing thats been killing me is the "Maaaamamamamama" when shes just miserable.  Even when I'm holding her, she just cries Mama, like shes saying "Mama make it better!"

I know I'll come out of this knowing what to do, and her immune system will be better for it.  I am super thankful that the Lord has blessed my husband with a wonderful job with wonderful benefits and that we have a doctors office that is willing to fit us in same day when shes sick so we can avoid the awful Urgent Care in this town.  Two shots in two days in the legs to get the infection under control, she's now been sick for 12 days, the longest shes ever been sick and shes starting to come out of it.

I've never been so happy to chase her around. Never been so happy for her to eat half a banana. Never been so happy to even sometimes see her spark her attitude up when shes not getting her way (no we don't let her get away with it but she wasn't even doing that two days ago).

She watched Winnie the Pooh today and danced with the music.  She blew kisses at a picture of DJ and Ellen I showed her. And most importantly she gave her Daddy the best second Fathers Day ever :) Lots of kisses and a Mari that feels some better.  And some projects we made off of Pinterest :)

I love our baby girl. I love our family. I am truly thankful to God for them.  Sometimes the days are hard, lots of training, lots of "No Ma'am!"'s but I know in the end it will be worth it.  There may be a first time for everything, and not all firsts are great, but every first makes the second easier to deal with.

Thanks be to God for all His blessings.

Measuring Up

I am a visual learner for some things, others not so much, but when I saw this chart for the first time I knew I'd never forget it as soon as I figured out what it was:

I know, you're thinking, "Ok, that means nothing... it looks like a seating chart."

The professor who put it up on the board could see our puzzled looks and as soon as she started explaining to us that through our nutrition or catering degree program that this chart would help us through most of our classes.  We still were confused. And then she started to outline.

G for gallon. 128 fl oz :)

Q for quart, there are 4 quarts in a gallon, one quart is 32 fl oz :)

P is for pint, two pints in a quart, 16 fl oz :)

And the c's stand for cups :) 2 cups in a pint, 8 fl oz each.

For kicks and giggles I added an L because a liter is just barely bigger than a quart at 33.814 oz :) But its not an even number so I try not to add it in because it muddies the measurement system since commonly in metric measurements for recipes and nutrition calculation, liter is almost never used unless in reference to cutting out soda :)

I know its riveting stuff, and it gets waaaaay more complicated than this after you break it down into dry and wet measurements when it comes to weight and such.  And having to do a 30 question quiz on measurements in 10 minutes gets fun :)  

But after learning how to do metric measuring, it is very hard to go back to the way most cookbooks lay out recipes. Which is why I use "The Joy of Cooking" with the metric measurements for most things I bake.  When it needs to be precise :) 

Expanding Meat with Vegetables

Up until about a month and a half ago, we had venison in our freezer. We still have some, but its more special cuts than it is the stuff I used all the time like stew meat and roasts that we are totally out of.  Last year during hunting season in WV we decided to go visit my daughters namesake in New Mexico instead, I will never regret that decision. But all that to say I guess I've never really noticed the price of red meat, other than ground beef, until about a month ago. 

Yowza.

So the way we get red meat now is on the last day shelf :) So I either freeze it or cook it that day. It makes beef sometimes a little more budget friendly. 

Today we're having stew.  Nothing fancy, but nice and hearty and it fills you up and can be made to feed several people if you add a few more carrots and potatoes.  Which is good, because I have 25lbs of potatoes I'm trying to make my way through :)  We're up to our eyeballs in them and will probably be potatoed out before it's over with, but I got a good deal on them! 

I LOVE Yukon Gold potatoes.  But every time I go to the store they are usually closer to 5 dollars for a 5lb bag.  I'm a member of a bulk foods co-op now here and I split 50lbs of potatoes this last order and I only paid 16 bucks for the potatoes.  So 25 lbs for 16 dollars for Yukons is NOT bad. And the fact that they are organic makes the deal that much better since I think some make the excuse to charge more for stuff because they dont put pesticides on it.  Stupid.  Anyway.

I was so proud of myself and then realized "What am I going to do with 25lbs of potatoes...?" 

Baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato salad, and now peeled and diced up five of them for the stew.  It's a good thing they are high in vitamins and minerals :) Tomorrow I'll quarter some and put them in with the roast. Mari is starting to get to the point where she will eat potatoes, she's never been a huge fan and even now will only eat a couple bites and is done but she used to just spit it out so her taking bites is a step in the right direction.  It doesn't matter how they are made.  Chips, fries, mashed, smashed, in roasts, in stews... she'd rather have the carrots or something else. Usually fruit, but we're working on that :)  She loves vegetables but the second she sees fruit of any kind, shes done eating whatever it is that she was eating.

 The other thing I'm doing with the potatoes is letting a few of them sprout and then I will plant them.  Expand my money even more! Also doing that with some heads of garlic and some carrots.  I think one whole planter box will be root vegetables and such :)

Wish I could plant some stew meat and it would sprout into a cow :) :) Maybe then I can afford red meat... ;)

But, no matter what our economy gets to be in this country, I feel super blessed to be able to even buy meat, or potatoes, or any fresh fruits and veggies I want, I think we forget how blessed we are.  No matter how poor any of us might think we are in this country, we are still at least 10x wealthier than almost anyone else on this earth.

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the times to come." Proverbs 31:25

I can't be worried about whats going on in this country, I can't fret about the money we do or do not have, what the president did or did not say, there are far more important things in my life. Namely my husband who is off at work and my daughter who is about to wake up from her morning nap at any time.  My parents taught us girls long ago to not be attached to this country or the things of this world because after we became Christians our allegiance was to God and His Kingdom.  

I think about the Christian women who lived in the first century under Roman rule. When their children were being burned at the stake, their husbands being thrown in pits with tigers or themselves being forced in arenas to be killed by Gladiators. Their circumstances more dire than ours and they didn't spend their time complaining about their rulers, they spent their time doing what they needed to do as Christians, wives, and mothers.  Did they wish things were different? Oh probably.  But that's what the hope of heaven is for that comes with being a Christian.  There is something better than this life, indescribably better. 


And though I love my life here, I know there is a hope of something even better.  And that makes my day worth living, every day, no matter how the day goes. 

Productive Nap Times

When she was itty bitty I would take a nap when she did. Now that shes older and for the most part sleeping through the night (she usually stirs and sits up and talks around 4ish still sometimes but then will settle down and go back to sleep with some coaxing from me :) I generally spend her nap times doing things that are a little bit harder to do with her awake. My shadow has to follow me everywhere :) And I let her help now, though usually her helping me unload the dryer also involves adding a couple cans of soup :) But it's all worth it.

A couple weeks ago was infertility awareness week and I didn't post anything because I've been doing so much with this fundraiser I felt it to be counter productive to post about that and then promote the non profit that helped us afford our adoption.  But on the other hand, we wouldn't be as content with where we are without remembering where we came from and what we still sometimes struggle with.  It's not that infertility stopped when we adopted her. I have other side effects of things that go on that make it unbearable sometimes but I have to power through since there are no off days as a Momma.

We spent years having tests run, procedures done, drugs taken, only to find out that we would have to go to a specialist because no one here knew anything and they threw the PCOS blanket over me.  Which to me is code for, "I have no idea whats wrong with you."  2006 is pretty much when we decided that adoption was probably going to be what made parenthood happen for us.  We decided the medicines I was on was not worth it because it was ruining our marriage because of all of the side effects.  I would say things and do things to my husband that I would never do in a million years.  We don't count anything I said during those months of being on that medicine because I literally could not control myself.  I was telling Mom yesterday that it is terrifying to me to know that there are drugs out there that do that.  But we both mutually decided that we wanted to be parents and we didn't have to be pregnant for that to happen.

Some accused me of TMI when it came to our doctors appointments and such, but it's amazing... for every ONE person who complained about us talking about our infertility I had 4 more confide in me that they were struggling with the same thing.  How are we supposed to share what we struggle with when no one knows what we struggle with? And because what we struggle with involves a certain area, does that mean we are the only Christian who struggles with it? Absolutely not.  We are blessed to be at a congregation where I was not the first one to struggle with this and I'm not the last.  When sibling get pregnant before you do, when it seems like all of your friends are having babies but you can't, when some person from church tells you to have more faith... like you don't have any at all to begin with or something.  I know that isn't how its meant but pregnancy is treated like the obvious next step after marriage sometimes that those of us who cannot are often treated almost like outcasts.  When we say we struggle with it, the depression that comes with it, the knowing that we may or may not ever be parents... and when people with 4 kids who have had no problem getting pregnant tell you to just have more faith... not realizing how often you pray how often you try and just trust that God has a path for you, while at the same time you are asked why you don't have any kids and what are you waiting for... there needs to be more awareness in the Church of this.  That babies, children, are a blessing... not a requirement.  God promised us food and clothes and that is it. Everything else above that is a blessing. Yes being married and having children is a good thing, but not when it gets in the way of your faith.

I love being a Mom. I love my little Mari Ruth who toddles all over the house getting into things she shouldn't be. I love that she loves bluegrass music and dances the same beat to every song. I love it when she laughs, I love it when she cries, I love it when she needs me.  I love it because without her I would still be in school, I would still be at a secular, distracting myself from the fact that we aren't parents.  God led us to where we are through the struggles we had with the above and we found the road to adoption and what a wonderful road it was for us.  We hope to be on that road again soon, but for now, we will enjoy what God has blessed us with :)

Life is good because God is GREAT.

Pinterest Dream Kitchens

I generally don't get on Pinterest to oogle at things that I don't have, I get on there to give me ideas of what to either make for dinner, for future homeschooling ideas, garden and landscape ideas, and for various up-cycling ideas when it comes to trying to find cheaper alternatives to help get my daughter something like a kitchen set.

About 2 months ago I found this idea about how to make a play kitchen out of an old TV stand, it took her about 4 months to do between gathering things and doing the work.  But her child wasn't old enough for it when she started but was by the time she finished and I think we're about there.

Last week someone listed a storage unit for sale on Facebook that originally was about 60 bucks and just wanted 20 for it.  I jumped all over it because when I saw it I thought, "kitchen!" for Mari.  Because I believe instilling the love of cooking and how to cook early is one of the biggest and most tragic of lost arts.  I want my daughter to not only be in the kitchen with me but think that its fun to be there, not just a chore that she will probably have to do later.

This is what the storage unit looks like now because I forgot to take a picture of it without the shelf I installed on the very top and before I painted it red :) It was blue :

Theres a bar just under the shelf that will be used as a "curtain rod" with a black and white gingham curtain that I will make eventually :) I have a small bowl for a "sink" for the left and will get a faucet second hand.  The under the sink area will be storage with more of the black and white gingham.  One side will have command hooks for towels, and spice racks for books. The other side will have a black board for menu :) 

We shall see what plans actually come through. The only thing I have right now is the storage unit and the bins that came with it in her room because thats what she needs right now.  I have a bowl that can be used for a sink when the time comes. For now her play kitchen is my kitchen with all the pots and pans getting drug out on a noisy daily basis, but after having 8 years of complete silence during the day other than the TV or making myself go back to school or work because I couldn't stand the quiet at home, I'm ready for a lifetime of  happy noise in my house, keeping busy with our daughter.  

Life is good because our God is GREAT.