Colors

By kevinjh87 (found on Flickr)

I had the following conversation with Aidan at the breakfast table today.

Aidan:  Sometimes, they make Oreos with yellow in the middle. Did you know that?
Me:  I do. They also make them orange at Halloween and red at Christmas.
Aidan:  Why don't they make them yellow at Christmas? Yellow is a Christmas color.
Me:  Most people think of red and green as being Christmas colors.
Aidan:  Well, I think of yellow, because the star is yellow!
Me:  (melt)

Creamy Jalapeno Ranch

Living in Louisiana, we have been missing Chuy's for a long time. I got crazy this week and decided to hunt down a recipe for their creamy jalapeno ranch dressing. I actually stumbled across one that turned out really well. I've changed it up a little bit, but to us - who haven't been to a Chuy's in several months - it tastes like the real deal.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 jalapenos, chopped and seeded (leave the seeds in if you like it spicier)
1 4-ounce can chopped green chilies
1/3 cup cilantro
1 1-ounce packet dry ranch dressing mix

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips or on a salad.

**I apologize for the terrible picture. We were eating late last night. I was lazy, and I didn't realize autofocus was honing in on the countertop instead of the bowl. Oops!**

Make it work

Look at me. I'm channeling Tim Gunn. "Make it work, people!" And I'm immediately off on a tangent, only you wouldn't even know it, because I never made it to the point to begin with. Silly me.

Our new home is all one level, but it has a remote master. I love it, except the way I normally handle the laundry situation is no longer working. In our last home, all our bedrooms were upstairs, so everybody shared one hamper. It was easy to gather up the kids' discarded clothing and toss it in my closet along with the rest. Now? Not so much. I feel like I am constantly hiking to the back corner of the house - where the laundry collection center my closet happens to be - when I discover dirty clothes.

The solution? Land of Nod's I Think I Canvas mega sorter. Sort of. I intended for it to go underneath the sink in the kids' bathroom to collect all their dirties. I even measured to be sure it would fit, because I'm cool like that.

It arrived today, and when they say mega, they are not kidding. This thing is HUGE-gantic! I tried to remind it that I'd measured, and it was supposed to fit! It didn't listen. I made it work in a different way. I traded out the $2 Big Lots laundry basket that's been living in my closet for Mr. Mega. The laundry basket fits perfectly under the sink.

I guess I could have saved myself some money by trying that to begin with, but I'm kind of excited about having a sorter now. Like I said before, I'm cool like that.

Five!

My boy is five, no longer a preschooler. I can't quite figure how this happened so quickly. He had a great weekend celebrating. He bounced at Jumpin' Jupiter with friends, opened gifts, rode his new bicycle, and ate far too many cupcakes. :)

Holes, Silhouettes, and Birds

I bit the bullet and went for it. I put holes in our brand-new walls. It was bound to happen sooner or later. These silhouettes are the only thing so far that I knew where I wanted them - smack between the two windows in the breakfast area. My original intent was just to hang them one above the other. I'm glad I thought of adding the plate. I adore it. It breaks the rectangular monotony perfectly. And it satisfies my bird addiction.

Don't have a plate hanger on hand? Just use hot glue and a safety pin. Actually, I prefer hanging plates this way, because I don't like to see those pesky wires wrapping around the edges.

Things are slowly coming together. I'll share photos of the entire space once I get the rest of the room figured out.

Work in Progress

Even though it's a chaotic mess right now, I want to share pictures of our new home. We got the last of our belongings moved in on Saturday, so we've only been working on unpacking for a couple of days.

The living room:  Our furniture actually fits! Yes, I am surprised. I measured and tried to imagine it here and was fairly certain we'd have to replace it soon. I am pleasantly surprised. Now, we just have to unpack those boxes, hang blinds, decorate the mantel, and make it look like something! 

Aidan's room:  Everything fits here, too! I wasn't worried about the furniture here. I was worried about his TOYS. They all fit with room to spare. We can finally buy the boy a dresser.

Neely's room:  It's pretty much perfect as-is. I need to hang things and make some new curtains for her, maybe repaint the back of that bookcase, but other than that, it's great!

Kitchen/office:  We're technically using the formal dining room as an office/library. It's still a huge mess. The yard sale pile is accumulating on the wall opposite the desk.

Kitchen/eating area:  The kitchen is unpacked and in working order. Actually, the eating area is, too. Those are empty boxes in the corner, and my sideboard is covered with decorative nicknacks. 

This is the aforementioned yard sale pile. It's a bit crazy. I'll move it out to the garage once we get it organized. I'm not sharing a picture of that. John will kill me. All day yesterday, we had a mattress balanced on top of my car. Neely thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. 

I'll share more photos later once it looks more habitable in here. :D