Cooking, Pots, Pans, Crepes and Melting Snowmen

Hello, hello!

Bet you thought this blog had died, huh? Yeah, it was flatlining there for a bit. But lo and behold, here we are! And with lots of pictures, to boot!

So, first things first.

Our bathroom flooded, due to a toilet that had a propensity for overflowing. A lot. We aren't sure exactly what happened, but our best guess is that the boys stuck a soft, small pool toy ball in the toilet and flushed and it got stuck in the "S" curve of the pipes. We took the toilet off and put it in the tub, then filled it with water and flushed it. The water just swirled around and around and around but didn't actually flush. So we bought a new toilet. And new flooring, since the fake wood in the bathroom was warped and disgusting from being "washed" with toilet water every couple of days.

The new look is SO much better, and I'm super proud of Josh for doing it all himself!!!

Here is the before; well, he'd already ripped out the old floor, but you get the idea.  You can see the toilet hanging out in the tub.

Here is a picture of the water damage that was underneath the wood by the bathtub:

 

Gross, huh!?!?

Here is Josh cutting out the new vinyl flooring, with his trusty sidekick Kate:

 

Josh used my rolling pin to get the flooring flat and straight. He's resourceful, that one! =)

And here is my happy little mug hiding amongst the paraphernalia required to renovate your bathroom. ;-)

 

 And HERE is the final product!!

I like it a lot and it's so much nicer than the grody old fake wood that was in there before.  

But that's not all we did this weekend, oh no!  Mama got herself some new dishes and pots and pans!!!

JC Penney was having a clearance sale, 60% off and then I had another 10% off coupon.  So I got a new set of dishes for $72, which sounds like a lot but it was a set of 12 settings.  12 plates, 12 salad plates, 12 dessert plates, 12 bowls, 12 dessert bowls and 12 coffee mugs. I love it; it's totally country kitchen-ish.

Here is the box; you can't really see the detail:

 

Here is my dishwasher, FULL of all my dishes. =)

 

I tried to get a close up of the detail on one of the plates, but since I'm using my cell phone I can't get a good picture.

 

I really love the set and it will fit in perfectly in our future farmhouse country kitchen. :-D My whole family dreams of living in a cozy farmhouse someday; Christian tells me at least once a day that when we get a farm he's going to milk the cows. ;-)

But is that all the fun a girl can have in one weekend? I think not!

Moving on to my favorite purchase of all this weekend.... My new pots and pans!!!

 

It's hard anodized metal pans, professional quality.  I love them so much, it's hard to describe. They will look fabulous hanging on a rack above my butcher block island in my future farmhouse kitchen. ;-)

Here they are in real life, on the table with my ever present model and helper, Kate:

 This is the stockpot I'll have simmering on the stove, full of chicken noodle soup, in my future farmhouse.

 Look! A real double boiler! I feel like such a grown up now. =)

All in all I saved over $450 dollars from the sale.  The pots and pans retailed at $500!!! :-O  I got them for $180.  An investment for sure, but totally worth it.  I'll have these pans for the rest of my life, hopefully.

And with all the new dishes, pots, pans, toilet, etc... comes a LOT of cardboard.  So I set the kids to work helping me fit it all into the recycling can. =)

Did you notice Kate's apron in the pictures?  Well, that's because I made good on one of my New Year resolutions and she helped me in the kitchen.  We made crepes.  She did a good job!

 

Isn't she cute? =)  She was so super duper excited and proud of herself.  =)

I also snapped this picture of my vacuum and the toy one Christian was using.  We were vacuuming together and he thought it was SO great. ;-)

 

And lastly, I found this in Kate's backpack and it describes perfectly how most days go for me:

Each day is new... A blank, clean slate.  I get up and get dressed (most days) :-P... then I get some coffee and the sun starts shining and things look pretty good.  And then life happens and by the end of the day I'm just a blobby puddle, hanging onto my broom for dear life. :-D

Ha ha, I laughed so hard when I saw that.  It seriously is how I feel by the end of the day/week, but it's okay because then the weekend comes and I get to see Josh and recharge my batteries.  It's all good.

Have a good day!