Seven Years Later

I used to have problems with clutter and “too much stuff.” I can’t say I’ve entirely sorted out the issue, but I think I’ve improved by at least 75%. I’m a lot more careful now about what I bring into my home, and I get rid of things a lot more easily. 

As much as people poopoo her, I have to give a lot of credit to Marie Kondo. In 2019, I “KonMaried” my entire house, and it genuinely changed my life. 

Here are the posts I wrote during that time (should you be curious):

Episode 1 

Episode 2 

Episode 3 

Episode 4 

So where do things stand seven years later? Well, for one thing, I don’t know what happened to Marie Kondo. I was hoping for more seasons of her show, but that didn’t happen. It seems like I heard somewhere that she had children and learned that her methods weren’t exactly practical with a house full of kids… but maybe I made that up (I could google it, but I’m busy blogging and being a passenger princess on a road trip). 

Regardless of the fact that kids (and husbands) make the KonMari method a bit hard to keep up on, I still benefitted greatly from what I implemented in my own house. Like I said, I still have some problems with “stuff,” but not nearly as bad as I used to. My house could use another mega tidy session, but it would be much easier now than it was in 2019. 

The other day I saw a list of questions to help you declutter, and I thought some of them were very helpful. Figuring out if something “sparks joy” has its relevance, but there are some things we have to keep for other reasons (for example, my broom doesn’t spark joy, but I still need a broom). So here are a few helpful questions to ask when you're deciding whether to keep something: 

Have I used this item in the last year?

Does this make my life easier or harder?

Am I keeping this out of guilt? 

Does owning this item cause me stress in any way?

If it disappeared, would I notice?

Does this item have a proper home?

Is it worth the space it takes up?

----------

This one is a new idea for me and something that will be very helpful to me moving forward:

Is this for my real life or a fantasy version of me?

(This question is also a really good one to ask myself when I’m about to buy something!)

----------

And I’ve seen this one circulating for a few years in social media, and it’s always a good one:

If this item had poop on it, would I wash it or throw it out?

----------

My girls have been getting their rooms clean for the new school year, so I've had decluttering on the brain, and I've tried to encourage them to let go of some things. It's always a battle I have to fight carefully, but every now and then something sinks in and they recognize that they can get rid of something. 

One of the biggest takeaways for me, personally, with Marie Kondo's method is the idea that if something has served its purpose, it's okay to let it go. I was able to part with a lot of things I'd held on to for too long once I adopted this mindset. I no longer needed to hold on to things for sentimental reasons (with only a few exceptions). 

I wondered if, years later, I would regret anything I got rid of. Now that it's been seven years, I can say with all honesty that there is only one item that I wish I'd kept, but even with that, I don't lose sleep over it. 

Proof That Kids Still Live Here

Evidence #1: There is a Fuggler waiting for breakfast at my kitchen table.

Evidence #2: Someone has made modifications to Nicky's mission photo.

Evidence #3: There are resins on every corner of our kitchen cabinetry. 

Evidence #4: Whatever this is. 

Evidence #5: More of the same. 

Evidence #6: There are rocket turtles on the ceiling. 

Evidence #7: The kitchen light fixture is draped in curling ribbon. 

Evidence #8: There are mini figs on the door frames 

Evidence #8: There are Legos, squishies, and homemade pottery  on the bookshelf.

Evidence #10: This. 

(Note the keypad entry)

Things I Don't Understand About the Modern Generation

I’m officially outdated. I’ve been on earth long enough to see the fashion trends of my junior high days resurface, and that proves it - I’m old news. I could be Benson Boone or Robert Irwin’s mother. I walk around judging the youngins and thinking they’re ridiculous. I want to comb their hair and pull up their pants! I want to tell them that they didn’t discover Green Day or the scrunchie, and those shoes they're wearing? Yeah. We already did that. 

I try to behave, though, and remember that the generation before me had similar qualms as they experienced my upbringing, and so it has gone for all of time. I'm sure as far back as the cavemen, the former generation thought, "What is wrong with kids these days? Why are they wearing their pelts like that and using all of those stupid, made up words?"

Respect for other generations aside, here are a few things I really don't understand about the current one:

Posting things to have them disappear

They have all sorts of everchanging rules for how they use social media, but one thing that has been consistent for a while is that if they post something, they use stories, and the posts disappear in 24 hours. It's not cool to post on the grid where it stays put. As a memory collector, this troubles me. Your memory and what you wrote just disappears! To me it's like writing a journal entry and throwing it away. 

(There are some things that are great to post in stories and have disappear, but your prom photo? Your graduation? Your mission call?)

Their hate for email

This is a new observation I've made since Nicky left on his mission. They detest email! For some reason they can send DMs just fine, but email grates them. This shocks me because I thought technology was their thing, and I thought that email was normal for them due to the way they utilize computers for their schoolwork, but that is not so! When Nicky was getting his mission papers ready, he needed to send an email, and he didn't know how! He could check his email and reply to an email, but he didn't know how to start an email from scratch. He had to ask me how to do it! I was shocked!

Now that email is the only way he can communicate with friends, I'm seeing how much they really hate using email. Almost every time he gets an email from a friend, there is some kind of comment in it about how much they don't like email. "Sorry I haven't emailed you for so long, I just really hate email," and the like. And a lot of them email him voice notes because they don't like to write. 

Wearing zit patches in public

I'm all for a zit patch in the privacy of your own home if it helps, but why are you wearing them to work? And in your school photos? You're pretty much giving me a map of where all your zits are when I probably wouldn't notice them otherwise. 

(And the stars? Seriously? But also, you know we can see the flesh colored ones, right?)

They won’t use a locker

I don't know how common this is, but my kids refuse to use lockers. Then they are burdened on days when they have extra stuff to carry. Lockers were our pride and joy when I was in high school! It's basically like having a school bedroom! And sure, they don't have to carry around as many books as we did, but they could keep some pretty amazing stuff in a locker if they would use one! How about some snacks? How about an extra hoodie in case you get cold one day? Do you realize you don't have to carry your lunch around with you all day? 

I can't tell you how many times my high schoolers have had a problem that could have been resolved by using a locker! But they refuse. 

The boys’ hair 

I can't even talk about what's going on with boys' hair these days. 

But I have to be honest, teenage boy hair trends have always been bad. 

Not wanting to drive

This one blows my mind the most. They don't want to drive! They don't want to get their drivers licenses. So many of them delay for years. 

When I was in high school, there was a kid who didn't get his drivers license until his senior year, and we all thought that was so weird. Now it's perfectly common for kids to graduate and still not have their license. Nicky was good to go and had no issues with driving, but I have pretty much had to force it on Daisy. If it were her choice, she wouldn't drive at all right now. It's so strange to me because "back in my day" we were so excited to drive.

-----

I thought I'd never be like this - so old, out of touch, and perturbed by modernity. Yet, here I am! In truth, I still feel young until I see a teenager look at me like I'm a hundred years old. Then I remember that, to them, if we are over the age of 28, we are as good as a hundred. 

Things the Kids Say: Episode 33

“I know jackelopes are real because I’ve seen them in Lunchables ads.”

-Nicky

—————

Zoe: That car has a bumper sticker on it that says “Honk if you’re horny.” What does horny mean?

Me: It means you want to have sex.

Eva: Guess you better honk then!

—————-

“I’m not into hygiene.”

-Zoe

—————

Daisy reading a passage from Luke 2 in the Music & the Spoken Word program: Mom, they’re totally plagiarizing Charlie Brown!

Me: That’s the scriptures, Daisy. Charlie Brown quotes the scriptures. 

Daisy: Are you serious right now?

—————

“If I were a freshman girl, I would straight up go for Hunter Privett.” 

-Nicky

—————

“Mooooommmmm!! Nicky won’t stop rapping about me!”

-Eva

Moana 2

Enough Done

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #25:

Chore

Today was a day off work, and I had super high expectations for myself. I’m really behind on life right now, but I don’t have anything good to blame. Things have just piled up. Little things, but things that add up. So today I set out with a hefty to do list of lots of tasks that have been on the back burner - chores like paying medical bills online, refilling the salt and pepper shakers, and doing a whitening treatment on our white clothes. 

I started off well. I got a lot of things done before I even took my kids to school. Then I had a dentist appointment, and when I got home, I started working on my chores again, but suddenly I got really sick to my stomach. I went and laid down and fell asleep for two hours. Then my whole day was gone, and I had to start picking up kids and prepping dinner. 

While I was cooking dinner (Beef Orzo, if you’re curious), I felt like I was in the trenches of raising toddlers again. Every single one of my kids was standing within six feet of me asking questions and making messes and engaging in hangry behaviors. The kitchen got trashed. I was stressed to the max (and still didn’t feel well). Scotty wasn’t home. 

When dinner was done, I told my kids to leave me alone for twenty minutes because I needed to sit down and rest for a bit. That didn’t work out, of course. Eva was right by my side asking me a million questions. “Will you take me swimming?” “Can I paint?” “Why can’t I go to Young Women?” “How do you spell axolotl?” “Can I look on Amazon?” “Can I play with a friend?” “Can we go to the zip line park?” “What is tapioca?” “Can I have a bubble bath?” “When can I have a spa night?” “Will you take me to the dollar store?” “Do we have any spicy chips?”

(“Spicy chips” is new. I’m not sure what kind of chips she’s asking for, and I had to look up how to spell axolotl). 

On days like this, it’s hard to not feel like I’m drowning a bit. It’s funny that even as my kids have gotten older, some days it still feels like everyone is four years old and completely dependent on me. I don’t think I’ll ever be at peace with not getting “enough done” in a day. 

Twenty Years Home

February 1, 2004.

Super Bowl Sunday.

That was the day we got the keys to our house. 

I was 20 years old when we bought our home. I thought it was our five-year house. I wasn’t planning on staying here long. I thought we’d be rich soon and buy a really nice, fancy house. Now I look back at some of my ideals from my early twenties and laugh. I have a completely different perspective on most things now. For example, I feel rich. It doesn’t manifest itself the form of a big, new house or fancy things, but whenever we have what we need, I feel rich. Whenever we have a little extra, I feel even more rich. 

I feel especially fortunate to own a home right now when housing costs have gotten so high. Our house is on the smaller side, it’s outdated, and it’s not very showy, but I am so thankful for it! It’s ours, and I’ve grown to appreciate it so much!

To celebrate twenty years in our home, here are 20 things I love about my house: 

1. The size of the lot (just under 1/4 acre) is perfect for us.

2. The front door (currently light blue).

3. Our family room.

4. It’s old and imperfect enough that I’m not worried about damage (every time Nicky puts his head through a wall, I just shrug and go “Eh. I’ll fix it when he moves out”).

5. I can see the front yard and driveway really well.

6. There is only one door that goes directly outside (this may seem inconvenient, but I like the security of it).

7. Our garden.

8. Our sheds.

9. We have a fenced backyard.

10. Our two-car garage was upgraded so it’s a little wider than the standard ones in our neighborhood.

11. Our street is wide enough to accommodate parking on both sides of the street without causing major bottlenecking (okay, this isn’t the house, per se, but it’s still something that matters about the location). 

12. It’s close to everything - freeway, stores, schools, etc. 

13. Our storage room (which we built).

14. Our storage closet (which we built).

15. Our soffit lighting (which Scotty installed). 

16. Our curbing (which we had installed).

17. We still have our original fridge and dryer (but I dare not speak of that lest I should jinx them, so keep this info between us, mmmkay?)

18. The ceilings are low, which makes the walls easy to paint. 

19. We have lots of fun refurbished furniture.

20. It’s almost paid off (right now we are on track for August 2025, but we’re trying to make it happen sooner).

Christmas Things Around the House

When it’s time to decorate for Christmas, there are some items that have become staples around our house each year. There are standard decorations - trees, wreaths, and the like - but then are also are our things - the items that are a little more unique to our family. 

First there’s Steve the alligator. He’s not exclusive to Christmas, but for some holidays, we like to stick something festive in his mouth - a carrot for Easter, for example. At Christmas time, there are a lot of fun things Steve can chew on.

If you’re wondering why we have an alligator, he’s a souvenir from Scotty’s mission (South Carolina, 2000-2002).

As a side note, the other day, we had a friend come over who had never been to our house before. While arranging the play date, the dad said to me, “I know this is kind of silly, but do you have any taxidermy mounts in your house?” Apparently the child is deathly afraid of them, and she always wants her dad to check before she goes to play at a new house. I assured him that, “No, we don’t… but we do have an alligator I can put in a closet.” He said it would probably be okay (and it was - she never even saw him).

Another item that comes out for Christmas is this toll painted elf countdown that my mom made when I was little.

My mom was really into toll painting in the 80’s. She had a saw and sander and cut out all of her own projects. She made all sorts of things from cookie jar lids to necklaces (yes, wood necklaces) to toys, but not many of them remain today. This is one thing that has survived. 

Another thing that has stuck around since my childhood is a coffee can (that seems to be wearing a sweater... see photo below) full of knickknacks… which I’ll discuss further here in a minute. 

Let’s talk about trolls first. Many years ago, my mom inherited a huge collection of trolls. We were in charge of our extended family Christmas party, so we found a troll to represent each member of our family - grandparents, aunts, cousins, and the whole lot! Then we played a guessing game where everyone had to guess which troll represented which person. 

The other day my mom brought over a bag of Christmas stuff she was getting rid of, and there were three Christmas trolls from the collection in there, so they are strategically placed around my house now (see Steve above). 

Troll, candle, and coffee can

Next to the troll is a candle from Scotty’s childhood that his mom passed on to us. We’re supposed to light it on Christmas Eve.

New to my decor (but a relic from my childhood) is this Coke crate advent calendar. My mom brought it over the other day, and I was so excited. When I was a kid, I loved going through the little knickknacks every year and sorting them, then putting one in the Coke crate every day until Christmas. 

(It originally had a big teddy bear and a bunch of ribbon on it, but it was all falling off, so I removed it and might add some stuff to it another time). 

My favorite knickknack as a child was this little angel caroler. I thought she was so beautiful. 

Yesterday, I went through the coffee can like I did when I was little. It was so much fun to see all the little pieces again! Especially my favorite caroling angel. I wasn't sure if she would have stayed in tact all these years since she is made of ceramic, but she is in fine shape! 

Like many families, we have a collection of sentimental ornaments. We have ones the kids make at school featuring their school photos. We have ones that people have given us (including about five commemorative ornaments from 2020). And we have ones my kids have picked out for themselves each year, which is why the focal point of my basement tree is a stick of butter. 

It sounds like a good idea to let your kids pick out ornaments every year until you end up buying the stupidest things they can find. They’re getting a little better as they get older, though. 

Here’s my ornament for this year:

We have lots of different nativity sets. More than we have space for. This is our “main” one. It gets rearranged daily, so I never know what it’s going to look like. Here’s how it’s positioned currently (courtesy of Eva):

The nativity huddle

We also have a nativity hand puppet set that comes out every year. This is one more relic from my childhood. I don’t remember where they came from but it was either from a FHE group or my aunt. Or maybe my mom made them. I don’t even know! Someone made them, though, and they’ve been a part of my Christmases for many years. 

I’ve used these countless times in primary and at home. The puppets are scattered all over my house for the entire season. In fact, I had to scour the house to find them all for this photo. I think it's a miracle that we've been able to keep track of Baby Jesus as long as we have (despite how the photo looks, he is not attached to the Mary puppet).

Last, but not least, we have Generous George (read about him here). 

Generous George should be moving around the house all season long as my family gives service to each other, and yet, here we are on the second day of December, and he’s already missing. Rumor is he’s in Nicky’s room. We joke that Nicky is no longer part of our family because he’s never here, and well… that’s not entirely inaccurate. Hopefully Generous George reappears soon, but he is traditionally halted each year. 

I may be fussy about some of my holiday decor (my living room tree, throw pillows, and my plates), but I still enjoy some fun and nostalgia. 

(Wait, what's that? You want to see my Christmas plates? Okay! Here they are. Just keep in mind that I have to take a photo in the dark because it's after 3:00 pm right now).

How My Oven Made Its Exit

Every time Scotty travels, we have some sort of catastrophe while he’s gone. Luckily they’ve been mostly manageable - like kids throwing up or the van battery dying (neither are ideal, but I can at least figure out how to solve those problems).

When Scotty left for Asia, we joked about what would happen while he was gone. We didn’t want to tempt fate or anything, but realistically, if your spouse is gone for two weeks, something is bound to happen. I’ve been worried for months that one of our cars would break down while he was gone, and that’s partially why we got a new van when we did.

We had just about made it to the one week mark when the catastrophe hit.

I was laying on my bed doing something important on my phone (I’m sure of it) when I heard Daisy and Zoe yelling up to me, “Mom! The glass on the oven broke!”

I was like, “What? Huh? What do you mean?”

And they were like, “The glass!”

I walked downstairs and saw the oven like this:

Frankly, I was stunned. I froze up for a few minutes and just stared at it, like wha?!? 

I could hear the glass continuing to crack, and little bits and pieces kept crumbling and falling on the floor so that, within minutes, the hole in the oven was doubled in size.

I figured I should probably get as much of the glass off the oven door as possible so it would stop crumbling and falling on the floor, so I spent a good chunk of time trying to carefully remove pieces and get them safely disposed of.

Inside the drawer

I vacuumed a lot over the next several days. No matter how much I cleaned up, I kept finding more and more glass. It was messing with my mind because I felt like I had glass particles in between my toes and in my eyeballs and up my nose. I didn’t, fortunately, but it was kind of like seeing a spider and then not being able to stop feeling like there’s something crawling on you. 

I ended up buying a new oven, but it wouldn’t be delivered for a week and a half, so the damaged oven stayed put and continued dropping glass. 

The day after Scotty came home, the new oven arrived, and I paid for them to haul the old one away (there was a trail of glass from the kitchen through the living room and out the front door as the oven went away). 

Scotty got the new oven installed, and I couldn’t wait to try it out. I got a double oven - something I’ve wanted for many years. It was a little more expensive than other options but was something I was planning to buy eventually and was trying to save up for. It’s crappy that I had to buy it during the most expensive time of the year, but let’s just consider it an early 40th birthday present.

Scotty kindly took Zoe and Holland to the park so I could try out the new oven without any little supervisors bossing me around. I wanted to make cookies for the theatre kids (I signed up to provide dinner for them for a late rehearsal on Monday of this week), so once the girls were gone, I got to work. 

Things started going wrong immediately. You may recall that I’m a bit of a sloppy baker , and I usually make some sort of significant mistake when I bake. My first go round with my new oven was just par for the course.

First of all, I started mixing the dough and realized I was out of baking powder (note that baking powder was on my grocery list a few days prior, and somehow I managed to skip it at the store). So I sent Nicky to get me some baking powder. Luckily, I realized I was also out of brown sugar before he came home so I was able to text him to get some brown sugar, too. Phew (wipes brow. Then washes hand… because cookies…)

When Nicky got home I finished mixing the dough, but I lost count while scooping the flour, and I couldn’t figure out if I had done 4 scoops or 5. I do this all the time, so I’m always telling myself I need to measure the flour into a separate bowl and not put it directly in the dough, but I always believe that *this time* I’ll be fine. 

I am never fine. I always get distracted.

I decided to bake a single test cookie to determine the flour status. Turned out, I needed to add more flour. 

When the cookie dough was ready to go with the proper amount of flour, I started scooping. I filled a baking sheet and put it in the top oven. Then I filled two more baking sheets to put in the lower oven. I put the first sheet in without incident, but when I put the second sheet in, I tipped it too far (I think this was because I’m not used to putting things in such a low oven), and some of the dough started rolling out of position. I tried to adjust the pan to keep them from rolling off, and somehow I burned myself. I was grateful my kids weren’t home so I could yell my favorite swear word without censorship.

I wasn’t able to save the cookie dough, and about five balls of dough fell into the bottom of the oven. 

I removed both cookie sheets from the lower oven and pulled out the racks as fast as I could so I could get to those dough balls before the smoke alarm went off. I threw the two hot racks on the kitchen floor, praying they wouldn’t burn it, grabbed some tongs, and picked out the dough balls.

I couldn’t even keep my oven clean for the first two hours of its life in my house!

After a whole lot of chaos, I finally got the oven put back together and baked six pans of chocolate chip cookies - three sheets at a time, which is just a beautiful thing!

But did the fun stop there? On, no, it did not.

I was making spaghetti for dinner, and I wanted breadsticks! So I mixed up some dough, and while it rested in the mixer for ten minutes, I saw the salt on the counter and couldn’t remember scooping any into the dough. Salt is essential in bread making. It’s more than just flavor - it helps the yeast work properly, so you can’t just skip the salt, so I had to figure out what to do. I took a little piece of dough and licked it to see if I could taste any salt. I couldn’t. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I decided to mix the salt in the already formed dough and see what would happen. 

By some miracle, it worked! The breadsticks turned out… except I burned them. But they were still edible. Just a lot more browned than normal (they started smoking when I opened the oven… or was that the residual cookie dough particles in the bottom? Who knows!)

So I didn’t get off to a good start with my new, beloved appliance. I hope we have better days ahead! But yesterday I burned a grilled cheese sandwich on the stove top, so for now…please send pizza.

(Quick aside for informational purposes: I often double this recipe and get 80-90 cookies depending on how much dough my family eats before it hits the oven. I have no idea what size my cookie scoop is. I made two double batches so I would have about 140 cookies for theatre (plus some for my family to eat)).

Things the Kids Say: Episode 23

Me (singing): We only got four minutes to save the world!

Zoe: Four minutes? That isn’t very much time. You should have at least four decades to save the world!

—————

Eva: I’m going to brush my hair for 25 minutes.

(She didn’t brush her hair at all. Never does).

—————

Zoe: The purpose of dance is to twerk in front of boys you love.

—————

Me: Cell phones used to only be for emergencies, and they couldn’t take pictures.

Eva: That’s dumb. Whoever made those phones made really bad choices.

—————

Zoe (in the van): It smells like an old woman in here.

—————

Zoe: I only kiss things that don’t have bark on them.

—————

Zoe (to her primary teacher who gave her a magazine at church): Magazines are really good for when I’m constipated and I have to wait a while for my poop to come out.

—————

Nicky: I didn’t get a single wiener drawn in my yearbook this year.

—————

Me (singing Bohemian Rhapsody): Mama! Ooo-ooo-ooo!

Eva: Why are you singing a song about Grandma?

—————

Me: You should go for a bike ride.

Daisy: I’d rather eat carrots.

—————

Eva (to me while I watch a period drama): Why do you watch so many shows with boring colors?

A Day In

We had a winter storm advisory go into effect from Sunday night until Tuesday evening. You never know what you’re going to get snow-wise. The local forecast said there was a 40-60% chance of snow for about 50 hours straight (and we’re still in that time window). That could mean anything! That could leave us snowed in for days, or it could mean no snow at all. 

I tried to keep our schedule for Monday and Tuesday flexible for whatever the weather would bring. I was planning on school being delayed on Monday, but the snow wasn’t that bad, so school started at the normal time. Tuesday brought in some heavier snowfall, so school was delayed (this did not stop my kids from waking up by 6:30 and demanding all sorts of activities and entertainment). 

The path to my breakfast is complicated 

By 10:30, when the final two children went to school, I was pretty exhausted. Luckily, I hadn’t made any plans because, in addition to snow, I was sick. I didn’t feel too horrible, but I was sick enough that I needed to stay home as not to infect the world. That meant no gym. No going to the school to make the monthly birthday poster. No errands. Just… home. Which is fine. But since I didn’t have a plan for the day, that left me in a “world is your oyster” sort of position, but only within the walls of my home.

I ended up doing two of my favorite things: reading and cooking. 

(I also did some cleaning, but that doesn’t fall into a “favorite things” conversation, as I loathe cleaning).

Our library has a Lucky Day shelf where you can sometimes snag a popular book that there’s a long wait for. You can only check it out for seven days. I got one for our trip last week and it was due this past Saturday. I’m now racking up fines trying to finish it (my current library fines are $15.75, and I have a picture book I can’t find that I can only renew one more time, so we’ll see where things go from here). So I spent a lot of time reading my overdue book, but I also listened to an audiobook on the Echo while I was cooking.

I love being able to tell my robot to read a book to me. This might be the closest I get to living like the Jetsons. But you never know with the the rapid growth of technology these days (maybe we will teleport before I die). The problem is, with my current status of Being Sick (and having somewhat lost my voice), Alexa is having a hard time following my commands. We’ve had a few tiffs.

So what did I read? My Lucky Day book is:

And my audiobook (and this month’s selection for my book club) is:

But like I said, I also cooked. Sometimes I like to have a good food prep day and get some serious stuff made to stock the fridge or freezer. So with a lot of hand-washing, I made:

Meatballs

Raw Balls of Meat

(Remember this is not a food blog so I owe you nothing in terms of beautiful food photos! Nothing, I say!)

I found a big package of ground turkey marked down at the grocery store on Monday, so I made 60 meatballs. I don’t really use a recipe when I make meatballs, I just throw together meat, eggs, Panko, seasonings, and a bit of milk. 

I froze them and will use them in meals later. 

Tortellini Soup

We have a stash of Italian sausage we’re trying to work through, and I’m not the biggest fan, but I really like this soup. In fact, I’m the only one in my family who likes it, so when I make a pot, I’m stuck eating the whole thing myself. It feeds me lunch for several days. There are variations of this recipe all over the internet, but here is how I make it:

• 1/2 lb Italian sausage, browned (can increase to 1 lb.  but I like less)
• 2 cans Italian tomatoes (undrained)
• 4 C chicken broth
• 1 package tortellini, prepared according to directions (I use frozen)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• Handful of spinach (I’ve used fresh and frozen)

Put it all in a pot and heat it until it becomes soup.

Banana Muffins

When we have bananas that need to be used up, this is one of my go-to’s. I make them with honey so they aren’t full of sugar. We usually keep a stash in the freezer for quick breakfasts, lunches, or snacks. 

How many did I eat? Two. Do I feel guilty about that? No!

After I made the meatballs, soup, and muffins, I washed the boatload of dishes I dirtied, and then I remembered I would still need to pull together a dinner. 

And it would need to include an avocado.

The struggle is real

By the time Scotty and the kids got home, I was pretty wiped out and useless, but I felt good about my day in. Now hopefully I can get feeling better quick because I gots stuffta do!

Table Update

Back in 2018, I painted an old table for our kitchen. It was a nice, sturdy specimen, and I hoped the paint job would last 3-5 years.

 

I’ve been painting furniture for almost 20 years now. I was just thinking this week about how when I painted my first table, there wasn’t very good information on the internet about how to do it. People didn’t paint furniture back then! I had to go to the paint store and ask lots of questions, and to be honest, they didn’t know anything. There also weren’t very many products for such a task. Just primer, latex paint, and polyurethane, really. Now there’s almost too much information and too many products out there! 

Despite the image that DIY bloggers create, painted furniture doesn’t hold up for long. Don’t let them fool you! I always advise people that it’s a temporary fix, and it will eventually need to be done again or replaced, so you should always take that into consideration when you paint something. No matter how careful I am with my work, what kind of product or top coat I use, my painted furniture always gets dinged and scratched over time (unless it's something that no one ever touches or uses).

My kitchen table is no exception! It acquired all sorts of scratches and damage from my kids’ art projects. But that’s the great thing about having an old table. It can take a hit, and then I can do something experimental and imperfect to refresh it for the next round of battering.

Over fall break, my table suffered its final incident before needing to be redone. I made a Halloween dinner for my kids one night, and I had a fun table cloth they could draw on. 

I had Nicky put the table cloth on the table for me, and I assumed that it was plastic coated on the back side. My mistake! It was basically paper! My kids used Sharpie on it and left my table looking like this:

I tried to magic erase it, but it was stuck for good. I questioned how long I could survive with black widows and tic tac toes on my table, and I decided… not long. I was okay with nail polish spatters and glitter glue, but the Halloween artistry was my turning point.

It was time to give the table a facelift, but I didn’t want to work too hard. I wanted to do just the top, if possible, which meant I needed to do some sort of two-tone since my previous paint job wasn’t something I could touch up on just the top of the table and have it look uniform. I started researching ways to paint the table top to look like wood (it’s laminate), and I found a product called Retique Liquid Wood. It’s basically wood paint, so, in theory, you can slap it on something and then stain it. I figured it would cost a small fortune, but when I looked at the pricing, it was more affordable than I expected.

I ordered the liquid wood and some new paintbrushes, and then I got to work. First I sanded the table to smooth out some scratches. I was very lazy and sloppy about it and was only willing to endure fifteen minutes of sanding (I even set a timer). The result of my laziness is that my table still has tons of visible scratches and indentations in it, but ya know what? I have four kids. Give it a week, and they’ll be there anyway. Why should I endure torturous sanding for a few shorts days of smoothness? 

(I hate sanding! It’s the worst!)

After I sanded the table, I did two coats of liquid wood. I like to call this the peanut butter phase:

Table coated in liquid wood

With the liquid wood, you can’t use a penetrating stain because it’s so thin, so I did two test runs - one with a gel stain and one with Polyshades. I was a little limited on color options, so I ended up using Polyshades Mission Oak. 

After the first coat

I also did two coats of polyurethane on top just for extra endurance. 

Last time I refinished my table, I let it cure for two weeks before we started using it, but in the end, I don’t think it made it any more durable. So this time, I gave it a good 24 hours of drying time, then threw it to the wolves! My kids ate chicken noodle soup for breakfast on it this morning.

Here's how it turned out:

It's hard to get a decent photo with the bay window lighting, but you get the idea. I definitely liked the lighter color better, but this is good enough to get us through the next few years. My chairs could use refreshing, too, but I still really like the color (Krylon Pistachio with a satin finish), and I can't find it anywhere. I don't know if they make it anymore. So if I do touch up my chairs, I'll probably have to do a full color change, and I'm not to the point where I'm willing to do that level of work. 

Now we'll see how it holds up. Three to five years is all I ask! Three is enough to justify the work,* and five is an extra treat! At some point during that time frame, hopefully our house will be paid off, and by the time our table needs another refresh, maybe we can actually buy one! In the meantime, I'm grateful for this hardy beast! 

Update 10/23/22: The day after I posted this, a small piece of Polyshades flaked off the edge of the table, so the damage has already begun. I'm trying to keep it contained, but I don't know how it's going to hold up. I'm rather disappointed, but we'll see what happens in the coming weeks. 

Update 3/2/25: The paintable stain and Polyshades combo did not hold up well. We left the table like this for three years, but it had several scratches and dings in the paint. 

*Actually, with as easy and quick as this renovation was, one year is enough to justify the work, but I don't want to do it again in a year, so I'm aiming for three at minimum