The newest Love of my Life

Ok so I am back.. and unfortunately this post is not from the great state of TX but I will leave that LONG story for another blog post.. but just know we are happy loved and blessed to be given the opportunities as well as the trials that God puts in our lives...

So when Alan and I first got married I was a complete and utter CLEAN FREAK.. I mean to the most degree... With our gift cards from our wedding I purchased MANY MANY organizational supplies. One of my absolute favorites was this :::

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Canopy-4-Bin-Sorter/15627364


Which I was head over heels for..Here is why... confessions #123242 on this blog... I am a laundry fanatic. My mom seems to think it skipped a generation and it is genetic. My grandmother will almost take the shirt off of your back to wash it. Well while I am not that bad, a full laundry basket drives me NUTS. Over these past 5 years of marriage to a (lets put this nicely) organizationally dysfunctional Marine , and one child later, I have loosened my grasp on keeping everything "perfect" in my household. This laundry sorter helped me within my daily life so much. I gave up doing laundry as soon as it hit the basket and decided to do it all one day a week, with the given few loads during the week in emergencies. While I would love to be that person who throws ALL laundry in at once (towels, jeans, darks, whites, delicates etc) I cannot stomach the thought of my husbands nasty uniforms against my bright whites... so I separate and this sorter would skip the step of having to sort BEFORE washing..This was all awesome ...

 UNTIL my husband leaned on it one day and bent one of the "sturdy metal rods"... haha what a joke.... From that day forward I struggled with pushing it because it had lost its sturdy frame and became flimsy..

So fast forward 4 year. Moving day (to this house we are living in now)... My husband decided to pack this thing down with random things from our room and "roll" it onto the truck... well it fell apart.. as did my heart. So I begged and pleaded and racked my brain as to what to do... I shopped and shopped and shopped. I did not want to get another sorter that would turn out as flimsy as this one had... But I could not stomach spending $50 + on something to "make my life easier."

Love the look.. but at $65.97 on amazon and No wheels
I couldn't bring myself to order it.

ps here are a few I was considering (with why I considered them)

cheap $15.90 on amazon.. but UGLY

So for the past 8 months I suffered.. I had laundry PILES all over our bedroom every Sunday afternoon waiting to be washed. My stomach churned every time I maneuvered my way through our room a mist the chaos that could be so easily solved by a laundry sorter.

My wonderful husband even went to Lowes to price out building one for me out of PVC pipe (as hideous as that would be I was desperate).. I even debated getting my grandfather to build me one of these awesome sorters from the every wonderful Ana Whites BRILLIANT blog.. but then decided against it considering the amount of times we move vs the bulkiness of the overall contraption.. and I LOVED the option of wheeling my laundry to the laundry room once a week to complete the huge chore.

http://ana-white.com/2012/03/plans/brook-laundry-basket-dresser-4-tall-and-lengthwise


Well I was at a loss... Until yesterday when this BEAUTY fell into my cart at target..

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE target.. I mean love is probably an understatement for the relationship I have with that store, and more importantly their clearance sections... This beauty is STURDY,,, it is functional (4 sections, darks, whites, delicates and heavy duty---ie towels, jeans, cammies)  and WHEELS.. real heavy duty wheels WITH brakes... I am in LOVE.. head over heels.. oh and BEST of all it was $34.. yep $34..I could SO handle that.. plus 5% off with my redcard!

SO TADA... Any mom's looking for some help with their laundry dilemma (or nightmare).. go to target.. grab one (or two or three) of these bad boys and set them up in your rooms, laundry room (for sorting before washing), your children's room (teach them to sort) etc... and Take the worry out of the laundry.. oh and J thinks it is super fun to help mommy push it to the laundry room

As for me.. I will be doing laundry in heaven today knowing that my job (housewife.. blah that sounds so boring and repulsive to me at the moment for some reason) will be a little easier

oh and before anyone asks.. these machines are wonderful... Maytag Bravos.. purchased before Jaxon's arrival while I was still working. They are one of our BEST investments and I am EXTREMELY protective over them.. as anyone who has attempted to use them without my "knowledge"...   

I'll be back.. a blogger's famous LAST words!

Talk about some serious down time! Well let me just give you a tad bit of insight into this crazy thing I call my life!

Just finished up my almost last semester of my undergraduate degree (two more courses and I am DONE), had Thanksgiving and Christmas at my house, dealt with a very sick family, and packed up my entire house BECAUSE... we are MOVING!!!! Just not until April (or May)...

Yes I know crazy..

My husband got accepted to a program that the Marine Corp has where he is required to finish college and then become an Officer! Whoo hoo major props to my hubby for being such a dedicated Marine. So in about a week he is off to VA to Office Candidate School for 10 whole weeks and well because I HATE being ALONE and trying to complete my degree etc, I have decided to pack up the house early.. leave EVERYTHING we own (minus clothes for 10+ weeks) and go stay with my parents in North Carolina so I have some back up with my kiddo and some other people to talk to besides a toddler and dog!

So needless to say I will be taking quite a break for a bit to get my head on straight!

But I promise once we get situated in TX I will be back with some fun DIY (decorate my new house) as well as yummy HEALTHY meals for the entire family.. I might even add in some exercise bits too. My goal while being at my parents house in NC is to get my butt back into the shape I deserve to be in! Yay for gym's with childcare (which GA is definitely lacking).

So until next time :)

I am alive I promise

Talk about a busy time of year for our family! Between school, internship, housework, family, and packing (yes I said packing) I have been one busy mommy! But I am back for yet another great left over recipe and yes you can prepare this the night before or during nap time and have it ready the next day for dinner!

So I don't have step by step directions because silly me forgot to charge my camera battery but you don't need them! This is basically the same as the pot roast only a different cut of meat and left over veggies!

So after Thanksgiving dinner I had lots of roasted green beans and candied carrots left over! I am not a huge fan of leftover veggies. I usually save them in a ziplock in my freezer and just through them in a soup once the bag gets full (GREAT tip btw!!)

So I knew I had some beef tips in the freezer and pair that with some stock and those veggies = YUMMY!

So onto the super simple recipe!

INgredients

beef tips (how ever much you want)
beef stock
1 pkg of lipton mushroom and onion soup mix
left over veggies (I chose green beans and carrots)
1 cut up onion
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (or if you have left over green bean casserole just throw the whole left over casserole in!)

Throw all these ingredients in the crockpot with some salt and pepper and cook for 6-8 hrs on low and yummy beef stew :)) Serve over rice or with left over mashed potatoes!

Simple, Savory and Satisfying!