Semi-Homemade Huh?

So, if you're like me, you've been wondering....

What (the hell) happened to all the fun semi-homemade ideas, projects, recipes, and inspiration that I used to come here for?

Um, yeah, about that.....
House on the Market + Vegas Challenge = Little Time to be Semi-Homemade

My semi-homemade feats as of late include things like:
Semi-homemaking of beds.  Every.single.day.  (This was kinda optional prior to now.)
Semi-mopping of sparkling floors and shining countertops.
Semi-homemade dinners on the table.  Like scrambled eggs.  Twice in a week.

But don't y'all fret!  I have several fun ideas in my head and I promise to get around to them after Vegas!  (The fact that I can't leave a project out while it's in progress is really slowing me down... but after Vegas, I think I can get a couple uninterrupted hours in a day to make progress!)

Speaking about getting it all in.... Melissa at the Inspired Room talks today about how she does it all - especially how she makes time for home projects admist the chaos of her everyday life!

State of the Semi-Homemade Address....

Madame Speaker(s), distinguished Friends, and fellow Bloggers,

I found it was time to give y'all information about the state of the Semi-Homemade Union.... just a quick recap on what I DO know (because so much is still UNknown), because so many of y'all have left me sweet comments, emails, and phone calls.  And because I know I've seemed a little pissy lately.  ;)

1.  The house is ON the market.  But we don't know if we're going to sell it this year or wait til next year.  There is LOTS of unknown behind this topic (which was contributing to pretty much ALL my pissiness.  I'm working on that.)  In the meantime, we're showing it.  Alot.  Like 6 times in the first 2 wks since the listing went up.  Including a showing on Sunday, when we were home.  Uh... the doorbell rang and when I answered it, I encountered THE perfect person to play the role of a realtor in a comedic film.

Platinum blonde hair?  Check
Orange tan?  Check
Skin tight denim leggings?  Check  (With too short shirt instead of tunic?  Uh, check.)
Smoker voice?  Check
In defense of all you realtors out there (don't hate me!), I didn't know these people actually existed in real life, I thought they were just characters on tv/movies!

She told me she had just gotten clearance to come in our house.  I assured her that we had not received a call.  Then she realized.... my house was 1234... and she thought she was at 1239..... how could she have made such a mistake?  (This was the least of her mistakes, based on her fashion choices, in my opinion.)  She asked if they could see inside anyway, and before I knew it, they were touring my home.  While Big Sis and G-man ate craisins at the table.  They pretended not to see the pile of crap on the island (stuff mr. fix-it had brought in from my car when he detailed it for me!)  They pretended not to notice my bed was unmade (because Big Sis had been napping in it until 3 min before they arrived.)  Weird.... all around.

Where we will live and what our daily lives will look like a year from now, we have no idea.  Stay tuned, it'll be an interesting show.

2.  Puke Fest 2010.  Yes, it happened.  But it's over.  There's nothing like hearing a sweet child voice at 3am.... saying, Mommy my tummy hurts.  Followed by, And I'm gonna throw up!

Poor Big Sis.... It began Sun at 3am and lasted until about 7.... but bless her heart, by Sun lunch, she wanted chicken nuggets! 

3.  The Vegas Challenge is going strong!
I'm jogging 4 miles at a time now and feeling amazing!  My work pants are so big that I've resorted to wearing dresses everyday.  (I love spring weather in TX and wearing dresses with sandals!)
I have worked out 14 of the last 18 days, and by the time I go to bed tonight, I'll have workout #15 in.  Just 5 to go before we head to Vegas next Friday!

I should have probably also institued a Wardrobe Challenge to myself!  I'm currently on the watch for a Vegas appropriate (which means kinda sexy, kinda fun, not working-mother-of-2!) dress... a one-shoulder that's reasonably priced.  If you've seen one, you let me know! 

4.  Have a blessed holiday weekend!  Here's a message from us:

Here is mr. fix-it with the kiddos at our neighborhood egg hunt. They do it right - the Easter Bunny makes his appearance, along with a bounce house, train rides, clowns, a petting zoo (with bunnies, chicks and various others!), and an egg hunt (of course!)  Super fun!

Ready, set, GO!

Big Sis took to the egg hunt like a seasoned veteran!

G-man is new to this game, but he's a natural!

Face painting is Big Sis's fav part.  Last year, she got a kitty face that was too cute.  This year, they matched a floral design to her shirt!

Off Track...

I'm a planner, always have been. I do it professionally. I build plans and then change them, constantly (hey, that's retail!) I'm a planner when it comes to my personal life. We're going to lunch this week? I'd love to know where. You're planning a birthday party.. say, late summer? I'd love to help you start pulling together ideas. Mrs. Everything and I have been planning Summer of 2010 (the first summer where neither of us will be pregnant since the summer of 2006, when Big Sis was the only kid between all of us!) since.... oh, probably summer of 2007.

I love to plan... and I always have a plan..... mr. fix-it and I have had a long-term plan since we moved to TX... I'll spare you the details, but the premis is this: work as hard as we can, in order to afford ourselves flexibility to chase dreams and take risks...

But, no matter how meticulous you are in that plan.... no matter how much effort you've put into it.... no matter how 'fail proof' it is... I'm starting to realize, the truth is this:

In the end, it's just our plan - me and mr. fix-it's. Apparently, someone else has bigger plans. I'm going to (try!!) to trust in those.... continue to work my ass off.... even if it appears that our plans are changing. It's kinda scary (and disappointing and a huge mix of emotions) and I'm not sure what the outcome will be... but as mr. fix-it said... it always works out, even if we have no idea how it possibly can. I have the best husband... :)

New Year, New.... GIVEAWAY

Y'all, I am so excited to introduce you to a yummy new business started by a dear friend! Pics & details to come (I need to be home during DAYLIGHT, so I can take a couple good pics in some natural light!).... but until then, here's a tease!

New Year, New.... HOUSE (retitled!)

Formerly: Y'all are impressive (and hey - you still are!!)

Have y'all ever had a day/weekend/month when you've accomplished something that makes you sit back and say..... damn, I even impress myself! ;)

I find myself saying that, after my first productive weekend of 2010 (after the weekend from hell when 3 of us were sick, which was followed by a trip to OK for my grandmother's 90th bday party!) But hey, I work well with a deadline... and there's nothing like putting your house on the market to get ya movin'! Call me the Queen of Closets!




This weekend I cleaned/organized/purged from:

~ the closet under the stairs. Which now houses only the "little kitchen" and a few coats. 20 people will benefit from coats we're donating. I mean, we live in TX... why did we have so many coats?
~ the laundry room. Which was deceptively in need of more work than you'd think. And now does NOT house girls and boys clothes that don't fit or aren't in season.
~ G-man's closet. And drawers. He'll be 18 months on Jan 31st (my birthday!), so why the hell do I still have a boppy, a bouncy chair, a breast pump, and a baby floor gym in his closet?
~ the living room. Aka the playroom. The toybox and the 1800 toys that were invading my space. (If there's one thing I'm most excited about the new house... at this point... it's the downstairs playroom. I want to reclaim my living room! Send me your best playroom organizers - I'll be in the market soon for bookshelves, baskets & bins, you name it!)
~ the office. Even after living in this house for 2 yrs, I'm embarassed to say there are still a handful of boxes in this room that have never been unpacked. And lots of clutter. But no more! I packed 4 boxes to go into the office and lots to throw and donate!
~ my side of the master closet. I've only started in there.... but it's a start!



Then today I:

~ jogged - yea!!
~ took the whole fam grocery shopping
~ went to church
~ cooked 3 dinners! This week is going to be crazy - Mr. Fix-It and I both have deadlines! - so I had to prepare. I made 3 of my fav semi-homemade recipes: BBQ sloppy joes, Silver Dollar City skillet... and a new one, chicken broccoli linguine. I promise I'll get the recipes up this week!

So..... SHARE YOUR IMPRESSIVE FEATS! Tell me about the time you ran a 5k when you were 8 months pregnant.... or threw a huge party at a momen't notice..... or impressed in a presentation that led to your promotion.... or moved across the country to follow a dream...


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And.... in exciting (yet totally unrelated) CELEBRITY NEWS.... my brother, who has this great job (courtesy of yours truly, who hooked him up with an old contact!) Anyway, tonight he's at the Saints game... in a suite.... and he just texted me a picture of himself with Kim Kardashian! How crazy is that?!

What a lovely surprise....

Mrs. Everything had warned me that she was swinging by our house yesterday morning with a surprise.

So.....right now..... I'm sitting in a parent-teacher conference with G-man's teachers (ah, love the scheduling mode!) But I'm also sipping on pumpkin spice coffee that is doctored with pumpkin spice coffeemate. Mmmmm....

All thanks to a super thoughtful friend, Mrs. Everything! Isn't that the greatest? For the record.... our Dear Coffeemate, conversation got SUCH a reaction! Coffeemate even contacted me, offering to send coupons, etc. I'm still waiting on them to arrive, but I plan to share them with you, so stay tuned!

Thanks, Mrs. Everything! The thought of pumpkin yumminess in a cup is the only thing that got me up this morning!

Lash out! A giveaway...

Okay, so I have a cold. And apparently, so has our internet. All week. Mr. Fix-It finally fixed it (because that's what he does!) late last night, after hours of cussing, unhelpful 'help' from the folks at the internet company, and his general fix-it skills that make him such a handy guy!

So.... while I make you wait WAY too long for a debriefing on the Semi-Homemade Halloween party (and all the goodness of yummy food, great friends, and hilarious costumes!)..... I present you with this:

A chance to win pure awesomeness from Sephora, one of my all-time fave stores! Seriously, with this damn recession, Mr. Fix-It and I have had to tighten up the budgets again (every few months or so, we kinda loosen up.... and then whoa! time to get back on plan!) ;) Anyway, I was thinking... what I wouldn't do for a new lipstick or mascara or pair of shoes....something to add to what I already have, some way to spice up my life without spending much! And what better way than to win something?!

Sephora wants to know what beauty product YOU are thankful for. Tell them and you're entered to win, so simple! And the 3 prizes are sets that are all valued over $100 - woo hoo! (And if you DO win.... and you're thankful that you found out about this contest thru me.... maybe you send one of those mascaras my way. You don't have to, I'm just saying...)

Enter here and have a good one - the weekend is coming!! :)

Sneak peek: Etsy treasures from G's Pirate Birthday Bash!

Okay, I promised I'd be back to give you a sneak peek into some of the special touches that made G-man's 1st birthday party so... well, special. I'm planning a big recap of the entire weekend - complete with the beach party during the day and the big family dinner at night (including the pirate tattoo parlor and homemade ice cream!)

Work has me swamped (what else is new?) and we got a rough start to the week (picture Big Sis covered in her own vomit at 1:30am on Sun... and again at 2:30am... and 4am....) But I promise I'll get it organized, edited, and recapped as soon as humanly possible!
Until then....


I'd done a cute, custom outfit for Big Sis's first birthday (they only turn ONE once, ya know!) Ignore the awful editing - I'm away from my photoshop, obviously...But G-man is more of a manly man.... not one for the custom outfits... LOL.... so, the bib. But isn't it adorable?


It's from My Personalized Tshirt. I picked the colors and got to personalize it with his name. They have all sorts of cutie birthday shirts and bibs, monograms, big sis/brother items, you name it! I just love it!!


This next item is what G is going to wear this weekend in his 1 year pics.

We're going with Kristie to the downtown square in Our Town. It's the site of the maternity pictures I did when I was pg with G, so it's only fitting! Plus, we can get an 'urban' look down there, which will be perfect for this outfit..... We're going for the rocker baby look, lol. This shirt, believe it or not, was only $7.99! I had looked at others at expensive places like nordstrom and they were much more! It's from PunkeyMonkeyKids and I can't wait to see G sportin' it. I've just got to figure out what size jeans to get him and we're set!

I got the bulk of our custom touches from Cathie at Custom Parties To Go. She has TONS of themes to pick from for birthday parties, showers, etc. And she's easy to work with! I switched the fonts, color combos, etc around 100 times and she didn't bat an eye!

We hung this sign from the pavillion at the beach club... then later at my house, over the table in the breakfast nook (where the kids ate dinner!)

This was just a quick snapshot I took on Friday.... it's the cupcake toppers on the left, favor tags on the right, and hidden is a set of stickers! They say things like:
Happy Birthday, G-man (cupcake toppers)
Thanks for coming to my party! Love G-man (favors)
Yo ho ho! G-man is ONE! (stickers)

You'll be able to see all these creative custom items at work when I get my recap pulled together of G-man's 1st Birthday Weekend! More to come!

Time to walk the plank!

Just kidding! I can't tell y'all how happy.... relieved.... giddy... I am to have such a cute invite for G-man's pirate birthday party, and I didn't have to do one single thing! I worked with Catherine from Polkadots & Paisleys - she's so sweet and easy to work with! - and she took care of everything. So.... I present you with the results:

This one has a more "worn" look.... would probably look better if it was a brownish color ("tea-stained" as Mrs. Everything so eloquently said!), but I wanted to go with black and red for the party, so I'm going with the top one!

(And much thanks to Catherine for whipping up a blog copy for me to post here and share with y'all!)
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Lots of exciting party planning going on in my world right now. Watch soon for pictures of the Semi-Homemade Modern Pink & Orange Baby Shower I'm throwing for Mrs. Everything this weekend! That will be followed by G's Semi-homemade Pirate Birthday Party.

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And so many of you commend on my That Friend post.... I'll be sure to come back when the dust settles on the baby shower and fill you in on the fab weekend I had (thanks for asking!) :)

Quick giveaway!

In my life there are lists. Tons of them. I'm known for my lists. (And for the record, yes, I know that there's no earthly way I'll get everything on my list done. I know...)

At my home computer, I have a calendar like the one above (but not half as cute!) that has EVERYTHING on it! The Semi-Homemades rarely go a weekend without being scheduled to the minute, so it's a must have. But my current calendar is by school year, so it ends at July!

So... if you must.... visit Whitney Caroline Designs and try to steal this calendar right from under me. Just know how much I need it.... ;)

Okay, back to work - I have 80 hrs of work to do between today and tomorrow. But be watching later this week for my Semi-Homemade End of the School Year Teacher Gifts! (Say that 3 times fast!)

Carter Sullivan is here

I'm so excited, I can barely stand it! I just can't wait to get up to OK!

Carter Sullivan was born on May 4 at 8:40pm. He's got a gorgeous head of black hair (just like his cousin Big Sis did, believe it or not - it's from our mom's side of the family!) He weighed 8 1/2 lbs and was 20 1/2 inches.

Big Sis Ainsely met him this morning, but she was more interested in her grapes than her baby brother. She's 20 months old and has no idea how her world has changed!

Pics to come - the above pic of my sis's sweet baby belly is the ONLY one I have. I'm begging anyone who will listen to send squishy newborn baby pictures! Stay tuned!

A blog for you fellow Etsy Lovers!

Just how I didn't know about this blog is beyond me.... (and seriously, why didn't I think of that?!) It's a blog for all you Etsy Lovers and Sellers.... so, if you have a shop - or know someone who does - have them email Celeste to set up a give away and get lots of traffic. And if you're just an Etsy lover like me, head over there and enter all the giveaways. It's like they do the browsing for you. (Of course, we still have to check out the site for ourselves. We don't want them to have ALL the fun, now, do we?)

OH, and I'll be back as often as possible this week, after the Big Promotion. I'm wondering what I got myself into.... especially when I hear things like 'don't let the fear tactics affect you,' and 'you have immunity'...... did I apply for a spot on Survivor? Yikes!

But this Friday is a big day in the Semi-Homemade family..... G-man gets his helmet off! Watch for me to share his before and after pics with you, so you can see the amazing transformation! What a beautiful noggin on that crazy cute little boy!

Also, I've been gathering a bunch of fun non-mommish mother's day ideas! Great ideas for your own mommas or to hint to that hubby of yours, especially if you're like me and don't want to end up with a "mom jeans"-type mother's day gift!

Nothing - seriously, nothing - could get me out of the funk I was in Friday evening over not going to OK for my sis's shower. Even though Mr. Fix-It really did pull out all the stops... he brought home stuff so we could make chili (my absolute fav!) and he brought home ICE CREAM.... which I haven't had since Sept, when I had to quit eating dairy for my sweet g-man. (Quick update... I've been weaning and we've gotten him to tolerate regular - i.e., NOT the stuff that costs an arm and a leg - so we're working towards 100% weaned. That makes me both happy and incredibly sad. But that's a whole other story...)

So you can imagine how insanely mad I was when I called my mom Sat and she was looking at conditions pretty much like this:

Seriously?! Apparently, this massive storm had missed.... So, I spent the next 30 min calling everyone I know in OK and looking at every weather radar.... And that's when we did something I still can't believe we were able to do! We dressed both kiddos and ourselves and packed clothes, bottles, gifts and shower food in right at 30 minutes. WOW! We had nothing packed - I have no idea how we did it that fast.

Now, fast forward to a few hrs down the road.... and we run into this south of OKC:

Um, WTH? The radar had showed we might encounter some rain. Not blinding wind, whipping snow around and giving us about 1/4 mile visibility. Crap. Seems we can't win for losing. Mr. Fix-It was SUCH a trooper in getting us there. And we arrived at the location, exactly 20 min before the shower started!

Y'all, what a whirlwind.... we weren't in OK for even 24 hrs.... we got back to a house that looked like a tornado had been through it, as we were literally throwing things around to get out of the house. But, my sister was so excited.... it was all worth it.

I'll download pics and will soon share with you: A Semi-Homemade Baby Shower (a snowy edition)