nyonyamansor09

Turns out Clydie has the croup and was up at midnight last night barking like a seal in his crib. We sat in the bathroom and let the shower run and that helped some. We have some medicine to try for tonight. The doctor said his ears look great so that was good news. A few weeks ago, I purchased a Wild Flowers of North America hardcover book from Amazon.com and paid less than $5 for it. It has close to 400 flower prints. I was inspired by this post on Little Green Notebook . I found my frames and mats at Michaels. The frames were 2 for $7 and the mats were $2.99 each. So for about $70 my bedroom went from this to this Here is the destroying of the booking binding. I am excited about the book and have a feeling I will find quite a few other places for flower prints in my house. So many options with framing and mats. Now if I could find some inexpensive curtains, I would feel like this room is fairly complete. Still considering some Ikea ones.

It is 8:30 pm and I just got my little Clyde to sleep. Poor thing normally goes to bed at 7:00 pm and has been a little off all day. I thought it was teething but am starting to think it is an ear infection. The doctor will confirm tomorrow. I got rid of his glider a few months ago so I rocked him standing up in his room but oh how sweet to watch him fall sleep in my arms. I didn't want to put him down. I bought some curtains today at Marshalls for $10 a panel but my sister and I decided they were too flimsy and too short. I think I am going to go with some Ikea ones. Hope to post pictures tomorrow of my bedroom artwork. Too much going on tonight with a sick one.

Sunday - Dinner at a friend's house Monday - Zatarain's Jambalaya with Chicken and Turkey Kielbasa Tuesday - Chipolte Pork Soft Taco (Recipe found on this previous post ) Wednesday - Either Turkey Burgers & Fries Or Spinach/Cheese Ravioli (Both things are in my freezer. I have a real estate closing at 4 pm so this will need to be something easy) Thursday - Weight Watchers Orange Chicken ( Recipe found on Magnolias, Marriage and Manhattan blog ) Michael helped me hang some pictures in our bedroom today. I will hopefully post pictures tomorrow. Kitchen cleaning and dusting awaits me while C & C sleep.

We bought our house almost 1 year ago. I was VERY pregnant with Clyde and my mom,in-laws, grandmothers, sisters, and aunts helped me get this place together for our soon to be new baby. Recently, I have started examining my living room and it doesn't look like a young person lives here....well maybe I am not so young anymore but it needs updating! Here is a picture of the living room before we moved in. Note...we bought a real fixer-upper! This is a picture of the living room right before Baby Clyde arrived. Cute baby rocker was part of the decor. Here it is now. It doesn't look that different but I have included some more up close before and afters below. Before After...Lamp from Home Goods, Vase/Decanter from Marshalls, Picture Frames relocated from another table. Please excuse the crooked lamp shade...need to fix that. Before After...Lamp from Home Goods, Kate Spade vases that were a wedding gift pulled out from the closet, already had the tray from Target and flipped it ove...

Today was a beautiful day in Richmond! Absolutely gorgeous. We were out for most of the day and I picked these daffodils from my yard. Side note...I bought the vase on clearance for $.70 (yes, 70 cents) from Marshalls. Here are our meals for the week... Sunday... Chicken Rollatini (We did not end up eating last week) Monday....Taco Casserole (recipe below) Tuesday...Spinach & Cheese Tortellini (from BJ's Warehouse Club) Wednesday...Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole (leftover from another week) Thursday... Mexican Vegetable Pizza (This is a new recipe for us and I picked it because we love the take-n-bake Merry Mex Pizza from Superstars . I am hoping this one will be just as tasty.) Taco Casserole 1.5 lbs lean ground beef (I bought ground turkey this time) 1 package taco seasoning 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes 1 (15 oz) can chili or kidney beans 1 cup frozen corn 1+ cup shredded cheddar cheese 1 cup tortilla chips (coarsely crushed) Preheat oven to...

J.Crew Urban Outfitters My sister found some plain metallic flip flops at Urban Outfitters similar to the J.Crew ones that I purchase every summer. Price at Urban Outfitters is $18. Price at J.Crew is $49.50. What a deal!

The Obama Administration recently passed a new law requiring banks to accept short sales. Short sales require that the bank take less than the borrowed amount for the property. Delinquent homeowners will also be paid $1500 to help with relocation. More than $5 million families are behind on their mortgage and risk foreclosure. Click here for more information. This is good news for many homeowners who are in financial turmoil and need to move but cannot sell their home for the balance on their mortgage.

Sunday - Mozzarella & Prosciutto Panini & Italian Sausage Soup frozen and leftover from another week. Monday - Kickin' Chicken with a Crunch , Sweet Corn & Zucchini Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin , Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus Wednesday - Kate's Italian Sausage Casserole (recipe below) Thursday - Chicken Rollatini with a side of pasta and bread Kate's Italian Sausage Casserole 1 cup of penne pasta 1 lb of Italian Sausage 1 small onion chopped 1 clove of garlic minced 1 can of diced tomato 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of sour cream 1 tsp oregano 1 cup shredded mozzarella 1 cup Parmesan Cook pasta according to package directions. Cook sausage and drain, return to pan. Add onion and garlic saute until tender. Combine tomato and sour cream in baking dish. Add pasta and sausage mixture, oregano, mozzarella. Stir together. Top with Parmesan (shredded or grated). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Can also add fresh spinach. Also, can use whole wheat pasta and light sour cream.

So yesterday it dawned on me that I was tired of the stroller that goes with my Chicco travel system taking up the entire back of my car. Clyde is now in a convertible carseat so the bucket and bases were up in the attic collecting dust. So this morning at 8:30 am, I posted the entire travel system on Craigslist for $85 (bucket, stroller, two bases). I thought that was fair given that it was 3 years old and used for two children and new retails for close to $300. By 2:30 pm, sold! Got to love Craigslist. I am going to get an umbrella stroller and am looking at the Maclaren Volo. Any thoughts or comments? It seems to get good ratings and I like that it has a small place underneath for bags etc.

I said I wasn't spending this week but I did purchase some Crocs for Camille. This eBay seller has them so inexpensive. I won these brand new Mary Jane Crocs for $12.64 including shipping. Now I hope they fit...one of the downfalls of buying online. P.S...I must confess that I also bought two flower coffee table books from Amazon.com to try to create a wall collage in my bedroom. My mom bought a bird print book years ago and used it over and over to create framed prints. It was a very inexpensive way to create lots of artwork. Recently, I saw this before and after on Little Green Notebook and decided to purchase some books from Amazon.com. I paid less than $10 for two books. They are in the mail.

We had a 65 degree day today and Camille and Clyde tried out their new shades. Check out our photo shoot!

Here goes... Sunday - Dinner at Mom's House Monday - Taco's Tuesday - Baked Ham & Ziti Casserole (new recipe) Wednesday - Chicken Broccoli Casserole from last week (we never made it) Thursday - Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon , Corn and Yellow Rice Friday - Angela's Awesome Enchiladas (in our freezer leftover from another week) Clyde is starting to eat finger foods and he hates veggies & fruit! So I am trying some Deceptively Delicious tricks on him and it is working. I had leftover spinach in my freezer that I cooked then ran through my food processor. I mixed it with his mashed potatoes and he liked it and then I smeared some spinach on his grilled cheese and he ate that. Success! I am going to puree some frozen strawberries and spread that on his pancakes and french toast. He is a carb lover! He gets it honest.

The weather has been nicer and I have been out of the house picking up deals here and there. Next week...I have to stay in and rest my wallet. I am having some buyer's remorse. I picked this up at Kmart today for $5.99. It is sweatshirt material but I thought it seemed cool with the zippers....good with jeans and tall boots. I found these dress at JCPenney this week...cost $42 each. They are Allen B by Allen Schwartz and I thought they would be good and easy to throw on for work. Also, I just saw this in my blog photo folder on the computer. My mother-in-law gave Clyde this cute outfit for spring from Target. It has all kinds of embroidered items on the pants and a whale on the cardigan.

The Dollar Tree has a bunch of cute Easter decor and basket stuffers. Here are some of my finds. I jazzed up the Easter tree with some paper grass and ribbon also from the Dollar Tree. Camille loves taking the eggs on and off the tree. The Easter Bunny is a gift from my sweet Grandmother who is always picking up things for me. But the Easter eggs in the vase came from the Dollar Tree. I purchases 3 packs of 10.

I have been consigning some old clothes and dropped by the The Hall Tree today and ended up with $59 in my pocket. I should say it was burning a hole in my pocket. Here is what I picked up and I have $14 to spare. $11.00 on clearance from Marshalls $6.99 American Eagle Tank from Marshalls. $14.99 Gold Sandals from Marshalls. $10 Shortall for Clyde from The Hall Tree.

There is still time to take advantage of the Tax Credit. IRS clarifies what is needed to claim. Monday, March 01, 2010 The Internal Revenue Service has clarified which documentation taxpayers need to submit to claim the first-time and move-up homebuyer tax credit. While the IRS is still requiring the filing of Form 5405, it is not demanding that all parties’ signatures be on the HUD-1 settlement document in areas where requiring both the buyer and the seller to sign the document isn’t common. The IRS clarification says: "In areas where signatures are not required on the settlement document, the IRS has clarified that it will accept a settlement statement if it is completed and valid according to local law. … The IRS encourages those buyers to sign the settlement statement prior to attaching it to the tax return.” For repeat buyers, the IRS is seeking documentation that home buyers have lived in the previous property for a consecutive five of the past eight years. Proof can include...