Friday Favorite: Organization

Tags

1", Art, ava, Binder, Birthday, Book, Brocade, Card, D-Ring, DIVOGA, Fashion, Fine, Greeting, holiday, Keepsake, Memory, OfficeMax, Organization, Organize, Pinterest, Pinterest.com, Storage

My MIL recently told me that when my husband was a child, his favorite thing to do was re-organize everyone’s closets. He has carried that into his adult life. It drives me insane because he usually puts things in a new place where I can’t find them. So I’m constantly trying to find ways to beat him to the punch so at least I know where I’ve put things.

We have stacks of holiday and birthday cards and I hate to throw them away, especially the ones sent to Ava. So I found a nicely organized way to keep them where they shouldn’t annoy my husband, should stay neatly in place, and will be protected for the future so Ava can go back to read them and see how much everyone loved her throughout her life. This was not an idea of my own, I found it on Pinterest.

I bought a really cute fashion binder from OfficeMax for $7 and just hole-punched the cards so that they fit in the binder. I wrote the year she received the card on the back of each one. Most of the cards are only big enough to get punched twice, so I was careful to punch the holes on the folding/bound side so she won’t have to remove them to read them later. I put them in order from oldest in the front to most recent in the back. I’m sure eventually, I’ll have to label this binder with the years it consists of and start a new one. It’s cute and inexpensive, but organized and protected.

I think I’ll go and collect the others we have packed away around the house and do the same for everyone. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Introducing Friday Favorites

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Blog, Blogging, Favorites, Friday, Post, Weekly

I know, I’m not doing very good at this blogging thing. So, I’ve decided to dedicate every Friday to my favorite things, which means I’m committing to posting something every Friday.

I’m sure I’ll have to start working on these on Monday just to get them done in time for you, but I’m going to do it. My Friday Favorites posts will encompass any subject or product I come across that week that I love (i.e. recipes, products, clothes, hairstyles, food, restaurants, places to visit, ANYTHING).

I’m also going to try to think of similar posts for each day of the week so I can try to post something on a regular basis. Let me know if you think of any catchy phrases like my Friday Favorites posts. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Useless Information: How many times has Young And The Restless character Victor Newman been married?

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Abbott, Adams, Ashley, Costelana, Dianne, Guilty, Hope, Information, Jenkins, Julia, Leanna, Love, McClaine, Meggie, Newman, Nikki, Opera, Pleasure, Randolph, Reed, Restless, Sabrina, Sharon, Soap, Useless, Victor, Y & R, Young, Young and the Restless

One of my guilty pleasures is soap operas. However, I only watch 2 of them (if you don’t include all the “reality” competitions I watch), The Young And The Restless and Days Of Our Lives. As I was watching Y & R the other day, the character Victor Newman was talking about one of his many marriages and I began to wonder how many times had he actually been married. So of course, I Googled it! If Wikipedia (feel free to read the whole back story, but it took me an hour … I learned a lot that I never knew) is correct, the total is 13 so far and the man seems to be perfectly capable to keep on going like the Energizer Bunny as he is currently on the market and diddling a couple different women including his most recent ex-daughter-in-law and former wife, Sharon.

1. Late 1970′s – Julia Newman
2. April 13, 1984 – Nikki Reed (divorced)
3. Late 1980′s – Leanna “Love” Randolph (declared invalid since his divorce from Nikki wasn’t final)
4. Early 1990′s – Ashley Abbott (divorce by 1993)
5. Mid 1990′s – Hope  Adams (divorced)
6. Late 1990′s – Dianne Jenkins (divorced)
7. Late 1990′s – Nikki Reed (declared invalid since he was still legally married to Dianne Jenkins)
8. Early 2000′s – Nikki Reed (divorced in 2008)
9. June 2008 – Sabrina Costelana (died 2 months later along with their unborn child in a car crash)
10. July 2009 – Ashley Abbot (divorced)
11. Early 2010′s – Meggie McClaine (scam – turned her in and annulled the marriage)
12. Mid 2010′s (possibly 2011) – Dianne Jenkins  (almost annulled but Dianne was killed in self defense by Nikki Reed instead)
13. 2011 – Sharon Newman (his former daughter-in-law by Nick and Adam – annulled)

Eric Braeden as Victor Newman

I’m pretty sure Victor isn’t done yet. He seems to want to marry a new woman every time he changes his underwear. I’ll try to remember to keep updating this post for those who are keeping track. And let me know if there is anyone else that you’d like me to research for you. Hee hee. I know this probably wasn’t a very interesting post, but until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Party Preparations

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1st, ava, Baby, Birthday, Child, DIY, Do, girl, Iron-On, It, Kid, Onsie, Party, Pinterest, Pinterest.com, Preparations, Prepare, Rainbow, things to do, Yourself

One of two of Ava’s birthday parties is on Sunday and I’m scrambling to get everything done. I decided to make the party hats because I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I’m also making a rainbow tutu for her and another smaller version to match for the cake stand (and that’s not counting all the food I’m preparing for the party … the rainbow cake, the fruit kabobs, the colored sprites, the rainbow jello) . I have a few more odds and ends to purchase at the store (more food for the party, a couple more items for the favor bags, and the kiddie swimming pool). I’ll be spending Friday at my dad’s helping with cleaning, rearranging furniture, putting up some of the decorations, and setting up the food table. At different points during the day, I have to start working on the cake and the jello because there are so many layers to each that have to have time to set before you can add the next layer. I just made this really cute birthday onesie for her, it’s going to look great with her tutu.

I’ll post pics of the whole party next week sometime. I got a lot of really cute ideas from pinterest, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how everything turns out. The best part is (<—sarcasm), we get to do it all over again for our local family and friends the following weekend. Can’t wait … to get through it. Ok, it’s after midnight and I have a million things to do in the next 2 days … I’m going to try to shut my mind off and get some rest before my 7 A.M. alarm clock goes off. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Freebie Printable: “Big Sister” T-Shirt/Onesie Iron-On Printable

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ava, Baby, Big, Child, Clipart, Diva, Free, Freebie, Iron-On, Memory, Onesie, Only, Photo, Photography, Princess, Printable, Sister, T-Shirt, Transfer, Ultra-Sound

Now that Ava is no longer an only child, I thought it would be cute to take a photo of her holding one of my ultra sound pictures for the new baby’s memory book. I actually made this image myself using some clipart and the paint program on my computer. I plan to print it on t-shirt transfer paper I found at OfficeMax and iron it on a onesie for her to wear when I take the photo I want. Feel free to download if you’d like. Enjoy!

Big Sister

Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Product Review: Instagram For Android

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Android, App, Application, Instagr.am, Instagram, mobile, Phone, Photo, Photography, Pic A Day, Picture, Product, Review, technology

I’ve been looking for the Instagram app for my Android phone for quite a while. I just recently noticed it was added to my app store and without hesitation began deleting seldom used apps to make room for it. I’ve decided to start my “Pic A Day” campaign where I will be uploading at least one pic a day (sometimes more if I can’t help myself).

Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Recipe Share: Easy Biscuit Breakfast Pockets

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Biscuit, Breakfast, Brown, Cheese, Cook, cooking, Easy, Egg, Grands, Hash, Hashbrown, Jumbo, Pocket, recipe, Sausage, Share

I was looking for an easy biscuit breakfast pocket recipe so I could make a batch to freeze for my husband to just pop in the microwave on his way out the door for work. The only ones I found either required that the biscuits were made from scratch (which I don’t have enough confidence to make) or the recipe called for crescent rolls (which is fine, but I wanted mine to be a bit bigger than that so they’d be filling for him). So I did a little experiment and this is what I came up with and they were exactly what I was going for.

Easy Biscuit Breakfast Pockets
Yield: 8 Breakfast Pockets

Ingredients

• 1 roll of jumbo or Grands biscuits (8 in the roll)
• 1 package of ground sausage patties (8 in the package)
• 1 1/2 c frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
• 8 large eggs
• 3 tblsp milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
• Spray butter

Instructions

1. Cook the sausage over medium heat until browned.
2. Drain.
3. Add the hash browns and cook until potatoes are browned.
4. In another pan, scramble together the eggs, milk, and spices. You may choose to combine steps 3 & 4 together. If so, stir until set.

Assembling the pockets:

1. Preheat oven to 350° (or whatever temperature is noted on the biscuit package).
2. Roll out each biscuit one at a time as flat as you can without tearing them on a floured surface.
3. Lay about a tablespoon of shredded cheese on the center of the flattened biscuit.
4. Top with eggs, then sausage/hash brown mixture.
5. Carefully fold the sides over, and then the ends over that (kind of like a burrito), and pinch shut so that none of the filling is exposed.
6. Lightly spray the tops with the butter spray to give it a golden browning.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes (or according to the biscuit package instructions).

To freeze:
Allow to cool on the baking sheet. Once cooled, place in the freezer until frozen. Store in a ziploc bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To reheat, place on a paper towel and microwave for 1 1/2-2 minutes.

Optional Ingredients:
An array of diced vegetables can be added into the sausage/hashbrown mixture, the scrambled eggs, or all together in the same pan … onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. Experiment with whatever you like. Just remember, it doesn’t take much to fill up the biscuit pockets before they start to tear.

Easy Biscuit Breakfast Pockets

Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Product Review and Gift Suggestion: Birthday Yearbook

Tags

ava, Birthday, Book, Gift, Idea, Photo, Product, Review, Shutterfly, Storage, Year

Ava’s birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. One of her gifts is going to be this birthday yearbook I made on Shutterfly. I made something similar for all the grandparents (that included photos of all their grandchildren) for Christmas and it was a huge hit. These are going to be repeat gifts every year. On the first page it has all of her monthly photos, minus the 12th month (I’ll probably include this same page in next year’s book as well but with the 12th month photo in it). It’s about 37 pages long and also includes a Table Of Contents that tells what’s on each page. I have a biography that I’ve filled in for now, but when she’s 3 I’ve got a list of questions that I’m going to start asking her to answer on her own so she can see how her answers changed over the years. Eventually, I plan to add copies of any drawings or craft projects she makes as well as report cards, positive teacher’s notes, and sports or academic awards. The last page is a decorated open page that I’ll put out for her birthday party so that all the guests can sign it like a guestbook. This is something I want to do for all my children for their birthdays as keepsakes. Depending on how creative you are, it can take some time to put together, but the system that Shutterfly uses allows you to add tons of stickers, borders, frames, and backgrounds. And for those who don’t feel very creative, they have “idea pages” that you can add to your project where they’ve done all the work and you just drop in the photos you want to use. I usually order an 8×8 hardback book that already includes 20 pages for $29.99, then it’s $1 for each additional page. So this one came out to be $58, but I found a 40% of discount code and got $18 off. Here are all the pricing and book size details.

Click here to view Ava’s photo book to see the details I listed above.

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com. I also plan to make one of these for my husband for Father’s Day every year. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Zulilly Cutie Contest

Tags

ava, Contest, Cutie, Photo, Photography, Zulilly

I entered Ava into a photo contest. So if you get the chance to stop by and vote for her, please do and as often as you can. Also, pass on the link to whomever you can. Thanks for the support. Here it is >>>VOTE<<<.

Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Recipe Share: Breakfast Cupcakes

Tags

100, Breakfast, Calorie, Cheese, Cook, cooking, Cupcake, Egg, Ham, pepper, Pinterest, Pinterest.com, recipe, Share

I made this for my husband this morning and he LOVED it! It was really easy too. FYI, they are about 100 calories per cupcake. Of  course I found it on Pinterest. I even tried it with scrambled eggs (because I’m pregnant, that’s the only way I can eat eggs right now). All I did was beat one egg at a time and left the Cupcake in just a couple minutes longer to make sure it was cooked all the way through. I also used regular shredded Mexican cheese instead of Parmesan (the recipe says use whatever cheese you like). And finally, I didn’t make a whole cupcake pan full. I only greased and used the cups I needed (4 for my husband and 2 for me). Anyway, you can click on the photo below to get to my Pinterest link and follow that to the recipe. You’re welcome.

Breakfast Cupcakes

Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.