I have been absolutely dying to get my house back in order from it's current chaotic state!  There's nothing that annoys me more than a mess and clutter and that's exactly what my house has been like for the past 3 1/2 weeks (find out why here)!! 

Since yesterday was the last day of spraying, I already knew that I was going to attempt to restore order to my house today!!  What a perfect task for 5 Minutes for Mom's Tackle it Tuesday and  the Monthly Roundup over at I'm an Organizing Junkie... Just my luck that this month was the office!!!  Next month is the Craft/Sewing room, and I'm already thinking of ways to spruce up my craft desk (does it still count that it's not a whole room?)

I decided to start with my office/craft room, which is small but sure can hold alot of unorganized crap!!

Lisa over at Confessions of an Apron Queen is is being super duper generous this month.  In addition to her regular weekly apron giveaways on her blog, she's having a giveaway extravaganza for the month of October-giving away a total of 15 aprons from Rick Rack Attack!!!  If you haven't checked her store out yet, you don't know what you're missing!  These are some of the cutest vintagey aprons you'll ever see!!  Some of her giveaways will be for 1 day only so be sure you don't miss anything, and subscribe in a reader or receive email updates from her blog!!!  She's got something real big going on with not just aprons, but valuable grocery coupons (who couldn't use those?) and shopping gift cards (who wouldn't love one of those?) too...but you've gotta get your updates because she's keeping it secret until October 6th!!!

To avoid a revolt, Lisa has 2 giveaways this week!  She's giving away 2 matching apron sets by Jessica Steele over at Bloggy Giveaways, which if you haven't heard of, is a really great site that is constantly giving away cool stuff (hence the name!)...definately worth taking a peek!
Her second giveaway (which starts on Sunday) is 2 cute gingham aprons that will be part of a birthday giveaway that her friend Elizabeth is hosting on her blog, Thoughts from an Evil Overload.  Elizabeth was the recipient of a bone marrow transplant from an anonymous, unrelated donor 2 years ago and she's celebrating her "2nd" birthday with tons of giveaways and by raising awareness of bone marrow testing and donation!  Go over and send her some birthday love!
Gifts and prizes and giveaways- oh my!

It's almost October, and as I'm sure most of you are aware October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month (click on the link in my sidebar to see how you can help). Whitney over at My Journey Toward: The Glamorous Life of a Housewife has a friend Lindsey whose battling breast cancer and could really use your thoughts and prayers!!

What's this stranger have to do with me, you may ask? Well Lindsey's only 25, a newlywed of 3 months and now, she has breast cancer. This goes to show you that breast cancer knows no age! You may think "It couldn't happen to me. I'm too young. I have nothing to worry anout." You're wrong. Just as quickly as her phone rang and changed her life, it could be you or me!

She's a woman of faith and has the most amaing outlook on her situation and I just know that the strength and faith she has will pull her through!

Go over to Lindsey's blog and leave her some love and please keep her in your thoughts and prayers...

"Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal." - Vince Lombardi

I cannot believe that someone (or someone's) actually read my blog...well, here's the proof that they do- I was picked for Blog of the Week by Tiff over at The Crafty Homemaker!!! Yay for me! This was the first week for her Blog of the Week and she chose me!!! She also lists her fave crafty blogs and these are some extremely talented ladies worth checking out!! Oooh, I'm so excited....

*Note: I'm having issues with my camera, so once it's resolved this post will be updated with pictures!

I haven't blogged all week and I'm having serious withdrawls! I've been sick most of the week and between laundry, Kassie and cooking I haven't had much energy to do anything else!

I did, however, make 2 apple pies! Why 2, you ask? Well, the first pie I made I sorta cheated and used a pre-made crust but silly me, the pie novice, used all Granny Smith apples! As far as looks go, the pie was excellent (I think) but take one bite and whew, were you in for a surprise!! It was so tart it was like sucking on a lemon! Pie:1 Tara:0

My second attempt at apple pie was a little better! I actually made my own pie crust (using this recipe) and a mixture of Jazz, Gala and Fuji apples. Though the inside was much, much better I burned the crust slightly! I think it had more to do with sprinkling regular granulated sugar ontop rather than sanding sugar, but hey whatever- at least this one was edible! Pie:1 Tara: 1

I also finally found scallions at the supermarket! I've never cooked with scallions so after some searching online for what part exactly of the scallion to use and how much, I prepped my dough. I refrigerated it over night like the recipe suggested and the next day when I turned it out onto my lightly floured counter-it was a disaster! The dough was waaay too watery (or moist) and totally stuck to both the counter and the rolling pin! That was not fun to clean up! I swear there's still a film of dough stuck on my countertop!! Getting ready for Round 2!

My first week of Menu Planning Monday's did not go so well since I didn't really cook dinner this week...Jay thankfully was not too disappointed in eating Hungry Man dinners and canned soup and chili this week! I did make a Shepher's Pie though and it was delicious! Kassie loved it, it was right up her alley, being all mushed together in her plate and easy for her to scoop with her spoon! I am making my Paprika Roasted Chicken tonight so I'll probably end up making the Chicken Soup with Rice over the weekend! Ok, so my first week wasn't a total bust, just a little delayed!

I have also come across quite a few new, really cool blogs that I'm following, but I'll update on those later...it's such a dreary, rainy day here in Boston I'm gonna go take a nap while Kassie's sleeping!

What luck I have! The Crafty Homemaker has a "Try and Learn" series and this week it's crocheting...Would you believe I bought the supplies to start this craft a few weeks ago and just because I've been so busy have yet to look up some easy instructions to start!?!? I've wanted to learn how to crochet (or knit) for such a long time and now this is a great oppertunity! Check out her site for a You Tube video tutorial...I'll keep you posted on my progress!

I stumbled upon a really cool blog called Vanilla Joy...this blog has everything! Giveaways, product reviews, recipes, craft ideas,...you name it, she's got it on there!

Being up to my elbows in trash bags and doing laundry until all hours of the night for the past 11 days, very little is making me smile these days or gasp, even laugh!!! So I gotta thank The Busy Dad from Tales from the Dadside for his post They Should Slap A Warning Label on this Band which had me in stitches!!! BusyDad, if you happen to read this, my dear hubby is ready to bow at your feet...it's been a tough couple of weeks here and an unhappy wife makes for a very unhappy hubby!!

The Dan Band is hilariously funny, but you should really read BusyDad's description cuz he's a much better writer than I am...and he has the YouTube video's on there for you to watch- but be careful because your kid's might look at you funny when your coffee shoots out your nose!

The Breast Cancer Walk that Kassie and I are doing (see my post about it) is off to a great start! Michelle decided to walk with us, so we formed a team and Lauren's gonna walk too and hopefully a few more gal pals will join us!

Anyway...I came across an amazing blog dedicated to bringing hope and smiles to patients undergoing cancer treatment. It's a non-profit serivce called Nana's Box and they provide photo boxes with personal photos, inspirational quotes and sayings for patients to bring with them to their treatment sessions, free of charge! What an awesome thing to do, right?

If you're interested in donating to Nana's Box (all expenses are funded by her and her family) you can do so thru PayPal or you can donate crafting supplies- just email her! Definitely check out this site and if anyone you know is undergoing treatment for cancer, this is a great way to help give support and inspiration!!

Oh, and she has this great giveaway going on, now thru the end of the year!! Here's a big applause to Nana's Box for doing something great for other people-not to expect something back ,but because it feels good!!

I've had a very unpleasant Monday...after doing what felt like 100 loads of laundry in 4 days it was time to leave my garbage bag packed house and let the bug guys do their thing! I was told that the whole process should be relatively quick though we had to wait 6 hours before returning home!!! The bug guys came around 11 but didn't do my apartment until 3pm...so at 9pm I'm finally allowed to return home with 1 cranky 18 month old and an even crankier hubby!!!

Picture this, all my worldy belongings are packed in trash bags, strewn about my house anywhere they'd fit and I'm complaining to Jay that the house smells funny...he can't find socks in the hundreds of trash bags so my house fragrance problem is not a top priority for him!!

I carefully navigate my way over and around trash bags to my kitchen where I know I have all the supplies needed to make my house smell clean and homey- even if it looks no where near that condition!!

I take a small pan filled with about 1/4 cup of water, I drop about a tablespoon of vanilla extract (that's my fave, but you could use lemon, almond or any that you prefer!) and turn the burner on low, as low as possible and that's it! The water will simmer and the extract will fill the house with that delicious smell and it lasts quite a while!! Just having my house smell nice makes me feel better so I'm off to bed and I'll deal with the trash bags tomorrow!

This post is part of...

So very quickly, because even talking about it grosses me out...my landlord informed me a few days ago that the apartment downstairs had a bed bug problem and that the whole building had to be exterminated!!! Ewww, so gross! Anyway, the extermination process consists of removing all clothing from drawers and closets, washing them in hot water, drying them and then packing them in plastic bags. For days, I've been running my washer and dryer constantly and I've gotten through 17 loads (can you imagine?!?!) though I still have about 20 bags filled with stuff to wash! Picture washing all your clothes, your hubby's clothes and your kid's clothes plus all your towels and linens and anything else in your house that's made of fabric...now imagine doing that all in 6 days and not putting anything away where it belongs but instead packing it all in large trash bags and having those trash bags on every inch of floor space you own- now welcome to my life!

Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper and this is the gift that keeps on giving because the bug guys don't just come one day and it's done, no no no- that would be too easy!! They have to come and spray 3 weeks consecutively all the while your stuff has to remain in these bags as to not get reinfested (arrrrgh, just the word makes me wanna scream!!!)...therefore, me and my family will be living out of trash bags for the next 3 weeks and I will be on the verge of a nervous breakdown in case anyone is wondering where I am....

In my never ending quest to find ways to fill my days with more than laundry and changing diapers, I've come across a great blog named Confessions of An Apron Queen . This is a great blog and worth checking out!! She has a weekly vintage apron giveaway and this week it's from her own site Rick Rack Attack which has THE cutest aprons I've ever seen!!! Yeah, it's seems kinda old fashioned, to be standing there in front of the stove, up to your elbows in cooking, wearing an apron -but there's something nostalgic about it. Seems sort of weird, but it makes me feel more"housewife-ish" and it sure is easier to wipe your hands on your thighs than looking for that kitchen towel that Kassie always seems to run off with!!

I'm off into the web to find more ways to keep myself occupied and entertained!

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years since the country fell victim to the worst terrorist attack in our history, but here it is September 11 and the country and the world is remembering the lives that were lost and thanking those who are working so diligently to ensure that it doesn't happen again. It was a beautiful day today, as have all the 9/11's been since the attacks. I find it eerie (for lack of a better word) that every year on September 11th since the day of the attacks, which started out as a beautiful early fall day without a cloud in the sky and fresh, crisp air that the weather has been exactly the same! Every year this day makes me think of how much we take for granted here, living in a free country- not in the middle of war torn society or a place where the government dictates all aspects of our lives- and it makes me appreciate the small things, like the beautiful flowers me and Kassie see on our daily walks through the neighborhood.
Here are a few...

So here it is, 9:37pm and I'm at my kitchen table watching Super Nanny, waiting for Jay's work clothes to finish in the dryer and sitting down for the first time in what feels like all day!! In all actuality, this is the first time I've sat down (besides my 10-15 minutes to eat dinner) since about 4pm when Kassie got up from her nap! She was still a little cranky when she got up so we went for a quick walk, hit the store on our way back and then started dinner. While making dinner (Cheese & Garlic Sausages with Scalloped Potatoes) I had laundry going in both the washer and dryer and emptied the disjwasher from earlier today. We finished dinner and I cleaned up from that, folded the clothes in the dryer, put the ones from the washer in to dry and then made brownies with Kassie. She stood on a kitchen chair and stirred the mix with a big spoon and when it was time to pour the batter into the pan she kinda pulled a nutty??!! Thankfully, she took a bath this afternoon so off to bed she went, only she didn't feel much like cooperating tonight (shocker!!) and I had to rock her for almost 25 minutes- just in time to take out the brownies!! I set the brownies to cool and got to work on making Jay's lunch sandwiches for tomorrow which I just finished so here I am!!! Before his clothes are done drying I still have to go around the house and empty all the trash bins and get all the recycling organzied because it's trash night. Once the clothes are done, I'll fold them and put them away and get ready for bed myself. I'm too exhausted to even think about picking up my book and reading a few pages (which I haven't done since Sunday when my mom had Kassie) but Kassie's fast asleep and full, all my laundry's done, there are no dishes in my sink, my kitchen floor is clean and Jay is packed and ready to go for work in the morning- just another day, a day in the life...of me!!*

*Afterthought:
Kelly came by to visit today with Sorcha which was a nice surprise- she's getting so big, even potty training and doing great! Makes me realize how quickly Kassie's growing...Oh, and I finally found scallions so those Scallion Pancakes will be making an appearance this week!!!

Today, there is more hope than ever for people facing breast cancer. However, there is much work to be done to find promising new treatments, increase awareness about the importance of mammograms, help all women get access to screenings and care, and connect those impacted by the disease with the information, day-to-day help, and emotional support they need to wage their battle against breast cancer. I believe that hope for a world without breast cancer starts with me. That’s why I'm walking in the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event. Not only is this my opportunity to join my community to fight back against breast cancer, it is a way to inspire hope by raising funds and awareness to help those facing the disease and save more lives.And you can be a part of it, too. I have signed up to walk and hope you will join me in my effort by signing up to join my team or making a donation in support of my participation. Hope starts with us.

Please visit my page to make a donation or join the walk...