Weekly Chore Sheet

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I am a list maker. 

Constantly.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm a list-completer.

I usually lose my lists before I have a chance to cross everything off. 

That doesn't stop me from making more.

I'm also busy and easily distracted, so I like to have a plan for everyday. It makes me feel accomplished when every task is complete. 

I have a house, three kids, a dog, a business, and a husband who works 14 hour days. Everything goes to hell if I get behind, so I made myself a "chore chart" to keep up. The boys have one too, so it's only fair.

So here it is, fairly simple and takes almost no time if you do it everyday. 

Notes:

By swing chores, I mean that one week you do one, and the next you do another. Who needs to dust every week? Ok, I probably do - but I'm not going to!

I am fortunate to have two good little helpers (and one not so good one) that do their own chores. These include making their own beds, picking up their toys, and stuff like wiping down cabinets. My chore sheet is pretty general so you might want to add stuff specific to your house and lifestyle!

Also, I DO NOT CLEAN ANYTHING ON SUNDAYS.
But that might just be me.

Blue and Orange Baby Shower

Doesn't that look fun?!?

For this Baby Shower, I really wanted to do something bright and fun but not tied down to any specific theme. 

I chose to do a combination of aqua and orange, with a little gray and silver. 

The main decorations were the garlands. I did a circle garland, a strip garland, a bunting flag garland, and streamers I cut into triangles. These garlands were super easy to make! Just cut out or punch your shapes and sew together. Simple, cheap, and cute!

I also added some tissue paper poufs (following Martha Stewart's directions again) and paper lanterns. 

Can you tell I loved this look? I only took 239485763829 pictures of it. 

And here's the beautiful desert table!

Cookie Lollipops

Cake Pops

Sixlets

Orange Slices

Marshmallow Popcorn

Chocolate Dipped Rice Crispie Treats

Fudge

How perfect are these? And so delicious!

I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cake (WHY???) but it was vanilla cake in ombre orange layers with orange cream filling. 

For the outside, I frosted it with cream cheese frosting and used chocolate melting wafers to make the dots. 

I made the cake topper the same way I made the garlands and then tied it to two wooden skewers.

I designed all the food labels and water bottle labels.

The holder for my cookie lollipops is just styrofoam that I painted black. This has come in handy so many times! 

 

The Blue Lemonade Punch was amazing! Blue Hawaiian Punch mixed with Lemonade.

We did have non-sweet food too!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Meatballs

Chips

Grapes

Veggie Tray

Simple and easy, but everyone was happy and full.

The background for the table was a balloon wall with a paper onesie garland. 

I originally wanted to do an ombre balloon wall, but alas, they only had one shade of aqua at Party City!

I loved the way it turned out anyway!

I free-handed the onesie shape, cut it out of dark gray card-stock and added sparkly silver letters to spell "Boys Rock!"

For a table runner, I used orange polka-dot wrapping paper. The centerpiece was a small tissue ball I bought at Walmart with a circle I printed taped to it. 

Gotta love a vintage blue mason jar!

Our only game was a Mad-Lib! I wrote a custom Mad-Lib having to do with the mother-to-be, and we read them aloud. This was hilarious!

Custom designed invitation can be ordered from my shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/cutiepiejones

Easy Peasy Garlic Bread

My best friend/sister-in-law doesn't really cook. Ok, she makes Asian Hamburger Helper and spaghetti, but unless it's "easy peasy", she's not making it. She also says "easy peasy" more than anybody ever should. 

If you are one of those "easy peasy" type of people (and let's face it, we all are some nights), then this recipe is for you! I have to have garlic bread with my spaghetti, HAVE to. It's not right without it, but the boxed kind is too expensive and kind of gross. My mom always made garlic bread out of sandwich bread cut into triangles, smeared with butter, and sprinkled with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese. My recipe is basically the same only kicked up a notch. 

First step - gather the ingredients and pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

I always use the "day old" bread from the grocery store. Today I happened to see garlic and herb bread for only a dollar. Score! If you don't find any left over bread, french bread makes the perfect garlic bread. 

(Side note: Homemade bread is even better! Here is the recipe I use to make mine: http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/150527043/easy-homemade-french-bread/) 

Ok, so you will need bread, a stick of butter, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan cheese.

Step two - melt the butter.

Complicated, I know. Be sure to use real butter here people. None of this margarine nonsense, butter is what makes this bread so amazing!

Next, cut the loaf in half and pour the butter on the bread. Try to cover as much as you can, especially the edges. Don't worry about this too much, it will spread as it cooks. The butter might pool in the air pockets of the bread, but that's a good thing!

Then liberally sprinkle garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan on top. And I mean liberally. I took it easy on the seasoning today considering the bread was already seasoned on the outside.

Time to bake! Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until you can't take it anymore. I like mine soft so I tend to under bake it. Plus, I'm impatient. If you're really pressed for time you can broil it, but I won't tell you how to do that because I still can't broil anything without scorching it or setting the oven on fire. True story. 

Lastly, eat it! If you've waited this long.

Am I the only one who purposely mixes their salad dressing in the sauce and then dips their garlic bread in it?  Anyone?

Kid approved!

Don't mind the naked baby, she's eating spaghetti - you know how it is.