Bacon!

I.LOVE.BACON!  Yes I do.  I haven’t eaten much of it over the years because hubby is not a fan of bacon.  But once we started doing majority of shopping at Sam’s Club, I have started buying bacon again.  Hubby makes breakfast most Sundays that he doesn’t work.  It usually involves pancakes.  I enjoy a good stack but I NEED that salty joy to counteract that sweet.  BLT has always been a summer staple.  YUM!  I even like bacon on my salads.  Bacon just makes everything better. 

When Hubby was offered the job in Turkey, I learned early on that bacon or any pork product is hard to come by.  I was reading blogs about the Greek butcher in some shady alley that might have some bacon.  The list of things I wouldn’t be able to eat kept getting longer and longer.  Thankfully, most of the comments were out of date.  When we were at the Hilton in Istanbul, we enjoyed a nice burger and fries WITH ketchup.  And every morning, I happily made my way to the Executive Lounge is eat BACON!  So it was a huge lie!  I can get bacon.  WOO HOO!!  But as we made a few stops into the markets and groceries, where was the pork?  No bacon?  Heck, meat itself was pretty expensive.  Turns out the hotels can get bacon.  So it was all a big tease.  So so sad.  If I could figure out how to get a case on the plane, I totally world.  Looks like I will be tracking that Greek Butcher down!  Maybe we can work out a deal that I can get a whole pig.  Mmmm. sausages, pork, chops and of course, BACON!

In preparation for our pending relocation, I have been eating LOTS o’Bacon.  I’m at about two packs a week.  LOL… I sound like a smoker!  Breakfast sandwiches and BLTs have been my lunch.  But today has to be my fav.  I know it’s the middle of summer in KC.  And we are under a “its so HOT don’t let your kids outside” Heat Advisory, but I really really really needed to get in some loaded potato soup.  YUM….. and I greatly enjoyed it!  In the winter, I make my own potato soup.  But as we wondered the aisles of Hy-Vee picking out the foods we will miss, I grabbed a can of Campbell’s Potato.  I had planned on saving it for a rainy day. But we had leftover Tikka Masala in the fridge, so that got eaten instead.  Now that we are down to a few more days and I was tired after a morning at the pool (see my priorities?), I grab the can of soup for lunch.  Fried up some bacon and crumbled it with some shredded Cheddar (another hard to find) over my hot soup.  So so good, and not conducive to wearing a bathing suit next week.  But if I have to wait another three years for it, you lovely people of HHI can deal with my fat butt.

The girls “new” furniture

Everyone in our house has been getting new furniture recently.  The girls got new bunk beds when Nate was born.  But we thought it was time to get Nate a big boy bed.  He can still fit in his crib but with our upcoming move, it was just easier to buy him a new one now.  We checked out all the local furniture stores and instead of finding Nate a bed, we found us a bed set that we really liked!  We have been putting off buying us anything new for years.  There was always other things to spend the money on.  When we first moved in together, I had my Grandparent’s first bed.  It was beautiful and I loved it.  It was a little strange since it was so old, it was in between a queen and a full size, which made buying a mattress difficult.  I was so sad when it was damaged in our house fire.  Then our parents gave us their first bedroom set.  It’s five years old than me!  But as ugly as it is, it has served us well.  I had always planned on refinishing it and putting in the guest room when we finished the basement.  So we have found this set that we both really like and we actually have the money sitting around……  so we bought  it!  Yay!  It arrived last Friday and I feel like such an adult now!  I LOVE it!  And for the $$, Joel’s happy that I plan to keep it forever. (will post pics later)

 

We finally found a bed for Nate that we really liked.  Unfortunately, it takes 45 days to be delivered.  We just found out we had 30 until our move.  We ended up buying the first bed we liked and was our second choice.  It arrives on Wednesday.

 

With all this new furniture arriving in our house, I was feeling bad that the girls dresser was still looking old and never got the paint job it needed.  The girls new beds were an off white and the dresser was the same white it had been when we got it.  Another pass down, it was my dad’s and then passed down to my brother and repaint when he got his UM bedroom.  He was in elementary school then….. and now almost 30. So it needed paint!!  I had found really cute drawer pulls that of course didn’t fit.  The girls have outgrown sharing that dresser.  We aren’t going to have the same walk-in closets in Istanbul.  So we really needed another dresser.  Wait!  Joel has this beat up dresser that isn’t going to fit into our bedroom anymore!  So, the idea began to refinish both dressers.  After three trips to Lowe’s for paint ideas, we finally picked colors.  It was a fight with Joel.  I wanted the dressers all one color.  In the end, he was right and they turned out great!  We even ended up refinishing my old desk for Jocy.  She is to the age she has quite a bit of homework. And she loves to draw.  Just hope it fits in her new room! 

		Redo VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today, we are doing a few touch up and putting on the new knobs we bought for the dressers.  I painted the desk pulls but I don’t think I love them.  Might be another trip to Lowes.   This was a LOT of hard work but I think it was worth it.  And it was a fun day with Joel.  We have always worked well together.  Maybe when we get around to another house, he will work less and we can have fun doing more stuff like this. 

And the finished product!!!!

 

Finished! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Too Fast

Today I had to take Joel to the airport at 5:30 AM. I hate seeing anything before 7. Of course, this meant I had to get the kiddos up. Neither was in bed before 9pm. So the joys of cranky kids. But today is the last step in Joel's work visa. Then its full speed ahead. Our official moving date is August 1st. As in, we will be on a plane heading to Istanbul. My question is.... when did it become July?? We were just celebrating Nate's 2nd Birthday.

So here’s a quick re-cap of the summer:

Jocy was invited to test for the PEAK program, which is Liberty’s gifted program.  A child is chosen to test for it by their OLSAT scores.  I am proud to say that Jocy scored in the 99%.  Next was the Gates test.  You only needed a 73% to qualify to continue and Jocy scored 99% again!  The last step was in IQ test.  I’m not sure it was complete though. They said it could be in the fall.  I am so very proud of Jocy.  We have talked with her new school and they are going to accept those test scores for their gifted program. YAY!

Nate’s 2nd Birthday was just a family affair this year.  With three kids and all summer birthdays, it gets to be too much.  This year, Elly got the big party.  Even though Nate had just the five of us, I didn’t do any less with the decorations.  His sisters helped pick out the decorations and then decorated the kitchen.  Balloons were bought and a fancy cake.  We are greatly enjoying the break from pink parties!  With Nate’s love of Buzz, we chose a Toy Story theme.

My beautiful kiddos!

Nate opening Woody

Nate’s first Detroit shirt!

 

Next was Elly’s Birthday party.  Since this was her first year in school, she got the big party.  It wasn’t the HUGE parties of the past, wasn’t up for the food party, but it was a good turn out.  I try to be equal to all my kids when it comes to parties.  I know that Jocy got more being the first, but I figure she doesn’t remember most of it.   For Jocy’s 4th, she had a big princess party. At the time, she was obsessed with Cinderella.  I came across an ad in KC Parent about Princess at my Party.  So I called her up and booked her.  The best $$ I ever spent.  It was the smoothest low stress party ever!  So I thought before we moved we should have a princess party for Elly. She’s be really into Snow White.  Perfect!  And just like Jocy’s party, single princess party supplies are hard to find! And because we decided last minute to have her party before her birthday, it was a little stressful.  We were going to be in the ville for her actual birthday, because my friend Jenny just had to get married the day before.  Which had to happen….. her son was born the day after mine. So if I’m not going to do the same, the least she could do is pick the day before a current. LOL!  The party was a success again. And Elly was in shock the whole party.  I’ve never seen her so quiet!

Elly’s 4th Birthday! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next, we headed off for a week in Louisville.  We left Friday after work and arrived a little after midnight.  Thankfully, it was the easiest drive!  Not bad for our last drive from KC.  Saturday, was the bachelorette party.  Lots of drama, good fun, drag queens, and memories of the ville. Some of which reminded me why it could be a bad idea to move back. The whole week was pretty booked.  Sunday was Father’s Day. I was a bad daughter because I was so exhausted. 4 hours of almost sleep is NOT enough at my age.  Especially with three rugrats at home.  Thankfully, I was not stupid and get totally sh*t faced at the party.  Yay! No hangover!  Monday was my day off.  Hung out with the family and did a little shopping.  Tuesday was hair and a trip to E-town to see the Stuecker’s.  We had such an amazing time.  After knowing Kristy since the age of 11, it was kind of crazy to watch my 6 year old play with her 5 year old.  It won’t be too long before they will be the age of when we met.  And I love how well our hubbies get along.  Really wish we lived closer!  Say… across the golf course. LOL

Wednesday, we got up early and headed to Cincy.  Went to the Yankee/Red’s game.  It was a bit disappointing.  Double header that day because the game the night before was rained out. So it was like no one was trying.  The Yankee’s won and Joel and I still had a great time.  We spent the rest of the evening in Cincy an drove back the next day.  We had mani and pedi’s with the bridal party, then a night out on Bardstown Rd.  Which brought out the Louisville drama and we got people arrested.  My brother and Joel really rocked that night! 

Friday was the rehearsal and dinner.  What a wonderful evening at Churchhill Downs.  Ran into a HS friend and got my HS BFF to come spend the evening with us.  Such an amazing evening.  Saturday was the wedding and I could go on and on about the day.  I am so truly happy for Jenny.  And it was an honor to be a part of it.  Sunday we dug our butts out of bed, packed up and headed home.  Surprising another easy drive home.  Only 7 hours (with the time change).

June 2011 trip to Louisville VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

So there’s my quick update.  We are going to be so busy the next few weeks.  Our official move date is August 1st.  But that is we are on the plane heading to Istanbul.  We have a storage unit and the movers are scheduled for the 18th.  Our new furniture is coming this week and Nate’s next week.  And we have a last minute trip to Louisville. Going on a girls trip to HHI.  Not a bad going away treat!