B and A

Well, I feel like I should start this post with "Don't judge me." It's that bad.

Here is a before picture of my closet.


I told you.

Now a closet doesn't get like this overnight. It's a few "I don't think I'll wear this today..." followed by a few "If I hide my stack of laundry in here, no one will ever see it..." with a little "Don't have a spot for it? Give it to me, I'll put it somewhere..." mixed in. I'm ashamed...but the story doesn't end there!

This is after.

Doesn't that look better?!? I put my winter clothes up in the attic (well they're in a tub and I suppose when my sweetie gets tired of stepping over the tub, it'll go in the attic...) and even put some clothes in a "give away" pile. I have a lot more to do in that arena, but one day at a time.

I have a place for "extras" (usually purchased with a Walgreens coupon deal) that I didn't have before.


On my wall I have a place for my most-used bags. From left to right: Pool bag, workout bag, and my favorite "go-to" bags. And now, I can get to them! (And you have to keep ONE pair of flipflops out. You never know when you'll need them!)


So, I have one more Before and After to show you.

This may be my favorite B and A:


Yep. The easiest cookie recipe ever! 1 cup sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 egg gives you:


Yay! Oh, wait. There's one missing!

"Don't judge me."

B and A

Before and After week continues!

So as I walked through the food line at our ladies Bible group, I noticed this big homegrown zucchini laying there on the table with a cute little sticky note that read "Please take me home with you". Well who could say no to such a cute zucchini, especially when thoughts of zucchini bread, zucchini cake w/ cream cheese frosting, zucchini cupcakes, etc floating through your head. So....Before:

1 whole zucchini

After:

One zucchini cake
One chocolate zucchini cake

10 lbs about to be added to my butt

1 size about to be added to my pants

30 hours of working out about to be added to my week

Maybe I should have taken a pic of me before I eat all this yumminess and then I can take a pic of me after! :)

Before and After (B and A)

Woohoo! Its before and after week here on The Girls Take On and we are ready to start some changing!

Since my family just moved, I've got alot of before stuff to do. As the movers were packing up our stuff in California, I threw away all our crappy fake wood bookcases. So when we got here to Kansas, that was one of the first things we needed to replace.

My friend Meredith and I hit an estate sale-furniture shop and made out like a bandit! For $200.36 I got 2 real wood bookcases, a huge old stained glass window, a wooden crown piece, long wooden bench for my dining room table and a new piano bench. Not too bad, eh?

So here are the bookcases before the books were on them:

And here they are w/ the books. In the pic on the left, you can see the bench that I bought as well! I'm not sure if I'm done with these bookshelves or not, I might paint them, so its possible this could be another before pic later on in the week! :)

So now tell us, what are you going to do over? Something small like bookcases? Or maybe something huge!!

Double It Up! - Day 5

I'm late with this post. You wanna know why?

I Doubled It Up down in Orlando for a wonderful anniversary celebration! My husband and I went to House of Blues for dinner (one of my favorites) and then to Cirque Du Soleil! It was wonderful.

The best way to sum up our Double Up is to say:

2 tickets to La Nouba
2 stops on the way (bathroom on the way there, Starbucks on the way home)
2 rows from the middle (great seats)
2 $20's to the babysitter
2 kids still awake when we came home

So after 15 years of marriage, here's hoping we can Double It Up for 15 more!! :)

M

DD5

TGIF!
Today's doubling it came in the form of double duty w/ friends.
I got to have coffee and furniture shop w/ one during the afternoon and then finished the night off with the dinner at the second friend's house. Bought some fabulous bargains at the furniture shop (pictures to come) and had wonderful pasta for dinner.

I pulled double duty w/ the kids too! Car wash + kid entertainment for over an hour=a clean minivan and wet happy kids. :) *evidently for my family, a water hose and bucket is all you need for fun!

So it is the end of double duty week and I would love to do it again sometime, but am totally looking forward to our endeavor for next week! Check back on Sunday for our next "taking on"!
What will those girls take on next??

DD4

Well, my DD4 wasn't as *action-packed* as big sis', but we still had fun...

The day began doubling curtains. In our California home, the boys rooms had 3 windows, so I had 3 blue jean curtains (the kind w/ the overall-looking tab-tops). Of course the new Kansas house has...4 windows (they are actually 2 double windows). Anyway, I cut the old curtains in half and made 6 panels so that 3 can be on each window.

Next we played a double game of bowling while middle boy was in bowling camp. Guess how much it was for 5 people to bowl 2 games +the cost of shoes? The sign said $2.50 per game, $2.00 per pair of shoes, so inside my head I was calculating about $37....The guy said, $3.75! Lo and behold I had stumbled upon quartermania Thursdays! Woohoo! Needless to say, we'll be back next Thursday...

We topped it off w/ double pizza for dinner: 1/2 pesto 1/2 hamburger on one, 1/2 cheese 1/2 meat on the other. They were delicious!

As for the goals for today....workout? nah. remembering kids? yes! baking? none! :)

-Audrey

Double It Up! - Day 4

Will this first picture give you an idea of my day?


These went down since 5:00 pm. Let me tell you why...

Double It Up!

2 members of my family came home after being gone (separately) for a week!! They both came home with stories to tell, ailments to share, laundry to give, attention to crave...you get the idea. :) So, 2 Diet Mountain Dews later...I'm blogging. (And these are full caffeine diet mountain dews. What's the point of Caffeine Free, anyway? Haven't tried that, seems like an anomaly to me...)

Today is my 15th wedding anniversary, and I am staring at 2 tickets to Cirque Du Soleil! Hubby and I are off to have a special date night. Dinner at the House of Blues and then La Nouba. Doubling It Up in Orlando...can't wait!

And the last double up I have for you today is not good news. It seems that I have 2 appliances that are on the way out. To the curb. My microwave is gone altogether. Now my dishwasher is making some pretty scary noises. This is not the kind of doubling we were hoping for!!

May tomorrow bring the greatest doubling of them all!

M

Double It Up! - Day 3

I'm not really sure where the day went. Oh yeah, I remember:

• Hit the alarm clock 2 times.
• Fed 2 boys breakfast.
• Bought 2 packs of tortillas, 2 bags of meatballs, & 2 containers of crystal light. (BOGO at Winn-Dixie!)
• Cleared 2 paper jams in the copier at work.
• Wished 2 parents (both mine) a Happy Anniversary.
• Proofed a document 2 times and missed something anyway.
• Had 2 dear friends remind me that this 16 month temper-tantrum stage is going to end.
• Changed 2 diapers before putting the sweet baby to bed. (Oh, and found 2 pacifiers under the crib.)
• Got double-jumped at checkers. Again.
• Kissed my 9 year old 2 times (once for his sister who is on a trip).
• Now, I think I'll finish the evening off with 2 DVR'd shows that are calling my name.

Don't you just love So You Think You Can Dance and Losing It?!?!

Day 3...check.

M

DD3

I did it! I finally ran! I didn't wake up early and do it though, so I was hurting when I finished those 4 miles at 2:30pm... The last mile I kept thinking, "if I pass out from heat exhaustion, surely someone will find me". :)

I also accomplished the goal of making caramel popcorn and mayonnaise cake for the BBQ tonight. Both were absolutely delish. I thought one of the ladies was going to gag when I told her it was mayo cake, though!

I also doubled up on piano lessons... All 3 older kids got their double-lesson today!

I even doubled up on the coffee: w/a cup this morning and another tonight at the BBQ (I used coconut creme creamer from Coffeemate for the first time...wow! Loved it!)

All in all it was a doubly-good day!

Goals for tomorrow: Work out (maybe weights? arms? abs--where abs should be--)...

Remember to take the kids to their camps...

Not bake anything...

~Audrey

DD2

I'm 2 for 2 on waking up early to run... ( and each evening I keep saying to myself--get up and run early b4 its too hot!--oh well...)

Got SOAKED twice in the torrential downpour! (but after living in the Mojave for almost 3 years, a little rain is refreshing)
Ate 2 lunches, a pb&j first then a baked potato later...
Did double laundry...which means 4 loads...today
Played 2 games at youth group with oldest (sharks and minnows, and dodgeball)...
Ate 2 more pieces of pork n beans bread...again...
Now 2 watch a movie w/ hub (Bounty Hunter) and hopefully get up early tomorrow morning...

Going to make some goals for 2morrow...
~make caramel popcorn and mayonnaise cake for a cookout tomorrow night
~run 4 miles (fingers crossed)
~ skip yelling at the kids 2 times...
Wish me luck! ---Audrey

Double It Up! - Day 2

On Day 2 I started with the most basic of doubles. Rinse and Repeat. Have you done that? It feels amazing. I use cheap shampoo and conditioner, so why not double-up!

I had two meetings at work today - double your pleasure, double your fun!
Maybe not, they were work meetings after all...

So then I had to go to the bank and do you know what? It was Customer Appreciation Week and we got 2 ice cream treats!! This was my ice cream of choice:

Because my husband is out of town, I had 2 waffles for dinner today. Mulitgrain from Publix.

I heart Publix.

To end the day, I got double-jumped in a game of checkers by my 9 year old. The worst part was that I didn't even see it coming.

2 days of doubling down. (And I wasn't referring to poker...)

M

Double It Up--Day one ---Audrey

Day one, day one, how I love day one! So many possibilities...

I broke the fast with not one, but 2 waffles and blueberries...

Baked 2 loaves of pork n beans bread (weird, huh? absolutely delish!)
Drank 2 cups of coffee...
Gave all kids 2 kisses at a time...
Thought about working out twice...
Hubby bought 2 for 1 garden hoses at Home Depot...

Remembered 1 summer camp activity + forgot 1 summer camp activity = 2...

Day two is going to be even better!--Audrey

Double It Up! - Day 1

Today is the first day of Double It Up week, and frankly, I think this is going to be a good week. You might as well call it, "A Little Extra" week. Or maybe "Lagniappe" week. No matter how you slice it, two is better than one!!

My day started off as normal. The little one wakes up and acts as if he hasn't eaten in days. His breakfast of choice is a cereal bar. Any brand will do and any flavor is also acceptable (except apple). But today, he was hungrier than normal, so because I had "Double It Up" on the brain, he got TWO cereal bars! He thought he was having Christmas. :)

I had extra laundry today (from some slacking this weekend that we don't need to talk about) so I did TWO loads today. I think I'm going to really work on staying caught up though. That stuff multiplies!

Then our neighbor friend came down to swim and we "doubled up" in the pool!! :) That is until an unfortunate water gun episode turned ugly...

So, we're back at it tomorrow! Looking for "double" the fun tomorrow too!!

M