The Cheesecake Factory

Things have really been busy lately. Hopefully we will get a nice relaxing break soon, as we get ready for our spring break. A couple of weeks ago we went to The Cheesecake Factory in Atlanta and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! The food was absolutely awesome! As you can see, we had enough for lunch and some left over to take home.

This chocolate cheesecake was wonderful!

The cheesecake made with Splenda was just as good!

This was a raspberry cheesecake. I didn't taste it, but I would assume from the look on his face, it was great!

It was so nice to have such a great treat. My oldest son wants to go back on his birthday. One of our traditions is that the birthday person can pick a special place to go eat. This really works out well for everyone:) So, it looks like another trip to The Cheesecake Factory in the near future!

Have a great day!

Kim

Outdoor Wednesday

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday. Thanks to Susan, over at http://asoutherndayddreamer.blogspot.com/ for hosting this weekly event. We are having such a wonderful winter season here in the South. Yesterday, on the second day of March, we saw another snow!! The forecast had been for maybe a few flurries, but wow, it came down all day. It was an absolutely beautiful snow! My boys have their co-op classes on Tuesday, so we had to be out on the roads. The good thing about this snow was that the roads were too warm to be dangerous during the day. We watched beautiful snowflakes come down all day as we traveled to co-op and back. The beauty of God's creation!

Everything started in the early morning hours....

and kept going in the afternoon hours...

and continued into the early evening hours....

and finally stopped in the late evening hours! We have enjoyed the many snows that we have experienced this winter. Most winters we get nothing in the snow category, but this winter is making up for that.

Be sure to take a look at the other Outdoor Wednesday participants. There are always wonderful pictures to see!

Have a super Wednesday!

Kim

The Challenge is Complete!!

During the month of February I have been participating in an organizing challenge. Thank you to Organizing Junkie for putting this together. First, I will show my "after" and "before" pictures. I know that should be "before" and "after", but I didn't load the pictures correctly. Oh well, the show must go on! The challenge also has the participants answering five questions about the process which I will answer at the end of this post. I have to say, this was a great challenge! I had been putting off organizing this room until the whole thing was just out of control and the room was not being used for its intended purpose. I feel soooo much better now! The room I chose to organize is our school room/ craft room. A few months ago, this room flooded and we had to remove carpeting and take everything out. Well, what happened after that was that everything just got thrown back in, with no order or organization. So, all of our school materials have been carried all over the house as we use them and that in itself is exhausting. So, to say the least, I am super excited about the new, improved room! I hope you enjoy the pictures! "After"

"Before"

"After"

"Before"

"After"

"Before"

"After"

"Before"

"After"

"Before"

"After"

"Before"

1. The hardest part of the challenge for me was to actually follow through and complete it. I was able to overcome this, because of the accountability to the other participants! (Thanks everyone!)

2. In order for the room to maintain its new order, I am putting everything back in its place at the end of the day. Also, this room is for school materials and craft items--nothing else ( sports equipment, cleaning supplies, etc...) I want to enjoy this room, not dread going in there. I love the room now and want to be in there!!

3. The "stuff" that I purged from the room was mainly thrown away. It was either torn up, didn't work properly and could not be fixed, or the parts were missing. A few items are being donated ( some movies ) and some other items are being sent back to their rightful owners :)

4. A few storage solutions that I employed was to move my desk. It was up against a wall, so I moved it out a little. This helps out alot because our dry erase board is right behind the desk. It just flows much more smoothly. I also took out a cabinet that really did not do much in the way of storing items and I moved a bookcase to an opposing wall which opened up wall space for my maps.

5. Why do I think I should win this challenge? This is really a hard question because I know everyone worked hard on their spaces and overcame obstacles in the process. I already feel like I have won, whether or not I actually win the challenge, because I followed through on this and now I have a space that I love. Also, I proved to myself that I could do this on a shoestring budget. I took items that I already had, but was not using, to help out in this room. Also, now I have the confidence to tackle some other much neglected areas in my home. I am so ready to make this house a comfy, cozy, organized home.

Thank you for the challenge. Congrats to all who entered and now have new and improved spaces!

Kim