Just Us Four

Fabulous Freebie Friday #19

2012-03-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

A teensy weensy favor to ask of you before we get to the giveaway linky party! I've been nominated for the Apartment Therapy Homies under the DIY Blog category. If you have a moment, could you click here and vote for Just Us Four? {Voting ends tonight...eek!}

Thanks a bunch! Now, on to our regularly scheduled programming...

Happy Friday! It is time to link up your current giveaway!

Grow Your Blog - It's Feed Me Friday!

2012-03-01T19:59:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Feed Me Friday Blog Hop, hosted by Oh So Savvy Mom, Nap Time is My Time, and our two new co-hosts Beautybrite and Just Us Four! Read along, we'll introduce them later.

Feed Me Friday is a Blog Hop to help you meet new bloggers and build your e-mail subscription.

Want to be a part of Feed Me Friday?

Just follow these simple rules:

- Add your blog link to the linky

- Subscribe by email and follow via Google+ the four hostesses (Oh So Savvy Mom, Nap Time is My Time, Beautybrite and Just Us Four) and the Featured Blog of the Week.

Make sure to leave us a comment and we will return the favor. Visit as many blogs on the list as you can. If you like the blog, subscribe to their email (feel free to follow on Google+ too, if you want)

- Leave them a comment with your blog link so they know you are subscribing from Feed Me Friday. Be sure to confirm your subscription! Subscribing back is not mandatory, but it is recommended. It is a great way to build blogging relationships.

Since this is an email subscription blog hop, your blog must have a place for people to subscribe to your email. If there isn’t an email subscribe option, your link will be removed from the linky without warning.

About our new co-hosts...

Beautybrite, written by Stephanie, is a blog about beauty, health, fitness, family, Autism and Autism Awareness, green friendly, product reviews, giveaways and more!

Shannah, mom of two, wife of one, writes the blog Just Us Four. You'll find amazing, inspiring crafts, a weekly What to Cook Wednesday post and a look or two into her family's daily life.

We'll be back with a featured blogger next week, be sure to link up and follow along!

Lap Bands, Armbands and Waistbands

2012-03-01T19:50:00.000-05:00

Let's talk about weight loss and workouts again some more, shall we? I've made your ears bleed before droning on about the different options to weight loss out there. I've even explored some of the options like shakes, lap bands and other stuff a little more in depth too.

I've made it no secret that I've been working to lose weight. It is still a constant struggle for me because I never seem to have enough time to devote to working out {it isn't like I can get up any earlier than I already do for work!} and I am terrible with food temptations. Seriously...terrible...like eat an entire box of Girl Scout Cookies in one night type of terrible. Obviously, that is bad and should NEVER happen. But, if I'm going to skip being a rabbit and eating nothing but spinach, I'm going to end up indulging from time to time.

So, enter the armband! Yep, an armband is going to save my waistband. Haha...just kidding. I'm just hoping that the new music I've loaded and organized on my iPod will help keep me motivated. The armband part is just a handy place to keep it while I am sweating {to the oldies}.

Anyone have any awesome song recommendations that I have to include? What about exercises for newbies to try? In a few months, I'll come back and {hopefully} be asking for cute new outfit recommendations to fit my smaller frame!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Pick Me Up Off of the Floor...and then {please} Vote for Me!

2012-03-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I have a bunch of blogs I visit daily {sometimes more than once a day if I am being totally honest}. I was over at Apartment Therapy today checking out the standings for the

and I literally almost passed out!
In the the Best DIY Blog Nominations, there are my ususual go-to "big" bloggers like Bower Power. But, way down towards the bottom, I spied

Do you see it? Yep, that is Just Us Four there on the nomination list!
A BIG (HUGE, GINORMOUS, MASSIVE) THANK YOU to whoever nominated me. I, of couse, had my friend vote (hence the screen shot) so that 1 votes on the right should be a changing to 2.

So, a favor from you dear readers: If you have a moment, please click on over to Apartment Therapy and vote for Just Us Four.
Click Here to Vote!

Voting ends at midnight (ET) tomorrow, March 2nd!
And, thank you for being such fabulous readers! I wouldn't be on that list if it weren't for you all.

Imagine the Possibilities Update - A.K.A My Month with a Rockstar

2012-03-01T09:30:00.004-05:00

Back in January, I shared with you the Imagine the Impossibilities challenge that I was participating in. My blog friend, Karah, started the Imagine the Impossibilities challenge and made an awesome gallery wall with only one hole in her wall. I bought fabric. If you remember way back to January, I had planned to make drapes even though I don't sew at all as my challenge! In case you were wondering what happened to that whole challenge, I thought I would provide an update {sort of}.
Instead of making drapes for my bedroom and bathroom, I was hanging out with a rock star instead. Jealous? You should be! Want to meet her?

Don't mind her attire there...it was an off day.

I haven't talked much about what has been happening in my personal life recently but I've spent a lot of time trying to support and cheer on the two people who've always been my biggest supporters.

At the end of the month, we had a pretty tragic event occur in our family that had me imagining the impossibilities in a much different way. It also left me wanting to do everything I could do help out my mom and dad get back to normalcy in any way I could. I hate the tragedy occurred but I have been treasuring each and every minute it has given me to spend with my mom helping her.

So, no drapes for now but I've gotten something so much better!

WTCW #41

2012-02-29T09:30:00.001-05:00

Can you believe we are already at 41 weeks of the WTCW feature? Time flies by so quickly. Let's see what great recipes are on the list this week.

[Rice and Wheat], [How Sweet Eats], [Good Life Eats]

Sunday: I've been trying to keep our menus filled with diverse recipes. I think these pide turkish pizzas are perfect for that and look tasty to boot.

Monday: I've never really considered stuffing sweet potatoes like I would a regular potatoes. Seeing these bbq chicken stuffed sweet potato skins makes me rethink that though!

Tuesday: Chicken meatballs add a little twist to this Italian wedding soup. Yummy!

[Aggie's Kitchen], [Mel's Kitchen Cafe], [Eat Yourself Skinny], [Food Blogga]

Wednesday: I have been sneaking vegetables and fruits into our food so that my kids {and Mathlete} get the health benefits and I get to skip the complaining. Bowties with pumpkin and parmesan is a great option to help me with this.

Thursday: A good friend of mine made me some delicious egg rolls and I froze some for later use. I think I will pair them with sesame chicken stir fry for a delicious meal.

Friday: The kids are getting a treat this week with two pasta nights. This one has pesto, peas and sun dried tomatoes.

Saturday: I love soba noodles and stumbled across this Szechuan pork recipe when looking for options to use them. Can't wait to try it!

The Grass is Greener

2012-02-28T09:30:00.004-05:00

Well, since it is winter, our grass really isn't that green. But, now a certain room in our house is! Back in January, we talked about our awesome master bedroom redo that was in the works. An extension of that is also making changes in the master bathroom.
Our bathroom was originally about the same color as our dining room

We were taking the color out of the deep, dark reds so we started out this painting date with some good, old primer!

That was after coat one! We did two coats to make sure that red was nice and covered.

Now, we were ready for our color.

It is Pepper Grass by Glidden color matched into Behr Premium paint plus primer. Meet your painter...looks thrilled, right?

I do a lot of things around here but painting walls just isn't one of them. I have a good reason, though. I am really quite terrible at it.
Mathlete did all of the painting in the room while I took on kid duty and brought up snacks/drinks.

I didn't get many pictures of the after but here are few. We'll have more once the drapes are finally done and hung!

Oh, and we tested out paint colors in the bedroom while I had the paint stuff upstairs. Check out the winner {and please excuse the horrible night time photography}:

Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Some Good Stuff at Some Good Times, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What's in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, I Made the World Cuter Today at Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff, the Craft Catwalk and Embellishing Life, More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, Show Me What You Got at Our Delightful Home, Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff, Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, the Tuesday Talent Show at Chef-N-Training, Tutorial Tuesday at Newlyweds on a Budget, Who’s got Glam at Giggles, Glitz and Glam, Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen, Hoo’s Got Talent at Nightowl Crafting, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts, Inspired by You Wednesdays at Eisy Morgan, Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, the Crafty Sasse Wednesday Linky Party at the Sasse Life, Coffee and Conversation Thursday at Passionately Perfect, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Look at Me, I’m so Crafty at It’s Fun to Craft, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, Scrappy Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scappy Happy, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36^th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, P'Inspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Show and Share Day at Just a Girl, Freestyle Friday at Happy Hour Projects, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party at Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.

More Chalkboard Painting

2012-02-27T09:30:00.004-05:00

It amazes me how far a little tiny bottle of chalkboard paint will go! I started painting the stems of my party wine glasses and ended up with a bunch of extra chalkboard paint. Our parties usually have at least one or two water/soda drinkers so I didn't want them to feel left out. I picked up a few acrylic water glasses from target and decided to give them a chalkboard label too!
First, I marked off my section with painters' tape.

Then, I just painted inside the rectangle with the chalkboard paint. I let it dry a little and then pulled off all the painters tape.

Quick and easy. Now, I guess we are ready for a party!

Pin It

Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Some Good Stuff at Some Good Times, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What's in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, I Made the World Cuter Today at Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff, the Craft Catwalk and Embellishing Life, More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, Show Me What You Got at Our Delightful Home, Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff, Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, Who’s got Glam at Giggles, Glitz and Glam, Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen, Hoo’s Got Talent at Nightowl Crafting, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts, Inspired by You Wednesdays at Eisy Morgan, Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, the Crafty Sasse Wednesday Linky Party at the Sasse Life, Coffee and Conversation Thursday at Passionately Perfect, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Look at Me, I’m so Crafty at It’s Fun to Craft, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, Scrappy Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scappy Happy, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36^th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, P'Inspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Show and Share Day at Just a Girl, Freestyle Friday at Happy Hour Projects, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party at Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.

Upping Wardrobe Versatility - The Camisole

2012-02-27T06:00:00.002-05:00

It is no secret that I am a HUGE fan of women's sweaters. I wear them almost everyday whether it is work or out to dinner. Most of the sweaters I have are solid colors in a bunch of different fabrics. Because they are such a staple part of my wardrobe, I am always looking for ways to change them up a little.
One of my favorite items, especially during the winter, is scarves. I can pair a brightly color scarf with a plain colored sweater for a fun look. The scarves also help keep me a little warmer during cold winter months which I love.

Now that it is getting warmer, I am switching from scarves to camisoles. They camisoles come in so many awesome colors. I have also found some lace camisoles where the lace is on the bottom which are perfect for short sweaters. Just a little bit of the lace shows from the out of the bottom of the sweater.

There are also a lot of bib style necklaces and other jewelry pieces that I have been using to give variety to my sweaters. I am really into the bright colors and bold designs on the styles that are out for spring.

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Project Clean: The Car

2012-02-26T20:12:00.000-05:00

Back in January, I was all about organization! I think it was because it was a new year and I wanted to start it with everything in the "right" place. This month has been more about cleaning! I've been visiting my parents a lot an helping them work to get their house cleaned up and back in tip top shape.

During the 4 hour drive back today, I realized that I needed to focus my cleaning efforts on some of my own items too. Judging from the looks of things, I really needed to start with my car and the car floor mats.

No. that isn't my car or my floor mats but, sometimes, I feel like they might look at that. So, let's talk about ways to clean the car.
1. Dashboard cleaning - I am all about Armour all for dashboard cleaning. I don't like the super shiny stuff but I like the way it picks up the dust and leaves a smell that isn't overpowering.
2. Windows - I always clean the interior windows with Windex. For the exterior, I tend to just use the stuff at the gas station when I get gas. I know Mathlete puts Rain-X on them too though.
3. Seats - These I tend to just vacuum unless there are some stains. If there are stains, I use my spot bot to get them out.
4. Car Floor Mats - This is another job for my vacuum. If they are really dirty, I will break out the resolve and clean them up. Thankfully, that rarely happens because I am lazy.

So, how do you clean your car? Do you it do it on a regular basis or just when you feel like you need it?

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Fabulous Freebie Friday #18

2012-02-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Yep, it is Friday again! YAY! Time to link up your current giveaways.

The Linky Followers Blog Hop #2

2012-02-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT

will be discontinued on Feb 29 for any one that is not with blogspot, and rumor has it that it is being completely phased out for everyone soon

BUT

There is a NEW awesome tool–Linky Followers

It has so many amazing features (that GFC never had). If you have not signed up you should. (And you can have GFC and Linky together). You will LOVE the new features!!! I'm digging' 'em :)

In honor of the new Linky Follower craze, Cheri from It's So Very Cheri is hosting a LINKY FOLLOWER PARTY HOP.

Here are the RULES:

1. you MUST have the LINKY FOLLOWERS tool on your site to participate.

If you see that your link has been deleted you need to add the LINKY FOLLOWER tool to your site and then come back over and re-enter your link

{You can have both the LINKY FOLLOWERS & GFC on your site but you must have the LINKY FOLLOWERS toolto participate in this party hop.}

2. You MUST follow the person who has the party on their site as a thank you.

3. Just add your blog button to the LINKY PARTY below.

4.Then grab the BLOG HOP code

5. Then you follow other bloggers–(as many as you want)

You will find the code right under the Linky Party where it says CLICK HERE TO ENTER–just under that it says: WHAT IS A BLOG HOP? GET THE CODE HERE. Click on GET THE CODE HERE and enter it into a post on your site. You can grab info from my post if it helps you with your post.

–leave each one of the blogs that you follow a comment letting them know you are following them and ask them to follow you back.

If you want to add the BLOG HOP to your own site you will get lots of new followers–(see rule #2)

A Slightly Lower Kitchen Plate

2012-02-23T09:30:00.006-05:00

Do you remember the cake stand I made and re-purposed to store all of my kitchen soaps? Here it is in all of its loveliness

Well, as cute as it is, it elicits nothing but complaints from Mathlete because he thinks it is too tall and he says he knocks it over all the time. I hear enough complaining from the kids so I decided to fix it.
This one is made out of Terra cot planters pots versus a candlestick and plastic plate.

I knew I wanted the same general color scheme as the last one (I loved that one after all) so I grabbed some of my extra test paint in the turquoise (thanks home depot for the $.50 pot!), some white paint and my glue.

It took a couple of coats for each color to get it all covered Actually, you can still see some of the Terra cotta coming through on the base but I think I like it that way {or I convinced myself I did so I didn't have to paint another coat...tomato/tomahto).

Once everything was dry, I put the glue on the rim of the base and stuck them together. I usually set a pot or heavy book on top and leave it to dry over night. Now, it's all dry and ready for ~~Mathlete's gorilla hands~~ action.

You can see from this angle that I didn't bother to paint the inside of the base.

All settled in by the sink and full of the soaps.

Fixed any sink soap dilemmas recently? Made anything neat with Terra cotta pots? I'd love to hear about!

Pin It

Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Some Good Stuff at Some Good Times, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What's in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, I Made the World Cuter Today at Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff, the Craft Catwalk and Embellishing Life, More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, Show Me What You Got at Our Delightful Home, Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff, Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, Who’s got Glam at Giggles, Glitz and Glam, Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen, Hoo’s Got Talent at Nightowl Crafting, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts, Inspired by You Wednesdays at Eisy Morgan, Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, the Crafty Sasse Wednesday Linky Party at the Sasse Life, Coffee and Conversation Thursday at Passionately Perfect, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Look at Me, I’m so Crafty at It’s Fun to Craft, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, Scrappy Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scappy Happy, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36^th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, P'Inspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Show and Share Day at Just a Girl, Freestyle Friday at Happy Hour Projects, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party at Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.

WTCW #40

2012-02-22T09:30:00.003-05:00

Whew! This week is flying by and I'm all thrown off since we had the holiday on Monday. Let's talk about some yummy food though to help us get through hump day!

[Bev Cooks], [Cheeky Kitchen], [Reluctant Entertainer], [Taste and Tell]

Sunday: Doesn't this beef and lentil curry look delicious?! I can't wait to give it a try.

Monday: Veggie night and we're doing veggie pot pie soup. It is a great way to combine my soup "addiction" with meatless Monday.

Tuesday: We're back to having meat in our diet and I'm making sausage and peppers...bread is optional!

Wednesday: I love trying different takes on tacos. I stumbled across Korean bbq chicken tacos and had to add them to my list!

[Mare's Food and Fun], [Two Peas and Their Pod], [The Kitchn]

Thursday: Pasta night with a slight twist! Tonight, butternut squash and hazelnut lasagna are on the menu.

Friday: I've been adding quinoa into a lot of our recent recipes because of the great nutritional properties. Vegetarian quinoa chili sounds like another great option.

Saturday: Nothing says home like fried chicken but I'm giving "fake" fried chicken a try to make it a little neater and healthier.

Let's Stop the Fire

2012-02-21T09:30:00.004-05:00

When we last left off on our basement renovation, our wood had just been delivered and we had moved everything out of the basement.

We had a slight delay in getting started {more on that later!} but Mathlete is back at it. His first task was installing the firestops. I'm not hip to all the building code jargon so we'll let Wikipedia handle that one.
"A firestop is a passive fire protection system of various components used to seal openings and joints in fire-resistance rated wall and/or floor assemblies"

Did you get all that? Yeah, like reading Egyptian right?

Basically, it is material you add in during the building process to help reduce a fire's ability to spread quickly and/or between floors. It is usually required to some extent by building code and may vary from city to city.

In this picture, do you see the piece of drywall that overhangs the current "wall" of insulation by a few inches? That is the firestop.

Let's back up a little though.
The first step is to find out the county/city requirements for firestops. Then, buy the required materials. For us, it was drywall. We bought several sheets of drywall and then measured them to where they would overhang enough for us to build a wall that won't crush the insulation.

Once Mathlete measured and marked each piece to cut, he checked one last time to make sure his line was straight before cutting.

He cut the drywall using a utility knife. He scored the back side of the paper and then, snapped it over before cutting the front side.

Once it is cut, you insert so it creates a barrier from the sill plate that sits on the concrete foundation over to the wall that will be built. This prevents fire from moving up the wall and into the floor up above (i.e. our main level floor).

Here are a few more pictures where you can see how it overhangs the existing insulation.

This has to be installed anywhere there is an enclosed space that goes all the way to the floor. For us, that will be all but one small area of the basement.

I am so excited to see progress in the basement!

Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Some Good Stuff at Some Good Times, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What's in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, I Made the World Cuter Today at Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff, the Craft Catwalk and Embellishing Life, More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, the Mad Skills Party at Mad in Crafts, Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff, Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, Who’s got Glam at Giggles, Glitz and Glam, Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen, Hoo’s Got Talent at Nightowl Crafting, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts, Inspired by You Wednesdays at Eisy Morgan, Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, Coffee and Conversation Thursday at Passionately Perfect, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Look at Me, I’m so Crafty at It’s Fun to Craft, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, Scrappy Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scappy Happy, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36^th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Show and Share Day at Just a Girl, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.

Pinterest Projects: Dipped Wine Glasses

2012-02-20T09:30:00.004-05:00

I was cruising around Pinterest the other day and stumbled across a great project that I knew I had to try!

Source: justshortofcrazy.com via Shannah on Pinterest

We do a bunch of entertaining and so this would really be great for keeping everyone's wine glasses straight. I used to have some of those little charms but they always get lost or broken. This seems like a perfect alternative as we always have chalk around.
First, I grabbed one of the wine glasses from our caterer's box set.

I wrapped some painters tape around the stem just to make sure the chalkboard paint didn't go up any higher than I wanted.

I poured my chalkboard paint into a little plastic container and got ready to dip.

Because my wine glasses are not completely flat on the bottom, there was a lot of extra paint but I just kept tilting it a little bit to let the extra paint run off. Once it was dry, I primed it by rubbing chalk over it and then rubbing it off.
Finally, I was ready to write on it so I grabbed my piece of chalk and wrote my initials.

I will be ordering chalk ink markers to make it easier to write but this definitely worked. Now, only 17 more to go.

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Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Some Good Stuff at Some Good Times, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What's in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, I Made the World Cuter Today at Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff, the Craft Catwalk and Embellishing Life, More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, the Mad Skills Party at Mad in Crafts, Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff, Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, Who’s got Glam at Giggles, Glitz and Glam, Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen, Hoo’s Got Talent at Nightowl Crafting, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts, Inspired by You Wednesdays at Eisy Morgan, Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, Coffee and Conversation Thursday at Passionately Perfect, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Look at Me, I’m so Crafty at It’s Fun to Craft, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, Scrappy Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scappy Happy, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36^th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Show and Share Day at Just a Girl, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.

Clip It with Clipix

2012-02-19T18:03:00.001-05:00

I'm an organizer! Did you know that? No, I don't do it professionally but I am definitely a list maker and love to group things. I stumbled upon clipix recently and it allows me to do exactly that! I can create clipboards and clip just about anything to it. Of course, everything makes more sense when you see it visually so let's start off with a video on how it works first.

My first clipboard was to keep an organized group of my blog posts. First, I installed the clip shortcut into my favorites bar. Then, I went to my blog page. I clicked on the clip button and it brought up a little window like this:

Once the window pops up, you create a clipboard or select one that you already have. Then, you put in a description of your clip. It gives you a suggested description but you can edit it anyway you like.

Click on the Clip button and you are done!

As you add clips, they quickly start to show up in your clipboard. You can see in this picture that I have clipped a few of my recent blog posts into my clipboard.

Some bonus features:

There's an app for it! Take your clips on the go.
You can choose to make your clip open to only you, your friends or everyone which offers a great flexibility.
There are lots of ways to share your clips. You can reclip clips, comment on clips, share your clips on Facebook or Twitter.

Now, head on over to clipix and play around with developing some clipboards. Then, come back and tell me in the comments what you clipped!

Promoted Post

Fabulous Freebie Friday Giveaway Linky

2012-02-17T09:30:00.001-05:00

I am so late getting this up! I totally looked and thought I had scheduled it. Major brain fart!
Anyhoo, link up your current giveaway below! {And Happy Friday!}

Worklife - Thoughts from the Office (no, not the tv office)

2012-02-16T23:00:00.001-05:00

I am going through a transition at work where we are adding new team members to our very small working group. It has been pretty interesting because these new team members are from a different company than my own. It got me to thinking a lot about how people choose the company they work for. Of course, the industry does a ton of research, including conducting employee surveys, to come up with the optimal mix of items to offer new employees.

Each and every company out there is different in what they find most important to offer their employees. Here are some of the things I look for when evaluating a company though.
Benefits
Is the benefit package a strong one? Does it include insurance from reputable companies?
Stability
Has the company been around a long time? Has it experienced success recently? Does it appear able to weather hard economic times?
Work/Life Balance
We all struggle to find balance between work and play. Companies that strive to help with that are high on my list!
Advancement Opportunities
Typically, smaller companies are going to be harder to advance within because there is so much need for higher grade employees. Larger companies may have more advancement opportunities BUT those could be harder to actually secure.

Ok, so now you know what I think is important in a company. Tell me your thoughts in the comments. Is high pay with less stability more your thing? Or do you prefer lots of stability in exchange for a less pay or benefits? Or, are you one of those lucky few that work for the stellar companies that offer it all?

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

Picking Plums

2012-02-16T09:30:00.001-05:00

Have you visited Pick Your Plum? If not, you should right now...and then return each and every day.

Pick Your Plum is a daily flash sale site that sells craft supplies. Each day, they feature a limited amount of one item at a huge discount. I've been doing a lot of shopping there recently.

Want to see some of my loot?

Cute stuff, huh? I am excited to get started using them items in some new projects.
Got any ideas on what I should do with them? Have you bought anything from the "Plum" recently?

P.S. If you ever want to know what the daily deal is over at Pick Your Plum, just look for this in my sidebar

Celebrating the Death of GFC with a Blog Hop

2012-02-15T13:27:00.000-05:00

Google Friend Connect (GFC) is going away for all non-blogger sites on March 1, 2012! Now, I am technically a blogger hosted blog so at first glance, it doesn't really seem to affect all of you lovely followers of Just Us Four.

But, there are rumors swirling that GFC for Blogger is short lived as well. Even though, I am not sure this will happen, it seems like good sense to plan for the worst!

So, I bring you Linky Followers...and a blog hop!

Cheri from It's So Very Cheri started this blog hop so we can all try to keep our awesome GFC followers!

Here's what she said...

Many of you have probably already heard that GOOGLE Friend Connect will go away on Feb 29 for any one that is not with blogspot, but rumor has it that it is being completely phased out for everyone soon.

There is good news

There is a NEW awesome tool–Linky Followers

It has so many amazing features (that GFC never had). If you have not signed up you should. (yes you can have both.) I love the new tool so much and want everyone to enjoy all the new features.

…and did I tell you its super easy and FREE!

What better way to celebrate a fun new blogging tool than to have a party so break out your poodle skirt and saddle back shoes cuz’ we’re having a LINKY FOLLOWER PARTY HOP~

RULES:
1. you MUST have the LINKY FOLLOWERS tool on your site to participate. {You can have both the LINKY FOLLOWERS & GFC on your site but you must have the LINKY FOLLOWERS to participate in this party hop.}

2. You MUST follow the person who has the party on their site as a thank you.

3.Just add your blog button to the LINKY PARTY below.

4.Then grab the BLOG HOP code

You will find the code right under the Linky Party where it says CLICK HERE TO ENTER– just under that it says: WHAT IS A BLOG HOP? GET THE CODE HERE.Click on "GET THE CODE HERE" and enter it into a post on your site.

You can grab the party button code in the FOOTER at Its So Very Cheri. You can grab info from my post if it helps you with your post.

What to Cook Wednesday (WTCW) #39

2012-02-15T09:30:00.001-05:00

It is Wednesday again! Isn’t it amazing how quickly a week goes by? I hope you have your paper and pencil {or maybe Pin It button*} ready to because we are about to get into another What to Cook Wednesday!

[Pioneer Woman], [Framed Cooks], [Cheeky Kitchen], [Recipe Girl]

Sunday: I love hearty meals that remind me of Sunday dinner at home. Spicy stewed beef with creamy cheddar grits is a great example of just such a dish.

Monday: There is soup on the menu again this week and this time it has super fun kid friendly pasta involved. Give chicken tortellini soup a try and see if the kids don’t love the pasta.

Tuesday: Remember my love of tex mex food? This week, I am combining it with my love of a slow cooker with slow cooker veggie enchiladas.

[Peas and Crayons], [Eat Drink Smile], [Fake Ginger]

Wednesday: Mathlete loves Asian food like I love tex mex so I am throwing in orange Chinese chicken for him!
Thursday: Pasta night gets kicked up with some veggies in creamy curry zucchini pasta.

Friday: I saw the picture for this sausage and wild rice casserole and was hooked. I am lover of most things involving rice so adding sausage just makes it that much better.

Saturday: We’re going to finish the week off with a protein kick and some honey sesame pork loin.

*If you do pin any of these recipes, please be sure and click through the author so they maintain the credit for their great work!*

Valentine's Day Crafts

2012-02-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

I'm back to share more of the fun ideas that was shared over at the Valentine's Day linky party. At last count, there were almost 50 great projects linked up. Is one {or more} of them yours? I hope so.

Let's check out a few of the ones linked up since our last look.

Over at the Pursuit of Happiness, Lisa shared these adorable footprint valentines.

Amy, at Life's Jewelry Box, made some great felt heart garland.

Kristi, from I Should Be Mopping the Floor, linked up her K-cup box up-cycle.

Over at Jilly's Stampin Studio, you will find this adorable Valentine's Day card.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pinterest Projects: Chickening Out

2012-02-14T09:30:00.022-05:00

Ok, so today I am going to talk about one of those famous Pinterest items that you see everywhere. I'm talking about shredding chicken in your KitchenAid Mixer.

We use a lot of shredded chicken so I was hoping this really was as easy as it looked/sounded. I've seen it re-pinned so much that I figured I should finally give it a try.

The first step is an obvious one: buy some chicken breast and cook it.

I did mine in the crockpot which is why you see the chicken stuff in the broth. Now, transfer the hot chicken to your mixer bowl.

Put on your flat beater attachment.

I also used my 1-Piece Pouring Shield

Then, I flipped the switch and watched as it shredded my chicken! I did about 3-4 of the breasts at a time and had all 8 of the chicken breasts done in less than 5 minutes!

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This is such a time saver! Oh, and my hands thank Pinterest too because I won't be hand shredding chicken anymore!

Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T., Some Good Stuff at Some Good Times, Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, What's in the Gunny Sack Linky Party at The Gunny Sack, I Made the World Cuter Today at Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple, Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Market Yourself Monday at Sumos Sweet Stuff, the Craft Catwalk and Embellishing Life, More the Merrier Monday at DIY Home Sweet Home, the Mad Skills Party at Mad in Crafts, Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative, Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog, Nifty Thrift Tuesday at Coastal Charm, Toot Your Horn Tuesday at Silly Little Sparrow, Time to Shine Party at a Diamond in the Stuff, Tutorial Tuesday at With Hope Studios, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie, Who’s got Glam at Giggles, Glitz and Glam, Tiptoe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles, Show & Share at Southern Lovely and Vintage Gwen, Hoo’s Got Talent at Nightowl Crafting, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs, Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home, We’re Organized Wednesday at Organize and Decorate Everything, Wow Us Wednesday on Ginger Snap Crafts, Inspired by You Wednesdays at Eisy Morgan, Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims, Wow Me Wednesdays at Polka Dots on Parade, 100 Ideas Under $100 at Beyond the Picket Fence, Coffee and Conversation Thursday at Passionately Perfect, Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple, Hooking up with HoH at House of Hepworths, Look at Me, I’m so Crafty at It’s Fun to Craft, Kiss and Tell at I Gotta Create, Craft, Scrappy Happy Me Thursday at Craft, Scappy Happy, Catch a Glimpse Thursday at A Glimpse Inside, Thursday Temptation at Two Yellow Birds Decor, Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Share Awesomeness Thursdays at The 36^th Avenue, Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating, Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, The Pity Party at 30 Days, Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage, Show and Share Day at Just a Girl, Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, Free For All Friday at Young & Crafty, the Featured Friday Free for All at Five Days, Five Ways, the Featured Friday Linky Party at Blissful and Domestic, the Anything Goes Linky Party at Bacon Time, Do Something Crafty at The Crafty Nest, the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello, Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground, Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal, the Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime and the Before and After Party at Thrifty Décor Chick.

The Birthday Round-up

2012-02-13T14:00:00.001-05:00

Did you guys enjoy meeting some fabulous ladies last week? A huge thanks to Andie, Kaysi, Jennifer, Karah, Tonia and Ginger for doing guest posts so that I could take some time off for my birthday!

So, what did I do with my time off? I had a really great surprise planned by my husband and friends. Shopaholic's birthday is the day before mine so our husbands and friends got together and planned a surprise day trip to some local vineyards.

We stopped for lunch at Market Salamander for some delicious soups and sandwiches.

Then, it was time for some wine tasting!

It started snowing while we were out which was fun. For the past three years, all birthday plans have been cancelled due to massive snow storms so I was glad this snow was light and fluffy.
After doing some wine tasting, we headed home where I had another surprise waiting for me: dinner prepared by my mother in law and daughter!

I even had some help blowing out the candles!

I also had another cake and visitors to celebrate on Tuesday...my actual birthday.

Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes!