Taking it from Old School to New School!!

This is my mom's old furniture set. She was born in 1951, so it is quite old. She passed it down to her first daughter, and we did the same. Thus, this is Addison's furniture. She shares some of it with her sister, Jenna. Typically, Addison has the dresser with the mirror and the nightstand and Jenna has the tall bureau and the toy chest. It has worked out well in past years, but it desperately needed a facelift. So- I decided that the purple accents had to go. The white was not covering up imperfections very well so we went with an antique cream color. The hardware we had tried to replace a while back and it is so old that the measurements between the screws were atypical and cost a fortune to replace. The plate behind the hardware was shot and needed repainted. I went for a black, shiny look. Overall- I think they turned out VERY WELL!! I LOVE the color scheme. Hopefully the girls have learned their lesson about stickers and will not continue using their dressers/furniture as their private sticker collections!!

Did I mention we're Korean?

Okay, so I'm not Korean, but my husband and kids are. Rob is full Korean and that makes my kids half-Korean. Their grandparents, "The Older Ro's," bought these authenitic Korean dressy clothes for them. The girls just LOVE their Korean outfits. Tae is more hesitant, but finds it interesting nonetheless. I thought I would post pictures of the kids trying on their Korean clothes before we packed them up. Addison is getting ready to pop out of hers. (The girl grows like a weed!!) I don't know how much longer I'll be able to get her squeezed into hers. (Mom and Dad Ro- maybe a good Christmas present??) Hope you enjoy them. We sure do!!

What's For Dinner?

What is for dinner at your house? Tonight, we tried Chicken Florentine with Farfalle by Bertolli. I could have made this myself, however, I was at Sams Club today and found a large bag for $11. I won't buy it again unless I really need a fast meal. My entire family ate it and loved it. (That's hard to achieve around here!) It has spinach in it and I really honestly thought that my kids would eat around the spinach. They actually ate it! I was psyched to see something that my kids like with spinach in it. I love spinach!! Anyway- if you have any great recipes out there, please share. A friend of mine introduced me to a few great websites... I thought I'd share them with you.

http://www.sisterscafe.com
http://www.mykitchencafe.com/
http://www.allrecipes.com/

These are all great sites with terrific recipes. Enjoy!! If you know of any, please comment and share.

New Bathroom

With a new condo comes new decorating. You know I'm happy!! I just LOVE decorating. It doesn't even matter what space I am working with. In this case- it is the main bathroom which also doubles as the kids bathroom. Now you see, I could have stuck with the "beach" theme that is currently in their bathroom, however, I found it boring and too unsophisticated for my liking. I went to "HomeGoods" today and fell in love with two shower curtains. I will post pics once everything is up and decorated. (We have to move in first!) Then I found a great rug, tumbler, toothbrush holder, toilet paper holder, hand towel holder, and all for under $60!! That includes 2 (count them...2) shower curtains!! So classy and elegant, yet fitting for the kids as well. I am just happy with the outcome. Moral of the story is: When I'm shopping/decorating- I'm the happiest. Is there something wrong with that? (Rob, don't answer!!)

Louisville Trip!!

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Louisville with a friend for a KY State PTA Conference. It was a good time with a lot of information to take in. I felt very blessed to have the business knowledge that I have at such a young age. Being at this conference made that very clear. I felt as though many of the women were older and not very business-minded. They are all terrific women who have sacrificed so much to volunteer their time on behalf of the children.

There were two things that I will take with me forever from this conference. One is my friendship with Carrie. We bonded and really got to know one another and became closer friends after spending so much time together. The other thing I took from the conference was my new friendships with the Erpenbeck gals!! I was excited to meet them and get to know them a bit better. I found my place in the new PTA. I am going to be helping out with fundraising at the PTA level as a co-chair of Ways and Means. I will be working with a really sweet woman named Vickie who has twins going into 2nd grade-just like Addison!! I can't wait to get started in my new position and get to feel out the board there.

Overall- a TERRIFIC trip!!!

Quiet house+bare walls= Happy Stacey

So- we are doing a pretty good job of packing, but the house is a wreck. I apologize ahead of time if you plan on coming over for any reason in the next 3 weeks. We move August 7-8 and are constantly tripping over boxes, misplacing packing tape, and forgetting the kids' activities. Whoops!! I leave for Louisville for a PTA Conference for the next three days in the morning. Today shall be interesting. I am attempting to clean up my boxes so Rob doesn't go insane while he's home watching the kids this weekend. Also- it is eerily quiet around here. I forgot how calm life could be without Palin- our golden retriever who recently found a new home. Goodness gracious- IT'S TOO QUIET!!! Sorry no new pictures lately by the way. I can't even find the camera in our mess of packing. The girls each had a friend come over yesterday for some swimming fun and they decided to dance to "Boom Boom Pow" by Black eyed Peas. I got them on video, so once I figure out how to upload it, I will. Seriously, sooooo funny!!! Last night, we took the kids to see Race to Witch Mountain at the cheap theatres. I couldn't believe how violent and kinda scary it was FOR KIDS!!! I was on the edge of my seat for most of it! I was scared it was going to cause nightmares for our kids. Although Tae ended up crawling in our bed in the middle of the night, I don't think it was due to the movie. Lucky us though!! Seriously- parents preview that one if you have little ones. Depending on the child, it may not be appropriate. AWESOME MOVIE THOUGH!!!

Ready...Set...Sell!!

Our yard sale went okay. I definitely wouldn't do it again!! For $150, just give it to Goodwill or another like place!! Enjoy the tax write-off. It would be easier than wasting two weeks of your time to sell only $150 worth of items. Now mind you- everything that sold was only a quarter or maybe a dollar. We only had one big item sell for $60 and everything else was just little stuff. So- I suppose that although we didn't hit the goldmine, we still got rid of a lot of junk. Some unfortunate events also occured during our yard sale, so my mind was definitely not on selling. I closed down shop about two hours early (noon) so I could focus on the tragedy that my friend was going through. (A friend of Jenna's family had their house burn down to the ground that morning.) Anyway- good news...


WE SOLD PALIN!!! We will definitely miss her and although she is a good puppy, I can't say I'm sad to see her go. We have too much going on right now to care for a big dog and with the condo and all, there is no way she could come with us. (We already have a beagle and a bird!!)

Palin will be going to live with a woman named Sarah and her family. They live in New Richmond, OH and just built a new house on 2 1/2 acres which adjoins to 68 acres owned by her family. It has a pond and hayfields. Palin will be in heaven!! Also- they already have a lab and her sis-in-law which lives next door has a lab as well!! Lots of playmates just her size. Sarah fell in love with her and Palin didn't seem to mind all the attention she was getting!! I think it is a match made in heaven. I'm glad that we raised this awesome pet for Sarah and that she is getting a forever home!

It's Official!!!

Okay, so I realize that we may sound flaky at times... but I just figured out why. I always say things too early. I am the type of person that is one BIG OPEN BOOK! I just tell people things before they are finalized and so-there you have it. We had been in talks about moving to Triple Crown, my friends' house in Hempsteade Manor, or our condo in Tara. The FINAL verdict is .....

The Condo in Tara at Plantation Pointe!! (Our condo)...

I was under the assumption that I had six weeks to move. I planned a wedding(my own) in six weeks, so of course a move could be done in that amount of time. HOWEVER- I noticed that I was a bit off...

LIKE TWO WEEKS OFF!! We move in 4 WEEKS!!! I am a nervous wreck now trying to get all the Craiglist people off my back...and their money in my pocket, cleaning out cupboards and closets for the final yard sale, and packing up a 3000 sq ft home in 4 weeks. I think God puts things like this in my life so I may always realize to rely on Him. Really, how else can all of this get done? So, little by little, we are packing up.

On another note, Rob's little brother,Kurt, is staying with us for an entire week! We are excited to have him. He sure is a good little work horse and will definitely be helpful to have around on Friday when we are preparing for the yard sale.

More details on the move later...but for now- more good news! The realtor came by on Friday and doesn't think it will be a problem at all for her to sell the house, so she decided to buy it from us now!! Yee Hah! Everything is set in motion, the wheels are moving, and now I must leave the computer alone and get to work!!

Craigslist, Cleaning, and Cuddling

So, we have been trying to thin out our home in order to make the move go seamlessly. I put up about 10 postings on Craigslist two days ago and within minutes my email was blowing up!! I literally received 25 emails in the first 3 hours after posting the items. That was followed by 40 more emails the next morning and several phone calls. We've had more than 10 strangers in our home buying items and that has been in the past two days alone!!

A friend of mine had tenants in her house here in KY and they moved out early (broke their lease). So- I offered to go clean her 4500 sq ft house right around the corner from where we live. I wanted to bust it out in one day, so I left this morning at 8am and by the time I got the carpet cleaner from my parents and grabbed some cleanser from the store and made it back to her house, it was 9am. I began cleaning right away. I finished at 12:30. I was quite proud of the work and the timing. I made $200!! I could get used to that....

My kids are starting to feel the pressures of moving already. Jenna said, "Mom, all you do is work on the computer and have people come over from Craigslist!" I felt horrible. Tonight, Rob has a gig with his band, so I thought the kids and I could have some quality time together. NO CRAIGSLIST STRANGERS TONIGHT!! Only my cute little family and a free movie from MovieCube at Krogers!! I can't wait! Kids- grab the blanket...it's time to cuddle!