I finally did it!! I have made the move from WordPress.com to self-hosting. I hope everyone will follow us at www.asantbandersonfamily.com. I have many things schedule over the next week and I wouldn’t want anyone to miss it.
Now on to my next big change, I need a new look. Do you design blog layouts or know someone who does? Let me know so I can check out there work. I have debated on designing it myself but I am really thinking about letting someone else do it so I can do more fun things.
I have been thinking about it for about six months now and I have finally decided I am going to make the move from wordpress.com to self hosting with wordpress.org. It’s rather scary for me and I am a bit nervous about it. You see I have never made any money with my blog (I haven’t tried yet either) and I have this thing about investing money to earn money, it hasn’t ever worked out for me. But I do love to blog so even if I never make any money with blog I am excited about it being more professional. If anyone has any suggestions, words of advice, etc. please send them my way.
With the move I will probably end up with a new look. I have always had a hard time coming up with a look for my blog without paying for it that I like. I haven’t decided yet if I am going to invest in having someone design it for me or if I am going to do it myself. When Alyssa was a baby I use to do a lot of that type of stuff myself but now having four babies I don’t have enough time to do everything. I’ll probably start out with something I did and then down the road pay someone else to design it for me.
Another big thing is I am in the process of reopening my etsy shop. So be on the look out for a link to it. I haven’t decided everything I am going to offer to start with but I have a few things in mind. If you have seen anything I have made that you would like to see in it let me know.
Once I get several things set up how I want them I am going to order some business cards to match. Looking really professional then! 🙂 I am still in the running at S.Y.T.Y.C. and one prize for first place is admission to the SNAP Conference. Adam said if I win we will figure out what to do so I can go. It would be so much fun to get to go to a blogging conference, meet so many bloggers that I adore from afar and maybe even get a chance to grow my blog into something big.
If you have advise for me in this transition send it my way, otherwise be on the look out for my new site address and I hope everyone will follow us there!!!
In case you didn’t notice I have been missing for about a week now. You see its summer time and I have four kids at home almost everyday instead of one and it makes time for blogging a little harder to come by. Last week I started writing my Friday Food post and then I forgot to come back and finish it and publish it. This week I have no need to write it because we will be on vacation so it will be lots of eating out. Since we will be on vacation I probably won’t find time to write it next week either. Monday Memories is another story all together. I have lots of pictures to edit and post but Monday Memories has always been a recap of my Instagram pictures so I have pretty much decided I am going to do away with that post and if you want to see the pictures follow me on Instagram @asantbanderson.
Please bare with me through the next few months as I enjoy some time with my children. I will try to post on my Summer blog as much as possible but like I said I have lots of pictures to edit right now and we are going on vacation so that means even more pictures.
Over the next few months you will probably see some changes to my blog and my blogging schedule. I have been thinking about how I want to do something things and I want to start working on that but with it being summer and I am in the SYTYC contest right now. So I don’t have as much time as I would like to dedicate to my blog. I hope you all have a wonderful summer and don’t forget to stop by SYTYC and vote each week.
After last weeks post Kid Friendly Decorating, I knew this weeks to do would be able the sunroom. Like I previously said our sunroom started out as the kid’s playroom and has slowly transformed into my craft room. Last week the big kids were all gone. It was just me and Bradley all week. You would think I would have enjoyed a nice week of the house being clean but that wasn’t the case. I rearranged, painted and flipped the house upside down. Ok, so Bradley did help in flipping the house upside down. I am not sure what it is but instead of playing with his toys he just throws them all over the room then goes to find something to get into that he isn’t suppose to play with.
The room I rearranged was the sunroom. I wish I had of taken a before and after picture, but I didn’t. I know awful blogging skill, I promise I am getting better. Once I get more done I’ll do a room reveal and show you everything. I decided I needed a work space, a sewing space, a scrap booking/general craft space and a painting space.
I moved all of Bradley’s stuff to the corner where the bookshelves were already hanging since moving them is impossible with the limited wall space in the sunroom. I moved my desk to the wall where Bradley’s toys use to be and I moved the extra desk to the area where my desk use to be and I moved the chest of drawers under the bookshelves we made for my craft stuff.
I decided the area of my desk closest to the window would be my work area. I also keep my couponing and planning stuff in this area. I am pretty pleased with it other than I need a filing cabinet. I have been saying I need one for over a year so maybe I’ll break down and buy one soon.
The other two sections of my desk are for sewing. Recently I learned I still need my old sewing machine for shirring and since I have several outfits to finish that include shirring I decided if I had somewhere set up that was for each sewing machine it would be easier when I was in the middle of a project to scoot over to the other machine rather than moving one machine to the side to pull out the other machine. I also took our extra table and set up it beside my sewing area for an area to cut fabric and iron. My to do list for my sewing area isn’t too long but I have several things I want to do.
For now the extra desk is my scrap booking/general craft space. See this desk is the perfect set up for what I want for this area having the bookcase on top and the drawers, but I really want something bigger and I know this desk is the perfect size for a spot in Taylor’s room that I want to put a desk and I need a bookcase on that desk. But I am not quiet ready for the desk in Taylor’s room so this is a temporary set up. I used my plastic drawers and stacked basically all of them up and used them to store most of the stuff I use when the kids and I craft. I have a few things in them that aren’t for when the kids and I craft but for the most part its all kid craft stuff. The bookcase has one shelf that is divided into four sections. I used one section for books and binders, one section for scissors and punches, one section for dye and stuff I have mixed and the last section for glue. The next shelf is one open shelf. I put some bigger books on it, my acrylic paint and a few other miscellaneous items. Then on the very top I used it to display some of the items the kids have made. I stored my Cricut on top of the chest of drawers and so far I haven’t gotten all my drawers sorted out. Two have fabric in them, one has Cricut supplies in it, one has paint in it and the last one has kid crafts in it. My to do list for this area is much longer.
The final area that I want to set up is a paint area. You see a while back I ruined the carpet in the sunroom painting and when I did this I decided I really want a big plastic covering for the floor where I am going to paint. Ideally I want something like in an office that you put at a desk for a chair to roll around on but I want something bigger than what we had in the old office. I know where I want this area to be but right now it is covered up with plastic tubs and all kinds of stuff that hasn’t quiet found a home yet. I have a few ideas as to what I need in this area but it will be a lot more of a process. I guess part of it will depend on what type of desk I find for my scrapbooking/general craft area.
This week on Tuesday To Do I thought I’d do an update from a previous post, Tuesday To Do #2.
A few weeks ago I talked about summer projects that I wanted to get done and surprisingly I have finished all but one of them. I did not make the kids hoodie monogrammed towels this summer. I ended up deciding we would just use our towels from the previous summers and I would add that the list of things I want to do next year.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am OCD and I love for everything to match. Lucky for me, my kids don’t mind if they all have coordinating stuff. In case you missed any of the post you can go back and see my water bottles, summer totes and beach buckets.
Last summer I started a blog to capture the summer with the kids. Basically since I rarely have time to scrapbook I decided to make a blog that I can have printed into a book instead of a scrapbook. Now that summer has rolled around again I have decided to do the same thing again. Make sure you check it out at asantbsummer2013.wordpress.com.
Last week on Tuesday To Do I talked about Bradley’s room. Since then I have done a lot of shopping, planning and preparing, but I was in the office all week last week, our hot water heater busted, it was Mother’s Day and lets face it after that week I was too exhausted to do any crafting. So I haven’t gotten anything marked off that list yet.
This week I am going to talk about summer. When Adam and I did our shopping for Easter basket goodies I found several things that I wanted but it wouldn’t all fit in the baskets. Actually it ended up that I bought different baskets and decided to use the baskets I had originally bought for something else. Now here we are months later and no, I still haven’t completely those projects either. Since school is going to be out in less than two weeks I decided it was time to get on it.
Originally I wanted to do a summer themed Easter baskets but I ran out of time for my projects, so I ended up saving that stuff for summer.
I have these projects:
I have this shopping:
I have spent a lot of time lately trying to grow my blog and one thing I wanted to do in all of that is work on a schedule for post. I am working towards something for each day Monday through Friday. So with that in mind this week I am adding Tuesday To Do. I am the type of person who uses list for everything. It just makes life easier. Its no surprise that I have to do for different rooms, unfinished projects, etc., that I use.
This week I am going to talk about the to do list of my projects in Bradley’s room. The other day while we were playing in his room I was looking around thinking about things I would like to do. Some are to finish his room from when we originally decorated it. Some are to make updates for decorations that just don’t really work or the light fixture which is broken. Some are changes because he is getting older and his needs are changing.
Things I want to Buy:
Things I want to Make:
Last week was a rather a slow week for Bradley and I as far as going. We spent most of the week playing around the house and to be honest I think Bradley gets cabin fever after too many days at home and by the end of the week he was defiantly having cabin fever but this week he will probably be ready for a few days at home. We are going into the office everyday this week.
Bradley spent a lot of time playing in his room this week. He gets tired of the living room. One day when I was getting something out of his closet he found his play mat and had to have it. So he spent a good bit of time playing with his play mat.
Monday Bradley had his six month review for early interventions. We updated his goals and with those changes it was determined he will no longer need occupational therapy. For six months now Adria, Bradley’s occupational therapist, has been a big part of our life. Bradley saw her twice a month. She has really helped Bradley overcome a lot of the problems he was having when we started therapy. On Friday Bradley had his last appointment with Adria. It was a bittersweet day for us. I am excited that he is doing well enough that he no longer needs occupational therapy, but we will miss Adria.
In case you missed it I made a button for my blog the other day. You can find it on my side bar. I also made the graphics for Friday Food and Monday Memories.
Sunday is the first Sunday of May which is decoration. I haven’t been in several years now and I miss going and seeing everyone so I told my Mom I was going this year. We go by the cemetery and put out flowers then we have lunch at my aunt’s house. Since we will be having such a big lunch I am planning sandwiches and chips for dinner.
Monday is sliders and fries. I made this a while back and we ate it for days. But I made a lot more than I wanted to. The kids have asked me for it several times lately. It’s easy to make and I am going to be in the office all week and Adam will be out of town Monday night so I will be swinging kids, dinner, dishes, all our nightly routine by myself, so I figured it would be good to make. I brown some ground beef and drain it. Then I put it back in the pan with velveeta and a little bit of milk. Once the cheese is melted I serve it on a roll.
Tuesday is Doritos chicken. We have tried this before and it was good. It’s a little spice to the girls but they ate it pretty well. Me, Adam and Noah loved it last time so I knew it was a repeat meal.
Last week we had breakfast for dinner and it was such a huge hit that I decided we’d have it again. But this time we are having biscuits, gravy, eggs and hash browns for dinner on Wednesday.
Thursday is chicken quesadillas and Mexican corn. I wanted something Mexican but not nachos or tacos. Last time I made these I only had enough chicken cooked for the kids to each have one and they could have eaten more so I know this time to cook two lbs of chicken instead of just one.
Friday we are going out to eat. This weekend will be the only weekend I’ll have Alyssa and Noah for a month so I am going to have fun. Last time they were at home on the weekend we went to Chickfila for dinner Friday night and it was fun so I was thinking we’d probably have Chickfila again.
Anderson Family 