Sunday, January 29, 2012

Semi-Homemade and Target Dollar Spot

So as a quick update things are going well....we have just been crazy busy!  My new job is great, I really love it, I have a ton to learn and there are days I feel completely in over my head but it is a great adventure and is a challenge I am enjoying.

On to my little Semi-Homemade Projects and some finds in the Dollar Spot at Target....

First off, my MIL had been in the hospital but is home now and trying to recover.  So to do something nice for her I made some of these delicious chocolate chip cookie sandwiches, I had made them during the holidays and they were a huge hit so I figured it would be a great pick me up for her.  Not to mention they are super easy to make, especially since I use a few short cuts.  Here is a picture of the supplies I started with, actually I had already started so you see a few cookies already baked and cooling.
All I do is buy the Toll House Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (follow the baking directions on the package).  I let them cool and then I use a butter knife and put a generous amount of Chocolate Frosting on one cookie and then put another cookie on top making a sandwich.  Below is the final product.
This is a great treat that takes less than 30 minutes start to finish!!

So this weekend I decided to do just a little Valentine's decorating in our house.  Since one of the mail accent colors in our house is red it is pretty easy to make V-Day stuff go with that.  While at Target yesterday I bought two small heart wreaths in hopes of adding some ribbion (that I had left over from Christmas projects) to connect them and make a little bigger statement on the front door.  Here is the picture of what I had to work with.
However, as I got started I realized that the little ribbon hanger at the top of the wreaths was long enough to use to attach them, perfect, this made it really quick and easy, I created a little door decor for $5.00 and 5 minutes of my time, here is the finished product.
Okay, two things, I tried to fix the orientation of the picture and blogger hates me and won't let me, the other thing is don't pay attention to the dirt all over my front door....I have already told my husband that we need to bust out the pressure washer but at least the little wreath is cute!!!

I also bought two little hand towels for the guest bathroom downstairs and hung those, they are cute and simple and for $2.50 well worth the money, don't you think?


My last project of yesterday was finding something to put the kid's hair accessories in, they were every where, it was insane.  So I had this little wine bucket sitting around that a supplier from my former job gave me in a gift bag during the holidays.  I really had no use for the little bucket as I have a ton of others but this one did have a unique shape that I thought would be perfect as a bucket holder for the kid's hair bows.  So I took the little bucket and some red spray paint I had left over from Avery's birthday party outside and I got to work.  Here is what it look like as I started.

Not the best picture as I had it on a plastic bag to start spray painting but you get the idea.

Here is the final product, filled with bows, as you can see we don't need anymore hair things in our house!


Then for a future project, towards the end of next month I also bought this, I know at The Dollar Spot if you don't buy it when you see it, it won't be there when you need it or want it.  So I will add a bow to this to make it hang on the front door but that will be in another post.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Changes are here....

So when I posted my 2012 post a week or so ago I alluded to big changes coming for The Perillo's, well the changes are here! I am ready to announce the biggest change for me.....on Monday I put in notice to my current employer. I accepted a job with Coca-Cola Refreshments in Tampa as a manager. I am really excited, it is a new opportunity with a great Americian classic. There are sure to be challenges there like any job but I think this was an amazing opportunity not just for me professional but for my family. It is going to leave me with more time with my family with less nights and weekends. I begin this new chapter next week Tuesday and I am thrilled. While I will miss all my friends and a lot of my customers at Premier this is going to be a great new adventure.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Avery's First Day of School

On Monday of this week my baby went to school for the first time, she looked so cute and she did so well!  I took the picture below right before we left for school on Monday morning, she even had her little coat and a lunch box that looks like a bumble bee that isn't in the picture.  When Rich picked her up they said she did GREAT, I even called and checked on her at noon just to be sure she was okay.  The only thing she is still working on is napping on her mat, she has been use to napping in a crib so this will be her hardest transition but she will get the hang of it.

While Avery has been going to school all week Jolie is still in NC with my parents.  They sent this picture of her on Monday afternoon, she is having a blast!!

It is really cold up there so she hasn't gotten much chance to play in the snow but she has had a blast and has been keeping my Mom and Dad VERY busy, I think they will need a vacation from their vacation with Jolie!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

What Will 2012 Hold?

As we begin a New Year it is a great time to reflect on the previous year and make wishes and dreams for the coming year.

2011 was a great year in the Perillo home....we spent the first full year with our second daughter, we watched Jolie grow and develop into an amazing little lady, we reached some major personal goals, and we had a good time along the way. Now don't get me wrong 2011 wasn't all sunshine....we saw the health of my Grandmother decline, I had major surgery and a hard recovery, Jolie did several rounds of lung issues, we both suffered through some difficult times at work but we survived to tell the stories and the good by far out weighted the bad.

As we enter 2012 there are a lot of things on the horizon, we know for sure there a changes coming for our household. Avery starts school tomorrow so that changes things, hopefully for the best as we will have one drop off and one pick up until Jolie goes on to another school in the fall. There are big changes coming for me (unfortunately I can't share in this public forum yet but I promise I will soon). We are awaiting Jolie's acceptance letter to the school we applied to for her in the fall, we have already heard she was accepted but to see it in writing will make it our true reality. We are very excited about Jolie graduating from her VPK program as she is truly thriving in it, she is reading really well, does double digit addition and subtraction and this semester she will begin in multiplication. I know I am totally biased as her mother but she is just so smart and so beautiful, she really is something special and I feel truly blessed to be her mother, I can't wait to see her continue to grow and mature. Rich has settled into his career nicely and things are looking up there so as I said we are going into 2012 with the greatest of hope for an amazing year.

With the dawning of a new year I find myself looking forward to the promises of the new year but also setting some goals for myself, resolutions makes it sound negative and part of what I want to accomplish this year is keeping a positive attitude. So in 2012 I plan to work on having and keeping a positive attitude, being a better wife, mother, daughter, and friend, I want to build a better relationship with God, I want to share my relationship with God with my children more, I want to walk a more righteous path and remember that good or bad the Lord has a plan for my life. I know I have lofty goals for the year but I hope to put the effort into reaching them everyday, and on days when it all seems impossible I will remind myself of the reason I made these goals and that is my wonderful husband and beautiful children, they need me and deserve the best of me.

I hope that you enjoyed your New Years Eve last night, we had a really chill, really quiet night but it was fun. We stayed home, I cooked a nice dinner filets and all the fixings, then we put Avery to bed and my cousins came over, we just hung around talking, laughing and watching Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve on TV. We toasted with a little bubbly at midnight and went to bed shortly after. I have to say I have begun to love our quiet NYE's at home...they have Ndola some what of a tradition over the last few years. Jolie is in NC with my parents still, the are hoping for snow sometime tomorrow and Tuesday so they won't be back until later in the day Friday. They too had a quiet night in last night as well, in fact Jolie started watching Nina's countdown on Sprout (for those of you without children it is an educational kid's TV network) and was passed out by 10. Jolie is having a great time up there and I know Avery has liked being an only child for a few days and being the center of Mommy and Daddy's attention. I am off of work tomorrow, however, Rich has to work and Avery is going to school for the first time so tomorrow will be pretty busy and I have a few small projects I want to get done around the house while I have some quiet time to do them then it is back to work on Tuesday.

Happy New Year, may it be your best year yet!!!!