Sunday Sunset #29

Listening To: Christmas music! The car radio has been set on the Christmas music station. Loving it!

Book finished: Soulbound; Body and Soul; Fables Vol. 20

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (yep, still)

On the Nightstand: Fairest Vol. 5; American Vampire Vol. 4-7

Making Lists: Meals, blog ideas, craft class ideas, 2016 projects, etc. It's time for my big blog break. I usually take the break to plan ahead for the next year and take time to brainstorm. This week I've been working on meal planning for January through March and craft classes.

From the kitchen: Nothing as my mom has been cooking or we've been going out. I am looking through my Pinterest board for a good bog batch Christmas cocktail...

Crafting: I received my SU preorder this past week and can't wait to dive in. I'm playing around with some designs for my swap cards. Nothing definite yet, but I'm hoping to do some crafting soon. And I have a few holiday albums to complete before we leave.

Watching: PBS cartoons. Arthur's been enjoying a bit more television while we're here in Indiana. As for me, I've been starting Season 3 of Sleepy Hollow. Hoping to get caught up before I go back to California.

From Nature: Flew from California to Indiana and didn't change temperatures. So weird! We've had temps in the 50s for the first part of this week and then it dropped to the mid-30s. Mid-30s this normal for December. Hopefully it doesn't get super cold while we're still here.

Project: So many projects! I'm working on a ton of new projects and ideas for 2016.

Picture: The twins and Arthur hanging out at one of our Christmas get-togethers last weekend.

Sunday Sunset #28

Listening To: One Bad Mother. I'm about 5 episodes behind (horror!) and trying to catch up. I'm hoping to be able to listen to some during the plane ride. Here's hoping Arthur cooperates and plays and/or sleeps for part of the long flight.

Book finished: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation; The Happiness Project (reread); The Mask of the Black Tulip

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (still)

On the Nightstand: Chocolat by Joanne Harris; Heart of Christmas

MakingLists: Ideas of 2016. I've got a blog ideas list, a craft ideas list, a general household list, a kid-related list, and many more... Yeah I love making lists!

From the kitchen: Nothing exciting at all...

Crafting: I finished all my Christmas cards last week, so this week was all about clean-up!I wanted my craft are to be clean before I left. But before I got to that, I knocked out November's PL pages. Now my area is clean and tidy. All ready for me to get back in January and dive back into crafting!

Watching: Lots of Atlantis, it got super serious and good. Catching up on Shield, Elementary, and The League.

From Nature: The weather has gone from chilly to warm and sunny to raining. My favorite has been the rainy days. I love listening to the sound of the rain.

Project: Prepping for travel. Arthur and I leave for Indiana on Wednesday. I've gotten most of our stuff packed, but have a list of last minute things to put in (you know, toothbrush, phone and charger, etc). I managed to pack everything in one large suitcase, my new Take Two Tote as a carry-on, and a small backpack for Arthur. My suitcase is mostly full of presents. Thankfully those will be gone coming back, but just in case I need an extra carry-on, I packed my Fold-Over Weekender in the bottom. It lays completely flat in the suitcase and can be made bigger or smaller depending on my needs.

Picture: After bath time, I was laying on the bed reading while Arthur ran around. He grabbed a book off my shelves, climbed up on the bed, laid down next to me, and starting "reading." He's definitely my kid!

Sunday Sunset #27

Listening To: Christmas music! It's after Thanksgiving, right?

Book finished: Some Enchanted Evening; The Barefoot Princess; The Prince Kidnaps a Bride

Reading: Warrior Women by Jeannine Davis-Kimball; The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (reread); Dargonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: ????? Trying to decide what to take with me to Indiana on Christmas vacation.

MakingLists: Packing list for Indiana!

From the kitchen: I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner and it went amazingly well. J made a loaf of fresh bread, ring of fire chicken, and a lemon-blueberry-blackberry pie. I made twice baked sweet potatoes, corn casserole, apple crisp with homemade caramel sauce, and four different cocktails. Other attendees rounded out our meal. Everything was delicious and everyone seemed like they had a good time. We ended the night with dessert while watching The Usual Suspects.

Crafting: I finished up my Christmas cards this past week and put most of those supplies away. Pam and Sara came over yesterday for crop day. We each worked on some projects and chatted about the upcoming Occasions and SAB catalogs and the craft fair. I sorted out my December Daily supplies and started prepping the holiday albums...

Watching: J and I are moving through the released Marvel movies. Last night we watched Captain America and on Friday we watched Thor. We'll probably continue the trend until I leave for Indiana. Alone I caught up with Once Upon a Time. Birth was a great episode and The Bear King was a complete snooze. Oh well. I'll keep watching I'm sure. I also finished Star Trek: The Original Series this past week. Third season was a struggled, but I made it through. Now I just have Voyager, Enterprise, DS9, the animated series, and Star Trek Continued to finish...

From Nature: Some rain this week. Some wind this week. And temperatures all over the place. Typical for November in the Bay Area.

Project: Prepping for holiday crafting. I'm getting my December Daily supplies ready. I'm prepping the Holiday albums. I'm picking my preorder items to be sent to my mom's house so I can play. I'm cleaning up my craft area for when I'm gone (I love to return to a nice clean space). I'm working on at least the first half of November for my Project Life albums. And I'm thinking about classes to teach for January. A focus on crafting this week.

Picture: What I wore for Thanksgiving. Loving these new faux leather panel pants I got in my last Dia & Co. box. So comfy and fashionable!

Sunday Sunset #26

Listening To: Amy Winehouse. One of our usual dinner music selections has been on heavy rotation this week...

Book finished: None although I'm really hoping to finish my current read today.

Reading: Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd;Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (had to return to the library, hoping to finish soon)

On the Nightstand: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (reread)

MakingLists: Christmas gift list. I like to be done early. I've already gotten a few people finished, but I have more to go.

From the kitchen: No interesting food recipes, although we did try out one of our Thanksgiving cocktails last night. J and I enjoyed a pineapple rum cocktail. The recipe as written was a bit off for our tastes. We made a few modifications and now I think we have a great recipe for Thursday.

Crafting: I finally caught up with Arthur's PL album. I'm starting work on the holiday albums and my December Daily. And I may make a few more Christmas cards before the craft fair on the 5th.

Watching: J and I watched Amy last night. So good, but so depressing. We also started watching Toast of London (random British show starring Matt Berry).

From Nature: After some chilly temps last week, we're back to warm sunny days.

Project: So many Christmas projects...

Picture: Arthur modeling the Thirty-One Littles Carry-All Caddy. It's his toy caddy for in the car. That's my baby!

Sunday Sunset #25

Listening To: Arthur talk to his cars and trains. There's a steady stream of words but not all of them are in English...

Book finished: Murder on the Orient Express (didn't review this one as I read and reviewed it three years ago; read the review here); Furiously Happy

Reading: Hollow City by Ransom Riggs; Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: The Happiness Project (reread)

Making Lists: Paper crafting inventory (for upcoming craft fair); grocery list; packing list for Christmas in Indiana

From the kitchen: Another boring week on the recipe front. Although I did make an apple dump cake that was delicious! As I am feeling sick today, I think next week's dinners will once again be tried and true favorites. If I'm feeling better, I might throw in something new...

Crafting: Yesterday was our big Holiday Bazaar. I sold a fair amount of paper crafts (and even more Thirty-One products), but I don't know exactly what. A friend ran the paper craft table while I ran the Thirty-One table. I need to do an inventory today and figure out if I should maker more for the craft fair in December. I think I will need to make a few more Christmas cards, especially if I am want to send some out this year.

Watching: I finished Downtown Abbey... The finale was full of happy moments and sad moments, just as it should be! On the joint watching front, J and I have almost finished Star Trek: TOS. I think I only have four episodes to go. And of course we've been watching our currently airing shows (The League, Review). Yesterday, J picked up Inside Out at the store. Apparently he and Arthur watched it and loved it. I'm hoping to watch it soon...

From Nature: Cooler temperatures and a bit of rain at night. It's officially fall in our neck of the woods. I love curling up on the couch with a cup of tea, a book, and a fuzzy blanket. We've even turned on our heat a bit this week. Not much, but just a bit to get the house back to 68 degrees. (mostly at night)

Project: Prepping for my December 5th craft fair. As I mentioned earlier, I really need to do an inventory today to find out what I need to make for that fair. It won't be a ton, but I like to be prepared early...

Picture: Scenes from our Holiday Bazaar yesterday. Our photographer will have more later, but these are the ones I managed to snap right when we opened.

Sunday Sunset #24

Listening To: Dinosaur Train... Arthur's really liking the combo of dinosaurs and trains lately. He's watching an episode while I catch up on emails and blog posts.

Book finished: After Alice

Reading: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson; Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie; The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (reread); Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Making Lists: Weekly to-do lists. I have a craft fair coming up on Saturday. I'm the event coordinator, so I'm updating my final to-dos. I also have to do the grocery list for this coming week...

From the kitchen: As I was so busy prepping for the Holiday Bazaar, we ate a ton of easy meals this past week. Mostly frozen meals and a few stand-bys (BBQ Chicken).

Crafting: In the past 7 days, I've made over 60 Christmas cards plus some random small projects for the Holiday Bazaar. I also organized my photos for October project life and cleaned up my craft area. I am hoping to get about another ~30 cards done before next Saturday, but if I don't have time, not a huge deal.

Watching: The Librarians started up again. Woohoo! Silly adventure fun! It's one of our guilty pleasure shows that are perfect to watch while blogging or scrolling through FB.

From Nature: Cooler temps this week. The Bay Area has finally turned to fall. Arthur has requested pants and long sleeve shirts most of the week. And I even started wearing socks.

Project: Holiday Bazaar prep for Saturday. My paper crafting projects are mostly packed and ready to go. I just need to get the boxes in bags. I still need to get my Thirty-One display prepped and packed. I am not going to bring every piece I have, but I do want to fill the table. Plus, I need to tag my cash and carry items. Other than my tables, I need to do a cursory check-in with all the other vendors. I want to make sure everyone has all the information they need for Saturday. One of the other coordinators (there are three of us, but I'm the only one doing the vendor side) should be having her baby today (or at least by Tuesday), so I'll need to rely on the other coordinator more this week. I'm sure everything will come together, but man it's been a chore.

Picture: Status of my craft area yesterday after a full week of crafting. Yeah, it's a crazy mess. I cleaned it up a bit yesterday night, but it's still crazy looking!

Sunday Sunset #23

Listening To: One Bad Mother -- Catching up on my episodes!

Book finished: Happier at Home; The Runaway Princess; Someday My Prince; Saga Vol. 2-4

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (yep, still); After Alice by Gregory Maguire

On the Nightstand: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie; Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Making Lists: Getting my grocery list in order...

From the kitchen: Nothing at all exciting this past week. We ate a lot of family staples: Italian Beef Sandwiches, Chili, Tacos.

Crafting: Yesterday I had an epic day crafting! I finished 11 marge modified notebooks, 3 medium modified notebooks, 6 small modified notebooks, and 12 Baker's boxes that will be filled with candy. Whew! All of these will be on sale at the Holiday Bazaar on November 14th. Now it's time to focus on Christmas cards. 

Watching: J and I have been watching movies lately. We've decided Friday is movie night in our house, but this week we extended it to a multiple night affair. We rewatched Iron Man for our Marvel Phase 1 marathon. We also watched Pirates: Band of Misfits with Arthur and then The Man from U.N.C.L.E. once he went to sleep. Pirates was great fun! And so was U.N.C.L.E. Thoroughly enjoyed all our movies this week.

From Nature: Lovely weather this week. It was warm but with cooler nights. Halloween night was perfect for wearing just a costume and maybe a light jacket. No parkas needed here!

Project: Holiday gifts! I need to make all my Christmas cards and I have plans for some other craft-related holiday gifts.

Picture: Arthur helping to hand out candy last night.

Sunday Sunset #22

Listening To: Catching up on my One Bad Mother episodes. I'm still two episodes behind.

Book finished: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell; The Sixth Extinction; Saga Volume 1

Reading: A Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

On the Nightstand: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie; Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Making Lists: It's grocery list day. The bane of my existence.

From the kitchen: Nothing new to report. I stuck with some of our tried and true recipes this past week (Cajun Stuffed Chicken; Balsamic Pork Roast; Baked Ziti). I don't have any new recipes on tap for dinner entrees. But I did pin a caramel apple dessert that looks amazing...

Crafting: Along with my design team cards, I need to start my Christmas cards. I've got a craft fair coming up on November 14th and I have maybe five Christmas cards ready. I definitely need more! And I'm looking to the December 5th craft fair and my usual family cards.

Watching: The Book of Life - Arthur and I watched this one afternoon. I really enjoyed it!  And J and I finished the entire series of Merlin! While I loved the show, the last scene in the series really didn't need to be there.

From Nature: Temperatures have been perfect this past week. And Saturday was nice and cooler for our costume social. Good thin as J had many layers on.

Project:  Working on the Holiday Bazaar. It's a very large project. There's a big part of me that will be happy when it's over.

Picture: At our Fall-O-Ween social on Saturday.

Sunday Sunset #21

Listening To: Random Spotify playlists. I never know what I'm listening to, but I know I like it.

Book finished: We Should All Be Feminists

Reading: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke; Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin; Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Making Lists: October-December craft projects. I'm trying to decide on which Christmas card designs I want to make plus any candy holders or gift card holders.

From the kitchen: I made yummy sausage and apple stuffed acorn squash last week. Perfect to help me get into the mood for fall, even if it was 83 degrees that day.

Crafting: This past week, I took a break from active crafting. Between the retreat and Arthur's birthday party, I was too busy. My little craft area feels very lonely. I promise to get back to it next week.

Watching: J and I have been watching our currently airing shows (The League, Last Week Tonight). He also had me start watching High Maintenance, a fascinating web series. And we're four episodes from the finale of Merlin.

From Nature: Beautiful this weather this week until yesterday morning. I had planned to have Arthur's birthday party in the backyard. Imagine my surprise when we woke up to extremely low clouds and drizzle. No good! Thankfully our house accommodated everyone. And the sun finally burned off the clouds around noon.

Project: Working on the big parent group fundraiser for November 14th. It's a doozy...

Picture: Revealing his dinosaur at the party.

Sunday Sunset #20

Due to Blog-Tember, I haven't posted a Sunday Sunset in a month. This might be a big post...

Listening To: Arctic Monkeys; Florence + the Machine; Sirius XM Alt Nation; Sirius XM Octane

Book finished: Interest; Don't Know Much About Mythology; First Frost; Artemis Fowl; The Distant Hours; 1491; Dark Places

Reading: Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

On the Nightstand: 1493 by Charles Mann; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke; The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner

MakingLists: So many lists! I've got my Arthur's birthday party list, grocery list, Holiday Bazaar list, Christmas list (yes I've started planning), general to-do list, 2016 TBR list (yep, started this one as well), craft project list, and rest of 2015 TBR list. Thank goodness I have my handle planner and Evernote to keep track of it all!

From the kitchen: I've made a few new recipes lately included one for Lemon Chicken with Brussel Sprouts that was super yummy. I spend a few days last week and meal planned for the entire month of October. I stumbled upon a new meal planning system (involving my planner and post-it tags) and decided to jump in with both feet. I hope this system lessens my meal planning stress.

Crafting: I've been focused on SSINK design team projects for the past month. With October's card finished early, I've been thinking about my Christmas card plan of attack. I've narrowed it down to about 5 designs that I can more or less mass produce. Plus, I've started thinking about December Daily and how to pack my supplies when Arthur and I head to Indiana in December.

Watching: Many of our currently airing shows just started back up again, but we've been in the midst of a big television switch. We got rid of the Apple TV (actually we still have it, but not for tv viewing) and bought a Roku. From there, we have Amazon and Netflix loaded. We also moved all our shows to Plex running off the Roku. That has taken ages, so we are a bit behind on current shows. Instead, we spent most of September binge watching Merlin. Almost to the end and I'm sad for it to be over. Really loving that show!

From Nature: September was hot! But that's normal around here. We had lots of sunny days wearing shorts and tees. And then on the last day of the month, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and it rained. I loved Wednesday! I spent part of the day listening to the rain while reading my book. It's not very often that we enjoy a rainy fall day in the Bay Area. It was a nice change.

Picture: Arthur selfie with sunglasses!

Sunday Sunset #19

Listening To: Happier by Gretchen Rubin. Been on a podcast kick lately. Picked this one up as I am finally caught up with One Bad Mother. These are great little 20 minute episodes.

Book finished: Bitterblue; Young House Love; Common Phrases; Where'd You Go Bernadette

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara

MakingLists: Crafty to-dos, possible classes, ideas for Thirty-One events, etc.

From the kitchen: Nothing new this week. Just lots of standards for us this past week.

Crafting: Not much crafting this past week. I was busy with the crafty garage sale and Thirty-One party. Hoping to get some great crafting in for this next week.

Watching: We finally caught up with Mr. Robot and oh my goodness! Every time I think that show can't get crazier, somehow they top it!

From Nature: The temps have been up and down this week, but overall amazingly nice like usual.

Project: Retreat planning and Arthur's birthday party. These two will continue to be my two big projects until they happen in October.

Picture: My garage sale set up on Saturday.

Sunday Sunset #18

Listening To: Almost caught up with One Bad Mother. Only five backlogged episodes to go! I also added a few other podcasts to start listening to once I catch up with OBM.

Book finished: The Complete Decorated Journal; Creative Lettering; The Crafter's Devotional

Reading: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore; A Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: Common Phrases by Myron Korach; Young House Love by Sherry and John Petersik; Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara

MakingLists: It's grocery and Target list day! I haven't been to Target for a few weeks so this visit is going to cost some money. We need a ton of household and personal products. Plus I want to check out their clothing clearances know that I know what i want to do with my wardrobe and I know what Arthur needs for fall/winter and next spring/summer. And I may pick up a few birthday party items and/or birthday presents for our toddler friends.

From the kitchen: I tried a ranch chicken club recipe that wasn't very good. Crossing that one off the list.

Crafting: See my project section for all my upcoming projects. I've also been playing with some of the Stampin' Up Holiday catalog products (yeah for demonstrator preorders!). And I am working on some holiday catalog swap cards.

Watching: J and I have been watching Merlin. I never watched it. It's been on my list for awhile and we've finally dove in. We're almost finished with season 1.

From Nature: It's been warm but nice this week. Just the perfect summer day.

Project: Been working on prepping for multiple crafty projects this coming month. I've signed up for Week in the Life, 30 Days of Lists (September), 31 Things, and 31 More Things (September). Busy busy! Plus planning for the retreat and Arthur's birthday party for October.

Picture: View of my crafting area this week.

Sunday Sunset #17

Listening To: One Bad Mother podcast. I've been working through the backlog for a few months now and am almost caught up to present day. I only have about 10 episodes togo. I love their candid talk about parenting. And I just joined the closed Facebook group and my local OBM FB group. So much fun!

Book finished: The F Word; How We Got to Now; Leaving a Trace; The Secret Museum

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

On the Nightstand: Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara

MakingLists: Lots of lists! I've started using mambi's The Happy Planner and loving it's design! It makes my list making so much easier. I've even bought the notes and graph paper inserts to allow for more internal lists. Check out my blog post about my usage here.

Around the house: Arthur was sick this week and absolutely destroyed the house. Ugh! It's taken days to get the house back to normal.

From the kitchen: I retried the twice baked sweet potatoes. I made them less sweet than last time and they were delicious! I also made a simple fresh tomato sauce and kale caesar salad. So very good!

Crafting: I finally caught up with some of my challenge cards. And I finished the Find Your Voice workshop. And prepped my cards for stamp club and classes. And moved forward on my Project Life catch-up. And started planning for Week in the Life later in the month. It's been a very productive few weeks!

Watching: I tried to start August Movie Month, but life has gotten in the way. Instead we have been watching Merlin (I never started it), Another Period, Mr. Robot, and Last Week Tonight.

From Nature: It rained and thundered the other night! Holy cow! We never hear thunder here, but it happened. We got a bit of rain in the night but not that much.

Project: I'm busy planning the October retreat and Arthur's birthday party. Love the planning, but there is so much to do!

Picture: Train ride!

Sunday Sunset #16

Listening To: One Bad Mother podcast. I've almost completely caught up on the backlog.

Book finished: Highlander Unbound; The Girl on the Train; The Happiness Project; This Side of Paradise; Bayou Folk; The Mad Scientist's Daughter

Reading: Nothing right this second... still deciding on my next book.

On the Nightstand: The F Word by Kristin Rowe; Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Making Lists: One big list of ideas. I'm feeling that brain dump is in order this week to get all of it out of my head. I need to dump and organize my ideas into projects.

Around the house: I did a crazy clean this week. it was a bit manic, but I feel so much better with a clean and tidy-ish house.

From the kitchen: I tried a few new recipes these past few weeks. And most have been successes. I also decided that I'm not a fan of chipotle flavor.

Watching: Since finishing The Newsroom last week, we've been watching a ton of new and new-to-me shows: Another Period; Brink; and Merlin (new-to-me). Another Period is definitely my favorite. Laugh out loud funny!

Wondering: Will we ever catch up with Game of Thrones? Still almost two seasons behind.

From Nature: The weather has been all over the place this week. We went from 90+ temps to cool and windy. I actually have to look at the weather report to get dressed in the morning.

Project: A group of friends and SU demonstrators are having a craft supply garage sale at the end of August. I've started to clean out my craft area in preparation. I finished probably 60% this weekend. That last 40% is going to take awhile. I hope to have everything tag and ready next weekend for my crop day. I always have some products out for sale.

Picture: My crazy climber...

Sunday Sunset #15

Listening To: Silence. I love getting up before everyone else and checking my email, Pinterest, etc in peace.

Book finished: The Dark Glamour; What If; The Age of Innocence; Bait and Switch; The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up; The Lost Soul; Witches; The Art of Steampunk; The Night Circus

Reading: Highlander Unbound by Julia London

On the Nightstand: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Making Lists: Groceries. It's grocery day in the house... Here's to hoping I get to go alone without all the kiddos.

Around the house: No big changes, but it's house clean day. There's a long list of chores on the fridge and everyone gets to participate. I'm a super popular person today, ha ha!

From the kitchen: Nothing exciting. Although I'm getting back on the smoothie bandwagon this week. I miss waking up and making a yummy smoothie. My grocery list contains a few new green smoothie recipes as well as a new dessert and two new dinners. We'll see how they turn out.

Watching: J and I officially finished Farscape this week. I can't believe the ending before the miniseries. Ugh! I was about to throw something at the tv and I knew there was more. It was a good series, but now it's over. Time to start something else. Beyond Farscape, we started watching Mr. Robot and I am definitely hooked. J and I have some theories about what is really going on, but we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

Wondering: What should we do on our day trip into SF? I'm thinking the Musee Mechanique (request from twins and my mom), but then maybe North Beach for lunch?

From Nature: The high temps seem to be fading back into the high 70s, low 80s. Guess we can turn the AC back off and open the windows. I love having the windows open.

Project: Planning the twins' last two weeks here. We have a ton of activities and errands to fit in. Plus, my mom arrive next Saturday. Busy planning her week with trips into SF and a winery day.

Picture: Arthur and his cars.

Sunday Sunset #14

Listening To: The sounds of morning around the house. J is taking a shower. Arthur is playing quietly in the playroom. Nick is rustling through the kitchen for breakfast. And apparently Alex is still sleeping...

Book finished: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared; The Age of Innocence (review pending; need to watch the movie first); Sally Heathcote: Suffragette

Reading: The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (reread for book club next weekend)

On the Nightstand: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins; Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich

Making Lists: Ugh grocery lists! Even with my new meal planning system, I still have to make a grocery list almost every week. Really not a fan... Otherwise I've starting making a list for when my mom visits in July and for craft class ideas.

Around the house: My house is in a constant state of unrest. The toddler is being very messy with snacks and breakfast. Toys are everywhere. My stuff has piled up as we were so busy last week. And there's laundry everywhere! Really need to take some time this coming week and get everything under control!

From the kitchen: No new recipes this week. Although I made Caribbean jerk pork tacos and Mongolian beef that the twins actually enjoyed. Score for mom! This coming week I want to try the recipe for apple pie cookies that has been sitting in my Pinterest for weeks now.

Crafting: This week I dove back into the twins' scrapbooks. Turns out they were two years behind. In one week I caught them up about three months. Plus I finished filling the current traditional post-bound scrapbook, so I bought new D-ring albums and switched them to Project Life style. It's going so much faster now. I'm hoping to get Christmas break 2013-2014 done today and move on to the rest of 2014 this coming week.

Watching: We introduced the twins to Robin Hood: Men in Tights last night. They didn't like it as much as Spaceballs, but it was a good one. J and I have been watching Farscape. Halfway through the last season and boy has the show gotten crazy! Really feeling the push to finish the series this month.

Wondering: How many goldfish are currently hiding in and under the couch, in the playroom, and other random places? We're going through a stage right now...

From Nature: Back to nice warm (not hot) temperatures and a nice breeze. One thing I love about Castro Valley is the lovely near-constant breeze we get. South Bay was always so still, I'm loving the bit of wind we get up here.

Project: Twins' scrapbooks!

Picture: Blurry, but incredibly cute photo!

Sunday Sunset #13

Listening To: The boys chat about Pokemon... trying to tune it out, but it's so hard.

Book finished: 666 Park Avenue; Minimalist Parenting

Reading: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; The 100 Year Old Man Who... by Jonas Jonasson

On the Nightstand: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot; The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Making Lists: Grocery lists for next week. Ugh! The neverending task.

Around the house: The twins have been helping out around the house. Their help really lightens my weekly cleaning load even with their dirty additions. We're keeping it up.

From the kitchen: I made some homemade blueberry muffins the other day and they turned out more like blueberry cobbler than muffins. Not what I was expecting, but they were still good.

Crafting: Finishing up May's Project Life pages. Almost done and then I'm moving on to catching up the twins' scrapbooks. That will be a chore! The books are three years behind.

Watching: Picking up some random shows that we're currently watching: Farscape, The Newsroom, and Atlantis.

Wondering: What should we have for dinner on Monday night? The eternal question...

From Nature: We went from super hot temps at the start of the week to nice and breezy temps at the end of the week. Still enjoying the weeks' weather.

Project: I've started working on the October retreat. So far, I have three people (including me) confirmed with deposit paid. Very excited to get this moving along!

Picture: Someone made it very difficult to take my daily picture for my capsule wardrobe. But he is a very cute photobomber!

Sunday Sunset #12

Listening To: The twins' crazy stories... they are so weird sometimes!

Book finished: Fire; Dead Wake; The American Plate; The Martian

Reading: 666 Park Avenue by Gabriella Pierce

On the Nightstand: Minimalist Parenting by Christine Koh; The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Making Lists: Grocery lists, twins' to-buy list (growing out of clothes!), library books to keep track of, my craft projects with due dates, summer TBR piles, shows to watch. It's a list bonanza around here!

Around the house: We've instituted a bit of a chore routine for the summer and I think it's going really well. Everyday one twin helps me cook dinner and one twin helps J clean up. Then the next night they switch. So far, we've had minimal complaining... I think it helps that I started this the day they flew in and have kept it consistent. The only day so far that we haven't done the routine was Friday night. We got takeout from Panda so no cooking and minimal clean up. But Saturday it was back the routine. I've also had them do one small chore each day. The other day one swept the dining and kitchen areas and the other collected all the trash from the house. Small, but chores that really help me keep the mess at bay with five people in this house.

From the kitchen: Nothing major to report. I stuck with some tried and true recipes for the twins' first week.  Next week will be more of our tried and true recipes. With everything going on, attempting something new and complicated doesn't sound like much fun. But maybe, I'll try a new dessert or breakfast pastry...

Watching: The first night here, the twins and J watched The Fifth Element while I went to a board meeting. From there, we started watching Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. I started watching it when J was at motorcycle class and the twins joined me. They actually seem to enjoy learning about other countries even if they won't admit it.

From Nature: Warmer temps this past week allowed the twins to spend a ton of time at the pool. Mostly they went down while Arthur was napping. I'm hoping to get down there soon and enjoy the lovely water.

Project: We're working on confirming our bucket list items. So far so good. We've already checked off the library, pool, and mini golf in the first five days!

Picture: Awesome mini golf action shot!

Sunday Sunset #11

Listening To: Lots of One Bad Mother episodes. I can usually only listen on the way back from South Bay but I'm slowly working through their backlog.

Book finished: The Dovekeepers; Born Reading; American Vampire Vol. 2; The Manhattan Projects Vol 1; American Vampire Vol. 3; Graceling; Geek Mom

Reading: Fire by Kristin Cashore

On the Nightstand: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin; The Martian by Andy Weir

Making Lists: Making our summer bucket list. I decided to use the same notebook as last year. We had a ton of blank pages and some of the activities we didn't get to. I added some fun new East Bay places and updated some of the old pages. Still a work in progress...

Around the house: We had to completely redo the playroom this week. Arthur learned that he could climb up the toy cases and onto the fireplace wall. I'm not a huge fan of this set-up but it's the only thing I could think of at the time. The tunnel really messes up the space in this arrangement.

From the kitchen: I tried a new BBQ Beef Stuffed Potatoes this past week. It was a great yummy dinner. I will definitely have to add it to our recipe rotation.

Crafting: Lots of fun playing with new products from SU.

Watching: We're in a big Farscape push right now. I really want to finish the series soon. We're at the end of Season 3 which means I have one season and a mini series to go!

From Nature: Overcast, a bit rainy, and sometimes chilly. Such weird weather we've been having lately. Although I'm not yearning for 85 degree temps any time soon.

Project: Working on our family calendar for summer. Between craft classes, baby events, twins' camps, and general things like grocery store visits, our summer is filling fast. I'm working on that bucket list, but also trying to confer with J about known work/play events to put on the calendar.

Picture: My photo day from the 20th. This was me sitting at the park watching Arthur play.

Sunday Sunset #10

Listening To: Over the past week, Sirius XM's The Spectrum was featuring all the tracks from Mumford & Sons' new album. It's a different sound, but I'm really digging it. Definitely need to pick that one up soon.

Book finished: Four A Divergent Collection; Allegiant; At Last Comes Love; Witchcraze; Odd Thomas; Seducing An Angel; The Secret Affair

Reading: The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

On the Nightstand: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon; The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Making Lists: Grocery? I'm doing very well at working ahead of time and planning out dinner weeks in advance. So far it's working well.

From the kitchen: About a week ago, I made a new shrimp scampi recipe. It wasn't the best, but I think I can spice it up and make it better next time.

Crafting: After a few weeks of not making any cards, I've created a ton in the last two weeks. I did an entire series featuring retiring products. And I've been making some cards for my upcoming Fancy Folds, Using Your Scraps, and Stamp Club Classes.

Watching: Besides catching up on some shows, I've been watching season 3 of Hart of Dixie. It's my guilty pleasure show! I've also been catching up on The Voice. So said that Kimberley Nichole was voted off! I guess my favorite is either Megan or Koryn. On the movie front, J and I watched Into the Woods last night. I enjoyed it even if it wasn't just like the musical.

Project: I became a Thirty-One consultant a few weeks ago and have been working on making some connections for my first big party. Loving it so far! Their bags are amazing!

Picture: Picture we send to grandma. We were waiting on J to get off the train.