Spring Cleaning and other things

Spring cleaning has started in the Murrill Home!  I was able to conquer quite a bit, but my biggest accomplishments were the kitchen and the living room.  EVERYTHING in those rooms was cleaned.  I can't believe how yucky it had gotten.  The dust was unbelievable and, to be honest, very embarrassing.  Please forgive me if you have been in my home in the last few months.  You must have really wondered about my eyesight!  It feels great knowing that every inch has been cleaned.  It really gives you piece of mind.  Now I just have to keep it up.   Here are a few pics of the process...

This is my new plate set-up.  For the longest time I had Valentine's plates up(I blame my lateness on the pregnancy), so it is nice to have a new look.  I also polished the wood of the plate rack.  Special thanks goes out to my mother-in-law for every plate up there:)  Thanks, Mom! 

I ended up washing all of my soup tureen collection.  This is a pic of them drying.  It was starting to look like a dust collection, so it was much needed.  They are all now sparkling brightly in the dining room. 

I need to take a brief intermission to talk about something I'm watching on TV right now.  It's about people with strange obsessions.  This lady is obsessed with her hair dryer!  She sleeps with it on and keeps it around her all the time.  She has been burned by it many times and is covered in scars.  I feel so bad for the man she's married to.  He can hardly sleep with the blowdryer going at night.  She's even shared the blowdyring obsession with her 3 year old daughter!  Weird!  Sorry about that, but it was just too nuts not to mention.


Our trip to Florida was just what we needed, although it started out rather rough.  We left last Sunday afternoon and arrived that evening.  Monroe was a complete lunatic the whole trip there.  She was exhausted, but wouldn't sleep a wink.  She was just rotten!  She is normally so easy which makes her crazy days pretty hard.  By the end of Sunday, I vowed never to travel with a toddler again and was seriously contemplating shipping that little missy home, rather than fly in a plane with her again.

Not only did Monroe's attitude put us in a funk, but as we were running to catch our connection, we were greeted by a huge jumbotron screen showing VCU's coach celebrating their big win.  Mark is a sensitive guy, but he's not one who cries too often.  I really started to wonder if he was going to break down, right there in the middle of the Detroit Airport.  Poor guy.  I have to admit, I was pretty devastated, too.  Kansas is a pretty important part of our lives:)  They had so much potential, and to see them lose so early, especially with such an easy road to the championship, was pretty hard to swallow.  Ugh!

Then, to top things off, our favorite restaurant closes early on Sundays and we weren't able to partake in it's yumminess after getting to Orlando.  But, after all those little hiccups were over, the trip went wonderfully.  It was so amazing spending time with our friends.  We had a blast at the Heinrich's house.  It was so nice being with Tasha again.  It just reiterated the reasons why we were friends in the first place.  We laughed, we had heart-to-heart girlie talks, we watched our little rug-rats have the time of their lives and we ate yummy food.  It was perfect.

I was sad that we didn't get to see everyone we had hoped to, but the time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to come home:(.  I would love to say I am now a golden brown color from all of the hours spent by the pool, but the torrential rains put the kabosh on that idea.  I actually think I'm a little bit whiter than when I left (if that's even possible).  Oh, well!

The horrible weather not only put a wrench in my tanning plans, but also on our trip home.  Our first flight was really delayed, so we missed our connection in Atlanta.  Then, our later flight in Atlanta was held on the tarmac for mechanical issues.  Luckily, we made it home safely.  Rosie wasn't feeling very well the next morning.  Normally I don't work on Fridays, but because of the trip I had to.  Mark ended up staying and working from home.  I kept getting the funniest emails from him the whole day.  He kept telling me how hard it was to get anything done at home.  It really made me feel better, because there are so many days that I feel that way!  Being a stay-at-home mom (or dad) is tough!

Like I mentioned earlier, Tasha and I had a lot of great talks while we were in Florida.  We are totally on the same page on a lot of things and it makes being friends so easy.  It was really crazy because we had both felt convicted lately that we really wanted to focus on making the Sabbath more special for ourselves and our families.  It was so nice trying to come up with ways to do just that.  One of the ways that we mentioned was having a cleaning schedule so that on Friday we wouldn't have way too much to get done.

I have worked on one of these before (see my List in an earlier post) but it didn't seem to take:)  Today, I really worked on it and think I have it all done.  I am so excited to see how it works.  I also have kept working on my weekly menu schedule.  That menu has really helped make my life easier.  Tasha and I are going to start sharing our menus and I thought I might share it on here, too (when I remember).  This week we are having:

Monday:  Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas (topped with lettuce, tomatoes and avacado) and Rice, Chips and Salsa

Tuesday:  Grill Packets (Potatoes, Onions, Celery, Corn, Spices, Black Beans)  garnish with salsa, cheese and sour cream

Wednesday: Spaghetti, Salad and Bread

Thursday: Tomato Basil Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Friday: Haystacks

 

Sabbath: Lasagna, Bread, Salad

Sunday: Leftovers 

Here's a pic of tonight's meal...quesadillas!  

Here are some pictures of our trip to Florida: 

One of my favorite pics of ALL TIME!!!  The two cuties getting ready for a bath!  Love it!

 Splish Splash, they are takin' a bath! 

 My little sweetie

 The other little sweetie!  What a sweet little smile:) 

 Four special friends

 The Families 

 I LOVE this guy

Isn't this ADORABLE?!  They loved each other (if you couldn't tell from the picture). 

Monroe has been pretty funny lately.  She's very helpful and has become something of a gopher.  If I ask her to get my phone, she goes trotting off and before you know it she returns with phone in hand.  It's very convenient!  She also loves throwing things in the trash for me.  This was good, until I found the checkbook and her new sippy cup in there.  Who knows what I haven't caught!  I always smile when I pull out my makeup bag and find a string cheese wrapper in there.  It's kind of her way of saying, "Monroe has been here"!

Here are a few crazy pics of the little lady that made me smile...

 She very often retreats to the coat closet and comes out bearing different winter paraphernalia.  This is her snow cap of choice.   She loves it.  It was Mark's when he was a little guy, so it's pretty special indeed. 

She reminds me of Waldo.

This is after her first pudding experience.  She likes it, if you were wondering.

Pregnancy-wise things are going well.  I definitely have started showing a little bit, but not enough to wear maternity pants yet.  I am also feeling a lot more of him rolling around in there. I love this little guy already.  I really hope he's really a little guy.  We have pretty much nailed down a name for him and I've started getting a good idea of how I would like to do his room.  It will be so fun doing something totally different than I'm used to.  I'll post some pics of my ideas, as soon as it's confirmed that this little person is a boy.  My doc said to stop by on Wednesday, so I'm going to try to do that. I'll let you know what I find out.