Post Turkey Day Catch Up

-The older I get the less I like in my coffee.  I've never understood those who request it "black" but I'm getting there.  I'm down to one spoon of Splenda no creamer.

-I'm feeling loads better with each day.  So much so, I'm toying with the idea of working out again.  I've been on an "I feel like junk" hiatus.  The medication mixed with the no gluten no dairy diet is finally helping.  My bruising is gone, and my hair is growing back and sticking straight up (think little red troll from the 90's after being shook).  The best part is that my joint pain is remarkably better after a couple months.  Now that the doctors have the ulcers under control I am very hopeful.

-I tried Quinoa for the first time yesterday.  It's a gluten free grain and I made a custard with it (think rice pudding or bread pudding).  Drizzled with a touch of syrup it's pretty tasty!  I'm getting better by the day coming up with options.  I seriously tweaked the recipe make it dairy free too and was concerned it wouldn't come out but it did.  YAY!

-Ever heard of carpet squares?  I know you're probably thinking of doctors offices or business settings.  There's a new product at Home Depot called Simply Seamless and it's a twist carpet square with the padding attached.  When we bought our home we purchased it at a ridiculous price, in part, because the flooring needed replaced.  We chose to have it cleaned professionally twice to buy us some time.  Obviously it's a large financial investment, but it's also a lot of work.  We are going to have to remove the current carpet and then bleach and seal the sub-flooring before installing something new.  Needless to say, it's a tad overwhelming.  So when my mom and I were wandering Home Depot the other day and saw this:

I prefer the color on the left

That's 4 tiles

lay the tile down and it is virtually seamless!

I was intrigued!  The padding is attached.  We could empty one room at a time and treat the sub-flooring and then install the carpet tiles as we can afford it without moving out of our downstairs.  The biggest draw??  As a mother of 5 with 2 dogs, if there is an accident, vomit, or just wear, pull up the tile and replace it with a new one.  No fuss, no grossness hanging out forever, just clean flooring.  It seems like a great idea for a basement where kids and dogs run and play.  There are 172 reviews on the website  and 98% of them raving about the ease of installation and how great it looks and feels.  I even like the idea of checkered tiles in the kids' rooms.  How cute is this:

A pic a customer posted in their review

I love the idea of having an affordable attractive option that we could do as we can afford it vs taking out credit for new wall to wall carpet.  What do you think?

-After having a week off of school, I am having a hard time getting back to the grind.  Monday morning Jared got up with the kids and did school with them giving me another day.  Reason number 982838477586386287346 he's my favorite.