Guest Closet Clean Out

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been working on the decor in our guest bedroom, but knew that ultimately, I'd need to tackle the guest room closet as well.  Since the very definition of guest room is a room where your guests stay, it stands to reason that they should have a space to store their stuff when they come to visit.  Not so in the previous state of our guest room closet.

Icky.  Not to mention, unsafe.  Those long metal poles were from when we disassembled the guest bed and they just need to be disposed of.  Quick.

I completely cleared the closet.  To my dismay, I found:

Seriously?!  And these aren't including the pillows that are on the beds!  

So much better now!

So, where did all the stuff go?  Some bedding was given to my sister-in-law, the sewing stuff and fabric was relocated to my office (which means I had to rearrange my office too!), our luggage went to our media/storage room, and now I'm in the process of cleaning out our hall closet.  

Some major spring cleaning happening here!  

  

Greece Stares Into The Abyss

As the Greek election on the 6th of May approaches, the voters of Greece have been afforded an opportunity to see their future and stare into the abyss (courtesy of the IMF).

Whoever is elected, on the assumption that Greece remains within the Eurozone, the soul destroying austerity that Greece is experiencing is set to be ratcheted up:

- There will be more cuts in social benefits and healthcare.

- There will be cuts in the public sector.

- Wages and pensions will be reduced by 15%.

According to The Slog, the EU are even trying to influence the result of the elections by placing their preferred candidate in pole position to become Prime Minister.

Greece is staring into the abyss, if it chooses to remain in the Eurozone it will be pushed into the abyss. The choice that the Greek people need to make is whether they wish to be pushed into the abyss, or leave the Eurozone of their own accord.

Jim Yong Kim New World Bank President

Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth College, has been chosen as the next president of the World Bank. He will take over the World Bank in June this year.

Obama Demonises Oil Speculators

President Obama has today castigated oil speculators for manipulating the oil market, and has proposed new measures to limit speculation in the oil markets,.

This is rather ironic, as only a month ago the Whitehouse manipulated the oil market by leaking rumours (and then denying them) of a release of strategic reserves which of course sent the price of oil down.

Utter Madness - EU's Demands of Greece

In a leaked document due to be published tomorrow, the EU will tell Greece to reduce "nominal unit labour costs in the business economy by 15% in 2012-2014".

Applying severe austerity measures to an economy that is already imploding is utter madness.

Troika Visit Ireland

"Lucky" Ireland is on the receiving end of the sixth visit of Troika inspectors.

Officials from the International Monetary Fund, the EU Commission and the European Central Bank have begun their 10 day long inspection to see how Ireland is performing under the bailout programmes

The Irish Times reports that promissory notes would be a central focus, as the issue of restructuring of the Euro30BN promissory note issued primarily to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide has yet to be resolved.

Dinner at Our House

Oftentimes dinner at our house is as simple as pizza and a salad.  Lately, I've been throwing together a simple tomato and avocado salad that my cousin-in-law showed me how to assemble.  (He and his sweet wife came and cooked dinner at our house when our family member was sick back in December- how nice is that?!)  They made chili, cornbread, and this salad, and I've been eating it regularly ever since.



The salad is simply a combination of diced tomato, avocado, red onion, a bit of light ranch dressing and a dash of creole seasoning (which I leave out sometimes).  Super easy and delicious.  The only problem I have with this dish is using the avocados before they go bad!

That same night, I made James a pepperoni pizza- one of his favorites.  I use the Boboli pre-made crust, add some jarred marinara, shredded mozzarella, and slices of pepperoni.  I previously bought him an Earth's Best whole grain pizza from their Sesame Street line, so now he always asks for "Elmo Pizza."  

(I also love to order pizza from our favorite pizza place).

Is it weird that James likes pepperoni at two?  He always goes for it first.  But he won't eat the things I associate with most kids, like hot dogs, burgers, or chicken nuggets.

One happy customer!

Mama also ate the leftover pizza.  p.s. my husband didn't starve- he was out of town!  

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P.S.  I've gotten so many wonderful comments and questions from you about my pregnancy weight loss journey that I plan to write a follow-up post soon to share my progress with you and how I've been able to (finally) reach my goal!  Thank you so much for sharing your stories in the comments and emails to me.  It makes me feel so much better knowing that we can relate to and encourage each other.  If you are still struggling, you can do it.