Shannah, Author at My Suburban Kitchen

Let’s Talk Wood!

January 19, 2012 By Shannah 2 Comments

Ok, so I did a pic and run post on Monday showing you a delivery we were getting! I figured I should come back and talk about how we got to this point. Oh, and maybe a little talk about what we are doing with all the wood too!

First up, the lumber order.
Back when we built our deck, we learned that getting lots of quotes is best. Most places will work to outbid the next guy if it is within their reach. Home Depot and Lowes both have a bid room. When you hit a certain dollar amount for your order, (in our area it is typically $2500) it will go into the ‘bid room’ to get lower bids and drive down the price.
Companies that focus more exclusively on building supplies might not have the same policies but it definitely doesn’t hurt to ask. Also, these companies tend to have lower delivery fees and can deliver faster because their stock is more extensive on-sight.

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A Game of Tag

January 19, 2012 By Shannah 1 Comment

I’ve been tagged! This is a fun little get to know you game.
The amazing and wonderful Jennifer at Vintage Gwen tagged me! And so here goes!

The Rules
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
4.Tag eleven people and link them on your post
5. Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Eleven Fun Facts
1. I am an only child.
2. Virginia has been my only state of residency!
3. Most people think I went to a different school than I did thanks to my love of a certain college football team (GO HOKIES!)
4. I will take an SUV over a sports car any day.
5. I like my orange juice with ice (Mathlete thinks it is weird).
6. Laundry is one of my worst enemies.
7. I wear a scarf almost every single day…even in the summer.
8. The barista at my local Starbucks knows my name and my order!
9. Up until very recently, I had an irrational fear that running the dishwasher and washer at the same time would flood my house.
10. I eat salsa in my eggs (and on my carrots!)
11. I’m a total control freak.

And the 11 Questions from Jennifer at Vintage Gwen!
1. What frustrates you the most about blogging?
Not having enough daylight to get all my pictures and enough time to actually blog all the things I want to.
2. What’s one feature about yourself you’d like to change?
I would love to have more patience.
3. Which do you prefer, cooking or baking?
Cooking! I don’t do so well with the exact science of baking. I prefer to just throw stuff in and tweak it along the way.
4. What’s your dream vehicle?
One that drives for me. Haha…really I would love to have a Range Rover.
5. What’s your favorite color to wear?
Gray. I find gray so easy to wear because it pairs with so many things and isn’t as dark as black.
6. What would you say is your decorating style?
My decorating style is constantly changing! Right now, I don’t think I can fit into just one because I am drawn to so many different styles.
7. Were you voted a personality in High School like Most Talented? If yes, which one?
Hmmm, high school was so long ago that I really don’t remember! It was probably something like “most likely to take in a million stray animals” or something like that.
8. In one sentence, what’s your best advice on life in general?
Be true to yourself and follow your heart/gut/etc.
9. What’s your favorite sweet to indulge on?
Chocolate anything. I just love chocolate!
10. Who’s your celebrity crush?
Adam Levine…even with all the tattoos, that man is sexy.
11. How would you describe your husband in 2 words?
Smart and Loving

And now, 11 questions for the blog friends I tagged!
What is your absolute favorite meal to eat?
You have an hour completely to yourself…what do you do with it?
Are you a night owl or a morning person?
What is your biggest goal for your blog?
Paint: Light/Bright or Bold/Colorful?
If you could choose any famous person to have coffee with, who would you choose?
Who would you choose to be on the $1 bill?
Country or City living?
How did you choose your blog name?
What is the best gift you have ever received?
When do you blog?

Tag! You’re It!
Karah @ The Space Between
Brandy @ Gluesticks
Tonia @ The Gunny Sack
Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom
SJ @ Homemaker on a Dime
Jamie @ The Bullock 5
B @ The Cape on the Corner
Andie @ Crayon Freckles
Jaime @ Crafty Scrappy Happy
Amy @ Life’s Jewelry Box
Lisa @ Criss Cross Applesauce

WTCW #35

January 18, 2012 By Shannah Leave a Comment

Wednesday came fast this week thanks to a little holiday on Monday! I hope you are ready for some yummy meal ideas though.

[Framed Cooks], [Pioneer Woman], [Leites Culinaria]

Sunday: Lets start a new week with a hearty meal like Chicken and Dumplings…with homemade dumplings!

Monday: We can’t skip our Mexican night and this week we are going to give beef enchilada casserole a try to take a break from chicken.

Tuesday: With temperatures topping out in the 30s these days, soup sounds better than ever. A tuscan bean soup with shrimp sounds like a great choice for this week’s second soup appearance.

Wednesday: I stumbled across this recipe for Gung Bao chicken and just had to add it to my list.

[Dessert Now, Dinner Later], [Skinny Taste], [The Kitchn]

Thursday: Mathlete is a huge fan of anything peanut so peanut sauced linguine with broccoli sounds like a great option for our pasta night.

Friday: Our crockpot doesn’t get any rest this week because I’m going to give crockpot chicken la criolla a try.

Saturday: I love introducing new foods to the kids and this week I’m going to try rapini with orecchiette to introduce a new green.

Bloggy Biz-Ness

January 17, 2012 By Shannah Leave a Comment

A little business (sort of) related stuff to share! Really, it is just stuff that has been on my mind so consider this a Shannah mind dump.

Share the Love
I have loved being introduced to new blogs via sidebars on some of my favorites! So, for the month of February, I am going to run a “Share the Love” promotion. Basically, it is a button swap!
I will reserve 10 spots in my sidebar for my blog friends’ buttons. If you are interested in a spot, reserving one is simple! Email me with the html to your button (pref no wider than 150) and I’ll email you back with mine. Then, from February 1st through the 28th, we each feature the others button on the sidebar.
Easy, right?

Comments
I L-O-V-E comments from my readers. Yeah, that’s you guys. I read each and every one that I get and respond (via email) to every one of them as well.
Do me a favor: Check to make sure you have your email address visible in blogger so that I can respond! No-reply comments give me the sads 🙁

Features
I know a lot of bloggers are making changes to their features for the new year. For the foreseeable future, What to Cook Wednesday and the Fabulous Freebie Friday Giveaway Linky are here to stay!
The rest of the week has always been a free for all anyways and will remain as such.

Guest Posts
Did you read about my upcoming birthday week? Yeah, it isn’t until February but I have been working behind the scenes to partner with some fabulous ladies to fill in for me while I am celebrating. It will be a week full of introducing you to the writers behind some of my favorite blogs.
Want to join in?
Send me an email (or comment on this post) to sign up. I have 2 spots left so don’t wait too long.

Blogger problems
Have you all noticed some issues with blogger recently? You probably noticed that I changed from embedded comments to a pop-up window. It is only temporary while blogger/google works to fix the problem.
A warning to other bloggers (on blogger) though: If you have embedded comments and someone posts on a blog post, IE users will only see a blank page for that post going forward. Right now, this only affects IE users and only on posts where comments have been made but it is far reaching. It might be worthwhile to check your blog to make sure you aren’t in the same boat I was.

Not Just a Plate

January 17, 2012 By Shannah 24 Comments

Our sink is most often a complete mess. Between the regular sponge, the bottle washer, magic soap, regular soap, lotion and dish soap, it is a wonder you can see my countertop over there! I wanted a way to group most of those items together without them just ending up in a pile on the counter. I was clicking around Pinterest and saw someone using a cake plate for this purpose and the light bulb came on!

[Natalme]

Genius idea right? So, I got to work hunting down supplies to make this happen. Candlestick – check! Plate – check! Glue – check! My plate was white so I picked up some colorful spray paint from Home Depot and gave it a good spray. I also used some copper acrylic paint I had hanging around the house to make a very rough looking (on purpose!) border around the edges.

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Special Delivery

January 16, 2012 By Shannah Leave a Comment

We are spending today working on the basement thanks to this special delivery.

Time to Go Out to Eat

January 13, 2012 By Shannah 1 Comment

Ok, it is time to pick a winner for the $50 gift card to Restaurant.com.

I didn’t think this would ever happen but our super duper computer randomly selected #1!

Comment #1 is from Tonia at The Gunny Sack. Tonia – Look for an email from me today to get your information so you can get your prize!

The Fabulous Freebie Friday linky party is going on now. Don’t forget to link up your giveaways (or find new giveaways to enter)!

I’ll be back next Thursday with a new giveaway too.

Fabulous Freebie Friday #12

January 13, 2012 By Shannah Leave a Comment

Time to link up those giveaways again this week!

The “rules” of this party:

1) Be sure to link to your specific giveaway post and not to your overall blog.
2) Put the name of your giveaway and an end date in your link title.
3) Please put my button (found over on the right side of your screen!) or a link back to here in your post so your readers will know where to come find yours and other fabulous giveaways each week.

Best of Me Series

January 12, 2012 By Shannah Leave a Comment

**Embedded Comments are turned off temporarily while Blogger works to fix the issue with commented posts and Internet Explorer**

My friend, Jennifer, is hosting a “Best of Me” series each Thursday through the end of February.

Each Thursday will bring a new guest blogger sharing one of their best projects. Today, I am sharing one of my favorite projects. I hope you will come visit!

2012: What We’re Aiming For

January 11, 2012 By Shannah Leave a Comment

Of course the beginning of a year is the perfect time to examine the goals for the coming year and take a look at the progress on your to-do list.

Since a lot of these goals have been swirling around in my head, I thought I would share them with you as some (all?) of them will likely seep into posts here on Just Us Four.

For the Home:
1) Make our home a more organized space.
2) Finish the basement project (without going insane!).
3) Personalize our home with our own style versus that of the builder. You know that old saying “turn the house into a home.”

For me, personally:
1) Stop talking about losing weight and actually start doing!
2) Be more patient with myself and everyone around me.
3) Keep searching for that elusive balance between work, family, friends and this blog.

Several other bloggers, along with me, are sharing their goals over with The Nester. Come share yours?

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