In My Little World In Ohio

I have no words....

2011-07-29T17:17:00.001-04:00

I have no words to truly describe how I feel these days. I am on an emotional roller coaster. I find myself sitting a puddle of tears, sobbing at the drop of a hat. I hate it. I mean, I really hate it. Yeah, I could probably ask the dr. for a prescription but honestly, that's not going to take the things away that are causing these feelings. It may be a band-aid & I honestly don't like anything that anti-depressants do to me. This year, I turn 40. I am ok with that...what I am not ok with is my new station in life. I am not ok with where things have gone in the last year of my life. I am not ok with not seeing my son for 14 months, I am not ok with him giving his girlfriend a promise ring (they are too young & I won't even go into it). I am not ok with knowing that I can no longer be at things at my daughter's school. I am not ok with feeling like I am now going to miss out on so much of her day now that I work outside the house. I am not ok with how my mother could not find the time to spend with my daughter when we visited last month. I am not ok with now having 2 adult children. I am not ok with much of anything these days. It's a terrible feeling & there's nothing I can do about it. I have to come to terms with all of these things. They are out of my control. So much change in such a short period of time, none of it good.

I am trying to focus on what I am ok with right now. I am ok with my job. It has grown on me. I am ok with the attorneys I work for. They are actually very nice & very understanding about my schedule needing some flexibility. I am ok with bringing home a paycheck. I am ok with the friends that I have....more than ok with that. I have some awesome friends. I am ok with the fact that my house isn't as clean as it once used to be. I am ok with having my nights & evenings off. That's something I rarely got when I worked from home. I am ok with the fact that I took my first paid vacation...a non-working vacation in 6 years. I am ok with the fact that I just unloaded all of this into cyberspace! I needed to put it somewhere!

Dinner?

2011-07-28T18:38:00.000-04:00

I started menu planning again. It's a must. I have to know what's for dinner that night...some nights we eat this & that rather than a true meal. Tonight, I let my daughter have wheat thins, turkey pepperoni & colby jack cheese for dinner. I also gave took her to Dairy Queen right after I picked her up from daycare. Right at 5:00 p.m. I got her a snack size brownie buster blizzard. Yep...I didn't do stuff like that before. Now, I realize that there is some nutritional value in the "meal" she had tonight & she was pleased as could be that I left her eat that for dinner. She was thrilled with the blizzard. The Dairy Queen just opened yesterday & we have anxiously awaited it's opening. It was a nice surprise & treat for her. What am I having for dinner? I don't know. I had a delicious beer at my friend Deb's house after work. Perhaps another one along with a Brat & some potato salad. Brats were on last night's menu but we had leftovers....tacos from the night's previous meal. I have a new appreciation for leftovers these days! It means I don't have to cook & less dishes to wash! Woo hoo! But you know, I am thinking that Bella's meal of wheat thins, pepperoni and cheese sounds pretty darned good right now!

I have really let go...seriously!

2011-07-28T18:34:00.000-04:00

So I thought I would have a hard time letting go of perfection...it has been much easier than I thought! My house had not fallen apart, no one is running around naked, we are not starving to death and we have not been infested by rats! The house is tidy...I spend a few minutes a day doing my best to keep it up but I don't stress over it.

I discovered that I have totally spoiled my 18 yr old who felt that he was only responsible for cleaning up after himself & didn't think he needed to do anything above that....honestly, he rarely does that. I adore the kid but man....he's SO lazy! So I laid it all out for him last week. He works part-time, just graduated from high school. I don't ask him to scrub the bathroom from top to bottom. Honestly that's the one room that I feel like I have to be the one to clean. Anyway....I leave him a short list of things to do. An example? Clean your room, make your bed, put your laundry away (do you see a trend here?), vacuum your room, the hallway & the living room, put the load in the washer in the dryer & unload the dishwasher. Really, I only asked him to do a couple of things that were not specific to HIM! He was waiting until I got home from work to even start anything so another conversation came where I told him that I would appreciate if he would get those things done before I got home. I leave my house around 6:30-6:45 a.m., I return a little after 5. He's got plenty of time to get it done before I get home. It's kind of the point of asking him to do it! He's been doing as I asked since our conversation.

Oh...he's not the only one that's spoiled! My husband is too although, he does cook and do the dishes. He's not allowed to do the laundry....fear of shrunken clothes forbid it! If I ask him to help, he does. My issue? WHY DO I HAVE TO ASK?! DO YOU NOT SEE THAT IT NEEDS TO BE DONE? I think we view things through very different eyes! Sometimes, he gets sick of the way things look & he takes the initiative. I love to see that, what I don't love to see is that state that it typically has to reach before he reaches his breaking point.

So...I do let things go bc most of the time, I am just too tired to care when I get home or I'd rather be doing something I enjoy. I mean REALLY enjoy. I do like to clean, to a certain extend. Mostly, I just like the end result. I love to organize, but really it's all about the end result. Ha...I guess that's life & it's really all about the end result which is why I have let go of perfection when it comes to my house & started to enjoy my life more!

Letting go of perfection

2011-07-15T08:19:00.000-04:00

So I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my house. I like everything to be in order, nothing out of place, no dust to be seen, no dirt to be seen on the floors, beds made....you get the picture. Now that I am working outside the house & commuting, I am finding it way more difficult to keep up with my own expectations of how my house should look. During my vacation with my family, I made a decision. I had to let go of perfection when it comes to the house. Truth is, most of that stuff, no one notices but me. I also am requiring more help from my family to keep things up. I want to use the time I have off to do fun things with them, not be working on a picture perfect house. I want to make memories with my family, those memories do not involve me cleaning while they do fun things. Now I am not saying I am letting my house go to pot, I am just letting go of perfection. For me, this is very difficult but I am already seeing the benefit of focusing on the family vs. the house. I do as much as I can, here & there, it's still clean, it's not like I am living in episode of Hoarders. I don't run & grab the vacuum as soon as I notice stuff on the floor. I don't mop every single week. I do it every other week. That's what swiffers were invented for. Today, instead of cleaning I will be going to the waterpark with my husband and daughter, then this evening I have a neighborhood girls night out planned. Those sound way more fun than scrubbing my house to perfection!

Finding my groove....

2011-06-26T09:22:00.000-04:00

That's easier said than done but I am working on it! I was able to switch my hours at work. I was working 8-5 & the commute was miserable. I am now doing 7:30-4:30. That 1/2 hour change has made a big difference. Here's my routine:
Up at 4:45

shower & brush my teeth
get my coffee & turn on the news
feed & water the dog, let her out
pick up the living room
put lunches in lunch boxes, make my husband's lunch (bc he says his sandwiches get soggy if I make them the night before). If I do not make his lunch, he doesn't have time in the a.m. before work which means he'll buy lunch each day. Costing us about $50/wk. This is not ok since that's 1/2 the grocery budget.
I fold any laundry that's in the dryer from the night before, gather up all the laundry & put a load in the washer to start before I leave for work. I might have a load to put in the dryer too.
dry my hair & put on my make up

6:00 a.m.

wake up Bella & get her dressed, make her breakfast
while she's eating, I make beds, get myself dressed, turn the AC to 78
fix Bella's hair bc of all of her curls, there's no way she can do it herself. I hose her down with detangler each morning & comb the knots out of her hair.
I get her toothbrush ready & make sure she's brushed her teeth.

I leave the house between 6:30-6:45. My husband drops Bella off at daycare since he doesn't have to be to work until 8:00.

I leave my job between 4:15-4:30. I call this my daily battle with the traffic monster. I get on the Brent Spence Bridge from KY to Cincinnati. It's a terrifying 6-7 minutes, maybe less. I get on that bridge & I stay in my lane until I get across it. Every night I watch as cars attempt to change lanes without using their blinker or apparently, looking to see if there's someone coming. One night I braced myself for what I was certain was going to be an ugly accident....at the last minute the collision was avoided. I always run into an ugly jam of traffic. Three lanes that are supposed to be going 55 or 65 depending on the location, at a complete standstill. It drives me NUTS! Anyway...I fight that monster on the freeway. I get to my daughter's daycare around 5:00-5:10 and get back on the road to head home. We usually hit our house around 5:30-5:45. I race in & get dinner started, unpack lunch boxes & bags, I let the dog out, switch the laundry over, sort the mail & talk to Bella about her day. My husband gets home around 5:45 & changes out of his suit & usually comes down to help with dinner. I usually try to get lunches made for the next day while I am making dinner so there's no extra clean-up. Things are left pretty willy nilly until it's time for Bella's shower around 7:30-8:00. While she's showering, I lay out clothes for the next day & put laundry away. By 8:30 I read her a story, we say our prayers & she's usually passed out within minutes of laying down. I try to read or watch something mindless before bed. I like to read my Bible sometimes before bed, I have The Message version & I love it. I usually find myself dozing off by 9:30. I get up & do it all over again.

My goal is to squeeze at least a 1/2 hour of exercise in there somewhere! I try to keep the house up during the week by keeping it picked up, etc. It's hard for me bc I am bit on the anal side when it comes to my house so I am doing my best to ignore the little things & enjoy my evenings with my family.

A New Phase of My Life Has Started....

2011-06-25T22:01:00.000-04:00

and I am still adjusting but it is much better than the first two weeks. The first few weeks of my new job were a nightmare. The commute was horrible. Working 8-5 was leaving me sitting in traffic each day for about 2 hours. The evening commute much worse than the morning. I came home completely exhausted and stressed out. Learning a new area of law that I am not familiar with, going back to work in an office after working from home for 6 years, it just left me so drained at the end of the day. No energy for my precious family. I would literally collapse into bed each night. I spent a lot of time crying, thinking and praying. My neck & shoulders hurt every night from stress. I was so thankful for a gift that my dear friend Leslie gave me about 9 years ago. It's tube type thing filled with buckwheat & I can heat it up in the microwave & put it on my neck & shoulders to loosen things up. It's gotten more use in the last month than it has in years. It's been a lifesaver.

Did I mention that in the midst of me starting a new job the school year was ending and my youngest son was graduating from high school, my boys' father came into town (he's been absent from my boys' lives for 7 years), my oldest son is gone for training for his deployment. Can you say EMOTIONAL WRECK?! The financial situation with our family is far from resolved, the calls continue...one night it was all too much for me. I finally broke down, I mean really broke down. I cried at work, I cried all the way home from work, I cried myself to sleep. It was an ugly day. I felt better after I just let myself process it all. I prayed, A LOT. My prayers were answered...the next couple of weeks, things went much more smoothly all the way around. I am still working out the kinks...some days are really rough but I haven't found myself in that state I was in that night. There tend to be little bright spots in each day & I hold on to those with all I have.

I got a job....now what?

2011-05-23T08:46:00.000-04:00

Yes, you read it right. I got a job finally after 6 1/2 months of searching. I thought it was odd when my sister-in-law said, "That didn't take too long!". I suppose in the grand scheme of things or in someone else's life, that really didn't seem like a long time but to me....it seemed like the longest 6 1/2 months of my life. It is a good job with a good salary & benefits. The downside, it's in Kentucky, just over the bridge from downtown Cincinnati. It's a haul from where I live. This is definitely going to take some work adjusting to a commute like this again after being home for the last 6 years. My first week was last week & it left me completely drained, emotionally & physically. I am hoping that this week is better since I got past the first week hump. I currently work 8-5, which is a problem with the commute. I am going to speak with the attorney I work for to see if an adjustment can be made ASAP. I believe I will enjoy this job once I get used to things. I am only off today due to a lack of work at the part-time job I was wrapping up after giving my 2 weeks notice. I welcomed being off today though to get things in order for the week.

I am re-learning how to get things done & prioritizing what really needs to be done & what can wait. Mind you, I have a big graduation party being held at my house in a few week for my 18 yr old. Keeping the house up is a challenge but I am still transitioning. I have realized that everyone in this house is going to have to pitch in to keep things up bc once they get out of hand, it's so difficult to get it reeled back in. I am looking for ideas & suggestions...I am considering making a week's worth of meals on Sundays...although I do not have much freezer space which presents a problem! I did make a bunch of sides on Saturday to help with meals this week. Meats will be done on the grill & I can pull the sides from the fridge....I just feel like there aren't enough hours in the day now!

Flashing back....

2011-04-02T21:10:00.000-04:00

Today, while surfing Facebook, I started flipping through a classmates photos and came across pictures that included me in them from my very awkward early years. In looking at them, those memories came flooding back to me & they were NOT the best memories. Memories of those terribly awkward years & those feelings actually came back to me for a flash. ICK! I didn't like it! BUT...it did make me think of how far I have come in my life from those years. And it made me think how funny Facebook was! That in that virtual world, when we are all older, hopefully wiser & more mature, we no longer think of all the boundaries that held us back in our younger years. I am friends on facebook with a lot of people that were in different social circles than I was in, but today, none of that matters. We all comment on each others photos of our kids, families, etc. laugh about big hair pictures from the 80's, etc. I wish that teenagers now could understand that this is what happens when we all get older & not dwell on what seems to be everything in their world at that age. Three years ago this month, one of my son's friends took his own life at the tender age of 15. The question why has never really been answered. That friend would have turned 16 in less than one month when he left this world. Every year, on April 30, I flashback to that day, that phone call, my son's face, the faces of the boys that I had known & grown to love since they were in the 5th grade together standing on my doorstep, pale with tear stained cheeks & hurting worse than any teenager ever should at the loss of one of their very best friends. I flash back to going over to that boy's home that night & hugging his dad & sharing my condolences. I flash back to phone conversations with both his parents & holding my son as he cried....trying to understand but remembering how the world of a teenager is. Remembering that their world is so different from that of an adult. Thinking that who they are in high school defines them, who they date, what they wear, etc. Thinking that those things are IT! If only they could see where life takes us as we grow older, wiser & more mature. I am no longer that awkward kid that I was in those pictures I looked at this evening, but she's still inside me somewhere. She comes out from time to time...I am still clumsy. I still trip over my own two feet from time to time & I still wonder how I could have ever been a cheerleader with my lack of coordination but I overcame it. I now can laugh about my clumsiness, I have accepted those things about myself as those things that make me, well, me and it doesn't bother me anymore unless I end up whacking myself in the eye with the car door & give myself a black eye....I have a hard time accepting those moments but I can totally laugh about them & I do! Even a bad flash back moment can result in a good overall feeling!

My next project

2011-03-23T13:50:00.000-04:00

My friend Deb & her husband have been doing a ton of work on their house...Deb is the master of re-painting & making stuff look new again. She has inspired & motivated me BIG TIME! So here's my latest project inspired by DEB!!!

Before (very dated but very sturdy night stands):

After a couple of coats of paint but not done yet:

Re-purposing

2011-03-23T13:42:00.001-04:00

My 6 year old has decided that she still wanted her table & chair set but that she had outgrown the Dora theme. SO....I re-did it for her. I love the end result! I think it turned out so cute! The black is actually a chalk board that I painted on the table using chalk board paint. The decals I found on clearance at Michael's for next to nothing!

Before:

After 5 coats of paint, 3 coats of chalkboard paint & some adorable decals:

I also found a fun & cute little project using plastic containers!!!

Before:

After:

For this project I soaked & washed the container so that I could get the label off. I used scrapbooking supplies I had on hand along with Mod Podge glue. This was a gift for my friend Molly. She absolutely loves it!!!

Menu Planning Monday

2011-03-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

I have slacked on this the last few weeks & it's made things crazy here! I need to plan our weekly menu!

Monday~turkey tenderloin, pasta, salad

Tuesday~homemade chicken noodle soup, BLTs

Wednesday~lemon oregano chicken, rice, salad

Thursday~sirloin on the grill, baked potatoes, corn

Friday~leftovers/pizza

Saturday~chicken alfredo, salad

Sunday~enchiladas, guacamole, chips

Simplifying things....

2011-03-13T15:22:00.000-04:00

Since the loss of my work at home job & taking on a very low paying part-time position I have had to make drastic changes in EVERYTHING here at home. Nothing has gone untouched by my job loss. I am learning that we can definitely live without a lot of things & that we can get by on a lot less than we were. As a result of all these drastic changes, I have been doing everything I can to simplify things here. My cleaning, meals, you name it. I haven't worked outside the home in 5 years. Going back to working, even part-time, outside the home has been a big adjustment. It's giving me time to make changes & adjustments necessary for when I do get another full-time position outside the home. Making changes where I could see problems arising during the part-time transition....a prime example is the coffee table in my living room. It's very large, glass & wood. It needs constant dusting & cleaning. So...I purchased a $20 slipcover from Overstock.com for our old ottoman that was in the basement & brought that upstairs & put a cute white tray that I found at Target for $4.24 on it to hold things & moved the cumbersome coffee table to the den in the basement. I love that coffee table but I don't have the time or energy to deal with it as much as it needs to be dealt with. Now the living room looks bigger & I have one less thing to clean every couple of days.

Sunday's project~Organizing the linen closet

2011-02-23T11:21:00.000-05:00

Again...another one of those things when I should have taken some before shots of the closet, but I didn't bc once I made up my mind to get busy, I just did it! I went to put towels away & ended up pulling everything out! Since I have discovered the marvels of couponing, I have a nice stock pile of various personal care items & they were not in the best order. They now are! I can find what I need very easily. More importantly, so can everyone else & I hopefully will not open the linen closet to find a mess of items randomly shoved around in there. That drives me NUTS! We'll see how it works!

In the big bin with the blue tag I have toothpaste & mouthwash. It is clearly labeled so digging should not be necessary anymore!

Top shelf baskets, large bin holds Bella's nebulizer, tubing & medication for it. The small basket in the front holds floss & toothbrushes

various soaps

Shaving supplies

First aid items

Menu Planning Monday

2011-02-20T19:51:00.000-05:00

Monday~tuna steaks, salad, rice for adults----leftover turkey dinner for kids
Tuesday~naked chicken cordon bleu, rice, salad, corn
Wednesday~beef stew, biscuits
Thursday~pork loin, potatoes, green bean casserole
Friday~pizza
Saturday~dinner out....Bella having pizza at Pajama Jam!
Sunday~meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

My Coupon Binder

2011-02-20T19:13:00.000-05:00

I spent several hours re-working my coupon binder earlier this week. I needed to add more baseball card holders to accommodate all the coupons I have accumulated & in order to properly utilize them! After several hours of sorting, clipping & organizing...I got it done & I am so very pleased! I organize the personal care products by items...ie. shaving supplies, oral care, shampoos, make up, etc. cleaning supplies in the same way. It's making shopping & pulling coupons much easier!

A peek at how organized the binder is using baseball card holders

Labeled tab dividers

Pockets in the front of each sectioned divider helps with odd coupons or those that I need to use ASAP or might use on a particular trip

CVS Clearance deals

2011-02-20T18:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I ran to CVS to arm myself with disinfectant to rid the house of the sickie germs that have taken it over & stumbled upon some fantastic deals when coupled with coupons!

Speedstick deodorant (Irish Spring scent) @ $1.89 + $1 off coupon = $.89
Colgate Wisp (cinnamon) $1.49 + $1 off coupon = $.49
Nivea for men High Performance Shave Gel $2.14 + $1 off = $1.14
Pantene Classic Style Gel $1.37 + buy 2 get $1.00 off = $.87 each
Crest Pro Health for Sensitive teeth $1.99 + $1 off coupon +$.99 (normally I don't even pay for toothpaste but I am having sensitivity issues so I really wanted to try this!)

I also scored a great deal on Bounty Paper towels on sale for $5.88 & I had a $1 off coupon making an 8 pack of them $4.88!
34 oz liquid Downy on sale for $3.99 + $1 off coupon + $2.99
Gain liquid dish soap = $.88 + $1.00 off coupon = FREE...money maker!!!
26 count of Cascade Complete $ 5.99 + $1 off coupon +$4.99

We are seriously stocked up on paper towels, toilet paper, detergent, fabric softener, dish soap----hand wash & for the dishwasher, shave gel, hair gel & toothpaste...as well as cereal for quite some time. Not just from this find but from the past couple of months using my coupons & the blogs that match the coupons with the sales. Sometimes you just stumble upon things like these clearance deals. Earlier in the week I ran across Ziplock brand freezer bags, gallon & quart size for $1.99....they were the Christmas bags. WHO CARES! I had coupons for buy 2 & save $1. I loaded up for that price...I forgot to add that we are set with freezer, sandwich & snack baggies. I loaded up on the ziplock sandwich & snack baggies today at Target. 3 boxes for $6 (and some change). I bought 6 boxes, used my coupons which totaled $3 off. These were packages of 100 count baggies on sale for $2.23 each. The total ending being $1.50/box. You can't buy the Kroger brand baggies for that price!

Other Target deals included stacking Target coupons with manufacturer coupons on products like Tide Febreeze Sport, Charmin & Bounty! There are also a lot of clearance items in Target in the cleaning & beauty isles that you will probably find you have coupons for. We are in great shape with our cleansers & shampoos & conditioners as well thanks to clearance items & coupons!

Look what came in the mail today!!!!

2011-02-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

This beautiful blue book arrived in my mailbox today loaded with fabulous coupons! This was another great Facebook goody. Tomorrow I'll share with you what I have already used! I have some good ones to use before the 28th if the sales correspond with them!

Sickie Saturday

2011-02-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

Seems this icky virus has settled into my house...and the house of many of my friends (whom I miss bc we have not been able to get together bc of this ickiness!) Bella has ran a low-grade fever since Wednesday afternoon. It leaves then comes back...I guess it just can't make up it's mind whether to stay or go. My wish is that it would just make up it's mind & leave for good! My husband is sick too, although without a fever, just a lot of congestion, sneezing & coughing, which also equals snoring which equals sleepless nights for me. I wake up in the middle of the night to find myself wedged between Bella & Mike...both snoring & both breathing their sickie germs on me! Is it any wonder that I am not feeling all that great myself today?!

The challenge has been to keep Bella occupied since her playmates have been reduced to mommy, daddy, Dylan (big brother) & Gracie (our dog). Yesterday we played barbies, cleaned her room, sorted through her toys & went to the movies to see Gnomeo & Juliette (SOOOO cute!). Today was a bit more challenging since I wasn't feeling well myself! Today we: painted each others nails, painted pictures together,
baked & decorated cookies,

made homemade banana bread

....and I made homemade chicken noodle soup, chicken salad

...ran to CVS to fully arm myself with disinfectant to get the icky germs out of here. Lysol & Clorox are my new BFFs. (I'll blog about the CVS trip tomorrow bc in the midst of trying to arm myself, I found some close out deals and I got a super surprise from P&G in the mail today which I used to score some amazing deals at CVS. There I go again, getting off track.)

It's now 9:22 & I find myself ready to brush my teeth & climb into bed (ALONE) & succumb to the icky sickieness that I feel hovering over me like a dark cloud. I am thinking about the fact that I am teaching the 11:00 a.m. first grade Sunday school class tomorrow & thinking that sounds like a wonderful idea bc I am going to need all the sleep & energy I can muster to get through that tomorrow if I am feeling like I have today!

Today's organizing project....baskets of meds in the kitchen

2011-02-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

Is there a way to make THAT look all organized & cute? I wondered. I had all the meds in baskets but they were all just shoved into them. One could never find what one was searching for when one needed it. So...I cleaned them out finding meds that expired in 2007! YIKES! In the end (yes, I truly should have taken before photos but I really hadn't planned on this project today, it become one out of necessity of a house full of sickies!)

Here's what I ended up with:

I labeled them prescriptions/ibuprofen; vitamins & allergy/cold & others. I have finally made use of those cute little tags I purchased from Stampin Up! 5 years ago! LOL! Guess what? I am dying to do more! Next will be the linen closet! (Not today though!)

The new electric bill came today & other nonsense....

2011-02-15T10:39:00.000-05:00

To my surprise, our electric bill has dropped considerably! Last month $281, this month $205. It appears that the cost saving measures I implemented have paid off. My husband feels $205 is still high so we are looking for more ways to cut it. I am not sure what else we can do but we shall see!

Yesterday I had to make a trip to Kroger to load up on produce. Is it wrong that I get disappointed when my savings isn't 50% or higher? My savings yesterday totaled 38%. It's difficult to see huge savings when it comes to purchasing produce though. I try to buy the bulk of it at Sam's Club but some things I have to get at Kroger like 1 lone cucumber, green onions, grapes (bc they are so expensive at Sam's now & not that fresh), mushrooms...I did buy a nice big container of spinach at Sam's. We will be eating a lot of spinach this week! I have a recipe for lasagna style baked ziti that includes spinach that we'll be eating this week along with salad. A nice big container of plums came home with me from Sam's Club for around $5. It's hard to eat all those yummy healthy foods when trying to stick to a budget but we are trying to eat better, healthier & in a manner that promotes weight loss so I am doing what I can with our budget & the produce. I am also making sure we are eating all the produce that comes into the house....nothing will get thrown away. I experimented with my first homemade banana bread last week in an effort to make sure the bananas don't get wasted. I pulled the bread out too soon & the middle wasn't quite done but now I know for the next batch! I will make muffins & bread & freeze it if needed.

We were giving up our Y membership due to our finances. $65/month is a lot of money. I didn't even spend that on groceries last week. I contacted our Y & explained the situation & that we needed to drop our membership. Their response was to give us a 3 month grace period, then if in April, I still don't have a full-time job or one that will give us a comparable income remotely close to what I made before, we can apply for a scholarship. I am so very grateful that the Y was willing to do this for our family. Once I knew that we would be able to keep our membership, I started hitting the Y again. I had lost a lot of weight due to stress when I lost my job, I have put some of it back on bc my nerves & stomach settled down & I was not watching what I ate or exercising. I am now trying to get back on track to where I was before I lost my job.

Menu Planning Monday

2011-02-15T10:23:00.000-05:00

Monday~pork chops & chicken legs on the grill, twice baked potatoes, corn, pasta roni pasta, biscuits

Tuesday~roasted chicken, rice, corn, spinach salad, biscuits

Wednesday~tuna steaks, spinach salad, rice (grown ups); upside down pizza for kids & fruit

Thursday~marinated chicken breasts on the grill, baked potatoes, spinach salad, fruit

Friday~lasagna style baked ziti with bread & spinach salad

Saturday~chicken noodle soup, BLTs

Sunday~turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls

Menu Planning Monday

2011-02-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

Monday~Turkey burger stroganoff, salad, biscuits

Tuesday~Homemade chicken noodle soup, BLTs

Wednesday~leftovers

Thursday~Roasted chicken, baked potatoes, corn

Friday~Lasagna style baked ziti, salad

Saturday~chicken fettuccine alfredo, salad

Sunday~meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

I did some de-cluttering & found some money in the process....Resale shops

2011-01-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

OK, so maybe that title is slightly deceptive but I did get money for the items I de-cluttered books & DVDs. My six year old daughter had a huge collection of Dora & Elmo DVDs. As you can imagine, at age 6, she has now deemed those videos "for babies". She very willingly parted with all of her Dora, Elmo & Little Einstein DVDs. We have since moved on to Barbie, Hannah Montana & Wizards of Waverly Place. Sigh...a little sad to see that she has outgrown Little Einsteins bc I loved all that she learned from that show & I thought it was adorable. Anyway...back to the found money. All the retired & outgrown DVDs were placed in a box & moved to the garage for a future trip to a resale shop.

From DVDs to books....My 18 year old & I went through all of our books & ended up with a tote full of books that we no longer wanted/needed, etc. I had some beautiful Martha Stewart books that hadn't been cracked open in over 2 years. Time to let them go & clear off some much needed space on the shelves.

I had no real expectations as to what these items might bring in when I took them to their respective resale shops but figured, really, any amount of money would be great considering I just made space in our house & removed unwanted & unused items. I took the children's DVDs to Once Upon a Child, one of our local children's resale shops. I netted $24.75 from the sale of the DVDs & a really cool talking Viewmaster with the discs that Bella no longer used. I left there pretty darned happy! My next stop was Half Price Books. I took my tote full of books to the counter & wandered around the store for 15 minutes while they checked out what I had & figured out how much to offer me. They called me up to the counter & offered me $15 for everything. While I knew that the value of the books was well beyond $15, what else was I going to do with them? I was happy to get my $15 & an empty tote back! The clerk told me that they would buy CDs, DVDs, computer games, books, magazines, etc. Well, that caused me to come back home & go through our collections to see what we could part with. I now have another tote full of stuff to take up there next week. I am not parting with anything that anyone will miss. Most of the DVDs that I hauled out had a nice thick coating of dust on them. A clear indication that no one is going to miss them! (They are also DVDs that are my own personal DVDs! LOL!)

I love that I am making money while clearing out clutter!

Menu Planning Monday

2011-01-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

I am late posting this since I worked yesterday & had a really rough evening....still, I have got my menu planned for the week & ready to go!

Monday~beef with broccoli & chicken fried rice
Tuesday~Leftovers (ham, macaroni & cheese, Monday's meal) with fresh veggies & biscuits
Wednesday~beef stroganoff, corn, biscuits
Thursday~Polish sausage & potatoes
Friday~tuna noodle casserole, rosemary & olive oil foccacia (Marketday.com)
Saturday~Naked chicken cordon bleu stuffed chicken breast (from Marketday.com), rice with broccoli
Sunday~Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, biscuits

Oh CVS....How I love you!!!

2011-01-18T13:20:00.000-05:00

This morning I ran to CVS armed with my coupons & my list. A small list really. $20 worth of Pepsico products, 2 tubes of crest & 2 bags of Valentine's M&M's. Probably seems like an odd combination although....with all that sugar the Crest seems like a good match-up! My purchase consisted of the following:

3 bottles of Mt. Dew at $1 each
2 bottles of Dr. Pepper at $1 each
5 bottles of Sobe Lifewater @ $1 each
3 bags of Lay's potato chips in varying flavors @ $2.50 each
1 bag of Doritos @ $2.50
1 bag of plain & 1 bag of peanut Valentine M&M's @ $2.50
2 tubes of Crest Pro Health Enamel Sheild @ $2.19---yeah, kind of a lot for toothpaste when I usually get it free however with the ECB I earned...I actually made money on this.

I used the following coupons:

$4 off $20
$5 ECB from a previous visit a few weeks ago
2 coupons for $.75 off crest
$1 off 2 bags of M&M's

My total before tax: $29.38

My total before tax & after coupons: $17.88

I earned:

$10 in ECB from the Pepsico products
$4 in ECB from the Crest
$1 in ECB from the M&M's

Total ECB Earned: $15 for $17.88 spent before tax! This means next week, I'll probably be walking out of CVS with some freebies or almost freebies depending on the sales & coupon match ups!

Menu Planning Monday

2011-01-16T15:01:00.001-05:00

Monday~simple roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn

Tuesday~leftovers (roast, chicken, etc.) along with polish sausage & potatoes if needed

Wednesday~slow cooker chicken cordon bleu, rice

Thursday~enchiladas

Friday~ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli & cheese sauce

Saturday~ground beef stroganoff, corn, biscuits

Sunday~Tuna noodle casserole, salad, bread

My scary electric bill!

2011-01-16T13:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I received my latest electric bill & almost went into shock. It was $281! Our home is not very big, I have plastic on our downstairs windows bc they are big & the main floor always seems to be cold during the winter months. I had programmed our thermostat for 67 during the day & 62 at night. Apparently, these measures are just not enough! I decided that I needed to take further steps to reduce this bill. This is ridiculous & the highest I can ever recall paying!

My friend Deb reminded me that in the free winterizing kits that we received from our energy company we had received these insulators that go in your outlets & light switches. She also advised me that she keeps their heat at 65 when they are home & 60 at night & when they are gone. I got the box out from the energy company & installed the insulators. I hung up a set of curtains from the living room to the basement in an effort to help with the heating down there, it's finished but we don't spend much time down there.

After reading various information about winterizing & reducing energy bills, one of the simplest things I could do is keep all doors closed to all rooms that aren't being used. I noticed a big difference in the temperature of the rooms that were closed off during the day, much cooler in them but that was fine...they are the bedrooms & the bathrooms. Our light bulbs are already CFLs & I am stickler for lights, etc. being off when no one is in the room. What more can I do to reduce our costs?

I found the following tips on How To Winterize Your Home on http://www.productivity501.com :

Replace any old or inefficient windows. Windows are one of the major ways heat leaks out of your house.
Seal off drafty windows and patio doors with clear plastic.
If you have a lot of outside doors that leak air, you can seal a few off using plastic or caulk putty.
If your furnace is more than 10 years old, there’s a good chance that it wastes a lot of fuel. Consider upgrading to a newer one.
Insulate the hot water lines around your hot water heater and turn down the temperature of the water heater to the “warm” setting (120 degrees F).
Consider “blanketing” your water heater with faced fiberglass insulation. (Do not do this if you have a gas-powered water heater)
Wrap any hot water pipes that run through unheated areas of the house. Also, you can insulate cold water pipes to help prevent them from freezing during the winter.
Replace your furnace filter about every 3 months.
Make sure your cold air returns aren’t blocked. Your furnace needs these to operate efficiently.
Try replacing the weather stripping around the doors in your home.
Use a programmable thermostat to reduce heating costs when no one is at home.
Uncover all south-facing windows to let all possible sunlight in your home.
Keep all vents and baseboard heaters clean.
If you have a fireplace, close the damper when the fireplace is not in use.
If the damper is old or doesn’t close well, try putting some insulation in it to seal it off. Just remember to take it out before using it!
If you like using a fireplace, consider getting an insert that will direct the heat into your house instead of just sending it up the chimney.
Consider replacing all of your lightbulbs with energy-saving CFL bulbs.
Install a timer on your water heater so it isn’t heating a whole tank of water when you don’t need it.
Install foam insulators behind the face plates of light switches and electrical outlets.
Check the insulation in the walls of your home. It might need some work in order to keep heat in efficiently.
Plant evergreen trees close to your home to block the winter wind.
Reverse the direction of ceiling fans to push hot air downward and delay it from escaping the house.
Consider hanging thermal curtains to help prevent drafts.
Install a dryer vent seal to prevent cold air from traveling back into your home.
There are attachments to vent your dryer inside your home so you don’t waste the heat and humidity. (Don’t try this if you have a gas-powered dryer).
Check windows for leaks. Windows with wooden frames often warp and become inefficient.
Caulk both sides of the trim around your windows. This is an area where a lot of air can get in.
Try not to use space heaters to heat large areas of your house.
If you spend most of your time in one room in a large house, consider setting your thermostat low and using a small heater to heat where you are going to be.
Remove any window-unit air conditioners.
Keep all closet doors closed when possible. There’s no need to heat space that isn’t in use as long as it doesn’t contain water pipes.
Make sure that your garage isn’t too drafty.
Try to use the clothes dryer for consecutive loads of laundry. This conserves the energy that would be needed to heat up the dryer several times.
Replace the caulking around any bathtubs or showers.
If your home has folding attic stairs, consider insulating the door with a cover of some sort.
If your home has a sliding glass door, check the seal on the bottom to make sure it isn’t letting in cold air.
If your water heater needs to be upgraded, consider installing a tankless water heater.
Use the oven for baking during colder hours of the day to help heat your home.
Install storm doors to help keep out drafts.
Use an energy monitor to tell you what appliances are using the most energy. This might help pinpoint areas where you can cut back on energy usage.
Make sure that your duct system is working properly.
Look into installing a geothermal heating system. While it is a bit expensive, initially, the energy savings provide a long-term cost benefit.
Dress warmly when you are inside so that you won’t be tempted to raise the temperature on the thermostat.
Make sure that there aren’t any drafts coming in under doors. If there are, consider using a rubber strip to seal them off.
If you own a brick home, check the mortar. It may need repair.
Replace worn or missing shingles.
Seal any cracks in the foundation of your house.
Wear socks and slippers. If your feet are warm, you will feel warmer and can keep the thermostat set low.
Install a programmable Energy Star thermostat that will lower the temperature at night and when no one is at home.
Close off rooms that aren’t used and shut the vents.

Of course, not all of these are feasible, some of them are very costly like installing a geothermal heating system...wonderful idea, however, I am drawing unemployment. Not exactly the ideal time for us to be considering this as an option to save money!

Also, using the plastic outlet covers, like what you use to childproof your house with babies are a great way to stop drafts from coming in. To think I got rid of all of ours a few years ago...I will be purchasing more. Thank goodness they are cheap!

This week's Adventures in Krogering....

2011-01-14T14:28:00.000-05:00

After reviewing the various blogs I subscribe to, I put together my list & my coupons & headed out to my nearest Kroger. This week, I still saved more than I spent but I went over my budget by $7.73. This week's budget was $100, I spent $107.73, saved $118.77. I received catalinas to use on my next visit to Kroger totaling $6.50 thanks to General Mills. I took advantage of the sale on freezer items, as much as I could with the limited amount of freezer space that I have. I bought a couple of emergency meals--these are meals that I can just throw in a pan & have ready in about 20 minutes. I had great coupons for the Macaroni Grill frozen dinners & they were on sale for $5.99, I had a coupon for $1.50 off making them $4.49 each...I believe that they are normally $7.99. A great deal for a couple of quick & easy meals when things don't go as planned.

My favorite deals this week included free toothpaste & toothbrushes by pairing the sale & my coupons. The toothpaste & toothbrushes were on sale for $1 each...I had coupons for $.50 off which doubled to $1 making my 2 tubes of toothpaste & my 2 toothbrushes free! Also using coupons & sales, I stocked up on fruit roll ups, nature valley granola bars & some Fiber One shredded wheat cereals....by purchasing 3 of each, I got a free box of new Cinnamon Cheerios. I got 4 free boxes of Cheerios & got my Fiber One cereal for $.75 a box. $2 for granola bars & $1.50 for the fruit roll ups! I also stocked up on lunch meat...$2 each for Hillshire Farms Deli Select lunch meat using coupons & the sale. I got my bread for $.67 by combining my coupons with the sale. My splurge was the Fage yogurt...2 cups of it for myself. They were $1.25 each on sale. I LOVE that stuff, it's sooo good but so expensive! Some items I didn't have coupons for but with the sales, the deals were still pretty good & I could justify buying the items but only a few like pizza rolls, red gold tomato sauce (which I prefer to use when I make my homemade spaghetti sauce...I tried the Kroger brand & it definitely tasted different & not in a way I preferred!).

Free Hand Washing Timer!

2011-01-13T14:52:00.000-05:00

Today's Target trip

2011-01-13T14:49:00.000-05:00

I read on a blog yesterday that Thursdays is the day that Target typically marks down their toys & that most likely a large amount of toys that had previously been 30%-50% off would be going down to 75% off today. This was welcome news considering that my daughter has 4 birthday parties for 5 kids to attend between this Saturday & February 12.....and Valentine's Day is fast approaching & I always like to get the kids something fun (big kids included, however right now, I don't know what I am going to do for them!). I scored BIG TIME in the toy department finding:

4 polly pocket playsets originally priced at $24.99, down to 6.24 each
accessory packs for Paperoni originally $14.99 & $12.99 down to $3.74 & $3.14
An Ironman playset originally $28.49 down to $7.12
2 Little Pet Shop play sets originally $12.59 down to $3.14 each
Fur Real Friend Bear originally $29.99 down to $7.48

The original price of these items total $211.60. I paid $52.82. I now have the birthday gifts covered for 5 kids, plus some things for Valentine's Day & Easter for my daughter, and one extra gift to keep in my stash for the next party that comes up!! I would normally (prior to my job loss) spend about $15-$20 per child when it comes to birthday parties. I was a bit worried what we were going to do for gifts but I am so relieved to have it covered & get some great gifts for the kids!

In addition, they had a large selection of children's shoes 75% off. My daughter's size for next year must be particulary popular bc I managed to only find a couple of pairs in her size & only one that I felt was a great deal for her. I found her adorable black knee high boots to wear with leggings or dresses next year for $4.24, normally $19.99! They did have women's shoes on sale but with my size 11 feet, there's rarely much to choose from & what was in my size was 50% off & still not on sale enough for me to justify the purchase. I do need some new shoes for when I start working in a firm again (if there's where I end up) but $13 was still steeper than I want to pay without having that full time, steady job secured.

I am used to wearing Mary Kay makeup bc one of my friends sells it & I get a great deal from her. Now I can't justify the purchase even at the great deal I was getting it so today I browsed the make-up at Target & found a line of make up called "elf". Most items were $1, I needed bronzer & mascara. Those items were $3 each & the packaging is excellent! The bronzer is in a little black compact that opens up to a mirror that fills the entire lid. This does not look like cheap ....er..um...inexpensive makeup. I always picture the Wet & Wild stuff when someone mentions "cheap" make up.

I love Target! If you have something coming up where you'll need gifts for children, I suggest you RUN to your nearest Target bc once that stuff is 75% off, it goes off the shelves fast! My friend Kathy advised me that it's best to get there at 8 a.m. when they are marking their toys down bc she said some women have 2 carts & they load them up & do all their Christmas/birthday shopping for the next year & are tossing their treasures into the backs of their minivans or cars by 8:30! (Of course, I made a mental note for next year on that one)

Flylady's missions in this week's zone: The Kitchen

2011-01-12T16:45:00.000-05:00

I am behind on the missions for this week:

Monday-set your timer for 10 minutes and take a broom or a feather duster and tackle the cobwebs that are hanging around the corners of the ceilings and the ceiling. Clean the light fixture & dust the top of the fridge. (I did do the top of the fridge on Monday but that's it!)

Tuesday~ Use a damp rag and wipe down the fronts and the edges of your cabinets.

Wednesday~Clean out the fridge & wipe down the shelves.

Since flylady says you are never behind, just jump in...I am going to work on these 3 things while preparing tonight's dinner. I noticed that my valance on the window beside the stove has a whole dust bunny farm of it's own....that's going down to the washer as soon as I get up from this computer.

Some favorite recipes

2011-01-12T16:17:00.002-05:00

Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti Real Simple Recipes

Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Cordon-Bleu

Upside Down Pizza-Recipe for Upside Down Pizza

I am often asked for this recipe. It's quick, easy & a family favorite in my house.

2 1/2 pounds of ground beef or turkey (I brown & freeze mine ahead of time so I can have this ready in no time)
2 jars of pizza quick sauce
favorite pizza toppings
sour cream
pizza cheese
1 can of crescent rolls

preheat oven to temperature listed on crescent roll package

13 x 9 in pan--I use a glass one b/c the clean up is easier

Instructions

Brown meat & drain grease

mix 2 jars of pizza sauce with meat & spread in bottom of pan

put pizza toppings on

Put sour cream in lines in between pepperoni . I usuall go from top to bottom, not lengthwise (if you use a squeeze bottle of sour cream it's easier)

put your cheese on across entire pan of mixture & toppings

unroll can of crescent rolls & put on top of mixture

bake at the temperature on the crescent rolls...usually a couple of minutes longer that it says on the can. I just watch it until it's golden brown.

My kids LOVE this & their friends ask to be invited over for dinner when I make it

Snow Day #2 this week.....

2011-01-12T15:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had to work for 5 hours at my part-time job. It is the only day I am scheduled to work this week & the kids had a snow day! When I got off work at 12:45, the main roads were nice & clear but the side streets still needed to be plowed. Within a couple of hours, the side streets were all nice & clean but the snow kept coming down. Apparently, the snow continued to fall throughout the night because I got the first call this morning that school was on a 2 hr delay, a 1/2 hr later the phone rang again to announce that we are having snow day #2 this week.

Yesterday Bella spent the day at my friend Rachel's (as did I after work) & enjoyed playing with her kids. Today didn't have any place we had to be (silver lining of my lack of full-time employment) so I tried to fill it with some productive & fun activities at home including:

having my friend Deb's delightful daughters over to play for while
making pumpkin muffins

browning 5.5 pounds of lean ground beef & freezing it
cleaning out the freezer & organizing it
making french toast for breakfast
taking the pork chops for tomorrow night's dinner out of the freezer
browsing my cookbooks for new recipes
paying bills
helping Bella with her homework
balanced my check book
played in the snow with Bella

shoveling the sidewalk & driveway with Bella's help
visiting with Deb & Rachel at Rachel's house
printed Target coupons
printed other coupons

It's not dinner time yet but I feel like today has been quite productive!

Flylady's Weekly Home Blessing

2011-01-10T10:54:00.001-05:00

For about 6 years now I have been following http://www.flylady.net/. She has really helped me minimize clutter, get organized & keep my house in order. That being said, I loosely follow her....I use her methods as a guide. I have never really been able to keep up with her daily missions, etc. but I try. Each week there's a new zone of your house you focus on. Each day there is a specific thing you are supposed to focus on...Monday is weekly home blessing day. I have always struggled with this one:

What is the Weekly Home Blessing Hour?

The Weekly Home Blessing hour is the time FlyLady spends slipshod cleaning her home. No detailed cleaning required; vacuum the middle of the floors only!

FlyLady sets her timer for 10 minutes to work on each of 7 tasks:

Vacuum

Dust

Mop

Polish Mirrors and Doors

Purge magazines

Change Sheets

Empty all trash

This takes approximately one hour; some tasks take less than 10 minutes.

"Don't obsess, set your timer for 10 minutes for each task, then QUIT!" ~ Kelly

I am a bit obsessive so I have never managed to have this take me one hour! I religiously strip the beds & wash the sheets each Monday, even if I never do any of the rest of these things on Monday. This Monday, I am really going to try to do this just as Flylady tells you to & see if it works. My issue is that I start in the bedrooms & work my way downstairs. That never takes an hour! I am curious to see if I can really get my house nice & tidy in one hour 10 minutes at a time. I think the first 10 minutes should be just going through the house picking things up so that you can do all of the things on flylady's list for Monday!

This week's zone is the kitchen. For today's mission I am supposed to set my timer for 10 minutes and take a broom or a feather duster and get the dust &cobwebs that areon the upper walls, the corners of the ceilings and the ceiling. Also check the top of your refrigerator and dust that as well.  Dust/clean off your light fixtures.

Mind you...even if you work a full-time job outside of the house, flylady says you can do this & keep your house clean without really having to clean it from top to bottom each week bc you focus on one room each week & do the daily missions. I am curious how many moms that work full-time outside the house with active children (involved in activities, young children, etc.) are able to follow her. I have never followed her to a T...I always loosely followed her. I am going to try to follow her daily missions, etc. & see if I can keep up & I am only working part-time right now while seeking full-time or really awesome part-time employment.

I'll report back later on today's experiment. I guess it's time to start my experiment & see what the results are!

UPDATE:

First 10 minutes: ran through the house picking up misc items that belonged elsewhere...put some of them away, put some of them in a basket to put away later as I go to each room where they belong.

2. 10----Empty all trash---ok..this one does not take even close to 10 minutes. I emptied all the trash cans, took out all the trash & recycling, switched the laundry over, folded & put away towels, put the clean sheets in my room to make my bed with, restocked the toilet paper in the bathroom & the linen closet, brought up the vacuum & the mop & bucket, put some clothes away that were out in my bedroom, replaced the trash bags, moved stuff out of the kitchen to prepare to sweep & mop it.

3. 10-Purge magazines/newspapers & sweep & mop-again, it shouldn't take 10 minutes to purge newspapers & magazines unless you got a stockpile, then maybe! So during this ten minutes & I also swept & mopped my kitchen, dining room, entryway & the upstairs (main bathroom). I got the swiffer ready for the downstairs bath bc that's where I do my hair & the dry swiffer gets all the hair up quickly & easily when the timer went off.

4. 10- Vacuum-vacuuming & mopping (i would think you include sweeping in this, I believe it's implied since you would clearly want to sweep before you mop!) is supposed to be the middle of the floors only...this means not moving the ottoman, coffee table, etc. for me, I think I have to include the stairs too bc otherwise there's stuff on them that will get tracked all over the house again. During this 10 minutes I took the mop & water & broom to the basement. I vacuumed the living room, the stairs from the living room to the bedrooms, vacuumed all 3 bedrooms, put everything back in the bathroom & into the kitchen --trash cans, etc., vacuumed the den area & the stairs from the den to the living room...I was winding up the cord to the vacuum as the timer went off and yes...I was sweating!!!!!

5. 10- Dusting/polishing mirrors & doors-to me this has to be done after sweeping, mopping & vacuuming otherwise you just kick up dust again. During this 10 minutes I dusted all the wood & glass in the living room, did all the mirrors in the house (bathrooms included), all the pictures & flat surfaces in the dining room, then did the bedrooms, then down to the den area. I used a duster (not swiffer but a cloth one that I can throw into the wash) for everything, I used glass cleaner for the table tops & only used a product..a wood oil on my coffee table bc it's looking pretty beat up these days. I tossed the duster cloth into the hamper to be washed bc it was disgusting after I finished all those surfaces. Again...sweating....getting a good workout in doing this! LOL!

6. 10- Change sheets- I made my bed with my clean sheets, Bella's bed was already done, Dylan's are in the washer & since he's 18, I am going to let him make his bed since I picked him room up, vacuumed & dusted in there. Since putting clean sheets on my bed didn't take the full ten minutes, I finished cleaning my bathroom--tub (wiped down shower walls but didn't scrub...that's later in the week), toilet, sink & counter.

So....I guess it can be done in 60-70 minutes, depending on the size of your house & how messy things are.  If I had properly completed my morning routine, I would have swished & swiped (Swish and Swipe via flylady)   my bathroom this a.m. & I could have elminated that from what I did during the last 10 minutes.

My house is indeed very clean & tidy....problem is that the counters still need to be wiped down, the downstairs bathroom still needs to be cleaned, swept & mopped as well as the laundry room but the main part of the house is excellent shape, minus the wiping down in the kitchen.  That should have been done this a.m. when I cleaned up from breakfast but didn't.  My daughter's room needs my attention. Her laundry needs to be put away...again, this is something I usually do before I go to bed & didn't do last night so I am paying for that today. Just evidence that when you stray from your morning routine and your before bed routine (morning routine and before bed routines via flylady, it throws things off the next day.

Menu Planning Monday

2011-01-10T10:33:00.001-05:00

I have learned that menu planning is very important if you are on a budget & if you like to keep your sanity. There is no mad dash to figure out "What's for dinner????". I usually keep some emergency meals in the freezer just in case something unexpected happens.

One of my favorite things to do is to buy my ground turkey or beef in bulk (it's definitely cheaper this way) and brown it & freeze it in 1 pound bags. I can whip up a meal quickly using that ground meat. While it's defrosting I can be getting out other ingredients for dinner, preheating the oven, etc. Once the meat is defrosted I can toss everything together & have dinner on the table in no time. I use the meat to prepare meals like spaghetti, tacos, sloppy joes, nachos, hamburger helper, upside down pizza, lasagna style baked ziti, enchiladas...etc. I do need to do a better job of keeping track of what's in the freezer though bc one night I was going to make tacos only to discover I had already used my last package of browned ground meat! I quickly defrosted chicken breasts but the meal took much longer to prepare than if I had my pre-cooked ground meat!

Monday~leftover night~BBQ beef sandwiches, homemade fries, soup, pizza---whatever else is in the fridge!

Tuesday~Simple Roast Chicken http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/simple-roast-chicken-10000001141403/index.html, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, biscuits

Wednesday~Spaghetti with Parmesan & Bacon http://inmylittleworldinoh.blogspot.com/search/label/experiment garlic bread

Thursday~pork chops, macaroni & cheese, brocolli in cheese sauce

Friday~enchiladas

Saturday~meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, corn

Sunday~ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, biscuits

Couponing

2011-01-08T17:37:00.000-05:00

Funny story....this afternoon I ran to the grocery store to scoop up a few more bargains & get items I needed in order to complete tonight's dinner (we were OUT of potatoes & that just cannot happen in the winter!)...anyway; I am standing in line at Kroger and a lady comes up & says to me "So, how much are you going to save today?". At first I was kind of creeped out bc I didn't know who was standing behind me & asked me that but then I realized that that lady is a friend of mine in the real world and on Facebook. She saw my post earlier this week about my trip to Kroger where I spent $127.50 but saved $182.63.

Today's trip paled in comparison to my trip earlier this week. Most of that is due to the fact that I bought items that I needed but I didn't have coupons for, which kills me to have to do. We needed lunch meat & some ground turkey, produce & other things. No coupons for those high ticket items, at least high ticket in the grocery world! I spent $82.28, saved 46.16. I did score a large bag of Tyson Anytizer chicken fingers (my daughter's favorite if it's not my homemade chicken strips) for $4.99 because they were on sale $3 off, $1 e-coupon loaded on my Kroger card & then a paper coupon for $1 off! They are regularly $9.99. Also 2 boxes of Special K ($2.99 each) for free....large boxes of Rice Krispies for $1.38/box (ideally I don't like to pay over $1 for a box of cereal but this was close & we will be making treats with them as well as eating it for breakfast).

I have had a lot of friends ask me lately how I am doing all of this. I assure you, it's not on my own. I have had a lot of help. My friend Jackie taught a class to a group of her friends from church, preschool parents, etc. over the summer. I learned that it would take time to get to the point where she was, getting things for free or almost free...I started clipping coupons, loading coupons in my Kroger card & reading blogs. I learned quickly that couponing requires serious organization unless you want to lose coupons or miss opportunities for great deals bc you have misplaced your coupons.

My first step was buying a nice sturdy binder....a Trapper Keeper and several packs of basecall card sleeves, dividers for my binder with pockets in them. I labeled the dividers based on how the stores have things organized....produce; health & beauty, snacks, cereal & crakers; etc. The next step was purchasing 2-4 Sunday papers to get a good stock of coupons. I only clip what I know I would buy & use if the deals are good. I often offer friends the other coupons I think that they might use or will clip them & pass them along. Next....reading the blogs & printing coupons. I buy what's on sale & I have a coupon...I also quickly learned that what seems like a good deal may not really be just from watching how sales run, etc. Once you start watching those types of things you will notice it too & know that if you wait another week, you will get a better price at X store bc that's how they run their sales, etc.

My favorite blogs are http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ and http://www.savingslifestyle.com/, but I follow several others as the different blogs may post different deals at different stores, etc.

We are getting a nice stock of various basic essential items...there are weeks I don't have to buy anything but milk, bread, produce and maybe meat. I am thinking now I may try to start baking my own bread in an effort to continue to reduce costs. I have seen our overall grocery bill plummet & we are eating better than we were before I started really watching what I was spending, etc. I am planning our meals out at least a week in advance. My goal is to get to planning one month in advance based on what we have on hand minus meat & produce.

Free Fun at Home Depot & Lowe's

2011-01-08T13:33:00.000-05:00

Depending on where you live, there's probably plenty of free fun at your fingertips! We are blessed to live in an area where we have free things for the kids going on almost every weekend!

Today I took my daughter to the Lowe's Build & Grow Workshop for the first time. http://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/ She loved it. The project was fairly simple & fun to build. We are looking forward to the next one on 1/22/11. Our Lowe's is only about 5 minutes or so from our house. The project takes about a 1/2 hour & they can do most of it themselves with a little guidance.

We have also done the Home Depot kid's workshops that are the first Saturday of every month from 8-12. Again, the projects are fairly simple & fun.

Both Lowe's & Home Depot give each child an apron to put their badges or pins on that they earn from each workshop. The kids are also given a certificate. My daughter's Home Depot apron is quite full since we started our first project with them in June and have only missed one workshop.

There is no pre-registration required for the Home Depot workshops. I have noticed that some of the workshops are better ran than others depending on the store you visit. We have two very close to us. The one that is closest to us does a terrible job & yes, I plan on letting them know that there is a huge difference between the way that their store runs theirs vs. the way that the other store that is further away from us runs theirs. I will drive the extra distance from now on after our last experience at the one closest to our house. There should be at least one associate there to help with the project or to answer questions. That associate signs you in (you sign a waiver) & passes out the kit for your child to built. The associate also fills out a certificate of completion for your child & gives them a pin that actually shows what they made. If you return to the same location, it's typically the same associates that work these workshops & they remember your kids. Of course, both kids & parents love that! The HD closest to our house does not do any of what I just described to you. The kits were laid out, no associates to be found to fill out anything, no waivers to sign, etc. The one I prefer even has a workroom for the kids, which is very nice!

Change....

2011-01-08T13:05:00.000-05:00

Is anyone really good at handling change? If you are, I would love to know your secret. I don't handle change...well, big change very well. Of course, in my current situation, I am not sure who WOULD be handling it all well. Losing my job almost 2 months ago has left my head spinning & my stomach churning. Losing a job right before Thanksgiving was very difficult. Thankfully, I am a planner to a certain degree. I had bought 95% of my daughter's Christmas gifts & several things for my boys. With the help of our church, we made it through the first full month of my unemployment & Christmas. I am trying to adapt to the changes in our lives that this has brought. Most of them are not good changes. I am doing my best to stay positive although it's not easy.

I didn't plan for a job loss. We do not have any savings...ok, I am lying. We have $5.37. We have bills that come in & cannot be paid. We are just like hundreds of thousands of other families in today's world. We are making cuts & changes. We are adjusting. For a control freak like myself...WOAH! I am getting there though....I am learning so much in this process. We are learning what we can live without, how to live on less, using what we have, what we really need. Turns out we really should have done a lot of this stuff long ago & we probably could have been digging ourselves out of debt using these strategies. Now we are using them to sustain our home, cars and necessary living expenses. Our lives will forever be changed by this change in our circumstances. Some of it is not so good & will take awhile to recover from....but in reality, most of it, is really going to help us out in the long run. Finding the silver lining isn't always easy but if you look hard enough & long enough, there probably is one, even if it's a faint lining.

Menu Planning Monday

2010-11-01T10:26:00.000-04:00

Monday~spaghetti, bread, fruit

Tuesday~roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole

Wednesday~roast, biscuits

Thursday~chicken & dumplings

Friday~leftovers

Saturday~meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli & cheese sauce

Sunday~grilled pork chops, potato salad, fruit

The Race is ON!

2010-08-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

The race is on....the countdown has started...yes, school is just around the corner. The month of August is typically our busiest month. My 17 yr old is a senior this year & plays football. August means 2-a-days for him. Long days of practicing, reviewing films, etc. I am one of the senior class football moms which means I have extra responsibilities above & beyond what the other parents do~For me it means lots of emails, planning, team picnics, phone calls, etc. My youngest starts kindergarten this year! She will be cheerleading & I am her coach along with her friend's mom, who happens to be my friend also. This means 2 practices a week until the end of August while 7 adorable kindergarten girls learn cheers & a dance routine. The month of August is always a blur...a race to capture the last bits of summer & to prepare for school. The month that I open my checkbook & write checks left & right for various things for school & school activities. It is, December aside, the most expensive month of the year! Even December must pale in comparison bc I spread those Christmas purchases out through October, November & December. Both Bella & Dylan are now pretty much prepared to start school with the clothes & supplies that they need. God bless our PTO that allows us to pay them to get the school supplies & pick them up rather than hunt them down. Bella's supplies will be picked up this week ready to go. Dylan's are another story. High school students never know what supplies they need until after school has started which means long evenings the first two days of school tracking down the required supplies on the teacher's lists. I now draw the line at 2 stores. If I cannot find what I need for him, then I tell Dylan to have his teacher call me if what I have found will not do. So far, no teachers have called. I refuse to go to 3-6 stores to find what is needed for high school classes for lists that are acquired after school has started & the masses have ravaged what's in the stores. Once the last supplies are bought, I can breathe a short sigh of relief until the next school related expense comes along.....

Menu Planning Monday

2010-06-27T11:53:00.001-04:00

Monday~burgers, brats, mac & cheese, fruit

Tuesday~lemon oregano chicken skewers, fresh fruit, corn on the cob

Wednesday~shrimp, pasta, salad, fruit

Thursday~BLTs, potato salad, fruit

Friday~marinated chicken breasts, fresh green beans, fruit

Saturday~leftovers

Sunday~steak, baked potatoes, salad, fruit

Menu Planning Monday-Week of 6/14

2010-06-14T09:58:00.001-04:00

Monday~leftover night in FL

Tuesday~burgers, brats, fruit, chips

Wednesday~steak, baked potatoes, salad, fruit

Thursday~lemon oregano chicken skewers, fruit, salad, potato salad

Friday~pork chops, fruit, salad, potato salad

Saturday~marinate chicken kabobs, potato salad, fruit

Sunday~steak, leftover sides

Vacation.....

2010-06-09T21:18:00.000-04:00

My husband, daughter & I are on vacation. It's a working vacation for me...I am my own boss & if I do not work, I do not get paid thus the need to work even while on vacation. I have found it surprisingly easy to do since I don't have all of the other responsibilities & running to do that I usually do when we are at home. I work for a few hours in the morning before we go out for fun in the sun then after we come back in from being out in the sun all day. By the time we come in, I am ready for a break from the sun beating down on me & the heat. I am enjoying our time away but I am looking forward to when I go back to reality. I know, you probably wonder if that's really possible but I only have part of my family here. My 17 yr old is still at home, working, lifting for football & taking care of things at the house...this was completely his choice. I really wanted him to come with us but he finds it totally boring to be with a 5 yr old & his 38 yr old parents. The things that we are content with, like sitting here in the condo during the evening would bore him to tears. I have internet access but that's only bc I rented an aircard so that I could work....my 17 yr old would be going wonky without access to the net! My oldest is in CA for Army Reserve training & will return the same day we do. I will be ready to re-enter the real world when we return to it....I am looking forward to seeing my friends, going to church on Sundays, playdates in the park, trips to the waterpark, my dog, my sons, my neighbors, my own kitchen, my own bed.....little things that you take for granted when you are in that world on a daily basis...being away from it has made me appreciate the insanity of my life. I am always ready for vacation when it comes but find that I am ready for my life when I go back to it. I sit here & enjoy the ocean, the sand, the palm trees, time with my family & a very relaxed atmosphere.....making me appreciate my life & remember why I love being a wife & mom.

Plan of attack

2010-06-01T11:07:00.000-04:00

Leaving for vacation at the end of an unusually busy week has got me feeling a bit overwhelmed! In an effort to give myself some perspective on the week & what needs to be done I am going to lay out a plan of attack for the week!

Tuesday~Pick up gift certificates for teacher gifts, pick up $5 starbucks cards for daycare providers to go with their flowers, get myself & Bella a manicure & pedicure, work 9 hours, put toiletries together for trip (ie. cotton balls, swabs, travel size body wash, etc.)

Wednesday~Work 9 hours, 2 hours at waterpark with friends, pack pj's & toys, hopefully do banking if paycheck comes in mail, make out list for Dylan for while we are gone, finish paying bills

Thursday~work 9 hours, finish packing~meds, electronic stuff, clothes, swimsuits, leave check for house to be cleaned while we are gone, strip beds
& remake with clean sheets, make sure laundry is all done & put away

Friday~leave for vacation!!!

Summertime.......

2010-05-31T22:34:00.000-04:00

Hello summer....I have missed you so much. I have missed all that you bring with you. What you ask? Hmm.....abundant fresh fruit & veggie, days at the waterpark & the pool, sleeping past 6:30 a.m. each day if I like, playdates in the park, BBQs, lazy afternoons, fun in the sun, evenings on the deck with friends, ice cold beer, blowing bubbles, butterflies, walks, bike rides, ice cream, lemonade, tan lines, flip flops, more relaxed days overall & abundant sunshine! Thank you for coming back to me a little early this year. I promise to do my best to completely enjoy your visit!!!

Friday officially starts summer here because Dylan will finish his junior year that day. Bella is finished on Wednesday. I love summer. I love being with my kids & doing everything that we possibly can while I try to squeeze in working around all of the fun! I must get my summer schedule in place for Bella & I. This is her last summer before she starts big kid school. June 4th I will have a high school senior & a kindergartner! I will also be coaching Bella's cheerleading squad along with being one of the football moms for the class of 2011. Fall will be extra crazy this year so it's super important to me that we relax, have fun & enjoy our summer! Our vacation starts on Friday & while we are gone, I plan on putting together my schedule. Rain day schedules & sunny day schedules. August 24 will be here before we know it so....summer here we come!!!

Menu Planning Monday-Week of 5/31

2010-05-31T10:11:00.000-04:00

Grilling season & summer have officially started....tends to make menu planning & dinner a little easier & a lot easier to clean up! We are going on vacation at the end of the week & I will have to plan our menu for vacation once we get to our destination....Yes, I will be doing menu planning there too in order to keep our dining out to a minimum. Hubby & I already decided we would do a trip to Sam's Club the day after we arrive to get the things we will need minus the seafood which we will purchase right from where the shrimp boats dock! Yummy!!!

Monday~marinated chicken breasts, potato salad, fruit
Tuesday~burgers, potato salad, fruit
Wednesday~$5 hot & ready pizza from Little Ceasar's for Bella's preschool graduation (we are going to be tight on time so this will help!)
Thursday~leftovers to clean out fridge
Friday-Sunday~Vacation

Menu Planning Monday

2010-05-15T19:26:00.001-04:00

Monday~bacon & parmesan pasta, salad, bread, fruit

Tuesday~steak, potato salad, fruit
Wednesday~Lemon-oregano chicken skewers, orzo pasta with lemon & parmesan, fruit
Thursday~tacos, fruit
Friday~pork chops, angel hair pasta with seasoning, salad & fruit
Saturday~homemade pizza, fruit
Sunday~chicken fried rice, terriyaki chicken, fruit

Sick mom =Messy House

2010-05-07T13:32:00.000-04:00

Why is it that when mom gets sick that the house goes back to choas mode? Yesterday I had to run all over the place in order to take care of our finances. My check from the company I contract out for was 2 days late so I had to go & pick it up & then make the bank deposits. When I got home, my stomach started to go all wonky....terribly. It got to the point I just had to stay still....I did what I could. I did end up making brownies for the high school teachers for the teacher appreciation lunch, fold a load of towels, wash the dishes from making brownies...except the pans, baked pre-made bunny cookies with my daughter, bathed the dog, put a load of laundry away, folded a load of towels & put a load in the washer & dryer....all the while, I could barely move. I laid propped up on the couch & worked (on my laptop). I sit here after running some errands today in spite of how terrible I still feel & I see a mess everywhere I look. I did indeed fold those towels, however, no one put them away...they still sit where I folded them. A husband, a 19 yr old son & 17 yr old son fully capable of putting them away....however, there they sit...waiting for ME! Wouldn't you think that just once in awhile, the family could pick up the slack so that once mom feels better she doesn't have to spend her first 48 hours cleaning the house from top to bottom??

Working exercise & healthy habits into my schedule

2010-05-01T18:46:00.000-04:00

Since I am now completely determined to lose weight, I have to figure out the best way to work exercise & healthier eating habits into my schedule. I have learned that if I don't get my workout done in the morning, I am probably not going to do it, therefore, morning workouts are the best for me. I have decided to dedicate 5-6 mornings a week to at least 35 minutes of cardio plus circuit training, alternating arms & legs each day. If the weather permits, I will add another 1/2 hour (at least of cardio) by taking a walk with Bella & Gracie. Since Bella rides her scooter on these walks, I am usually moving at a pretty good pace trying to keep up with her. Our walks are typically 30-45 minutes. I also LOVE doing yoga so I am adding that 3 days a week either in the morning or in the evening. Sundays are the only day I fully intend to take the day off from the Y but will still walk (if weather permits) or possibly do yoga. Adding all this exercise into my schedule isn't (and hasn't been) easy but I need to do it if I am going to move this weight off my body!

This is what I am envisioning for my workout schedule:

Monday~35-45 minutes of cardio/arm or leg circuit training/walk in evening
Tuesday~65 minutes of cardio/arm or leg circuit training/ half hour of yoga
Wednesday~35-45 minutes of cardio/arm or leg circuit training/walk in evening
Thursday~65 minutes of cardio/arm or leg circuit training/ half hour of
Yoga
Friday~45-60 minutes of cardio/arm or leg circuit training
Saturday~35 minutes of cardio/arm or leg circuit training/walk after dinner or yoga
Sunday~Off....walk after dinner if weather permits

Now...putting healthier habits into place...with all of that exercise, I have learned that my appetite increases. Seems unfair, what is supposed to help me lose weight makes me want to eat more!!! I have cleared most of the junk food from the house. There are a few things that remain...oreos bc the kids love them, ice cream-both regular & low fat/low calorie. I have replaced the bad stuff with healthier alternatives like yogurt, string cheese, fresh fruit & veggies, fiber one bars, 100 calorie snack packs, baked chips, crystal light lemonade. Now...to keep the calories in check for the day. My goal is to feel full while eating healthier. Let's hope that I have set myself up on the right course this time!

Determination.....what can it do???

2010-04-27T13:32:00.000-04:00

I am determined to lose 15 pounds before we go to Florida. I am so sick & tired of carrying around the extra weight...it makes me miserable. It depresses me. I have never had a problem with my weight until the last 2 years. Antidepressants were the major contributing factor. The weight just kept piling on in spite of the exercise...I mean, I was working out 5-6 days a week. After the weight just kept climbing, I quit exercising. Why bother if I am still gaining weight? Well, now after being on steroids for 3 weeks, I have gained back 8 pounds that I had lost. Talk about frustration. I made the decision last night that I will lose the weight this time. I will add more exercise, I will do better about watching what I eat. I am determined....and usually when I am determined to do something, I am successful....I am not expecting that this time will be any different!

Menu Planning Monday

2010-04-19T12:06:00.000-04:00

Monday~chicken kabobs, hot dogs, burgers, pasta salad, fruit & salad

Tuesday~brats, pasta salad, fruit, fries

Wednesday~chicken salad, burgers, potato salad, fruit

Thursday~steak, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit

Friday~dinner out

Saturday~marinated chicken, pasta, salad, bread

Sunday~chicken tacos, fruit

What lurks under the kitchen sink

2010-04-08T11:08:00.000-04:00

It's amazing what lurks under the kitchen sink isn't it? What lurks under yours? When I orgazined & decluttered my kitchen, this was the very last area I did out of fear....that's right...fear! I was afraid of what was under there! Partially bc it seems that every time I cleaned out from under the sink, I found another leak or problem that required me to call our friend that's a handyman! Imagine my delight when this time, there were NO LEAKS or problems! Hurray! Well, that gave me extra motivation!

When I looked under my sink, I found a lot of things that really didn't need to be under there. That's valuable space! Here's what I found & removed:

I have no idea why I had a watering can under there...I don't have any house plants with the exception of an African Violet in Bella's room.
multiple duplicate cleaning supplies. How many cans of pledge do I need under the sink? I removed all but 1 of each item that I used regularly for cleaning. All others are stored together in a tote on a shelf in the garage.
a vinegar dispensing bottle for the kitchen....I have no idea why it's under there...I guess it didnt have a home! It does now!

Before:

After:

How did I fix that mess?

I containerized my cleaning supplies

in the small basket in the front are all the cleaning supplies I need to clean the living room & do the dusting. Makes it so much easier to clean when I can just grab my little basket & go!
in the larger basket towards the back I placed all of my kitchen cleaning supplies including extra sponges, etc. No more digging!

I moved the fire extinguisher towards the back but we all know where it is & it is easily accessible in case of an emergency!

My dishwasher detergent & dishwashing soap are at the front because they are the most frequently used items along with my swiffer pads

My dish drainer is a rarely used item but nonetheless, does get used so it's safely tucked in there & out of the way!

Clear out the Clutter Challenge with Money Saving Mom....Living room closet

2010-04-07T08:01:00.001-04:00

Spring is here & that means clearing out the clutter of winter.....Especially in the entrway coat closet! Time to remove all of the heavy winter coats, winter boots & replace them with light jackets & flip flops!

The entryway coat closet before:

After pictures of the entryway closet:

I removed 6 coats, 2 winter vests, 2 pr of winter boots & tossed 1 pr of worn out shoes. Much better now!

Decluttering....Bella's bedroom

2010-04-06T20:31:00.004-04:00

Bella's room before:

After pictures of Bella's room:

This task yielded 1 stuffed trash bag of stuffed animals, 1 stuffed trash bag of dress up items & other misc. items, 1 bag of trash (bursting) and 1 STUFFED bin to go to the re-sale shop! The real end result though was a very happy little girl with her neat & tidy bedroom! She very willingly parted with items. I gave her a bin of stuffed animals & told her to pick out her favorites & put the rest in a bag for little kids who may not have things like that....she parted with some items that were formerly very dear to her & I was very proud of her!

Time to break out the spring/summer wardrobe....are we all really ready?

2010-04-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

The unseasonably warm weather caused a mad dash to Walmart & Target to find shorts, t-shirts, tank tops & skorts for Bella. She didn't have a single pair of shorts to wear so off we went. We managed to find a few cute things at Walmart but a much better selection at Target & great prices too! I managed to mix & match t-shirts from Justice with plaid shorts from Walmart....

They couldn't have matched more perfectly!

If only it was that easy for ME to put together a spring/summer wardrobe for myself! This evening I found myself desperately digging through the tote of spring/summer clothes that I packed away last fall to find clothes to wear tomorrow! As I sit here, the first load of darks is in the dryer. Tis the season of blinding white legs, tell-tale signs of an overindulgent winter....while I am loving the beautiful weather it is a reminder that swimsuit season is literally around the corner! Eeeek!

Makes me glad I am hitting the gym & watching what I eat. I have lost 10 pounds since the beginning of the year...pretty sure I have lost a couple more since I last weighed myself. Thank goodness....I am thinking about those shorts in the dryer right now & that I will be tickled pink if they fit me...but even more tickled if I find them to have some extra room in them. That's what I am hoping for! Now....what to do about those blinding white legs.....????

The Week Ahead

2010-03-29T12:57:00.001-04:00

This week marks the end of my 12 week committment to my Beth Moore Breaking Free Bible study! While I love my Bible studies, I am ready to be done with them at the end of 12 weeks!

Monday~Bella has preschool/daycare, appt. with chiropractor, cardio & weight training circuit, Weekly Home Blessing, pick kids up from track & daycare, final Bible study from 7-9 pm, work 5 hrs
Tuesday~ballet for Bella, 1 hr of cardio, work 7 hrs
Wednesday~Bella has preschool/daycare, Sams Club & Meijer, work 7 hrs, pick kids up from track & daycare
Thursday~chiropractor appt. in the afternoon, Free Day....nothing else scheduled as of now! Work 6 hours. Take Bella to the park.
Friday~No school, No Daycare, No Track! Free Day! Take Bella to the park
Saturday~swim lessons, Easter egg hunt at The Beach Waterpark from 11-2
Sunday~church, teach second hour pre-k Sunday school, make dinner, outside time with family

Menu Planning Monday

2010-03-29T12:43:00.000-04:00

Monday~Chicken Cordon Bleu in Crockpot, rice, rolls
Tuesday~burgers, hot dogs, potato salad & fruit
Wednesday~chicken on the grill, potato sald & fruit
Thursday~lamb chops, brats, potato salad, fruit
Friday~chicken kabobs, pasta salad, fruit
Saturday~burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad
Easter Sunday~Ham, green beans, asparagus, fruit, potatoes, angel food cake with strawberries & whip cream for dessert

Slow it down Sunday.....

2010-03-28T15:12:00.000-04:00

Most days I feel like I am trying to squeeze 2 days worth of stuff into one. I am trying to designate our Sundays are our day to re-group & prepare for the coming week....to rest up & recharge. I woke up this morning with a sinus headache & zero motivation for anything. After fixing myself a fresh pot of coffee & turning on some Law & Order, I still felt no motivation. I decided to run with it. My house is not in the best order right now, not the way I like it anyway. As I sit here & look around the living room there is a blanket on the floor, a pile of shoes at the front door, a coloring book & Bella's blankies on the couch, a basket full of clean laundry waiting to be put away...on the coffee table sits 2 glasses, Dylan's report card, three paperoni projects Bella has worked on over the weekend along with the extra pieces from those kits, a napkin, a sippy cup. In the kitchen sink sits the pan from the bacon I made for breakfast...all other breakfast dishes were either washed & put away or put in the dishwasher, on the counter sits 2 bags of marshmallows & a box of rice krispies to make the rice krispie treats I promised Bella we would create. On the dining room table sits what's left of Bella's lunch from McDonald's, the Sunday edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the toys that came in today's Happy Meals. The beds remain unmade....dinner should already be in the crockpot. Days like these are unusual in my house. I decided not to stress about those little things for today & just relax, enjoy the day & my family. I am sure I will get that sudden burst of energy & will get a few things taken care of....if not, it'll be there tomorrow morning when I am ready to tackle the upcoming week and whatever it holds...but for today....I am going to slow it down & be a little lazy.

Sunny Spring Saturday

2010-03-27T15:43:00.000-04:00

Our Saturday started out with some yard clean-up. Dylan was supposed to have raked up the leaves in the fall.....as I stated....supposed to. Clearly, they are still here & I cannot stand to see the signs of fall & winter lingering in my yard as the Honeysuckle & Magnolias are trying to bloom. It's such a contradiction and after yesterday morning's not so pleasant surprise of a dusting of snow, I am ready to get all the winter out of here!!!!

We then moved on to a little Easter fun....although Easter is a week away. One of Bella's favorite things to do is to play Easter egg hunt. So I ran around the yard & hid a basket full of empty plastic eggs for Bella to find. Can anyone explain that fascination to me? Hiding & finding plastic eggs....that are EMPTY? Bella thinks that this is the most fun game & would play it all day long if I would do it with her. When my mom was here to visit for about 6 hours, Bella had her play egg hunt approximately 10 times...no lie!

From egg hunts to sidewalk chalks.....Bella loves rainbows...one of her things that just fascinate her. She colors almost all pictures in rainbow colors. Why settle for using 3-4 colors in a picture when you can use a whole box? That's Bella.

A Few weeks ago, our Y had an Usborne Book Fair going. I picked up a book on how to draw animals since Bella's always working on her artist skills, I felt this would benefit her a great deal. Well, I ended up doing the drawing with the sidewalk chalks & she colored them in. Nonetheless, it was so fun to sit out in the sun with my little girl on sunny spring Saturday enjoying her constant chatter about this & that.

This is how I spent my Saturday afternoon....is there anything better? Not a thing I can think of. I got in some quality time with my little girl, soaked up some gorgeous sunshine & did a little therapeutic yard work. That's our Sunny Spring Saturday.

Successful Experiment....New Recipe!

2010-03-27T09:21:00.001-04:00

Spaghetti with Parmesan & Bacon~

1 pound uncooked spaghetti
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon of salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) of fresh grated parmesan cheese
12 slices of bacon, chopped
1 cup of 2 % reduced fat milk
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of frozen peas thawed

Directions:

cook pasta according to package directions. drain in colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup of hot cooking liquid
While pasta cooks, cook bacon in large non-stick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon of drippings in pan. Discard remaining drippings & set bacon aside. Add garlic to drippings in pain; cook 30 seconds stirring contstantly.
Combine milk, salt, pepper & eggs, stirring with whisk. Gradually add reserved hot cooking liquid to milk mixture, stirring constantly with whisk. Add pasta, milk mixture, and peas to skillet; cook over low heat for 3 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add bacon & cheese; stir to combine & serve.

Absolute hit here at my house. I do not buy real bacon, I used turkey bacon & since I am the only one who likes peas, I left them out. There was not a single strand of spaghetti left!!!! I will be adding this to my regular menu!!!

Menu Planning Monday

2010-03-22T12:39:00.000-04:00

Working on switching up our regular meals & trying a few new recipes! Sure hope they turn out to be good...it's such a disappointment when you try something new & find out it was not what you thought it would be!

Monday~Lamb Chops, potato salad, fruit, other leftovers to be used up

Tuesday~greek seasoned chicken with greek seasoned greek yogurt, lemon orzo pasta, fruit

Wednesday~Terriyaki chicken, chicken fried rice, fruit

Thursday~Ham & Au Grautin potatoes, California blend veggies

Friday~spaghetti with bacon & parmesean, salad & bread

Saturday~burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit

Sunday~chicken cordon blue in the crockpot (didn't make it last week so making it this week!)

Menu Planning Monday

2010-03-15T11:49:00.001-04:00

Now that spring is here, I find myself wanting to let go of the heavy comfort foods of winter. I have been in search of lighter fare....Once the weather decides to stay warm, we will be utilizing the grill which I LOVE!

Monday~Spaghetti with meatballs & sausage, salad & garlic bread

Tuesday~use leftover spaghetti sauce to make baked ziti with salad & garlic bread

Wednesday~Ham, au grautin pototoes, green beans

Thursday~marinated chicken, fresh fruit & veggies, potato salad

Friday~tuna steaks on the grill, fresh fruit & veggies, potato salad

Saturday~homemade pizza, salad, fruit

Sunday~One Pot Chicken Cordon Blue in the crockpot

More decluttering & organizing!

2010-02-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

Continuing with the 28 Day challenge....I needed to tackle the beast living under the sinks....bathroom & kitchen. These had become areas that I dreaded opening the doors....it was far too scary to see what was going on under there. It was a huge relief to get these areas cleaned out & organized! Pictures #1 & #2 the kitchen sink. #1 is the after, #2 is the scary before! Pictures #3 & #4 are under the bathroom sink. #3 is the cluttered & disorganized disaster! #4 is the nicely decluttered & organized after! It's much easier to find things in these spaces now & it saves me a ton of time! Again...just another reason I love to declutter & organize spaces!!!

After: under the kitchen sink

I love Laura & I love www.orgjunkie.com

2010-02-26T14:24:00.000-05:00

I have to say...I love Laura & I love http://www.orgjunkie.com/. Her posts are inspirational & motivating. She also has taught me that I am not alone in being self-professed organizing junkie! Organizing provides me with an incredible sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that few things have provided me. The benefits of being organized seem to be endless.....being organized creates more time (something every mom needs! Aren't we always saying that there are not enough hours in the day?), less clutter (mentally, for me this is huge. I find clutter to be a mental roadblock!), more space, ability to know what you have on hand....and on and on!

I have been plugging along with the 28 day organizing challenge & tackled some of my most problematic areas in my home. Areas that desperately needed to be organized & decluttered! I would have had more to share as far as pictures go but on January 1, I spent the entire day cleaning, decluttering & organizing my kitchen & dining room. Getting the biggest & most cumbersome projects out of the way first is important....I did that. I have been in heaven when I have to be in my kitchen ever since! I can find anything I need out there! I know where it all is! I even have organized "junk" drawers. Everything has a home & can easily be located. I am stickler for it all getting put back where it belongs too!

decluttering the linen closet

2010-02-26T11:20:00.000-05:00

Before:

After:

Working along with the www.orgjunkie.com 28 day organizing challenge....I tackleld several problem areas in my house. I finally decided to part with some products that had been taking up precious space for far too long. I decided to donate any un-opened products to a local mission. I threw out all kinds of miscellaneous things I found lingering in baskets & shoved into tight little spots in the closet. I have tried to keep this closet pretty tidy but the reality was that there was just too many things spread out & too many unused products. Getting rid of those things & organizing what was left provided me with an incredible high! I love, love, love to organize & declutter! I love to purge things! I love how freeing it is! I also love that I now know where everything is in that closet!!!

What the New Year Brings.....

2009-12-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

The new year brings so much promise & hope....a fresh year. I am ready to put 2009 to bed. It's been a year of so many ups & downs & such an emotional year that it's no wonder it's flown by & gone before I knew it. In 2009:

my oldest son graduated from high school
my oldest son moved out & into an apartment with his girlfriend
my beloved father-in-law passed away
my husband was baptized but then became angry with God for taking his father & hasn't fully recovered from that
I found out I have a nodule on one of my thyroids that has to be monitored to make sure it's not cancer
my daughter started her final year of preschool
my youngest son got it together at school with the help of his ADHD medication and his own determination
my youngest son got his temporary license & I accumulated at least 150 more gray hairs
My hair got lighter, much more blonde
my closest friends disappointed me & I am working on letting it go & forgiveness
I didn't get to see my mom this year
I learned to say no & not feel guilty
I got my business issues straightened out & got a great accountant!
realized how much I love my husband
made some wonderful new friends
realized how blessed I am by my church & church family

Of course, there's more but those things come to the front of my mind when I look back over this last year. What will 2010 hold for me & our family??? Good?? Bad??? Lots of memories no doubt. As I did this past year, I will work hard to make the most & the best out of whatever situation God puts us in. I have goals & ideas for 2010...what I would like to accomplish & see happen. Here's what I know 2010 holds for us:

Dylan will start his senior year & turn 18
Isabella will graduate from preschool & start kindergarten
Isabella will turn 6
Bartt will turn 20~I will then have 1 teenagers, one 20 yr old & a 6 yr old!
Mike & I will both turn 39!
We will file 2009 taxes

Aside from that....only God knows what this next year has in store for our family. I pray that it is a year that is filled with happiness as it seems this past year was filled with a lot of sadness & pain. I pray that we are all healthy & that we continued to be employed & able to meet our financial obligations. I pray that we will be able to spend quality time this summer with our mothers (mine & DH's) and that the kids make memories with them & with us. I pray for a forgiving heart, to be the kind of woman that God wants me to be, to live more for him & not the things of this world...to put my focus where it belongs.

Countdown to Christmas

2009-11-19T15:25:00.002-05:00

In my house, the countdown to Christmas has started. It seems hard to believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving and the official start of the holiday season. My daughter is itching to get out the ornaments and put the tree up. We always do this on Thanksgiving day since we do not travel & do not have any family within a 5 hour drive of us. It has become a family tradition at our house to put the tree up while the turkey is cooking & the Detroit Lions play on the TV (since my husband was raised in Detroit & the suburbs of Detroit, this is the team that's ALWAYS on our tv in spite of their incredible losing streak!).

This year, we will have an addition to our Thanksgiving dinner. My oldest son, Bartt lives with his girlfried Sammie. They will both be coming over for dinner. It's odd to have my oldest out on his own and not here to help haul all the boxes of ornaments up along with the tree. He has never been the one who enjoyed decorating or putting up the tree but was always a willing participant in hauling up the stuff I needed to get the job done.

My 5 year old, however, would load the tree with ornaments until you could no longer see a stitch of green if I would allow her. The thrill & excitement that she has when she sees the ornaments just melts me. I love to watch her eyes as as her tiny hands pull each delicate ornament from it's place in the ornament boxes. Sometimes, she asks me where they came from. This is particularly special for me because when my grandma found out that she had cancer, she made a point to give me all of her Christmas ornaments and decorations because she wanted to make sure that I got them and not someone else. This was 19 years ago. I lost my grandma a year later. So many of those ornaments are extra special to me. While they are of little monetary value, the memories that they hold & where they came from are priceless.

My 17 year old is all about the food during the holidays. He loves the drumsticks from the turkey and every form of pie that hits the table. He will reluctantly assist in decorating the tree. I remember though, when he couldnt' wait to get the tree up & help get the ornaments out of the box. I hate that he's now out grown this phase. All the more reason to cherish those moments with my 5 yr old since she's the baby of the family.

With all of this comes the hustle & bustle of the holidays. The shopping....ugh the shopping. I enjoy doing my Christmas shopping and getting it done by BLACK FRIDAY! Black Friday is typically my final shopping day for Christmas presents minus gift cards and stocking stuffers. Through the years, I have noticed more & more people forgetting the meaning of Christmas and the season & become ruthless & rude shoppers. That ruins it for me....so I avoid it. I have seen people fighting over parking spaces (really....is it necessary to FIGHT over a parking space???), fighting over toys, cutting in front of each other in lines, knocking into other people & not saying they are sorry or excusing themselves....I could go on & on...but I am sure that you all have seen many of the same things. These things make it hard to keep your jolly, happy spirit going in spite of even the best efforts!

I treasure this time of year. This is the celebration of my Savior's birth! This season means family, love and faith to me. I love the lights, the music, the pretty paper & ribbons, the trees, ornaments, the adorable outfits on little ones designated specifically for this season. This is Christmas to me....I celebrate the birth of Christ. I make sure that my children know the reason for this season. We read the story of Jesus' birth, we go to a special family Christmas service for my 5 yr old. This year I will also attend the midnight service. This time of year, I cannot get enough of my church and the celebrations! Our church is so beautifully decorated by volunteers, there is an extraordinary Christmas pageant, a Christmas ADVENTure for preschool through grade 4, a cookie exchange and much more. The songs we sing switch from the "God rock" we usually belt out to the beautiful songs of Christmas. It's hard for a Christian to keep from welling up with tears at this time of year, so thankful for the birth of Christ and for our Heavenly Father for sending his only son to save us. The whole thing just overwhelms me. This for me, is what Christmas is truly about. The presents are nice...but that's not what it is really about is it? This is what boggles the mind when it comes to Christmas shoppers and the attitudes that they take on. Remember the reason for the season as you get out there in the masses and the hustle & bustle of Christmas shopping. Let your light shine!

Thursday's Schedule---the pace has slowed

2009-11-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

The pace of life has slowed down to a much more comfortable pace after the insanity of August through mid November. All of our extra activities have finished. Two classes for my 5 year old still exist but that's nothing compared to all the extra stuff we were doing!

I now drop off my daughter at preschool and my husband picks her up after he gets off work. Prior to this Monday through Thursday around 5:30, I would drive to the high school and to the preschool to pick up my 17 yr old from football and my daughter from daycare/preschool. Now, I am able to calmly prepare dinner and work until my husband and daughter arrive home. The difference in my mood is noticable. I am much more relaxed bc I am no longer worried about how to get my hours in, clean the house, make dinner & run the kids everywhere they need to be and where I need to be, etc. Still, I have to have a schedule to keep myself on track! Here's Thursday's:

What's for dinner? Leftovers
Spanish Class/Errand Day
6:00-coffee, make beds, gather laundry, take laundry to laundry room, sort laundry
put load in washer, put load in dryer, brush teeth, take meds, feed Gracie & let her out
6:30-Wii Fit
7:00-eat breakfast, switch laundry over, make Bella breakfast & give her meds, make Bella's bed
7:30-get Bella dressed, hair done & teeth brushed, put laundry away, get self ready for Y
8:00-work
9:00-Y
10:15-shower & get ready
10:50-leave for Spanish, after SpanishJF Burns Elementary for H1N1 vaccine
12:30-(not sure how long it will take) return home to work, get Bella & I lunch
4:00-heat oven & re-heat lasagna
5:00-dinner & clean up, make Bella's lunch & put backpack on launch pad, set coffee maker
6:00-work
8:00-run Bella's bath, lay out clothes for Friday, put laundry away
8:45-help Bella brush her teeth, story time, tuck her in
9:00-10:00-work & finish bedtime routines
Bedtime Routine
Lay out Your Clothes for tomorrow
shine sink
Check Your Calendar
Put things needed for tomorrow at the Launch Pad
Where are your Keys?
Spend Two Minutes Clearing off a Hot Spot
wash face/brush teeth
Go to bed at a decent hour
put up Gracie's food & water/let her out & in
make sure coffee maker is set for tomorrow
make sure doors are locked & porch light is on
Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday
set alarm
make Bella's lunch for the next day & put in fridge
put backpack on launch pad along with everything needed for a.m.

H1N1 hits our house!

2009-10-13T21:43:00.000-04:00

Saturday night my 17 yr old son & his girlfriend went to homecoming. They had a great time. Dylan had been fighting what we thought was a cold pretty much all week long, little did we know that this apparent cold was actually the start of the H1N1 virus. Sunday, Dylan had a temperature of 103.9, coughing, sore throat, body aches, chills...all of that really fun stuff. Monday, his fever is still 101....I call the pediatrician's office & speak with a nurse since Dylan has asthma I worry if this is H1N1. I had to leave a message for the nurse. She calls back & I describe everything to her she says, yes indeed, this sounds like H1N1. By this time, his fever has finally broke but she tells me to watch for it to spike back up again bc this is quite common with this virus. Oh, lovely....I am pleased to say that we made it through 24 hours fever free & he will be able to return to school tomorrow. Apparently there is an excessive amount of students and faculty out sick at the moment. 250 students were reported to be out sick today! Now, we do have a large high school, however, this is a very large amount of kids! Dylan plays football & was told that football practice was cut short yesterday due to the fact that there were not enough players to run a full practice. There are 64 boys between varsity & JV....so how many had to have been out yesterday for them not to be able to run a full practice!! WOW!!!

In light of this epidemic that's sweeping our school right now, I bought a nice big can of lysol, my handy clorox wipes, clorox anywhere spray....you name it. I am disinfecting everything in anyway that I can. My 5 yr old DD has asthma that is brought on by colds & flu. This virus could be devistating for her so I am doing what I can. We are blessed that Dylan seemed to have had a mild case of H1N1, it could have been much worse. At this point I am wondering how much having our regular flu shot is helping us & has helped Dylan. I didn't realize that the incubation period for H1N1 is 7 days!!! Round 2 at the schools could start next week! Yikes!!!

I would recommend having plenty of tissues, clear liquids, lysol and other products to disinfect on hand...along with chicken noodle soup...which Dylan lived on...it was nice to see him eat with his usual healthy 17 yr old boy appetite tonight!

Day 1 of the new schedule

2009-09-29T12:36:00.000-04:00

Day 1 was a success! Part of that is because I did not have to pick up either child last night. DH picked up Bella & Bartt's girlfriend picked up Dylan. That gave me an extra hour in my day!! I also decided to delegate a little. I have not asked much of my kids in the past year with helping around the house, that stops now. It is difficult to give Dylan tasks to complete during the week because of his football schedule but he has seemed to have plenty of time to visit his girlfriend each night after dinner. I had Dylan run the vacuum instead of me doing it. There will be more delegation over the next week. I managed to work 9 hours, made a delicious meal, caught up on Bible study reading, attended Bible study, read 3 stories to my DD & got her all tucked in. It was a success! This week is sort of a trial run, however, I can't stick to it as much as I'd like to this week due to DD's birthday party Sunday afternoon but so far, I think it may work!

Stop the world...I want to get off!!!

2009-09-28T12:22:00.000-04:00

OK...not really but I will admit, there have been several days in the past month that I have felt like screaming that or running off to some far corner of the world where no one could find me! Of course, neither of these are options in reality!

A typical September is usually busy month for our family, however, this September we not only have ballet, soccer, football, choir, Bible study and 4 birthdays in our immediate family within 2 weeks.....we also had to travel a little over 4 hours away for a memorial party for my FIL who passed away July 25. We left Saturday morning around 8:00 a.m. & returned home Sunday afternoon around 4:15. A very exhausting weekend, emotionally & physically. It's tough enough to keep up with the pace of everyday life, but when you add things like this it kicks things into high gear!

I am in the process of reworking a lot of things in our lives. Budget, menu planning, scheduling and my own work schedule. A mom can never seem to get it all done. There are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all that we want to...you see, I realize that it is a WANT not a need. Realistically, what we need to accomplish in a day is relatively small in comparison to what we want to. I am an overachiever so this is incredibly difficult for me to whittle things down to what I NEED to accomplish vs. what I want to accomplish!

Here's what I have narrowed down to the basics for what NEEDS to be done in a day:

shower & get ready for the day
make sure my DD is bathed & dressed, teeth brushed
feed my family
clean up from meals
take care of finances
work 6-9 hours/day
kids to/from activities
quality time with family
prayer/devotion/Bible study

Now....Here's what I WANT to accomplish in a day:

make all beds, tidy all bedrooms
1 load of laundry a day, washed, dried, folded & put away
swish & swipe bathroom
make sure house is clean & tidy
exercise

Working from home is a blessing but it can make it difficult to adhere to a real work schedule. This is what I am in the process of working on right now. I am in the process of treating each day of the week as a regular work day. Now this will not work for every day because we have activities and appointments that are scheduled during the day. My goal is to try to put a loose schedule in place for myself working around the kids activities. I intend to put in 8 hours/day during the days that my DD is in preschool/daycare, allowing myself one short day every 2 weeks for a little me time. Of course, there are parties & field trips that I will be involved in & those days will obviously be shorter. Here's what I have so far:

Monday: DD has preschool/daycare, Bible study from 6:45-8:45 pm, work from 9:30-5:30, 5:30-leave to pick up kids from daycare/football, Plan menu for week, Monday dinners will be made in the crock pot--work 9 hours

Tuesday~ Do Something for yourself day: 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.-Weekly Home Blessing Hour (vacuum, sweep, mop-middle of floors only) dust, wash sheets, polish mirrors, toss old magazines & catalogs) clean out fridge, make grocery list for Thursday; work out, 10:30 ballet for DD, work from 12-5; 6:00 p.m. soccer practice/pick up Dylan (DH does one, I do the other) 7:30-8:30-work, evening routines, 9:30-10:30-work 6/7 hours

Wednesdays~Anti-procrastination Day~DD has preschool/daycare, work from 9:30-5:30, 5:30-leave to pick up kids from daycare/football, Family movie or game night, evening routines, 9:30-10:30-work--work 9

Thursday~Errand Day-work out, grocery shopping & errands, work from 12/1-4:00, take Bella swimming at the Y from 4:30-5:15, pick up Dylan at 5:45, Crock pot dinner on Thursday, 7:00-8:30-work; evening routines, 9:30-10:30 work---every other week house is cleaned on Thursdays so those days, a.m. will be spend working & the afternoon will be spend running errands, etc. work 6-7 hours

Friday~Date Night~DD has preschool/daycare, work from 9:30-4:30, 4:45-pick Bella up from daycare---evening is unplanned-work 7-9 hours

Saturday~Family Fun Day~soccer & football in mornings, family time in afternoon that includes exercise, work 4-5 hours

Sunday~Renew Your Spirit Day~church, family time, 5-6 choir for Bella, dinner upon return, evening routines, work 3-4 hours

Hours worked/wk: 44

This is of course a rough draft but I think if I can adhere to this schedule loosely, then I will be able to better balance things! I hope!

Menu Planning Monday

2009-09-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

Monday~crockpot beef stroganoff, rolls, veggies

Tuesday~creamy chicken in crockpot, rice, california blend veggies (Page 134 Rival Crockpot cookbook)

Wednesday~scalloped potatoes & ham in crockpot (pg 171 in Rival Crockpot cookbook)

Thursday~leftovers

Friday~spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Saturday~Attending pig roast

Sunday~pizza at Bella's birthday party

Menu Planning Monday

2009-09-07T12:58:00.001-04:00

Monday~spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Tuesday~roasted chicken (do 2 chickens at once), mashed potatoes, gravy, california blend veggies, rolls

Wednesday~chicken & dumplings, leftovers

Thursday~weekday stroganoff in crockpot over egg noodles, salad

Friday~leftovers

Saturday~Dylan is cooking....bbq chicken breasts--I will make potato salad & fruit

Sunday~sloppy joes, potato salad, fruit

Menu Planning Monday

2009-08-31T12:01:00.001-04:00

Monday~Tacos/nachos, fruit

Tuesday~ham & au grautin potatoes, fresh green beans

Wednesday~pork chops, rice, California blend veggies

Thursday~chicken breasts, baked potatoes, salad, veggies

Friday~dinner out

Saturday~Spaghetti, salad, bread

Sunday~leftovers

Recap of the Week of August 16-23

2009-08-22T20:19:00.001-04:00

Sunday, August 16~Flylady's Renew Your Spirit DayWe attended the 9:30 service at church, I went to the parlor at church to participate in a filming of a fake Bible study class for our women's fall kick off for my friend Jera & our pastor's wife (no one can say no to Kay!), then taught the pre-k 11:oo Sunday school class. After church we came home & changed into our swimsuits & went next door for a few minutes to celebrate Abigial's baptism (Bella's best friend), then Bella & I went my friend Molly's subdivision pool & spent the afternoon there swimming & having a good time. DH made dinner (meatloaf) with Bella's help.

Monday~Flylady's Weekly Home Blessing Day~This was my first day back to the Y after being sick for almost a whole week! I woke up bright & early & started my weekly home blessing by stripping the beds & tossing the sheets in the washer. I had a very good start on my WHB before we left for the Y. I did 35 minutes on the AMT then 2 sets of weights on the fit linxx circuit, came home, showered & finished my WHB. DH was out of town for the night & Dylan was doing evening 2 a days so it was just Bella & I for dinner. We had a light meal & I did my evening routines. I let Bella sleep with me like I always do when Daddy is out of town for work.

Tuesday~Morning routines were completed. I had to wake Dylan up so that we could go pick up his schedule & go through the check list of things that the high school had for us to do in order to get his schedule. Bella & I brought Dylan home & I did a little touching up of the house. Bella & I then went to a playdate in the park for about an hour, from there we went to the Y & I did 35 minutes on the AMT & 35 minutes on the treadmill. From the Y we ran to Kroger to pick up a few much needed groceries. I came home, showered & worked. Dinner was leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy & rolls.

Wednesday~Anti~Procrastination Day! My big project was to clip & organize my coupons! Bella's daycare day! I dropped Bella off at daycare for the day. I went to the Y & did my 35 minutes on the AMT & 2 sets of weights on the fit linxx circuit. Came home, showered & put myself together & started working. I clipped coupons, ran to 2 banks to make deposits, went to Kroger to finish up grocery shopping, put gas in the van & ran to get Bella from daycare. Dinner was grilled jerk chicken, fruit, salad & pasta. I worked a total of 5.7 hours.

Thursday~Errand Day I dropped off Bella at daycare & went to have breakfast with a friend at ihop. We stopped at a jeweler to pick up a gift for her DH for thier anniversary & I sold my old gold jewelry. I got a nice little check out of that...much more than I ever expected! We then went to the brand new outlets in our area & did a little shopping. I had a great time with her & really needed it!!! I then ran my own errands & ran to pick up Bella from daycare. I helped DH get dinner going & did all the cleanup after dinner. I took Bella outside to play & helped my friend Jennie with some court papers re: their filing for custody of her step-daughter. I brought the princess in & got her all bathed & ready for bed. I only worked 2.8 hours but I had some much needed girl time!!

Friday~Date Night~Friday was Bella's last day of summer daycare. Wednesday her final year of preschool begins! I dropped Bella off & talked to her teachers for a bit. I then went to Walmart & picked up a few things, then brought them home & dropped them off. I went tanning & then to Sam's Club. I then hit the Y & did my 70 minutes of cardio since I didn't do it Thursday (although I got plenty of exercise Thurday!). I took the day off from working & cleaning! I did complete my morning routine but that's all I got done. After I picked Bella up from daycare we were trying to figure out what to do & got a call from my friend Molly inviting us over for dinner & drinks. So we packed up & went over. Bella had a great time playing with their little boy while we enjoyed adult time! It was SO nice!!

Saturday~Family Fun Day~Not much family fun here...more a lazy day. I got most of my morning routines completed, then hit the Y for 35 minutes on the AMT & 2 sets of weights on my circuit. I showered then walked next door to see if Abigail could come to play with Bella. I made homemade chicken noodle soup, cut up fruit & made turkey bacon for BLTs. Bella & I napped on the couch. Still working on my hours for the day.

This upcoming week is the final week of summer vacation!

2009-08-15T15:46:00.000-04:00

It feels like we didn't have much of a summer here....the main reason is the weather! It's been unusually cool & wet this summer here in Ohio. The coldest July on record! Saying goodbye to summer is bittersweet for both the kids & me. I love everything about summer....the more relaxed schedules, grilling out, fresh fruit & veggies at reasonable prices, pool, beach, waterpark, walks....oh so many things! Oh...and flip flops! I love them!!!

August 25th my 11th grader starts school, August 26th my preschooler begins her final year of preschool. We trade in the flip flops for tennis shoes and beach bags for backpacks...for another week or so after school starts, we can continue to enjoy things like the waterpark & pool on the weekends & evenings....summer of 2009...I am sad to see you go but in a way....glad it's almost over.

It's been such a difficult summer, it's both seemed like an eternity & like you were never here....the carefree fun days were traded for days of worry, prayers, concern, sadness and finally grieving....So I think..just maybe that I am ready to say goodbye to summer & hello to a new season...a fresh season full of football, soccer, ballet, Bible study, choir, field trips, hay rides, pumpkin carving, apple cider, sweatshirts & blue jeans, playing in the leaves.....yes, I believe for the first time...I will truly embrace the end of summer & happily put it away....and welcome fall & back to school....but...I will enjoy these final weeks of this summer...I will make them fun and make some happy memories for our family for at least the end of the summer.

We will....

spend time at the pool
spend time at the waterpark
play in the park & the fountain there
have a picnic or two
spend evenings outside with our friends
stay at Kings Island until 10pm so we can watch the fireworks
fun activities in the area

Lots of pictures will be taken....scrapbook pages will be made along with great memories to finish out a bit of a rough summer.

Week 2~Oh boy...this is NOT what I had planned!

2009-08-14T12:21:00.000-04:00

Monday started out great. Got to the Y & did 2 complete sets of weights plus 35 minutes of cardio. I watched what I ate...then...I started to get a sore throat...By Tuesday afternoon, I was not feeling well at all. I managed to get through 35 minutes of cardio & then knew that there was no way I could do anymore than that! Needless to say, it turns out I got very sick & have not been able to work out the rest of the week. I have ate carefully, when I have felt like eating. Monday I should be ready to hit the Y full force again.

Week 1 ~what happened?

2009-08-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

I did it! I made it through 6 days of workouts & diet modification. I lost 2 pounds in week 1 & enjoyed getting back into my regular workout schedule.

School is starting soon....are you ready???

2009-08-06T07:59:00.001-04:00

The last days of summer are approaching here in Ohio. Some schools in Kentucky started yesterday! My kids don't start until August 25. This is a week later than they usually start. It's hard to beleive that school is almost here but the signs are everywhere....you cannot go into Target, Kroger or Walmart without seeing a mutlitude of school supplies with large signs indicating the deal of the week on pencils, markers, glue sticks,etc. What these stores cannot provide you with to prepare for the upcoming school year is a new routine for yourself & your family. There are days I wish I could just purchase a new routine & schedule rather than trying to work one out myself. I mean figuring this out tends to take some time, planning & creativity...oh & let's not forget knowledge of dates, times and schedules of each of your children along with your schedule & your DH's.

I have already started to try to work out a schedule for fall...this tends to be our busiest time of the year because my son plays high school football and this requires a great deal of committment & time. Not only for the child but for the parents of that child(not to mention an open checkbook!). This fall we will be adding soccer for our daughter which requires one night a week practice and games on Saturday mornings. We do not have her practice or game schedule yet bc the registration is not closed yet. In addition to football & soccer, DD will also have choir practice Sunday nights, church Sunday mornings, me teaching Sunday school every other month and Monday night Bible study for me for 12 weeks. At the moment, I am wondering how I will fit it all in. Seriously, in the midst of all of this, I need to work 7-8 hours a day & squeeze in an hour of "me time" in the form of a good workout. Here's what I have so far:

M-T-DS will need to be picked up from football practice between 5:30-6 unless he can find someone to ride home with at least a few nights a week
M,W, F-DD has preschool & daycare (school starts at 8:30 but she can be dropped off earlier bc I have before & after care)
Friday nights-football games
Saturday morning-soccer games
Monday evenings-Bible study from 7-9
Sunday-9:30-church, 11:00-ABF or teaching Sunday school, 5:00-DD's choir practice
?????---Soccer practice
5 -6 days/week -1 hour minimum of exercise

Looking at this laid out before me makes my head spin & makes me cherish these last days of summer where things are not scheduled so tightly but there is room for sleeping in, playing outside, hitting the waterpark & just enjoying the "lazy days of summer." What's on your agenda? Are you thinking about your fall schedule & how you will do it all? I am realizing how dependant I become on my crockpot during these busy times...that & hamburger helper!

Day 2 & 3-Allowing me to be just....me

2009-08-05T12:22:00.001-04:00

I can say...YES, I did..and yesterday too! I am off to a good start this time. I am motivated adn throwing myself totally into the whole idea off getting healthy. Not just losing weight but being healthier overall. While I am not afraid of dying due to my faith...I am certainly in no hurry to do so! This means not just trying to lose weight but creating a life change...as 40 is peaking around the corner at me, I have realized that I need to do this for myself & for my family. My most recent full physical revealed that I have no health issues...hurray...now, let's keep it that way. Let's face it...I have a busy life & it's not going to be slowing down anytime soon. I mean I have an almost 5 year old daughter who I will have to keep up with for at least the next 13 years. Realistically, I could be a grandmother (...cringes in corner...) in less than 5 years since my oldest is about to turn 19 & is living with his girlfriend (much to my dismay) and Dylan plans on playing football in college...that's only 2 years away. I know that I will need to be healthy in order to maintain the current pace of my life. It's about to get even busier than it is now due to school starting, football season, my daughter's soccer season, my daughter's choir practice and my Bible study...all commencing shortly! By mid-September it will all be in full swing. Carving out this time to workout and have some time just for me is so important. As mothers & wives, we often move ourselves...our wants & needs to the very bottom of the list. It's not good for us but it's all too easy to do. Having an hour or so a day to workout is my sanity saver. It's my time to savor how hard my body is working, the sweat pouring from every inch of skin on my body....losing myself in that moment, in the music on my ipod, in a conversation with God, whatever it is at that moment and allowing myself to get completely lost in my own thoughts...for that hour...I am not wife, am not mom, am not Sunday school teacher, soccer mom or football mom....I am just me.

Working It Out---Day 1

2009-08-04T06:58:00.001-04:00

Monday, I began the start of a new journey...well, not really new more like renewed. I have been struggling to lose weight for the past year. It turns out the antidepressant that I was on was causing weight gain & an inability to lose it! I am now on a new one that is supposed to promote weight loss so I am ready to try once again.

Yesterday, while on the AMT at the Y I found myself remembering why I love to workout. Not just because I am doing something that is good for me, that will help me lose weight and hopefully prolong my life but because it's something just for me. It's a time that I can allow myself to get lost in my own thoughts, to indulge in a magazine that's been laying around for a month that I haven't even had a chance to flip through or to enjoy whatever music is on my ipod. It's my "Me Time". I realized yesterday how much I missed that time. Having realized that yesterday has motivated me even more to workout. I am anxious to get to the Y today & hit the AMT & the treadmill.

Today we threw the schedule to the wind and.....

2009-07-27T23:13:00.000-04:00

I spent most of the day enjoying my daughter. I took her to the waterpark & we rode a huge waterslide...one that she's never been on before. She loved it so much! We rode it twice & would have done it more except the line was pretty long. I took her on the lazy river & she loved that. We had a great time. After the waterpark we spent quiet time here at home. I worked while she played in her room. About 6:30 this evening I took Bella to the library & then to a sunflower field that's across from what she has deemed her "favorite park." We took a walk through the field, I took some pictures & then we went to the park. Once we got home I let her choose the movie she wanted to watch, she chose Ice Age so we watched that cuddled on the couch next to each other until she drifted off to sleep. I am so thankful for today. I am glad I chose to spend time today doing fun things & enjoying those precious moments with my daughter.

I did all of that today but I also managed to work 7.5 hours & get my house back in order. Over the course of the weekend, things just accumulated in every room. It's rare that this happens but I am giving myself a pass since I have a good excuse for not wanting to do anything. Today was a good day...I only cried a little...and that was mostly bc I looked at a picture of Bella & my father-in-law & I just felt that lump sneak up into my throat and force the tears to stream from my eyes. I wasn't a willing participant to these tears, they just forced their way out & down my cheeks. I am accepting his death now, I am accepting what I cannot change & what I got that last week he was truly with us. I will cherish that for the rest of my life. Losing him has taught me so much...I pray that I will never take life for granted again & that I will remember to make time for fun & making memories...which is why I threw the schedule out the window today & just had fun, made memories, took pictures and enjoyed my beautiful daughter. It was SO worth it!

Monday's Missions

2009-07-26T22:36:00.000-04:00

Life has been nothing short of chaotic since Wednesday when we found out that my father-in-law would never recover from when he went into cardiac arrest June 22. My wonderful father-in-law passed away last night surrounded by family. I am still grieving but I need to get myself & my kids back on track again because I feel even more lost without following my schedules & routines...not to mention that every room in my house needs to be picked up. I rarely let it get in it's current condition...so here are Monday's Missions

Monday
Morning Routines
strip beds, wash sheets, open blinds, gather trash from bedrooms
gather all dirty clothes, start load of laundry
Empty bathroom trash
take meds, check calendar
Dressed, brush teeth, make up, fix hair, etc.
eat something
fix Bella breakfast
get Bella dressed, fix Bella's hair
help Bella brush her teeth
Let Gracie in & out
feed Gracie
Schedule
grocery shopping/errand day
6:00- pray, read Bible, morning routines
7:00-work
10:30-leave for waterpark, drop off flex spending
2:00-empty van & beach bag, shower
2:30-work
4:30-clean up, make beds with fresh sheets, run vacuum, start dinner
5:00-dinner
5:30-clean up, start pm routines
6:30-work
8:00-bathtime, p.m. routines
8:30-bedtime, storytime
9:00-work
11:30-bed, prayer, Bible
Bedtime Routine
pick up living room
set out clothes for myself & Bella for the next day
brush, floss & rinse, wash face & moisturize
set up coffee pot for a.m., check calendar
Read Bible
put laundry away
turn on porch light, make sure doors are locked (garage too)
check Gracie's food & water, let Gracie out
To-Do List
prepare flex spending reports, make copies & drop claims off for processing
What's for dinner? Brats, mac & cheese, fruit
call & schedule ultrasound for my thyroid
pay bills
laundry

Q & A---What is Upside Down Pizza-Recipe for Upside Down Pizza

2009-07-25T12:04:00.002-04:00

I am often asked for this recipe. It's quick, easy & a family favorite in my house.

2 1/2 pounds of ground beef or turkey (I brown & freeze mine ahead of time so I can have this ready in no time)
2 jars of pizza quick sauce
favorite pizza toppings
sour cream
pizza cheese
1 can of crescent rolls

preheat oven to temperature listed on crescent roll package
13 x 9 in pan--I use a glass one b/c the clean up is easier
Instructions
Brown meat & drain grease
mix 2 jars of pizza sauce with meat & spread in bottom of pan
put pizza toppings on
Put sour cream in lines in between pepperoni . I usuall go from top to bottom, not lengthwise (if you use a squeeze bottle of sour cream it's easier)
put your cheese on across entire pan of mixture & toppings
unroll can of crescent rolls & put on top of mixture

bake at the temperature on the crescent rolls...usually a couple of minutes longer that it says on the can. I just watch it until it's golden brown.

My kids LOVE this & their friends ask to be invited over for dinner when I make it

sit it out saturday

2009-07-24T23:41:00.000-04:00

The stress of this week has caught up with me....I am supposed to attend a friend's baby shower at 5:30 on Saturday. At the moment, I am still waiting for word that my father-in-law has made the transition from this world. I can honestly say that I will not be in any condition to attend a baby shower tomorrow. I feel like I have been keeping it together by a string and I am at end of that spool of string right now. Perhaps I will find some peace once I know that Jim has passed. I find that I am find for awhile & then I just burst into tears again. I cannot look at pictures of him with Bella at all. I see his face & his eyes & get so sad that I will never hear him laugh again or watch him play with my daughter....I can't stand it. So this Saturday...this usually busy & scheduled mama will sit it out...I will schedule nothing, I will make time for my grief and my childrens' grief. I will sit & reflect on the time I have known my father-in-law and the impact he's had on my life. I will prepare myself mentally for the days to follow his passing and things that will need to be done.....for once...this Saturday...I will sit it out...

Benefits of kids growing up in an organized & calm home

2009-07-24T18:23:00.000-04:00

I am skimming through my August edition of Parents Magazine & on Page 36 I find a paragraph discussing the benefits of kids growing up in an organized & calm home. Organized home = calm home. Why? Mom or dad (usually mom) is not running around in a crazy frenzy trying to find a missing permission slip for today's field trip that actually should have been in 3 days ago....yeah...that's been me. I found this paragraph to be particularly interesting and extra incentive to keep my home & life organized.

"Get Ready To Read.....Kids grow up in an organized and calm home are more likely to have good early reading skills at ages 5 and 6, finds a study by Ohio State University and Teachers College, Columbia University. Having set mealtimes and bedtime, making clear chore assignments, using a family calendar, and keeping the TV off during dinner, can all promote early reading ability." (Parents Magazine, August 2009, page 36)

As a mom who works hard to keep everything on a schedule & organized, it's wonderful to read something that tells me how my child will benefit (aside from the obvious) from living in an organized and calm home. So now on those days that I don't feel like keeping up on things....I need to remind myself of this benefit for my daughter.

Mayhem Monday...Monday Mayhem

2009-07-20T08:30:00.001-04:00

Monday...ahh...the start of a brand new insanely busy week.

On my weekly schedule, today is Errand Day & boy do I have a list today!

stop at church to drop off chairs for VBS
run to business bank
drop stuff off at library
stop at Bruegger's for breakfast with Bella
business bank
Gymboree to use Gymbucks (used to purchase fall clothes for Bella)
Justice to use 40% off total purchase coupon for fall clothes for Bella
Bath & Body works for refill for air freshener for car
Sam's Club
Meijer
Bella to Library to get new books
Little Sprouts to drop off clothes to sell
Drop Dylan off at work by 6

Whew!

Monday's are mayhem for most of us. I like to get all my running done in one day so I don't feel like I am running every day & it gives me time to focus on my work the rest of the week. In order to accomplish a monster errand list, I make a list & plan it out based on locations. In my planner I put all the coupons I need along with my grocery list, etc. I am prepared & keep the time I spend doing errands to a minimum. Today it took a little longer than normal since Bella had her first trip to a grown up girls store...Justice. She loved that she was able to try on all the outfits & that they had the Jonas Brothers & High School Musical music with videos playing in there. The girl loves anything with sparkles & that store is loaded with that stuff! LOL! So...I need to get back on track! Here's what my day looks like!

Monday
Morning Routines
strip beds, wash sheets, open blinds, gather trash from bedrooms
gather all dirty clothes, start load of laundry
Empty bathroom trash
take meds, check calendar
Dressed, brush teeth, make up, fix hair, etc.
eat something
fix Bella breakfast
get Bella dressed, fix Bella's hair
help Bella brush her teeth
Let Gracie in & out
feed the animals
Schedule
grocery shopping/errand day
6:30-morning routines
9:00-errands
2:00-put stuff away from errands
2:30-work
3:00-take Bella to library, stop at Little Sprouts to drop off clothes to sell
4:30-clean up, make beds with fresh sheets, run vacuum, start dinner
5:00-dinner
5:30-take Dylan to work
6:30-work
8:00-bathtime, p.m. routines
8:30-bedtime, storytime
9:00-work
11:30-bed, prayer, Bible
Bedtime Routine
pick up living room
set out clothes for myself & Bella for the next day
brush, floss & rinse, wash face & moisturize
set up coffee pot for a.m., check calendar
Read Bible
put laundry away
turn on porch light, make sure doors are locked (garage too)
check animals food & water, let Gracie out

Menu Planning Monday

2009-07-19T22:41:00.000-04:00

Menu planning is a MUST! Last week was the first time I was able to follow a menu plan to a T!! It made dinner SO much easier!!! I am looking forward to this week's menu---now to the planning!

Monday-chicken fajita nachos, fruit
Tuesday-steak, baked potatoes, fresh green beans
Wednesday-pork chops on the grill, hobo dinner (sliced potatoes, onions & cheese wrapped in foil & cooked on the grill) fresh green beans
Thursday-baked ziti, french bread & fruit
Friday-upside down pizza
Saturday-leftovers
Sunday-burgers, brats, potato salad, fruit

Q & A - How Do You....

2009-07-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

A fellow blogger in my Cafe Mom group Blogging Moms recently asked:

Question:

I also love to organize, but unfortunately there never seems to be enough time, and I only have one child.
So how do you find the time???? Great blog!
-------------------------
Michelle

www.greenolivesandham.com

After reading Michelle's Question I decided to do a Q & A each week, providing that I get questions either via my Cafe Mom Blogging Moms group or via other blogging mommies. I will answer almost any questions...if I feel that they are objectionable or too personal, I will let you know but the questions do not have to relate exclusively to organizing, de-cluttering, etc.

Answer:

Organizing is a hobby for me, much like scrapbooking (this is also a hobby of mine) so I pick a project & set aside time to work on it. I usually try to think about what I want to do & plan it out before I jump in. If I want to spot organize my kitchen cabinets, I will often do it while dinner is cooking since I am already in the kitchen. I may only organize 1 or 2 cabinets but I have accomplished something during that time. Some of my organizing projects take several days where I have to go back to finish or tweak it. I sometimes do it in 15 minute intervals, you can organize a lot in 15 minutes....for example in 15 minutes you can do any one (or more) of the following:

clean out & organize your purse (I sometimes do this while sitting in a waiting room or in the drive-thru at the bank if there is a long line)
clean out 1 junk drawer
organize 1 kitchen cabinet
sort through a pile of magazines, catalogs & newspapers
sort mail, shred paid bills & junk mail
update your calendar with bill due dates & appointments
clean old food out of your fridge
plan your weekly menu for your family
check & delete emails...ie. clean out your email in box
straighten up your entryway closet
straighten a dresser drawer

Remember to set a timer for 15 minutes! You will be amazed at what you can accomplish in 15, imagine what you can do if you can set aside 30 minutes! Always remember though...set the timer!!!

Mission Accomplished--Family Command Center

2009-07-17T18:02:00.000-04:00

Before: This cabinet had become a dumping ground for things that didn't have a home, mail, misc. junk. It always drives me nuts. It seems like I would clean it off only too find it looking like this all over again by the end of the day.

After: The family command center:

on the top I set up a basket to keep my planner, spiral bound to do list (from Buttoned Up), outgoing mail and a sticky note pad for messages. My shredder so I can shred junk mail & bills that I don't need to keep for tax purposes as soon as they come in or are paid. My pot that Bella made for me on Mother's Day her first year of preschool (she was 2) that holds my pens, pencils and scissors and a lighter to light the grill and our phone. Above it...my trusty dry erase calendar. Each family member is assigned a color & there is a key in the upper right hand corner (by now they all know which color is them bc I have had this system in place for sometime. Of course, a clock above it all. The only thing I plan on adding is a long hanging file holder so that I can put the kids' school stuff in it that will need to go back & that I can put things that need to be put on the calendar. (I am hoping to find one of these this week.)

Hanging on the side (not sure if you can really see it or not) is a yearly calendar for me to put things on that cannot yet be put on the dry erase calendar. It's hanging over a towel bar that is on the side against the wall.

The drawers now only contain what needs to be in them...things like extra tide pens to throw into my purse, a lint brush for touch ups, paper clips, pencils, keys, sewing kit, white out, batteries, etc.

This is the bottom of the cabinet:

Bills & other things that need to be mailed out but are not ready to go to the mail box yet are in here.

Phone books, address books, note books, and other books the I need on hand are held in this basket. Beside it is a Tax Folder for 2009 from Buttoned Up (http://www.getbuttonedup.com/) which I keep all of my business receipts and all business related documents that I will need for my taxes when I make my annual visit to my accountant. There are several other Buttoned Up products in this basket, I have a book for information on the dog and a family emergency planning book. I love Buttoned Up's products in case you can't tell. My favorite has got to be the Family Agenda (http://www.amazon.com/Buttoned-Up-Inc-1064-Family-agenda/dp/B001HZD2L6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1247923691&sr=8-2) It's awesome!

In here are my control journals (one for all year & my holiday one), my folder that I keep all our flex spending receipts in as the accumlate during the month, my Vera Bradley Folio (http://www.verabradley.com/Site/Store/ProductDetail.aspx?dept=7041&sku=7030%3a1621) which I take with me often when I have appointments or errands to run. It has pockets that I can slip my receipts into, etc. so that they don't get lost in the abyss of my purse, and a Real Simple Bill Organizer.

There's my family agenda & Buttoned Up Cross It Off spiral bound to-do list. I usually toss it in my purse & use it to cross things off as I run errands. There is also a remote control in there that need to go back to Walmart on my next outing.

So there you have it....my family command center. What do you think? It took me several hours to weed through all of the junk that was in this cabinet and find new homes for some of the things, but I did it! Now I don't dread looking at this cabinet or having to dig for things like bills, cards, etc. It's all there & I know where it is. I am going to pin tags on each bin that says what it holds so that DH doesn't decide to rip through things...as he often does when looking for something...this of course drives me insane! I am hoping that this will eliminate that issue!

Fantasy Friday

2009-07-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

This the my fantasy today! I would LOVE to have a family command center set up like one of these! How neat, tidy, organized & functional they are!!! However, I do NOT have spaces like any of these. I first saw these images on http://www.orgjunkie.com/ . The pictures are courtesy of http://www.organizemag.com/ Upon googling "family command center" these images & the article link below kept popping up. So this is what I am loosely using as my inspiration for my family command center which is my current "pet" project. I need to get a good solid system ready & in place before school starts on August 25. I have one kid less to keep track of this year now that Bartt has graduated but it's still tough to keep track of the papers, permission slips, football games and we are about to add soccer games & practices to the schedule! Having something like this set up will definitely help to keep us organized & on track. http://www.organizemag.com/articles/small-spaces/small-spaces-wall-mounted-command-center

Think about Throwing it out & going through it Thursday!

2009-07-16T10:19:00.000-04:00

I am still in purging mode from all the de-cluttering, cleaning & organizing I did this past weekend. This has left me thinking about other areas that need to be cleared out, de-cluttered and organized. There are 2 rooms that came to mind and what needs to be done.

Kitchen

remove all bakeware that is not often used & store it elsewhere. It makes it difficult to find the things I do use frequently--DONE!!!
straighten up kitchen cabinets & create a menu for next week based on what is in them-DONE!!!
containerize (not sure this is really a word, but it is in my world) snacks that are floating around the cabinets--DONE!!!
clean light fixture-DONE!!!!

Dining Room

go through junk drawers in cabine by dining room table--DONE!!!
remove anything from that cabinet that does not need to be in there or is not used frequently--DONE!!! This consisted of things like my crock pot (which found a new home in another cabinet after I cleared out excess bakeware, etc., Bella's playdoh stuff & accessories, other arts & crafts supplies of Bella's that were relocated to the basement where I set up her new area)
sort through & organize stuff that needs to stay in cabinet by dining room table-DONE!
look for replacement cabinet for dining room to set up a better Command Center for our home--Looked for one but haven't settled on one yet---Decision was made to just keep what I have!!-DONE!!!
Clean light fixture-DONE!!!

Now....I need to find the energy to get it all done....perhaps Friday. Guess we'll see!!

I am off to a pretty good start...let's see if I can finish it today with what I have to work with.

Emptying out the laundry room....

2009-07-13T22:58:00.000-04:00

Before

After

The laundry room was victim (or beneficiary) #3 in this weekends organizing, decluttering, re-purposing & rearranging session. I was able to move everything to the new den area that had been in the laundry room. I now have a better pantry area set up & more room to store the economy size package of paper towels I buy at Sam's once every couple of months. My next project is to paint this room. It's going to be something bright & cheery. Perhaps a buttercup yellow.

Room #2-conversion of playroom area to den

2009-07-13T17:44:00.001-04:00

This is what it looks like right now...there are before pics when it was the play room & now that it is a den/scrapbooking area.

Playroom

Den/scrapbooking area

Nothing was purchased to re-do this room. Everything in it was re-purposed from another room in the house. I would like to buy a nice desk or large table (possibly a kitchen table from a garage sale!) for my scrapbooking table. For now, I will take what I have & enjoy having a nice bright & roomy space to scrapbook in. I can now easily scrapbook while Bella does art projects at her own little desk. The white pantry cabinet is filled with her art supplies.

What I did this weekend.....

2009-07-13T15:17:00.001-04:00

This was my boys' room...here is a pic of the boys a couple of years ago...it looked pretty much the same before we turned it into Bella's room.

The total cost for this room was $63. We bought new paint, Hannah Montana sheets & wall clings and a new valance. It was a lot of work but it turned out great & Bella loves it!

Monday Madness....

2009-07-13T08:06:00.000-04:00

So far it's not really Monday Madness....it's actually the opposite. DH has the week off, Bella doesn't have day care today & Dylan had a ride to football. This is what I love about summer.....not having to race around every single morning and looking at a jam packed schedule of evening activities for everyone.

Here's my day:

7:00-8:00 a.m. - made fresh coffee, rinsed dishes & loaded dishwasher, washed pan from Bella's spaghetti O's from yesterday, cleared off counters, fed Gracie & let her out, refreshed clothes in dryer, folded laundry, put laundry away, picked up Dylan's room, made Dylan's bed, opened Dylan's blinds, picked up master, made bed in master, put load in dryer, fill out Bella's soccer form, take misc. items to garage, HOT SPOT: clear off coffee table, pick up den (family room has been converted to a den...one of my many projects this past weekend), give Bella kisses & hugs, checked voicemail & calendar
8:30-10:30- finished putting laundry away in master, take pictures of all rooms that were re-done, help Bella set up her Barbie house & put up stuffed animals from her bin, straighten her closet since stuff was just tossed in there when we did the room switch, grab more coffee, eat breakfast, take meds, fold laundry, put more laundry away, help bella dress her dolls, burn cd for Bella, YIM with Chasity to make plans for today since DH is going to paint, pick up Bella's room, get Bella into her swimsuit & cover up, fix Bella's hair....time for Mommy to get ready!
11:00-2:00-water park
2:00-3:00-sort mail, unload van, empty towels,etc from beach bag, start load of towels, empty cooler, hang up cooler bag, put beach bag in entry closet, update calendar with August dates for school, etc., shower, get dressed, hang up swim suits, get Bella her blankets & teddy so she can nap, review Mike's forms he's taking to the chiropractor today, rinse dishes & load dishwasher.

I sat down & worked, worked, worked....I am actually still working! I will work until 7:50 which will give me 5 hours in today. Then it's bath time for Bella & start my p.m. routines.

Menu Planning Monday

2009-07-13T00:36:00.000-04:00

In efforts to keep our grocery bill down, use what we have & make dinner time easy, I am back to menu planning. Here's this week's menu~

Monday-steaks on grill, baked potatoes, green beans
Tuesday-marinated chicken breasts on grill, salad, fruit, rice
Wednesday-sloppy joes, potato salad, fruit, mac & cheese for kids
Thursday~burgers, potato salad, fruit, chips
Friday~pizza
Saturday~DH cooks...his choice!
Sunday~chicken tacos, fruit

Sunshine Saturday!

2009-07-11T08:49:00.000-04:00

It seems as though the sun hasn't shined here in weeks! It's the most gloomy summer I can remember! I wake up today as the sun is trying to come through the clouds...around 6 a.m. I assume another day of gloom will be upon us. What decides to great me peeking through the trees? THE SUN! Yes...the sun! Well, now if that doesn't put a mama in a good mood what will...I mean after not seeing my friend "Mr. Sun" (as my DD calls it) for weeks, I am greeted by it's golden rays beaming into my living room & showing me the results of what great cleaning poeple can do...this means, there is no dust glaring back at me! Seeing the sunshine of course makes me want to spend some time out in it today! So...I should probably get off this computer that seems to be chained to me at times & get my busy day rolling...not as if I have been sitting here doing nothing! I have already worked 2 hours this morning but now I need to address the mess that is staring at me right now as a result of trying to swap two small rooms. So much for having the house cleaned on Thursday! Oh well...All I really need to do is pick up & vacuum downstairs...hit my hot spots in the kitchen in dining room (as Wendy says...it's a flylady thing) and this floor of the house will be in order. The upstairs though...ugh...that's going to take several hours since we are switching the rooms but...that's the kind of stuff I love to do.

After having 2 boys, I enjoy everything about having a little girl...well, perhaps the only thing I don't like is finding the I have vacuumed up Polly Pocket shoes or have some piece of Barbie paraphenalia stuck to the bottom of my foot. Oh, I could do without the drama that comes with a little girl but you know...it's a trade off. LOL!. Anyway, I will post pics once it's done. Bella is more excited than I have seen her in a long time. She is trying desperately to wake her daddy so he can get the furniture out of her room & her furniture in there.

Dylan's room will be rather boring until I can get the wall decals for it. He wants some sports ones. I am going to have to order them. I am trying to find some non-child like football wallpaper border. Talk about a seemingly impossible task! Geez!

I have this to-do list for today that seems never-ending: (completed tasks done Saturday highlighted in purple, completed Sunday highlighted in green)

make potato salad
marinate lamb chops
laundry
put laundry away
vacuum
organize & put Bella's room together
help move furniture from bedrooms
move art cabinet from dining room to basement
organize basement once Bella's toys are out of there
move scrapbooking stuff to family room in basement
shower & get ready
weed flower beds
water flowers
cut up fruit
pick up Dylan from work

I think that's it....I am sure there's more but that's what's at the front of my mind at the moment. Better get moving! Have a super Saturday!

Edit: I managed to tackle most of my to-do list for Saturday. What I didn't do Saturday, I completed Sunday. I spent all day Sunday working on our family room & laundry room, as well as helping Dylan get his room situated & organized. Bella & I went to church, walmart then came home & I started digging in to what needed to be done. I didn't work on my computer but I did a LOT of work around the house! It looks wonderful! I feel like I have a new house! I will be posting pics in the next couple of days. It just depends on how much time I have!

Fascinating Friday

2009-07-10T23:11:00.000-04:00

Today I spent the first few hours of my day participating in a focus group about charities. It was fun & very interesting. I have never participated in one until today. I was selected too participate & was paid $100 for 2 hours of my time & all they wanted was my opinion! Are you kidding me? I am getting paid to give my opinion which I give for free too often!? Awesome!

Seriously though, I was fascinated to find out all of the wonderful things that United Way does for the community. You do not have to be low income to receive help....did you know that they offer foreclosure counseling & that 80% of the families that go through the counseling keep their homes? This was something both fascinating & fantastic I learned today.

After the focus group, I checked my to-do list & got on the move. I went to Kohls & then Sam's Club, came home & unloaded all of that, worked & after dinner we went to Lowe's to get paint for the highly anticipated room switch. Bella was absolutely fascinated with process of paint mixing! I never think about it but I imagine to a child who's never seen it before, it's pretty amazing! Mike is in the process of painting her room lavender right now. He's already primed it & now the final painting stages have began! Bella went up to see what was going on & she said "Dad, it's lavender! It looks great!" It was so cute. She's so excited! I will post pics when it's done! Stupid me forgot to take before pics but if I dig through my cds I bet i can find the pics we took when we first painted the kids' rooms 5 years ago.

Getting my groove back....

2009-07-09T21:59:00.000-04:00

After the past month which included preparing for a vacation, vacation, father-in-law's heart attack & continued recovery in ICU (this has been a medical & emotional roller coaster for our family), teenager drama.....I feel like I am getting my groove back. I had to sit down & think about how I have managed to do this in the middle of a family crisis. Here's what I came up with:

The weather has been cool so I have spent a lot more time inside, which means I have been working a lot more hours
I started setting my alarm for 6:30 a.m. so I can start my day at the same time each day & jump into my morning routines
I have kept up with my morning & night time routines, which has kept the house clean
I planned our menu for the week & used almost everything on-hand except for produce, bread & milk that we were out of. I have also stuck to the menu plan.
I scheduled time for myself, which helps me to be a better wife & mom...and I stuck to that scheduled time.
I have been doing daily devotions or Bible readings, praying each morning when I get up
I have scheduled out my days & stuck to the schedule...which has enabled me to work the hours I wanted to in a day, along with setting aside fun time for our family, etc.
taking my new medication which seems to have given me more energy & isn't making it hard for me to sleep