Menu Plan Monday!

This week will of course be crazy, but let's try to have a plan.
Monday - chicken alfredo
Tuesday - tortellini
Wednesday- Some sort of chicken :)
Thursday - Something fun...maybe steaks (depending on price) and sweet potatoes??
Friday - Sunday - > Various Family Gatherings!

Frugality Tip of the Day

When trying to save both time and money, it is not a good idea to throw your first batch of anything on the floor and break your favorite mixing bowl into a million pieces :)

Found a great read.

I am reading a book this week by Mary Ostyn at http://www.owlhaven.net/ called Family Feasts For $75 a week. It is great! I love that she not only includes recipes for everything, but she also tells you why to do certain parts of the recipe. As an example when she gives her biscuit recipe she reminds you to handle as little as possible to get the fluffiest biscuits...things you may (or may not) know, but is always nice to be reminded of. We tried out her recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bars and they got the seal of approval from my husband, my toddler, and of course my dear, sweet sister-in-law (she stopped by to hang out, but confessed later that she was certain I would have "good stuff" around). We are enjoying it and hope you get a chance to check out Mary.

Menu Plan - Dec 14th

With all of the crazy Christmas stuff going on we are going to try and eat this week mostly out of our pantry and freezer. We will stop by the store and get a fresh salad and maybe a few other things, but mostly just what we have on hand. I'm posting a little bit ahead so that I can get everything else taken care of this week. We also need to start our batches of Christmas cookies that we will be giving out as gifts

so...

Monday - chicken alfredo

Tuesday - Lasagna

Wednesday - Church

Thursday - Chicken Parmesan

Friday - Hanging with in-laws

Saturday- Chicken mushroom rice - Gramma's birthday party so this may not work out as planned

Sunday - Not sure yet, but something good :)

you can check out more menu plans at http://orgjunkie.com/

The Best Pancakes Ever!

My daughter and I both enjoy a morning breakfast of pancakes and I have been trying out various "scratch" versions for a few months just to see what we like. I think we found the winner! We originally did it with just white flour, but we just tried it with half white and half wheat, and I think it makes it better :)

3/4 c white flour
3/4 c wheat flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon

mix all of these up really well

add
1 1/4 c. milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp melted butter

use butter on your skillet to keep your pancakes from sticking (I know...a lot of butter, but so good) and yummy!

It gets a lot of cheers at our house :)

Menu Planning

I have never been one to plan in advance for meals, but then it gets to be 5 o'clock and I ask my husband what he wants and he says he doesn't know and ....it goes downhill from there. So for the last two weeks we have planned a week in advance, we don't always stick to it, but it is working out great! We have had peaceful evenings. I have been able to prep in advance and thus no craziness before dinner, hubby happy, toddler happy, all this makes mommy very happy! Since we started doing this I started googling and found orgjunkie.com and her menu planning monday, and we decided to join in on the fun.

Here is our menu for the week.

Breakfasts
- Cereal
Lunches
- leftovers

- BLT's

- Ham and Cheese

- Grilled Cheese
Dinners
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Lasagna
- Tacos
- Spaghetti
- Crock pot Chicken
- Mushroom onion chicken

The Thrill of a Great Find

I am on a deal high today. I knew that I needed some new diapers for my daughter, but I have been putting it off until it was absolutely necessary. I had the funds for the diapers, but I wanted to make sure I got a good deal. I hadn't seen any great deals advertised, but I had a few coupons and decided to go and check out target. Target is good because I can always get a box of the target diapers for about$13 and sometimes they have sales on Huggies. Today was a diapering gold mine for us. The huggies were slightly cheaper than at Publix ($1) and if I bought 2 boxes I could get a five dollar gift card back. I checked my coupons and I had $1.50 off one package and $5 off of a pack of diapers and a pack of wipes. Yay! Is it ridiculous that I am so excited about this feat??

I'm saving money.

I have decided that the best way to save money is not to enter stores at all. It seems like everytime you go into one I spend money. Usually I only go to the store when I need something, but I think if I wait until it's desparate I can get out for cheaper :)

Dependant on Cell Phone Technology?

Every time I hear about how Americans are addicted to their mobile technology I pat myself on the back and think "you, my dear, are one of the few who are not." Now, fast forward a few days, I throw my cell phone in the tub and realize I am a little bit more addicted than I thought I was! Have you ever stopped to think how many times you call someone and the only place you have their number is in your phone. As a teen I knew all of my friends phone numbers by heart, now I was hardpressed to remember numbers of family members that I talk to every day. It was ridiculous the lengths I would go through to talk to people, especially people that were long distance. Since we have cell phones we don't have long distance on our home line, so I would facebook, or e-mail, or call someone local and have the long distance friend call me back on my line. The other thing about not having a cell phone is that you cannot call someone once you have left the house, so you better be at the assigned meeting place at the right time, or they just might leave (or be so worried that they start working out a plan of who to call first to report you missing). Who knew I had been so dependent on such a fragile piece of technology! So here is my confession, I am at least addicted the ease of the digital phone book, the convience of being able to call someone wherever I am, and making inexpensive phone calls to friends around the globe, but I can survive without my cell phone at least for a few days. I am proud of the survival, but I am beyond greatful that last night I managed to retrieve an old phone from my mom which my loving husband has gotten up and working for me already. Yay for communication!

Telling God your plans

Ever heard the saying if you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans? Today my plans included dropping off my daughter at Nana's, an eye appointment, lunch, taking the same daughter to a splash park and sprinkle in a few naps for the daughter and today was ready...right? So far I went to an eye appt that had been cancelled without my knowledge, had to go to the grocery store, my daughter has slept at crazy times, and oh, last but not least, it is storming. OK God, I get it!

Teething!

My daughter has been working on getting some molars for the last few days (not to mention the front teeth that are still missing) and boy has it been miserable! She does not sleep well, does not sit well, does not play well and is constantly teary. I have tried distraction, cold toys, things to chew on all to no avail. I have tried tylenol, motrin, and even teething tablets to relieve some of the suffering (for us all) and nothing seems to be working. It would not be so bad if she could just get some decent sleep while she is going through it, but nothing seems to be working. Hopefully this current nap will help, it has been a lot longer than normal. Please Lord, help that baby girl!

The Museum

I took my daughter to the museum today for the first time since she has been able to walk around by herself. It was quite an experience. She actually did really well for most of the time, but I did have to sneak her crackers when the security guards were busy. (Do I lose Good Mom points for sneaking?) It was a lot of fun and virtually free (although we did pay to go through one of the exhibits). I recommend looking up your town on the web to see what you have going nearby, that's how we ended up at the museum this morning and it was definitely worth it!

Legalism, Relationship, Prayer

I have been reading 1 Timothy and studying with a group of women near my home. This week I have really been struck by the thought that legalism (or following any set of rules) just doesn't cut it. The only way to live in the center of God's will seems to be to ask him about it. I want to be better about praying, I want to treat God as a friend and remember to tell him all and talk to him about everything, but I am constantly failing in that area of my life. Right now this scares me more than it ever has before in my life, not just because of how it affects me, but because of how it affects my baby girl. My toddler wants to be just like me, she imitates my every move and I know that things I say and do every day are what she is learning every day. Now to compound matters we are getting into the days where she is starting to understand what I want her to do and does not always chose to do those things and suddenly I realized with my study that even though I can train her and discipline her and teach her the right way to act that isn't enough. I MUST be praying for the attitudes of her heart, I MUST be praying that her heart is moldable, and most of all I MUST be praying that she is leaning on and trusting in Jesus and that he will direct her paths! Whoa! Talk about conviction. Luckily this week I was also reminded of another verse. James 4:8 "come near to God and he will come near to you..." So this week my prayer is Lord, draw me near to you and Lord allow my girl to see you in me. Draw her, teach her, mold her. Do not let me be her stumbling block.

Processed or not?

I am finding that as I have more time at home I am more inclined now to make things from scratch than I was in the past. There are multiple reasons for this 1) it is often cheaper, 2) now that I have more of the staples on hand once I run out of the mix for something it is less time consuming to gather the ingredients than to run to the store and buy a new mix, and 3) I am finding more and more about mixes and processed foods that are just not good for our bodies. Today we ran out of pancake mix and I was all ready to run to the store and get more and my husband says to me, "I'm sure there is a recipe on the web for pancakes, why don't you try making that from scratch." It seems I have won a convert. So, we'll try the pancakes out and let you know how it goes, meanwhile if you have a good recipe for pancakes, let me know!

Sleep Success...and failures!

Calling all parents! Do you ever feel like you finally have the whole sleep thing figured out just to find out that your toddler finds a new way to thwart your effort at a full nights sleep days later? I just finished bragging to all of my "mommy" friends that my 13 month old has (no a better verb is had) been sleeping from 7pm to 6-6:30 am pretty much every night. I guess she must have heard me, because now she is having a hard time going down again and I feel like I am back at the beginning of the "sleep training process" again. Does it ever end? She will at some point develop a routine...right??

Welcome!

This is a window into my life. Some of it is silly, some of it is serious, and some is just life with a toddler in tow. I hope you enjoy the ride.