Ten Years of Family

Ten years!!


I can hardly believe it’s been ten whole years since I first held Brandon in my arms.

 

What an amazing feeling to be handed my first child in that airport from the ladies who escorted him from The Home of God’s Love in Taiwan into his mama’s waiting arms.

 

Happy Gotcha Day to my smart, funny, amazing son!

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

It's hard not to laugh

Munchkin #2 always keeps me on my toes. Almost daily there are times I have to squelch a smile about something he says or does. The icky sick bug has hit at our house and Munchkin #2 has a very stuffy nose. Our conversation at bedtime Monday night went a little like this:


#2: “So, Sinus’ are where my boogers life?”

Me: “yes”

#2: “How medicine get up there?”

Me: “It goes down to your tummy then travels up to your sinus’ to help get rid of the boogers.”

#2: “Its like a broom and sweep the boogers out?”

Me: “Uh . . . yeah”

#2: “Drink water help get boogers out too?”

Me: “Yes, drinking a lot of water helps you get better and get the boogers out”

#2” “Drink water flood the boogers out?”

Me: “Getting lots of sleep helps a whole lot, so let’s get you tucked in so you can sleep and feel better tomorrow.”

Sometimes you just have to change the subject a little so you don’t laugh out loud.

I’m am very thankful for two munchkins who keep me laughing as we work our way through life.

 
Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Menu Plan Monday

It’s that time again; time to plan your menu for the week if you haven't already. This week, in prepping for munchkin #2 to have a minor surgery next week, I’m planning some doubles of things to freeze to make next week easier.




Monday: Meatloaf (triple batch to freeze)

Tuesday: Chicken and Dumplings

Wednesday: Waffles (triple batch to freeze)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Roast, potatoes and Carrots in the crockpot.

Sunday: Out to eat!!!

Linked to  Organizing Junkie

Fun and Food Friday!!!

We do most of our schooling Monday through Thursday with Fridays left for any catch up we might have to do from doctor appointments or other things that might change our schedule during the week. This year with homeschooling both of the munchkins I have instituted “Fun and Food Friday’s” where we do some sort of fun project, or a cooking activity. Munchkin #2 loves to help me in the kitchen and it is such a good learning activity for him that I love letting him help.


Today for “Fun and Food Friday” we dipped Oreo’s and pretzels.

Let me tell you . . .

A fun and messy time was had by all.

 

Krumkake

One of my favorite Christmas cookies is Krumkake. It is a crisp Norwegian rich buttery cookie. My grandma used to make it, and then after my mom gave me her Krumkake iron, I make it. It is so amazingly yummy but takes a while to make since they are made individually.


If anyone actually has a Krumkake iron and wants the recipe for these I will gladly share, but since that is a small kitchen appliance that isn’t in very many kitchens anymore, I’ll spare the rest of you the recipe, but I’ll still show you how they’re made.

First, the iron, it’s been well loved, can’t you tell by the marks all over it.
One of my favorite Christmas cookies is Krumkake. It is a crisp Norwegian rich buttery cookie. My grandma used to make it, and then after my mom gave me her Krumkake iron, I make it. It is so amazingly yummy but takes a while to make since they are made individually.


If anyone actually has a Krumkake iron and wants the recipe for these I will gladly share, but since that is a small kitchen appliance that isn’t in very many kitchens anymore, I’ll spare the rest of you the recipe, but I’ll still show you how they’re made.

First, the iron, it’s been well loved, can’t you tell by the marks all over it.



A dollop of batter in the middle then close it tight, squeezing it nice and thin. Watch out for the steam!



Flip it over and cook until it’s a nice golden color then once it’s taken off the iron, very quickly roll it into a cone shape, holding it down for a few seconds while it starts to cool.




You have to hold it very carefully because they are really hot.



Next . . . Tada!!! Light and crisp rich buttery tasting Krumkake.

Don’t you wish you were at my house right now having some?

 

The mood to purge

I’m in the mood . . . the mood to purge.


Maybe because I’m tired of having so much stuff I have to clean up, put away and deal with.

Maybe because it’s almost Christmas and I know we’ll be getting more junk nice things coming into my house wrapped in pretty paper from all the grandparents.

I don’t know the reason why, but either way . . . I’m going to utilize this mood and get cracking.


 

Menu Plan Monday

I’m finally back to blogging, and keeping myself accountable on a few things by sharing it all with you. So here goes!!!




Monday: Cola Chops, Corn

Tuesday: Waffles

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: Christmas Party!!! Woo Hoo!!

Saturday: Roast, Potatoes & Carrots

 

Fun with power tools

Finding some mold on the bottom of the shelves I had our homeschool stuff on started a big, but fun project.  I'm hacking some pottery barn shelves and desk that I don't want to spend $2000 on.  With some modifications I hope to make something just as nice looking but perfect for what I need.  The plan includes one desk with a storage hutch, and two side units with hutches. 

First step, napping in the cart . . . I mean shopping for supplies

The side units are basic 30 by 24 boxes with an adjustible shelf.

I have 2 inch legs on the bottom instead of it sitting flush on the floor like the PB version.  The reason I'm having to toss my current shelves is because of water in our basement over a year ago.  Just in case there is ever more water in our basement again, this will help save the MDF.

Next step, the desk then the hutch for the pictured side unit.

 

I love experiments that work

My experiment was a success!! I had read that you could put muffin mix in baking cups and freeze them, then just pop them in a muffin tin and bake. It worked great! They taste just like the ones that I made fresh yesterday. I’m so excited. Now I’m working on freezing muffins so we’ll have a very easy breakfast for company or Saturdays. It’s also a great way to use some of the 10 lbs of blueberries we have right now. I’ve made blueberry and chocolate chip so far. I’ll need to see what other combos I can come up with for variety.
 

Menu Plan Monday

I’ve been trying to work on stocking up my freezer with more meals, or parts of meals to make the daily cooking easier. This week I’ll be using the meatballs that I froze last week, as well as freezing more stuffed peppers for later use when I fix them this week.

Monday: Birthday cake and leftovers. Happy Birthday to my youngest munchkin

Tuesday: Pasta and Meatballs (meatballs from the freezer)

Wednesday: Stuffed Peppers (make extra to freeze) & Fried Zucchini

Thursday: Waffles (make extra to freeze)

Friday: Girls night out. The men folk are on their own.

Saturday: Grill

Sunday: Pot Luck at church

 

Rewards of Simplicity

I’m not there yet, still a long way to go to the simple life that I long for, but I’m already reaping the rewards. Okay, so it isn’t totally from my making my life simpler, but since the munchkins and I just got back from a short trip to the grandparents house, our house is pretty much clean. Therefore, the call for a house showing this afternoon didn’t make me frazzled running around trying to clean and stash things in the van before the showing. I had time to leisurely mow the front yard, take a shower, do some straightening and even do a blog post.

That is what I want my life to be like. I don’t want to be a slave to my house and my stuff. If I have less stuff and less to mess with around the house, then short notice showings, or trips, or anything, isn’t something to make me frazzled, but something to enjoy.

Goals

  Goals


Easy to set, yet if they aren’t realistic, they’re very easy to fail to attain. I think that is part of my problem with attaining the simple life that I long for. I have some great goals, but they’re too broad so therefore very hard to attain and hard to keep motivated to work toward those goals.

So, here I sit, disappointed in myself for not doing a good enough job at reaching my goals. Before bed last night I started to brainstorm about the word “simplify” I came up with several things, and I’m going to try and focus on one or two of those things instead of looking at the big picture, I need to get out the magnifying glass and look at a little portion of the simple life that I want.

To start with, one of the biggest things that hit me was that with less stuff, there is less to put away and keep clean. Over the last year of having our house on the market I have gotten rid of a lot of things, but we still have a lot more than a family of four needs.

I turned to a clean sheet of paper in my notebook and started listing what I could do to have less stuff. I truly am amazed at how little of the stuff I have actually gets used on a regular basis and I think that is where I’m going to shift my attention. How many clothes in my closet do I actually wear? Why am I hanging onto the rest? What about in the kitchen? That fondue pot that I got at a garage sale a few years ago and have used twice. It was fun to have fondue, but such a hassle and do I really think I need it? If I wanted to make fondue, couldn’t I just stick it in my smaller crockpot to stay warm? I think the fondue pot can go to the garage sale pile. What about my craft supplies? Much of it hasn’t been used in a long time, how much if it do I need, how much can I get rid of , or have an art day and dump it all out and have the kids create, take pictures of their creations then get rid of it.

So there you go, my goal of living a simpler life is still there, but I know it is a goal that will ongoing, I may never get to where I really want to be at a simple life, but simpler is okay, as long as I keep making steps forward.

So first step . . . keep purging out the unnecessary.

Wish me luck

Menu Plan Monday

 Monday: BBQ Chicken and Fried Zucchini


Tuesday: Pasta and meatballs

Wednesday: Leftovers and Fried Zucchini

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza night

Saturday: Grill and Fried Zucchini



Are you seeing a trend here? It’s zucchini season and we have a ton and the munchkins LOVE it (Mama kinda likes it also) I’m trying an experiment and I sliced up a zucchini and froze it. We’ll see how well it thaws then fries. If it works well, then we can have fried zucchini all year long and wouldn’t that be wonderful!

Grocery Shopping

I like to make lists . . . the problem is I don't always seem to have my list with me when I'm out which makes remembering all the items I need when shopping a tad difficult. 

Enter iphone app Grocery iQ  I'm liking it a lot so far.  It's easy to add items, and it has an auto suggest that has been helpful so far.  I haven't done a lot with it yet so we'll see if it stands the test of shopping time.  At least now since my phone is always with me, my list will be as well, so no matter where I am when I think of something I need, I can add it, and no matter when I stop to do some shopping, my list is there as well.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Pizza Night


Tuesday: Pasta & Chicken Alfredo

Wednesday: Cola chops, Salad, Fried Potatoes

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Grill, Sweet Potato Fries, Green Beans

Sunday: Still deciding. Company in town so we’ll probably go out one time, so Sat. might end up on Sun.

Menu Plan Monday (on Tuesday)

I did not make a menu plan last week and it messed up my whole week. I am further convinced of the necessity of menu planning. I really would like to do more planning farther ahead as well. I’ve been doing the planning each week since sometimes our schedule changes on what days the hubby will be home and what days he isn’t. I’m trying to figure out the best way to plan. Do I make a plan for a month at a time and plug the meals in ahead of time, or do I make a monthly plan with the meals listed for each week and then plug them into the calendar at the beginning of the week? I’ll need to do some brainstorming.


What works for you with your menu planning?



This week’s menu:

Tuesday: Sweet Potato Fries, BBQ chicken

Wednesday: Waffles (making extra to freeze), and bacon

Thursday: Grandma’s Mac & Cheese, Creamy soup steaks

Friday & Saturday: Daddy and Munchkin #1 will be camping, I’ll be painting M 1’s bedroom, so leftovers, cereal and homemade frozen pizzas for M #2 and I. ;o)

Sunday: Grill, fried potatoes, green beans

Baking Day Results

Yes, I know, my boys are weird, they don't like cheese on their pizza.  13 individual frozen pizzas ready for the next couple of sitter nights, or I'm too lazy to do anything else, lets have pizza nights.

2 8x8 (actually one was eaten this morning) and 2 9x13 pans of cinnamon rolls safely in the freezer.

20 biscuits frozen and ready to go.

I didn't take any pictures of the bread, since that is a normal every week baking thing. I ran out of time for the waffles but I might make a batch of those for the freezer later this week.

Baking day

Today is baking day as soon as the youngest munchkin gets off to school. On the docket for the day is bread, cinnamon rolls to freeze, biscuits to freeze, waffles to freeze and individual pizzas to freeze. Soon the freezer will be stocked and the 25 lb bag of flour will be all used up.

Pictures will be posted later of all that is made today.

Grocery Challenge

I feel like I totally rocked Gerbes tonight.  I got all this stuff, yes 8 boxes of that yummy wheat Ronzoni pasta, all for $23.15.  I totally love how the bottom of your receipt tells you how much you've saved. What I really love is when that amount saved is a whole lot more than the amount I spent.

Okay, not quite as good of deals at Target on groceries. The fruit snacks are a necessary evil of a kid in public school, sending a prepackaged snack each month.  The Poptarts I had coupons for along with a sale and with buying those four products the Yogo's were free.  Total spent, $6.52.

Room Challenge 2010 - Office

Okay, here it is . . . the office. Lots of books, many of which I will probably never use again, so I keep wondering why I have them. A stack of things that need to be filed, along with more that is stashed away in a tub in the basement. A printer that needs to be set back up, but first, room made to set it up. More stacks of papers on top of the file cabinet, stacks under the desk and stacks probably somewhere else that belongs in here and put away.


This is my next challenge. Organize and deep clean the office.

So, who else is up for a challenge? Do you have an office or home school room or area that needs organized? If so, I’d love you to join me. If you have a blog, please post the link in the comments so I can see and read about your progress as well.