Review: Think Dirty

One day, I was out to lunch with a friend and she introduced me to this app. I am not a huge app user - I usually download them, never open them, and then delete them when I get that screen of death that says I'm almost out of storage.

We were talking about eating clean and such, and she whips out her phone. Our convo went something like this:

Her: Wanna see something gross?
Me: Hi, I'm Randi. Have we met?
Her: It's this app that tells you how dirty all your stuff is.
Me: Huh?
Her: You type in the product you want to check and it gives you a rating on how "dirty" it is.
Me: That sounds awful.
Her: It's GREAT. (Pulls out her phone, displays app.)

Her: See? Now, what do you use to clean your face?
Me: (proudly, because I have recently graduated from the drug store stuff to the DEPARTMENT STORE STUFF) Clinique.
Her: (typing it in) So, here you go:

Her: The five its its rating out of then. The higher you get to ten, the dirtier it is. So yours is about half dirty. So, not terrible. What about your laundry detergent?
Me: (snapping my fingers) I know this one is clean. I use Meyer's. (Remember this post all about Meyer's?)
Her: (sad face) Oh, friend. I'm sorry. I'm about to burst your bubble about Meyer's.
Me: What do you mean? It can't be dirty - the whole point of it is that it's kinder to the environment and made with clean chemicals. That's their whole advertising campaign!
Her: That's what I thought too, so I bought a bunch of it. Are you ready for this?

Her: NINE?
Me: NINE? You have to be kidding me!

The rest of lunch was spent in a similar vein (we were at PSub so the kids were happy coloring and watching TV): me thinking of products and her scanning them and me getting all depressed. One ironic thing we found was that the laundry detergent I had given up to use Meyer's, All Free & Clear, was actually very clean:

Go figure.

Another cool thing about this app is that, if it doesn't have a product you are looking for, you can add it. They didn't have my shampoo, so I scanned the barcode and submitted it. Surely this is fine, right? I mean, it smells so good and it's so pretty!

Anyway, I really kind of feel like this app ruined my life. I also feel like it's okay if all my stuff isn't ones and twos. I think it's okay if I work up to that gradually. Most of my cleaning stuff is Norwex anyway, which doesn't even use chemicals, so I'm at least doing that part right, right?

New Thing: Walmart Grocery Pickup

As a working mom, one of my most difficult tasks is feeding my family. There is so much to think about - WHEN we are going to eat with our busy schedules and when am I going to prepare it, WHAT we are going to eat, HOW is it going to get thawed/chopped/marinated/pre-cooked/whatever, WHO is going to prepare it (me 9 times of ten because I'm off work sooner), etc, etc. And throw in trying to eat healthy? HA!

Years ago Jo Marie introduced me to Aldi. And it was like the clouds parted and God said, "You can afford to feed your family on your meager monthly budget if you shop smart and here." And it was wonderful. And I love Aldi, truly. But this week, the clouds parted again, this time, with Walmart Grocery Pickup.

I am not a fan of Walmart because I hate going there. I love their prices, but I just hate going there, parking, walking all over the huge store to find anything, and the fact that it's always so busy. This solved that problem because I sat at my computer, took my grocery list, and searched and clicked. It took me 7 minutes. SEVEN MINUTES TO GET EVERYTHING IN MY CART. Then I entered my credit card info and selected a pickup time.

It was that simple. Truly.

My pickup time was 9-10 AM and at 8:50 I received a call that my groceries were ready for pickup any time in the next hour. I left the house, pulled up at 9:02, called the number, and two minutes later:

The lady was super nice and cheerful and had me sign on a little iPhone looking device and then helped me load the groceries in the car. It was AMAZING. AND, they gave me a gift bag for being a first-time customer:

How nice!

One of the things I'm trying to do this summer is come up with ways to make my working life at home smoother and more efficient without sacrificing time with my family. This is one of the things I'm most excited about, because now, I can meal plan and grocery shop in one step! It's more expensive than Aldi - probably $10 or so on this grocery trip - but I saved so much time and energy, which matters so much during the school year!

A few notes if you are looking to try this out (which I HIGHLY recommend!):

• Use this link or the app "Walmart Grocery Pickup" (different from the regular Walmart app)
• Not all Walmarts do this, be sure to check ahead of time at the link above
• You must have a $30 minimum
• Read carefully - I accidentally bought two 18 ct eggs instead of two 12 ct eggs. Good thing we like eggs.
• Buying produce without looking at it can be a little questionable, but all my produce (which was probably 50% of what I bought) looked great - especially the avocados, which I never know how to pick anyway.
• If you decide to try this out, let me know and I can send you a coupon code for $10 your first order! :)

If you have a HyVee in your area, you may check it out, too. I've been told they do the same thing, but that their interface is more difficult to navigate and their minimum purchase is higher. I never shop at HyVee because it's so much more expensive, but if you are a HyVee fan, it may be worth some checking.

Happy shopping :)

De-Cluttering

I have a new favorite non-fiction (yes, you read that right) NON-FICTION book, Home Comforts. I try not to write about books until I have finished them, but this one is 874 pages long and not a Harry Potter book, so odds are it's going to take more than 8 days to finish. It covers everything you could ever want to know about keeping a house. I ordered it in time for my trip and flipped straight to the chapter on cleanliness, hoping for some time-saving tips. What I got was a face palm sort of moment when the author shared an anecdote about a chair in her upstairs hallway. She said the chair had remained empty for six months until, one day, she dropped her keys and jacket on it in haste. By the end of the afternoon, her son's iPod and headphones and her husband's sweatshirt were both on the chair. She outlined the idea that when spaces are neat and orderly, people feel compelled to keep it so. But once a spot was "messy," no one hesitates to add to the messiness. This is not rocket science, just a face palm.

This is part of my problem with neatness. We are pretty neat people, but as soon as that spell gets broken, it's like WOOSH. It's all kinds of messy up in here. So today, I set about to clear out everything in the living room that wasn't part of the furniture or the decor. I put it all in baskets and if I didn't know where it went, it stayed there for me to sort out later. Here are my before and afters:

Spot by the door (not sure what else to call this):
This is a constant place of clutter. The Star Wars bags are from our trip (last week) and the blue and white chevron is FROM PRESCHOOL. IN MAY. Right. So I set about decluttering this area first.

Before:

After:

All I did was put away the bags that didn't belong there, straighten the toys and books, and put my keys in my purse. Took three minutes.

Main Living Space:
This space actually looked pretty good to start. A few things out of place, but this is it in its average condition.

Before:

After:

(pardon Sister who is putting the stickers I found on the desk all over her leg)

Desk:
This is the big problem. Nearly all paperwork ends up here (except, of course, the Justin Timberlake concert ticket my husband swears he put here and was nowhere to be found and cost us...well, I'm ashamed to admit the actual dollar amount. A lot.) There isn't really a good system for all of this...it's just mail, cards, cash, notebooks, desk supplies, books, bills and records, and a bunch of random crap. I tried to get Husband to move it upstairs and put the new piano here, but he wants the computer in the common family area, which I get. So the solution has to be keeping it free of junk.

Before:

After:

The picture I didn't post is the basket full of stuff to which I had to say, "Huh. I have no idea where this should go." Husband and I tackled that one together, and I am happy to say we had places for everything by the end (even though most ended up in recycling or trash :).

Superhero Birthday

I am not a big party-thrower. Traditionally, I let the kid pick a theme and we do a cake, some snacks, and some decorations and that's pretty much it. We have done Thomas, baseball, legos, sunshine, and ladybugs (and apparently I haven't done blog posts on all of these). This year Sister asked for superheroes.

She is so cool.

And we upped the ante this year by not just doing a cake, snacks, and decorations on the superhero theme, but doing superhero training centers! Not really my ball of wax, but after talking to Brother's kindergarten teacher who had thrown a similar party (but who is WAY more ambitious than I...she also let us borrow her Mr. Incredible suit, which my brother-in-law was willing to don) and scouring Pinterest, I pitched the idea to Husband. He was in favor, which is great because he is super creative and very handy. One of the training centers was developing super hero aim so he built and painted this:

I made a banner:

And although I didn't take any pictures, hung paper lanterns all around the porch with super hero masks on them. I was particularly proud of that!

I had asked each guest to RSVP with their favorite super hero and then my mom (who is the COOLEST) made each of them individual capes, so one of their training stations was to get their capes!

Another was making masks, which I found on Amazon:

And there was the spidy-powers one where they shot down enemies with silly string:

And probably the most popular was practicing their super strength by knocking down the wall:

Grandma made her a supergirl cake:

And all in all, we had a great party. The weather was great, we had a good turnout, and Sister had a SUPER time!

Get FINANCIALLY Fit: Cash Flow

The first part of managing your household budget is analyzing and establishing cash flow.  We have always been pretty responsible spenders, but this...well, this is crazy.

It all starts with income.  And income is tricky.  I have had a full-time job since January of 2007.  My husband has worked various jobs since then - salesman, banker, worship leader, and finally, this summer, engineer.  We always referred to our income prior to this summer as a 1.25 income.  Mine was the 1, and his job at the church was the .25.  Now, I suppose we are a 2.25 income.  It seems like that would mean that we could continue living on the 1.25 income and use the remaining 1 to pay off debt.  But as it turns out, getting a job is a lot like getting older - the more privileges, the more responsibility.

• Child in preschool = $$$
• 120 miles round trip to work in gas = $$$
• 120 miles round trip in toll = $$$

And, I begged for some more grocery money.  My $50/week budget including diapers was killing me.  We upped it.  End result? Extra monthly expenditures.  And when you are maintaining a cash flow plan, you are watching every. single. penny.  It starts with a form that looks something like this:

From Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University

Only this is half of the first page.  Yep...it literally tracks every single dollar you spend.  October was our first month, and I think we redid this form at least three times.  Part of it was because Rick worked lots of overtime this month, and the other part was because unexpected expenses kept popping up.  We had to pay for pest control.  We had to pay more than we budgeted for a cab when we flew to Texas for Rick's cousin's wedding.  We got a bill from Charlie's doctor.  Etc, etc.  The way the formula works is this: you end with $0.  If you do all the math and end with $214, you need to go back and spend that $214 somewhere.  Ideally, you are applying it to debt, or if you're out of debt, to savings, or if you have significant savings, allocated savings.

One of the big keys to making this work is buying with cash.  We are cash people and always have been, so that part wasn't much of an adjustment.  The other big key is balancing your checkbook against the form and making sure all the numbers match up.  That is a HUGE adjustment.  I was once very diligent about my checkbook, but as it turns out, it was one of many things that went bye-bye when I had kids. :/

Anyway, we are excited!  We were able to put a respectable amount on debt this month, which is GREAT, because we have a list of goals:

1. Establish an emergency fund of $1000 CHECK
2. Pay off Loan #1.  CHECK
3. Pay off Loan #5. GOAL: Paid off by Christmas 2013.

It's happening!

Get FINANCIALLY Fit: Getting Started

This summer, my big focus was weight loss.  Check.  Now, our big focus is our finances.

To be honest, I'm a little lot uncomfortable blogging about money.  Even if you know me, (and depending on our level of friendship), it's unlikely I have talked to you about our money situation, other than the off-handed "we don't have any" sort of comment.  I sometimes feel more comfortable writing about something than I do talking about it, but in this case, both are equally uncomfortable.  How much money we have or don't have really isn't anyone else's business, and spouting it off can make the listener feel awkward.  In most cases, I would therefore decide not to discuss it.  However, one of the best things about blogging is accountability.  If I lay out a weight loss plan, say I'm going to stick to it, and then don't, I have just shown my entire readership (yes, all four of you) that I am full of hot air.  However, if I say I'm going to do it, I am constantly mindful of the fact that these four people know I said I was going to do it.

It's an accountability thing. That said, I am going to try to be as specifically vague as possible.

In a nutshell, our financial situation is this: we got married debt-free and lived that way for four years.  In the last three, we have added two cars, a house, a (third and fourth) college degree program, and (thanks to an unforeseen loss of income) a credit card.  Translation?  FIVE loans.

This is so depressing.  I hate thinking about how we went from completely self-sufficient to having FIVE loans in three short years.  Miraculously, our debt total is relatively low, especially considering the national averages.  (Have you looked at those?  They are scary.)  So in July, Rick and I sat down and mapped out a finance plan - a way to pay off our debt and save money.

And then we started Financial Peace University at church, and realized our plan, which we thought was so brilliant, was actually crap.  We scrapped it and went with Dave Ramsey's actual plan.  The bottom line is this:

Tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Sounds simple enough, right?  Um...wrong.  It's a TON of work.  It's sitting down EVERY WEEK, and some weeks more than once, and going through ALL of it.  It's tracking every single dollar that comes in and designating where it goes before it ever gets to you.  It is a RIDICULOUS amount of maintenance.  And discipline.

But we have a few things in our favor:

1. We aren't starting with that much debt, really.
2. I am the cheapest person alive.  Recently an acquaintance posted online asking for input on which diaper bag she should buy.  The cheapest one was $88 and the most expensive one was a Coach.  She was serious.  I can't imagine spending $88 on a bag.  I wanted to shake her shoulders and say "It's a BAG! Do you realize it's a bag? It's going to hold poopy clothes and bottles are going to spill in it and there will be cheerio-powder in the bottom.  YOU ARE CRAZY?!"  But then I remembered I am the cheapest person alive.  Maybe I'm the crazy one.
3. We don't spend money on stuff we don't need, and for the stuff we do need, we usually get it 2nd hand.  This is a fact that some people might try to keep on the DL, but not me.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this.  Reduce, reuse, recycle applies to clothes, kitchen appliances, shoes, electronics, and pretty much everything else!
4. We are both committed to getting out of debt ASAP and beginning to build wealth.

We have only been in the class four weeks, but we have already crossed a few things off our list and set some goals:

1. Establish an emergency fund of $1000 We already had this in place, but I like to write things down on my to-do list even if I've already done them because it looks like I accomplished more.
2. Pay off Loan #1.  Yep!  We officially own my car as of this month!
3. Pay off Loan #5. GOAL: Paid off by Christmas 2013.

It's going to happen, people!

Tips for MASSIVE Freezer Cooking

When Lucy was born, my dear, dear friend Melissa did the most amazing thing for us.  She cooked, like, a gazillion meals for us, froze them, and sent them up to us (she lives two hours away).

Twice.

It was the. best. thing. ever.

Now in terms of domesticity, Melissa is Michael Jordan and I am the kid across the street who can't hit the broad side of a barn.  She is Jimi Hendrix and I am the 7th grade guitar class at school.  She is Adelle and I am a screeching cat.  But Rick's sister is having a baby, and I thought this was a good idea...

Tip #1: Having Meals in the Freezer is the Best Thing Ever
I think I already said this, and it's not really a "tip," but it bears repeating. I learned this when Melissa brought the meals while I was on bed rest.  (NOT something I recommend, btw.)  It was amazing to just be able to pull something out of the freezer, let it thaw, and throw it in the oven!

Tip #2: Take it Slow
My original plans were a bit more grandiose, but real life and a growing understanding of what I could actually accomplish, given my lacking skill level, full-time job, two children, fitness schedule, and cooking for my own family, brought me swiftly back to Earth.  Thankfully, we have 1/4 of a cow in our freezer, and thanks to one of the freezers going out and me spending four hours cooking 60 lbs of ground beef, that part was already done.  I spent about three sessions of five-hour stretches in the kitchen, and then bits and pieces here and there.  Between cooking and organizing the guidebook (which was actually my favorite part of the entire process), I probably spent a good 24 hours on this over the last month!

Tip #3: Have a Plan
Here is my menu:

I kept a Google spreadsheet of what meals required what ingredients, what ingredients I had and which ones I still needed to get, etc.  Obviously, the plan changed, but that was okay.

Tip #4: Have Partners
My husband was a rock star while I was doing this.  He took the kids across the street to the park, or just kept them out of the kitchen, sometimes for hours on end.  And my mom was awesome because she offered to pay for all the disposable bake ware, which is a necessity when you are freezer-cooking for someone else!

Tip #5: Break the Cooking into Segments
I did this in shifts, and invariably, the shift that I thought would be two hours ended up being five.  Plan for that.

Tip #6: Try to Cook HEALTHY Stuff
Now that I have spent 15 weeks eating plant-based whole foods, it's hard for me to go back to thinking about preparing white flour, processed foods.  I purchased a few ingredients I hadn't purchased in probably 6 months (like Velveeta, for instance), and to be honest, I had a little internal battle as I was preparing these things.  If I don't want to be eating these, should I be making them for someone else?  Melissa's meals were all super healthy - shouldn't mine be, too?  So I compromised.  Rick's sister is not a fan of veggies, but I made three dishs (meatballs, sloppy joes, and "mashed potatoes"), that have "sneaky" veggies.  I'm particularly proud of the "mashed potatoes" because I didn't have a recipe and they turned out SO GREAT!  I'll share the recipes at another time.

Tip #7: Think about Convenience
Do things that are going to be easy.  Almost all of these meals can be thawed in the fridge overnight and tossed in the oven 30 minutes before go-time.  You don't want meals where you have to do a lot of prep.


Tip #8: Use everydayhomecook.com for Pretty Much Everything
Allow me to GUSH for a moment.  This is a MUST on your list of food blogs.  It's run by a friend of mine (who I absolutely adore) and it's awesome.  This is hands down my favorite cooking site.  It's so easy, everything is step-by-step, and the food is DELICIOUS every time.  I used her refrigerator dough, bierocks, monkey bread, bread sticks, cookies, and taco seasoning all directly, but then I used variations of several recipes as well.  GREAT resource.

Tip #9: Have a Guidebook
This was really for my own sanity, but I know how helpful it is to have a guide because Melissa made up great instructions for us.  I used Google Docs (PS Kallie, if you are reading this, Luckiest Guy is my new favorite font!) and generated a Meal Plan (above) and a Table of Contents:

an inventory sheet so she knows how much she has and where it should be:

and a page for each dish explaining what goes with it, how to prepare it, and the recipe, in case she ever wants to make it herself:

(As I said, I'm really most proud of this part.  I'm a nerd like that.)

Tip #10: Enjoy Dropping it Off!

One bag was for the pantry, and the rest was for the freezer.  Hope they enjoy them!

Why I Love PPP

My favorite money-saving site is Passionate Penny Pincher.  I. Heart. Her.

She's my favorite because:

• She posts easy, delicious recipes - some of my family's very favorite recipes come from her site, and nearly all of my slow cooker ones!
• Her posts are brief and to the point - it's easy to flip through quickly and find what I want
• She emphasizes the importance of giving - LOVE this!  Half of the proceeds from her site go to support missionaries.  How cool is that???
• She posts 5-minute challenges - I don't have time to clean my entire house every week, but I do have five minutes to clean all the mirrors on my first floor, or grab a grocery sack, set a timer for five minutes, and rid my house of as many things as I possibly can.  I love this, and I can do it even though I'm not a stay-at-home mom!
• She sends her kids to SCHOOL!!!!! - it seems like most sites like this are run by home-schooling moms. As a public school educator and a Christ-following mother who is passionate about sending her kids to public school, I truly love this!

The ONLY negative is that she's in Alabama, which means many of the deals she posts are for stores we don't have here.  She often makes me want to move to Alabama, or at least make the trip to attend one of her couponing classes! :)

If you have not checked her out, you should!

*Note - I contacted her to ask permission to write this post and use an image from her site.  She asked for the URL to my blog and then she invited me to write a guest post for her later this month!  I nearly had a conniption!  I am so excited!  Details to come :) 

Menu Plan: FOUR Weeks Until Summer!

Four more weeks.  This just gets better and better.  The downside, however, to getting so close to the end of the school year, is that we gradually begin to see less and less of my husband.  For engineers, crunch time isn't just finals week, it's also the week before finals when all the projects and reports are due :/  So we won't be seeing much of Daddy in the weeks to come.  BUT, once it's over, it's ALL over and he will be home ALL THE TIME!  YAY!

Sooo...this week's menu looks like this:

• Slow Cooked Pot Roast and Brown Gravy - I grew up hating roast, but made this recipe once over the summer and it was pretty good!  I need beef broth and I plan to pick up some veggies at the Farmer's Market, but after that I should be set.  We have several roasts in the freezer thanks to our 1/8th of a cow!  I put one in the refrigerator to thaw on Friday, so I'm hoping it's ready early next week.
• Quesadillas - A friend of mine once made me quesadillas out of left over roast meat and they were DELICIOUS!  All she did was heat the meat in a sauce pan and add some Ro-Tel from a can to give it some extra flavor.  Yummy!  And, if we don't use all the meat, I'll wrap some up and throw them in the freezer.  They will make great, quick lunches for me at work. I don't think I need anything from the store for this meal.
• Spaghetti - this was on the list last week, but we replaced it with leftovers one evening. Quick and easy.  We also got into the habit of using half beef and half sausage when making spaghetti because sausage is so much cheaper.  Now it seems strange to just use beef! I made soft bread sticks last weekend and put them in the freezer, so this will probably be one of the evenings where we need to eat quick.
• Egg Rolls - Yum.  I only make these a few times a year because they are a lot of work, but they are SO DELICIOUS!  I dug the fryer out of the basement last week for homemade french fries, so I figured I'd keep it upstairs and make these, too.  I'm going to half the recipe, though (we can never eat the whole recipe) and save the remains for a crab rangoon recipe that I've had my eye on.  Maybe next week!

*SIDENOTE* Chinese food is not like this in China.  In China, there are small helpings of meat and large helpings of rice and vegetables.  They hardly ever use any dairy and they do not fry things in grease (unless, of course, you are in a Western restaurant). And none of the Chinese I encountered had the slightest idea what crab rangoon was.  Interesting.

Menu: 5 Weeks Till Summer!

That's right, baby - five more weeks.  And technically, if you don't count this week, it's only four.  Uh huh.

Sooo...this week's menu looks like this:

• Tacos - Since buying our 1/8th of a cow, we are enjoying, fresh, lean, range-fed, hormone-free beef!  Throw in some taco seasoning and voila!  Delicious, quick, and easy. And, since I'm late getting this post up, I already made it and doubled the recipe for my husband's sister's family who is moving this week. I know when my kitchen is packed up, it's a pain to worry about dinner!
• Ham and Cheese Rolls - Every time I ask my husband to pick a meal for the week, he picks this one.  It's loosely based on this recipe, but with ham and cheese instead of beef and cabbage.
• Burgers & Fries - I will probably do potato wedges instead of fries.  If I do fries, I dig our fryer out of the basement and fry potatoes on the porch so my house doesn't stink like oil.  However, it's supposed to be stinking cold this week.  So I think I'll pass and just go for potato wedges.  I don't have a link for this recipe, but it's super easy and (assuming I remember), I'll post it.
• Spaghetti - Quick and easy.  It will probably be our Wednesday night meal, and since I made soft bread sticks over the weekend, we have those in the freezer, too!

As we were eating our tacos last night, my husband's comment to me was that it is so much easier to eat at home when there is food.  :) Seems like an obvious statement, but it is SO TRUE.  Planning ahead, knowing exactly what meals I'm going to make each night and buying the stuff for them the weekend before really helps eliminate the temptation to go out to eat.

Menu Planning with $50

As I mentioned in my last menu post, we are returning to our $50/week budget (which we deviated from since Christmas).  Last week, we made a list of only the things we really needed, and the fact that Aldi has had gallons of milk on sale for $1.99 combined with the 1/8 of a cow we just put in our freezer, last week we were able to spend less than our budget.  In fact, we have a $10 carry-over from last week!  YAY!  (And props to my husband, who did last week's shopping.)   That's turning out to be really good, because this is our week to buy formula.  Our daughter is still drinking breast milk (and we still have a freezer-full of the glorious stuff in the basement), but we keep formula with us for emergencies and in case she needs a top-off.  Formula is SO STINKING EXPENSIVE - I am so glad we're not buying cans of the stuff every week!  And it's healthier for little Miss anyway.  So win win.

The other exciting thing about this week's trip to the store is that we get to start tying baby food!  I hope to spend some time this weekend doing some research on how to make your own, because that stuff is expensive too, and it's about to be a great time of year for fresh produce!  But in the mean time, I'm trying to plan meals this week that will use up what we have:

• Chicken Noodle Soup - I love love love this recipe, and my husband won't eat soup when it gets warm, so I need to hurry up and make this before it gets too warm.  Right now I'm planning to put it on while we're at church tomorrow so it will be ready when we get home.  I'll use some of the meat for the recipe and freeze the rest for a future meal.  I have everything I need for this recipe!
• Chicken Enchiladas - I put this on the menu last time and never made it.  I believe I have ALL the ingredients for enchiladas, including the chicken from the above recipe,  so I don't need to buy a thing!
• Spaghetti - we made this last week and cooked up enough beef/sausage for a second meal.  I will use that and cook spaghetti noodles that we already have, which means I don't need to buy anything for this meal either!  I may make these bread sticks this weekend and freeze them.  They are time-consuming, but oh-so-yummy and cheap!
• Grilled Cheese & Ravioli - our quick meal for the week - another meal for which I don't need to buy anything!

We have our staples, of course, but those shouldn't cost more than $15.  A can of formula will run us about that much, which means we will have $35 to spend on baby food.  Obviously we won't be buying that much, but I will probably buy quite a bit more than I need so I won't have to buy next week.

**Edit: I spent $15 at the grocery store buying one thing of baby food, fruit, veggies, cereal, and a few other tidbits.  That means $35 left over!  I can do this!

Spring Break To Do List:

• Clean the shower (my least favorite household chore)
• Enjoy our mini family vaycay to Coco Key and the Omaha Zoo (if it's warm enough!)
• Make phone calls - the ones I can only make on days off because they don't open until after I'm at work and they close before I get home
• Finish Divergent
• Start my daughter's scrap book
• Continue potty training with my son!

(He's actually been doing very well with the potty.  Almost every time we sit, he goes.  He hasn't started telling us that he needs to go yet, but I'm hoping that part comes soon.)

And my last goal:

Spend some good, quality time with my family

My Medical ISNs

Last year I posted about Interactive Student Notebooks and how they have changed my instruction forever.  I applied the concept to my children's medical information, and oh my goodness, things got SO much easier!

 Every time we go to the doctor, we take these notebooks and record information.  Anytime we receive paperwork, we glue it in to their notebooks.  It's also helpful when the doctor asks questions, like "When was his last ear infection?" or "Where is she on her immunizations?"  If I don't remember (and I usually don't), it's at my fingertips.  There is a table of contents in the front:

And it helps keep me organized.  Of course, Lucy's is almost full at 5 months old, where Charlie's is only about half full!  When we went to the doctor for Lucy's NICU followup, the nurse practitioner (whom we LOVED - she was amazing) introduced me to a student who was shadowing her by saying "This is the most organized mom ever.  She was the mom with the notebook.  I had to talk slow so she could write everything down."

What a compliment :)  And someday, when they are old and grown, I will just hand them their notebooks, in case they ever need any of the information, or if they want to compare themselves to their kids.

Back to Menu Planning

I've been trying desperately to get back to menu planning, but things have been so hectic that I haven't had the time.  But my favorite money-saving site did a series called 25 Days of Slow Cooking, and since my mother-in-law gave me a programmable crock pot for Christmas, I am itching to try a few recipes!  I don't normally crock pot cook because I'm gone for 9-10 hours at a time during the week and very few recipes require that much baking time.  But now I can set my crock pot to turn off and just keep warm until I get home!

So these are the recipes I've selected for this week:

• Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup - this is seriously the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had, and I love that it is made with a whole chicken, as they are so easy to work with, they yield so much meat, and they are MUCH cheaper than buying chicken breasts!  It's a little bit of work to de-meat the chicken, but one of the great things about this recipe is that I can take half of the chicken and stick it in the freezer for another meal!
• Ham and Cheese Rolls - these are based on this bierocks recipe from my favorite cooking website, Everyday Homecook.  One day we ended up with some ham and so, instead of using beef and cabbage, we used ham and cheese.  These are one of my husband's favorites.  I'm going to try this recipe for sauteed corn, bacon, and scallions that I found on Pintrest as a side dish.
• Crock Pot Pulled Pork Sandwiches - This recipe kind of scares me, but since Boston Butt Roast was on sale this week at HyVee for $1.08/lb, I decided to try it out.  We'll see!
• Crock Pot Maccaroni & Cheese - I asked my husband to pick two of this week's meals, and he picked Ham & Cheese Rolls and Mac & Cheese.  This recipe is new, but I'm going to give it a try!
• Leftovers - This is going on the menu because it's quick and efficient!

We grab dinner on Thursdays because of our schedule, but other than that, I am going to try to stick to this! I am also going to make Vegetable Beef Soup for our school potluck lunch this week.  I will (assuming I remember to take pictures :) do a post on this recipe, because it is delicious and staple at our house.

Productivity, Despite Confinement

So today was the first thoroughly productive day I have had since I've been down.  I'm so proud I decided to list it all out:

• Spent some quality time with my son watching Bob the Builder while Daddy got ready for the day
• Did my Water Immersion Treatment #1 while reading a chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (book 2)
• Showered, dressed in regular clothes (not sweats) and put on make-up!
• Worked on school stuff for two hours:
• graded retake quizzes
• responded to emails
• wrote test questions
• reformatted the test (thanks to stupid auto correct, this took nearly an hour!)
• Paid and mailed three bills
• Made two phone calls - one to the pharmacy and one to the office processing my disability claim
•  Planned this project with my mom for the baby's room - yep, that's right!
• Made a to-do list with my husband of things that need done before the baby gets here...yikes
•  Wrote two devotions for Upward Soccer
• Did my Water Immersion Treatment #2 while reading another chapter of HP
• Played play dough with my son
• Listed this Halloween costume for sale online:

• Filed paperwork in the ISN I have created for my daughter's medical info
• Watched NO TV!

And that was all before 6 PM!  Being productive has today is SO good for my heart.  I am greatly encouraged by the fact that I have been able to get things done - and especially help my co-workers out - even though I am home on my couch.  (Actually, I moved to the green chair today, you know, for a change of scenery :)

Hoping to recreate this tomorrow!

Menu Plan: Husband's First Week!

My husband starts school/work this week, so as I'm planning the menu, I must think now not only about dinner, but meals that yield enough leftovers for both of us to take lunch the next day.  I have a trusty supply of burritos in the freezer for the nights we are out or unable to squeeze leftovers out of our meals, but I'm going to try to do leftovers for nearly every meal.

Some of the meals where we always have plenty of leftovers are:

• Spaghetti
• Baked Ziti (I'll post this recipe sometime...it's phenom and SO easy)
• Tacos
• Chicken Enchiladas (a staple at our house)
• Roast!
• Homemade Mac & Cheese
• Ham & Cheese Rolls
• Bierocks
• Braids (like this one)
• Any kind of soup

I think I'm going to try to sneak a soup into this week's menu!  I say "sneak" because my husband is not a fan of soup unless the weather is cool.  Also, over the past few weeks I have used grocery cash for several things for which I'm waiting to be reimbursed.  Translation?  I need to spend very little money this week.  Here is what I'm thinking:

• MONDAY -  BLTs, pasta salad, and fruit - This makes good use of what we already have -  I don't need to buy a single thing! 
• TUESDAY -  Homemade Pizza - If we use left over bacon from last night and cheese, we should have everything for this recipe, too!  No leftovers, but for lunch Wednesday we'll take ham and cheese rolls, which I plan to make over the weekend.  I have all the ingredients for them, too!
• WEDNESDAY - Wednesday is our church/class night.  My son and I go to Awanas at church and my husband goes to class.  That means he eats on his own and we eat on our own.  It will probably be something quick, like Grilled Cheese or PB&J.
• THURSDAY - Night at church...we grab dinner out.
• FRIDAY - Chili!  Yum...how I love me some chili! We are having a friend over that evening, so I think it will be very nice, especially if the weather stays cool! We have all the ingredients for this too, including cinnamon rolls!

So this is my dinner menu without making a trip to the grocery store.  I did hit up Hy-Vee yesterday for $.99 eggs, $1.18 shredded cheese, $.79 cake mix, and cheap laundry detergent. We may still need a few things, like milk, cereal, and fresh fruit, but it shouldn't be more than $10.

Menu Plan: First Week of School

I basically took a break from menu planning all summer because, well, it's summer. One of the perks is lack of schedule, right?

But now that school's starting up, I figured I'd better have one in place for the coming week - and this will be a week of serious chaos!  I stumbled upon this blog written by a friend of mine from high school and found several new recipes to try. Check it out!

• MONDAY - Tacos! I have rediscovered tacos now that my son likes them and asks for them. I have never really liked them because of the mess, but just got over it.  Beef was on sale a few weeks ago and my favorite cooking blog has a great recipe for making your own taco seasoning! I love it! I'm planning to brown a few pounds of it this afternoon and freeze to make this an even quicker meal.  I'm planning to use any leftovers to make burritos for the freezer.  These make great, quick lunches for me at school.
• TUESDAY - (first day with kids) Grilled cheese and ravioli.  This will make for a quick, easy meal at the end of a LONG day.
• WEDNESDAY - Crock pot Honey Garlic Chicken.  This is from my friend's blog.  It looks delicious and it's a crock pot recipe that literally cooks all day!  I am gone for ten hours a day, and most crock pot recipes I have found call for cooking 6-8 hours, and since my crock pot isn't timed, I have to pass or risk burning the food :/ I'm excited to try this one, which cooks from the time I leave to the time I get home! And, I already have all the ingredients except chicken thighs, and those are relatively cheap!  I think I'll make some potatoes and a veggie as a side, and I picked up both at the farmer's market!
• THURSDAY - Thursday is our one night to grab dinner out.  My husband works at the church that day and we usually meet him with dinner before rehearsal that night.
• FRIDAY - Life group, and we will bring some kind of dish appropriate for the occasion - probably dessert. :)  I am thinking these, or perhaps just brownies and ice cream :)

I am also looking to try this recipe tonight for dinner.  I have heard much about the Pioneer Woman, but have never visited her site or tried a recipe until yesterday when I was killing time online.  I'm going to have to use chicken instead of shrimp, but I will let you know how this new recipe goes.

My Former Self

I have spent some time in the last few days mourning my former self.  Does anyone else do this?  Here's an example of what I mean:

Take a good look at this picture.  This is my degree program plan. Yes - it is color coded.  With post-it notes.  This used to be my life.  My notes in college were immaculate.  Every piece of mail that came through my house was sorted, labeled, and filed.  I kept a detailed log of when my bills were due and when I sent them out.  My checkbook was balanced, checked, and highlighted when transactions were processed (yellow for outgoing, orange for incoming).  I never lost ANYTHING.

Oh, the days.

Now, mail sits unopened in a heap on the table inside the door until company drives us to shove it in a pile in a back room where it may sit unopened for days, weeks, even months.  Pieces of important documentation are tossed into a milk crate to be filed some day in the far future.  Bills that aren't on auto-pay are paid when I finally have time to sit down and pay them.

Inspired by my friend Chelsea, my husband and I set out to do something about the cluttered state of our paper lives.  We began clearing out his office (paper stash central) and our basement.  We bought storage bins (retail, folks - that's how serious this is!) have begun scouring, sorting, shredding, and trashing.

And it feels good.

For the moment, however, I would like to take this time to formally kiss my former self good-bye.  Life was far easier and more comfortable then, when I could spend several hours a week organizing and labeling, but with a full-time job, a house, a husband in school, a son and a daughter on the way, church, friends, and so many other things, I simply cannot keep up that standard of organized.  Instead, I'm working on shortcuts that accomplish the same thing in less time.

More to come as I get that all figured out.