Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Titles are not my forte - Another day?

Okay yesterday I was very sick, running a low grade temp, falling asleep everywhere it just wasn't pretty. I skipped the cleaning task for the '4 Weeks to a More Organized Home' on Money Saving Mom. Seeing how I cleaned the oven and the microwave just before Thanksgiving I didn't feel too badly about it. The day before that I did the task of cleaning out the silverware drawer nothing really of note but when I was scrubbing out the silverware container it struck me that the poor randomly cracked thing I think we got used god knows how many years ago at least 10 if not closer to 13. People act like Peter and I have money... no I just choose not to spend it. If something works or can be made to work without having to replace it I've found that duct tape and hot glue are my friends. It's like when I made ham bone soup I just grabbed food I already had around the house, can of tomatoes, random can of tomato paste I've had for god knows how long, a bit of rice and a can of veggies. Wasn't the best soup in the world but guess what it was dinner for a night and I bagged the rest up and have lunches for a week. It's called making every single penny count and learning to live with discomfort.

In any case I bit the bullet and I arranged Brielle's appointment with the dentist to have those baby teeth extracted. I've waited off about as long as I could but I want to get this done so we can start treatment with the orthodontist. I was able to get an appointment on what is suppose to be a Snow Make-Up day so hopefully between now and then it doesn't snow. I also went and wrote a letter to the school board asking on how I should go about petitioning for a change in their policies because right now if I take Brielle out of school for an appointment even with a note from the doctor than she still loses her participation points which hurts her grades and she receives a tardy for the day. I think it is a ridiculous policy and this is the e-mail I sent.


Is there a web site or some general information on how to petition a re-evaluation of the school districts policy on tardies and participation points in classes. Until this year I didn't realize how bad our current policy is and I feel badly for every parent that has had to go through this. My oldest child is in Burns Middle school and she has serious problems with her mouth and teeth which is going to take 5 years of constant work. This isn't just an appearance procedure but it is affecting her eating and her speech and must be corrected. I did not realize that a note from the doctor was about as useful as blowing my nose in a tissue and handing it in because no matter what my daughters grades would be effected by the fact that I have no choice but to take her out of school for these appointments as I cannot get them set later (I've been trying and I do try when possible to get them set up for days school is already planned to be out of session). She's a good child in more advance class placement, straight A's and in Jr. Beta. I don't feel that the punishment of her having to work so much harder to try and keep her grades up because of these lost points should be levied against her or any other student for that matter. I'd like to know the proper procedure to go about trying to get this changed because it's hurting the students and putting undue strain onto the parents.

Thank you,
Elizabeth

When I hear anything back I already know several parents that want to know what they say because they are effected by this policy too. Parents and doctors a like would like to see this changed and I hope we can push to see something done about it.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Back from Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break... that's about a joke isn't it?
Welcome back people.
We had a very busy Thanksgiving and as always things were served late. I was shooting for 1 and it was 2:30 by time I had food ready but I swear it's not my fault!  

This ham my husband is cutting... yes it is the fault of this monstrous thing! One of our normal guests for Thanksgiving showed up with this the night before and while I figured out when to fit it into the oven I forgot to adjust the cooking time for everything else.

Just last night (Sunday night) I used the ham bone to make a stew that apparently Brielle and I like but not so much Peter and definitely not Katherine. It was an experiment with food and it stretched it out and gave me a weeks worth of lunches.
Our little side table and I should have taken better pictures of my pumpkin pies. This year I actually had one of the crust rings that I got from my grandfather when we went and visited (sadly he doesn't have use for those things as they were my grandmother's). So this year my pies looked wonderful and no blackened crust!


Oh and here is a couple pictures of our lefse day Wednesday. (I'm like time traveling backwards aren't I).
Here's Katherine rolling out some lefse. I didn't let the girls do very many it was a lot of work and a lot of time but I was definately trying to involve the girl and I hope next year I won't be so tired so I can get them in on more of the process so that it is a tradition I got from my great-grandmother and hopefully it'll stay within the family passed through my girls because I'm the last person making it in my family.
 Brielle rolling out her lefse she tried MUCH too hard to make it too thin LOL we were trying to clean dough out of the cotton covers after that.












And this year's lefse day produced nearly 10 lbs of lefse.


So we are back to our regularly scheduled program which means today I get to go grocery shopping (and probably take a nap since I stayed up til 12:30 am folding laundry before getting up at 6 this morning). Lots of little things to do and at some point I need to fit in taking Brielle clothing shopping. I wonder if I can fit that in later. I wish she got home from school sooner than 4 pm. We will see I'm starting this day pretty loosely and just praying I don't get called into work since there was a possibility. 


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tuesday 'To Do List' Deadline

Well today is the deadline I set for myself on my 'To Do List' but sadly it did not get done. I did give the dog a bath but then noticed the had matted himself up in a couple areas (I need to get him down to a professional groomer it is that time again) so I ended up with a pair of scissors and my hair trimmers for him and we had a little scuffle as I tried to make him understand I just wanted to give him a trim and that it would be fine. I could see it in his eyes though, "Yeah just a trim.. with that buzzy thing and those big sharp pointy things." In the end he ended up coming out to look very funny but at least he doesn't have enough hair on his legs to mat up until I can get him an appointment down at the groomers. 

Needless to say dropping off that PC, cleaning the bathroom and windows and the kids room  and cleaning off those random items from flat surfaces did not get done. The kids did work on their bedroom this evening though I made sure that Peter got them on to it when I was gone for my dance class. 

I came home and started working on lefse. The family sat down together and I had a couple huge bowls and we watched some TV while I peeled 10 lbs of potatoes (no I'm not exaggerating). I got the potatoes riced and just the perfect 16 cups of riced potatoes. I mixed in everything but the flour and I'm looking at my bowl wondering how every year I mix in all the flour I will need to tomorrow. 

I've got a lot of cooking to do between the lefse and pies and was told that I'm having a ham dropped off so I will need to adjust my cooking schedule for Thursday to accommodate that. The gentleman dropping it off is joining us for Thanksgiving and he was like, "Well it's precooked and presliced." I had to explain it to him that I think everyone would like it if it was warmed up at the very least. I will go down (or send Peter down) to the store tomorrow for some frozen OJ and I'll make my normal honey orange glaze for it. 

I've been pretty stressed out and look forward to when Thanksgiving dinner is cooked and I can look around at all the faces and think to myself, "I survived again." 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Return to the 'To Do List'

So I swear some stuff has been done just this weekend it was a pretty much off time and I didn't accomplish much other than spending some down time with the hubby. 

Here is the list I started with:
Goals before Next Tuesday

  • Make Menu for next week
  • Grocery Shopping
  • Clean Coffee Maker
  • Clean Stove Grates
  • Plan Thanksgiving Food Cook Times
  • Keep up on laundry & dishes - continuous
  • Clean Fronts of Kitchen Cabinets
  • Clean Oven
  • Clean Bathroom
  • Dust Living room (also listed vacuum but that will be an on going thing it is Fall after all)
  • Clean off random items from flat surfaces (vague but if you are disorganized like me it'll make perfect sense) 
  • Put up Thanksgiving decor 
  • Clean doors & hallway walls (one of these days I will get the time to paint the hallway, primer just attracts every type of grime)
  • Return Kara's PC (For those that don't know my husband is the resident computer guru so we constantly have computers coming in and out of here - it's also what he does for a living outside the home)
  • Clean Kids' Rooms
  • Plan Crafts for kids (The girls are getting to the ages I can start teaching them how to cook some but mommy might rattle a few screws loose if they are underfoot the whole time)
  • Fix Screen Door
  • Rake up leaves
  • Clean Window bases (need more coffee you know that wood part at the bottom of the window)
  • Clean off side porch
  • Clean microwave
  • Give Blacky (our dog) a bath
I was able to accomplish some more things over the weekend and today but not as much as I wanted. I got side tracked and went into the playroom and the kids had just thrown things into random buckets and containers. I'm sure it's been like this for a little bit because the girls have had company over which normally means a mess but I've really avoided looking to avoid getting my blood pressure up. I wanted to start with organization but there was just so much that I knew it wasn't all going to get done. I got my youngest daughter, Katherine, started on organizing some items and on her own she decided to start a donation pile (oh thank goodness). We didn't get very far though because wanted to shampoo the carpet. Well come to find out I was out of shampooing liquid so I looked online and saw windex so I tried it... not very good results so I looked some more and found vinegar so then the room was stinky and still not good results and I noticed my shampooer wasn't sucking up all the water! Well come to find out part of it broke so my husband went out tonight and bought me a new one. I really hated spending the money on one but I really couldn't go the whole Fall/Winter without the ability to clean my carpets. After 3 containers of water and soap I got the floor looking presentable again. I'll never look new it's a high traffic area because it's where the back door is located and we've lived in this house for 6 years and undergone several different construction things and always used the back door but at least it wasn't noticeable stains everywhere and it got close back to the correct color. 

Tomorrow is really my last day to accomplish anything on the house and items like laundry are never going to be fully done but I have kept the fold pile to just a basket which isn't bad for me. 

Tomorrow's agenda is to go to work, come home and clean, pick of the kids from school, make dinner and then go to the last dance class for this year and then back home to start the process of making lefse which should take me well into the night. 

Friday, November 16, 2012

To Do List - Day 3


Day 3 of trying to tackle this 'To Do List' no additions to the list today but boy did I think about it.

I've got a rough idea of food cook times but not crossing it off my list til I have it set it stone. I also went grocery shopping and got the rest of the food for Thanksgiving but again not crossing it off my list because I still need food for meals that aren't Thanksgiving next week.

Items done:

  • Clean microwave
  • Clean doors (though not perfect I found out some were only primed and until all this construction lately I hadn't had a reason to give them a good scrub so I know one of my tasks for this Summer now)
  • Clean Hallway Walls


I attempted the Money Saving Mom task of taking down and cleaning all the ceiling light covers and ceiling fan blades but after nearly cracking my head open I barely got 2 more done before my nerves were shot standing on that step stool so perhaps some other time but for now I'm going to guess no one is going to be looking up and inspecting my lights.

While trying to take care of this list I'm noticing little things fall behind in my general cleaning which is bad! Tomorrow the children are going over to a friend's house for a play date and I'm going to try and get some more done around the house after perhaps some running around with my husband since we never get out together without the kids. I'm thinking Target I want a new potato ricer and they have a Starbucks in there.

It's not sounding very impressive and I'm disappointed with myself but I need to remind myself I lose a good chunk of my day going to work and this morning it was even more hectic because Katherine forgot part of her homework at home so I had to run it out to the school.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

10 Min Drawer Challenge

So here's my Facebook posting no reason to retype it:

Okay THIS will be funny I'm going to do the 10 min challenge from the other day from Money Saving Mom and going to pick out the messiest dresser drawer in the house (and trust me it was a hard decision!) Yeah I see this turning BAD since I already know that after losing my laundry room I lost all sense of organization as it's a just a huge PILE O'STUFF it was relatively organized before the room got tossed so yeah I'm predicting an epic fail with my house being a giant mess that I will have to pile all back into the drawer LOL


So I picked out the messiest drawer in my house which happens to be in the dresser in the kitchen where things get sweeped into when trying to quickly clear off surfaces for company (I'm bad like that). It was suppose to be a 10 min challenge but I ended up doing 15 because I was giving my youngest daughter a spelling test at the same time. If I don't multitask I'd never get things done. 

So here's the drawer before: 

Scary hu... It's very random.

So here's after 15 min. Needless to say it's NOT done.



To Do List - Day ?

I can't remember what day this is I'm exhausted we'll call it two? Two sounds good.

I put some Cheesy Chicken in the crock pot this morning before heading off to work so thankfully other than making pasta dinner is already done.

Work was... Stressful. Lots of requests, walking around checking equipment and research. It got to such a point I had to skip my 10 min. break which is when I normally eat something for lunch real quick so I didn't get to eat til I got home this afternoon. I had the shakes pretty bad by time I got home.

Moving on...

From my To Do List posted the other day.

  • Rake yard (I only did the front yard but that was all was really worried about at the moment)
  • Clean off side porch (I decided to not shoot for perfection because I wasn't going to get it with some of Peter's computer cases out there and no good place to store them so I got them into a corner and positioned a chair in front of them LOL)
I then proceeded to add two new tasks to the list

  • Clean microwave
  • Give Blacky (our dog) a bath
If I don't stop adding things then I'm going to never finish this list!

Well off to go do Day 9 of Money Saving Mom of 4 Weeks To A More Organized Home. I don't think it's organizing a thing for because I skip all the days that would tackles some sort of organization! :) I'm bad I know it!

I'm so not in the mood for Christmas music yet but I've been bombarded for the past week with it as Brielle practices her violin for an upcoming concert. I think I should invest in ear plugs or some sort of holster for my cellphone so I can listen to something else for a while. 

Anyways why am I still jabbering I need to clean and find out where my little Katherine has slipped off to while I wasn't looking, she needs to study for a spelling test. She's probably hiding somewhere with a book.

To Do List - Try this again


Alrighty, so yesterday I wrote up my 'To Do List' and then proceeded to go on a ramble. Silly me, I blame the lack of sleep the last few days since Peter has a sinus infection I've been listening to the windows rattle in their place with his snoring!
Here's the goal list and I'll cross off what I got finished yesterday and star the items newly added. I'm expecting to go through this process of add and subtract for awhile.

Goals before Next Tuesday

  • Make Menu for next week
  • Grocery Shopping
  • Clean Coffee Maker
  • Clean Stove Grates
  • Plan Thanksgiving Food Cook Times
  • Keep up on laundry & dishes - continuous
  • Clean Fronts of Kitchen Cabinets
  • Clean Oven
  • Clean Bathroom
  • Dust Living room (also listed vacuum but that will be an on going thing it is Fall after all)
  • Clean off random items from flat surfaces (vague but if you are disorganized like me it'll make perfect sense) 
  • Put up Thanksgiving decor 
  • Clean doors & hallway walls (one of these days I will get the time to paint the hallway, primer just attracts every type of grime)
  • Return Kara's PC (For those that don't know my husband is the resident computer guru so we constantly have computers coming in and out of here - it's also what he does for a living outside the home)
  • Clean Kids' Rooms
  • Plan Crafts for kids (The girls are getting to the ages I can start teaching them how to cook some but mommy might rattle a few screws loose if they are underfoot the whole time)
  • *Fix Screen Door
  • *Rake up leaves
  • *Clean Window bases (need more coffee you know that wood part at the bottom of the window)
  • *Clean off side porch
I came home yesterday and I realized that when people get here the first thing they see is the front of the house and I've kind of let it go since it's been cold and I've been busy. "But Elizabeth why aren't you doing it right now?" To heck with you! It's 28 degrees out! I'm going to sit here with my coffee thank you very much. :)

I also took care of the suggested task by Money Saving Mom and wiped down/sanitized all the door knobs last night.

Lots left to do and lots I'm thinking about right now. I need to try and take it a step at a time but it's kind of like watching an accident the moments right before something bad happens (kid runs into the window or something) it's like 'nooooooooo' slow motion and that's how I'm feeling about Thanksgiving right now. I need to get time back into perspective.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

To Do List turns into explanation of how to make lefsa?



So I decided to start looking at the week ahead of me and start trying to write a list. I've found that writing this list is very hard either things seem very trivial that I need to keep up on all the time anyways or they seem so vague it looks like one itty bitty item while inside I'm screaming "That's a huge job to tackle!". I'm sure I'll add more to the list as time goes on. 

In the end I know I have in truth til Monday to get the house prepared because Tuesday I will have my last dance class of this semester and then I will have to come home and get right onto making lefsa! I normally start this process much earlier in the day so I expect to be up late and to see how my new mixer handles this... Truthfully I don't think it'll hold a torch to my old one. 

What is lefsa (also spelled lefse)? Well it is ... think of it like a potato tortilla.

It's a two day process for me. I will peel, cut and boil about 5 lbs of potatoes and then I will go through the process of ricing them.
Potato Ricer
My big pot for cooking potatoes

My big mixing bowl

After the potatoes are riced you add the other ingredients (heavy whipping cream, butter, salt, sugar and lots of flour). Mix this well then roll it into balls. Needless to say you have to coat your hands in flour quite a lot because there is nothing like flour and potatoes to stick to everything! 
Lefsa dough rolled into balls

Refrigerate til it is cool (I normally do it over night because I will be cooking it all day Wednesday.




Griddle and pastry board and tools

 Alright so far? Well now you coat your board with flour (I have mentioned this uses a lot of flour right?) and coat your cotton covered rolling pin and you roll it out til it's pretty darn thin like at least as thin as a tortilla if not thinner if you can manage it and then you put it on a preheated griddle (oh 400+ degrees). The idea is to quick fry not to 'cook' really.

Lefsa and much deserved glass of wine
And there you go lefsa! Spread some butter and sprinkle with sugar and you get a dessert, wrap up turkey in it and you get a yummy snack or meal. No matter how you dress it up lefsa is something everyone loves (at least I've never found a person not amazed by it).

I'm not sure why I went on a lefsa spiel. I guess I'm a little nervous it is the most complex thing and it is the most anticipated item by everyone.

I guess I should stop rambling and get myself off to work.

Happy Wednesday folks we are half way through the work week!


**All pictures are from Last Years Lefsa ~ No I have not made it yet this year!**

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Tackling Thanksgiving


I wrote this a couple years ago on one of my other sites and feeling ancy about Thanksgiving this year I decided to go back and re-read it. Funny enough sometimes even my own words meant for others can be a comfort to myself.


Thanksgiving




Believe it or not Thanksgiving isn't that far away and I at least have already started thinking about it (and stressing). The most common problem is knowing how much food you need to make so there is enough food and time if you are either cooking the whole meal or just expected to bring a dish.

Turkey:
Every year I have to ask myself how large of a Turkey to get so often you go to the store and you see these large birds but how big do you really need? The common rule of thumb is 1lb per expected guest and generally this will give you some extra for the average person. I had to ask myself though how many lbs of a turkey is the breast since dark meat is rarely ate at my house on Thanksgiving and after some research it looks like a little over half of the turkey is the breast. Buying just the breast tends to be about double the price (if not more) than buying a whole turkey so my suggestion is to buy the whole turkey and start looking up recipes. To give an example this week a whole turkey is $0.69/lb and turkey breast you can find on sale later in the month for $1.99 minimum. If you are planning to feed 6 people than you’d need approximately a 6 lb breast which works out to $11.94 (If you can find breast at that low price) but if you are buying a whole turkey then perhaps you might look at a 12 lb bird if you know dark meat won’t be ate by itself which would work out to about $8.29. A whole bird of course will take more prep time and remember in a whole bird there are more bones so there isn’t 12 lbs of meat there (the breast won’t have 6 lbs of meat either I normally buy 2 lbs over what I think I need so instead of a 12 lb bird I’ll buy a 14 lb whole bird) but over all cost is lower and there are lots of recipes for turkey meat out there one of my favorites is making turkey burritos.

Stuffing:
If you plan to stuff your turkey than for that 12-15 lb bird you’ll going to end up with enough stuffing for 12 to 14 people (unless you are like us and love stuffing so eat more than what is suggested). I still prefer to stuff my bird but I realize I’m going to have more than enough to be eating for awhile. If you want to cut down on your leftovers than I would suggest not stuffing the bird there are several seasonings to put in the turkey cavity just think about how you want your bird seasoned.

Time:
If you are like me and find yourself cooking the whole feast than time and not enough ovens always seems to be the issue. Sit down a few days prior to when you plan to start cooking and start making a list of all the dishes you plan to make while you do this approximate prep time, cooking temp and how long it takes to cook. Think about how much room you have in your oven and start making your plan. While making your dishes think about if you can put some of the food in a smaller dish so that you can put more in but also realize the fuller your oven the longer some items will take to cook.
What I like to do to cut down on time and dishes on Thanksgiving is to prepare some food ahead of time. For example, I like to boil my eggs and mix up my green bean casserole (w/o the fried onions added) and put these items in the fridge so they are one less thing to worry about. If you have a bread warmer you might consider baking first, I like to wrap my bread in a dish towel to help keep in the heat and moisture and keep them someplace warm but NOT hot as I don’t want them to dry out. Make sure your dishes are cleaned especially if you’re pulling out the fine china and crystal and while you’re cooking during those periods of time between basting or prepping another item then work on the dishes and if needed sweep the floor and wipe the counters. Working in a clean, uncluttered area will help with time believe it or not and will lower your stress (so will a good glass of wine too).

Stress:
I’m like a lot of people and I stress and the more chaotic things become around me the more I think I’m going to lose my sanity. I start cooking for Thanksgiving on Tuesday and I still feel rushed but I’ve learned a few tricks that help me coop with this holiday. I have a small kitchen (well smaller than I would like) and too many people in there just makes things worse even if they think they are helping especially when those helping hands are small children.

Prepare… Getting your time plan out, the dishes you think you will need (we always forget something), pull out dry good, organize your recipes and maybe even clean off one shelf in your fridge and put cold items needed together so you aren't having to dig through to the back for an egg or the gallon of milk.

Keep things clean… If you try to keep up with the mess than you won’t feel so cluttered and won’t suddenly realize the spoon or pot you need is dirty.

Activities… If you have small children then have an area set up for them to color or do a small craft. Movies, Video games… just be prepared because little ones love to see what’s cooking and it’s real quick to get stressed out if you’re trying not to trip over them.

Take a breather…. If you notice you’re still getting stressed out take a moment to sit down outside the kitchen when you have a moment. While keeping things clean helps if you don’t take a step away you can drive yourself batty. Take a 5 minutes break don’t worry the dishes, counter and floors will still be there.

Last of all don’t worry, none of us are perfect and even my turkey can come out dry. It’s a holiday for being thankful and family and it’s key to remember that.

Messed up morning

Well I'm at work wading through morning emails, file updates, etc.
It was a rough morning first Katherine really wanted to wear one of her favorate shirts and I told her that she could but she had to wear long sleeves under it because it has decided to finally turn cold in Kentucky. All this turned into a fiasco and she ended up missing her bus and I had to drive her down to school.
Then this morning, after I got back, Peter and I had a serious conversation with Brielle about her school work and grades because we hadn't really made it a point to confront her on her mid-80's grades in a couple classes. We want to make sure she at least stays near the 'A' range otherwise she'll be unable to participate in Jr. Beta and we know she really enjoys it and all the extra chances it gives her to get out and volunteer more. Part of the problem is that she's in Algebra which is a 9th grade class and she's in 7th grade so she's not used to the homework load and the back to back tests.
Needless to say it was a pretty big mess today. So, after all this mess I get just about to work and realize that I forgot to start dinner in the crockpot! Tuesdays are my bellydancing class nights so I try to make sure dinner is in the crockpot so that when I leave for class the family has dinner... oops.
So the plan is to get out of work (wrinkles her nose at her still updating PC), go pay the tags on both cars and then go start something for dinner. I have figured out what quite yet but I'l figure it out.
Well looks like that enough playing on my cellphone I need to research why AutoCAD is being a pain to me today.
I hope everyone has a great Tuesday!


Monday, November 12, 2012

I'm not perfect but I'm blessed

I was thinking about this as I was cooking dinner and as it is to the point now that I can step away for a little bit I thought I would write. Though don't be surprised if I lose my train of thought as I go back in and out of the kitchen to try and make sure things don't burn.

I was thinking to myself that I'm blessed to be able to make dinner for my family. I really dislike the house, I'm more of an outside person but sitting here complaining about being able to put something on the stove is also kind of silly. I remember when my husband and I were in college and struggling trying to pay bills and even to have a moment to ourselves and when popping a TV dinner in the microwave was common place and even on our menu! We've come a long ways from that and I'm very thankful. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I think we all like to have a meal from something other than the microwave even if it does still come from a box.

I am blessed that that my work gives me flexible hours and that I only have to work part-time (even if my job can be very stressful and unpredictable) and that my husband has found a good job. We are not well off by any stretch of the imagination but we are getting by okay which means that we can put out that helping hand to our friends and family at times as we have always tried to do.

I'm not perfect nor is my family. I'd like everyone to know there are a lot of working moms out there that work a lot more hours than I do but all of us that try to go out to our day jobs and then turn around to take care of our families deserve a pat on the back and this little blog is my way to vent but also my way to show that you're not alone!

My house isn't perfectly clean. I'm not organized. I'm always running around like a chicken without a head. My children make mistakes, make messes and otherwise are causes for worry, stress and joy. My husband and I have our arguments though I am thankful that we generally work them out and if not at least we are grown up enough to drop them and move on.

You won't see pictures of some place with one item out of place and me crying out "Oh I must clean this today." My couch is stacked with laundry and it won't take long to find where I don't get to dust often.

I don't do home cooked, organic meals. I grab a box maybe some seasonings and I go with it! My meals don't come out looking like they were from Martha Stewart. Case in point, tonight I set off off the smoke alarms!

My family thinks I'm perfect but then again I've taught them how to lower their standards! :)

Just my thought for this evening now to go crunch through some VERY crispy taco shells :)

This is a day off? Why do I feel like I'm working?


Well today was a paid holiday for me so I tried to get what running I could done today. Things left on my list were paying for the car tags (I drove down there but of course they were closed I should have figured that out) and I haven't even started on the laundry other than getting it washed & dry.

I made an extra stop today over at Walmart because I had a little bit of time before needing to be at the school to pick up the Pepsi. I picked up a couple frozen burritos that I thought I had a coupon for but apparently I was so happy with seeing the word 'free' that I failed to recognize they expired but I bought them anyways because I didn't feel like spending the time to have them taken off my ticket at self checkout. It was worth the $4 for me not to go through that headache and I picked up my husband some undergarments since he mentioned the other day that he was down to 4. Which would be why I seemingly never ran across his clothes while doing laundry.

I also added on the task of fixing the bathtub drain it was bugging me though I did have to get a hold of my husband to ask him how to take apart our new drain. Now I'll just need to scrub out the tub. Nothing like a stopped up drain to annoy a girl but all fixed now.

I normally have my menu and couponing done on Sunday but it took them until 10 o'clock for Kroger to fix their ad online. That's okay I was able to pair up a few good items and I have probably 80% of the shopping done for Thanksgiving. I'm holding off on things that might go bad over the course of the next week. I should be getting the company gift card for Thanksgiving next week too so I'm hoping that will cover the cost.
I spent $81.45 so over all I don't think I did poorly (also a case of bottled water that didn't make it into the pic because I was in a hurry to unload). With any luck, even with me hosting Thanksgiving, we won't go over our grocery budget. Boy I hope not because we are over our eating out budget by a lot due to everything that has happened this month.

Well time to go get the hamburger meat separated so that I can start dinner and I need to get the laundry switched around. I should *knocks on wood* only have 2 loads left to wash and I will be 99% caught up (never 100% unless everyone is standing around naked).

Sunday, November 11, 2012

You have reached the number of Mom please leave a message after the beep

Beeeeeep

Mom took the day off today. My goal was to never get out of my nighty and to play video games and sit around all day! I succeeded!
Mom took the day off and things didn't burn down though it is almost 12 and I'm playing a bit of catch up.

Mom went back on duty when she went into the fridge and realized she forgot to freeze a 2 lb pork loin last week and it went bad! Thankfully it was sealed but I was so disappointed with myself. Peter came over and gave me a hug and said it was okay. So that made me start digging in the fridge. I normally make it a ruitine that at least once a week I go through clear out the little bits of left overs that didn't get ate well I found 3 containers that apparently found a good hiding spot and had taken on a new life of their own! My day off was over and this evening mom went back on duty by scrubbing out the fridge and then just working on general chores before the work/school week starts again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day so tell a Vet how much you appreciate them. It's a paid holiday for my work so I'll be trying to get shopping done and whatever other little things I can fit in.

Successful Birthday Party



I never did get the backyard cleaned up I was too stressed trying to get the kids' rooms taken care of and my house wasn't pristine, you wouldn't see it in any magazine but the party was a success and as far as I can tell all the children left tired and worn out from an afternoon of play. The adults got to talk and later in the evening we played video games together (yes we have an odd sort of friends they are like big kids and we love it).

I am very happy that I could help out a friend by offering up my home for their daughter to have her party. I pulled out my box o' birthday supplies so we had a banner and plates and even a fun table cover. It all went about as perfect as it could and I feel blessed to be given the opportunity to play a small role in it.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Organization? Nope not yet


So my 'To Do List' isn't wrote out pretty and it is never short. I still ended up doing the no-no of shoving papers in a drawer though at least I was able to go through a chunk and throw away a bunch of old school papers from the kids and collect up my samples and find the random coupons floating around with the samples.

Perhaps I would have succeeded but today is my husband's birthday so after work I went to have lunch with him and then he wanted me to go to the mall with him to look at a coat it was expensive but something he's been looking at getting for some years so I told him to go ahead and get it. He just came over and told me 'Thank you' apparently he had a good birthday so that is a success.

So today's list:
-Kids off to school
-Work
-Pick up Peter's cake (no way I was going to have time to bake a cheesecake myself and that is what he wanted)
-Wrap his present (yeah I should have done this earlier this week)
-Laundry
-Shampoo the carpet in the playroom
-Vacuum the carpets
-Clean the kitchen floor
-Clean the litter box
-Take family out to dinner
-Put x-mas tot (presents for this year thankfully the kids haven't been curious to look in there) up in the attic
-Clean the bathroom
-Clean the living room
-Dust
-Clean stove grates
-Fill water back up in fish tank
-put away halloween decorations

Notice what hasn't been crossed off.. epic fail. But I did clean up the kitchen table and wiped down the fridge and other stuff in the kitchen so by time it came to the grates I was feeling ugg and didn't do it.
We had company come over with their kid so that took up the living room so I couldn't clean in there so I will have to do that tomorrow too late to start pulling out the vacuum. And because of having an extra kiddo here I left the shampooing alone so that they could play.
I made a big dent in the laundry but still behind on getting it folded and put away. I'll get back there eventually but things just haven't been off since I lost my laundry room folding area.

Tomorrow I volunteered to let a friend have their kids birthday party here so I need to finish the cleaning and go out and clean up the backyard because it is suppose to be 70 degrees so the hope of the parents is that we can kick the kids out to the yard and let them run wild out there.

I could have perhaps got more done but Peter has been wanting me to spend time with him so I've been playing video games for the past hour LOL it's him and me time so we enjoy it and it makes him happy.

Turns out the team leader position at Peter's work is opening up soon so he's a bit stressed by that hope it passes we'll be fine either way but I'm not going to lie I hope he gets the position.

Well there's my day in a nutshell. I hope everyone else is having a good evening.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Rosemary Hair Tonic

Rosemary Hair Tonic for greasy hair.

*Warning: Do not drink this if you are afraid that you or someone else has drank it then please contact poison control. Rosemary in high doses can be poisonous.


1 Cup Rosemary
5 Cups Water
Simmer for 20 min
Strain and contain
That easy! 

How you use hair tonic is after you have taken your shower/bath you pour what you need (you shouldn't need all of it) over your hair and try and work it through the layers. Don't wash it out just leave it in. It is suggested that you don't do this more than twice a week and it is also suggested not to keep it over 1 week. Keep any remaining amount between treatments refrigerated.

Now you want to hear something funny? Right now it's kind of yellowish right? If you have some at the end of the week it'll be reddish or so has been my experience. 



Never enough hours in the day...

So after filling out for some freebies today which I posted on my Facebook page "A Budget You Can Live With" I had to proceed to go drop off Peter's cellphone. Silly man left it at home. Then it was off to work. Work started in about the normal annoying way with tedious things to do though I didn't get far in those before I found out that the night before things went very wrong in the plant and I suddenly had a new task that needed to be done right then with a tape measure and me reaching for pipes trying to get some sort of measurement. I ended up staying an hour over time and I'm still not sure if it was all done to what was needed but I stuck a note on it and put it on the Project Manager's desk and proceeded home.

During the slow part of my day I did ask a friend about where his daughter's birthday party was going to be and they still hadn't found a place since their home is much smaller than even mine so I offered for them to use mine. I'm happy that I can help out a friend and their lovely daughter though I am a little stressed at the idea that I need to try and get my house back up to snuff for lots of little kids. I've been needing to catch up around the house just hadn't planned to have it done before Saturday.

I got home this afternoon and raked all the leaves in the front yard to the curb (the backyard is another matter!), got the plants in the greenhouse watered and noted I need to hurry up and get those grow lights.

I've started the hair tonic for my oldest daughter, Brielle. Incase you don't already know, Brielle has extremely thick and greasy hair and you'd be surprised on how hard it is to find products for greasy hair. When going through one of my herb books the other month I found a hair tonic to help degrease and I've had her use it once and while it isn't a miracle cure it does help. I'll make a posting later about this hair tonic incase anyone else has this sort of problem. It uses a bunch of rosemary so you and your house will be scented!

Working on dinner right now as I asked Peter to pick up my youngest daughter, Katherine, from school so I could get things done. I won't have dinner on the table at 5 like I try to but it shouldn't be too late at least.

Lacking Motivation

It's been a little bit since I have posted so first thing's first my annual Fall Kid's Crafting event I hold at my home I went a little overboard I just got so excited I think the kids were looking at me like I was crazy and the the parents called me a Saint for getting right in there with all the children.




Halloween! Well I kept up just enough motivation to push myself through making Katherine's costume and finding a couple things for Brielle though she chose to re-wear last year's costume.

 Over all it was a pretty simple costume for Kat. You can't really see it but I sewed little pink felt pads onto her gloves there, black sweatsuit, I paid more than I should have when I made the tail that you can't see in this picture because I went for a better fabric and then I made her a red sparkly collar with a bell (again can't see it in this picture). Katherine enjoyed it and was warm (Mask Peter already owned I just bought new elastic for it). 



My pumpkins! I was very happy with these this year. I always wait until the weekend before Halloween because one of our local farmers puts all his pumpkins on sale for $1 for any pumpkin so this is $4 of pumpkins! Not bad! Plus this year I didn't have to dig through rotten pumpkins like I normally have to. 


 We got all the pumpkins carved though the girls were being a little prissy and I had to put gloves on their hands before they'd help me clean the pumpkins. My husband spent half the night cursing how difficult of patterns were chosen. 



And finally the roasted pumpkin seeds! You'd be amazed on how many seeds come per pumpkin. I roasted all of these and I put some up to dry for a lady who has a much bigger yard so she can grow some. 

So after getting done with Halloween I lost all motivation and everything fell apart around the house. I've been running Brielle to her volunteering events and she just informed me I have until February to get up $140 minimum for a convention for Jr. Beta. I've just kind of flopped and found as soon as I come home from work lately that I'm going straight for a nap. I'm not sure why but I've been just exhausted. 

Peter bought me an air purifier so I've been running that non stop trying to see if it'll help with the amount of dust around the house but I guess that means I need to actually dust again so I can see if it is helping or not. ~ Goes back into that motivation thing. 

Brielle has been coming home loaded down with homework so last night we wanted Katherine off of her video games last night so we had her read for a little bit but needless to say there's only so long you can make an 8 year old read at home so instead I cut up some paper and let her color it and then pulled out my laminator and yarn and we made bookmarks. 

Hoping motivation finds me soon but I won't hold my breath because work has been long and tedious days (speaking of which I have to start getting ready for it *whines* I don't wanna!)