Menu Planning Monday - Jan 19th

I missed last week since we were out of town, but I am back to planning my menu. I really want to try a couple of new recipes this week. I feel like we are eating the same things week after week. It's going to be another "chicken" week since I was got a bunch of chicken on sale at Kroger before we left for Michigan.

Monday - Three Bran Chicken Chili

Tuesday - My mom wants to go out for dinner since we haven't seen her much since Christmas.

Wednesday - Chicken Nick's (we have dinner with friends every Wednesday night before we drop our kids off at Awanas.)

Thursday - Homemade Lasagna, garlic bread, salad (this is a new recipe I've not made before. I got it from my friend Lindsey.)

Friday - Homemade Chicken Potpie (I'm attending a baby shower brunch and they have asked us to bring a meal for the mom to freeze for after the baby is born. I figure I'll just make two of them. )

Saturday - Shrimp & Pepper Pasta (this is one of my favorite recipes of all time. I don't make it very often. I'm hoping to find shrimp on sale this week. It's a Pace recipe. If anyone wants the recipe....let me know!)

Sunday - Chicken Parm Meatball Subs (This is another recipe I've not tried before. My friend Amanda made it for bunco and it was REALLY good. I think Brian will really like it. Not too sure about Miss K though!)

I have a dentist appointment first thing in the morning. I've got to spend an arm and a leg having a crown replaced. So not looking forward to that. Little irritated about this whole thing. I just had the crown done a little less than three years ago. Why is it bad already and why the heck won't my freaking insurance pay for it? Okay...I'm off to bed. I'm tired and it's LATE.

blog ya later.

Recipe and other a lot of other stuff

Three Bean Chicken Chili

1 small onion, diced

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 can corn

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can rotel

1 can diced tomatoes

2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 package of taco seasoning

1 package of dry ranch dressing

3 cups water

For garnish:

sour cream

tortilla chips

shredded cheese

In a large stock pot, cook onions in melted butter until opaque. Then add all the ingredients into the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes.

I usually serve this with sour cream, crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. And this always tastes better the next day for some reason. It's a really easy recipe to make and it taste great. And since it's only Brian and I that eat this, we can eat this for several days and that's fine with me. I love this chili and would eat it all the time if I could!

If you make it, let me know how you liked it.

I've not blogged in awhile. Things have been a bit busy here. We received a phone on the 7th letting us know that Brian's grandfather, Moe had passed away. So, we headed out to Michigan and were gone for about 5 days. It was not a pleasant trip. The weather was MISERABLE. It was snowing hard when we got there and was snowing hard when we left. Moes' passing was not unexpected, but it sort of was. He has really gone down hill in the past two years. He was actually in the hospital when he passed away, but Brian's parent had dinner with him the night he passed and the doctor never indicated anything was wrong. He told them that Moe would be going back to the nursing home on Friday. It's just sad. I've only known Moe for about 12 years, but I felt like I'd known him forever. He was truly a wonderful man. I made it through the viewing just fine. But the funeral was another story. It was very emotional. At least I have some wonderful memories. My only regret is that K didn't get a chance to know him.

So, with everything that happened last week, I did not get to do anything that was on my list as far as resolutions goes. I will be back to my menu tomorrow. I'm going to try and finish up one of my many unfinished projects tonight. I started making K some hairbows at Thanksgiving. The bow part is done, but I ran out of ribbon to attach them to the clips. So, I am going to finish them tonight. I was also making some bows for her best friend.

Friday was a super busy day for us. First of all, it was freaking cold. So cold that they cancelled schools. Brian and I had eye appointments first thing in the morning. At least I can say that I made it to almost 37 years old before I had to get glasses. The doctor said that explained my headaches. I've got astigmatism in one eye and I'm near-sighted in the other. Brian loves the fact that he can give me a hard time about the glasses now. I won't get them until next week since they had to order the lenses. Then I went and got my hair done. Had to cover that gray up. She cut it a little shorter than she did last time, so I am not sure if I am loving it just yet. Maybe in a week or so. Saturday I attended a fabulous baby shower for my friend Amber. I also got a chance to see two of my favorite people, Kelli Darr and Sherri. I hate that I don't get to see them very often. I'm hoping we can get together and scrapbook a bit more one of these days. Maybe once I am organized I can actually scrapbook something!

Well, the laundry room is cleaned out thanks to my wonderful husband. He did it while I was at the shower. Our dryer has been out of commission since we left for Michigan. The hose was clogged up with lint. Now it's working perfectly. Thank goodness for that. Even though I would LOVE to have a new washer and dryer, we don't have the money for it right now. Anyway, now that it's cleaned out, I'm going to spend some time in there today organizing all the stuff that is in there. There are already baskets on the shelves, but I am bad about taking things out of the baskets and not putting them back. I really need to get better about that. (My child has decided that the laundry room, since it is clean, is now her "music room". She has put all her babies in there and has shut to the door so she can play her horn that I keep telling her I am going to throw in the trash. It sounds like a fog horn. It's awful!)

Brian has one more week off. Originally it was suppose to be three weeks, but it turns out it will only be two weeks. We have a BUSY week planned. LOTS of cleaning and MANY trips to Goodwill. I've also got an appointment with the dentist that is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

Oh my goodness....I've rambled forever.

Blog ya later!

Menu Planning Monday - Jan 5th

I've been planning my menu's out for quite some time. It saves me a lot of time at the market as well as a lot of money. If I go in there with a grocery list made from my menu, I usually stick to it. Unless I find an awesome deal on meat that I just can't pass up, then I spend a bit more. I remember one time this summer I went in to get a few things and came across some meat that had just been marked down. I bought everything. $75 and it lasted us forever. And one good thing about doing a menu, I can shop my freezer and pantry and see what's there. And since my pantry is so organized, this takes me all of like 5 minutes. And before we headed out of town to Houston, I spent some time cleaning out my freezer. Everything is organized and it's easy to see what I have on hand. This week we will be eat a lot of chicken because that's what's in the freezer and I want to use what I have on hand. Plus, with Brian being off, we need to cut out grocery bill as much as possible!

Monday: Tacos, rice and beans. (Miss K will not eat this, so she will have Mac n' Cheese)

Tuesday: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie, salad

Wednesday: Miss K has Awanas, so we will eat out. Brian will have leftovers.

Thursday: Ham (left over that I froze after Christmas), mac 'n cheese, green beans, salad, rolls

Friday: Three Bean Chicken Chili - this stuff is AWESOME. I could seriously eat this all the time. I made it while we were in Texas and everyone seemed to love it. If you want the recipe, let me know and I will post it!

Saturday: Cinnamon rolls (I have not attempted to do the homemade ones yet. It's can for us!)
sandwiches, chips (lunch)
Left over chili (dinner)

Sunday: Cereal (breakfast)
Sandwiches or if there is any chili left over, Brian and I will fight over it!
Chicken spaghetti, garlic bread

Now, I am off to make my grocery list. I'll probably go ahead and make my menu out for next week as well and go ahead and get two weeks worth of shopping done. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I find some good sales!

blog ya later!

Bad start on my resolutions

I didn't go to sleep until almost 5am. That's what happens when you sleep almost all day! Dang it. I ended up changing my dr. appt. to Tuesday. So, I'll drop K off at school and head downtown. I need to get my to do list done for tomorrow because I've got a ton of stuff to do! I also woke up with a 3 year old in my bed with her ICE COLD feet in my back. I don't know what it is with that kid. If she gets up to go to the potty, instead of going back to her bed, she comes and climbs in our bed. And that child is a WILD sleeper. She ran my niece and nephew off of a queen size air mattress several times while we were on our trip.

I'm off to work on my menu. I've got to get that done before I can even attempt the grocery store. If I don't, I'll spend way too much money at the market.

Blog ya later!

Resolutions

I really suck at the whole Resolution thing, but I am really going to give it a go this year. Here is goes... My word for the year is ORGANIZATION. Yep. That's right. I am going to make it my goal to become organized in every part of my life. My house, my car, my body, my soul, my mind....everything. I've lived too long with every thing in my life being a wreck. Can't handle it anymore.

Since Brian is going to be off of work for three weeks, we are going to get a huge jump on the organization thing. He's going to be working late every day this week, so we will compile our list of things we want to complete while he is off. I know that we both also have some personal things to take care of. Eye appointments. I am going to the spa for a MUCH needed facial. But we are going to be very busy around the house. Goodwill is going to LOVE us before this is all over with.

My goal is to get one "area" or "thing" organized each week. I'm planning on taking before and after photos.

I also want to start exercising and taking better care of myself. I need to. I've lost 40 pounds and at the rate I am going, I am going to gain it all back. I want to lose about 50 more. Then I will be happy. I think tomorrow I am going to buy a new pair of tennis shoes. I've not bought a new pair is about 2 years. The taking better care of myself is all about eating and the amount of sleep I've been getting. I've GOT to get that under control. Here it is midnight and I'm not in bed yet. Doesn't help that I slept most of the day to catch up on the sleep I missed out on the night I stayed over at Joann's until 4am. But it was so worth it. I hadn't seen her in 18 months. That's the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other.

Since my house is the land of unfinished projects, one of my goals is to complete one project every week. No matter how small, I want to finish at least one. I've got some things that are pretty much done, I just have one thing left to do and I've not done it. WHY DO I DO THAT? I've got a fear of commitment! hehehe

Since I've been reading more than ever, I want to start keeping track of the books that I read. It's only the 4th of January and I've already read 5 books.

I also need to shift some of my focus onto being a better wife and mother. I've really let a lot of things go. There are so many things I want to do with Miss K, but I keep saying..."I'm too busy. We'll do it another time." Well, there might not be another time. The time is now. And part of that includes really spending some time doing a little bit of home schooling with her. As for being a better wife....I really have let my relationship with my husband suffer in the last year. I want us to start going out on dates again. That doesn't mean we have to go out to dinner or a movie, but just something together. Although...with him being off for three weeks...we are going to be getting a LOT of together time.

I am also going to make a new goal for myself every month. It will be different every month and I am really hoping I can stick to it. My goal for this month is to have all my Christmas decorations sorted, packed and stored. This is a huge ordeal because I've got stuff in the garage that still need to be gone through. The tree will come down this week and the easy stuff will be packed away before the weekend. I'll also be doing a bit of purging as well. I've got some decorations that I bought, but I've never put out. It's time to let go of those.

That's a heck of a lot of stuff. That's probably why I never keep my resolutions. I am really going to put forth the effort this year!

Well...I've got an early doctors appointment. I'm off!

blog ya later!