Straight no Chaser

While I don't care for the name of the group I am so glad that Bethany posted about this wonderful group. I am hoping to pick up their CD after Christmas. Hopefully it will be on sale. Not often do I purchase CD's ....in fact I probably have bought less than 20 over my lifetime. But this will definatly be one that I do purchase.

I can't figure out how to upload something from youtube.com so you will just have to click over to hear their version of 12 days of Christmas.

LOVE IT!!

Update

Okay - so it's really bad when a whole month goes by and you don't update....Sorry. I was talking with my good friend Amber and she told me it was time. It has been a crazy busy month. Food, shopping, a new nephew....What, didn't you know?

Lucas Oscar Asselin born November 19th at 8:27 a.m.(???I think correct time). He weight 8 lbs 4 oz and was 19 inches long. He is a real cutie patootie. He and Mother are doing great! He is getting bigger everytime I see him...and more adorable too! The kids all love holding him. It was great being able to spend the first day of his life with my sister and her new baby. Helping out when needed. Yea! Margaret's MIL (Jackie) and new FIL (Paul) were in town for the first weeks to help out. Margaret's church friends are also extending a hand. If you know Margaret then you know that things have been planned for months.....she even sent out an excel spreadsheet with who was going to be in town when....crazy, but I greatly admire her organizational skills. With her Jackie and Paul at the helm Thanksgiving was a breeze...I didn't cook one single thing. I was supposed to help with the clean up and somehow manage to get out of that....not intentionally mind you.

I did the Black Friday sales picking up a few things for Margaret since I was out and about. Emilia stayed the night on Thursday night with M&J so Steve and I were free to go out shopping. Walmart was crazy shopping, but the registers went quick. Not so at the other two stores I went to. ToysRUs and Target had crazy lines.

This year is the first year that Emilia has asked for something on her wish list and been consistant about it. She wants a baby alive.....now personally I don't care for it. Don't like it peeing/ don't want her messing with it. And she already had baby dolls....I bought Emilia a toy (not saying what) but now I am wondering whether she is going to be happy about it since it isn't what she wanted. But I guess we will cross our fingers and hope that the excitement doesn't wane on Christmas morning. I have everyone covered except for the hubs. I keep warning if he doesn't come up with something he wants...Santa just might not bring him something. I have already had to stop him from overbuying for us. He tends to do that. Last year -- I gave him a gift certificate for a book....he gave me a camcorder and accesories. He does spoil us!

The kids have both improved in school. Nicholas is getting good grades and Emilia has been bringing home A's in Conduct. So each have improved in their own little areas.

Well that is the update for now.....hopefully I can get better on keeping up with the blogs.

Fit Friday #2

Okay once again another installment. I have done better about eating breakfast and packing lunches. We made some chili that I could take to work as it is quite cold in my office...I definatly wanted something warm to eat. The bad part of it being cold in I am less inclined to exersice. After this weekend with daylight savings I am hoping to walk Emilia to school. It has been too dark to really consider it safe to walk her. After tonight we don't have plans in the evenings so I am hoping to get a chance to exersise a little more...it is just so hard to pack it into the short time I have in the evenings....

It is also hard because today there are 10 million Halloween parties going on here at work and off course it's all healthy, homemade snacks - NOT!! Step away from the cupcakes!

Well I am hoping that this next week will be the start of a whole new outlook.

Fit Friday #1 (on Tuesday no less)

Well this first week of Fit Friday was a disaster. I was amazed when I wrote my food down at what I was eating. I have realized that I definately have to start eating breakfast and start packing my lunches. It has turned cooler so I am hoping to stock up on some soups to eat at work. We are also heading into the dreaded Holiday season with all of it's caloric wonderful food.

Here are my goals and what I have actually done in red.

Start walking my daughter to school - it's not far, but I am trying to create layer's of good choices. Haven't started as yet.
Eating a healthy breakfast every morning. Have done this a few times, but when I don't I tend to have really bad eating habits during the day.
Packing my lunch with lots of healthy snack choices. I haven't really done this, I am going to go get some soups and healthy snacks from the store tonight.
Exersice in the evenings at least 3x a week. Haven't started this yet.
Go for a walk or a bike ride on Saturday mornings. Didn't do this one either....I have been booked the last two Saturday's from Morning to night.
Not buying any more junk food. Since I haven't packed my lunch I have eaten out a few times. I did refrain from digging into the bag of candy that I bought for Halloween that was calling my name. Seriously....I heard it.
Quit TWD. (It is a great baking group but I can't have all those goodies in the house anymore) I did quit, and I haven't baked as much as I used to. I did have to bake one chocolate and caramel cake for a lost bet. (Who would of thought gas would go below $3! But I am glad I lost that bet.)
Buy a scale. (My daughter was playing with the last one and it broke) I am going to try to buy one tonight when I pick up the healthy snacks...
Blog HONESTLY about what I eat daily and post it every Friday. I am hoping that it will keep me honest in my food choices. ok....this is a hard one and embarresing....but I said I would do it so....

SATURDAY
Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit, 1 1/2 pieces of bacon

1 candy corn

hamburger (onion, lettuce, tomatoe, mayo, mustard), sour cream and onion chips, Sprite, Peanut Butter M&Ms,

Biscuit

Dinner out with friends at Tony Roma's
Ribs, Shrimp, Baked potato (loaded), 2 pieces of birthday cake.

SUNDAY
2 Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuits

2 mini sheppard's pies, pork&beans, 2 slices of apple, koolaid

10 pizza bites, gum

MONDAY
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit

small handful of pretzels
1 chocolate truffle

2 cheesey bean & beef burritos, 1 taco, strawberry fruitista

chickent, mashed taters, cream corn

Tuesday (day with no breakfast and leftover lunch at work from day before)
1/2 chocolate & caramel candy bar

bean&cheese burrito, 1 taco

1 piece of chocolate & caramel cake
1 sm piece of peanut butter pie

mesquite chicken, loaded baked potato, kool-aid

WEDNESDAY
oatmeal w/butter, brown sugar, milk
banana

granola bar

corn on cob, baked potato w/ranch dressing & cheese, mesquite chicken

8" cold cut sub

THURSDAY
banana, pretzels

mesquite chicken & cheese sandwich, apple cinamon muffin, cheese stick, brownie

Snack plate (from Employee awards at work) - grapes, cheese cubes, chips & dip, cake, apples & caramel, sprite.

I forgot to keep track after that...but it doesn't get any better....went to my sister's baby shower on Saturday, went to the fair on Sunday....junk food galore.

I did pack the leftover turkey leg from the fair to shred up for my salad on Monday, but both yesterday and today didn't feel up to a cold lunch. I am taking home the turkey tonight to cut up for soup. I am starting fresh tomorrow......I will conquer this one day....

Fit Friday - The Beginning

Okay...so I am going to bravely join this Fit Friday that Missy over at It's Almost Naptime has started. Technically they are doing it to get fit for the Holidays...and of those who have joined they are looking to lose 15-20 lbs. Me...I am looking to lose over 100 lbs. Yep you read that right One Hundred. Now before you panic I am not trying to lose that all before the holidays. But I am looking to get a great head start and to also be aware of what I am eating during this Calorie-laden times.

Since puberty I have always been overwieght. We did not have such great eating habits when I was growing up and so I am still in the process of trying to create good habits. When I was little I was skin and bones just like my kids. I am hoping to become healthier so that I can play with my kids longer than 5 minutes without losing my breath.

How I plan to do this:

• Start walking my daughter to school - it's not far, but I am trying to create layer's of good choices.
• Eating a healthy breakfast every morning.
• Packing my lunch with lots of healthy snack choices.
• Exersice in the evenings at least 3x a week.
• Go for a walk or a bike ride on Saturday mornings.
• Not buying any more junk food.
• Quit TWD. (It is a great baking group but I can't have all those goodies in the house anymore)
• Buy a scale. (My daughter was playing with the last one and it broke)
• Blog HONESTLY about what I eat daily and post it every Friday. I am hoping that it will keep me honest in my food choices.

Well...that is all I can think of for now. Will keep you posted.

Zennioptical.com

Okay, so I am new to this whole wearing glasses thing. I got my eyes checked out about a year or so ago and purchase $200 glasses...yikes. Although not as bad as some peoples prices. Then of course a few months later I misplaced my glasses. I still think they were hijacked by my daughter since we found a lens in her room, but her prescriptions is so close to mine I couldn't be 100% sure since she broke both pairs of glasses that she had gotten.

For the start of the new school year we got her another two pairs of glasses. But since I needed new glasses and she has yet to learn how to properly take care of her glasses I was looking for glasses for the both of us. My sister and her hubs recommended Zennioptical.com. With both of our perscriptions in hand I place an order with them. Since the shipping was the same I figured I would stock up on glasses for the both of us. I ordered two extra pairs for her, two regular glasses for me and a pair of perscription sunglasses for myself. I got all five pairs of glasses for $51.85; yes you read right for around fifty dollars we got five pairs of glasses. They have quite a few pairs of glasses for $8. You pay extra for anti-glare and other options, but for just a basic pair of glasses it can be a pretty inexpensive option.

Now the question everyone has on their minds is...How do I like them? How did the turn out? Well Emilia wasn't thrilled with the glasses that she got....one pair which she picked for the striped earpieces had a round lens that at the ripe old age of 7 she has decided to dislike. I can't remember the reason she didn't like the other pair, but it was based on Cosmetics. At this point she has her original two and won't have to deal with wearing the new ones them unless she breaks or looses the first two.

I really like my sunglasses...they are blue with blue tinted glasses...and they just scream Sharon. At first to be honest I didn't love the shape of my regular pairs. Since I have only tried on glasses one time before I didn't have much experience or a frame of reference. One pair is a little to boxy for me (someone commented on them looking like Palin's) The others are a little taller than the ones I had gotten used to wearing. But after a few days of wearing them you get used to it. I still catch myself pushing my glasses up to the top of my head since I am not used to wearing them. One frame isn't as sturday as the $200 glasses were and I treat them carefully, not that they seem to be fragile, but it is just my mind set.

Overall, I was extremely surprised and happy with my purchases. I don't think we as a family will be buying our glasses anywhere else. And now I have a frame of reference for the lens size I prefer. I don't have pictures yet, but I will post them soon so that you all can have a gander. I would recommend this site to anyone in the market for glasses.

Portable Foods

Kimberly over at the Nourishing Gourmet had a Portable food chalange to see what creative ideas we can come up with to include in our packed lunches. I always find it difficult to come up with appetizing, inexpensive ideas and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. I want to utilize this weekend to come up with something new for my daughter's lunches.

My husband and I tend to go the left-over route, after dinner packing up what is left to be lunches for the next day. My daughter is the one that I am looking for ideas for. She tends to not eat much at lunch so her lunches of late have been either lunchables (found a great sale) or half of a peanut butter sandwich, a handful of nuts and a treat. I find that packing a lunch that does not spoil works best, so if she does not eat everything at lunch she can snack on what is left after school. I like to buy canned fruit(in water or light syrup) dice it up and put it in portable containers.

My sister had a great idea of deli roll-ups - a slice of meat and cheese rolled up and harpooned with a toothpick. She also has packed white rice with a packet of soy sauce for the one who loves rice.

Menu Plan Monday

We are continuing to eat out of our freezer stock:

Monday
Lasagna
Veggies
Garlic Bread

Tuesday
Enchiladas

Wednesday
Creamy Swiss Meatballs
Brown Rice
Veggies

Thursday
Chicken Skillet
w/Green Beans and Potaotes

Friday
Crockpot chicken dumpling/stew

Saturday
Steaks
Mashed taters
Veggie

Sunday
Taco Salad

For Breakfasts: Pancakes from the freezer, Muffins, bagel sandwiches, eggs and bacon. Lunch will be leftovers for the adults, pb&j for Emilia. We are getting back in the routine of packing lunches for everyone in effort to be more responsible and frugal.

Update

Well, it seems like it has been years since I have posted any kind of news from our household. In actuality it has only been 18 days, but yikes you can really feel behind when it happens.

Summertime has ended in our parts, the kids are back in school. Nicholas (8) started the third grade last week and Emilia (7) started 2nd grade today. I was glad to see a few familiar faces in her classroom from last year. She is in the same room as the son of my boss...so I might get a different viewpoint of my crazy girl.

Jordan started school today, Margaret found a M-W-F program that will give her a taste of school without being away from Mom too long. Little peanut is still on schedule to appear sometime in November and Margaret is looking great. She is definitely showing but as yet hasn't popped out all the way. We are all anxious to meet the new little one.

I have started a few new hobbies; I have decorated a few cakes (pictures to come) and have actually made quite a few pieces of Jewelry. I am toying with the idea of opening a stand at the farmer's market next year. I am looking for a way for me to work out of home...but it is a long way off.

Church is going good. I have been assigned my sister's to visit so I am looking forward to getting to know them a little better. One of the sister's is the RS president - Yikes! Well I guess I better get it done then. The kids were having an issue with a little girl in the ward being unkind, but their family is moving shortly so I am hoping that they will be able to make friends with someone. There are a lot of young families in the ward but there aren't too many their age.

Steve and I have done a lot of cooking and have frozen meals for the month of August. I would not be surprised if it lasted into September. We are trying to eat out of the freezer and cupboards this month so we can save and pay off more debt. We have sent in the final payment on one of our credit cards and it feels so good. Steve and I have talked and we have set an aggressive goal of debt repayment for the end of this year. We have also set up a consequence so that we are more eager to obtain this goal. Through Steve's work we have been saving weekly for Christmas, he and I really would like to get a Wii for the family. However, if we are not on schedule for our debt repayment then we have first use that money to get it done and then the leftover goes towards Christmas. I am hoping that this will deter us from spending frivolously. Wish us luck!

Steve is on schedule to get back into school come fall. He has been thinking about pursuing a computer degree. I have left it up to him. I want him to do something he loves. He is going to be going up to Ohio to visit family in September, because the kids are in school we will be unable to join him. We are hoping that we will be able to all go up next year, it marks my 5th anniversary here at the Chronicle and I get an extra week vacation that I could definitely use.

My family is still proposing to get together next June at the Grand Canyon, it will be so much fun as long as we can get the idea off the ground. There are so many options for lodging and such and we still have to decide on a week to go.....Hopefully after the holidays we will be able to get a better grasp on things going on and get it planned out.

Nic and Emilia are both doing soccer this year. They will have practice on Monday's and games on Tuesday's. Although it will be a strech to travel across town twon nights of the week. I am glad that we will at least have Saturday's to ourselves to plan family events. I would really like to get back into hiking and since Emilia loves it we look forward to that time together.

Well, I hope all is well with everyone! We love and miss you all!

Adventure City 2008

This has quite a few photos, but I figured it was the best way to show off how much fun we had at Adventure City with Amber and her four girls - Sariah, Kailee, Tysie and Paige. At the end you even see a new little girl with whom Emilia and Kailee made friends with. It was a great little park. And I do mean little. They had a total of 10 rides and one wasn't even working that day. So the kids had fun running from ride to ride. We stopped for a lunch break and walked to a Denny's just a short distance from there and then headed back for more fun. At the end of the day we ended it with ice cream at Dairy Queen. It was so nice being able to see Amber and her girls. It has been two years (I believe) since we saw them last. It just seemed like two old friends picking up where we left off....It was great!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Smilebox

I discovered Smilebox on someone else's blog...can't remember who right now. But I am very impressed. It may not be a fabulous program yet, but it has awesome potential.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Boston and Concord Photoslide

Make a Smilebox photobook

Hannah Montana Wanna-be

Well Emilia is into Hannah Montana big time. In fact she just spent her money to buy a H.M. game for her new DS. Consequently Jordan just loves Hannah Montana.....not that she has ever seen the TV show or heard her songs. But because her cousin, that she adores, likes her it's good enough for her. Last night she requested curlers in her hair and then this morning she wanted to dress like Hannah Montana - and this is what she came up with....pretty good!

It's a Boy!!!

Margaret is having a Boy! Whoo-hoo. I am so excited for them. I do have a copy of one of the ultrasound photo's with his little profile, but have yet to scan it.....so just the news for now!

Now we have to think of a good first name to go in front of __________ Oscar Asselin! Any suggestions??

Father's Day

Although Steve was 3,000 miles away we called to say Happy Father's Day to him. We also called Jeff while he was on his way to FL to wish him a Happy Father's Day. Steve got his Father's day present when we got back to GA/SC. A new watch....he was excited. My mom had a T-shirt for the kid's to place hand prints for Grandpa. They had a lot of fun doing this.

Uncle Eric and the Ice Cream Truck

We have pictures of Uncle Eric with Nichlas and Jordan getting ice cream from a truck, so when I hear the familiar jingle, I told Eric he had one more child to do ice cream "duty" with and grabbed the camera.

Happy Birthday Emilia!

Last Sunday, July 13th was my daughter's 7th birthday. I can't believe how fast time has gone by and how much my baby has grown. I always tell her that no matter how old she gets she will always be my baby! Muah!

OAMC

So I am planning to start doing OAMC. What is that you ask? Well it is where you set aside a day cooking up a bunch of food to last an entire month or so. This way you just pull it out of the freezer, bake and eat. You don't waste your precious time cooking every evening. And with these meals you save on the "I am too tired" excuse for ordering pizza or going through the drive-thru. I have done a few meals before and have a few notes to adjust my recipes.....so we are planning ahead for the Month of August. This is when it gets crazy because Emilia will start the 2nd grade and because she goes to school so early, we have to get her into bed asap when we get home. I sometimes felt last year that we never got a chance to spend time together. We will have the menu soon. Thanks!

Menu Plan Monday

So it has been awhile since I have participated in Menu Plan Monday. Also I am at work so I am doing this out of my head.....

Monday: Grilled Chicken, Brocolli and Cheese Rice, Mixed Veggies

Tuesday:Turkey, Rice and Gravey, Corn/Brocoli

Wednesday: Waffles, Fruit, Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Thursday: Bacon wrapped Filet, potatoes, veggie

Friday: Pancakes and Eggs

Saturday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes & Gravey, Veggies

Sunday: Hamburgers, French Fries, Brocolli Salad, Green Salad

We are going to be making big batches of pancakes and waffles and other baked goods for the early mornings.

Camping June 2008

During that first week we went camping with my parents and my Aunt Kathy. We went to a really nice "resort" type campground that had a pond for fishing, a pool and a kids area. The kids were so excited about the kids area because they had video games and movies. I let them go for a few hours in the afternoon on Thursday and then again on Friday while we packed up the camp.
My Aunt has a 23' travel trailer and I have to say that is the way to camp. All the fun of the outdoors without having to cook over a fire. And out in California most of the campgrounds now only have a grill for you to use....no open fires; which proposed a little difficulty when making smores. We tried using charcoal, but alas not enough flame, so we ended up stuffing Newspaper into the coals so we could get nice toasty marshmallows. Well we had so much fun camping that we talked about doing it again next year....after chatting back and forth and getting a few more opinions we are having a Honey-Burgin Family Reunion at the Grand Canyon. We are hoping to get everyone to come.

My Daughter

Just so ya know my daughter has her own blog it is called Princess E Speaks. When you get a chance drop on by.

Margaret's Peanut

Well, I am so excited. Margaret is going to hopefully find out what she is having tomorrow a.m., and since her hubs is out of town she has invited me to join her.....yea! So, anyone want to venture a guess....I am thinking boy!

Cash System

Well, even though I haven't as yet read the financial book that everyone raves about by Dave Ramsey. I do know through family and friends some of the things that it talks about. One of the things is to use a cash system. Once you are out of cash....you are out of luck. (kind-of) We have started doing cash this week and already I am realizing that we have forgotten some things. And we really need to have our gas money seperate from the other money. Although I don't think we will make it to the end of the week, it has been a good lesson. And even though we got bucked from the financial horse, we will climb up again....and again.... and again. I know that eventually we will get it down and I figure it is better to at least try than to not do any thing at all.

From The Freezer Thursday

Okay....so we ate it all before I remembered to take a picture of it. However, this is what we made when I took a gander into our freezer. I pulled out some cut up chicken and veggies that we got from Angel Food Ministries last month. I told my husband that they were for chicken kabob's to grill. Well yesterday, we switched off duties, I went to pick up the kids and he started dinner. When I got in the house I noticed he was cooking on the stove. When I asked him what he was doing he said that the chicken was in little pieces that it would have been an issue on the grill (falling between the cracks I guess) I explained to him that they were supposed to be kabobs...but he said that there wasn't enough veggies......??? Who knows....anyhoo... he made a very excellent chicken stirfry. He used some teryiaki sauce that had been sitting in the fridge. The only thing we had to purchase for this meal was the rice. He had bought it a few days back, but mostly was stuff we had on hand....yeah! Will do better to post pictures next time.

Recipe:
chicken
sauce
veggies
rice

Cook rice separatley. Stir fry the chicken in a little bit of oil, add veggies and sauce. Serve over rice. Enjoy.

For more From the Freezer ideas go to Frugal Homemaker Plus.

Boston and Concord - Part Two

So technically I don't know if it actually called Boston and Concord.....or if that is just what we called it as kids. I looked around and it had this statue of Paul Revere.

Emilia found this little concrete boat at the edge of the pond.

The kids had fun running around and playing on all the indoor playground equipment.....that is new....I don't remember it from when I was a kid.

They had this two story slide coming out of one of the buildings.

The only big thing that I remember that was missing is they use to have a "stock" there. You know....when they got in trouble it was a wooden thing that they locked their heads and hands into. For those of you with no imagination....

Maybe it will sound weird....but I was really looking forward to taking pictures of my kids in the stocks....lol.

Boston and Concord Park - Part One

I have previously written about Boston and Concord Park. It was one of my favorite places to go as a kid. Well my mom looked up where it was and we decided to visit right after church on the first full day we were there. There were alot of new features and some old ones. They still had the covered bridge leading to the island playground. This used to be the only entrance/exit onto the island. Now there is a wooden bridge leading off the back of the island to were the restrooms are.

The "pirate ship" that I remembered was actually a colonial ship and was a lot smaller than I remembered. Of course I was around my kid's ages when I was last here.

Summer Vacation 2008

Well all I can say is that we had a blast. We had an amazing time with our family and friends. The kids and I went out for the first week, since Steve can't be gone too long from work. Before going to the airport we stopped off in a few places in Atlanta that we have been wanting to check out. We went to IKEA, which was really great. We got some ideas for our house and were able to get a better idea of what we both liked.

They had open-faced cabinets, all glass cabinets, half-glass cabinets, but the ones I really liked were these ones:

But I still felt it was too cluttery....then I saw these....

I still like the half glass white bookcases, but I would want them with the frosted glass. That way I don't have to worry about how it looks behind the glass.

Steve really liked these cabinets, although I didn't care for them.....I think they look 70'ish.

We also stopped of at The Container Store, which was totally cool.....I wish we had one closer, because you would really have to have reason to go all the way to Atlanta vs just going there, or at least a very big project.

Then we stopped off at The Cheesecake Factory for a dessert before heading over to the airport.
Everyone got a different cheesecake so I was able to try four new kinds. I am going to make a list and check them off to make sure that I have tried all the ones I want to. I have added to the list:

Original Cheesecake (Nicholas)

Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake (Steve)

Dutch Apple Carmel Strudel Cheesecake(Sharon)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake (Emilia)

I am adding those tastes to the one I tried last time I was out here:

Chocolate Tuxedo Cheesecake (Sharon from a previous visit)

Any reason I go into Atlanta I am planning on going there for dessert, although their food is also excellent.

Back from Vacation!

I am back from a two+ week of vacation out in Sunny California and AZ. Stay tuned for your regularly scheduled programing.

Crockpoting

I am in love with crockpotting.....it has been a while since I have used mine, but I am determined to use it more because who really wants to heat up the house during the summer in the South? I have a crockpot cookbook that I am looking forward to exploring. But I have also found a site that I like to check in on every once in a while. It is called http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. This lady is trying to crockpot every day. I am also inspired to try things out - the easier the better because a good friend of mine is going moving through the military and will be living in a hotel for quite a bit until they get housing. So...that said look for some reviews of my crockpoting experience....past and present at http://butcherbakercandlestickmaker.com

Do you have a favorite recipe?

Angel Food Ministries

Well we are giving Angel Food Ministries a try. I have heard alot of good things from alot of different places about this program. For $30 we got:


1.5 lb. Bacon Wrapped Beef Filet (4 x 6 oz.)
2.5 lb. Breaded Chicken Breast Filets
1.5 lb. Bone-In Pork Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)
28 oz. Salisbury Steak Dinner Entrée
2.5 lb. Beef and Bean Burritos (10 x 4 oz.)
2 lb. Popcorn Chicken
9.5 oz. Stouffer’s Flat Bread Pizza
16 oz. Cauliflower & Carrot Blend
16 oz. Corn Niblets
16 oz. Green Beans
2 lb. Fresh Onions
29 oz. Pears
32 oz. Borden 2% Reduced Fat Shelf-Stable Milk
9 oz. Breakfast Cereal
8 oz. Corn Muffin Mix
16 oz. Bean Soup Mix
1 Dozen Eggs
1 Dessert Item



That seemed quite the deal to me. We also got all three of the "extra" value meat packages. You can view them here. Last night I grilled up some steaks from one of the meat packages and I have to admit, I thought it was pretty good. Of course it would help if I knew how to grill a steak better....but all in all I was happy. The dessert item was an apple pie....the filling had a thick carmelly kind of flavor to it and was delicious. We are hoping to use this to supplement our regular groceries so we can spend less at the grocery store. We have alot of meat that I am hoping will last us till the end of June. (Considering we will be on vacation it seems quite doable) Well this is what works for me. For more WFMW ideas go here.

A Tragedy in the Family

Growing up I knew I had a small family. You wouldn't think that if you knew I had 8 brothers and sisters. We are a mixed family of a his/mine/ours variety. My (step)father had five children from a previous marriage, my mom had three and after they married they had one more. However after a brief amount of time (a few year) his children moved out of state and we did not have contact with them for quite a while. We have had brief contact with my father's sister and children a few times over the years, but mainly it was my mother's family with whom we gathered with on Holidays and such. My maternal great-grandmother, grandmother, grandfather, two Aunts with spouse and their 4 children (total combined).

I learned a few days ago that my Aunt's middle son Jason died. She has two sons currently serving in the military. I have already in the last decade lost my Great-Grandmother and my Grandfather, so to lose a cousin in the prime of his life is just yet another devastating blow to my small family. [Not that my families loss is any greater just because we are a smaller family.] I can now truly empathise/sympathize with the families who have lost loved ones.



Although I cannot be with my Aunt and family at this time know that you are thought of, prayed for and loved.

To read More about my cousin go here, my mom has posted her thought and memories of my cousin.

MNO

I just got back from Mother's Night Out at Logan's with a group of women from my sister's church. I had such a great time. I knew enough people that I was able to join in conversations and not feel like an "outsider" I got to sit next to a great woman who just encourages me, sometimes without even realizing it, to be a better me. I was also able to chat with my sister. Too often our lives seem to be rushing by and we don't get a chance to be sisters because we are so busy being Moms and Wifes.

I am also so grateful for a husband who encouraged me to go out with these ladies and fellowship with them. Although we don't belong to the same church I felt welcomed. But nothing beats coming home, especially when the porch light beckons you to a familiar loving place.

Happy Mother's Day

I have found a really great story called The Invisible Mother. To me it is a great tribute to all the mother's out there in the world!

I know I am truly grateful for my mother and all that she has taught me. Growing up people would comment that I was just like her and I use to hate it. Now I take it as a compliement. She taugth me so much.

Love you Mom!

Employee Appreciation Week

This week here at the Augusta Chronicle we have been having Employee Appreciation Week.

Monday - Sports theme day. You could wear something for your favorite team.

Tuesday - Dress as a tacky tourist. The prize was a $100 visa card so I thought I would give it a try. Here is a picture of me. Unfortunately you don't get the whole effect. I had on my husband's black calf socks with sandals, knee shorts, the Texas looking button up shirt, a fanny pack, a camera, a video camera, an umbrella, a hat, a map, and a "Need Tickets" sign for the Masters. It was hilarious.

Wednesday - Coffee House day with baked goods and coffee

Thursday - Ice Cream Sundays I am here and here. They had Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream from Brusters, with Nuts, Chocolate, Strawberries, Pineapple, Whipped Cream and Cherries. Yum!

Friday - Lunch from Dye's Southern Catering. They provided - Fried Catfish, Fried Trout, Chicken Fingers, Fries, Hushpuppies, Coleslaw, Pink Lemonade, Sweet Tea with Banana Pudding and Peach Cobbler for dessert.

Parent Came and Went

So my parents flew in two Thursdays ago, well actually.....I guess I could say they were supposed to but ended up coming in on that Friday Morning. You can here all about there adventure here. They stayed just a few days that flew buy and left on Monday morning. It was great to see them, but sad to see them go. Here are a few highlights of their Weekend.......

Friday - Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, where my father, "bless his heart" ordered a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of his strawberry pancakes. Seeing the gleam in my daughter's eye I quickly had to tell my her that only Grandpa can do this....thanks Dad! After that we went home and let the old folks take a nap and I kidnapped my baby brother Kenney (age24, who was also in town for the weekend visiting) to help me manage the three kids, Nicholas, Emilia and my niece Jordan whom we were watching to go to Walmart. Steve and I wanted to do a fish fry that night. On the menu we had:

• Catfish
• Chicken (for those faint of heart)
• Baked Beans
• Coleslaw
• Corn on the Cob
• Hush puppies
• Fried Okra

I had originally planned to have Not Yo' Mamma's Pudding by Paula Dean for dessert, but unfortunately we ran out of time and I was unable to make it. We were able to sit around and talk, we also had Jeff and my other brother Roger from out of town over. The only one missing was Margaret....she had already had some work scheduled for that evening.

Saturday - dawned bright and early the five girls (Me, Emilia, Margaret, Jordan and my mom - Debbie) were driving out to Atlanta to attend the "My Little Pony Biggest Tea Party" show. We were hoping to go to a Tea House for Lunch, but alas all restaurants were booked with wedding, so we ended up trying to find a Ruby Tuesday's that was near the venue for the My Little Pony show. We couldn't find it but we did find ----- CHEESECAKE FACTORY! Yippee! I have to give this restaurant a 5 out of 5 stars. The food was excellent, the restaurant was nice, clean, great waitstaff. And there had to have been about 40 cheesecakes to try......I was in heaven. I had a great dish called - STUFFED CHICKEN TORTILLAS [Corn Tortillas Stuffed with Spicy Chicken, Covered with Melted Cheese, Green Onions and Tomatillo Sauce. Served with Grilled Corn Cakes, Black Beans, Salsa and Sour Cream] It was fabulous! For dessert I tried the CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CHEESECAKE [Silky Chocolate Cheesecake Topped with a Layer of Belgian Chocolate Mousse] I have to admit that when I bought tickets for Me and the kids to go out to California in June I definitely had this restaurant in mind when I picked flights. I can't wait to take Nicholas there and see his eyes popping out of his head.

After Lunch we went to the show....I have to admit that this was my first "kids show" that I have gone to and boy it was loud...there were quite a few restless kids.....and they had plenty of "extra" things for you to buy -- balloons, tea sets, posters.....It could definitely get quite expensive, good thing we set the ground rules of not buying and I left my purse in the car, because at one point....I was awwwhh, it's only $10 for the tea set......yeah! Sucker!

We got home and Jeff and Roger made tacos for everyone.

I will tell you about Sunday in my next post.....this is getting long, but it is so much fun to document!! Plus I will add pictures.

WFMW: Disposing of Tampons

Yes, I know a very gross subject but I have discovered a way to dispose of used tampons in - shall we say a cleaner way. I keep all of my empty toilet paper rolls for the month, then when that time is here I just use an empty toilet paper roll to encase my tampon. It keeps the bathroom trash can cleaner and I have to say smelling a lot better. Well that is what works for me.

For more tips go see what WORKS FOR ME WEDNESDAY!

Note: So I just got off the phone with my husband and he said "we got to talk about your blog" Poor guy, he is an introvert and lead a very sheltered life (until he met me). He just does not understand that people actually do talk about these kind-of things.

Emilia's One and Only Shot

So it is sideways, but here is a video of Emilia's one and only shot when she was playing basketball earlier this year. They actually lowered the goal to 6 feet instead of the usual 8 feet for one quarter especially for her. She was great at playing defense, you sic her on a kid and that ball was as good as hers. The offense part was much harder she just didn't have the muscles to launch that ball up to the 8 foot mark.

I think she would do much better at soccer, we are patiently waiting for that season to start.

btw: that little wiggle at the end would be me jumping for joy and shouting YES! I am especially proud of her for making it on the first try.

Gift Wish List

Okay come up with 5 things that would be on your gift wish list. It has to be something totally fun and possibly frivolous. There is no cost limit, but be realistic.

Here are my five thing:
1. Cricut machine for scrapbooking
2. Gift Certificates for Digital Scrapbooking items
3. A day at the spa
4. Nintendo DS (they have a beautiful new crimson model, well at least I haven't seen it before)
5. A romantic weekend away with the hubs.

disclaimer: this is just a muse.....so Steve (my husband who reads this blog) I don't want you running out to get anything.....this is NOT A HINT!

I am going to tag three people. Suzanne, Lauren, My Mom, Kim and Mrs. Mordecai.

Money's Worth on Kitchen Appliances.......

Right now we are considering buying a deep fryer. Not that we plan on frying alot of food for health reasons. However I love fried fish and the kind you get at the restaurants are usually very greasy. I recently fried up some catfish fingers at the house and loved how they turned out. So for an occasional fish fry is it worth getting a fryer? And then what kind of fryer? The cheap one or one that we can invite friends over and have a party? How do you balance weather or not you get your money back on an appliance?

Here is the cheap-o one. It is $19.99.

Here is the nicer, two basket fryer. It is $64.88

So which one would you get?

Staying Calm

My friend was in a fender bender the other night. She commented that only after she had gotten home and the kids into bed that she finally broke down. To me that is just the result of being a mom. If she had freaked out at the scene no doubt her kids would have freaked. I think when we become mother's we create an internal mechanism to keep ourselves calm in bad situations.

It reminded me of last summer when we took the kid to an water park called Cedar Point. The have the regular amusement park and a water park called Soak City. We decided that it would be fun to go to the water park side and overall we did have a really fun time.

They have this ride that the whole family could go on called the Zoom Flume. It looked like a lot of fun. What I didn't realize is that this ride starts out about four stories into the air. I looked, but could not find a pic of the tower online (probably why I didn't know it was so high) Since becoming a mother I have developed a fear of heights....well to be more accurate of my children plunging to their deaths from heights. (The summer before I basically had a panic attack at the top of a light house, but that is another story.)

So we get to the park and spend some time in the kid's area then we started to venture out and go on rides. We finally ended up at the Zoom Flume and climbed the tower to get in line. Over the next 20-30 minutes of waiting in line and looking out and down I had plenty of time to build up to a climatic panic attack. The kids were unaware that I was having an issue and Steve was so kind and worried about me he offered to go down with the kids by himself and I could just go back down the steps. However my active imagination had kicked in and I was TRULY worried that my two skinny, lightweight kids would go flying out of the raft and plunge to their deaths so I reluctantly decided that I would be going down this ride. See pictures for visualization.

It is literally this half tube that winds around itself out in the middle of no-where. Now logically I know that if there was any danger that this ride would not be in existence and if my kids did not weigh enough someone would have said so....but still. So we get on the ride and I have Nicholas huddle up Next to Steve. Emilia is right next to me on the opposite side of them. (So in case anyone were to go flying we could catch them...great thinking no?) The person at the top sees me panicking and makes sure that I am okay. I plaster on the biggest fake smile and say sure! Well then she gives us a big ole shove and off we go. Going up from one side of the slide to the other. Not 5 seconds after she set us off, then this primeval scream emanates from my body. This only serves to panic Emilia and she starts to cry. Nothing will change a mother's heart faster then seeing that she is scaring her child. So I tell her it's okay, and keep telling her not to worry for the rest of the ride. (over and over and over....I think that was a way for me to cope with not screaming) so we finally get to the bottom all limbs attached.

And Emilia says "that was fun, let's do it again". Needless to say we did not go on that ride again. I am sure we will be headed out that way sometime in the next few years. It is only a short distance from where Steve's dad lives and it is a lot of fun. But the kids will have to be old enough to go on their own the next time around, ........if I let them. Steve would probably go with them but I will definitely pass.

Well it is a long post, but a funny story. Hope you enjoyed.

Menu Update

Well we haven't done so great on following our menus for the past couple of week. I have been making up the menu, purchasing the groceries and then we end up either going out or making something else. The menu I did from two weeks ago, we made 3 out of 5 items. We made the pizza calzones, beef stroganoff and the fried fish. This is my review of each of the items.

Pizza Calzones - they were a little frustrating to make to me only because I was making the crust from scratch and I was having a hard time making the dough after a long day at work. I finally found a recipe that said I could stick it into the fridge over night. The crust was pretty good. Not spectacular, but good. When rolling it out it did not seem like a lot of dough so I went a little skimpy on the fillings....well they puffed and baked up pretty well. So, next time I will double the batch, if not triple and then roll it out super flat and fill it to the gills.

Beef Stroganoff - It was an okay recipe, we used beef stew chunks and I don't think I would do that again or I would put in into the crock pot to sit overnight to get tender. The sauce was very different from the usual flavor and I personally did not care for it. It did not make alot of sauce either. I would not make this recipe again.

Fried Fish - This was an intimidating dish to make, not because of complexity but because I am definately not a seafood person. I could probably count on one hand they kinds and ways I eat seafood. (Hmm -- fried catfish, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, two other kinds of fried white fish, whiting and brim I think they are called....can't think of anything else) It has only been since I have moved to the south that I am even this open. Before, my seafood was square on a bun from McDonalds - sad, but true. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I have to say that this will become a regular in my house. It was super easy to make and it was not greasy like the kind from the restaurants. My camera wasn't working, but I promise to make it again and take pics to show everyone. (I also loved the hush puppy mix that I made to go with it, YUM!)

On Sunday afternoon when I was trying to find all the ingredients to do the fish I got so frustrated because I couldn't find in in our pantry. So I cleared it out and organized it. We had four boxes of spaghetti, yikes! We also had countless packets of taco seasoning. We are going to try to shop in our pantry first and use up what we have. Our over the fridge freezer and our chest frezzer are slam packed....Guess we better use what we got. We are also trying to organize our laundry/pantry room. Will talk pics to show. Wish us luck.

Parents are coming to town

Well we are all getting very excited around my house. My parents will be here in just a few weeks. Not only that but my little brother Kenneth is flying down for a visit and most likely my oldest brother Roger will also be coming out for a while. The only thing we have planned so far is that all the girls are going to a "My Little Pony Tea Party" show. We are trying to find a cool-girly place to take the kids to for a luncheon before the show. It is going to be in Atlanta. I don't know what the guys are going to do while we are gone, but I plan to have fun.

They fly out on Thursday and leave Sunday night to catch their Monday a.m. flight. My parents and my little brother are all flying on Skybus with their cheap flights. I think my brother was able to pick up his tickets for $35 each way, plus tax. How cool is that? I am trying to think of other non-expensive things to do, probably play games and hang out...that seems the the best thing, plus we will get to visit so much instead of trying to run around doing activities.

Then in June we fly out for two weeks in June to visit them and all my other family in California. Summer is just around the corner.

New Blog Site

I have launched a new blog site, specifically for my creative side. Please check in from time to time.
Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker

Love ya'll

Menu Plan Monday

For more menu plan monday ideas visit orgjunkie.com.

I am not sure on who's blog I was on at the time, but they had a link to a wonderful site called menus4mom.com. They have weekly menus, with recipes and a shopping list already prepared for you. It does have some foods that I personally would never think of preparing, but I am looking at that as a good thing. I am hoping that I can be brave enough to try a few new things each month. For those things I don't like I can substitute the next time around. It provides a pretty balanced diet for the week.

This site gives you tips for all sorts of wonderful things. It also helps you think ahead by cooking a little extra and serving it later in the week. I think it is worth a look.

This weeks menu is:

• Monday
  Italian Pizza Calzones
  Salad
  


• Tuesday
  Baked Honey Pecan Chicken
  Peas
  Fruit Salad
  Dinner Rolls
  


• Wednesday
  Chicken Pesto
  Salad
  Apple Slices
  


• Thursday
  Beef Stroganoff
  Buttered Egg Noodles
  Sugar Snap Peas
  


• Friday
  Fried Catfish
  Sauteed Okra
  Coleslaw

You can find the recipes here. And the shopping list here. This menu cost around $68, but you may have things in your cupboards that are on the list or you can make substitutions as needed.

Funky Font

My friend Suzanne asked me how I got that funky font for my header. Well actually in power point on my computer I created the border using scrapbooking items and wrote the text with font from the power point program. I then saved the slide as a jpeg and loaded it into the layout. I have quite a collection of digital scrapbooking elements that I am eager to play around with and utilize.

Arrgghhh

Okay, somehow I was just trying to fidget with my layout a little and then I totally lost all my stuff. I was able to get back to what you see now. I was thinking that I had lost all my widgets....that would have been a total bummer. I will have to play a little more another time to get my blog back to where I want it.

We have been doing good. We have managed to swap some debt around so that we currently are all on zero percent offers....the key will be to pay them off before we get off the zero percent. Emilia got a B on conduct so we are extremely happy. She has only had one A and maybe two B's most of the time she fluctuates between the C to F stage. Her academic grades are great though. We just got a progress report and she still has all A's. We are trying to encourage her to manage her behavior better....but we will see.

5 more ......

When Emilia started school last year it was a struggle to get her out of bed. (Still is) We have tried various tactics, including an alarm clock which she just sleeps right through. Currently it is Steve's job to wake her up. He goes in an tickles her, even when she wakes up grumpy she eventually giggles with him. Then I come in and take over helping her to get dressed. At some point last year we taught her to ask for "5 more minutes" and that after the five minutes she would have to get up without any problems and that worked for a while. Well the other morning I was waking her up, trying to let Steve sleep in because he had been called out during the night. Without even opening her eyes I hear her mutter...."5 more weeks" At this point, I figured she didn't even know what she had said, because she was barely awake. When I got her fully awake, I asked her if she remembered what she had said and she did. Then she proceeded to negotiate....if she wasn't allowed 5 more weeks, how about 5 days..... On the way to school that morning, I told her that if she wanted she could stay in bed all weekend long, she was so excited and wanted to do it. Of course then I mentioned that she wouldn't be able to go to the end of the year banquet for her basketball league, Needless to say she quickly changed her mind.

Skybus.com

Skybus.com is a fairly new Airline based out of Cleveland OH. The offered flights from Cleveland to select cities in the US for as little as $10 for the first ten seat (on select flights). They are able to offer such low rates because they charge for any extra things you need -- checking luggage, blanket, pillow, snacks, priority seating. If you are someone who just takes carry-ons and don't need all the extras then you can really make out. They have recently started to base flight out of Greensboro as well. I have had some good things and bad things in my experience with this airline.

I was able to fly my parents round trip from Los Angeles (Burbank, CA) to Greensboro, NC for under $400. I did not experience any issues when I booked their flight.

I recently purchased tickets for my family of 4 to fly the opposite way to visit them in June. We had to fly seperately because the kids and I are heading out for two weeks and Steve could only take off for one. After I bought the tickets ($120 going out, $120 coming back) for a total of $256.50 each, I went back to buy Steve's ticket and noticed that the day going out for me and the kids was now saying $100. That means that they over-charged by $20 each. When I bought Steve's ticket it was ($100 out and $120 bac) which should have totaled $220, but was totaling $240.

So all in all, it seems like I paid $80 too much. Even with that overcharge I still was way under any prices that were being offered through any other airline. I have emailed their customer service, because they do not have a phone line (one of the ways they are able to save money) so we will have to see what happens about getting a refund.

End of Month Round-up

Okay so it is the end of the month.....here is the total paid off from Jan 1st to Jan 31st. $1,040.46. Now mind you some of this was money from a balance transfer cash left over from Dec, so in actuality about half of that was from our paychecks. Still it is a great start. Looking forward to February when I have three paychecks and Steve has five. We will be able to really knock down some debt. Meanwhile we are trying as much as we can to lower our interest rates.

Weight Loss

Just wanted to drop a quick note. Since around Sept. when I realized how much I weighed I have tried to watch what I eat and did attempt to exercise more. I didn't do so good on the exersice issue. I mostly contribute the weight loss to the fact that we have stopped going out to eat so much. I have lost 16.5 lbs. I know about 7-8 have been in the last 5-6 weeks. I am so excited. When I stepped on the scale this morning I had to do a re-weight because I didn't believe it. It has been a few weeks since I had weighed myself. I had to go running out to tell Steve to add some veggies to my lunch and I only ate 1/2 of the pasta he sent for lunch. Now mind you that half was probably more than one serving, but I can usually eat all that he send. And when I wanted a snack.....didn't have anything at work (will bring some in) I choose a bag of peanuts instead of the wonderful donuts, danish, candy bar and other junk that is in the vending machine. Now to stay on track.....

My Awesome Husband

So last July Steve got one of those 0% credit card transfer offers, which we gladly took and transferred our other cc balances to it. Well, do to error on our part we missed the first payment (yes sad, but true) and this resulted in our interest rate jumping to 32%. Yikes and holy moly….Well we have dutifully paid the amount owed, but let me tell you it hurt. Not because of being unable to afford it, but because seeing that much money go out the window pained me because I knew that the interest amounts that we had transferred from were much lower. It felt like jumping out of the pan and into a volcano, forget the fire. Every “money blog” or article recently has talked about how now is the time to refinance…your home, your car and your credit cards. On their advice I asked Steve to call his CC and to ask for a lower rate. I have called other cards and sometimes it has taken me saying to cancel the card if I can’t have a lower rate. Steve and I figured that if we could not get a lower rate we would pay it off with the tax return and cancel the card. I just got off the phone with him and I am not sure what all took place, if he had to pull out the “we will cancel” or not, but he got us BACK TO 0% until July and then it goes to 11%. Got to love it – He is good.
My goal is to pay off all credit cards and to cancel any that has an interest rate over 13%. I am going to see if they will lower rates, but I have no issue with canceling the cards. I know our credit rating will initially take a hit, but I think it will be better in the long run.

Stories From the Past

Is it true?? You know what I am talking about, those stories that we grow up with and then wonder how much of it was true, or over the years has it grown. This is a story that I recalled and asked my mother about and here is what she said:

James age 5 yrs.

We moved to Bell Gardens in 1985 from Whittier, CA and James would have just turned 5 years and Kenney would be 6 months old at the time. James started kindergarten that September and I was still home at the time, not having started back to work yet. It was the first day of school for everyone. The first day of school is oatmeal for breakfast, a tradition handed down from my mother. Eric, Sharon and James would all be going to the same school nearby. Although the school was only a few blocks, a major highway was between home and the school. Being Kenney was so small and Sharon & Eric older and more experienced (ha!) everyone ate and was packed off to school. School would have started around 7:45-8:00 am. Around 9:00 am I heard a noise at the front door, and when I came out of the kitchen from cleaning up, there stood James. Alarmed, I asked him if he was okay. He said he was fine, that the teacher had asked everyone in class to write their names and as he didn't know how, he decided to walk home. (I am sure that she asked this to see what level of experience the children had.) I asked him if his school knew he had come home, and he replied he didn't know. I called the school and told them that James had walked home. I packed up Kenney and we took James back to school. I went to the classroom and spoke with the teacher. The teacher indicated that James was in the classroom and I explained that no, he had walked home and I was bringing him back. The teacher wasn't even aware that James was missing.

**What is funny is this is exactly how I remember the story going....yikes, I would not have liked to have been that teacher. Of course mind you this was 25 years ago, but had it been recently....heaven help the school had the media gotten a hold of it.

Month End Report soon to come

The debt reduction percentage - includes payments that were made to come out of this Friday's paycheck....when it has cleared the bank I will post our monthly payoff total....

Kitchen Tips Tuesday

Okay....so even though it is not a backward day at Tammy's Kitchen tip...I thought I would still ask a question. I have what I thought was a zester, but when I used it this past weekend I could not get the zest off of it. I don't have a picture of it, but it kind of looks like the holes on the top left of this grater I found on-line.

So my questions are....Is that a zester? How can I get the zest off? Please help.

For Kitchen Tip go to TammysRecipes.com