Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Wordless Wednesday



Arrrrgggghhhh.

No...it's not speak like a pirate day.

That would be the sound of my frustration!




I HATE being sick. And that's an understatement. I hate when I can't get up and do the things I want to do!

Funny, when things don't get done because I'm choosing to to get them done (aka - being lazy), it doesn't bother me so much. But when I actually want to be doing stuff and can't because my body won't let me? HATE it!

So, my routines are off again. Actually, I had not even gotten them back going good...and now, well...I'm frustrated!

I thought I'd be starting out this week ahead of the game. I had gotten a LOT of cleaning done last week because I was having a little birthday party for Ruthi on Saturday. (Pictures coming soon!) The house was in pretty good shape, except for the master bedroom. (So thankful for doors we can close to hide the mess!!!) And after the party, things cleaned up pretty quickly.

But...I had begun not to feel so great on Saturday. I was having some chest congestion and was feeling tired. I figured I had just run myself ragged all week trying to get ready for the party. The party went well, Ruthi loved it, and I could finally relax. So I took some Nyquil Saturday night and went to bed early.

Sunday morning Ruthi and I got up and went to church. (Chip was at work, and CJ wasn't feeling good, so I let him stay in bed.) After church, we went to lunch with my bestie. While we were eating/talking, I started feeling really tired and a nap was sounding great. So I went home and crashed. Hard.

And I've been down pretty much ever since. The congestion got worse, and I felt like I'd been run over by a train. My wonderful hubby cooked dinner Monday night. It was delicious, and I was very grateful. Yesterday, the congestion was considerably better and I thought I could finally do some stuff. But everytime I got up, I'd feel like I was going to pass out and/or vomit. NOT fun!

I was going to cook dinner in spite of how I was feeling, but was missing an ingredient. After a quick call to my neighbor to find out she didn't have any either, I called my wonderful hubby to see if he'd stop at the store on his way home from picking CJ up from class. That's when he said, "Why don't I just pick up some Taco Bell on the way home?" Um, no argument from me!!!

I'm so thankful that he understands when I'm sick and helps take care of things! I really didn't mind cooking - even though I didn't feel like it. But I'm thankful he knew rest for me would be better.

I'm feeling better today. I'm still having some pressure in my ears which causes me to feel sick to my stomach. Not fun, but better than it was.

So...I feel like I need to start over again with my house, because a few days of not staying on top of it...well, I'm sure you can imagine. But I'm not going to stress over it. I'm going to do the basic stuff and just fall into the routines where I am.

The living room is the zone this week (by the way - I somehow got mixed up on the dates of the zones before, so I was already somewhat off track - but oh well.) so I'm going to try to get the list completed. I've updated it in my sidebar and already have one task done! That's because I did it in preparation for the party.
I will not beat myself up if it all doesn't get done. I'm still not feeling 100% and I'm not going to overdo it. So I'll get as much done as I can and be happy with it.

And...January is almost over and I still haven't completed my January goals. I'll see what I can manage on that list this week! Well, what's left of it anyway!


Monday, January 18, 2010

Menu Plan Monday



This past week reminded me how much I love having my menu planned for the week. It definitely makes things easier. No trying to figure out what to make, or starting to make something and realizing I'm out of an ingredient! I truly had forgotten what a big step this is in making life easier!

Last week I tried Chile-Garlic Chicken Thighs and Cheesy Rice Fritters for the first time. The chicken was pretty good - nothing spectacular. The flavor was good, it just didn't permeate the chicken as I would have liked it to. But those cheesy rice fritters were WONDERFUL! They were even good cold the next day as a snack! I definitely plan to make those again.

Here's what's up for this week...

Monday - Sandwiches
Tuesday - Ranch Chicken, Baked Cabbage, Zucchini Fritters, Cheddar Biscuits

Wednesday - Hamburger Soup, Rolls
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Mini Homemade Pizzas - each person will add toppings of their choice
Saturday - Mexican Lasagna, Refried Black Beans, Chips and Homemade Salsa
Sunday - Leftovers

To see more menus or add your own, be sure to visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie!


Sunday, January 17, 2010

Snaggletooth

Last night was interesting. I was totally unprepared for what would happen.
Maybe not totally unprepared, as I did have a teeny tiny bit of a heads up.

No...I was still totally unprepared.

On Friday, Ruthi exclaimed to me, "MOMMY! I THINK ONE OF MY TOOTHS IS ABOUT TO FALL OUT OF MY MOUTH!!!"

I checked said tooth for wigglyness.

I only felt her head wiggle. The tooth appeared, to me anyway, completely tight with no signs of being loose any time soon.

Fast forward to Saturday evening. We were all hanging out on the couch.

Ruthi jerked back and the sound of her nightgown ripping out of her mouth filled the air. The look on her face indicated it did not feel good at all.

Her Daddy looked at her as she held her hand to her mouth and said, "I bet that didn't feel good!"

A second later I hear, "I feel my tooth." And when I took a peak, there was blood in the place where her tooth used to be.

My first thought was - Oh great - she has gone and broken her tooth. On a Saturday night, when I can't get a hold of a dentist.

And then I went into "I have no idea what to do about this" mode. Not freaking out, but close.

Chip looked at me and said something to the effect of, "Seriously? You don't know what to do? What if I were at work? What would you do? Tell me you wouldn't call 911!"

I assured him that I would NOT call 911 over a tooth. I knew better than that. (I'm would NOT be suprised if he's responded to a call from a frantic mother not knowing what to do if a tooth came out unexpectedly.)

I took Ruthi to the bathroom where I could access the damage. I was still expecting to find have a tooth in her mouth. We had not located the tooth at this point, so I just wasn't sure.

I had her rinse and it looked like the entire tooth had come out. Chip went back to the couch and located the tooth.

The totally intact tooth. Thankfully.

Maybe, just maybe, that tooth had been a little bit loose after all!

She was a bit freaked out and the thought of eating or brusing her teeth terrified her after that! But after some tears, she calmed down and realized it wasn't so bad after all.

Then she got excited about the prospect of the Tooth Fairy visiting.

That's when I felt it was time to have a little talk with her. This was a talk I didn't think I'd have to have for another year, when I expected the natural time to lose her first tooth would be.

Long story short, we talked about the feasibility of someone flying around and coming into people's houses at night and leaving things under pillows. I let her figure it out, that it was really mommies and daddies who are leaving surprises.

This let me to the Santa discussion as well. The letting her believe in Santa was never really a plan. We never did Santa with CJ and assumed we wouldn’t with any other children. But it just kind of happened, and we played along to an extent. We didn’t go all out, and we certainly didn’t try to keep her from finding out the truth. But we never really planned it either.

And I was certain this Christmas that she would figure it out on her own when she realized that her stack of presents were simply the ones that had been under the tree and had just gotten moved into a nice little pile. I was totally prepared that morning for the conversation.

But it didn’t come up.

So I brought it up last night. I let her come to the conclusion with a little help from me. She thought it was kind of funny. I told her that there’s nothing wrong in believing for fun, and we can continue to do that, but I wanted her to know the truth.

And most importantly, she assured me that she knew that, “Jesus and God are real!”

I felt much relief going to bed last night. And Chip was greatly relieved. He was always careful to word things in a way that she could not come back and say, “But Dad, YOU said……” But yet he still let her have fun with it. We both are like that, but it’s very difficult. Now we don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Something tells me that when Christmas comes around again, she will still want to tell Santa what she wants and leave out milk and cookies, and reindeer food…but she will know this time it’s all in fun. And I like that!

Anyway…here’s a couple of pictures of my little girl with a now toothless smile.




Here, she's holding her tooth:


And now she's putting it under her pilow (in a baggie to keep it from getting lost). Yes, she knew it would be me putting a surprise under there, and it was just as much fun for her.


And this morning, she came to my side of the bed with her suprise in her hand. She actually thought before she went to sleep last night that she might forget about it. She didn't!

She came in and said, "Mommy, it's Sunday! Let's go to church!" (We've been embarrassingly bad about not making it to church on Sunday mornings. She is exactly what we needed to start getting back on track!) And she probably wouldn't have even mentioned the "Tooth Fairy" treats had I not asked what was in her hand!

She knows what's important. I love that girl!


Friday, January 15, 2010

Kitchen Accomplished!

Whew! What a busy week in my kitchen!

Getting back to "the FlyLady way" is feeling VERY good, but I have a ways to go! I was doing quite well chugging along marking off the tasks I needed to accomplish to get my kitchen sparkly clean.

Then I got a wild hair and decided to do some serious reorganization. My laundry area is attached to my kitchen, and that's where my "pantry" is. I did a major restocking grocery trip this week, and I wanted to make the best use of my space.

So, I moved just about everything to make some progress. You literally couldn't walk through my kitchen there was so much stuff in the floor. But I knew it would be worth it, and it was! Everything is so cleaned and organized that I'm thinking about sleeping in my kitchen tonight.

Ok, not really...but I love walking in there and looking around at how clean it is again. It feels great. I also managed get rid of a decent amount of stuff that was just taking up space.

It felt quite good to mark off all the tasks over there in my sidebar and also know that I did much more than that!

Monday starts a new zone - the bathroom. I'll be working on both of them. CJ's will be easy, but mine needs some serious cleaning out/reorganizing!

For now, I'm leaving my beautifully crossed off list in my sidebar and waiting until Monday to update it with the new tasks! Silly? Maybe. But it makes me feel good!



Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Tackle it Tuesday



I wasn't kidding when I said I was blogging again to help me get back on track and get things done again! So here I am after a sweet forever participating in Tackle it Tuesday again!

According to Flylady's schedule, this week is zone 2 - the kitchen. I LOVE when I'm doing things the "Flylady way" - it makes me a much happier person. Heaven only knows why I don't do it ALL the time!

Anyway, I started checking off kitchen tasks today. (I've added my progress to my sidebar over there <--- to help hold me accountable!) And since I'm working hard in the kitchen this week, what better place to do some tackling!

I did some huge tackling by getting lots of baking done to fill my freezer. I've baked some more since that post. I made cheddar biscuits, a loaf a white bread and a loaf of wheat bread. I was planning to make some pita bread, but haven't gotten to it yet. I still plan to do that as well as some pretzels.


I tackled my freezer - I had to clean it out so I could put all the new baked goodies in there! I took a before picture, but forgot the after. And I'm in bed at the moment, so I'm not going to do it right now. If I remember, I'll add it later.

Then I tackled two cabinets. I still have more to do, but I got two behind me. I'm trying to get rid of some stuff and make better use of the space I have. My cabinet that holds my everyday plates/bowls, mixing bowls and some cups, etc was getting pretty bad. It could sometimes be dangerous to open the door!


So I moved some things around, relocated a couple things and even got rid of some. Much better now!



Then was my other dish cabinet. It didn't look terrible, but still needed a little help. The shelves were kinda dirty, because this is an open cabinet. I love having no doors, but it requires a little extra cleaning. Here's before:



Again, some relocating, a little bit of purging and some rearranging and here's the after:



Those bowls on the bottom right were in an inconvenient location before. We use them a lot, so I needed them to be a little more accessible. After shifting things around, I had room for them!

I have lots more I intend to accomplish before the day is done, but that will have to wait for next week!

For more Tuesday Tackling, be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom!






Monday, January 11, 2010

Menu Plan Monday



It has been forever since I participated in Menu Plan Monday. For that matter, it's been almost forever since I planned my menu! I'm trying to get back on track with it, because it makes my life SO MUCH EASIER! I HATE trying to figure out daily what I'm going to make for dinner!

So, here's my plan for the week. I'm only including plans for dinner. Breakfasts are whatever we are in the mood for, and now I have plenty of choices in the freezer in addition to cereal, oatmeal, grits, etc. Lunches are simple - leftovers, sandwiches, or quick food from the freezer. So that leaves planning really only for dinners.

Here's what's up for this week...


Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - Taco Mac, Rolls

Thursday - Chicken Quesadillas, Black Beans, Chips & Homemade Salsa

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Homemade Pizza

Sunday - TBD

I do lots of planned leftovers. This works great for lunch and when Chip isn't home I don't have to cook! That's why there are often at LEAST two days of leftovers on my menus. If the kids don't want leftovers, they can have sandwiches or something else quick. I LOVE leftovers!!!

To see more menus or add your own, be sure to visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Baking Day Results!

So...my baking day turned into two baking days. Mostly because I didn't get quite as early of a start yesterday than I planned. And I goofed off in between. So I carried it over into today.

I'm pleased with what I accomplished.


French Breakfast Puffs - Done! And this recipe made 18 instead of 12.

Marmalade Muffins - Done! This one made 24 instead of 12!

Honey Bran Muffins - Done!

Oatmeal Apple Raisin Muffins - Done!



Breakfast Burritos - Done!



French Toast Sticks - Done!



 Sausage Biscuits - not so much. I made 2 batches of biscuits and wasn't happy with the way either turned out. The first ones went right into the trash. The second ones weren't bad, but not what I wanted for sausage biscuits. I made sausage gravy this morning and we ate some of them with that. I'll be trying again to perfect my biscuits though, so hopefully I'll have some within the next couple of days.

Granola - I didn't get to this, but will do it tomorrow unless I get a second wind tonight and decide to do it before I go to bed.

I also got two loaves of banana bread baked, and made a batch of croutons.



Yesterday, I cooked two pounds of pintos, and we had them with cornbread for dinner. I took the rest of them and prepared them for bean burritos. I made ten burritos before I ran out of tortillas. I really didn't feel like making any fresh tortillas, and I have enough bean mixture to make at least ten more. Hopefully I'll get around to those tomorrow.

So...I've pretty much got my freezer stocked with baked goods. That's half of one of my January goals. Now I need to get some quick lunches and a couple of dinner meals in there. I'm still planning to bake a loaf of white bread, a loaf of wheat bread and some pita bread tomorrow.

My other plan of getting Ruthi's shelves painted didn't happen at all. I REALLY hope to get those done before next weekend! We'll see!




Thursday, January 07, 2010

Baking Day!

I have decided that tomorrow is going to be a baking day!

I had planned to do it on Saturday, because I'm supposed to work in the morning. But since there is this strange white substance falling from the sky, and the roads are already getting icy, we know the whole state will shut down. So we are not likely going to open the store tomorrow. We've already decided not to open before noon, but seeing how the temps aren't supposed to get above freezing, I'm not sure that will even happen. If I do end up going in for a couple of hours, then I'll just take a baking break and get back to it when I get home.

Oh - for those of you reading who don't know (since I was an absentee blogger and haven't updated about all this stuff!) I have been volunteering at my friend Kristi's thrift store since June. She is a non-profit organization who does lots to help the community. I have been on her board of directors since 2003. I had helped her out when she first opened the store in 2001 but had not done much in-store in several years.

In June, I walked in to a lot of stuff going on, and was in the right place at the right time to be able to help Kristi out. She was stressed about everything that was playing out at the time, and was supposed to be headed out of town! So I told her I'd work for a few days until she could get someone more permanent. I worked most of that week and I loved it. I enjoyed getting out of the house for a bit and talking to actual adults! It was a nice change of pace. Best of all, Ruthi was able to go with me, and she loved it too.

I enjoyed it so much that I talked to Chip about maybe continuing on working a couple days a week. He didn't mind me being there, but was really missing me being home on the days he was working from home. So we decided that a good plan was for me to work on the days he's at the fire station. Here we are in January, and I'm still enjoying it. Only one out of every three weeks do I end up working when Chip is home, due to the way his schedule rotates. But it's not bad, because I only work until 2:00 and he's usually busy in the mornings anyway.

It may seem silly, but working there has made me feel important. Not that I didn't feel important as a wife and mom, but if you are a stay-at-home-mom, I'm sure you know what I mean. It's nice to know someone outside your home values you and finds you important! And Kristi has been sure to let me know time and time again how much she values my time there.

I don't take a paycheck, that's a decision Chip and I made together, but I get rewarded many other ways. Kristi makes sure I get whatever I want that comes through there. And we get lots of great stuff. I haven't had to buy any clothing for Ruthi this fall/winter thanks to all the great clothes that come in there for her. (I did break down and get her some new jeans recently, because the right size just wasn't coming in, but goodness...that's great that I haven't had to go out and spend lots of money for her!) And I already have quite a bit of clothing for her for spring/summer! I've been able to get some nice clothes and shoes for myself as well. I got the perfect Christmas tree to fit in my living room, and most recently a treadmill! Not to mention all the smaller stuff here and there. I'm pretty happy with the situation!

Kristi has given me the title of store manager, because of the things I've been able to accomplish while being there, and I think she likes having someone else to help make some of the bigger decisions. It felt weird at first, but I must admit, I kind of like having that title behind my name! It feels weird because I work less than the other employees...but I guess that's the advantage of managing, huh?

Anyway...back to what this post was SUPPOSED to be about (didn't mean to make the store explanation so long!)

BAKING!

One of my goals for January is to get the freezer re-stocked with quick breakfast and lunch items, and maybe a few meals for dinner as well.

Tomorrow I plan to tackle breakfast items. I have a list of things I want to get made, and hopefully I'll get it all done. If we don't open the store at all tomorrow, I'll have a better chance of completing it all, but even still, I should be able to do it.

Here's the plan:

Honey Bran Muffins
French Toast Sticks
Oatmeal Apple Raisin Muffins
Breakfast Burritos
Sausage Biscuits
Granola - Not a freezer item, but it's one of CJ's favorites


*The Marmalade Muffins have a different name in the link, but this is what they are called in her cookbook.

AND, I'm hoping to get Ruthi's shelves painted tomorrow. If I end up going into work, that will get bumped to Saturday for sure.

If I'm not too tired tomorrow night, I'll update my progress.
For now, I'm attempting another goal - getting to sleep before midnight! Goodnight!


Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Wednesday Randomness

Two posts in one week...maybe I'm making some progress!

I added my January goals in my left sidebar, and if you'll notice, I already have one goal marked off. Go me!!!!
And I added an item as well. CJ turned 15 in May. He still doesn't have his learner's permit. A big part of that is because he hasn't really been to anxious to get it. The other part is that I procrastinated getting his attendance certificate so he can get them. I had it in November, but things got really busy and we didn't get around to actually getting his permit. Problem is, it's only good for 30 days, and I have to go get a new one. So I'm planning to go get a new one next week. By then, they will have his December attendance accounted for (I just mailed it yesterday), everything will be current, and I can get a new certificate. Then we can go get his permit. Chip encouraged me to add it to my January goals so I'd be sure to get it done!

I can't believe how cold it is!!! I'm a southern girl, and I don't like to be this cold for this long. I can't seem to get warm and I don't like it! I say EVERY winter - give me a few days of cold and some SNOW, and I'm a happy girl. I only want it to snow once - I don't want to be in a place where it snows all the time. But I want it to be some GOOD snow...not piddly stuff! But honestly, I think I'm feeling the winter blues. I feel totally blah...don't want to do anything, and think I'd be totally fine with skipping the hope of snow and move right into summer right now! The sun may be shining bright, but it is stinkin' cold, and I don't like it!

And today I really don't feel like doing anything. I have a killer headache and my stomach isn't feeling too well either. So what better time to blog, right? At least I can do it sitting down while I'm not doing anything else! I really just want to hibernate. Wouldn't that be nice? But that's not happening today. Even though I don't feel great, I have to brave the elements in a bit because we have church tonight.

I'm trying to get back on my Flylady routines. I think if I can get back into some sort of routine, I'll feel better all the way around. I'll feel like I have something accomplished! We are in zone 1 this week - the dining room and front porch. I got the dining room done, for the most part (which is also my scrapbooking "room") but it's too stinking cold to do the front porch! I think it will have to wait! At least I got all the Christmas decorations off of it, but as far as really cleaning it...not happening right now! I'm thinking about adding the routine thing to my sidebar too. That accountability thing really helps! And I need all the help I can get!

I also know I would feel better if I were back to exercising regularly. I want to run, but it is just too cold to do it outside. I finally got a treadmill (a benefit of working at a Thrift Store!) but it's just not the same. I'm not loving running on it. But CJ is getting some use out of it, so that's good! Hopefully I can motivate myself to get on it some more though, until the weather warms up.

Well, I imagine that's enough randomness for today. I need to go make myself take a shower and start getting ready for church. As slow as I'm moving today, it's going to take the entire two and a half hours before I need to leave to actually get ready! Guess I should get started!



Saturday, January 02, 2010

Once Upon a Time, I Was a Blogger...

First of all, yes...I'm still alive.

And it's 2010...how on earth did THAT happen?

I'm sure there's no one still checking in here since I seem to have disappeared, but I'm posting anyway. I really miss all my blog friends!

I quit calling myself a blogger quite some time ago, since you have to actually, you know, um...BLOG to be considered a blogger! I really don't know exactly what happened. Life, I suppose.

I kind of lost interest for a while. I've mentioned before that Facebook kind of took over my life...that's a big part. But I really just didn't feel like I had much to say, which probably sounds insane for most people who know me! And even when I did have something to say, I just didn't feel like messing with it.

So, it's a new year, and here I am with a post after seven months. Does this mean I'll be come a "real" blogger again? I'm not really sure. I'd love to say yes, but we'll just see where this goes. We'll see if I get my desire back.

A lot has happened in seven months. CJ turned 15 and Ruthi turned 5. That just blows my mind on so many levels. And there have been lots of small things, but I'm not even going to begin to go into them. I'm not going to try to play too much catch up. I'm just going to pick up where I am! If I try too hard to catch up, it will feel like a chore, and I KNOW I won't keep this up. So I'm going to make it as easy on myself as possible.

One thing I really miss about blogging is the accountability I had going on being involved in the carnivals and such. I can't remember the last time I actually planned a menu or "tackled" something with great gusto just so I could say I did it! So I'm hoping that stepping back in to the blogosphere will help me with that.

I am going to start by listing a few goals I have. These are not in any way New Year's Resolutions...they aren't even long term goals. I have a few things specifically that I want to accomplish in January. So I will list them here, and if I get back on track with this blog thing, I will post my progress. I may even play around and add them to my sidebar and cross them off as I go.

These goals are not big things, just a few things I need/want to get done around here.

January Goals
  • Paint and hang Ruthi's shelves (this one has been on my list for an embarrassingly long time!)
  • Paint Ruthi's window (this one too!)
  • Organize two drawers in scrapbook area (these are two specific drawers that have gotten out of hand)
  • Stock freezer with quick meals and baked goods
  • Work on wall "gallery" project for living room
  • Create items and get my Etsy shop going again
  • Start blogging again!
And that's all for now. I really hope that putting it here will help motivate me more. And I hope to "see" some of my long-lost blog friends again soon! Guess I also need to go get caught up on some blog reading!!!
Oh - and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!


Related Posts with Thumbnails