Slump

Sorry I have been so infrequent with my posts.  I am in a bit of a slump.  Not just for blogging.  I just can't seem to find the motivation to do anything.  We leave for Vegas on Thursday.  I am hoping the small break will help reenergize me.  I will try to make a post before I leave, but I am not sure I will get it done.  When i get back I plan on having more of a plan.  Have a great week.

Meal Plan

I mentioned that I have been making weekly meal plans.  I thought I would share this weeks with you.  I have found if you make a meal plan and make your grocery list you can go grocery shopping and still pay the mortgage!  Yay! ;)  As I mentioned I do not assign a certain meal to a certain day.  My friend suggested this to me and it makes things much more flexible.

Another suggestion; if you have a small family, break your casseroles up into two smaller dishes and freeze one.

Here is what is on the menu this week:

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Frankfurter Creole (Hot Dog Crudo) with corn bread
Greenbean Casserole/ fruit
Salad with Grilled Chicken
Pizza Night
Salmon/ grilled red potatos/ salad
Left Overs

Have a great week!

Burr

It is fall in Colorado. It is windy, cold and dark today and freezing in my house. Colorado’s temperature fluctuates dramatically so I don't want to turn on the heater yet. So I am doing what my mom made us do - putting on more clothes. The other thing? Oh right it is September and we are supposed to get snow tonight. That’s right - SNOW. So long summer.


This weekend we did what we are best at and were totally lazy. Hubby has declared that next weekend is Fall Cleaning. He just wants to through things out, which makes me cringe.

We did go to the zoo this weekend. I made hot wings last night, they were not from a freezer package and they were delicious! Also this weekend AM went to her first boy/girl party. Yes I am compulsive and I called her a couple of times and texted too. Don't judge, it was nerve racking. Yup my baby is growing up.

Does anyone do meal planning? I have been reading a lot on this. I make a list of 7 meals for the week but do not assign days for each meal. So my goals for the week are to get my meal planning a little tighter so I can cut down the grocery bill and to finish my Household Management Binder.

Happy 100th Post Seersucker Scrapper! Lilly Style

Seersucker Scrapper has hit the big 100 - posts that is.  She is having a fabulous giveaway.  Go check it out, here.

Have You Ever Been So Desperate?

The other morning I was going about my morning routine (with my eyes mostly closed).  I got to the coffee making part and realized I was all out of filters.  Fortunately I am lazy and the filter from the day before was still in the coffee maker.  What's a girl to do?  Well empty out the old filter of course and reuse it.    Maybe people do this all of the time but it was very strange to me.  Have you done this before?  What other items do you reuse?  And how desperate have you been?

4 Months

I have been wanting to post this for awhile and just have not gotten it done. Just seems to be how things are going right now. Oh well, I am doing it now and I hope you enjoy.

AL is 4 months (4.5 really) and she is an angel. Really. We had a rough start but now that we have everything figured out she is an absolute delight. Rarely will you find this baby not smiling - all the way to her toes. She smiles even when she is in the middle of a cry. Although she rarely cries. She just hangs out playing on her mat (smiling). Looking at her you can't help but smile too. Here are some pictures. The flash is so bright and has a delay so it makes her not smile.

 

AM and LD love her to death!  They are always wanting to hold her or play with her.  It is cute.

At 4 Months AL is:

Eating bananas and cereal before bed.

Bedtime is 8pm.

She sleeps 12 hours.

She sucks her thumb - SO CUTE!

She can hold herself up for short periods of time.

Pull herself help.

Rollover to her side.

Laugh.

LOVES to swim.

Loves baths.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures I am trying to figure out the different things with my camera.

Just Say No To 3 Year Olds with Mixers....

Seriously this will be the outcome:

I was trying to get some work done at home today. I could tell LD wanted some attention so I did what any good mom would do and ignored her. Yeah I know, mom of the year. Earlier this week I bought her a kitchen appliance set that "works". She was playing with the mixer, came over and put it on my back while it ran. I'm not going to lie it felt super good, until she decided to brush my hair. The above picture is the result of her brushing my hair with the mixer.

Luckily my good friend Julie could come over and help me get the mixer out of my hair. The mixer was stuck towards the back of my head, not easy for me to maneuver on my own. When Julie got there she proceeded to get my hair out and it hurt! I thought of the alternate solution - cutting the beaters out and was instantly okay with the pain. It didn't take her long to hit the button that looked like a beater eject button (THAT I TRIED) and the beaters ejected and the hair came right out - no ripping.

I was instantly regretful it was not Wednesday - what wisdom I have gained today. 3 year old 1 - mom 0. Thank god hubby will be home tomorrow.

Let's Clean Tomorrow

I know I promised cleaning today but after an AMAZING concert last night and cleaning 6500 sqft today and the need to do some of my own cleaning; I can't bear the thought of thinking about anymore today. So let's clean tomorrow.

I will say the Killers concert was AWESOME. If you have ever heard of Red Rocks you know it is an amazing venue but a little bit of a hike. If you have not heard of it look it up and find a show to go too - you will not regret it. I have lived in Colorado forever and I got a little woosy from the altitude when we got there and feel pretty bad today. But MAN what a show. They are the oddest looking band but they but on one good show.

Has anyone found the spell check on the new editor? I am cutting and pasting into Word to check mine.

Day 3

It is 7am on day 3 of no hubby and the 13 year old threatened to ruin my good run. Not 12 hours from my previous post and the title was almost lost.

Is it so hard to be considerate of others? You know the other people that live in the house with you. The ones you huff at, change the channel on and storm away from. Hubby insists I need to not react to her every sound/attitude but I just can't help myself. I am reactive. When I can control my reactions things seem to be easier but I swear the last few days she is actually gunning for me. The teenage years are tough and the next time I get to do it there will be two of them! I may start day drinking when that time comes or just set up one big room for them in the basement.

Tonight we are headed to see the Killers at Red Rocks. Red Rocks is outside, it is an amphitheater cut into the rock. It is pretty amazing. I got the hubby tickets for he, AM and I for his birthday and he doesn't get to go because he had to go out of town. So bestie will be sitting in for him. I am sure it will be tough on her but she is a good friend so she will suffer! haha

I was going to do a post tomorrow on how to clean like a maid. I can clean a 2500 sqft house in about 2.5 hours. That is scrubbing top to bottom, bathrooms and kitchen and all floors. Geez I am tired just thinking about it. See you tomorrow!

Day 2

The hubby left for a business trip yesterday. He will be gone for 6 days - leaving me alone with 3 kids. GULP So we are on day 2 and I am proud to report the kids are all still alive and I am still alive! I am pretty proud - next stop a plant. Haha yeah right let's not get crazy. The kids are pretty fortunate to get watered and fed, can't imagine the same could be said for something that can't scream. I would like to add that my kitchen is also clean.

I have to go feed the baby now and I may just strut my stuff on the way! haha Hope everyone else is having the same success I feel I am having.

Umm where did spell check go on the new editor? And there go my sails. Sweet.

I am Shocked and Amazed!

Some of the blogs I follow are written be some truly amazing women! These women can make something out of nothing. I have been so inspired that today I finally made it out of my house with coupons and saved a total of $27. It may not seem like a lot but considering I used to snub coupons it is a big deal. I used to think - $.40? hardly worth my time. But seeing how they all add up - I am making it worth my time. Who thought I would ever clip coupons?

Next stop is some diy action. Inspired by all the bloggers making miracles from old items (junk) and a can of spray paint. I have an old book shelf that is ugly dark "wood" that I am planning on spraying in a white gloss and lining the back in a pink/green demask patterned wrapping paper I got on sale for $.87. I will post a before and after picture when I get it done.

What have you been inspired to do through the blogs you read?

I Like Pretty

Unfortunately when buying items based on the "pretty factor" it has not always worked out well for me (or us). I start to read the information on a product and I completely go numb and glaze over. Seriously I am sure it is visibly noticeable.

When deciding on what baby items we would need with our new addition we figured LD was old enough to walk so we could get away with using the stroller car seat system we had with LD. It is pretty. Gray stroller and car seat with pink and grey little tiny flower patterned fabric. Being home with the kids and taking them to the mall, to the zoo and a few other places I have realized we were dead wrong about not needing a double stroller. LD is 3 1/2 and I have carried her down the hill at the zoo while pushing the big stroller every time we have gone to the zoo. The zoo in our area is on the side of a mountain. It is a great zoo but it is not so fun carrying a 35 pound child while pushing a huge stroller.

Now the problem is finding a stroller that will work long term. I know with LD I got sick of lugging the big stroller around and changed to the umbrella stroller. So do I buy a double umbrella stroller, a sit n' ride stroller, the double car seat system stroller or a double jogging stroller. I pretty much will not kid myself about the double jogger. So this still leaves me 3 options. Does anyone have a stroller suggestion? How do you research products you are interested in? Or do you just shot from the hip and find the wow factor?

Could I Be a Bigger Baby?

Okay so the hubby and I FINALLY went to see the Time Travelers Wife. We have been waiting for this movie a very long time. It is the first book my hubby recommended to me and the first and only book on cd I have listened too. I listened to this story on my first trip to England. This trip has a lot of meaning to the hubby and I. We had only been dating 6 months I think and it was truly an amazing trip. I love this book, Snow Patrol and all things English because of this trip. Anyhow at the movie last night I cried like a baby! I even had one little sob out load but was able to stiffle the others. So as far as I can remember I have officially cried at every movie I have seen this year. The most recent movies include, UP!, Star Trek (yes Star Trek), Harry Potter, and now Time Travelers Wife. Can you imagine going to Star Trek and crying? Or even HP? I am a huge baby and it was really the previews that got to me. Does anyone else cry at movies? I hate it and I had a miserable headache last night.

Mommy Days

Now that my schedule has been in place things are going pretty good. I have Mondays and Fridays all day with the kids. I have Wednesday with them too but I clean 1 house each Wednesday and they come with me. On Mondays and Fridays I try to do something outside of the house with the two little ones. We have a YMCA membership and a zoo membership. As we are trying to cut back these are the two go to options. Monday I took the girls swimming. The baby is at absolute peace in the water. No matter how cranky she is she totally relaxes in the pool. She is so relaxed she just floats to the top. She does not even scream when water gets splashed on her. LD loves going to the pool but she is anything but relaxed and no two visits are the same. Some days she will have no fear and jump off the side into the pool the next visit it is like getting a cat into water. She literally clings to me, it is like peeling plastic wrap apart after you have torn it off and it clings to itself. No matter how the trip goes I thoroughly enjoy the time with my girls. What activities do you do with your family that you enjoy no matter what?

Who Is Ready For Fall?

This baby is!

Yes it was so cold in Colorado last weekend that I had to bundle everyone up to go to the store. Luckily I hit a sale at Carters the week before and bought the cutest fleece outfit with little bear ears!

The foggy cool weather and the lack of summer has me really in the mood for the fall and the holiday season. Growing up I loved the holidays, the feeling, the Christmas pageants, just the whole mood shift the holidays seemed to bring to people. I am not sure I really experience the mood shift anymore, I live in a much bigger city than I did as a kid, but I still want my kids to have memories only the holidays can bring.

The Christmas traditions I remember from my childhood are Sunday dinners and lighting the Advent Wreath and opening one gift on Christmas Eve. My hubby hates the one gift idea and we do not have an Advent Wreath. The last two years I have been gung ho about creating traditions for my kids and I feel like I have not been very successful. Last year we made cookies and gingerbread house. Seeing as I am a horrible baker the end product came out less than I dreamed. So this year I am getting an early jump on things and looking for some traditions to create. I have a few in mind but will be doing more research. What traditions do you and your family have? Are any of you in the same boat as me?

Wisdom Wednesdays

Today I was thinking about balance. I am big on having a balanced life. Not that I am always successful but I really try. This is one of the reasons my hubby and I travel alone (as often as possible). Today I was thinking about it in terms of children. I have read a few parenting books and honestly I have to say most of them are crap. Yikes. Yes I feel this passionately about the topic. Many of them talk about holding your baby way more than I think is a good idea. Don't do this, don't do that. Do lots of this and lots of that. While I believe you can take a little something from everything it is important to make it work for your family. Trying to mold your life and family around the principles in a book just seems forced to me.

The reason I think this has to do with balance for children is because the most recent book I read said to hold your child the majority of the day or the period the baby is awake. I think this is a HUGE mistake. My experience is if you hold a child the child will always want to be held. How does anything get done and how do you have a break if you are always holding a baby? Sounds like a recipe for crazy, to me.

I think kids are like adults, they need schedules and they need life balance. They need a balance of time being loved, discipline, playtime, quite time and even a small amount of responsibility. I will admit I have a hard time with the responsibility part and I tend to want more quite time than is realistic. I always strive for balance in both my life and my children's lives.