Another birthday weekend

This weekend we officially became parents of a teenager! Eeek (That "earthquake" everyone felt? That was just us flipping out that we would have a teenager in about an hour! :P)

13 years ago a teeny tiny 1lb 12oz baby made an early entrance into our lives.

She couldn't be happier with her gift, her own room (previously the guest/storage room that I posted pictures of last week)!

Not quite done yet... definitely a work in progress. She has ambitions to paint some large polka-dots on the lavender wall, and is on the hunt for a neat papasan style chair and a few more decorations (Not to mention all of her "stuff" that is still upstairs in her sister's room!)

That brings an end to our "birthday season" (2 in September, 1 in October, and 1 in November).

Still trying to figure out where the new home is for everything that used to be stored in this room, and it's time to light a little fire under that chore, as tonight is "Poker night" and the guys are going to want the wedding dress and other assorted items out of their way! (Where exactly does one store a wedding dress that wasn't "preserved"? And do I really need to keep this enormous hoop skirt? LOL)

Crock-pot Thursday

I have failed at menu planning this week, but with a hectic schedule of after school activities and attending a speech by a former US President tonight, I knew I would resort to fast food if I didn't get something tossed in the crock-pot!

So, thanks to this post over at Amy's Finer Things, we're going to be enjoying Slow Cooker Italian Chicken tonight. I think I'll even throw together some homemade Italian breadsticks to go with it. These breadsticks were a HUGE hit the last time I made them, and I have to agree that they are "better than Olive Garden"! I was out of "Italian seasoning" when I made them, so I substituted what was probably just about the same "Pizza seasoning" :) Super Yum!

Update: Breadsticks are good to go! Love my breadmaker :)
Dough is in and ready to rise:

90 minutes later, it smells divine and they haven't even gone in the oven!

Roll out the dough into the breadsticks, and let rise again (off to pick up a kid from after school activity, then back to toss sticks into the oven)

Goodbye, dear friend...

Alas, my morning latte will never be the same. My latte "bowl" was no match for the sugar bowl that fell on it yesterday morning. It has served me well for the last three years, but its time to move on, I guess :(

I look forward to the next few years of morning lattes with my new friend. With the rain/snow forecast for this evening, I may just have to give it a trial run, perhaps next to a roaring fire (assuming we have enough firewood!)

Busy weekend...

Friday I started off my day baking Chris's birthday chocolate chip cookies to take to school (yes, I was baking cookies at 1:00 am!). So I skipped my regular cycle class that morning (either the lack of sleep or the cookie dough hangover killed my desire to workout) so I could continue working on the spare bedroom in the basement. It's transitioning from a spare bedroom/storage heap into Lizzie's 13th Birthday present. What 13 year old girl wouldn't be thrilled with her own room (and not sharing with her 5 year old sister!). Since my parents were visiting this weekend, the transformation had to stop and switch gears into a "clean this place up to be presentable, and livable" mission.

First up, sewing desk. All the arts & crafts supplies were pulled out and reorganized (with Ella & AJ's help sorting beads, sequins, and all sorts of itty bitty things). Their new home is at the top of my linen closet (that's right, OUT OF REACH of little children!). My very limited selection of sewing supplies has been reorganized into the sewing desk, and it is ready to find a new home in another area of the basement. Maybe once it's in a more prominent location, I'll find the time to teach myself to sew.
Next up, painting supplies. I have so many paints, and painting supplies that they occupied a tall (but skinny) chest of drawers! Those have all been resorted, and now reside in a rolling cart in my laundry room (not the ideal place, but there is really no where else... until kids start moving out for college)... so lets see if I actually roll them on out to the new 3rd car garage (aka - the workshop) and start USING them again! Dresser is now empty, and ready for Freecycle!
Time to switch gears again, eBay auctions ended and were paid for, so time to dig out boxes and print some shipping labels. Dropping those off at FedEx after school pick up.

And then time for a little chat with Ella... goes something like this: James "Ella, did you tell Lizzie the secret?" Ella "no, but she asked me for hints, so I told her it was in the basement and dark... she probably thinks it's a laptop" & "she's figuring it out" ... "did you tell her?" "no but she's figuring it out" LOL... how much do you want to bet that a certain little 5 year old can't keep a secret from her big sister? :)
Back to the task at hand: basement bedroom. Organized my large stack of Decorative Painter magazines, patterns, and idea sheets into magazine holders for my bookshelf downstairs. Quickly glancing through my painting patters while organizing them stirred up that painting bug that got buried down somewhere. Wow, I can actually see some of the top of the desk again (desk, aka - storage shelf/table/junk collection area). This desk will work nicely as a homework station in Lizzie's new room.Now that the weekend is over, it's time to move some furniture, crack open the lavender paint, and get going on the room!

Starting over...

Jumping back into this "blogging" thing again, we'll see where it takes us!

HE Detergent 1/2 price at Walmart!

If you need to use the HE laundry detergent, check out Walmart at 21st & Maize... the $20 bottles of Tide Free HE Coldwater are on clearance for $10 (in a rack by the dairy section) and I also spotted other brands of HE detergen (regular $7-10) in a clearance shopping cart near the hot dogs/lunchmeat for $2.50-$3.50. There were also some bottles of fabric softner, I believe it said HE on the bottle, and I didn't catch the price.....

They still have the cans of Great Value green beans for 25cents each near the grocery entrance if you like canned veggies.

Deal Alert! Kellogg's Fruit Snacks $1

The clearance rack caught my eye at Walmart tonight... there were signs up for Kellogg's Fruit snacks on clearance for $1 but the shelf was empty... take a look at the "characters" that are listed and head over to the breakfast isle and find more boxes in their regular place on the shelf, marked full price, however ringing up for $1... some choices included:
Super Mario Bros
Disney Fairies
Barbie
Phineas & Ferb
Disney Princesses
there were others also, but I can't remember them all...



I stocked up for the kids's Mom's Day Out lunches and school lunches!

Hot Dog Casserole

Hot Dog Casserole is a staple in our house, the recipe is from my mother in law.

Sautee' 1 lb hot dogs (polish sausage, kielbasa, etc.) with 1/2 an onion


While those are cooking, dice up 1-2 cups of potatoes, place in casserole dish and cook (I usually just microwave them for 3-5 minutes)

Add hot dogs and onions to the potatoes. Then add 1 can of green beans (drained) (or 12-16 oz of frozen peas - or fresh green beans), 1 can cream of mushroom soup, and 1 TBSP vinegar. Mix thoroughly. Bake in 350 oven or microwave until heated through.We were so quick to eat the casserole tonight that I realized I didn't take a picture of the "cooked" casserole ... it looks a little more appetizing than the picture above :)

Bacon, Eggs, and Cheese - Yum!

Ok... confession.. I do NOT like Bacon and I do NOT like cheese on my eggs! However, I saw this recipe for Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Pockets when perusing the web for freezer cooking ideas and thought it would be great for James and the kids, a nice change from the cold cereal they usually eat... So I made up a batch this afternoon and they smelled so good, I split one with Nick, and I actually enjoyed it so I KNOW the kids are going to go nuts over them!
So, today's freezer cooking tally:
24 Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Pockets
2 Hot Dog Casseroles (picture and recipe coming later), 1 for tonight and 1 for the freezer

Not much of a freezer cooking day, but as long as I get the pockets cooled off and hidden in the freezer before the kids get home from school, they should last awhile... next time though, I forsee making twice as many, and perhaps a sausage batch (for Lizzie and myself, the sausage lovers in the family:) )

I should also confess, I cheated on the dough this time... I found a couple of cans of Pillsbury pizza crust dough on the manager's special rack at Dillons last night, so I used those today, and bought new yeast (since mine is apparently a little too old) and will use the pizza/breadstick recipe next time.

My ingredients:
2 - cans Pillsbury pizza crust
1 - 12oz pkg bacon from the freezer
1 - cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 - pkg of powdered eggs (got these from my Grandma and thought this would be a good way to use them up)
8 - fresh eggs to add to the powdered eggs

Freezer Cooking

After being inspired by Money Saving Mom's Freezer Cooking Day, on a whim I decided to put together a few freezer meals and have some precooked ground beef and chicken in the freezer for quick meals. With basketball season half over, baseball, softball, and tee-ball just starting up we need lots of easy quick meals in the house to avoid the "grab something from McD's on the way to the ball diamonds" rut that happens!

In less than an hour's time (keeping in mind, this was on a whim and right before school pick up time) I prepared:

2 x 1lb portions of seasoned ground beef
2 x Mexican Chicken & Black Bean Filling (one batch burritos and one batch with enchilada sauce on top)
2 x 1lb portions of seasoned shredded chicken breast

I plan to expand on this little "mini freezer cooking day" and research, plan out, and execute a much larger freezer cooking day soon!

For more information on Freezer Cooking, check out Money Saving Mom's blog