I have hig h hopes for the weekend and getting things done.  I am taking part of today off so I can get some chores done.   So of course I have a couple of to do lists!!!    It is COLD here today!!  23 degrees below zero!  I have a bit trouble with my asthma when it is so cold, it is hard to breathe.   Well on to the to do lists!

TO DO FRIDAY:

Dishes
Laundry
Clothes Away
Scrub Floors
Make Lasagna
Repot Plant
Set Up Humidifier
Make Beds
Complete Menu
COmplete Grocery List
Cat Litter and Sweep

TO DO WEEKND:

Begin on Basement
Declutter my Email folder for recipes!
Work on Recipe SItes
Copy Pictures for Work
Complete Work Frames

I have my humidifier all cleaned up and running.  It is so dry in our house.  The filter looks a bit dirty.  I know last year I tried to find the correct filter and couldn't at any store.  I found some online and ordered 2 3-paks of the correct filter.   So I will change the filter as soon as it comes in the mail.  So if you are looking for filters look at http://www.filters-for-home.com/ .  Their prices are very good!

I am taking a break and eating a bit of lunch after finishing doing the dishes. 

Tonight for supper......

LAZY LASAGNA

1 pound of hamburger
1 small onion - chopped
1 Jar of Spaghetti sauce (25 ounces)
8 oz - Mozzarella Cheese
8 oz - Cottage Cheese (sometimes I use Ricotta Cheese)
1 egg
Lasagna Noodles - Cooked

Cook Noodles and set aside.  Cook hamburger and onions.  Drain.  Add Sauce to hamburger. 

Layer Lasagna as follows:
In a 9 x 13 pan put 1/3 of the sauce mixture on the bottom of pan. 
Cover with a layer of lasagna noodles. 
1/2 of remaining sauce.
Mixture of Cottage Cheese (or Ricotta) and Egg.
1/2 of Mozzarella Cheese
Remaining Sauce
Noodles
Remaining Mozzarella Cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes.

Off to conquer the kitchen.....I was a bad girl and didn't do the dishes last night before bed.  I think I would have if I could get my little guy into bed before 10:30.  By that time I am ready for bed!

I must sing my praise for the Mr. Clean Eraser!!! Someone recommended it to me.  I thought, another cleaning product...great.  But I went ahead and tried it and I am so glad! My bathtub is very old and the protective coating has worn off and so dirt gets into the porcelain.  I couldn't get it out at all.  I had tried many things, with the product Kaboom doing the best.   This Eraser got it off!!!  I gets into the little pores of the porcelain.  yeah!!!  It was worth the 3.00 for the 4-pak.  Thanks for the recomendation!

Busy Day!!  Well he deferred Comp meeting was interesting, and a bit over my head at times.  I have a bit of reading to do to be able to pick my stocks, bonds or indexes...not sure which way I will got yet.  I am putting only $25.00 a pay period into the stock market, but it is enought to get my feet wet and figure this out.   I will increase it as our bills decrease.   I am able to swing 25.00 since I made a few changes like decreasing our cable service.   I also rarely eat out during the work week.  

Well it is COLD here in MN.   One of our three vehicles wouldn't start this morning due to low temps.  I left work early and ran my errands.  Thursday is errand day for me, minus groceries.  

I hit Target, Post Office and Sam's Club.   At Target I stuck to my list very well, except for some pj's I bought for my youngest two on clearance.  Normally 2 pairs for 17.99. clearanced at 8.00 for 2 pairs.  I got a few pair of each of them as they needed Pj's.  I also bought one of those Mr. Clean Erasers to try it out!!  I hope I have good luck with it!   The Post office was returning a broken part to the Pampered Chef Customer Service and bought a few books of stamps since I was there. 

Sam's Club....do you ever get out of that store and not spend an arm and a leg??   I needed many things.  My first stop was two very sturdy shelves.   I am going to conquer that dungeon of a basement, 15 minutes at a time of course.  My oldest son is going to help me.  He is a great kid.  Then it was the normally monthly things, diapers, pull-ups, kleenex, plates, juice, milk, etc.  A few hundred later we are out of the store!! LOL!!!

The rest of the evening Tommy and I curled up in bed and watch Tarzan under my heated blanket!  Tomorrow I am working from home.  I need to straighten up my work laptop as they are getting me a new one.  I need to clean up files and delete old stuff, etc.  That might take me all day..I have so much junk on there! 

I can't tell you how blessed I feel.  I jsut sat down to figure out who to invite to my pampered Chef party.  I had like 31 people, I am so blessed with an abundance of friends.   I am worried about inviting them all, becuase a lot of them will show up!  My house isn't that big!

Well time for me to surf a bit and head to bed...Later!

Today I am going to a deferred compensation meeting to see about investing some money each paycheck.   I am very interested in investing more of our money now.  It helps on saving with taxes, though I am wondering if a Roth IRA wouldn't be a better idea!  We will see, I am still reading and learning about all this. 

I did pay all our bills last night and believe I have enough money left to buy two shelves to orgamize our basement.  That will be a long on-going process.

I did convince my hubby to decrease out cable TV package last night.  It will decrease our bill by almost 10.00 a month.  It is hard to get hubby to give up these things.  He enjoys his TV.  I rarely watch TV and would rather not even have cable, though I do love the Home and Garden Channel as well at the Learning Channel.  It ended up getting rid of some of the channels Erik watches, cartoon channels, but he has a couple and taht is plenty.   We also have DSL, but with our usage of the internet and web designing and downloading, I doubt we will ever give that up.  

Got to go!!! 

Fabulous Website on saving money and time!  I heard this local Minnesota woman on the radio yesterday.  Check out her website for great money saving ideas and deals!

http://www.mommysavers.com/

Busy day so far, jsut finally got time to have lunch and it is is almost 4:00 argh.....I have an appointment tonight at 5:00 so I will be getting home a bit late.  I am glad I exercised this morning as I know i wouldn't have been able to tonight.  Tonight my hubby is drawing up my weight lifting routine for me.  He and I used to lift weights before Tommy was born and I want to get back into it.   So he will be helping me. 

Morning....Tommy only woke up once during the night.  I put him in bed with me for a bit and I couldn't fall back to sleep.  This was at about 4:00am.  Since he was alseep I put him back into his bed, where he still remains.  

I got up a bit early and decided to exercise before work today.  Exercising in the evening seems to be messing with my ability to fall asleep.  It is the time i have the most time to exercise, just not the best option.  So I was up and on the treamill by 6:40.   Now time to shower and get to work.  Later!  I hope to be able to exercise twice during the work week in the morning at least and Saturday morning.  If I can manage that I might move my weight lifting to mornings the other days.  We will see.....babysteps!

Another night of working late...........Later!

BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICHES

½ cup chopped onion
½ cup diced celery
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup salsa
½ cup Ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
6 hamburger buns, split and toasted

In a saucepan, sauté the onion, celery and garlic in butter until tender.  Stir in the salsa, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Add chicken; stir to coat.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Serve about 1/3 cup chicken mixture on each bun. Yield: 6 servings.

 Quick Cooking – July/August 2002

Well we missed school this morning.  Tommy was up three times during the night and we all ended up over sleeping.  ARGH!!  I hope he sleeps better tonight.  My break is over, bacl to work!  Later!