Month: June 2009

  • Can you Believe Your Eyes????

    Read all about it.....TOMMY'S ROOM IS CLEAN!!!   Since I was unexpectedly off of work yesterday, I put my afternoon to good use.  I shoveled out cleaned Tommy's room!   Two garbage bags of toys made there way to goodwill.  Four grocery bags of clothes given to a friend and two grocery bags to the garbage!!   These pictures are prrof that I *do clean his room!  I hope it stays this way for a while. 

    tom's room

    As you can see I am still not done with painting in Tommy's room.  I finished his pirate blanket for his bed and gave that to him for Christmas.  But the last mural on the wall has not been worked on in a while.  It is my plan to have it all done before school starts!!   The only other thing left is to sew some curtains 

      toms room 2

    The shelves are still a bit messy, but they are better.  I need to go through the books and donate some more to the school library!

    tom room 3

    Trust me this is a vast improvement to what it was looking like.  You can now even open the closet without an avalanche.   Such small improvements make me happy!  I am trying to get things pretty clean around here before we leave on vacation.  I hate to come home to a messy house after a nice relaxing vacation!!!

    Have a Great Day!!!

  • Looking For A Good Book......

    Nothing makes a book better than to receive it for free!!!  LOL!   I wanted to let you know I posted two book contests over on my Book Blog that I found on Booking Mama's book blog!   Stop by and enter to win.  Both books look like great beach reads.  There is no better way to spend a summer afternoon.

    dairyqueen_gif  Looking For Salvation At the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore - details to enter this giveaway  can be found on my book blog, ReadinginWBL.com

      summeraffair

    A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand - details to enter to this giveaway can be found on my book blog, ReadinginWBL.com

    Good Luck!!!

  • Black Bean Salsa

    1 can (16 oz.) black beans
    1 can (12 oz.) shoepeg (white) corn
    1/4 cup cilantro
    1/2 cup chopped green pepper
    1 medium purple onion, chopped
    3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped
    1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (discard seeds for mild, leave seeds for hot)
    1 T. canola oil
    Juice of one large lime
    1 tsp. salt
    1 tsp. garlic powder

    Drain and rinse black beans and shoepeg corn. Place in a large mixing bowl. Add cilantro, green pepper, purple onion, tomatoes and jalapeno pepper. Blend well. Drizzle the canola oil and lime juice over the top of mixture. Add salt and garlic powder and mix well.

    Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

  • Grocery Shopping......

    Well I didn't stay within my budget today very well.   Hubby and everyone have been complaining that there is no snack food in the house and I also bought pop.   But since I only buy pop once a month, my next shopping trip should be less.   Taking Tommy shopping with me sure didn't help out much either. 

    Pop, Snack and few groceries at Walmart = 41.82 (scrip cards used)

    Aldi - $94.40

    Festival - $39.55 (scrip card used)

    Total Spent = $175.77 or $87.88 per week for a family of 5

    My goal is to stay within $80.00 per week for our grocery.  I genreally budget $100 a week and I use the extra for things I need during the week or if we happen to eat out once.  

    We will be moving to a family of 6 full time starting in August.  I hope to keep the budget the same.  We will see how that goes.   Right now I am buying stuff for my BIL to make lunches to take to work. These are convenience foods I would not normally buy so that has increased our food expenditures. 

  • Menu Plan Monday - June 22nd

     WHAT WE ARE EATING THIS WEEK.....

    orgjunkiempm1

    Menu Plan For
    June 14th - July 2nd 

    Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday. Go and check out more great menus!   Menu planning will help you have more time with your family and enjoy your summer. 

    Sunday, 21st - Grilled Honey Balsamic Chicken, Corn, Rice A Roni  (add to Website)

    Monday - 22nd - Sloppy Joes (crockpot) chip and dip

    Tues - 23rd - Lasagna Roll Ups/ Garlic Bread  (Add to Website)

    Wed - 24th - Crockpot Cowboy Stew, Savory Mexican Cornbread ( not great)

    Thurs - 25th - (book Group) Frozen Meal - Chicken Alfredo

    Fri - 26th - Hamburgers, Curly Fries

    Sat - 27th - Grilled Honey Mustard Pork Chops, Pasta Salad, Carrots. 

    Sun - 28th - Two Sticky Chicken, Mashed Potato, Veggie 

    Mon - 29th- Tater Tot Hot Dish

    Tues - 30th - Chicken Parmesan Burgers,(double for my family) Fries, Veggie

    Wed - July 1st - Frozen Meal - Spaghetti

    Thursday - July 2nd - Teriyaki Chicken Over Rice (Crock Pot 4 to 5 hrs) *Taste of Home Simple & Delicious  July/August 2009 - pg 19

    Friday - Leaving on Vacation!!!!  Vacation Menu plan to follow.  We rented a house so I will be making all our meals to save a bit of money.   I will be cooking for at least 8 of us each day, plus guests that stop by. 

    Blessings !!

  • Our Weekend.....

       Hello everyone....I sure miss posting on xanga, but life keeps getting away from me.  It easier to just quickly log into facebook and do a quick status than a real blog post!   But I have some pictures from this weekend so I thought I should do a picture blog.

    It has been a very busy weekend!   Friday morning started off with getting Erik to church to leave for his Mission Trip to Cortez, Colorado.

    IMG_0292

    Erik, Danny and Tommy before packing up for the Mission Trip.

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     I ended up working Friday as I had a placement to complete.  I got back into town around 4:30 and Tommy's school was lining up for the Manitou Days Parade at 4:50.  ARGH!!  Hubby and Tommy were already downtown WBL waiting for me.  I got to Tommy's School float just as they were getting ready to leave to line up!

    IMG_0303

      IMG_0309

    It was great fun participating in the parade.  Hubby and Tommy walked and handed out freezies to the crowd.  I was on the float refilling bags of Freezies for everyone to hand out.  We got home around 9:00 and Kristen came to spend the night with us.   We had a snack before bed and got Tommy and Kristen all settled for the night!

    IMG_0311  IMG_0312

    SATURDAY

    We headed to church to check out the community garage sale before I needed to work at the garage sale.  Each year there is one lady that is at the sale that has great clothes for Tommy!  Again this year we hit pay dirt at her booth.  I found soccer cleats, a columbia jacket and a bunch of clothes for Tommy.  I spent a totally of 26.00 at her booth. 

    Hubby took Kristen and Tommy home and I stayed to man the jumpy thing and hand out freezies for the school at the garage sale.  I was there from about 10:00 until 1:30.  I will say it was hot and time didn't pass that quickly.  But it was fun.   Once home I made lunch for everyone and then I took a nap.

    IMG_0315

    Tommy and Kristen cooled down this afternoon with the Slip and Slide. 

    IMG_0319

    Hubby,  Josh and my BIL, Steve spent the day working on the window well for the egress window!  It is almost done!

      IMG_0325

    IMG_0326

    Hubby and Josh learned how to split the bricks!

    IMG_0328

    The egress window well....I think they are doing a great job!

    IMG_0329

    Tommy and Baby enjoying the piles of dirt from digging the window well.

     IMG_0330

    Tommy garage sale purchase, a green exercise peanut!  

    As you can see Tommy has been very busy today.   He went to sleep right away tonight!  Well time for me to finish up here and get to bed as I have alot to do tomorrow!!

    Hope you are having a great weekend!!!

  • The Windows World

    Please vote for my son in the Windows Brand Ambassador Semi-Finals!

  • Menu Plan Monday - 6/5 - 6/20/09

    orgjunkiempm1

    WHAT WE ARE EATING THIS WEEK.....

    Menu Plan For
    June 5th - June 20th 

    Thanks to Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday. Go and check out more great menus!   Menu planning will help you have more time with your family and enjoy your summer. 

    Friday – (Pete’s coming) – Hamburgers, Seasoned Tater Tots X2, Baked Beans/Coleslaw

    Saturday- Steak, Roasted Pots, Green Beans X 2, Salad Onion Vinegrette, Apple Crisp

    Apple Crisp

    • 6 apples, peeled and sliced
    • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
    • 1 cup brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup oatmeal
    • 1/2 cup flour
    • 1 tsp. cinnamon and/or nutmeg
    • 1/2 cup water

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange apples in well-greased baking dish. Blend all remaining ingredients except water. Spread evenly over top of apples. Pour water over the topping. Bake 45 minutes until apples are tender and top is crisp. Serves 6.

    Sunday – Anniversary Party ?? – Make Chicken Salad/Croissants

    *******************************************************

    Monday –(working late) – Easy Chicken and Rice & Veggie

    Tuesday – (town hall mtg) - French Dip Sandwiches, Curly Fries x 2

    Wednesday – Beef Enchiladas, Spanish Rice , Corn - Touch Down Taco Dip

    Thursday (picnic at school) – Lasagna Roll Ups/ Garlic Bread

    Friday – Brats, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob

    Saturday - Biscuit and Gravy / Scramble Eggs/ Bacon thick cut x2

    Sunday (to Duluth) – Two Sticky Chicken, Mashed Potato, Veggie 

    ********************************************************

    Monday – Tater Tot Hot Dish

    Tuesday - Grilled Honey Mustard Pork Chops, Pasta Salad, Carrots. 

    Wednesday - Cilantro Lime Grilled Chicken, Basil Green Beans, Salad, Fruit

    Thursday - Baked Pork Chops and Rice & Veggie

    Friday – Sloppy Joes (crockpot) chip and dip

    Saturday - Grilled Honey Balsamic Chicken, Broccoli, Salad, Peaches