Month: June 2013

  • We’ve Moved….

    With the uncertainty of Xanga, I decided to move my blog over to wordpress.     Due to the wonderful support of the Xanga Team I was able to preserve all my posts back to 2001 and easily move them over to WordPress.com.     I still have a lot of fine tuning to do on the new site as I am going to also combine my online cookbook into my blog page.  

    UPDATED 6/25/13 – I decided to move to my own domain at a hosting site instead of going with wordpress.   

    You can now find me at:

    http://livinginwbl.com

    I am so grateful for my years on Xanga and the friends I have made.  

    Please stop by and keep in touch!

    Blessings,

    Jen C

  • Menu Plan Monday: June 10th Edition

    mpm-chalkboard

    Menu Plan Monday June 9th – June 23rd

    June 9th – Rotisserie Chicken and Stuffing

    10th (Game @ 6:00) – Cheese Turkey Sandwiches Bites, Cucumbers and Strawberries/Bananas (Emeals 485) 

    11th (Practice) – BLT’s and Chips  (Emeals -483)

    12th (Game @ 7:15) – Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches

    13th – Creamy Angel Hair with Sausage and Spinach and Garlic Bread

    14th – Chicken Salad / Veggies

    15th (Grad Party – Amy) – Leftovers

    16th (Father’s Day) – Savory Chicken Legs on the Grill, Garden Ranch Pasta Salad, Corn on the Cob

    17th – (Practice) – Rosemary Pork Roast, (Taste of Home Best Loved pg 522) and Red Cabbage

    18th – (Practice) – Beef Fried Rice and Egg Rolls (Emeals – 484)

     

    19th  – At Home:  Seafood Salad on lettuce

    (Camping up North) 

         Lunch:  Sandwiches, Chips and Fruit on the road

         Supper:  Lloyd’s Ribs, Camping Mac And Cheese, Canned Corn

         Dessert:  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

         Evening Snack:  Fire Roasted Nachos

    20th – At home:  Lasagna – Salad

    (Camping)

         Breakfast:  Breakfast Burritos - Campfire Monkey Bread

         Snack: Cheese & Crackers and Meat Sticks

         Lunch:  Cup of Soup – Pizza Sandwiches

         Snack:  Warm Cheese Dip and Chips

         Supper: Steak Tips, 3 Cheese Potatoes, Canned Green Beans

         Dessert:  Campfire Cones

         Snack:  Smores Camping Trail Mix

     

    21st – At home: – Beef Macaroni Casserole/ Garlic Toast (Emeals – 484)

    (Camping/Ely)

    Brunch:  Pancakes, Sausage and Eggs -

     

    22nd – Fish Tenders and Waffle Fries with Dip

    23rd – Rotisserie Chicken, Stuffing and Corn

     

    For more Menu Planning inspiration stop by and visit Laura at Organizing Junkie. and participate in Menu Plan Monday. More menu planning fun can be found at The Organised Housewife. 

     

     

    Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!

     

    Happy Cooking!!

     

     

  • 2013 Financial Goals

    We are happy with our progress in our goal to become debt free except for our mortgage. We are following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps.  It has become very exciting to see our snowball finally moving.  We are keeping our eye on our goals!  We are finding it very helpful to write yearly goals and share a weekly victory to keep us motivated.  This has been LONG process for us and it can be a struggle to keep motivated.

    1.  Increase Deferred Comp/Retirement Savings   DONE!

              This is a secondary retirement amount.  We started this account by only putting very little into this secondary retirement account.  We will double our amount we save into this retirement account.  We also have a primary retirement account matched by our employers.

    2.  Pay off our Chase Card by March 2013.   DONE! 

    3.  Accomplish Tommy’s MCS through 5th grade. DONE!

              Tuition paid for 6 years of private elementary school.  A wonderful foundation for our son, worth every single penny.

    4   Pay off our last credit card by December 2013.

              We are on track to pay our final credit card off just before Christmas, if no major unplanned expenses hit us.  We are so excited to think we will be going into 2014 with no credit card debt!

    5.  Update our will to reflect changes we have discussed.

              It is time to change our will now that our children have gotten older.   It has been 9 years since we had our will initially written.

     

    What are your 2013 Financial Goals??

     

    Blessings…

     

    Paul and Jen
    Faithfully Living Below Our Means!