The reason I dont buy generic diapers....

WARNING.....not for the weak stomached

Now I know the reason I buy huggies. My neighbor ( who I adore, and am still very thankful for), offered me a pack of diapers that were the generic brand I think from Walmart. Anyways I thought I would just use them during the day and still use my huggies at night. After dinner tonight my lovely 8 month old was still in her highchair and started grunting, the tell tale sign that a dirty diaper is coming my way.. so I thought I would let her sit there for a minute and finish her business. When she finished I got her out and was carrying her to the changing table, the smell was awful, and the back of her shirt was feeling a little mushy. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but boy was I in for it. As I started pulling her shirt off the ichyness(we will just call it that) was ALL THE WAY UP TO HER HAIRLINE ON THE BACK OF HER NECK!!!!! DISGUSTING!!! So after using up about 20 wipes I carried her to the bath and got her all cleaned up then rinsed out the clothes which are now in the washer. Good thing shes so cute cause that was just gross... even my 7 year old son couldn't believe that mess!

Now the question is if she had a huggies on would that still have happened??? We will never know.... But I think those generic diapers just might have become my older daughters new play diapers for her babies:)

Some random pictures from my home

I was trying to think of something to blog about today and decided to just go around my house and take some pictures. A sneak peak into my home.. Now remember I didn't go and clean up for these any little messes just ignore:)

Here is the bread that I made today to go with our stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. Bennie asked the other day why it had been so long since I had made any bread. I told him I was trying not to make it so much because it taste so good and I'm trying to cut back on eating, but I don't want the rest of my family to suffer because I'm trying to lose weight. So I decided to make some today.
Here is my entertainment center in my living room.
A bookshelf on the other side of the living room, note the bottom 2 shelves have nothing accept baby toys on them. I figured it was just easier to give in and let the babies have these shelves instead of trying to constantly get them away from books they cant have or whatever else. So these are their shelves for the time being.
My new shower curtain that I got over the weekend. My other one was torn at both ends on the top and wasn't doing a good job of keeping the water in when we took a shower. Its nothing fancy, only 9.99 from Kmart, but its nice to have a new look in there.
Here is the other side of our living room, and my sweet little baby's mess:)
One of these days maybe I'll show some more pictures for you. I love getting peaks into others homes so i thought this would be fun... have a great day.

Menu Plan,,,,

I am so glad I started planing my menu's. Dinner time runs so much smoother and I really do believe I am spending less at the store. When I plan the menu for the week I am looking in my cupboards and freezer and I plan my meals around what I have. I also plan my shopping trip around the sale flyers and coupons that I have. So heres the menu for this week....

*taco salad

*stuffed peppers ( we never got around to making this last week)

*tuna noodle casserole(or this)

*chili, cornbread

*porkchops, fried taters, corn

*baked potatoes topped with chili, and cheese

* I am hoping to take the kids too the zoo next Saturday and go to Sams club, so since we will be in Ft. Wayne we will probably eat up there.

Grape Jelly

When I do things like this it makes me feel wonderful! Like a real live homemaker:) I made grape jelly today for the first time. All by myself!! Here's all my stuff on the stove.
The juice and pectin and sugar in the pot. I was getting worried here because I wasn't sure how long I after I added the sugar it would take for it to really start boiling again, and it felt like it took a long time. But eventually it started a rollin, and took off like crazy,,,,,SO EXCITING!!!!
And then after their little water bath, here they are, the awsomest thing was I heard each and everyone of them pop after I took them out of the bath, so I know they sealed. I am so proud of myself!!!

I have did a lot of new things this summer when I comes to preserving food, I made salsa, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Froze green peppers, green beans, zucchini, and corn. And now I have made grape jelly!!!! I was amazed at how easy the jelly actually was to do, now I would like to make more,,,like strawberry or something, maybe if I seem some on sale I could buy some extra to try strawberry jam!!


Today has been a pretty good day. Jess had a soccer game this morning, and she won 6-0!! She is really improving. Bennie did his first speech at school today and said he was scared to death, and his hands would not stop shaking, but after it was all over with he felt pretty good about it. Then we had a family reunion to go to, those are always interesting. After that we dropped Gary off at a friends house, he had a birthday party sleep over thing. Its always scary to me when the kids are with other people that's not me!! And Jess decided to spend the night with grandma. So its just me, Bennie and Emma. I came home and made the jelly, now I think we might go out to eat somewhere. Kinda like a date, but we will have Emma, but shes little and doesn't talk back yet so that's no to bad:) Then were gonna come home and probably watch a movie or something. Fun Fun. Its quiet here without the roar from the older kids arguing with each other. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

7 Random things....

Shannon has tagged me for this one....

The rules:

1. Post the rules on your blog

2. Write 7 random things about yourself

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post

4. Pass on the tag

Ok,,, here I go:

7 random things about me.......Hmmmmm

1. My husband is 5 years older than me. My step father is 5 years older than my mother, my grandfather is 5 years older then my grandmother. Before my mom married my step dad she was obviously with my father,, they were the same age, and didn't work out.....there seems to be a trend there,,,good thing we are 5 years apart.

2. I went to cosmetology school to become a hair stylist,,,,you need 1500 hours to complete the course,,, I only had 90 hours left to complete and quit!! I hate doing hair. I worried to much about if people would like what I had done to them....And was always a nervous wreck...

3. I am starting to think I have some type of phobia. But wouldn't know what its called. I just constantly worry about everything. I worry what people think of me all the time, even people that read my blog,, I always wonder what people think after they read things about me. Even though I know I shouldn't care because most of the people reading this I will never actually know in real life!!

4. I love just being at home with my family. I would be happy to just be here all the time, if thats what they enjoyed too, but they like to go places so I tag along.

5. I hate shoes and socks!! But I hate people to see my feet, because since I always go barefoot they are always dry and gross, no matter how much lotion I put on them.....(anyone know of a good foot moisturizer for cracked heals?)

6. Sometimes I just wish that my immediate family (hubby, the kids and I) could move far away where no one knows us. Like to Colorado or something.

7. My biggest goal in life is for my family to be happy and know how much I love them!!!

There you have it..... Geez I hope i don't sound to crazy.... If you want to play along great!! I'm not gonna name specific people cause I never know who to tag......Leave a comment though so we can read yours if you do it:)

Weigh in.

Well, I would love to tell you what my weigh in numbers are but I think my scales are broke. They are weighing me about 8 pounds lighter than last Friday, which would be awesome accept I know that's not right. I did not do well this last week. :( We went out to eat,, I made zucchini pinapple bread and ate way to much of it. I haven't been counting points and I think that is what my down fall is. Last time when I started out I tracked everything that went into my mouth. This time I just need to get more motivated. I've been kinda depressed so I think that's hindering my thinking.

But I will not give up. This is a new week and hopefully next week we can purchase a new scale. and I will be able to give you all great results!! Here's hoping, wish me luck.

Tired

I am tired. Just plain wore out. I'm not sure why, I get to bed at a decent hour. I feel like I just go go go, all the time. And no one appreciates it. I'm sure they do but they have a funny way of showing it. Especially the ones I babysit for. I am taking care of their precious babies all day long, and I take good care of them. Some babysitters just let the kids exists and watch TV all day long, but not me I interact with them, teach them things, play with them, and the parents act like they could care less. Like its such a burden to pay me., and let me tell you what, I charge way cheaper than most!! After turning my pay into taxes, I'm not even making a profit., but we need the money throughout the year, and I want to stay home with my baby so its still worth it me.


I just get so depressed when I feel like no one notices or cares what I do:( I wish I could be one of those people who didn't' care what others thought, but I'm not. I will never be, I worry that I'm not doing a good enough job with my own family, I worry that little Emma gets sad when I'm taking care of the other kids I babysit for, and she maybe thinks I love them more than her,, I know that sounds silly but these are things that go through my head everyday. I worry that my husband isn't attracted to me anymore because of the weight I gained. Even though he says he still is. I worry that he wants to be out doing other things more than spending time with his family, I let him do things like bowl and golf and hunt and other things he enjoys, but then inside I feel jealous that he gets alone time out and I don't. And I wish I wouldn't feel that way.


I am sorry, this post isn't very encouraging and I'm not trying to complain. I just had to let some things out. I hate that these things go through my head and I want to do better so badly. I feel that I'm always behind, yet I'm constantly going. I just need to not worry I guess and keep going. Lord give me strength!

The Circus

We went to the circus on Sunday afternoon! It was very exciting. Emma absolutely loved it. She enjoyed watching all the different animals and people doing different things. She really liked it when they played the music, she danced. She also loved when the people would clap. She would clap right along with them. Jess and Gary had fun also, they thought the animals were cool and we let them ride the elephant. They were both kinda scared but they did it and I was proud of them. Especially Gary, he has been kinda shy about doing things lately. At first he said he didn't want to do it then after the circus was over he changed his mind and was ready to give it a try. I'm really glad they got that experience.
Emma hadn't had a nap all day and she fell asleep right at the end. She was such a good girl though, it lasted a good 2 hours and she never cried the entire time. She is the best baby!!
I think she will be crawling soon. She will be in a sitting position and lean over and put both hands down and one knee down but she cant get the other knee turned around and out from under her. I think it will be soon though.

Menu plan 9-21-08

here is the menu for this week.. Its also family favorites week on orgjunkie.com this week so my family favorite will be the homemade pizza, I got the recipe originally from tammysrecipies.com/

*stuffed peppers

*grilled cheese

*ham, rice, corn

*cheesy ham &potato casserole

*pork steak, baked potatoes, peas

*homemade pizza

*tuna noodle casserole

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Description:A yummy pizza for all you bbq lovers.

Ingredients:

For the crust:1 cup warm water (115 degrees)1 teaspoon salt3 cups all-purpose flour2 1/4 teaspoons instant active dry yeast

For the grilled chicken:4-6 chicken breast tenders black pepper garlic salt

For the sauce:3/4 cup pizza sauce1/4 cup bbq sauce

Toppings:12 ounces (3 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese1 cup chopped bell peppers 1/4 to 1/2 cup sliced or diced onions 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the water and salt for the pizza crust. Add 2 1/2 cups flour and the yeast and stir. Add additional flour if needed to form a dough. Knead for 5-6 minutes. Set dough aside and cover.If you have a bread machine, it's even easier to make the crust. Place crust ingredients in bread machine in the order listed (use 2 3/4 cups of flour rather than 3). Start machine on dough cycle. You can take the dough out of your machine whenever it's done kneading -- my machine takes about 25-30 minutes.

2. Brush chicken tenders with oil and add seasonings. Grill until done. ( You can also use leftover chicken from something else. Last week I used the leftover roasted chicken and it was really good!)

3. Liberally butter a 16-inch round pizza pan. Use your buttery hands to spread/press the pizza dough onto the pan

.4. Mix the pizza sauce with the BBQ sauce. Spread evenly over the crust. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

5. Sprinkle chicken pieces over the mozzarella cheese. Add the veggie toppings, and finish with the cheddar cheese.

6. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake pizza for 11-15 minutes, or until done

Number Of Servings:12 slices

Weigh in...

OK so I think Fridays are gonna be my official weigh in day. And guess what.......I've lost 4 lbs. :) Yeah~! I'm so happy. I didn't think I would have lost that much since it has really only been 5 days, and I haven't been really eating diet food. For breakfast and lunch I've been really watching what I'm eating, but for dinner I just eat what I fix for everyone, the main thing i have been doing different is paying attention to my hunger cues. When I feel full I stop. Most of the time when my plate is empty I am full, but before it would all taste so good I would get more anyways then be stuffed. Now I stop. If I need more I will eat more veggies, but so far I haven't needed any more. I have really been watching my snacking also, I try not to. If I do its a fruit or veggie:)

Now next week, I know my number wont be as big. Its always the biggest the first week. Hopefully I can keep it up. As long as I don't let myself feel deprived I think I will be okay:)

Emma

Here is my baby eating her first gerber zieback toast. She loved everyminute of it, but boy was it messy!!!

This will be a special treat BEFORE bathtime every once in a while:)

Weight loss....

O.k. I think I am finally ready. Ready to start losing again that is. I have really debated on talking about this on my blog because some of the readers are people I know in everyday life. So this is kinda embarrassing, but then I thought, well they see me so they know that I have put on a few pounds. More than a few....gosh, I don't know if I wanna say it.



O.k., I am in tears right now. This was my biggest fear. You have to know the whole story so I'll start from the beginning.



About 2 1\2 years ago I decided that I was finally ready to lose weight. I was very big, obese by any doctors standards. I had always been big but I finally decided enough was enough. I joined weight watchers online and followed everything to the T. The weight started falling off of me like crazy. I followed the plan, exercised occasionally and before I knew it in a little over a year had lost 118 pounds. I couldn't have been happier with myself, everyone couldn't believe it. Always people commented on how great I looked, I kinda like the attention honestly. I had never had that before.



Then my husband and I decided that we wanted to have another baby. I was so excited because I had wanted that for a long time, and he always said 2 was enough, and finally he changed his mind. I was very concerned though about gaining weight. I had worked so hard and finally was at a size that I was comfortable with. But everyone said just keep eating healthy and I wouldn't gain to much. Well they were probably right, but I had denied myself sweets and all they yummy foods for so long that I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat like a crazy person. I put on 60 pounds. Awful!!



After the birth of my daughter I lost 20 of those lbs. fairly quickly. Then somehow over the past 8 months, 10 of those pounds have found there way back onto me. So I need to lose 50 pounds to get back to where I was.

I know that when family and friends see me they are probaly wondering what happened or they are thinking that they knew I would gain the weight back. I don't want them thinking that. No one had said anything but I can see it in peoples eyes. I hate it!!! I am ashamed:(

I know its going to be a lot harder this time because I have tried a couple of times to kinda watch what I'm eating and nothing has happened, so I think I'm really going to have to be conscious of everything that goes into my mouth, and I am probably going to have to exercise. That's going to be the hard part, cause I dont know when I will have the time but I guess I will need to make the time.



At the moment I can not afford to buy all the diet food and such, so I am going to really watch my portion size and try to stop eating when I feel full. That's a hard one for me. I will try to also fill my plate with more veggies than the other foods, and limit my sugar intake.



I weighed myself this morning so am starting today. I will post at least once a week and let everyone know how I am doing. Wish me luck. I should be able to lose 2 pounds this first week pretty easily. I am also going to make it my goal to exercise at least 3 times this week. Wish me luck!!!!



Oh, my inspiration for all this is from Tereza, she is on a mission to lose wight too.

Menu plan Week of Sept. 14

Dinners: Pasta Alfredo, cheese bread

ham steak, fried potatoes, green beans

broccoli cheese soup, french bread

pancakes, sausage

homemade pizza

pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn

Six yummy meals. There are only six because usually we either eat out or eat at my moms house once a week.

Babies

Babies here, babies there, babies, babies everywhere. I just love them soooo much. Even when they are gettin into everything and being ornery..... How could you ever possibly get mad at these faces? That is Emmas new mean face by the way, she wrinkles her nose up and squints her eyes. Its so funny, whenever we are in a store or somewhere and a stranger looks at her to talk to her she makes this face. Its hilarious!:) And whenever shes doing something and we tell her no she just laughs so hard. And we cant help but laugh. She will be in her walker and going down the hallway and we will tell her to stay out here and she giggles and goes as fast as she can down the hallway. Its to cute. I know, I know, we shouldn't laugh, but its just so hard. Shes to little to understand right now anyways. And she is so adorable. I love babies!

Baby cereal tip

Here is a tip for those of you that have babies. I serve baby oatmeal for breakfast and a little rice cereal with my babies dinner.

I use a scoop that was left from one of my cans of formula to measure out how much I need (one scoop is approx. 1 tablespoon). I found it hard to measure out in the boxes that the cereal comes in, so I invested in these glass jars from the Dollar Store( they were fairly cheap) and I store it in them with the scoop. I labeled the outside so I wouldn't get confused. I think it looks cute!! And it works for me.

For more tips visit rocksinmydryer.net

Menu plan

So here is this weeks menu. I think I'm going to try to not devote days to the meals. Just list a weeks worth of dinners. The reason for this is because some days we just don't want what I have planned anyways, so this way we wont be breaking my list:)

*BLT's, pasta salad, creamed cukes (this will be for Monday for sure, cause its soccer night and we need quick and easy)

*hamburger casserole

*roasted chicken, baked potatoes, green beans(I'm going to try out my frozen ones)

*chicken and rice casserole

*pizza

*leftover buffet

*eating at moms for b-day party

So there you have it. Be sure to check out orgjunkie.com for more great meal ideas!

Salsa

I canned my first salsa today!!! It turned out great!! There was a little extra left that we couldn't fit into the jars so we just ate that. Very yummy!!


And I just had to throw in this cute pic of my little Emma eating her dinner! Grandma was feeding her, she likes to feed the babies in her lap, and brag about how well she can feed them without getting them messy. I think feeding babies is one of her favorite things in life:)
We had a great weekend. Soccer went well. I survived getting the kids to where they needed to go. And Ben had a good first day of college. Today we hung out with family and made salsa and Ben shot his bow. It was just one of those days that makes you so glad to have such a great family. I am very blessed.

Kids and Soccer...

Well as I sit here at 8:15pm, my husband has just left with oldest daughter to go and buy her some shin guards. Now,, mind you we just got home from town 30 minutes ago. We were already at the store where they sell the shin guards to buy my son soccer cleats because he grew out of his old ones. I said to my kids while we were at the store......"Your socks and shin guards are still in the soccer basket right??" ....."oh yes mommy, they are in there".......
Guess what....when we got home I looked in the soccer basket and everything was in there except one of her shin guards,,, but just one wont do any good now will it!! So then I tore the closet apart looking for the mysterious lost shin guard.... it was no where to be found......Disappeared into thin air. So after way to much yelling I finally talked my hubby into going back into town to get her a new pair, because I have to be at the soccer field at 9:15am!! By myself with all 3 kids because Bennies first day of school is tomorrow. Its a weekend college course. ( I am very excited for him)! Just nervous for myself because both kids have games at the same time and they are on opposite sides of the place where we will play. So I'm just nervous about how I will get them to where they need to go and get them picked up without losing anyone. I'm sure it will be okay.
So anyways soccer starts tomorrow and we will have that 3 days a week for a couple of months. I love watching them its so fun.,,, it does take up a lot of time, but they sooo enjoy playing. They are pretty good to! Last spring was there first time playing and their coaches were very impressed. I feel much calmer now that I have typed this out. So I'd better get off here and start getting the little ones of to bed. Have a great night!

More green beans

I had an unexpected surprise this morning. My grandma called and said she had green beans for me from the garden. I was shocked because we thought they were done for the season. I guess they just needed a two week break:) So, joyfully, I have a big pot of beans on the stove cooking, along with my roast and potatoes that are in the crock pot. My house smells yummy! I'm trying to decide if I would like to bake some bread also....When I cook green beans I cook them for about 4 hours with bacon, and the last hour cut up an onion and put it in there for flavor. I do this because that's how grandma does and that's the way it taste the best. It never tastes exactly like hers though:( Is this the way you all cook your beans to?

Our weekend

Man, things have been crazy around here this weekend!!!! I am the girl that is usually always home, and I was barely home all weekend! Friday night me and hubby had a night out with my sister and her fiancee. This is the first time we have been out alone since before the birth of our 7 month old. We went to a concert, it was so fun!!! It was nice to be out, of course I worried about my baby the whole time but she did great with my mom. No problems at all.
Then Sat. morning when I went to get the kids my mom and other sister decided they wanted to go garage saleing, so that was fun! I found Emma some really cute stuff and we got this bear chair. It is soooo cute! Once we were done garage saleing we stayed at moms so my sisters husband could help my hubby sight in his new bow.
Then Sunday we went grocery shopping then back to moms so my hubby could get the boat and go fishing with my step-dad. I ended up staying over there until 9:30pm cause hubby was gone anyways. Normally we go to my moms once a week to visit but this weekend I felt like I moved back in!! Needless to say I'm glad to be back home. The weekend was great though, I'm glad to have today to rest up before everything gets back to normal craziness tomorrow:)

Menu plan, Sept. 1, 2008

Last week we did well with our menu. One of the days, the one that we planned to have hot dogs and potato salad, worked out great because I had already made up the potato salad earlier in the day and had everything prepped and ready and about 20 min. before dinner my parents called and said they were coming for dinner. It felt nice to already have everything ready, all that had to be done was throw some extra hot dogs on the grill and we were all set. And my mom was impressed with the homemade potato salad. so here is the plan for this week:
Monday:B-biscuits and gravy D-smoked pork chops, baked potatoes, corn( we never did have this last week)
Tuesday-spaghetti & bread sticks
Wednesday-Roast, potatoes, carrots
Thursday-chili & cornbread
Friday-pizza & nachos with the leftover chili on them
Sat.-another family reunion ????
Sunday-B-bacon filled eggs , D-hamburger casserole