Weekend happenings

I'm feeling a tad better today. I'm not that snotty, its just so much pressure in my head and it wont break up!  Life goes on as normal around here though.  The no spend challenge is going strong,, when there is no money to spend it makes it pretty easy :)  Now this weekend is when I will get paid and that is normally what I use to go out and buy groceries, but no this time,, its going to the doctor bills, thats gonna be the hard part but we still have plenty of food.  Sunday morning I made strawberry pancakes!  They were super yummy!

Here is a quick snap of my fridge as of today,  just a hodge podge of stuff in there.  Lots of condiments.. But my cabinets are still plenty full and my freezer has food.

I did a very bad thing on Friday.  I thought I was doing a good thing.  I went through the cabinits and freezers do a inventory and made of list of what we had.  Well when I was going through the garage freezer and counting apparently I sat out one of the bags of venison meat to count what was under it.  Stupid me forgot to put the bag back in and the whole bag got ruined.  6 lbs of ground venison and 1 roast. :(   I didnt know it until the next day when Ben went out and smelled/saw it on the ground :(  I cried!  I can't believe I wasted meat!  I was so upset. We still have 7 more packages of it that I didnt sit out so we arnt out, but now I really hope the boys will get another deer   We really do rely on that meat because I just dont have the money in my grocery budget to buy hamburger right now.   I'll be more careful next time I go through the freezer, thats for sure!!!!!

Sunday I had a baby shower to attend,, the baby had already been born,, Meet Jacelyn.  I will  be watching her when her mom returns to work sometime in January!  I'm excited!  She is so precious and little and sweet!

Saturday was my Grandma Baldridge's 77th surprise birthday party!  It was a great success and she was so happy!  I'm so glad all the family got to share this occasion!

Here' s Jess holding baby Zayden.  He's a  all full of sweetness also! Last night I made potato corn chowder and it was YUMMY!  Everyone liked it.  And tonight we are having burritos made from the pinto beans I cooked in the crockpot last Friday.    Bean and cheese is all you really need and they are still so yummy and very affordable!

Home

So we've been home for a few days and obviously I still haven't updated my blog.  I've been trying to catch up on the laundry and the household stuff.  Being away from my house just throws me off.  I feel like I get behind.  Alas I will need to be getting used to it though because with Bens mom moving only 3 hours away instead of across the country we will be taking long weekends out there much more often.  I am happy about it all though.  I can't imagine not seeing my mom for so long and I hope the two(hubby and mom in law) can build there relationship. 
Being away from home not only makes me feel behind on my household duties but apparently in the fitness area also.  While the hotel we stayed in had a workout room and I did use the treadmill 2 of the 3 days we were there(yay) I still ate like crap!  Seriously when we returned home my scale was up 10 pounds!  :(   I thought the next day it would look better....Nope.  2 days later and I'm only down a few ounces.  I have got to get back on the right eating track and keep losing!   I feel awful and like a fat slob and I hate it.   I need to learn to make healthy choices outside the home as well as in.  I can do pretty well when I'm at home but get me out to a restaurant and its a free for all.  Good thing we dont go out to often! 

Hopefully I'll be back with some pictures soon!

Homemade poptarts

So the kiddos had school canceled Monday due to snow(Spring is here but the snow and cold weather are also still here :(  Anyways we have been talking about taking a try at making homemade pop tarts and I decided today was the day.  I am loving Laura's recipes and cant wait to receive her book I ordered in the mail! I mixed up the dough and let the kiddos help with the rest.  We decided to fill them with strawberry spreadable fruit and nutella! (notice the flowers in the background? Bennie was sweet and got them for me the other day, just because) 

Here's a few on the pan waiting to go in the oven.

Emma pressing the edges with a fork to seal them.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor!  Still not a low calorie snack but the ingredient list is all healthy and homemade so I feel better about serving these as a snack instead of the boxed poptarts.

And just because,, here's a pic of my girls..  I love when Jess helps out and acts loving with her sister :)

Soup and the Ballet

Remember that chicken in the crock pot from my last post?  Well from that one chicken I made a crock pot full of chicken broth that I froze some of, and then I turned the rest of the broth and leftover chicken that we didn't eat the night before into yummy homemade chicken noodle soup!  I kept it simple, chicken, broth, noodles, carrots, onions, and seasonings simmered on the stove for a couple of hours.  It was yummy.

 Saturday we were treated to the ballet.  My mom bought tickets for all of us(thanks Mom).  It was Cinderella, the girls really enjoyed it as did I.  The only problem was I had nothing to wear.  My old dressy clothes are way to big and sloppy looking but we managed to throw some pieces together and I didn't look to bad. :)  The shirt and skirt were some of my sisters old things,, mom had the skirt, it was what she had worn to her high school graduation.  New to me though :)

 They didn't let us take any pictures during the performance but I took a couple beforehand.  Jess and Emmas smiling faces

 And me and Amira :)

Afterwards we went out to dinner.  Yummy Mexican food!  I splurged on my calories and just ate what sounded good.  Yum

Life in pictures

We've been busy.  And I didn't wanna go to long without posting so I decided to post some recent pics from my phone for you guys...
Here is Ms Emma hangin cool in the car reading her books

She just looked so darn cute I had to snap a pic!

Here is a pot beans ready to be cooked and transferred into re fried beans without the re fry.   There are pinto beans, a whole onion, lots of garlic and some seasonings. Then I filled up the crock pot with water, turned it on high for 4 hours, then low for about 2 or 3 hours.  Then I drained out just a little water then used a potato masher to mash it all up. .It was delish!!  It made a ton so we froze some and ate some. :)

Here is me.  Ben told me to send him a picture while he was at work on Friday and I was busy so just snapped this one of myself really fast.. He asked how many times I took a pic to send him because he said this is the best looking picture of me in a long time.  lol..  I dont see it.  But its sweet of him to say that.

And here is Gary and Emma, we went to the Home and Garden show with my parents yesterday and they had a little booth with a real live tortoise.  The lady asked Emma if she wanted to pet it and she wouldn't but Gary did!  Arnt they just the cutest kids!

Now I'm waiting for Ben to get home from work, then we are gonna have lunch then hit the gym.   Its day 2 of our free 7 day membership at the fitness center.  It was sooo nice working out there yesterday and having all the options of the different machines.  

A fit family and our menu.

Another weekend come and gone,, almost half way through Feb!!  It really is true that as you get older life just moves on faster.  And the weekends sure do fly by.  Through the week our days are pretty much the same,, get up kids go to school Ben is at work, I babysit until 5:30 every night which then we have dinner, clean up dinner, workout, get kids ready for bed, watch a little TV, wait for 3rd shift babysitting girl to come and then go to bed to get up and do it all over again.  The weekends are always a little different and as of lately working out is part of those also.  I am really happy that fitness has taken over our household.  I cant believe I'm saying this but I am loving being active.  I really cant  wait until the weather warms up some I we can get outside more often and take walks and I"m dieing to go hiking somewhere.  Tennessee and all those hills are really calling my name.  I bet we could tackle them a lot better now than we did a few years ago! 

Jess and I right before doing The Shred.

 

We took a little sneak peak at level 3 of the Shred and since the mats were open Emma decided to do some of the stretches with Evil Jillian.

Saturday the sun was out and even though it wasn't really warm we took advantage of it and the whole family went for a walk. Gary wanted to ride his bike.  We went for 2 miles!  Our ears and cheeks were frozen but its all good.  I loved getting some fresh air. Emma was whining on the way home about being cold and tired but hopefully this summer when its not freezing she will be more into it. 

I really wasn't this far behind everyone, my shoe was untied so I stopped to tie it and snapped a pic while I was back there. 

 

Ive decided to start posting our menus again like I used to.  Keep in mind that lunches are always subject to change, just depends if we have leftovers or not and what the kids and I are in the mood for..I also don't always eat the same thing as the kids in the mornings and lunches,,if you want to see exactly what I eat find and add me at myfitnesspal.com  my user name is everydaymom. 

 

I also always have a veggie or two at dinner but dont always right then down on the menu plan because we just have whatever one sounds good that day. :)   More or less nothing is written in stone,I just like to have a basic plan.  This little markerboard came with a calander set my mom got me for Christmas,, I love it for posting our menus on the fridge. 

If you need some dinner inspiration check outhttp://orgjunkie.com/ There are tons of menu plans there every Monday morning

Saturday happenings

Oh lovely Saturday.. I love them.  No extra kids here besides my own.  Ben worked this morning, and he has to work tomorrow.  He's bummed, but it sure helps out with money.  This morning the kids and I slept in , had breakfast, then Jess and I did the Shred.  Shes been doing it with me, which helps out.  Its always more fun to have someone suffer along beside me :)  Then we all took showers(cuz we were sweaty and stinky), and then Ben came home.  We had lunch, cleaned up, then made our grocery shopping list.  Tomorrow is super bowl Sunday we planned out a fun and fattening filled day for that, then made the menu plan for the rest of the week.  

All our lovely fruit, I love when we get home from the store and have a overflowing fruit basket,, although it wont look like that for long,, This wont even last until next weekends shopping trip.

 Shopping took forever!! The stores were packed,, guess people were stocking up for super bowl?? When we came home we had dinner, then decided we needed desert.  So Jess was looking online for a recipe and I suggested we look at momto9's blog.  She has yummy deserts  We found this recipe for heavenly bars.. 

Cooking at home makes for lots of dirty dishes

 The bars turned out just as heavenly as promised!  Jess did a great job as always.  I don't even want to know how many calories were in that little square I ate. Good thing we exercised this morning!  

My nice clean shiny sink! (wanted to make sure everyone knows I don't leave a  messy kitchen for to long!)

PS..   For the whole entire time I've been typing this Miss Jessica has been sitting beside me making fun of me and the way I type and write and spell and talk,, and shes laughing right now..  Good thing I know she loves me deep down.

Weekend birthday party



We had a great weekend.  We had family over to celebrate Emma and Gary's birthdays.  We had the party here at our house and I made food and Jess made the cakes!

 

 

She did a amazing job!  She wants to study culinary arts in school! Its nice having someone else that likes to cook around the house although she prefers to make deserts I think,  Which is fine and dandy unless you ask my waistline. LOL

It was nice to have everyone over to our house.  I'm so glad everyone could make it!  The kids both got things they wanted and everyone was happy I believe. 

 

My family has been begging me to make granola bars again... that's right, we don't buy those anymore either.  this is the recipe I have been making.  Everyone likes it accept for Gary, not sure why.  I cut them into 24 bars and they come out to 120 calories.  I do want to try some different things out and see if I can make them healthier.  This recipe uses butter,, I'm wondering if I could replace it with coconut oil.   Here are the bars setting up before I cut them

 

 

 

And here they are in the "cookie jar". (which we never have cookies in)

12

Playing video games, one of his favorite things to do

The middle child. I hope little man doesn't feel that cliche of being looked over and forgotten about. Being the only boy and stuck in the middle Im sure can be hard. He isn't really the mama's boy I dream of having but that's ok. Hes defiantly a daddy's boy. They go hunting and fishing and play video games together, all that boy stuff. Im pretty sure if it came down to him choosing
between me and his dad he would for sure choose his dad but I guess thats ok. I know I love him and Im pretty sure he loves me. Ill just keep working on him trying to root into his life lol.

Hes actually home sick from school today. Running a low grade fever :(. Not a fun way to spend your birthday.
For dinner tonight we are having meatloaf, cheesy potatoes, and corn, his favorite! And this weekend we are going to take him to a local seafood restaurant that serves sushi. He loves it and so do I. One of the things we have in common :)

Life is good

Hectic but good.  We have had 2 pretty great weekends.  Weve gotten out at least for a little bit 2 weekends in a row!  Thats big for us.  This past Saturday we went to a really nice restaurant and I had sushi for the first time.  It was good,, different but good.  The whole atmosphere of the restaurant was so nice, defiantly not a place I would take my kids due to the prices but just a really nice place to get away for some adult time.   Plus it made me feel so sophisticated.  lol

Sunday we got a new kitchen table!  I love it!  It kinda makes the rest of  my kitchen look a little crumby though.. But the plan is to paint the walls, get new counter top and replace the floor.  I'm so excited for this to happen,, you have no idea!  I've wanted to redo the kitchen forever! 

Yesterday I started watching a new childcare kid.. He is a 5 month old little guy.. He's super cute!  A lot of work though,, its a lot harder to get things accomplished around here but so far its going pretty good.. My husband being on 2nds is home in the mornings and he has been a great help with the baby.  He loves him and now says we should have another one!  NO thanks I said.  I love little ones but they are a lot of work and take a lot of money and I just feel that I'm to a point in my life I don't really want to add to our family.  Its hard enough with the 5 of us.  Watching this little guy will give me plenty of babytime without having to have our own. :)    I hope that doesnt sound to selfish!  

There are so many things I am starting to want to accomplish, do and get right now.. I'm trying to figure out how to make it all work.   Patience  that's what I need to remember. :)

Friday night

Right now I'm sitting on the couch,, snuggling with Miss Emma, watching Beauty and the Beast for the millionth time. :)   Gary is in his room,, Jess is out at a basketball game.   Ben's at work,, Friday nights arnt to exciting around here since he's been on 2nd shift.  Sometimes it gets me down but I know he doesn't have a choice in the matter of working and this is just the way it is.  I'm actually getting quite used to him being gone in the evenings now.  It's hard and a lot of days I feel like a single mom but I know I'm not and I'm thankful he has a job.  I mentioned to him today about me feeling like I have no friends,, he says he should be all I need.   I dont think he gets that sometimes guys just don't get it.  Most of the time when I tell him things I worry about he just tells me not to,, its not my life just don't worry about it(his words).. Its not that easy for me.  Although there is some truth to what he says, I have a caring heart so naturally I think of others and hurt when others are hurting.    I worry about others and I just can't help it.  I wish I could shut it off sometimes.   Oh well...

on a different note,, I've been making blankets for lots of people.  They are the new sew fleece tie blankets and they are so cute and warm!  I've made on for each kid,, myself,, I'm making one for my 2 babysitting kids, and making one for a surprise for Bennie!  When I was buying the fabric I asked him if he wanted one and he said no,, but every since I've been making them he's been stealing mine(which is giraffe print on one side and hot pink on the other. lol),, plus I guess he's said to Jess that he now wishes he would have had me make him one so I went out and bought him some fabric and made him one.. Its wrapped up under the tree, I hope he likes it.. His is camo,,,he will look much better in that one than my pink one. Hahaha

9 more days til Christmas!  I can't wait to see everyones faces when they open there presents!

2nd shift

ok,, yea so I say I'm gonna start blogging again and then go a week without a update.  LOL  Sorry.   Lots of stuff on my mind, I"m just trying to be mindful of what I put out there, ya know?   I think today I'll talk about a new chapter in our lives that will be starting next week.. Its not one I'm excited about.  Ben(hubby) is getting put on 2nd shift...for him that will mean he leaves the house around 1-1:30pm and returns around 10:30pm.   He's not happy about it at all.  Either are me and the kids,, it wouldn't be so bad if they were all young and not in school but Jess and Gary are at school through the day so he's really not gonna get to see them through the week at all.  He'll be sleeping when they get up for school and then he'll be gone to work when they get home.   Plus he wont be able to go to any after school function, soccer games, he wont be home to eat dinner with us,, to tuck them into bed...the list goes on.   I already have my days where I feel like a single mom,,, now I think I'll really feel like that with him gone every evening.   OH well,, thats life I guess and we must roll with the punches and try to make the best of it.   I know there are people out there right now that would give their right arm to be able to have a job on any shift so I'm trying to think of ourselves as lucky.  Listening to this song and watching this video helps me realize that. 

 So anyways, I've been trying to think of some things to help turn it around into a positive,, here's a couple I've came up with....I think we actually might save some money because I really don't like going out without him so unless its necessary we probably won't be leaving the house in the evenings...staying home equals not spending money.   Also I can fix whatever I want for dinner,, I can do more meatless meals, he gets upset if there isn't a meat with dinner so since he wont be here our meals can be simplified a little bit.  I've even considered dropping our cable since he wont be here in the evening to watch it,, although the kids arnt to thrilled about that idea so I'm not sure about that one.. Those are the couple of things I've come up with so far.  I know I'm gonna really miss him in the evenings though and so are the kids,, Hopefully this will help him spend quality time with them when he can. 

Busy days and other thoughts

 Man, how time flies by,,, seriously everyday I think I will have time to sit down and blog for awhile but my days are consumed with cooking, cleaning, childcare...lots of childcare!  My work is never done,,and thats ok, it sure can be exhausting sometimes though!  

Our weekend went well,, super busy.  Saturday morning the kiddos had a dentist appointment... That went well!  NO cavities,, although the dentist did say that we really need to get the 2 older kids in to see a orthodontist.  I knew this but had been putting it off but now that the dentist has said it I feel like we really need to get started,, I was trying to get a few other things paid off before we have huge ortho bills.  Gary has a tooth that should be through but isnt coming through though, and Jess has teeth coming in in crazy places due to lack of space in her mouth.  So the time is now I guess. 

 After the dentist we went straight over to my moms for my step-dad's birthday party.  That was fun,, he had sat up a 9 hole golf course in the yard and we all did that,, we also did some jump roping,,, hilarious and fun!   Then Sunday the kids and I went with mom and Dave, and Grandma and Grandpa  to Stone Trace,, its a historical site and there is lots of booths set up there and very educational...the kids loved it!  Here is Jess stirring and making apple butter like they did in the old days. 

 Emma getting her face painted

 We didn't go bowling this weekend but I felt like I needed a pic of Gary in here and apparently he sneaked out of all the photos this weekend. :)

Life is hard but good.  I'm so thankful for what we have and have been trying to make the most of it.     I remind myself daily to appreciate what we have and try to not want so much more,, we are so blessed for what we do have!
I'm also working hard to not get upset over Ben(hubby's) crazy work hours, and other commitments he has,, not to get upset over his lack of enthusiasm over what we do have and his constant wanting more and more.  Leaving it in God's hands to help him realize these things.  My constant nagging gets us nowhere but in arguments.   I must go on and try and have a cheerful attitude!

Weekned and our menu for the week

We had a pretty good weekend.  It went by way to fast.
Friday night Ben worked, so he slept Saturday for a while,
while he was sleeping I was cleaning.  Then Saturday
evening my sister and her husband came over for dinner and to hang out for awhile.  It was fun.  Emma just

 loves her Aunt Dawn and Uncle Johnathan.  I made taco salad and tacos for dinner.  Then we just hung out, sang karaoke and had a camp fire.  We were up late so Sunday was a lazy day.  We slept in and layed around for most of the day.  I did manage to get out and get some groceries for the week. 

On Sunday our cable box stopped working completely. :(   So until we can get someone to come out and fix it its just netflix in the living room for us.  Its not to big of deal for me.  I've been hinting around to Ben that we have been having so much trouble with our cable company we should just cancel it completely.  He doesnt agree though. LOL.   This week is our towns fair.  I think were going out to it on Tuesday night,, thats kiddie day so all rides are just a dollar.  Besides that I dont think we have any plans.  I really need to start limiting our trips into town so we can save our cash.  I need to fully focus really hard on building our savings and paying off debt.  I've not been doing so well with that lately so I'm gonna be going gung ho!!   
Here's my menu for the week:
Monday-B-zucchini muffins, sausage pattys
              L-hot dogs, mac n cheese, frozen fruit
              D-BBQ ribs, baked potatoes baked zucchini sticks, peas
Tuesday-B-cereal
              L-make your own pizzas
              D-? not sure if we will eat at the fair or not
WednesdayB-waffles
                  L-noodles
                  D-sausage lentil soup
Thursday B-cereal
               L- tater tot casserole
               D-BBQ chicken, pasta salad, green beans
Friday-B-pancakes
            L-homemade version of hamburger helper
            D- hamburgers

The blues

I'm feeling so down lately.  I feel like things are spinning out of control.  Nothing major huge has happened its just little things that seem to be piling up and bringing me down.  Issues with money,, its getting very tight, doctor bills are coming in from when I had to have a CT scan a couple months back, bank accounts are lower than they have been in a long long time.  I'm now not able to be so picky about the food I am purchasing due to the fact that I just can not afford to buy what I have been right now.  That makes me feel bad,, it ws easier before when I didnt know all the things that I do now.  Our days are pretty crazy now that its summer and all the kids are home from school,, it can get pretty loud and sometimes I feel like I'm leading a three ring circus most days. LOL,, I love em all though.   I also have been feeling like one of my kids is trying to grow up way to fast,, I decided that I have to lay the law down now and had a discussion with her tonight,, now I'm sure she hates me.  I sometimes wish phones and computers were never invented,, life as far as kids go would be so much easier I think.. We didnt have problems until the cell phone was bought for her and facebook came into play. She doesnt understand why I don't want her to do certain things, she thinks its just me being mean.  I dont' want her to fall down the wrong path, and I'm the one that is supposed to help show her the right way right?  I'm scared if I sit back and dont do anything now what will become later of things.    Being a parent is so hard., I thought it was supposed to get eaiser as they got older. :(  
I'm just so sad,, this all probally sounds like a jumbled mess but I had to just get it out there. 

I'm really hoping for a good week, and hoping that everything works out and that my kids dont hate me for trying to be a good parent.  ugh...

Bathroom pics

So after much hard work we're finally finished in the bathroom.  I'm very happy with the results, the only thing that bothers me about it is even though Ben patched the old holes we apparently needed to work at it a little harder because after painting you can still see ever spot,and every time I look at it it bugs me,, but not enough to start over now so that is how it will be until we repaint again which hopefully wont be until were ready to move out. :)  Here you can see the sink with the updated faucet.   I picked out the dark brass,, It looks a lot fancier than the standered silver hot cold one that was on before. I love it.
 We also replaced all the towel holders, toilet paper holders and shower curtain rod with matching brass and theres a new curtain and some matching towels. :)

 Ben replaced the worn out floor for me. I'm really happy with it

 There are a few spots on the floor that look dirty,,but its not, thats how its supposed to look.LOL  guess thats a good thing, it will help hide any actual dirt spots that might show up. :) 

Actually I doubt there will be any dirty spots,  I'm so happy with it it gives me a lot of incentive to keep it nice and shiny!  Now I'm so excited to redo the kitchen but that will have to wait a little while so we can save up some more cash.   After we finally got done I decided to make the hubby happy and we went to the lake to fish for a little bit.  It was really fun,, we didn't catch much but it was nice to sit and relax.   Then we came home and bbq'ed and ate outside.  Emma loves to be outside.  AS soon as she wakes up she wants to go outside and play,, she doesn't understand that mommy has inside work to do to.  Poor thing,,, now that the big kids are out of school though they can help watch her out there in the fenced in yard when I cant be out there.   I love summer and all that comes with it!