Menu plan 10-6

Last weeks menu plan went along great! Here is the plan for this week:
*spaghetti
*ham steak, rice, green beans
*corn chowder-this is a new recipe I will be trying from fix it and forget it lightly cookbook
* pizza with bread sticks
*meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn
*cream of broccoli soup
I will make homemade bread and treats to go along with all of this. Have a great week!

Weigh in :)

Well I'm happy to report that I think I've lost 5 pounds in the last two weeks. As you know from last week, my scale wasn't working quiet right. Its still not working great but this is the number that I get the most and I'm pretty sure its right, so I'm happy! Hopefully I will get a new scale tomorrow. So so far:



total loss-9 pounds

lbs. to go-41

Question

I've got a question for anyone that has had or has little ones. My daughter is almost 9 months old and I am still using the baby laundry detergent for her clothes. I've been thinking of switching over to the regular laundry detergent that I use for the rest of the family(which is tide). But I cant remember for the life of me how old my other two were when I started washing their clothes with regular soap. So how old were your kiddos when you made the switch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Oh, I just thought of one more question,,, has anyone out there ever used the Members mark(sams club) baby wipes, we are going there this weekend and I thought about buying them but I hate to buy such a big box and then end up not likeing them. IF you have used them what would you compare them to? I dont want anything thats going to be rough on my little ones touche:) thanks again,,,,,

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!