Monday: Frozen Macaroni Grill meal, which both of my kids ate! Garlic Bread and Salad. Tuesday: Baked Chicken (I will bake my own b/c there were no Rotisserie chickens prepared at the grocery store today). Mashed potatoes and vegetable. Wednesday: BLTs for the bigs and toast and bacon for the kids Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie-using the leftover chicken from Tuesday.
The forecast is calling for ice tomorrow so I am wondering if the kids will have a delay or be off school altogether.
My mom surprised me with an early Bday gift that I cannot wait to test out soon.
I just keep paging through all the pages of inspiration!
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I ordered the girls' valentines this year from Current. It has been years since I ordered from them. Remember when they had the tiered pricing structure years ago? The more you bought, the cheaper your price? The catalog arrived and really caught our eye (s) so hopefully these will be a bit unique when the valentine exchange rolls around. My favorite-the scratch off... Olivia went to a fabulous spa themed sleepover last weekend. For breakfast they had chocolate chip pancakes--something she had never had and I had never made. So, last night at 8pm we whipped up a batch using Bisquick and dropping milk chocolate chips onto the pancakes as the first side was cooking. Ok, where have these been all my life? Delicious! We sampled a few and then I cooled them all and placed them between sheets of waxed paper so I can freeze them in small batches. Olivia had two for breakfast this morning. I could eat 20 but am instead trying to stick with coffee with fat free french vanilla creamer. She and I do not share the same metabolism :)
Today I ran across a new book that I would like for my birthday
I think I am developing an unhealthy relationship with Amazon but you can find this book there, along with most other items in the universe. I could not even venture a guess at how many yards of fabric I currently own so this would appear to be the perfect book. And I seem to excel at small projects. This blog is actually showcasing to projects from the book per week.
Happy Wednesday. I am headed to Best Buy for a replacement battery for the laptop.
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Monday: My favorite Chicken Casserole (held over from last week)
Cranberry Chicken Casserole
1 package Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Wild Rice
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can (16oz) Whole Cranberry Sauce
3 tbs butter
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs lemon juice
½ cup sliced almonds
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Butter all sides of 11x 14 baking dish. Sprinkle uncooked rice evenly over butter. Sprinkle seasoning packet over rice. Arrange raw chicken on rice.
In medium sauce pan combine cranberry sauce, butter, soy sauce and lemon juice. Stir until melted and well blended. Pour sauce over chicken. Add 2 tbs of water to rice surrounding chicken. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle almonds on chicken, bake until almonds are brown and chicken is tender.
Tuesday: BBQ Pork Chops - while cleaning out my pantry (b/c I am a Motivated Mom you know) I found 4 bottles of BBQ sauce so I am setting to work on using it. Baked potatoes and corn or green beans.
Wednesday:Vegetable Soup. I making a double batch of this for the Teachers' conference night on Thursday. I will make burgers for the girls with some of the ground chuck.
I made it through meatloaf on the Monday Meal plan and then I was struck down. Literally. Tuesday night I went to bed with an aching ear and today, Saturday, I am still trying to shake the crud. List includes:
ear infection strep very sore throat new for today: sinus infection
Just today, swallowing doesn't make me wince and my second round of antibiotics was administered. I am convinced I am on the road to recovery!
Of my 4 days of illness, my girls were home for 2 snow days. Thankfully they have been SO GOOD and my husband has been home a bunch too (which if you are married, you know that can be a mixed blessing).
On Tuesday, I downloaded a planner from Motivated Moms. I printed out every page and was ready to begin taking back control of my home. Yea, not so much. But I am excited to try and adhere to this plan. It looks very manageable. And includes meal planning! That part I might get an A in. Look out Monday.
Tomorrow I will spend the day at Receptions Bridal Show and I am looking forward to it. Hooray for getting out of the house. Woot Woot for feeling better. Three cheers for adult interaction.
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Monday: Pork Chop Casserole--I used a recipe from my Uncle that did not call for the pork chops to be browned first, although I think this is a good idea. Also, my recipe called for mixing 8oz of sour cream with the soup instead of milk. This could not have been easier and was really rich and tasty. I cooked Shelby a plain pork chop on the side and Olivia had chicken nuggets.
Tuesday: Meatloaf for Dave and I, burgers for the girls. I divided a 2lb meatloaf mix last time I made it and will use the remaining spice pack for our 1lb. version tonight. I will add a veggie.
Wednesday: Hot Dogs, Metts and Baked Beans--b/c I am craving baked beans. Not so sure the temperature outside is going to cooperate with the grilling plan.
Thursday: Chicken. I have not made this in awhile so it could be this:
Cranberry Chicken Casserole
1 package Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Wild Rice
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can (16oz) Whole Cranberry Sauce
3 tbs butter
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs lemon juice
½ cup sliced almonds
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Butter all sides of 11x 14 baking dish.Sprinkle uncooked rice evenly over butter. Sprinkle seasoning packet over rice.Arrange raw chicken on rice.
In medium sauce pan combine cranberry sauce, butter, soy sauce and lemon juice. Stir until melted and well blended. Pour sauce over chicken. Add 2 tbs of water to rice surrounding chicken. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle almonds on chicken, bake until almonds are brown and chicken is tender.
...more crossing things off of my to do list -the 2010 album is only 4 months away from having that portion complete and then maybe a handful of additional layouts will round it out nicely -my "picture a day" effort on the iphone is still on track
...calling my name louder every day...all of the tax info I need to compile and compute, like mileage and expenses
...a more conscious effort to stop before yelling or sighing or complaining and trying to enjoy life.
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Maybe it has something to do with my ultra darling model.
And the great light reflecting off of the snow on my deck.
Allowing me to capture a handful of really great pics of my pal Beckett. I was so out of practice, I could not figure out for the life of me why I needed to crank the ISO up so high only to remember much later in the day, I had not lowered my F Stop. I know, kind of techy jargon but what it really means is that I had not had my portrait lens on the camera for so long, that I all but forgot how to use it!
And today, back at photoshop and the 2010 project. One more month done. Go me!
Just a week or so ago, I renewed my interest in getting my 2010 scrapbook done. Today, I completed the following two pages that were part of my original "plan". I had already added the photos to the background pages, all I did today was add the journaling.
Which was easy, thanks to my blog. I simply went back and re-read each month, made a small summary and turned it into page journaling. The only thing that could have made this better is if I had done it immediately instead of 6 months later :)
Over Christmas break, I allowed myself to make some pages that were just for fun and were outside of the scope of the original 2010 "plan". I love them. I have not yet decided if I will add all of the non conforming pages to the back of this album when I print it, or add them in, in chronological order.
What do you think? (click the layouts to view larger)
What the heck, I sort of have the week mapped out and I went grocery shopping today (you know, Snowmageddon is coming!) so here's what I've got.
Monday Meal Plan
Sunday (adding this b/c i cooked a yummy meal)-Chicken Parmesan, inspired by this recipe but I made it the more traditional way. So good!
Monday: Baked Pork Chops with Crispy Shake N Bake (my new favorite), Bob Evans mashed potatoes and canned corn.
Wednesday: Meatloaf. Only Dave and I will eat this so I divided the meatloaf flavoring packet from last time and made a 1lb version and will do that again. Might be a McCormick flavor packet? I will make burgers on the stove top for the girlies.
Thursday: frozen pizzas and carrots + dip
Friday: ??
That's as far as I have gotten. I bought ingredients for chili and plan to make a double batch so I can freeze quite a bit. The meals over on Kelly's blog are looking super tasty--I hope to try a few of those next week.
SNOW is in the forecast so I may have girls at home tomorrow. I know I will be joined by Dave as he is s i c k. He tested negative for influenza and strep but definitely has the funk of some kind. Blah.
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Ok, not so bad. Adjusting to the morning school routine + the afternoon and evening homework routine. The weather is cold. Not a fan. Sat down to sew up a project that was in my head. After a few snafus, I ended up with this. A Kindle Snuggie. Lined in yellow fleece. Model: Shelby. Photo: I phone. Of course. I have taken at least one photo per day on my iphone. They are being stored and shared HERE. Admittedly, they don't look like much...yet. Going to a girls' night gift exchange tonight. The gifts? $15 AS SEEN ON TV items! House? A mess. Motivation to clean and organize it? Non-existent.
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I spend a lot of time on the internet. I read a lot of blogs. I feel like I have "met" some of the most interesting people.
There are a few out there now, particularly tugging at my heart strings. I am pulling for them like they are my next door neighbor. And if you have some extra prayers available, you may want to meet them too.
In addition, I have decided to embrace a very casual project 365 project. I hope to take at least one photo per day with my Iphone. I mentally committed to this on Jan 2 so my first days' photos will just have to be what I happened to have taken. Makes it interesting, right? I have not thought through what I will do with them in the end. Suggestions? For safe keeping and to view my progress, I think I will start by uploading them to Flickr and creating an album.
My mind is still swirling about finding time to finish up my documentation of 2010 via a digital album. I really want to get this off my mind so that I can focus on the new year.
Lots of online talk about "one little word". I like it. I am trying to settle on a word. My top candidate is enjoy.Pin It
I just keep paging through all the pages of inspiration!
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