Our Dog Gus

Here is another post about our pets, this time our dog Gus. Here is his story, after we got Sam we had gotten a min pin, Bruiser, but we was a punk so we got rid of him (he is with a very active and loving family, he has a yard and can run around like a psycho all he wants) anyways after that, we went back to the pet store for something and there he was a cute little Shih Tsu, L said no... I tried the sad face, I tried the bribe, I tried everything and still "no" so about a month later we went back to the same pet store, and that same sad face was still there, so I got to bring him home, he was alrady about 5 months old, his full nave is Gustavio Rocketman I dont know why no one wanted him, he is so cute... sure he is a little smelly and he is always licking something, Sams ears are his favorite... he is a good dog, he follows Sam around everywhere, when we go outside for walks he doesnt even need to be on a leash because he stays so close to him.

He likes to get dressed too...

He plays well with others...

He loves to play outside...

Meal Planning Monday

Well its Monday again, here is the plan for the week.

Monday Chili and cornbread in the crock (practice at 600)

Tuesday Lemon Chicken, rice and green beans

Wednesday Mexican Casserole

Thursday Hamburger, rice soup (game at 530)

Friday Chicken Parmesan, H's Peaches

Saturday C.O.R.N (game at 10)

Sunday Hot dogs

For more Meal Plans, check out orgjunkie.com

A Very Loooong Busy Weekend

Our busy weekend started on Friday, we went to the circus, it was so much fun...

That was followed by a VERY Busy Saturday.

A soccer game at 10 which we lost 5-1

Which was followed by soccer pictures at 11

Followed by H's Birthday party from 12-3

This has always been a High School Musical household, until...

CAMP ROCK!! H's new favorite movie!

Game 2

Well the Killer Bees didn't do so well last night, they lost 7-3 no worries, we played a really good game!

Like I said before H got all her homework done, 3 of the 4 pages in class! so when she came home she only had to do 1 math page and then write a letter to her teacher about herself, I had a talk with her about her recent behavior and we are hoping that things start to look up for her! When I asked her what my reward was for doing the laundry she said "we all get to have clean clothes" Ok great! when I told her that her reward for doing her homework is that she gets to go to 5Th grade next year! I think she understood, she did say that she was going to work on it. she has a 3 day weekend so we are going to try to knock out her book report that is due in mid October, she already finished the book, so we just have to do the report part, I mean even if we only get a few pages of it done, that's less that we are going to have to worry about later.

works for me wendesday (the advice addition)

Now I know at Rocks in my dryer this was not planned, but I would like some advice!

H has a problem!

She doesn't do anything unless she is getting something out of it!

She rushes and understands all her homework when she knows that she has something to do, soccer game, practice, or just playing outside with her friends, but on days when she doesn't have anything to do she lags, and "acts" like she doesn't understand.

example;

Monday she had soccer practice, she had free time in class so she finished all of her homework for the day. Tuesday, she didn't have anything to do regarding soccer so she left her homework at school, it is due on Thursday and she has to be finished with it before she goes to her game at 6 (so 2 hours to finish 4 pages) I will bet money (just a figure of speech I am really not betting) that she will be finished by 6, or get most of it finished in class, because she knows that she has to have it done to get to go to her game!

I am not really sure why she acts like this, we try not to tell her what we have planned, when she asks if she can go out in play we say "we'll see" or "maybe" in hopes that she wont lag but she tends to stay on task when she knows she gets something when she is done...

Are all kids like this? if not how do you stop it? If they are when do they grow out of it?

Its really annoying!

Meal Planning Monday

Since it is soccer season now we have a pretty hectic schedule, we have practice on Mondays and games either Wednesday or Thursday and Saturday, Homework 4 days a week (at least 2 hours a day) N (the little lady that I babysit) is potty training so I have to walk around on top of her all day and I have to make dinner too!! I am going to try to cook ahead as much as I can, (too bad I didn't think of this brilliant idea until this morning while I was in the shower) I am not going to full on cook the meals ahead just try to do most of the work ahead of time, so hopefully that will work out for me (I have tried this before and just kinda stopped doing it for some reason or another) so here is the menu for the week over at "I'm an organizing junkie,, she is having a family favorites week I didn't plan for it, but noticed that on my menu there are a ton of our family favorites, so the links for some of the recipes are there too.

Monday- Sheppard's pie

Tuesday- meatloaf, corn and a pasta side dish (I am off)

Wednesday- Italian chicken in the crock with potatoes (soccer game at 630)

Thursday-Pizza Pasta (cook ground beef on Monday)

Friday- Tuna casserole (I am off)

Saturday-Nothing planned, soccer at 10, H's bday party at 12, so we will probably just, leftover pizza, and birthday cake!

Sunday- taco soup chili and cornbread, nothing too fancy!

So that's it our busy week, it really doesn't look so bad, now that its written down,, we just have to figure out what we are going to do on Wednesday, with soccer, homework and N, so that will be a fun day! For more meal plans, check out I'm an organizing junkie!

Soccer Season

Well today marks the beginning of a very long 4 weeks, (that's 8 games).

H LOVES soccer its all she has ever wanted to do, we have tried to get her interested in other things, Karate, baseball, basketball, cheer leading, ballet, but all she ever says is "I just want to play soccer" So we let her! This is the first time in about 3 years she has been able to play, we were new here, and she wasn't really focusing on school, but now she is getting better and we wanted to reward her for a job well done. Her first game is today at noon, I am bringing snacks we haven't had a practice yet, and our coach didn't even show up to the orientation (Loser) so one of the other moms volunteered to take over the team if he totally flaked on us we are going to go a little early to get to know each other and maybe kick the ball around a little, hopefully its a good game, I will post pictures later on this afternoon/evening.

**Update**

H's team "The Killer Bees" (kinda ironic, H hates bees) won 5-3 she didn't score any of the goals but was playing really well. She was so tired. After we went out to eat with L's mom, got some movies and just hung out in the house for the rest of the day, it was a good afternoon!

Our dog Sam

I thought that I would write a little about our "first son" Samuel Marshmallow, he is a Lhasa Apso he is the best dog ever here is history on him. L and I were together for about 5 months and L decided that she wanted a snake, I know yuck, we went to the pet shop and I saw this cute little puppy. I had just gotten my income tax check and I thought we needed him, as I remember the story L said no we don't need a dog, I told her to just hold him he is sooooo cuuuuttteeee! ( I am sure that it came out just like that too) she took him from me, and he put his little smelly, sweaty puppy paws on L's face, and **BAM** it was love! We brought him home and 3 days later (it may have been more but I am pretty sure it wasn't less) Sam got his name, he just looks like a Sam well his real name is Samuel Marshmallow. He is now 4 he will be 5 on 12/29/08. I couldn't imagine us without his, I mean sure he is lazy and he snores really load, he has cost us more in medical bills then our own daughter, but it was all well worth it. Here is Sam;

this is how he spends 22 hours out of the day;

once in awhile he goes out and plays;

he doesn't mind getting dressed;

We think that he looks like this;

So that's Sam, we have another dog Gus and a cat Buster and I will talk about them another day, but since Sam is our first I thought I should start with him.

My schedule without Flying

Since giving up on Fly lady (not because it was to hard, it just wasn't working for me) I have had to come up with my own system...here is a little bit of background, I stay at home and baby sit a 2 year old Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, sometimes Friday, now I am not talking about a few hours of baby sitting, I am talking 11-13 hours a day, its alot of fun but very hard to get anything done, so I have come up with a plan of attack and here it is;

1 load of laundry every day no matter what! (sometimes there is an exception to this, like on Mondays)

try very very hard to have all the dishes washed, and kitchen cleaned at night when "N" is coming in the morning.

make the bed ever morning, this just makes the room look cleaner when we go in at night and L likes it made

Empty the dishwasher while H is eating breakfast and load it as the day goes on

now my weekly schedule looks a little something like this
Monday, run errands with L
Tuesday, wash all the sheets, and pick an area to "deep clean"
Wednesday, balance the check book
Thursday, pay bills (yuck)
Friday, pick another area to deep clean (if N isn't around), H cleans the bathroom, make meal plan and grocery list

Monday Wednesday and Thursday are pretty much do whatever you can when you have a split second to do it! I really have no idea how you SAHM's manage to do anything with more then one little person. But this way works for me and I don't have an inbox full of emails telling me when to go to sleep! For more works for me Wednesday tips check out rocks in my dryer.

The Countdown is on!!

At the bottom of the page you will find the countdown to the release of "Twilight" the movie, I am so excited! I cant wait!! If you haven't read any of the books... What are you waiting for?? you still have plenty of time, I am waiting for Sandee to give me Breaking Dawn, she has it in her car but I just have to get it, I cant wait!

Xmas Challange update

We are still waiting on all of or gift cards so we (technically) still have 79.22 to "earn" I just cashed out a 10.00 target gift card at mypoints, so as soon as that gets here I will take that off, and we have 100.00 in Target gift cards pending, I really hope that those get here in time, I am not sure what we are going to do if they aren't.

as soon as everything gets here it will look like this
DS 130.00
-25.00 walmart gift card
-Hcw trade 3.34
-20.00 survey site payment
-2.44 hcw trade
-10.00 target gift card
-100.00 target gift cards

-6.03 that will go towards tax and maybe other presents.

So we are just playing a waiting game with the gift cards!

Meal Planning Monday

This week is for dinner;
Monday; Homemade pizza, we were going to have this on Friday, but ended up eating at Sandees
Tuesday; Whole chicken, green beans, rice and corn bread
Wednesday; pork chops of some sort
Thursday; Baked Ziti
Friday; Chili Verde YUMMY
Saturday; C.O.R.N (clean out refrigerator night)
Sunday; Roast, potatoes and carrots

I am still considering making a breakfast and lunch menu, but for some reason I cant get around to getting it together.

For more great menus check out, I'm an organizing Junkie

Bunko

Last night was our first Bunko game, and I have to tell you it was alot of fun! There were 6 couples, we all went to our friend Sandees, and ate dinner, and played until 1030. We paid 15.00 per person, so 30.00 per couple (that was all prize money) I guess there are about 10,000 different ways of playing it, we played the easiest way one 6 equals 1 point, two 6 equals 5 points, three 6 is a bunko, losers move, at the end of the game the person that has the most wins at each table (there were 3) wins 40.00 the person with the fuzzy dice gets 40.00 and the person with the least wins gets 20.00. L and I were at different tables, she had the most wins at her table and I had the most wins at mine! so we payed 30.00 and left with 80.00!! We were so excited! We are planning a trip to the state fair and now have extra funds for it!! We are going to get together once a month and play, cant wait till next month! I am going to take my camera next time, there were some pretty funny moments, like when Mike got excited and spilled my beer all over me, or when Laura got all happy because she thought that she was on the winning team when really she was on the loosing team!

Goodbye Fly Lady!

It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I have a routine now, I know that if I do one load of laundry a day, I will never have full hampers, I know that if I spend one day cleaning one room, (one day not the whole week, we live in a 900 square foot apartment) I will never fall behind. So I am finished with the crazy Fly lady, I cant deal with checking my emails and having there be one that is telling me to go to bed, or one that is telling me when to spend time with my family come on! So thank you for all you have taught me, but I have had enough. This will be my last post regarding Fly Lady....

Challanges to complete today

Okay so since I am sorta behind on the week I am going to do these challenges today, they should be pretty easy!

1. DONE Today we are going to look up, set your timer for 10 minutes and take a broom or a Swiffer and get those dusties and cobwebs that are hanging on the upper walls that are taller than you, the corners of the ceilings and the ceiling. Check out the top of your refrigerator as well

2. Your mission for today is to wipe down the doors of your cabinets. Use a damp rag and wipe down the fronts and the edges of your cabinets.

Re-evaluating Fly Lady

So I am trying to think of a better way to do this whole Fly Lady thing, I need the list of what I have to do, but I am thinking that there is no need to post a list to my blog EVERYDAY! so then, what do I do? maybe I will just post on the first day, sometimes Monday sometimes Tuesday, and then again on Friday, my big cleaning day, I don't really know. got any ideas? what about if I posted my weekly "to do list" on the side bar and then took it off as it was finished? hmmm that might work... lets try that for a bit and see how it works, no challenges over there, they are too long, so I will post only those on a daily basis.

If you Fly and have other ideas please let me know!

Works For Me Wednesday

I was going to post about my fabulous homework basket that I put together for H but it was already posted! (I guess I wasn't the first one to think of it!) so now I have to think of something else, what works for me....

think.....

think....

ah yes my calendars.... I think I may need some sort of support group! they are everywhere and yet I still seem to forget stuff all the time!! here are some pictures of them,

This one is at my desk, I write the due dates for bills as they come in and black them out after they get paid, this way when L asks "hey when is whatever do?" I don't have to look threw the stack I just have to look at the calender. this started after 2 late payments!


This one is on the side table right now, its my Avon stuff, I know its empty I always forget to write in it even though there are things I have to remember. usually this one goes in my Avon bag.

This one is my most used one, it is on the fridge, it has the menu for the week, pay days and all the things that we have planned, birthday parties, Field trips, Dr appointment all that, I know it looks empty right now, I just changed it over so it has the last 3 weeks of Sept and the first 2 weeks of Oct.

This one is in the kitchen too, although I am not sure of its purpose, I think I am going to take it down, as soon as I can find something to put in its place.

This one is H's its in her room, she uses it to write important 8 year old stuff, like when she gets her allowance, and when her library books are due.

For more great tips, be sure to check out works for me Wednesday over at rocks in my dryer!!

Coffee Center

In an effort to not give 711 1 more cent for coffee (L gave them close to 10.00 a few weeks ago), I have made L her very own (well I will use it sometimes) Coffee counter!

Equipped with;
*state of the art coffee machine (not really, but it does have a timer, so it is ready when she comes down stairs)

*only the best coffee (straight out of the Kroger can)

*Sugar from the finest manufacturer (C&H)

*the very best most flavorful creamer (international delight, 1.00 for the box at Big Lots)

so now you know my secrets, just don't tell L!

Here is a picture of it;

At night I am going to add snacks, granola bars, pop tarts, quick stuff like that, just in case the hunger bug, hits and she is far from her lunch break. Just say NO TO 711!

FlyLady

Again another Tuesday went by and I did nothing, well I cleaned the garage up, washed 2 loads of laundry plus the sheets, so I guess that's not "nothing" what I mean is I did nothing from the big 'ol list! so here it is again in ALL its glory, so fun!

1. EMPTY REFG/CLEAN THOROUGHLY
2. CLEAN MICROWAVE INSIDE AND OUT
3. CLEAN STOVE/OVEN
4. WASH CANISTER/KNICK-KNACKS
5. STRAIGHTEN DRAWERS/CUPBOARDS
6. WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF WALLS
7. WASH INSIDE WINDOWS
8. CLEAN FAN/VENT-A-HOOD FILTERS AND HOOD
9. SCRUB DOWN CABINET FRONTS (only a few at a time)
10. CLEAN LIGHT DEFUSING BOWLS(GLASS GLOBES OVERLIGHT BULBS)
11. CLEAN UNDER SINK/THROW AWAY OLD RAGS
12. CLEAN PET DISHES

and the challenges for the week are;
1. Today we are going to look up, set your timer for 10 minutes and take a broom or a Swiffer and get those dusties and cobwebs that are hanging on the upper walls that are taller than you, the corners of the ceilings and the ceiling. Check out the top of your refrigerator as well
2. Your mission for today is to wipe down the doors of your cabinets. Use a damp rag and wipe down the fronts and the edges of your cabinets.
3. Grab your trash can and take it over to the refrigerator and throw open the door. First toss out any leftovers that have gotten pushed to the back and have now started to turn into a science project. Second, check the fruit/vegetable drawers and toss what no longer is appealing to eat. Third, check the meat and cheese drawer, check the expiration dates on your items in there and toss what needs to go. Fourth, check out the doors of the fridge, toss the empty condiment jars and bottles that always seem to magically go back into the fridge when empty.
4. It has come to the time to go after those counter tops!! Your mission for today is to scrub those counter tops. Not just the average wipe down that we do after dinner. Now it is very easy to make this task overwhelming but if you take this slow and easy you can do this! DO NOT TAKE EVERYTHING OFF OF THE COUNTERS AT ONE TIME!!!!
5. grab your broom and your mop. Sweep your kitchen floor really well and then mop. There are several ways to mop a kitchen floor and no real wrong way. Hot soapy water and wipe

yuck! today I am going to TRY to get a few things knocked off, I have N so it wont be easy, its possible, just not easy! I have done very good at sticking to the 1 load of laundry a day rule, now if only I could stick to all the lists!

Fly Lady Zone #2

Well here we go again! another week of Flying! hopefully this week I wont lag as much as I did last week, So here is this weeks job, its zone 2 which is the kitchen;

1. EMPTY REFG/CLEAN THOROUGHLY
2. CLEAN MICROWAVE INSIDE AND OUT
3. CLEAN STOVE/OVEN
4. WASH CANISTER/KNICK-KNACKS
5. STRAIGHTEN DRAWERS/CUPBOARDS
6. WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF WALLS
7. WASH INSIDE WINDOWS
8. CLEAN FAN/VENT-A-HOOD FILTERS AND HOOD
9. SCRUB DOWN CABINET FRONTS (only a few at a time)
10. CLEAN LIGHT DEFUSING BOWLS(GLASS GLOBES OVER
LIGHT BULBS)
11. CLEAN UNDER SINK/THROW AWAY OLD RAGS
12. CLEAN PET DISHES

and the challenges for the week are;
1. Today we are going to look up, set your timer for 10 minutes and take a broom or a Swiffer and get those dusties and cobwebs that are hanging on the upper walls that are taller than you, the corners of the ceilings and the ceiling. Check out the top of your refrigerator as well
2. Your mission for today is to wipe down the doors of your cabinets. Use a damp rag and wipe down the fronts and the edges of your cabinets.
3. Grab your trash can and take it over to the refrigerator and throw open the door. First toss out any leftovers that have gotten pushed to the back and have now started to turn into a science project. Second, check the fruit/vegetable drawers and toss what no longer is appealing to eat. Third, check the meat and cheese drawer, check the expiration dates on your items in there and toss what needs to go. Fourth, check out the doors of the fridge, toss the empty condiment jars and bottles that always seem to magically go back into the fridge when empty.
4. It has come to the time to go after those counter tops!! Your mission for today is to scrub those counter tops. Not just the average wipe down that we do after dinner. Now it is very easy to make this task overwhelming but if you take this slow and easy you can do this! DO NOT TAKE EVERYTHING OFF OF THE COUNTERS AT ONE TIME!!!!
5. grab your broom and your mop. Sweep your kitchen floor really well and then mop. There are several ways to mop a kitchen floor and no real wrong way. Hot soapy water and wipe

Meal Planning Monday!

Well its Monday again, we had a fun weekend, we went to Ikea on Saturday and got a new comforter set for our bed and for H's, it was so nice sleeping in our "new beds" I meant to take before and after pictures, but I got so excited I forgot! On Sunday we took the dogs to the dog park, Sam and Gus got to meet some new friends and swim in the creek thing they had a good time!

Here is the menu for the week.
Monday- tacos
Tuesday- Baked chicken, rice, veggie
Wednesday- Jambalaya (we had Chinese last Saturday so this is a carry over)
Thursday- Raviolis, Texas Toast, mixed veggies
Friday- home made pizza
Saturday- Hot Dogs (its our "nieces" Bday so I don't even know that we will be home)
Sunday- Ribs, corn

For more meal plans, go to, orgjunkie.com

grocery budget 9/8-9/14

I had 10.00 left over from last week so my budget for this week (well I guess next week) was 28.00 I made my list this afternoon and already did my shopping! I even got a few extras they are marked with *stars* heres what I bought

2 sara lee bread reg 2.49 got both free with coupon
*sara lee bagels 2.50
*cream cheese 1.26
coffee 3.49
*baking cocoa 2.69
*baking soda .79
pizza crust 2.49
pepperoni 1.69
shredded cheese 1.25
whipped topping 1.09
french fries 1.88
lettuce 1.29
texas toast 1.91 had a .45 coupon so only paid 1.46
milk 2.50

I paid 25.74
so I still have 2.84 left in the budget for next week, I dont know what thats going to buy, but cactus pears are on sale 3 lbs for .99 and bananas are on sale 4 lbs for .99 so we can still get some of those!

Finishing Fly lady for the week

If today's list looks like an exact copy from yesterday that's because it pretty much is, but have no fear! I am going to finish it all today! so here it is;

Entrance list,
1. Dust baseboards
2. Sweep vacuum or mop the floor

Dinning room list,
1. Clean the window
2. Clean and straighten any drawer
3. Dust the bottoms of the chairs.
4. Dust the baseboards
5. Move furniture and vacuum underneath (except the china cabinet)

Front Porch list,
1. Sweep down cobweb and spider webs
2. Sweep off porch furniture.
3. Sweep the porch.
4. Throw away any dead plants.
5. Wipe off tables, banisters, and light fixtures.

Then the little list for today;
grocery list, and I even did the shopping already!!
clean out the fridge
iron half way done only 4 more shirts to go!
make next weeks menu

Mexican Pork Chops

This week I am going to participate in the grocery cart challange's recipe swap this week I made Mexican style pork chops, they were a big hit (accept the tomatoes) and super easy (and cheap) to make, here's the recipe

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 boneless pork chops
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chopped stewed tomatoes, with juice
1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies, drained
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown the pork chops about 5 minutes on each side. Remove chops from skillet and drain oil.

3. Mix the tomatoes, corn, kidney beans, rice, chilies, and salt into the skillet. Bring liquid to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute, until heated through. Transfer the tomato mixture to a baking dish. Arrange the browned pork chops over the mixture.

4. Bake covered 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover, and continue baking 10 minutes, until rice is tender and pork has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

be sure to check out the grocery cart challange for more recipes!

Camping, the rest of it

Saturday we got up from our freezing cold tents, had coffee the little ladies had hot cocoa there were a few things that we had forgotten so A and D went to town the rest of us hung out at the camp site, at about 3 we went down to do some fishing, H caught 2 "lobsters" I dont know what they are really called but thats what they look like, L caught a baby fish and threw it back and D caught a baby too, could have been the same dumb fish and he threw it back too. That night it wasnt too cold but it was super windy, one of our stakes came up so we had to pound it back in!

Sunday we went fishing again, in the wind! we were just waiting for the storm to come, we didnt catch any fish we did catch alot of grass! We were just finishing up our dinner and I went into the ten to do something, and I saw little puddles of water, yep we were getting flodded! so we decided to but all the non food items that were in our cars in the tents and sleep in our cars for the last night, good thing we did too because it rained all night, and all the next day, there is even snow on the mountains.

I did get some great pictures so here are some of them;

C and H playing Dominoes

L and J Playing Saturday's sky

really roughing it!

Sunday's Storm coming in, still really pretty

Camping (part one)

Well I said that I would fill you in on our trip so here it goes hope you are ready it was a huge adventure!
Friday- we left home at 630 stopped and got gas A (L's mom) printed out directions so she gave us a copy we decided that we would just follow her once we got close enough, it was supposed to be about an hour and a half drive, but the directions that we had were only for about 45 minutes of driving time, we tried to call the office but of course they were closed so we decided to just go for it and see where we ended up.... Once we got to the last .07 of a mile of the trip and realized that we were in the middle of a town, no where near a camp ground we figured something was wrong, but still we continued to follow, straight up a mountain.... for 30-45 minutes just up surrounded by trees, and nothing else, well I am sure there were yucky critters in those trees but I wasn't going to get out just to see! At the end of the road we decided that we had gone the wrong way, and went back down the mountain 30-45 minutes later we were back in the middle of town at a circle K asking the kid if he knew where we were supposed to go, he didn't really just said that if we stay on the highway we should run right into it. (Side note I asked N's mom when she came if she knew how to get where we were going she said yeah sorta get on the 40 keep going past this lake and you will run right into it, so L and I knew already how to get there, sorta, but you cant argue with your mom, that's just a bad idea) So we drove some more... down highway 40 and wouldn't you know it we smacked right into it... now to find our site... we had to be at the site by 10 and quite time starts at 10 so once we finally got to the site we had about 15 minutes to set up our tents, it was a good thing we did a practice run the week before we left... we got the tents up in record time, started a fire and sat around for a little bit, then went to bed and FROZE! It was so cold! I don't think I have ever been so cold and I live in Utah. L and I were on a blow up mattress and H was on one of the egg carton things, she was all snug and warm and slept threw the night L and I on the other hand could not get warm... then the night was over and it was Saturday..... more to come in a bit

Fly Lady

I got rid of alot of stuff from the list yesterday so today its alot shorter! here's whats left;
Fly Lady Zone #1;
Entrance list,
1. Dust baseboards
2. Sweep vacuum or mop the floor

Dinning room list,
1. Clean the window
2. Clean and straighten any drawer
3. Dust the bottoms of the chairs.
4. Dust the baseboards
5. Move furniture and vacuum underneath (except the china cabinet)

Front Porch list,
1. Sweep down cobweb and spider webs
2. Sweep off porch furniture.
3. Sweep the porch.
4. Throw away any dead plants.
5. Wipe off tables, banisters, and light fixtures.

Now for the challenges for the week
1. Today you are to sweep your front porch area around your front door. Shake out your welcome mats and wipe down your front door
2. Using a feather duster or dust rag get the window sills, the light fixtures

Not so bad now right? only a few more things to do and then I am done for the week.

Bread pudding

I made a batch of bread pudding yesterday for dessert, it turned out pretty good, I didnt know if H and L would like it H didnt, L did, this time I left out the rasins, next time ( and there will be a next time because I Love it) they are going in! here is the recipe that I used very simple!

6 slices day-old bread (I used fresh)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3.In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4.Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

Fly lady

okay so yesterday, I didnt do too much, I got all the laundry finished, I read some of my book (alot of my book) it was a quite day (no N and H was at school) and I took full advantage of it, so today its back to "flying" here is the list of stuff that I have to get done by Friday (which will also be an N-less day, I think)

Fly Lady Zone #1 Long list;
Entrance list,
1. Clean cobwebs
2. Dust window sills and front door
3. Clean switch plate of hand prints and walls if needed
4. Dust furniture
5. Dust baseboards
6. Straighten the coat closest
7. Sweep vacuum or mop the floor

Dinning room list,
1. Clean the cobwebs
2. Dust window sills
3. Clean the window
4. Clean doors of china cabinet after you straighten dishes if they need done. Dust
5. Clean and straighten any drawer
6. Clean off top of Dining table and Polish
7. Dust the bottoms of the chairs.
8. Dust the baseboards
9. Move furniture and vacuum underneath (except the china cabinet)

Front Porch list,
1. Sweep down cobweb and spider webs
2. Sweep off porch furniture.
2. Sweep the porch.
3. Throw away any dead plants.
4. Wipe off tables, banisters, and light fixtures.
5. Get rid of unwanted items.

Now for the challenges for the week
1. Today you are to sweep your front porch area around your front door. Shake out your welcome mats and wipe down your front door.
2. Get rid of the pile of shoes by the front door, get rid of the pile of junk mail and put away the magazines and school papers that are piled on the dining room table.
3. Today take a look at the walls and the windows in your dining room. Grab some cleaner and a cloth and go after the finger prints and smudges
4. We are heading into the Entrance area of your home today. Let's grab all those shoes, books and jackets that seem to pile up right by the front door and put them away
5. Using a feather duster or dust rag get the window sills, the light fixtures

yuck thats alot of stuff! maybe I dont want to do it because it looks like too much, so I guess I will break it down I must remember "baby steps" so I am off to see what I can get done!

Fly Lady

Ok so now that I am almost back into the swing of things, here are my lists for the week.

Fly Lady Zone #1 Long list;
Entrance list,
1. Clean cobwebs
2. Dust window sills and front door
3. Clean switch plate of hand prints and walls if needed
4. Dust furniture
5. Dust baseboards
6. Straighten the coat closest
7. Sweep vacuum or mop the floor

Dinning room list,
1. Clean the cobwebs
2. Dust window sills
3. Clean the window
4. Clean doors of china cabinet after you straighten dishes if they
need done. Dust
5. Clean and straighten any drawer
6. Clean off top of Dining table and Polish
7. Dust the bottoms of the chairs.
8. Dust the baseboards
9. Move furniture and vacuum underneath (except the china cabinet)

Front Porch list,
1. Sweep down cobweb and spider webs 2. Sweep off porch furniture.
2. Sweep the porch.
3. Throw away any dead plants.
4. Wipe off tables, banisters, and light fixtures.
5. Get rid of unwanted items.

Now for the challenges for the week
1. Today you are to sweep your front porch area around your front door. Shake out your welcome mats and wipe down your front door.
2. Get rid of the pile of shoes by the front door, get rid of the pile of junk mail and put away the magazines and school papers that are piled on the dining room table.
3. Today take a look at the walls and the windows in your dining room. Grab some cleaner and a cloth and go after the finger prints and smudges
4. We are heading into the Entrance area of your home today. Let's grab all those shoes, books and jackets that seem to pile up right by the front door and put them away
5. Using a feather duster or dust rag get the window sills, the light fixtures

Now for my personal Tuesday list;
home blessing hour (dust, mop, clean mirrors, throw out magazines, empty all trash cans, change sheets, sweep and vacuum)
clean out purse
finish all laundry from camping and 1 load from regular baskets.

Meal Planning Monday

Well we made it back from our camping trip, safe and sound, I will post more about that adventure later on in the week maybe tomorrow, here is the menu for the week, it is going all the way threw Sunday I am so excited to be able to plan that far ahead!

Monday- Ravioli (l Made soup instead so we will save this for 9/8)
Tuesday-Meatloaf, baked potato, bread pudding
Wednesday-pork chops
Thursday- chicken foil packed taco bake
Friday- chili dogs
Saturday Jambalaya (thanks to Zatarans)
Sunday BBQ chicken, potato salad

you can see more menus at, org junkie