Summer of 7: Food week down

Hey blog-o-sphere.  Long time no post, I know I'm a slacker.  By slacker of course I mean my desktop/air conditioner combo blew out a circuit a few weeks ago and I've had it off since. I turned it back on today to print coupons and send an email for a possible work from home sales gig that I'm really digging the possibility of.  I figured I'd see if I could write a whole blog before blowing the circuit again.  Here it goes...

So, any of you who also follow my hubs probably know that we're doing this Summer of 7 challenge along with a ton of other folks.  It's based on Jen Hatmaker's book 7:An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.  But instead of going for 7 months, we're all doing it for 7 weeks o the summer.
We've completed week one (food) and we're on to week two (clothes).  I have to say that this week really isn't nearly as much of a challenge for me as last week was.  Wearing only 7 items of clothing for a week (not washing them, I've decided) will totally not be a stretch for me.  As momma of two little ones (3yrs and 10mons) I don't get to shower very often and thus I don't always change my clothes at the start of a new day.
I've chosen the following items to wear this week:
One white tank top with a big flower printed on it.
One pink t-shirt that still needs to get washed from last week.
One pair of jean.
One Purple and green summer dress.
One pair of leggings.
One pair of flip-flops.
One scarf (from Child Restoration) that doubles as a baby sling.
To be honest I could probably go all summer with just these items.  With one simple caveat that I get to switch out my flip flops when I redoubtably wear through these ones in a month.
I'm a foodie so last week was tough. But I found it refreshing and I actually found myself less stressed out about what to make for dinner than I usually am.
On a totally unrelated note, my 10 month old is currently perched on my chest watching the Imagination Movers DVD on behind me for the 3rd time today while chewing on my shoulder.  She has one very mean tooth coming in and she's extra clingy and this DVD is the only thing she'll watch for calming music aside from Danny playing guitar.
My poor baby and her hurty teeth.

I also recently read Homemade Pantry: 101 Things you can Stop buying and start Making and I've been on a homemade everything kick.  I've been making homemade ricotta, goat cheese, English muffins, shampoo, face wash, laundry detergent, granola, fabric softener, yogurt, baby food, coconut milk, teething biscuits and my hubs has been making bread, soup, pie, and arepas.  He's awesome!  It has cut down severely on our food budget and has allowed us to buy more fresh fruits and veggies with our food stamps and we're eating better.  Also, this week is the Post Office's annual food drive I am going to go through my pantry and put some stuff in a box to leave for my mail carrier.
We've been a busy family.  Because... Joey just finished her last week of her first year of school and she's already missing it.  We've had two minor car accidents.  We're still trying to get me my driver's license (thanks DMV for turning me away yet another time).  Danny's started volunteering at a local shelter while still trying to find work.  I'm still working two days a week and I'm trying to pick up a side gig as I previously mentioned.  And we've planted a little garden hanging off our two little porches.
So, that's the haps with this family.  I've got to go finish up some dishes and move my sad baby from the couch to her crib.  Night all!!

Back at it.

So, I've been going crazy for about a month or so.  We moved at the beginning of last month and it was a whirlwind.  Things just never seemed to fall into place after we moved.  It's just been a mess and I didn't fall back in to my schedule for a while and Joey had a vacation which threw things off more and then I took on way too many things for Easter and I got sick on top of all that.  My goodness, it's been insane.
I've finally been feeling better that past day or so and I'm determined to get back to things.  I've been really lazy (and lucky) up until now, baby food has been on sale or clearance every time I went to the store and haven't made much until now.  But I just can't be lazy anymore, baby food won't be on sale forever but it did help me stock up on baby food jars and the like so making my own is a touch easier now.
This morning I made three types of baby food for my little one.  Today made roasted grapes, roasted grapes with peaches, and apples with peas and spinach.  And it's so much easier now that Norah's bigger because I don't have to strain everything after it's pureed. On my cooking list for the day (after the baby food of course) is some ham (in the crock pot now) some lentils for baby, and homemade English muffins for my hubby.
I have some pictures of our new apartment and all the things that I've been making:

living room curtains

office curtains that coordinate with the living room

that painting that I've been working on for the kitchen for what seems like forever

On to my next thing on my schedule for the day, my meal planning:
Monday: Crock Pot 'baked' Ham with Spinach salad
Tuesday: baked fish Tacos
Wednesday: whole wheat Spaghetti & meatballs (baby food version too)
Thursday: Spinach and Ham Quiche (using Monday's leftovers)
Friday: Veggie Ravioli Florentine (spinach bechamel sauce)
Saturday: Nothing planned, it's my Grandfather's Memorial service and I may bring something but I'm not planning on doing any cooking that day.
Sunday: Mac and cheese and tuna salad or egg salad

Well, that's it for me today.  Here are some pics from Easter:

Meal Plan Monday

I just discovered Jericho on Netflix.  Love that series!  I'm watching it while Norah naps and Jolene and Danny are on a Daddy daughter date at IKEA for the free breakfast this weekend.  Gotta love that!  I'm trying to get my planning stuff done while they're out too.
So, meal planning is up first.  I read an interesting blog the other day.  The writer just rotated snacks and breakfast and lunch was just leftovers and sandwiches and she only planned dinners and she made two weeks of plans and then just rotated them back in so that she was only meal planning once a month and they would have the same dinner twice a month, which helps to reduce waste and overstocking refrigerators by cutting down on the minor ingredients that are needed to be kept when you only need a bit of something.  It also streamlines purchasing and you can plan around sales and you're only buying a fraction more to double the meals and I'm really excited to give it a try for next month.  I've already done my purchasing for this month.  I'm also trying to cut down on our meat based meals.  It's getting so expensive and there are great alternatives and it gets the family eating more vegetables.  But I'm happy to streamline  my life a little bit more each week and make life go smoother along the way.  So, here's my meal plan for the week.

Monday: Butternut Squash Soup & fresh baked bread

Tuesday: Bean Enchiladas

Wednesday: Mac & Cheese

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday: Frittatta

Saturday: Corned Beef & Cabbage

Sunday: Chickpea Salad

And that's all for me for today.  Norah's been trying to type with me so I think that's all I can really get to without a slew of typos anyhow.  Tootles

Life on a New Schedule

Our little world got shaken last week and it's upset my whole schedule.  Danny lost his job.  His boss let him go with no reason and seemingly no cause.  It happens, and we've basically come to the conclusion that anyone who could do that isn't someone that Danny should be working for anyhow.  We know that God has a plan for it all and we're praying about it to figure out what's on the horizon.
But as for my schedule, I've made up a new one since Danny's made some suggestions that I thought needed addressing and I've noticed that some stuff is just not fitting where I had it. I've moved some stuff around and added items here and there.  Weekly Checklist: this is my publicly accessible google.doc of the updated checklist that I made if anyone else is looking to set up something similar.
I'm still allowing myself some flexibility to see what needs tweeking, but I realized the other day why I've never needed a schedule like this before.  I've been the primary earner in our household for the majority of our marriage and Danny's been the stay-at-home parent since Joey was born.  My efforts had been focused one working and now that Danny's been working again, I've only had a few months to switch gears, oh yeah and I had a baby during that time too.  And on top of that, I am still working part-time.  Yeah, it's been pretty much a whole year of transition for us, and it seems we have a few more hoops coming up.  We're still planning on moving to the larger apartment one floor below us.  I've already started purging in preparation.  The nice thing is that since we are only moving downstairs, the process of moving will be so much simpler.  No trucks needed and not even really many boxes.  Clothes can be carried straight from our closets on their hangers and be hung straight up down a flight of stairs, drawers can be carried down without being unloaded. The biggest hassle with probably be the books and knick knacks that will need to be boxed and the curtains and shelves.  And our Landlord wants us down there ASAP so as soon as the current tenant is out, we'll be on our way.  I'm pretty stoked about it.  We'll be losing some closet space (hence the purging) but gaining so much square footage, it's totally worth it.  Well, I'm off to go do stuff.  Tootles.

Week 2 of Life on a schedule

 So, I'm back with an adjusted schedule this week.  I'm trying to think ahead and plan accordingly.  I think I'm doing o.k. at it but I've got some serious adjusting to do. 
I created schedules for myself in college just to get everything done but doing it for a household of four is so much more intense.  I don't know what I was thinking to try and do all that I have to do off the cuff.  No wonder I was constantly stressed out and never getting anything done. Below is my meal plan for the week and I've got blogging planned into my schedule so that I have something to keep me accountable. 
To throw another log on the fire, Danny and I are moving at the end of the month.  We're moving a whole one floor down in our building.  The apartment below has an additional 50-70 sq feet of living space as well as a back porch, clothesline and a front porch that Danny has claimed as his man cave. 
 

Monday 2.6
b: cereal & bananas
l: Italian sandwich
(Pick up Joey from school)
s: strawberries
d: tuna pasta salad

Tuesday 2.7
b: eggs & cinnamon rolls
l: mac& cheese with peas
s: oranges
d: chicken stir-fry & rice

Wednesday 2.8
b: oatmeal & blueberries
l: soup
s: crackers
d: coconut curry shrimp & rice

Thursday 2.9
b: yogurt & toast
l: nutella sandwich & celery sticks
s: apples
d: Sheppard’s pie

Friday 2.10 (rent)
b: cereal & raisins
l: leftovers
s: carrot sticks
d: church valentine’s dinner (side dish)

Saturday 2.11
b: pancakes
l: nuggets & sweet potato fries
s: oranges
d: barbeque chicken & baked beans

Sunday 2.12
b: oatmeal & mango
l: pb&j with apples
s: carrot sticks
d: ravioli with green beans

 And in other news, I finally got around to making my own dishwasher detergent yesterday.  AMAZING STUFF.  So cool.  Glad to have done it.  Way cheaper than buying it and so easy to make and I think my dishes are genuinely cleaner than with the store bought stuff. Yay for DIY!

Daily Schedule day 4

So, things have been going sort of according to schedule.  I think I need to add in some more flexibility for baby crankiness.  I've missed one thing on my list everyday.  I'm not quite sure how to remedy that.  I've been looking into different daily schedules from different blog and the like but I haven't found one that I like.  I made myself a little checklist that I put up on my fridge with my schedule of stuff.  It's next to my grocery notepad. I like to see things checked off on a list; it makes me feel good. 
I'm thinking that I may need to do a little research into my day and figure out where I can trim the fat and fit in some new things. 
Today on my agenda: waiting for my Peapod.com order (I had enough coupons to more than cover the cost of shipping), then depending on if everything come in that order: making homemade pop-tarts, making play dough, updating my meal plan, vacuuming, making lunch and dinner, planning our big shopping trip for Saturday or Sunday and getting both girls bathed. 
Wow, that's a long list when I write it all out.  But today is project day with Joey, and some of those home made pop-tarts are going to be her Valentine's gifts for her schoolmates.  Fun right, they're going to be fun to make and eat and way better than candies, I think.  And most of her old play dough is all dried up and it's one of her favorite things to play with so it's time. 

Day 1 of Life on a Schedule

So far, my schedule seems to be making life easier. (I know Shocking right?) Anyway, I'm nearly done with my checklist and it's only 2.30.  Yay me! And I've even found time to do some things that weren't on my list. 
Part of my schedule is that Monday's is meal planning day for the week.  Here's what my meal plan looks like so far:

Monday 1.30
b: eggs & cinnamon rolls
l: soup
d: mac&cheese w/ beets

Tuesday 1.31
b: oatmeal
l: Pb&j w/ peaches
d: tilapia & Thai rice with broccoli

Wednesday 2.1
b: cereal
l: soup
d: hot dogs & sauerkraut

Thursday 2.2
b: oatmeal
l: leftover hot dogs & carrot sticks
d: chicken nuggets & s.p. fries

Friday 2.3
b: cereal
l: soup
d: sweet potato &black bean tacos

Saturday 2.4
b: apple pancakes
l: food out while shopping
d: hanging with the Family

Sunday 2.5
b: cereal
l: lunch with people
d: meatloaf & mashed potatoes

Monday 2.6
b: oatmeal
l: leftovers
d: barbeque ribs & broccoli

Not too shabby right?  I'm proud of it, I've been in a bit of a cooking rut lately.  I've been so overwhelmed with life that I have really been slacking off.  I'm glad that I finally feel like I'm getting back on track. 

...In other news, that home-made cleaner that I put up the recipe for, I tried it out today in the kitchen and the bathroom and it works great.  My only complaint is that if you use it to clean the range, the next time you cook, it smells a little funny.  But otherwise it makes the house smell lovely!

Fun, fun, and more fun

So much going on here as we prep for Danny starting his new job. 
I made yet another attempt to take the written test for my driver's license.  I am SUPER frustrated.  I went in, they said I had everything but apparently, they can't give me a driver's license or an ID in my married name until I change my name with Social Security.  Social Security won't give me a new social security card with my married name with out a photo ID.  The woman at the DMV was totally understanding of my frustration and gave me a form from them to help the process but I've lost faith in all bureaucracy.  It just makes me want to spit or curse or something just not nice. 
In other news, I finally broke down and made myself a weekly household cleaning/chore schedule.  I've been putting it off for so long in hopes that I'd find a rhythm myself, but for 5 years now that's failed and I've lived in a only occasionally clean home because of it.  So, on to plan B. 
I had such a good day today.  Norah seems to finally be moving her feeding schedules further apart sometimes though not a night.  I really wish that would change, but she's up every 3 hours all night long, like clock work.  Ahh, to have a night of uninterrupted sleep.  I miss it, but Norah's just such a sweety.  She's so snugly and giggly right now.  I just love hanging out with her.  I could honestly go days doing nothing but making faces at her and playing with her.  I miss those days with Joey too. 
Oh well, I'm off, I need to go finish the dishes and get a shower.  Good Night internet world.