Grilled Cheese and Clearing out the Fridge

I will have to get a picture of the fridge over the next couple of days. I keep saying this because photos keep circulating on Facebook of 2 fridges side by side. One is supposedly of someone who is on public assistance and it is piled to the rafters with processed foods, the other is supposedly of someone who is middle class and it is empty. I have really always considered myself middle class, maybe lower middle class but middle class none the less. Food has really never been an issue and even right now we will not starve. The issue now is we might not be able to eat what we want or as much as we would like. I have to plan better and not make misjudgements or waste anything. Anyway, that photo is coming!

Last night I picked up the kids from the sitter as Phillip had 2 interviews yesterday, our fingers are crossed that something comes of one of them. Logan and I talked about dinner on the way home and he decided that grilled cheese with bacon on them sounded good. It did sound good especially since I had exactly 3 slices of cheese left and the partial package of bacon I needed to cook. This also helped use up some of the loaf of bread still on the counter. I am afraid it will start molding soon so I have been having toast for breakfast. Logan ended up wanting 2 sandwiches and I fixed Phillip 2 which for those who are keeping count equals more than the 3 cheese slices I had left, so I ended up slicing some off a block of colby jack cheese I had to use on the additional sandwiches. The boys were none the wiser and I really enjoyed my bacon filled grilled cheese. Poor Clark ended up having sweet potatoes and baby cereal although he did not seem too worried about it.

Getting ready to work on my list for this weekend and what I am going to cook for dinner tonight as I currently have no ideas and nothing thawing.

The list is done and listed below, now let's see how much of it actually gets done this weekend.

Creative Dinners Continue!

Ok , there was really no creative dinner on Tuesday night. It was a night of running in which I put nearly 100 miles on my car. I left work and went to my friend's house who happens to be a beekeeper. He had been called out to get a hive out of someone's way and it has a ton of honey in it so he was jarring it up and selling his wares. I picked up 1 jar for a coworker and traded him some of my homemade cranberry liqueur for mine. I will take a picture of the honey, it is amazing and rich. After leaving his house I went to pick up Logan who was at karate with his friend Loralee. He had spent the day with Loralee just having fun and then went to her karate class with her. I was curious whether he would like karate or not and thought this would be a good way to tell before we spend any money on it. Mind you this was 30+ miles from where I traded the honey and to a location I had never been before. I called and Loralee's dad told me the basics of how to get there which initially sounded easy enough. Take XXXX road to named road ( which turned out to be spelled wrong) make a left and then make another left when you get to the end of the black pole fence and we will be there in a building, you will see a bunch of trucks.  I got to the neighborhood which was in the middle of nowhere and after driving completely around the neighborhood (which it turns out was a loop) I called her dad back to say I can not find you! He said he would go out to the street with Logan so I could see them and then he was asking did you go left? Yes I went left but I passed 4 black pole fences so I am not sure if I went left at the right one! After circling around again I finally saw them and discovered I would never have found them if they did not come out to the street! The whole place was covered in trees, I could not see the cars/trucks parked and the building they were in. I am directionally challenged which he did not know. I need really specific directions with landmarks that are unique which a black pole fence in this part of the world is not! The dojo turned out to be an outdoor one so it was hot. Logan was not in the class but he did not want to leave, he was incredibly sad that he was not in the class and this made me think karate might be the thing for him. After a sad Logan and I left there we headed home which was another 30ish miles from this location. We got home about 8:30 with Logan eating a sandwich in the car which his quick thinking dada had packed for him. Once home Phillip had fed and bathed the tiny one and ate some leftovers himself so I had watermelon. I know it is not a complete meal but after that trek around the area watermelon tasted yummy.


Yesterday I spent a good part of the day trying to think of something I could make with the leftover pork loin without stopping for any more ingredients. The grocery budget for this month is done for and I really need to use what I already have at home. I finally gave in to the soft taco option since the only thing I "needed" was sour cream. I ended up getting sour cream and a can of black beans since I like more of a burrito instead of a taco. This was really the least expensive option I could come up with since we would be able to use the sour cream beyond last nights dinner.

Here is the before picture. I lucked out and had the Spanish rice I think from a trade in the cabinet. Originally I was going to fix just plain white rice but this gave it a good flavor. The cheese was purchased last month I believe on sale and with a coupon. Anyway, I started the rice first since I knew it would take the longest to get done. Next I sliced the pork up thin and put it in a pot with some teriyaki sauce and some water to steam/warm. I also put the black beans on the stove to cook while I grated the cheese and warmed the tortillas on the cast iron griddle I have. It turned out to be a really good dinner that I wanted to bring for lunch today but was eating up some older leftovers.

This is a bad picture again with my cell phone of the finished product. If we had lettuce it would have been more colorful but not sure that would have added much to the flavor.

As promised, here is a picture of the list from the weekend with most of the items still on it. I did finish one last night but that was 3 days after I was hoping to get it done.

Amazing Dinners From This Weekend....Pictures are not Good

Sooo considering how close to the end of the month and end of the food in the freezer we are at my house I think we had some pretty good meals over the weekend.

Saturday night we had teriyaki marinated grilled pork loin. I used this method for grilling the loin and it was amazing! It had a nice char to the exterior and the interior was moist and perfectly done. I served this with baked sweet potatoes. Below is a bad picture of the yummy dinner taken from my cell phone.

Sunday we had brunch at church to celebrate Father's day and tried to get naps when we got home but that did not work out. I worked on my list which I will post later to show how little of that I managed to get done. Dinner was a stir fry using up some of the leftover pork loin. I found these amazing noodles at Sprouts, they were listed here from my first of the month grocery shopping trip and they really made the meal.

I started with some butter and olive oil in the pan, once the butter was melted I threw in an egg and then "scrambled" it. After the egg I put some chopped baby carrots we had hanging out in the fridge on to cook since I knew they would take the longest. The next addition was some mushrooms that needed to be used up so they would sweat down. After those cooked for a little bit I added some leftover steamed broccoli and then the chopped up pork loin just to warm. Meanwhile the noodles were blanching in a pot of boiling water to soften them up. They were the next to last addition to the pan. Final addition was a little bit of teriyaki sauce and we had this yumminess! The left overs came to lunch with me the next day and disappeared quickly.

Last night I was trying to come up with something to use up the last of the pork loin and just had nothing. Looking at things I have made in the past and liked I came back to this recipe for baked gnocchi with bacon, tomatoes and mozzarella. There was some bacon leftover from the brinner we had a few nights ago, at least I thought. Once I got home and started looking for it I was told it was consumed. I was fixated on the recipe so I just got some more bacon out of the freezer and cooked up 4 more slices. The picture below is again not so great since it was taken with my cell phone.

The leftovers went in the fridge and if Phillip did not eat them today then they will be coming up here with me for lunches. Today I brought another of the leftover hotdogs trying to eat them all  before they need to be tossed.

I have been thinking about dinner tonight as I need to use up the remaining pork loin and over the next couple of nights I will have to cook the rest of the package of bacon I opened. There are also a few more mushrooms that need to be used and a smidge more tomato sauce that I do not want to waste.

It seems odd but when I need to get creative with dinners and ingredients we seem to eat better. Might be because I dig out recipes from books and pinterest or just that these are the type dishes we really like. All I know is I need to get 8 more dinners with the left over pork loin, 8 chicken thighs, a package of salmon and a package of hot dogs. Let the creative juices flow!

Father's Day and Loss

I avoided posting this one because I did not want to be depressing but then decided to go ahead with it. These are legitimate emotions and I am not the only person in the world to have lost my dad so I can not be the only one experiencing this. This year it may have been heavier than most because of the date but it is still the loss that is soo painful.

My kids have an awesome dad in Phillip although it will be years before they truly appreciate this. Right now they are secure in a swath of love and care unaware of any other possibilities. I also grew up loved without realizing it until it was no longer there. Admittedly I was an adult and had been on my own for quite some time when my dad died. He also had been ill for some time and while it felt sudden it was not completely unexpected. Even with these things there was still a feeling of being unmoored. Suddenly this person who was supposed to be there when I needed to call and run interference with my mom was not there. My sisters and I just did not realize how much of a buffer my dad had become in our lives. When we wanted to do something he is the one we would actually ask first.

What hurts is the moments that come up out of nowhere when I miss him. I miss that my kids will have no granddads to go fishing with, to "help" fix things with, to just be another male figure in their lives.

Sunday was really hard not necessarily because it was father's day but because it also marked 11 years since the day we buried my dad. The day he died is not as real to me because I was not living in the state and his body was already at the funeral home by the time I drove down there. Sunday marked 11 years since I said goodbye to my dad physically and listened to the 21 gun salute as they folded the flag off his casket for my mom.

Randomly this was also the first year in probably 8 that Phillip and I did not go to lunch with the we no longer have our dad's club on father's day. The church has switched things up and decided to have a bunch. This group of friends going through the same things on father's day always "normalized" my situation.

Dad, I will always miss you and I really wish my kids could have met you. They would have loved having a granddaddy. I want you to know that I am ok, no matter what happens in my life I bounce back and keep going.

Books June 9th through June 22nd

I am sad to say not too many books have been completed this time.

I completed The Job by listening some at home while cleaning up the boys' room. It was ok, it was interesting to hear about New York from a New York cop's perspective.  The more and more non fiction books I listen to about people's lives the more of them overlap. The officer who wrote this book worked the temporary morgue after 9/11 which overlapped another book I read from a medical examiner who also worked the temporary morgue working to ID remains. The book is not politically correct which put some people off. I am generally ok reading things I do not completely agree with, people come from all kinds of places.

The next book I completed by listening was Visiting Hours. I was not a huge fan of this book. I know the author was trying to come to terms with this event in her life but the book started feeling like her version of self help. There was really nothing I gained by listening to this book.

The book I started listening to yesterday was It's a Long Story by Willie Nelson. So far this has been pretty interesting, partly because he was raised close to my current home. The language is a little stronger than I originally expected but after listening to The Job it seems toned down.

Still working on The September Society which I like ok.

Also working on The Murder Room, the premise on this one seems better than the actual book. I am 100 pages in and have yet to figure the point out. It seems to be a ton of rambling right now which might be why it has garnered horrible reviews. We shall see if it gets any better of the next few days.

Taking Kroger off the List

I have been loyal to Kroger for a lot longer than I should have been. They were my first employer and I just felt a "kinship" with them. That has come to a painfully slow stop and I will not be shopping there anymore. The store in my neighborhood has just become more and more ridiculous and the policies do nothing to serve the customers. The service has been bad enough that I have written and called corporate only to have them throw a couple of dollars at it but nothing changes on the store level. Standing in line at customer service to get something fixed every time I go to the store is just a complete waste of my time. Also having the cashier announce out loud every time I check out that such and such was on WIC is just insulting and unnecessary. I know what is on WIC, that is why it was in my cart in the first place. Last night the nail in the coffin was being told I could not use a rebate check because I was not "paying" for the items. So because I am using SNAP I am not allowed to use rebate checks? Soo, I should spend more money than necessary because the cashier thinks it is not "my" money? This after the same cashier told me I could not use coupons on the sale items. Just done.

Want to also point out that when I say I am not going back somewhere I do not go back. I have not been to Auto Zone in 13 years, Best Buy in 12 and Wal-Mart in 5. Kroger has now been added to this list. There is no shortage of other stores to grocery shop at in my area so I will patronize them and the farmer's market in the future.

Pinterest Cleanup

I have decided to clean up my pinterest boards. Sounds simple enough except I have OCD and it makes it hard! I want them to be organized but have a hard time with some pins that could be in more than one category. There is also the busy mom in me that just wants to delete some of the junk I know I am not going to have time for or the recipes I will never get around to making. Let the stress begin.

Upcoming Weekend and Another Grocery Store Stop

I was really upset yesterday when I left Target. I had hit them up on the way home to get a couple of items. I had a $5 rebate check to use so I picked up puffs for the tiny one that were $1.99 and $2.99 worth of bread. My thought was I would come in 2 cents under which I could live with because that it really as close as I was going to be able to get without going over. Both items did not ring up as marked. It turns out the bread was on sale so it totaled $2.50 but the puffs rang up wrong also the other direction at $2.39. Once the cashier, doing the right thing gave me bag credit for having my own bags I came in 16 cents under. I hate wasting 16 cents and I did not get cash back because the rebate had no "cash" value.

Stewing over it is not really helping though so I need to let it go!

Once home I grilled hot dogs and served them with mac-n-cheese. This is always popular at the house so the boys and I enjoyed dinner. Phillip was meeting some friends to notarize documents for them. By the time he was home the boys and I had picked up some, put on a load of laundry, brought in clothes off the line, put up laundry, made the boys beds, got baths, and started a dance party to while watching a queen concert on youtube.  You would think after all the activity the boys would want to go to sleep but not so, they were in the mood to play all night! Finally was able to get them to bed and it was not but a few minutes later I was out for the count. Clark still had a few coughing jags overnight but mostly stayed asleep.

I brought a leftover hotdog today for lunch and enjoyed reading a bit and then a short stroll in the heat around campus. There are little free libraries around the area so I usually make a circuit of them to see if there is anything new I want to read available. This nets me new reading material and adds steps to my day which I need more of. Since getting back I have been working a bit on my to do list for the weekend. It looks like this weekend is going to be really busy

Will keep the 4 people who read this updated!

Dinner and Sick Kids

Both kids have been fighting illness for the past week. Logan rebounded pretty quickly once I started him back on his nightly zyrtec dose. I think he is going to be on allergy medicine long term and I am pretty sure the tiny one is headed down the same path. The issue right now is Clark is too small to give most of the medicines to so I am stuck doing nasal rinses and suctioning. This has meant many long nights for me and I am feeling the lack of sleep. This was the 4am fussy baby yesterday.

I need them both to be well and I need some sleep! I get really really short, impatient, angry and forgetful. Trying to overcome these flaws seems to not work for me when I am this tired. Clark did sleep a little better last night but he is coughing now which worries me more than the snotty nose.

Last night for dinner we had bacon and pancakes partly because brinner is always good, partly because it is easy, partly because it is cheap and mostly because Logan will help me when I let him flip the pancakes. It is admittedly a little messier than just doing it myself but it is nice to have help and something we can work on together.

Again, I was hoping to put something in the crockpot this morning but left the house without accomplishing this task so again I will be looking in the fridge, freezer and pantry hoping something jumps out at me. I say every month that I am going to plan better and I do not but I need to start.

More Solar Updates, The Bill Nye Invasion and Dinners From the Past Few Nights

I have been trying to squeeze this in all day but I have been exhausted and busy today.

The solar company has been great about answering our questions and yes we have had quite a few. We knew they were transferable to another house if we wanted them to move with us but we also have the option of transferring to the purchaser of our house. So if someone wants to buy our house and take over the contract on the panels that is an option. Another question was the difference in the rate we were told and the rate on the contract. The contract was actually less than we were quoted and it turns out that the contract is correct. They can put more panels on the roof than they originally thought so we will offset more of our electrical usage. Our other question left us with an answer we did not want to hear. We have used Green Mountain electric for about 10 years and I have loved them so when I called each year to check for lower rates they almost always found me one and I would agree to another contract. This means my contract is not up until January 8th, the solar company is their own electric company and so we can not use them until January 9th. We are still discussing this because the solar panels can still be installed and functioning but they would just be feeding the grid not our house. I obviously do not want to pay the penalty because it is essentially giving money away which is something I do not have to throw around. Something I am going to cost out though is the amount I would save by paying the penalty and going solar now. If I would say more than the penalty it might still be worth it. They are also giving a referral fee for anyone else who uses them for panels and this would also offset the cost of the penalty. It is something I need to weigh before making a final decision.

Will finish up the post later.....

As for Bill Nye invading my life. Logan is now obsessed with Bill Nye and is always wanting to do experiments. We have done the volcano, a geyser and most recently a flood plane model. 

The latest Bill Nye conversation was as follows:
Logan: Mama, your left lung is smaller than your right lung.
Me: What?
Logan: Your left lung is smaller than your right lung, it makes room for your heart.
Me: I have never heard this
Logan: Bill Nye told me

Soo I am always interested in what new facts I am going to learn when I get home. 

As a catch up on meals I can at least remember we had. Last Friday night I made these Original Ranch Pork Chops. They were not great, just ok. It is not something I would make again.  Saturday night I made Crock Pot Garlic Paprika Chicken. My review on this recipe is that it is good. I did cut the number of garlic cloves and will add more paprika next time. The chicken was deboned and served over steamed rice. I used the bones and garlic/onions from the recipe to start a rich stock overnight.  Sunday night I took the leftover chicken, some steamed broccoli, the end of my velveeta as well as the ends of 2 kinds of pasta and made a casserole. Monday night I grilled out a small steak we had and served this with corn on the cob. Last night was major cheat night and I went through the drive through at Rosa's for beans and tortillas. Logan had beans, I had a bean burrito and Phillip had tacos. I honestly have no idea what I am going to make tonight.

Solar Update and Dinner on Wednesday

So the update from Tuesday's solar visit. The technician stated our roof is in great condition and will hold the panels. He was going to send the specs to engineering and then they will call us to set up a time for installation. From there we have to have Oncor come out and inspect the panels. Crossing our fingers that this process is painless.

I picked up the kids yesterday and then headed home. The plan originally was to have pork chops from the crock pot but I did not put them on before I left, a mistake which I repeated today.  So after picking up the kids with a surprise for Logan which he turned out to not want we headed home to fix dinner. This happens no matter what the surprise is, the kids are no longer in the mood for the item or they no longer like that food item. This of course meant that Phillip ended up with 2 packages of Reese's Peanut Butter cups which did not hurt his feelings. Phillip and I talked about his day while I got the other 3 items I bought put up and the receipts loaded on the apps. I pulled 2 of the pork chops out of the package and put a marinade of olive oil and spices on them while the grill heated up. I am happy that Phillip was able to fix the ignition button on the grill so we could use it some more. While that was heating up and the pork chops marinating I shucked some corn and got that going on the stove top.

Dinner was good and fairly early which gave me time to play with the kids some and get a few more items listed on the trade group.

I am still on the fence as to whether Logan has pink eye or not. I second guess myself a ton when the kids have symptoms but no clear cut illness. It may be his allergies and it may be pink eye. They have been matted the last couple of mornings but they are not running, not pink and he has no pain so I am totally not sure. Tonight I am going to dose him with some kiddy zyrtec and see what they look like tomorrow.

I am also going to get a picture of Clark if he is still doing it tonight. He keeps finding the dogs bone and crawling around the house with it hanging out of his mouth.

Tuesday and Exhaustion Mixing Even Though They Should Not.

After work last night I was headed to pick up the kids when Phillip called to say he was out of his interview and already had them, perfect!!!
Once home I decided to go with an old stand by because once again I neglected to put something in the crock pot or out to thaw. We had pigs in a blanket and shells with cheese.

This is about the only portion of my evening where I did not want to scream. Logan started with being all brilliant and sweet. He did a science experiment making a geyser see the picture.

After this though he managed to call me a liar twice during the evening. The first time was for telling him the shells in his shells with cheddar were not the "big" shells. I am not even sure what the other one was about. I had to go without speaking to him for a bit or I was going to say some very naughty words. After a little bit we still had to discuss that yes Mama still loves you but she is not happy with you right now and REALLY does not want to speak to you. Then we had the tiny one who keeps waking up and wanting to play. He decided at 5:30 this morning that he was up for good and it did not matter what I was going to do he was going to pretend I was a jungle gym and not a tired mom ready to let him live somewhere else.

I did manage to pick up the items I want to trade because right as I was taking the first picture the battery on the camera died and I had to put it on the charger. Here is hoping that tonight I get dinner on the table, kids played with, baths, bed and some pictures posted before I collapse from the day.

I will also update tomorrow on what the solar company says about our roof being able to hold the panels.

The End of School and Dinner on Monday Night

Yesterday was the last day of school for Logan as well as his field day. Field day had been postponed twice due to soggy fields and so this was the last chance. It made for a very fun last day for the munchkin and that makes me happy. It was a sad day for me and I am not sure why. Mom hormones seem to have no bounds, I was not really sad on his first day.  I was mad that my phone deleted the picture but not sad that he was starting school. His last day on the other hand was emotional for me. Phillip did go to field day and took a ton of pictures. He posted them as quick as he could so I could see how the day went. I am going to post some of my favorites below because I know everyone wants to see how the day went also!

He convinced Phillip to take him home after field day even though he could have stayed until regular release time. They picked up Clark from the sitter and then went home for a day of naps and science shows. I checked out a science book from the library and discovered they have a youtube channel which Logan now watches obsessively.

When I got home last night I went with the plan and made nachos from the previous nights leftovers as well as a partial bag of tortilla chips I wanted to finish off in the cabinet.

Weekend Menu and Grocery Store Trip with Kiddo

Friday I left work and on the way home decided to sprint by Target to take advantage of a couple of sale items while I had no children.

Target Trip:

3 Large cans of formula
3 cans of baby snack puffs
2 bottles of juice
1 pkg chicken legs
1 box yogurt
2 pkgs of shredded cheese
1 bottle shampoo ( I will be returning this, not what I needed)
2 pkgs pepperoni

Subtotals:                                                                 $40.92 Cash
                                                                                 $12.97 SNAP

I went home and scanned the receipts in all the apps I have for money back. Then I fixed bacon and pancakes for dinner. This is something easy, filling and inexpensive especially since I had not pulled anything out to thaw that morning. My fridge and freezer were also packed with items for the family my group was collecting for this month.

Saturday the boys and I set out early for a busy day of errands. Logan would recite this list to a couple of people throughout the day. We started out going by Racetrac to pick up drinks ( loving this cup ). From Racetrac we headed to the car wash, I just could not live with the bird poo on the car anymore. Logan used to be scared of the carwash but he is now in love with it but as we discovered Clark is now wigged out by it. After the carwash we headed to the library to turn in books and pick up some others. Logan did play on the computer they have set up for kids and then we headed out. The next stop was an hour long set up in a parking lot. We planted ourselves for the prescribed amount of time so others in my group could stop by and drop off food donations. This works better when it is not hot and I do not have the kids with me but you have to go with the flow sometimes. After we did the pick up we headed across the parking lot to eat/play at Chick-Fil-A.  Clark was all over the place trying to eat anything not nailed down and even some things that were so I put him in the high chair and kept giving him things to eat. He ate mandarin oranges for the first time and seemed to like them, he also ate non pulverized strawberries as well as puffs, a bottle, chicken and some french fries. All the while Logan played his heart out. After we headed out from there I had 3 trades to complete and then back home we went. Once home Logan wanted to play more, watch TV, play computer games and chase Clark around. Needless to say I only got a little cleaning and organizing done. I got the food donation together, contacted the family and worked on the separate ARC donation also.

Dinner on Saturday night was spaghetti that I made using 2 of the turkey burger patties which are really just flattened ground turkey.

Sunday morning I ended up putting the leftover spaghetti noodles and sauce together in a bowl with some more tomato sauce, stirring and then putting in a casserole dish. I covered this with cheese and once at church put in the oven to warm. In addition to the roast that Phillip smoked this was our contribution to the potluck. After we got home from church/potluck I loaded the food donation up in the car and with Logan for company we headed out to meet the family my group was helping this month. After dropping off with them Logan wanted to go to Sonic so I swung through and got him a grilled cheese. Once home I worked on sorting my massive get rid of pile into things for my trade group, things to donate and kids items I need to get ready for the JBF sale. After a bit of this Clark and I decided to go to Winco to see about sale items and get some tortillas for dinner that night. Logan and Phillip were making cards for his teacher since it was the last day of school today. Clark was able to sit in the basket for the first time I think and he is just a huge flirt. It was not hard to entertain him while I shopped because he was busy staring and waving at everyone. Winco had some items cheaper than other stores including diapers that I had coupons on so even though we do not need them right now I went ahead and bought them. Since summer has begun for Logan and now all 3 of them will be home together I wanted to make sure they had enough snacks and breakfast items.

Winco Trip:
 6 pkgs pecan rolls ( These are ONLY for Phillip)
4 boxes of snack cakes
3 boxes pasta
1 can condensed milk
1 can beans
2 pkgs diapers
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 tea
3 lbs bananas
4 cans biscuits
1 pkg bacon

Subtotal:                                    $12.47 Cash
                                                   $27.55 SNAP

Once home and the car unloaded, the receipts were uploaded to the rebate apps and dinner was started. I ended up using the final 2 turkey patties for tacos. I did the same as for the spaghetti and just treated it like ground turkey so worked it around the pan while browning it with some seasoning. Our tacos had the ground turkey, black beans, shredded cheese and lettuce on them. I completely forgot the sour cream until Phillip mentioned it and I was nearly finished with my taco.

There were enough rebates that I was able to get $11.00 back. I requested the money from paypal today. There was however not enough leftover from last night's dinner to make taco soup today which was my initial plan. I have made the alternate plan of nachos tonight because I can add refried beans and no one at my house will protest.

Today was Logan's last day of pre-K and also field day. I can not wait to hear how that went!

Books June 3rd through June 8th

It was a busy book week. A couple were recipe books that I just perused.

First was The 5:30 Challenge, I liked this one although I am not sure I liked it enough to purchase it. All the recipes had 5 ingredients or less and would be ready in 30 minutes. It was a great premise for working moms but again I am not sure if there were enough recipes that I would actually make in the book.

The second I checked out knowing I should not. I did not like her other books so I am not sure why I went ahead and checked this one out. The $5 Dinner Mom is just a book that I can not get behind.

I did finish listening to Nobody's Cuter than You. This book was funny in spots and sad in others but not really what I thought it was going to be based on the blurb I read before checking it out. I also found the author pretentious in places and for me that is a complete turn off. This is another book I also did not realize was from a blogger. This is a bad habit I need to break!

Dear Teenager If You Only Knew was another short book I finished in a couple of sittings. I have mixed feelings on this one. There was some good advice to teens and some that was way to specific to the author's personal views such as be good in this life so when you come back you will have a good base and do not eat meat because it is contaminating your body.

I finished 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life and I can not stress enough how much this book has touched my life. I will purchase this book soon and start over from the beginning so I can try the 12 steps applied to my life.

I started and finished This is Ridiculous This is Amazing. Another blogger who was published.....The difference this time is that he did not try to write a story that was a bunch of blogs connected in a nonsensical way. The book was set up as 71 lists on all parenting areas. I found the book funny and easy to read.

I was listening to The Job but it was due before I could finish, I am next in line to check it out again.

Currently I am listening to I Heart My Little A-Holes which again is a blogger who wrote a book. This one is amusing so far, we will see how I feel in a couple more days of listening to it.

Since I finished the This is Ridiculous book at lunch and still had some time I picked The September Society back up and will try to finish it before it is due. I really liked the first in this series and I am not far enough into this one yet to know how it will pan out.

A Mother's Shameful Thoughts That I am Forgiving Myself For

I forgave myself for these thoughts finally this morning. On Saturday night I was getting Clark to sleep which was taking forever and the thought just overcame me that he was taking an excessive amount of time away from Logan. I rarely can just be present or participate with Logan because Clark is always in the fray or needing attention. He is too small to understand that my attention needs to be off him for a couple of minutes. The thoughts then went to how much easier things were with just one child. It got worse when I went to snuggle for a little bit with Logan and he had already fallen asleep with the book he wanted me to read with him on the bed. I was upset at myself for not having enough to spread between the two of them and then upset for having the thoughts about Clark. It will not be long before he wants to run away from me instead of hang all over me. Being an oldest child myself I think I am also ultra sensitive to Logan's feelings right now.

It took a couple of days but I have forgiven myself. Things are never going to be like a one child household again and that will be ok. Logan and Clark will both survive and find a balance and may eventually be best friends. Until then my time will never be evenly divided all the time and it will just be ok.

Dinner on a Thursday and Life Lessons for Logan

Last night I fixed hamburgers for dinner with baked beans. I have not made baked beans from scratch in a long time so it was nice to make them again. I used up the last 4 hamburger patties we had in the freezer from memorial day. I do have some more turkey burgers but think those will remain on hold for a little while. There were no beans left and just 1 patty which I think Phillip may eat today.

The life lesson for Logan last night started with him launching frisbees over the fence into 2 different neighbor's yards. I originally told him we would have to go ask the next day and see if we could go in their yards to get them back. It was still light outside and Phillip offered to keep the tiny one company while he was in the bath so I could walk Logan to each neighbor's door. His lesson was he had to ask on his own if he could get the frisbee out of their yard and then tell them thank you. The first neighbor just went to get it and brought it to him, the second neighbor just threw it back over the fence. I had to explain to him that we have nice neighbors but there was a chance that he would not have got his frisbees back.

Logan also wants to expand his play area in the backyard so he drew up some plans. They are pretty ambitious including a faucet. I told him that there was a lot of work ahead of us to get the back yard cleaned up and play areas made and he said ok so we will see how long he hangs with me on this!

Here is a picture of his current play area made from recycled materials I traded for,

the rock area has grown do he can use his front loader and dump truck to haul the rocks around.

New June Totals and Sprouts Shopping Trip

I stopped by Sprouts on the way home last night to do the majority of this month's grocery shopping. I have decided Wednesday is the best day to go because they overlap ads on Wednesdays. The downside is this happens to be one of their busier days because of the double ads. 

Sprouts trip:
1&1/2 pounds cherries
~3 pounds pink lady apples
~1 pound pears
1 head garlic
1&1/2 pounds peaches
1/2 pound fresh green beans
2&1/2 pounds grapes
1/4 pound jalapenos
1&1/2 pounds nectarines
1 pound sweet potatoes
1/2 pound oranges
8 ears corn

1 pkg soba noodles
2 bags potato chips
1 bag tortilla chips
2 chuck roasts
1 pork tenderloin
1 loaf garlic bread

1 bottle dish detergent
1 fabric softener
1 laundry detergent
1 bar soap

 subtotal:                                          $48.48 SNAP
                                                         $14.55 Cash

Totals:     $48.48 SNAP
                $64.43 Cash

I need to work on my menu using all the fruits and veggies I have purchased. Tonight I plan on cutting up the pineapples and washing the other fruit as well as working on the menu.

Originally forgot to post that I ended up making Jolean's Chesse Potato Smoked Sausage Casserole last night with 3 of the smaller potatoes, the leftover cheese sauce and the leftover sausage I had on hand. I skipped the first few steps because I had the cheese sauce and I omitted the paprika. I am not sure why but it was especially good served with garlic bread. There was only a smidge leftover.

More and More Mobility at Our House

The tiny one AKA Clark is getting more and more mobile and things are getting interesting. He wants to be with his brother most of the time so he crawls quickly toward him. He is cruising on the furniture some which has resulted in a couple of spills and bruises. This portion is to be expected, but the funny part is he has become a little thief. He keeps taking things from around the house and hiding them under the couch. My hairbrush was the latest item I had to go fishing for. I bring this up because now if I see him with something and I say his name he immediately throws the item and looks at me like "What, I do not have anything?" The babysitter told me this morning that at her house he puts all the items in her kitchen under one of the chairs.

I know he will be walking soon which makes me both happy and sad. Happy because he can be more independent and carry the items he wants with both hands. It makes me sad because he is the last baby I will have and this is the beginning of the end of him being a baby.

June Totals and Menu Items

The totals for June stack up as follows:

Target: (visit on Friday when I picked up RX)
2 boxes of fruit snacks from clearance rack                                       
Package of 4 fresh turkey burger patties also on clearance                
subtotal:                                                                                                $5.75 

Kroger: (Sunday visit)
2 jars of baby food
1 pkg candy(Free Friday download)
2 pkgs pecan rolls
1 pkg fresh broccoli and carrots 
1 bottle of lemonade tea (Free Friday download)
3 boxes baby cereal
1 pkg lunch meat sliced chicken
4 cases soda ( I know bad for me and unnecessary)
1 case water ( Logan's snack day)
subtotal:                                                                                               $25.74

Kroger ( Tuesday visit)
4 boxes fruit snacks ( Logan's snack day)
42 jars baby food
1 bottle of saline nasal spray
2 pineapples
1 pkg mushrooms
1 pkg flake coconut
1 pkg smoked sausage
1 bunch of mixed fresh herbs
subtotal:                                                                                               $18.39

Total thus far:

cash: $49.88
SNAP: $0


Monday night I was trying to use more of the rotisserie chicken so I fixed this  Creamy Tomato Spinach Pasta dish but added the chicken right before the cooked pasta since it just needed to warm. It was just a touch tangy but it was good, other than cutting the tomato paste I am not sure how I would get rid of the tang.  There was a bit of chicken left and I decided to just give it to Turbo our dog. The next day I regretted that decision because it was enough that I could have made chicken salad for my lunch. Live and learn though.

Tuesday night I cooked the smoked sausage I purchased earlier in the evening and steamed the broccoli from the fresh broccoli and carrots mix I had purchased on clearance Sunday. I made a cheese sauce to go over the broccoli which is always yummy. Phillip ate all the broccoli so none of it to make over but I am thinking of making a version Jolean's Cheese Potato Smoked Sausage Casserole tonight to use up the leftover smoked sausage and the cheese sauce I overmade. I have some of the gifted potatoes to use before they start turning and think this is a wise way to use it all up.

Before you ask yes I did separate out the broccoli and carrots even though I bought them as a mix. It was a pre cut item that was on clearance for 50 cents in the produce section. I bought it because I never could purchase both fresh veggies for that price and bonus I did not have to chop these. Phillip likes to snack on the carrots during the day with some ranch dressing so I kept them out for him and just steamed the broccoli for dinner.

Being a Mom and Using Your Birthday Money

My mom had sent me some birthday money and she kept calling me to ask if I had spent it yet. I told her several times I was going to use it for a pedicure which if you have seen my feet you will understand. If I am not required to wear shoes then I do not, meaning I am barefoot most of my evenings and weekends. My feet are callused enough that I walked to the mailbox with Logan on pavement when it was 90 degrees outside and did not even feel it. Anyway the day set aside for my pedicure was last Friday and if you have checked out the blog then you noticed instead of getting a pedicure and possibly an eyebrow wax because they are also scary I took Logan out for the day. My mom of course is indignant because I was supposed to spend the money on myself. This of course made me think through the day and I do not regret my decision, of course I would love to get a pedicure but I enjoyed my day with Logan. I also remember my mom one year spending her birthday money on some clothes for us at Goodwill when she went there to find something for herself. Priorities change when you are a parent and I am thinking I can probably survive without the pedicure, heck I can probably find 101 tips on pinterest to give myself one.

This memory makes me want to send my mom a gift card so she can go buy herself some clothes now but I know her and she would probably find somebody else something while she was there!

Day off Work with Logan and the busy weekend.

Friday I had asked off work to go to an outdoor event Logan's school was going to have that morning. The event was postponed for the second time because of the rain but since it was the last time for quite awhile I was going to have relief at work I still took the day off. Up until that morning my plan was to take Logan to school and I would go use my birthday money to get a pedicure and grocery shop. I would then pick up Logan from school and we could go do something together. That morning however Phillip asked if I was going to keep him out and initially I said no and then he said I thought you were going to take him on a "field trip". I caved and kept Logan out only I did not initially tell him or we would have never left the house. Actually I told him we needed to hurry so we would have time to go get donuts. He hurried surprisingly and did not seem to notice at all when we left the house without his backpack.

We finished at the donut place way past when he needed to be at school but he was still clueless. Sometimes not having a watch has benefits. As we were pulling out of the parking lot and headed in the opposite direction of his school he finally asked and I told him he was having a mama/Logan day without Clark. It was exciting news for him and so we continued to our next stop which was the unglamorous Winco since it was still too early to go to the museum and I figured we might as well knock an errand off the list. He helped me pick up the items we needed/that were on an amazing sale plus a box of fruit snacks that he wanted. After checking out at the store, which in case you are wondering I did have a cooler bag with an ice pack in it in my trunk for the 1 item (cheese) we bought that needed to be refrigerated. After leaving here we ran next door (practically) to the Racetrac so I could fill my cup. I have more than paid for that cup 4 times over at this point and we still have 2 months to go on the promotion. After that quick in and out of the gas station we headed toward the museum. Getting there went faster than I thought so we went to the botanic gardens and walked around even though it was misting a bit. I snapped this awesome picture of Logan peering in the pond looking for frogs. He calls the lilypads, lilyfrogs which I find cute.

We were only in the gardens for a short period of time and then we went to the museum. He was excited as he kept asking to go to a museum before he knew what one held. I went ahead and added IMAX tickets to our purchase so we could watch a film on tornadoes, something else that he loves. The museum we went to had some great hands on exhibits for the kids which he loved. We played construction worker and train conductor.

After I pulled him away from the trains so we could see the snakes they have and another favorite thing DINOSAURS!

I could go on and on with the exhibits he loved but you get the idea. There were 2 things I discovered about my child that I did not know until this point which also pointed out that he is sooo my child. He is afraid of heights as I am. I discovered this when I was trying to show him some fountains from the second floor windows of the museum. He told me that I was trying to push him out the windows and he was scared so we had to talk about that. This is something I understood so when passing the windows the rest of the day I put him on the inside of me. The second was he was afraid to walk down the stairs, this is because of the fear of heights. I am usually ok unless I can see through the stairs and then I start to panic that I am going to plummet to my death as the stairs somehow give way. Talking through this with Logan as we walked down the stairs helped both of us I think. He almost wanted to bail on the movie because of the stairs and how loud it was at the beginning. He toughed it out though and enjoyed the movie which I knew he would since he has a deep fascination with tornadoes. After leaving the IMAX we went to the planetarium show since I love those normally and Logan likes to look at the stars. This show was seriously disappointing and I will have to find a better one to take him to. By the time we had done all of this is was late afternoon and we were both hungry so on to Chick-Fil-A we went. This allowed him to eat and play some more with other kids while it allowed me to eat and read a good portion of the book I had in my purse. We left the restaurant and then went to Target to pick up a prescription I had called in and a couple of hotwheels for him. After Target we went to the library and he played on the computer for a little bit and then talked to his favorite librarian. Leaving the library we completed one more stop at Kroger to pick up some bananas and some food for the tiny one. While there we discovered they had marked their Florida's natural orange juice down to 99 cents a container so I stocked up on that! I also decided that I was worn out so I picked up a rotisserie chicken, which by the way you can not use SNAP to purchase because it is hot and is considered prepared food. It does not matter that it is the same price as an uncooked chicken and that I can still make upwards of 5 meals with the meat and stock from the bones...I still have to pay for it. At this point I did not care, I bought the chicken and we headed home so he could tell dada about his day and I could get dinner ready. While out a trade had been completed on the porch. I loaned one of Phillip's suit jackets out for a couple rolls of paper towels which were pretty desperately needed.

Dinner was chicken, steamed corn and a green salad. The chicken was immediately broken down and the carcass was put into the crockpot along with some water, carrots and celery still hanging out from my last basket and some herbs. I let the stock cook overnight and strained it on Saturday evening. It produced 8 cups of really richly colored stock that I put up in the freezer for future use. I put it up in (2) 2 cup containers as well as (1) 4 cup container.

Saturday we got up and did a few things around the house while Phillip went to test with another department. After a bit the kids and I went over to a friend's house so she and I could visit and Logan could play with her son. They were having way too much fun and getting Logan to leave was not the easiest thing ever. Of course it was past lunch time and we had not eaten so I took the to McDonald's for a cheap meal and more play time for Logan and even Clark. Clark is now mobile enough to cruise around the tiny tot area with the other kiddos while Logan plays with the older kids. After leaving McDonald's we did a drive by drop off at the library. Phillip had finished his test and was out weedeating the church's property. By the time he got home he was in pretty intense pain so he tried to just shower and take it easy. Logan had napped after the day's adventure and so he helped me make some popsicles from the orange juice we bought and then he was off to play some more. For dinner that night I used some of the chicken from Friday night as well as the leftover corn, a couple of eggs, some frozen asparagus, snow peas and broccoli as well as some dried onions and garlic to make a stir fry. It was actually stir fried rice as I cooked some brown rice and put it in the pan also. It was good although the brown rice does give it a chewier texture than white rice.

Sunday morning we went to church and had lunch with Loralee's family as usual and then headed home. The kids and I decided to go outside so Logan could write on the driveway with chalk for a few minutes and then he wanted to go for a walk. I need more exercise in my life but I am never sure where to fit it in so this was a good idea to me. Off on the walk we headed! Once home I left Logan watching a show on lions and took Clark to Kroger with me to do a return. We of course ended up picking up a couple of items because I randomly remembered Logan's last snack day of pre-k is Wednesday. The evening was pretty normal once we got home and got the stuff from Kroger put up.

Books May 26th through June 2nd

I have not made it through very many books in this time, a little disappointing to me but it will be ok.


I finished Deliver Us yesterday evening. I liked this book although it was sad to hear the stories from so many women who died in one area. It was interesting and a little disturbing since that area happens to be in the state I live.

After finishing up with Deliver Us, I started listening to Nobody's Cuter than You. It is a funny book looking at female friendship.

I am still reading 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, This is such a good book. I am recommending it to a lot of people. It is a book I will have to end up purchasing because there is no way to digest everything in the time allotted by the library.

I also started The September Society, I liked the first in this series so I thought I would continue and see how it pans out.

May Totals

I am going to post this one as it's own little post...it feels like it needs that.

May's totals of course are more than I budgeted, it ended up being $224.73 instead of the $189.00 it should have been.

I can give a ton of excuses the main one being the tiny one is still using formula for the next couple of months and despite coupons, rebate checks and the clearance racks at every store I know of it is expensive. He will start weaning next month so I just need to do the best I can over the next couple of months.