URF...

I have nothing to post about. I have no energy for crafts, no stomach for cooking, and no brain to think of anything witty or funny to say.

I made dinner on Saturday night for the first time in nearly a month (chicken, rice, and steamed veggies--it doesn't get any more boring than that) and spent the remainder of the evening laying on the couch, trying not to vomit. GAH. It's a GOOD thing I did the pantry challenge in January because I've blown all my savings from January this month on pre-made food...

Midget and I did have a great time at my service club's Valentine's Day Dance. As expected, I had to drag her off the dance floor when it was time for us to go. I enjoyed having a reason to pretty myself up and wear the gorgeous dress I bought from Bettie Page Clothing for my Stepson's wedding. Thanks to my nausea, the dress fit even better than it did in November, and I actually felt like a million bucks that evening!

Peanut's First Portrait

Here's our first glimpse of Peanut! Everything looks good at this point, but I am exhausted, hormonal, and sick. Just like my pregnancy with Midget, I have lost a bunch of weight this first trimester. I just do NOT want to eat! Nothing sounds good and then I feel sick when I eat, so I don't finish my food. Good thing I have plenty of stored fat to nourish this kid!

Challenge Check-in and HOLY CRAPOLI

Well, I figured I'd better check in with the challenge, seeing as it's nearly over and I haven't checked in for almost two weeks. Week 2 went fine. I spent $20 and change on groceries and I was feeling pretty good. However, week 3 did not go so well. I didn't plan well, fell into some old habits, and apparently was craving fruit while shopping and ended up spending $40 on groceries!! This last week, I got back in the groove and spent $23. I didn't feel too bad going $3 over since I bought a cake mix and frosting to make my hubby birthday cupcakes! Happy Birthday to my sweet hubby!

My total spent for the month of January was $103. This was quite a bit more than my original $65. However, I am definitely feeling pretty darned good, considering I normally set myself a $75 per week goal. That means doing the pantry challenge saved me nearly $200 in groceries for the month, so I'm not even CLOSE to feeling sad that I went $43 dollars over my original goal. I knew I'd probably hit $80 anyway, considering my required calcium increase.

Plus, I still have many, MANY meals I can make out of my freezer. I think I'll continue eating from the pantry for at least another week. Here's where I'm at on my list of freezer meals.

Broccoli & Ham Quiche (mix is already in the freezer), salad
Homemade Veggie Pizza & Salad
Chicken Pot Pie & Cut veggies
Chalupa (pork and pinto beans already in freezer) served over shredded lettuce with tomatoes, avocado and Spanish Rice
Turkey Sausage & Eggs Florentine scramble
Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs, Salad
Italian Wedding Soup, Homemade Bread
Turkey Tacos, corn
Crockpot Beef Roast and Veggies
Shepherd's Pie, salad
North Carolina BBQ Pork, Homemade Coleslaw, served on Buns
Spicy Pork, Vegetable Gumbo Soup served with Rice
Turkey Burgers, Oven Fries, Green Beans
Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet Potato Fries
Hoisin Pork Stirfry (includes veggies), Rice
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole, Peas
Turkey Chili, Green Beans

And now, for the HOLY CRAPOLI part of this post...

I'm going to be a Grandmother in October. At the ripe old age of 35. Yep. I'm still completely in denial. My stepson and his wife are pregnant and will be welcoming a baby approximately one month after we welcome the newest member of our family. So, little Peanut will become an Aunt or Uncle at the ripe old age of one month. I've already decided, thanks to Brandy of Not Your Average Soccer Mom, that I will be Mimi, at least until I'm 40. That way, I won't be required to stock up on Poligrip, Depends, and nylons large enough to give me elephant ankles.

Challenge Check-in and My Amazing Hubby

Well, week one of the Eat From the Pantry Challenge is over and I'm pretty proud of the progress I made. I took a trip to the grocery store and spent $20 and a few cents. I completely underestimated just how much dairy I'm going to need to eat while pregnant--the equivalent of one whole QUART of milk per day! I'm going to keep my budget at $65 right now, but I will mostly likely go over on dairy.

This week, I will have to purchase at least one staple--flour. I used the last of my flour last night making bread, and the flour is much cheaper than buying the bread itself. I can buy one loaf of bread or an entire bag of flour, which will make 12 loaves of bread using my recipe. Hmmmm, that's not a difficult choice.

Here's where I'm at on my meal list. I added two meals from my backup list because my husband asked for them.
Broccoli & Ham Quiche (mix is already in the freezer), salad
Homemade Veggie Pizza & Salad
Chicken Pot Pie & Cut veggies
Chalupa (pork and pinto beans already in freezer) served over shredded lettuce with tomatoes, avocado and Spanish Rice
Turkey Sausage & Eggs Florentine scramble
Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs, Salad
Italian Wedding Soup, Homemade Bread
Turkey Tacos, corn
Crockpot Beef Roast and Veggies
Shepherd's Pie, salad
North Carolina BBQ Pork, Homemade Coleslaw, served on Buns
Spicy Pork, Vegetable Gumbo Soup served with Rice
Turkey Burgers, Oven Fries, Green Beans
Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet Potato Fries
Hoisin Pork Stirfry (includes veggies), Rice
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole, Peas
Turkey Chili, Green Beans

Speaking of my awesome husband, look at what he made for Midget!

It's a learning tower! She can use it to wash dishes, help Mama cook, make cookies--all kinds of fun stuff that I used to put her on a chair to do! These sell for nearly $200 and he was able to make it for about $60 in materials. It could be done even cheaper, but he wanted to use oak to match our cabinets. Midget loves it so much and put it right to work washing dishes!






Speaking of Midget, I've barely put any Midget pictures on here lately. Here's an adorable picture of her while she was washing dishes.

Eat From the Pantry Challenge

After finding no room in my freezer last month to put Christmas leftovers, I realized I needed to clean out my freezer. When I read about Money Saving Mom's Eat from the Pantry Challenge, I immediately decided I NEEDED to take on this challenge.

I am a bit embarrassed that I could probably eat from my pantry/freezers for at least three months without really challenging myself, but I'm committing to the challenge for the month. I took a complete inventory of my pantry and freezers and wrote up a list of meals.
I started out with one dinner per day, but already the 2nd day of doing the challenge, I realized I don't need a dinner for every day. My husband will be traveling for work for much of this month, so I will be able to take advantage of eating lots of leftovers.

I'm watching a friend's 20-month old son this month, so I'll be feeding him as well, but he doesn't quite make up for what my husband consumes!

Here are my rules for the challenge.
1. One grocery trip per week with the purchase only of dairy, produce (mostly fruit and lettuce), and as little bread as possible.
2. I will need to break one time from the challenge for an Indian potluck I'm hosting. I will spend no more than $15 on my dish for the potluck (hopefully less if I can find a recipe using mostly ingredients I have on hand).
3. Grocery budget for the month of January is $65 (includes $15 for Indian dish).


I'm looking forward to this challenge and seeing how well I can stick to it! Especially with my current pregnancy and making sure I don't always give into temptation. Like today, when I just HAD to have a milkshake, so I loaded both kids into the car and drove to Steak 'N Shake and arrived two minutes after Happy Hour. I begged the guy to give me the Happy Hour deal (because otherwise I would have left) and thankfully, he did. Then I was bummed because my shake didn't taste nearly as great as I thought it would in my head.

As I mentioned above, 15 dishes should cover the full month for me and if it doesn't I do have a backup list of meals. The first meal I made, quiche, fed us for dinner, lunch, and will be tomorrow's breakfast as well!

Breakfasts will be cereal, eggs, pancakes, etc. I have plenty of all of these items to last at least a month.

Lunches will be mostly leftovers or if necessary, quick meals that I already have in the freezer or pantry.

Here's my list of 15 dinners, in no particular order, because determining the day I'm going to eat a meal?? Well, let's just say Hell hasn't frozen over yet. We eat fruit with every meal, so that isn't listed.


Broccoli & Ham Quiche (mix is already in the freezer), salad
Homemade Veggie Pizza & Salad
Chicken Pot Pie & Cut veggies
Chalupa (pork and pinto beans already in freezer) served over shredded lettuce with tomatoes, avocado and Spanish Rice
Turkey Sausage & Eggs Florentine scramble
Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs, Salad
Italian Wedding Soup, Homemade Bread
Turkey Tacos, corn
Crockpot Beef Roast and Veggies
Shepherd's Pie, salad
North Carolina BBQ Pork, Homemade Coleslaw, served on Buns
Spicy Pork, Vegetable Gumbo Soup served with Rice
Turkey Burgers, Oven Fries, Green Beans
Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet Potato Fries
Hoisin Pork Stirfry (includes veggies), Rice

I'll let you know how I'm doing with the challenge. Unless I eat my arms from hunger...

Guess What Santa Brought Us???

Yep. I'm preggers!! We found out on Christmas Eve and are overjoyed to add to our little family! We should be welcoming a mini-midget around the end of August.

Merry Christmas!

Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque

I have my daughter-in-law to thank for this delicious recipe. I asked her what I should make for dinner for a friend who just had a baby and she suggested this recipe. I DETEST sweet squash soups and was a little bit concerned that it would be sweet, considering it has apples and apple juice in it. I switched out fat free half and half for heavy cream and I added the rosemary and coriander to make sure there would be a little more savory flavor--just in case.

It was delicious and only slightly sweet--perfection! There's something to be said for having a daughter-in-law in culinary school!

Butternut squash is so cheap right now and this delicious soup is perfect for chasing away the winter chills. It's filling and is only 1 WW point per serving (3/4 cup).










Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque

1 small/medium Butternut squash (approx 2 lbs)
2 Tbsp butter
1 C onions, diced
½ C celery, diced
½ C carrots, diced
½ C apples, diced
2 C chicken or vegetable broth
1 C apple juice or cider
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced or 1/4 tsp dried
1/4 tsp ground coriander
½ C fat free half and half
Salt and black pepper to taste

1. Slice squash in half, scoop seeds out (seeds may be toasted and used for garnish) and place cut side down on a greased cookie sheet and roast in 400 degree oven for 45 minutes or until tender. When tender, flip squash over, let cool slightly, and scoop out the roasted squash meat.

2. In soup pot over medium high heat, add olive oil and onions, celery, carrots, and apples. Cook for about 4 minutes or until softened and sweet smelling. Add the roasted butternut squash, the chicken broth, apple juice/cider, rosemary, and coriander. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 15 minutes until all ingredients are tender.

3. Transfer soup to blender or use a hand blender to puree soup to desired consistency. Finish by whisking in the half and half. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Flat Turkey

My Stepson's wedding was Thanksgiving weekend, so we did a very simple Thanksgiving on Wednesday night. I didn't start cooking until about 4 and we ate at 7.

I spatchcocked our turkey, which means you cut out the backbone and break the breastbone so the turkey lays flat. Our 12 lb turkey cooked in 70 minutes! I know y'all have probably moved on and are getting ready for Christmas, but since it's all fairly non-traditional, this meal would be perfect for Christmas as well.

Menu:
High Roast Butterflied Turkey
Savory Butternut Squash Dressing
Mrs. Hoggle's Stuffed Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (no recipe--just halve sprouts and toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and roast at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes and top with toasted almonds)
Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Swaggity, Baby!!

Are you using Swagbucks? If not--you should be!! I signed up for swagbucks a little over six months ago and have earned enough Swagbucks for a bunch of Amazon.com gift cards!! I bought Midget's adorable Raggedy Ann costume and a Christmas present for her with my gift cards.


You can use your Swagbucks for TONS of different items, from gift cards to an iPhone--all for just using Swagbucks as your search engine! It's an easy way to get stuff for doing something you probably already do several times a day.

Best of all, you can refer your friends and family and earn Swagbucks for doing it. So, if you decide to sign up, send me an email and I'll send you a link to sign up.

Quiet Book

For the last month or so, I've been working on a Quiet Book for my niece. My brother, his wife, and my niece are in the process of moving to Rwanda to do missionary work. I wanted to make a gift for my niece that would keep her occupied on her long plane ride to Africa. Soooo.....

This has been a labor of love and I'm still not finished, but I hope to have it completed in a few weeks.

Here are the pages I have completed so far in the order they are posted. Well, I haven't titled any of them or sewed them togther, so technically they're not completed at all. Sheesh! Quit complaining! This has been a TON of work!

• Button My Flowers (three felt flowers to button)
  
• Dress Me Up (velcro shirt, skirt, and shoes)
  
• Put Your Hand in My Mitten (open on the bottom to place hand inside)
  
• Traffic Light (velcro lights to put in the right order)
  
• Snap on My Shapes (snapped shapes to match to sewn on shapes )
  
• Telephone (moving dial and velcro handset)
  
• Chalkboard (two pages--chalk oilcloth, chalk, chalk holder, yarn secured sponge eraser, and eraser holder)
  
• Noah's Ark (zippered ark with six animal finger puppets from IKEA)
  

If you need a crash course in sewing--do one of these! I've learned to applique, put in a zipper, sew on velcro, attach snaps--all in one project!

I still have three pages left to do, so I'll update you along the way!

I've used LOTS of inspiration, but here's a few of my favorite places to gather ideas on how to make your own quiet book.

Quiet Book Instructions in PDF format with patterns
Homemade by Jill's Quiet Book with templates
An entire blog dedicated to making Quiet Books

Happy Halloween

Hope you had a great one! Ours was a bit chilly, but we just put our costumes on over our coats and looked like puffy Raggedy Ann Dolls.

Witches' Tea Party

When I saw these invitations on Living Locurto, I was dying for an excuse to do a Witches' Tea Party. Thank goodness one of my friends was looking for someone to watch her kids!! I thought it would be a fun way to have a little bitty Halloween party, something I've loved to host since I was a little girl. I printed out the invitations, rolled them up, tied them with a little string, and delivered them to their mailboxes.

When the kids arrived, we read a short Halloween book from the library and quickly got to decorating the kids' witch hats. I found the hats, the foam stickers, and the cookies at the dollar store. Since it was a kid party, I made Russian Tea, which is Tang and Instant Tea simmered with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks. I spent about $15 in total on all the supplies. Not bad for a whole lot of fun! Even Lucy Wiener Witch enjoyed herself!

This post is linked up to Amy's Finer Things Friday

DC BABY!

I've been a bit slow at posting the last few weeks for two reasons.

1. Midget decided to throw a Little People giraffe at my laptop and busted my LCD screen. Thankfully, I purchased the full service plan through Best Buy, so I didn't have to pay to get my screen replaced. I did have to live without my computer for three full weeks. At times, I'd find myself sitting on the couch with my arms raised. It was like I had a phantom laptop!

2. I went to visit a friend (sans hubby and Midget) in Washington D.C.!! Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy nearly the entire time, so most of my pictures turned out crummy. We had a great time anyway--soaking boots and all!

Handmade Fabric Barn

For a little boy's 1st birthday and my niece's 2nd birthday, I decided to torture myself and make a little travelling barn using the UK Lass in the US's tutorial. It's a great tutorial, but I would only recommend this project if you have some sewing experience. It makes an amazing product! These pictures are from the first barn I made. I'd like to say that the second one turned out perfect, but I waited too long in between making the two to remember what I'd learned from making the first one! Not perfect, but filled with character!

Elmo and Zoe Birthday Cakes

Despite my best intentions, I just couldn't help but go a little insane for Midget's Birthday dinner. When I realized that one Elmo cake wouldn't feed the number of people we were having over, I decided to make a second cake. But I couldn't just do a second Elmo cake or a round cake or cupcakes or anything that would be easy.

I decided to use the Elmo pan to make a Zoe cake. I had to do a little carving to make Zoe's nose out of Elmo's and I had to figure out a way to make her hair.

I think they turned out pretty good! Please excuse the crummy lighting. I took these pictures at 4:30 a.m. I have a sickness, people...

Me & Midge

Just thought I'd share quickly the newest picture of me and Midget, which show the new sassy glasses. My other sweet glasses got a ginormous scratch right in my line of sight. I'll get the lenses replaced, but I got these so cheap, I couldn't pass them up!

Midget's 2nd birthday is on Saturday and we are having a few people over for dinner. I didn't want to do a party because I get all crazy and go overboard with everything, but my friend Stacey was adamant that I'd better have one because she wanted to come! So we are doing burgers and dogs on the grill and I'm making a cake. It's been super hard for me not to do a zillion activities, games, goodie bags, etc.! At this point, there's just no need to go crazy. When she can invite her own little friends over, I'll do a few more special things.

So, off I go to clean. I'm such a procrastinator, it isn't even funny!

A Visit from a Bloggy Buddy!

I was so excited when Angie, co-founder of iHeartFaces and her personal blog The Arthur Clan, tweeted me that she was going to be in Ann Arbor and we should find a time to meet! We've been bloggy friends since she happened upon one of my favorite blog posts I've written thus far. She just couldn't resist my charm!

Angie is an amazing photographer and has inspired me to take better pictures and see things differently than I did before. Of course, my pictures still suck, but at least they suck a little less than they did before! When you go see her post about our meeting, you will be treated to gorgeous photos of Midget and all of Angie's adorable little rugrats! You also get to see her lovely face and my super pasty skin. I'm actually a little pissed at her for not photoshopping a tan on me! C'mon Ang!! Put those mad skillz of yours to good use and make me a bronze goddess!! While you're at it--could you pretty please take another 10 lbs off of me in our picture? Preferably in the boobage area. Thankyouverymuch.

We decided to meet at a park where all the kids could play and we could capture some good shots. Well, where she could capture some good shots and I could take 90% of my photos in the wrong setting and give them all a blue tinge. Please also pay no attention to the fact that we met in the middle of July and it is now almost September! I told y'all I've been crazy busy!!

Angie's husband Bill, aka Sweatiepy, didn't come along and I'm convinced he was afraid I was going to lay the sarcasm smack down on him! Next time, you'd better bring it Billy Boy!

Midget and Weslea were instant friends and I've decided to bring Wes along with me on all future solo trips with Midge!












Of course, Midget was equally enamored with Angie and made herself right at home in Angie's lap.













Will and Wyatt spent most of the time like this:

Blurry...











And I got to meet the love of my life--WESTON! Oh geez, I love this kid!!

How do you ever say no to this face, Angie???

A New Business Venture

Apparently, Henry and Lucy Wiener have decided to go into business. Last year, they grew one and this year, they have increased their output exponentially. This year, they've planted four tomato plants out in our dog run.



Henry Wiener told me it was Lucy Wiener's idea to start a pasta sauce company. They've decided to name it "Crappy Wiener Sauce." They expect to quadruple their efforts again next year. Since they are dogs, they've hired me to be their manager on the condition that I get all the money and continue to feed them lots of tomatoes. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me!!

My Yearbook Photos

I know I'm the last person on the planet to do this, but holy crow! My stomach still hurts from laughing at these! I especially like my 1970 picture where I'm all "Foxy Brown!" Hilarious, right??

Which one is your favorite?