We strayed from the menu a bit last week. Mommy just wasn't feeling up to cooking much. But we did have the ham casserole. I cooked the noodles in the microwave, then added cubed ham, green peas, cheese and a can of cream of chicken soup and cooked it in the microwave for about 7 minutes. It was delicious. Even my husband enjoyed it and he is not a casserole eater.

The Teriyaki Chicken-from the freezer was also great. Will be putting more of that in the freezer when I find another good deal on chicken.

This weeks menu again will be easy and simple since we have yet to get our oven fixed.

Monday: Tosquitos with rice & beans
Tuesday: Lemon-lime chicken (frozen)
Wednesday: Beef Enchiladas (frozen)
Thursday: Grilled chicken sandwiches
Friday: Hamburgers with fries and baked beans

Diaper-wipe pouch

I finally made one! A diaper-wipe pouch! I had cut the material this week and then at my shower I got one as a gift. So then I had a template to help me finish it up-somewhat. I am not a sewer-I have sewed a few pillows but that is it. I can barely sew in a straight line. But I have been wanting to get my sewing machine out and start trying to make stuff. This was a fairly easy project-although I won't tell you how long it took me to actually sew it-especially after I had to rip the seam and do half of it over again after I sewed it in the wrong place. Oh well. It was fun and turned out well for my first try. Also it is big enough to fit my sons size 6 diapers so it works great. I'm sure it'll take me a while to get it perfect, then maybe I can start selling them and giving them as gifts!!!

Baby Shower

Today was our baby shower!!! Apparently it is becoming more and more common to have baby showers for 2nd + babies. We had a great time. I joked with everyone before hand because the only thing I needed was a bottle brush-which can be found for $1. But some friends wanted to shower this baby with love and gifts so who am I to disagree? We were more than blessed with gift cards, diapers, and other great gifts for baby. Now if we can only get the doctor to commit to a date for the section!! I am so ready for this baby to be here. I told DH this morning I couldn't wait for the baby to be here so I could sleep better. He laughed. Yes I know you usually get less sleep with a new baby in the house, but with the pain in my hips and back I can only sleep 30 minutes to an hour at a time. I think with a new baby I can at least grab two hours at a time, plus I'll be able to sleep on my belly again-eventually.

Frugal Fridays

This morning as I was browsing the many blogs I visit, I came across one that blogs a frugal tip each Friday. What a great idea! Especially since we are trying desperately to cut the grocery budget these days. So I wanted to share with you guys.

One of the tips is to make your own laundry detergent. I think I may try this one day. Will have to see how it reacts with DH's skin-it'll be great if it works because the special detergent we buy for him is not cheap. DH has also mentioned line drying our clothes-hmm, not sure about that one. Maybe when we get in a new house I'll think about it more.

Another tip was freezing bananas in the skin. I have heard of freezing fruit but never bananas. J likes bananas but they usually end up spoiling in the fruit bowl and I have to throw them out. So I'll try this tip soon.

Too Much

Well today I bit off a little more than I could chew. We started out headed to a new "eat and play" but when we arrived it had not opened yet. So we drove by another "eat and play"-McDonalds-but they were packed with a Daycare class or something. So I thought we'd give Pizza Hutt another try-they are usually very slow, the play area is always filthy and unsafe. The netting has been torn forever and kids climb all inside. But by the time we got there J was asleep-good thing because the place was packed. I don't remember Pizza Hutt having a lunch buffet. Anyway, I took a drive to a neighboring town that we visit regularly. And by the time we arrived J had awaken from his nap. The place was packed but we still enjoyed lunch and play time. Afterwards we went to the library and J read some books and played with the huge checkers game. Then we went to PetSmart to check out the fish, birds, cats, dogs and other animals. By this time I was worn slap out. I don't think any of the places we visited today had their air on today-it was blazing hot everywhere we went. So after about 4.5 hours of piddling we finally got home and mommy took a rest on the couch. So I think I will try to stay home as much as possible the next couple of weeks-which will be very difficult for me-I like being on the go. But today was just too much.

I'm Addicted to Blogging

Ok so it is official, "I am addicted to blogging". I have suspected for months that I have a problem and today I took the ultimate test-and it proves what I have suspected. I am addicted.

I'm a stay at home mom, and even though we get out of the house more than most SAHM's, I still feel a little disconnected from the outside world. So I spend a good bit of time on the internet each day searching blogs and myspace. Most of the blogs I visit pertain to scrapbooking, photography, motherhood, frugal living, organizing, cooking, gardening and crafts. I have found a lot of great information and have tried to implement some of it here and there. I enjoy getting a peek into someone else's life and seeing what they do to keep life interesting. So here it is proof of my addiction. Oh well guess I could be addicted to worse things.

64%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Menu Plan Monday

Well we stuck to the menu for the most part last week. We had an unexpected (well appreciated) guest and our oven went out. So believe me those pre-cooked frozen meals I have stored in my freezer really came in handy last week. All we did was thaw overnight and heat in the microwave.

I have always read mixed reviews about freezing pasta meals ahead. But for the most part the pasta turned out edible, wasn't as firm as I like it but it was good.

We had a huge ham in the freezer so I thawed it this weekend and we'll be eating on it most of the week-starting tonight. I just threw some in the crockpot to warm during the day, then baked potatoes in the microwave and warmed a can of peas. Easy and simple!

Here is our menu for the week: Hope pour hubby doesn't get too tired of ham!

Monday: Dining out (our house is being shown at dinner time)
Tuesday: Ham casserole-includes veggies
Wednesday: Teriyaki Chicken-from the freezer
Thursday: Ham & Potatoes with a vegetable Carried over from last week
Friday: Tacos -might serve with beans or rice (hubby doesn't like either one)

Living on a Dime

Ok so for the month of July I have really kept up with our grocery budget. My DH told me we were going way over budget every month and I just didn't see how that was possible. So I have kept every receipt this month. Actually I do my grocery shopping on Friday for the week ahead so I actually bought the first week of groceries in June-so I cheated a bit there and we STILL went over budget. So I have been checking out a lot of websites about frugal grocery shopping and cooking. I've also found a few coupon sites-however in the past coupons haven't really helped much since I buy all off brand stuff anyway.

Anyway, I wanted to share a website I found tonight that has a lot of helpful hints. This site is packed full of great money saving tips, organizing tips, cleaning tips etc.

36 Week checkup

Well I got home last night about 9:30 after playing bunco with some friends. I headed to bed about 10:30, which is usually a very active time for the baby. But not last night. I tossed and turned and jiggled my belly and baby wouldn't budge. And as you know that really freaked me out. I didn't sleep well last night at all. My son woke up once in the night and I jumped in bed with him for about 20 minutes then went back to my bed-still baby not moving. Then I woke up about 3am and my back was aching severely. So I went to the recliner-and FINALLY baby moved a few times.

This morning when I got up the baby did move a few times as normal. But I was still a little anxious to get to the doctor to make sure everything was still going well.

I got to the doctors office and weighed in-lost 4 lbs-hahaha. I think it's because I got on the other scale this time and it is more in tune with my home scale. The other scale read 5 lbs heavier than my home scale. I know which one I'll be using from here on out! Anyway, I got back into the room and she checked for baby's HB and it was 147. Which is a bit of a dive from 174 two weeks ago-but still very much in the normal range. So I was relieved.

Anyway just as I predicted he wants me back in two weeks for another sonogram. I was really hoping he'd do the sonogram next week-but alas I have to wait. He obviously doesn't realize how anxious I am to get this baby here!

Menu Plan Monday-July 16

OK here is a little something I think I'll share on my blog. There is a blog I visit about organizing. And one of the things she does is a weekly menu. Well I usually sit down and plan my menus for an entire month-Monday-Friday only. I make out a "master" list of what I will need for each week and keep it on my fridge. I also keep a running grocery list on the fridge of anything we might run out of so my husband and I can just jot everything down. On Friday I'll pull the "master" list and double check what items we have on hand and add the items we need to the running grocery list. Shopping on Fridays also helps me prepare for those extra items we need if we are expecting company-which we frequently have!

My husband is an extremely picky eater so soups and "mooshy" stuff is out. So we do eat a lot of meat at our house.

Lately I've been trying a lot of freeze ahead menus and doubling some recipes and freezing half. Trying to make menu planning and cooking a little easier since we are expecting another baby soon. Monday's are usually very easy since I usually forget to plan ahead and set out our meat/meals for thawing.

So here is my menu for the week:

Monday: Chicken strips & fries (frozen)
Tuesday: Chicken Primavera
Wednesday: Ham & Potatoes with a vegetable
Thursday: Baked Ziti (already made in the freezer)
Friday: Poppy seed chicken (already made in the freezer)

Nothing really new for us this week. However I've never frozen baked ziti or poppy seed chicken for future use so we will see how they turn out.

36 Weeks Pregnant

Today I am 36 weeks pregnant. I go back to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully he'll schedule a sonogram for next week!! He wants another sonogram to see how our baby is developing and then we'll schedule the c-section. I am hoping we can schedule the section by 38 weeks-I am so ready for this baby to be here.
I have been getting a lot of rest since Thursday. My aunt came for a weekend visit-however due to certain circumstances she is staying all week. Which is great, JP loves playing with her and I love that someone else is keeping him occupied so I can take several naps during the day.

Nothing much going on around here, just trying to get everything ready for the baby, trying to keep the house cleaned in the event someone wants to look at the house and trying to keep my sanity. I got my hopes up high when we got an offer on the house and since it didn't work out I have been really bummed about it. I was so excited about getting into a new house before the baby was born-I was looking forward to no more stairs to climb several times a day and a fenced in back yard for JP to play while mommy watched from a covered porch. Oh well. We still have at least one person still interested but they still haven't been able to look at the house yet because of a work schedule. Maybe one day and hopefully they will like it enough to put on offer on it.

Disappointed

Well we got an offer on our house. It was low but we had high hopes that we could meet in the middle-but apparently not. I was so excited because the buyer wanted to close in three weeks, and I'd be 38 weeks-so that meant we could potentially be in a new house before the baby is born. Bummer. Oh well. We still have 2-3 people potentially interested but not sure if they are interested in the house and the extra lots or just the lots.

34 Weeks 3 Days

The last few days JP has stayed overnight at Nana and Papa's house. Which gave me some time to rest-haha yeah right. I got all the baby stuff out and washed. Got the crib, car seat and bouncy seat ready to go. Also got some much needed cleaning done-didn't get it all cleaned but got most of it. I was able to sleep in both mornings which was great-I still can't sleep through the night. Waking up every 2-3 hours is just getting me prepared for the baby I guess. Anyway, I took some self portraits today. So here they are...

Our First Herb Harvest!

We harvested our herb crop for the first time today!! We started with just five plants: basil, parsley, thyme, oregano and marjoram. These were some of the herbs we use in a lot of our recipes and seemed easy enough to grow and harvest so we thought we'd give them a try. JP and I bought them and planted them sometime shortly after mother's day. Above is how our herbs looked before we cut them and below is what we harvested today. I still need to string them up for drying and buy a few jars for storing.











We also bought tomato plants and a bell pepper plant. We have several flowers on our pepper plant and one lonely little pepper growing. So far our tomato plants are growing nice and tall but still no signs of tomatoes. Here is JP in front of one of the tallest tomato plants. He loves helping me water them and loves squirting mommy with the water hose!















UPDATED::
Well I have been drying my herbs in the oven today-instead of hanging them to dry. I also bought some containers at Wal-mart but when I got home and opened the package I realized there were only 2 containers when there should have been 5. Yes I only paid $3 for the containers but it's the principal-I paid for 5!!! So I'll be taking them back tomorrow and exchanging them. So I will have wait until tomorrow to store the herbs.

The house is full with the different aromas! It's great and so easy! I can't wait to see how fast they grow now that I have cut them back. And I cannot wait to try more next year!