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A Few of my Favorite Things

11 Dec

I know I mention Pinterest an awful lot here, but it’s pretty amazing and I am not afraid to admit that I’m addicted. Here are some of my favorite things this week:

I don’t know who thinks of these things, but this is awesome. If only I had the wall space and this amazing collection of heels.

Source: Uploaded by user via Becky on Pinterest

I recently went to the hardware store and grabbed color swatches in the colors around my house, but this is an even better idea. Dip paint sticks into the actual paint you used to paint your house, drill holes and attach to an O-ring.

 

Source: nattybydesign.blogspot.com via Becky on Pinterest

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup in the Crock Pot! This sounds SO delicious! It’s definitely on the new recipe list for next week.

Countdown to Christmas

1 Dec DSC_0001

Ever since I had Nicholas I’ve been fascinated with different ways to countdown to Christmas. Every year I try something different hoping to build more and more excitement for the kids and find a tradition we can stick to each year.

Early on I tried the same thing my parents used to do with us, which was the classic construction paper rings. We would sit down every year to make and decorate them and then tear a ring off every day until Christmas. Somehow it didn’t have the same magic it did when I was a kid.

Some years we’ve kept it really simple and bought a simple wall hanging that we changed the date on each day. We forgot about it most days and it was rather uneventful when we did remember to do it.

One year we got a little crazy and even tried the Sock Advent Calendar, which Nicholas loved because he got a presents every day, but I hated because it was REALLY hard to find reasonably priced items that fit into those little itty bitty socks. Side note: if anyone needs any baby socks let me know.

Well, this year I may have gotten just slightly carried away…

We have the simple foam door hanging where we change the little red stopper each day.

We have the classic “piece of chocolate each day” countdown that I got on clearance after Christmas last year. Those chocolates may or may not poison my children.

We have the Lego Advent calendar Nicholas has been begging us to buy for weeks. We caved. His reaction when he opened it was completely worth it. He was over-the-top excited.

Last year we decided to go the same route everyone else was going nd adopted an Elf on the Shelf. I can’t for the life of me remember what we named him, but he’s definitely making an appearance again for 2011 since this will  be the first year Emily really “gets it”.

We can’t forget about the giant Christmas countdown sign I made over the weekend.

And last but not least, this evening’s addition to the already ridiculous list… the Holiday Book Countdown. I read about this idea on Pinterest over the summer and started planning and collecting immediately. I finished up the collection last week with a few recommendations from friends, and got them all wrapped and numbered tonight. If I can keep Emily from opening every one of them by 7am tomorrow morning I will have accomplished something big.

Now if I can just remember to open/change out/move/build/eat/hide to keep everything going for the next 25 days.

Anyone want to take any bets on how likely that is?

Hint: Not very! 

Slow-Cooker Lasagna Takes the Lead

14 Sep

I’ve been trying to beef up my supply of Crock Pot recipes since it’s often much easier to prep meals early in the day than at dinnertime. I can prepare everything around the time we’re eating lunch and basically forget about it until dinners ready to be served at 6pm. I’m a big fan of that.

Lately, I get most of my new recipes from magazines – Cooking Light, Real Simple, Parenting, etc. – so I had a file full of unorganized magazine pages. Over the weekend I decided to get organized, so I put them all into plastic sleeves, categorized them, and put them into a binder.  Those that I have online I’ve bookmarked under “recipe” on my Delicious account, so I have two go-to places when it comes time to plan meals for the week.

Besides being unorganized with my recipes, I also have a habit of sitting down to determine meals for the week, making my shopping list based on that and then throwing my shopping list out when I’m done at the store. Suddenly, I can’t remember what recipes I’d planned for or why I bought the random foods I’m finding in my pantry and fridge. This week I decided to start keeping a list of recipes we have food for, so we can quickly determine what we’re going to eat each afternoon/evening.

Now to the point of this post… slow-cooker lasagna. This is a recipe I pulled out of Kraft’s Food & Family magazine almost a year ago now, but never took the time to make. Boy have we been missing out! Keep in mind, I’m really picky about lasagna. My mom makes lasagna that is to-die-for. I never order lasagna in a restaurant and have never had anyone else’s lasagna that touched my moms. My moms is still the best, but since I can’t seem to repeat hers no matter what I do, I needed my own.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef (I used 90/10 and it was great)
  • 1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 container (15 oz) Ricotta cheese
  • 1 pkg (7 oz) 2% milk shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • 6 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Directions

  1. Brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water.
  2. Mix Ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 tbsp Parmesan, egg and parsley.
  3. Spoon 1 cup meat sauce into slow cooker; top with layers of half each of the noodles, broken to fit, and cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups of the remaining meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles, broken to fit, cheese mixture and meat sauce. Cover with lid.
  4. Cook on LOW 4-5 hours or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; let stand, covered, 10 min. or until melted.

What comes out is yummy goodness that everyone in my family loved. Well, except the baby who is once again sick and won’t eat anything except Annie’s fruit snacks, but she doesn’t count.

I cooked ours for just about 5 hours and it ended up with those burnt cheese edges that my husband and I both fight over. We had enough for all four of us, plus leftovers for about two more people – or one if my husband gets a hold of them.

I also just noticed that the recipe has a tip about making everything the night before, layering it into the Crock Pot liner and refrigerating it overnight. Then the next day all you have to do is pull it out, drop it in Crock Pot and turn it on. Genius!

The Coupon Game is ON

13 Sep

I’ve never been a big fan of clipping coupons. It always seemed like a lot of work for not much savings. But like most people, we are always looking for ways to cut back and spend less so I decided it was worth a shot.

We already get the Sunday paper with all of the coupons and ads, so a few weeks ago I dove in and started clipping away. I will admit it’s been a little frustrating to figure out how to get organized and know for sure that I’m getting the best deals. Although I’m lucky to have some great local resources to help me through the process. Laura Thornquist runs a website called My Dallas Mommy that’s been incredibly helpful for me. She and her team review most of the big ads each week and post all of the deals. Plus, if there’s a coupon available to go with it, they show where you can get the coupon and what your final price will be if you use it.

This past Sunday was the first day I really focused on planning out my shopping in a way that I could take advantage of all of the sales plus all of my coupons. I went to three stores – Tom Thumb, Walgreens and Target – and saved $67.29, which was about 27% of my total. Plus, I walked away with a $5 Target gift card just for buying two bottles of fabric softener instead of my usual one.

Are you thinking that seems like a ridiculous amount to spend grocery shopping? If so, keep in mind I have a toddler still in diapers and have to supply them for our house, Grandma’s house and daycare. It adds up. Quick. The diapers are the main reason I started checking coupons and circulars in the first place.

Are you thinking it seems like a lot of extra stops? It didn’t take me more than 40 minutes to visit two extra stores and they’re right across the street from each other, so there wasn’t much extra driving involved. I’m lucky to live in an area where I can hit any of the major grocery stores, drug stores and big box stores within 10 minutes of my house, which makes it easy for me to take advantage of deals at multiple locations. I did the bulk of my shopping at Target since I had a bunch of their coupons. Then only bought items at Tom Thumb and Walgreens if I could take advantage of a sale AND a coupon together.

The hardest part is staying focused on what we NEED so I don’t end up buying things we wouldn’t normally buy or buying too much and having food go bad. Plus, I have to be careful to check the price for other similar items when I get to the store. Sometimes the sale price (even with a coupon) isn’t better than the price for other comparable items. For instance, I came across two coupons for Claritin that I could combine for a savings of about $7, but when I got to Walgreen’s I found their generic was buy one, get one free, which made it a MUCH better deal for me.

I’m excited to see where this will go and if I can get better at it. It will take some discipline to sit down each Sunday and plan my shopping, but I think I can do it most weekends. I’m also hoping to take a class from Laura one of these days, so I can better understand how to get organized and how to take advantage of multiple coupons, double coupon days, etc.

I’m keeping track of my savings so I know what kind of impact it’s made after a few months, so I will occasionally post updates for everyone.

Photo courtesy of MissMessie.

Remind Me Again?

1 Sep

When I talk to people I grew up with we often talk about how things have changed in the town we grew up in. Many of my childhood friends still live in the area, so I love getting updates from them on how things have changed. The odd thing is that, despite having lived in the same town for 18 years, I can not remember streets. The names always sounds familiar, but I can never remember exactly where it’s at or what’s near it. I have the same problem with people’s names. I recognize the name, but very often can’t picture their face.

It’s not just my long-term memory though.

Every once in a while my mom will ask me to bring something from home – more diapers, clean clothes, a special toy, etc. With the kids spending so much time with her during the week this is a pretty frequent occurrence. It’s guaranteed that between her house and mine, which is less than 1 mile, I will forget. A lot goes on in that short distance – loading kids (and all of their bags) into the car, talking to Nicholas about his day, unloading kids and their bags, chasing Emily into the house – let alone what happens once we actually do get in the door.

I do what I can to jog my memory. Old photo albums, yearbooks, Facebook and even Google Maps come in handy for remembering old memories. Calendars, to-do lists and email reminders work great for everyday items. Even poor grandma has to send me emails if she wants me to remember!

So if I ever forget something you told me or asked me to do, please don’t be offended. Despite my best efforts things sometimes fall through the cracks. I promise it’s nothing personal.

Photo: Tim in Sydney on Flickr

Goals? What Goals?

12 Aug

A couple of months ago I blogged about some goals I’d set for myself. The last time I posted an update was back in May, so just in case everyone was wondering (insert sarcasm) I thought I would post a quick update.

  1. Write more? Check! I actually have a stockpile of ideas for future blog posts. I never thought I would get to that point.
  2. Decluttering? Oh yeah! Especially this past weekend. I cleaned out our entry closet, master closet, kitchen drawers and the fridge in one weekend. Plus, I got rid of my kitchen piles with this cute little desktop organizer from OfficeMax.
  3. Exercise? I have good weeks and bad weeks. I did end up running a 5k, which I really should have blogged about but forgot. It was really much harder than I thought it would be. I thought running with all of those people would be motivating, but it was really more frustrating than anything else. However, I did beat my best time by more than 5 minutes, so despite it being unpleasant during the race, it was an awesome feeling afterwards. I’m still running and exercising about 4 nights a week and will probably run another 5k down the road. The exercise, in addition to sticking to Weight Watchers, has put me within 2 lbs of my weight loss goal so that, of course, feels pretty damn awesome.
  4. Multitasking? This is one area I’m not sure I’ve improved, but it’s sort of a difficult goal to track. I have gotten much better at planning and scheduling my time which does allow me to focus on individual tasks. That’s a step in the right direction.

elephant balanceOverall, I feel like I’m in a really good place right now. Some recent changes to my schedule and small changes to how I manage things around the house have allowed me to strike an almost perfect balance between work and home. All of the progress has really helped to clear my head and make me feel a little more in control.

{Insert contented sigh…}

Photo courtesy of paraflyer on Flickr.

Piles and Piles of Papers

28 Jul

I have a lot of piles in my kitchen. Piles of paper. They’re neat piles, but their still piles. Piles that make me crazy.

I’ve tried to combat them on several occasions. Throw stuff away. File it in the office. I even tried to hang these cute little folders on the wall for each of us to file our piles in.

They’re cute aren’t they? Well, they didn’t work either.

Why do I have piles you ask? Mostly because I worry about forgetting about something if it’s not out where I can see it. Out of sight, out of mind. Sometimes because I’m just not sure where to put it.

Right now when I look around my kitchen there are three piles.

Anyone have any tips? How do you combat the piles?

How do you keep track of all the magazine clippings, coupons, recipes, community activity guides, receipts, summer schedule, etc. that come into your home every day?

What about during the school year when you add to that list graded papers, permission slips, weekly newsletters from the teacher, spelling lists…? Truly the list goes on and on.

Generally I’m a pretty neat person. Everything has a place.

Except the papers.

Those don’t have a place. Or at least not a place where they can be safely put away but NOT forgotten.

We’ve Been Invaded!

25 Jul

Yes, we were invaded today. By those dirty, nasty little bugs called LICE!

Today began rather nicely. Both kids slept until 9:30, which means mommy got to sleep until 9:30. A very pleasant surprise since I haven’t been feeling 100% and am afraid I may be coming down with something.

I was craving Starbucks so I grabbed Emily, who loves to talk to all the people in coffee shop, and ran over to get us breakfast drinks. On the way home I stopped at the gas station to fill up really quickly and rolled the windows down so I could talk to Emily while we were waiting.

And that’s when I saw it.

Creepy, crawly, nasty thing right on her bangs. I drove home faster than I probably should have and we’ve been laundering, shampooing, combing, rinsing, and drying children (plus 1 parent), carpet, stuffed animals, bedding, and towels ever since. We’re almost done for today and can only hope that when we re-check in two days that we won’t have to start the process all over again.

Here’s a glimpse of that chaos of today…

Click to enlarge.

Breaking Through the Clutter

16 Jul

Last week I talked about things I love to read so much that I can’t wait for them to arrive in my inbox, in my mailbox or at my curb. Last week it was all about items I enjoy for personal reasons. This week I’m making a shift to things I love to read for business reasons.

I read a lot of business focused content each day, but there are only a few people that really manage to break through and provide content I know I can consistently count on.

Jay Baer writes a blog called Convince and Convert where he provides fantastic advice on creating a social media strategy. His methodology is simple and brilliant and makes social media very accessible for anyone, whether you’re a large corporation or a neighborhood restaurant. I’ve listened to his core presentation on creating a social media strategy at least three times and each time I pick up something new that I can apply to my work. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting him in person and, despite his “fame” in social media circles, he’s a very easy going and fun person to be around.

Amber Naslund writes at Brass Tack Thinking and I’m not sure what more to say other than the fact that she is S-M-A-R-T. I love that she’s not afraid to disagree with what others have to say about social media and community management. With all of the “wash, rinse, repeat” that is present on the web – especially as it relates to social media – Amber is one of the few that consistently surprises me with original and brilliant content. She challenges her readers in a way very few others do.

Michael Hyatt is the Chairman and CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers and writes about a number of topics from social media to management and leadership topics. There are a thousand blogs on the topic of management and leadership, but I find Michael’s to be much more realistic and relevant. I’m often overwhelmed by the volume of content that shows up in my RSS feed each day, but it’s a breath of fresh air when I find a new post from Michael. They are almost always short, sweet and very often I can walk away and immediately apply something I read.

So that’s it for my list of favorite reads. I’ve covered moms, shopping, sales, home organization, social media, management, writing and running, which pretty well sums me up…

I’m a mom who loves to shop (especially when she can get a good deal), enjoys reading about home organization (although not always good at applying it), is addicted to social media (both personally and professionally), and has recently picked up two new hobbies of writing and running (we’ll see how long they last).

Photo courtesy of smemon87.

Blogs and Mags and Ads. Oh My!

9 Jul

I love to read. A LOT.

For both personal and professional reasons I am reading all day long. I start out the morning catching up on blogs and articles, arrive home to my favorite magazines in the mailbox, and end the day in bed with a book.

As a matter of fact, sometimes my habit can get a little out of hand. With the plethora of information available on the web it can be overwhelming. I don’t want to miss anything good, but I also can’t afford to spend all my time reading when there’s work to be done.

Some things I read because I feel like I should and others I truly look forward to. After reading a great post on Marketing Pilgrim last week about content anticipation I thought I would share with you some of the content I anticipate.

There are plenty of  ”mommy bloggers” out there, but there are only a couple I truly look forward to reading. Holly Homer, the mom behind June Cleaver Nirvana, is mom to three boys, homeschools part-time, runs her own blog, as well as a community blogging site called BurbMom AND just started a company called Business2Blogger. Oh wait, I just discovered as I was writing this post that she also started DFWBloggers.com.

Good grief woman! I have no idea how she manages it all, but I do know that I love reading her posts. The reasons are pretty simple: (1) she’s funny and (2) she takes great pictures. What more could you ask for? Holly also happens to live in the same town I do and, although I’ve only met her briefly, she’s just as funny and down to earth in person, which only adds to the appeal of her blog.

Shanna Coady is equally as crazy but for a different reason. She writes at her blog My Favorite Everything. Just like Holly she has three children, but she has three girls. Here’s the crazy part though…all three are under the age of three. Seriously? My children are 6.5 years apart and I still struggle to keep up. You could admit me to an insane asylum if I had them that close together. But I digress.

The point is that I look forward to her posts each day. I love that they seem to magically appear while I’m sleeping each night and most mornings hers is the first I read. Just like the rest of us, she struggles to keep up with it all and her blog provides great insight into how she does it with tips and tricks, product recommendations, weekly menus, and monthly to-do lists. But the best part is how personal it is. She writes about her girls, her weight loss efforts, and her struggles & frustration, which makes it very real and very relatable.

As you know if you’re a regular reader of my blog, I’ve never been much of a writer and only recently have started to enjoy it. I’m always looking for people who write about writing. Hmm. That doesn’t sound quite right, but you get my point.

Julie Roads writes a little blog called Writing Roads that provides me with much-needed motivation. She’s an incredible writer and her blog very often pushes me to stop and think about things I otherwise might not. As an added bonus, she’s also a runner, so she provides not only writing and blogging inspiration, but also the occasional running inspiration.

I realize everything I’ve mentioned so far is online content. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise since, besides being a certified tech geek with an an iPhone, iPad and Macbook always in tow, my job is almost completely web and social media related. However, I do still occasionally read actual printed materials. I LOVE Real Simple magazine. I’ve been struggling to get it delivered since we moved six months ago, but it provides more helpful information than any other home or parenting magazine. I’m always ripping out pages to save for later.

Oddly, I also anticipate the Sunday ads each week. We only get the newspaper delivered on Sundays and I immediately break into that plastic wrapper of circulars. For years I’ve been doing this and rarely deviate from the norm: Target, Kohl’s, Wal-mart, and Best Buy, plus Parade magazine, of course. The rest of the paper immediately goes into the recycling bin. I am fully aware I could see all of these ads online, but there’s something about that Sunday morning tradition that I just can’t seem to shake it.

I really hate to write another two-part post, but this post has gotten a little longer than I expected and has focused entirely on things I read for personal reasons. Next time I will share some of the people who’s content I anticipate for business reasons.

What magazines, newspapers, blogs, etc. do you look forward to? I’m always looking for new stuff!

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