Menu plan

I have been tweaking my menu plan just a little. I am trying to trim down my meat even more. In the winter it was easy, I just added more soups. Summer is a bit more difficult. We finally have propane for the grill, and I love to grill. But, our budget is not allowing a lot of meat. If anyone has any suggestions....PLEASE let me know!
Now on to the menu plan for this week:

Crock pot Mac-n-cheese and tuna franks
Beefy baked beans and potato salad
Homemade pizza
Stuffed shells (no meat)
Hamburgers (camping with Mom and Dad)
Lemon Pepper chicken (It was a HUGE hit with family)
Tuna casserole
Breakfast casserole

Snacks:
Homemade brownies
Homemade rice krispie treats
Cake with homemade icing
grapes
bananas
cheese

Breakfast:
pop tarts
waffles
Egg sandwiches

Lunch:
Sandwiches and fruit

I found absolutely no deals in meat so far this week! Bummer! But, I want to start learning to cook vegetarian meals. I have no creativity in this area...so I will search for some good cheap veggie meals. My garden is starting to grow and with it being summer, I'm hoping to really stock up on some awesome veggie deals to freeze. I am also wanting to learn how to can veggies. So, we tighten up our belt once again. Gas is starting to go back up and my hours at work has been cut way back. I must confess that I wasn't sticking to my grocery budget for the past month, but now that's not an option. Back to clipping coupons, looking for deals and being more frugal than I was in May!

Getting things ready to freeze!

I spent maybe an hour minus the cooking time to prepare dinners for the freezer. I usually buy the large family size packages of chicken (I use thighs because they are cheaper!).


I cook all the chicken then take the meat off the bone when it is cool. I then measure out a cup of chicken per freezer bag (most recipes only call for a cup of chicken) and freeze flat.


Then I buy the whole chicken (at Aldi these are .89 cents a pound). I clean them inside and out and rub them down with lemon pepper seasoning on the inside, outside and under the skin.

Then I wrap them up in foil and place them in a large freezer bag and freeze.


This little bit of time preparing now saves a whole lot of time when you are in a mad dash trying to fix dinner in the evenings. A lot of times I measure, mix and freeze all of the casserole ingredients in one large freezer bag. Dinner is simply defrosting during the day while you are busy with other things and then placing the ingredients in a casserole dish to cook when ready. This I would have showed you, but due to poor menu planning on my part I didn't have key ingredients for my casseroles! Ugh! Oh well, at least the meat is cooked and ready to go!!

A Gentle reminder....

I am sitting here listening to the rain fall outside my window. The sound is so relaxing and refreshing to me. I try to type the words that express the thoughts going around and around inside my head and the delete button is being used more often than not. I would say I am having a day of reflection...but that wouldn't be entirely true. A day of regret would truly describe my thoughts accurately. I find myself haunted by all my past mistakes. I find myself mourning the things that I missed out upon because of stupid decisions and bad judgements. I wonder about the "what ifs" and how things could be if those mistakes hadn't have been made. I wonder how I could have allowed myself to be distracted and deceived. I think the easy part was forgiving others...now I struggle with forgiving myself. Forgiving myself for allowing my focus to be turned away from God. I compromised. It happened to me so slowly that I didn't realize it was happening at first. But, once realized...the damage and destruction had been done. My relationship with God suffered, friends that I held dear to my heart had been hurt, a job that was loved had been lost and my reputation tarnished. I believed man, instead of searching for wisdom from God. I allowed decisions to be made for me, instead of having the courage to decide for myself. I allowed myself to be controlled, instead of allowing my God to lead me the way I should go. I carelessly tossed away all that God had blessed me with to follow a person. Now, I am left picking up the pieces.
I cry out to the Lord to have mercy on me for putting someone else in His place. He rewards me with the sound of rain falling. It gently reminds me His love will cleanse me. Only He can wash and renew my mind. It reminds me that He can take these mistakes and have me grow and maybe even bloom because of them. So, I sit here listening to the falling rain....

My new toy!

My Mom has given us her old treadmill. Dad and Mom go out and walk with their two dogs now. So, she really didn't use the treadmill anymore. She asked one day out of the blue if I wanted it...which I jumped on! Isn't God cool how He supplies us with things?! Anyhow, I am playing around with it right now...I plan to become serious about using it regularly though. I just got off from it...I decided to run! What was I thinking?! My heart was pounding in my ears so loud I couldn't hear anything else! And this is a girl that used to love to jog and run track! Getting old is not fun! Lol! I am looking forward to incorporating the treadmill in my daily routine...okay, weekly routine! Lol!

Mother's Day Gift

My family thought long and hard on what would be the perfect Mother's Day gift to give me. After hours and hours of deliberating; they came up with the perfect gift!

Yea right! Now for the REAL story! I saw this baby on sale...I got it and told them it could be my Mother's Day gift. Lol!



Isn't it beautiful?!

The other curling iron was quickly dumped in the trash. Thank goodness!

A Goodwill make over!

Recently...well, over a month ago...I stumbled across a medicine cabinet at Goodwill. I had been looking for something for Trent's bathroom. I snatched it up at $6. It was missing knobs and was a bit beat up...but I knew I was going to paint it and that it would be okay if it didn't look the best in the world. So, I bought some spray primer and a couple of cans of white spray paint...and got Jeff busy! Lol! He lightly sanded it and then primer it...once dry it took a couple of coats of white spray paint, but it was finally done. We then went and bought new knobs for it...and there you go! A Goodwill makeover! I spent less than $16 total. The paint was around $6 and the knobs were less than $2 a piece! Now, Trent has all his "stuff" off the counter and inside the medicine cabinet. I love looking for Goodwill deals and makeovers! I am still a newbie at it, but it is rather addicting!!

Doors off and ready to sand and primer!


Primed and ready to spray white paint!


The finished product!


Now, I am on the look out for decorating ideas for the top of the medicine cabinet, it needs a little something. But, my house is always a work in progress...it just means more trips to Goodwill! Lol!

Prom Memories!

My Mom was cleaning out the attic when she stumbled across my old prom dress from 22 years ago! As I took it out of the bag I was amazed how it held up! Autumn was immediately interested in this dress. Trent; however made a remark like..."Looks like something Laura would wear on "Little House on the Prairie". After working at the Bridal shop and seeing all the "new" styles, I could see why he said that. But, in my mind I thought it was a modest dress not like a lot of "todays" dresses where it all hangs out, but that's another blog! Lol!
I let Autumn try on my dress and floral combs that I wore on my prom....



Then I thought....Hmmmmm, I wonder if I can still fit in it! So, I tried it on! And guess what y'all! IT FIT!!! I got it zipped and everything without any effort! I was so proud I went around the house showing everyone...needless to say...Jeff really didn't care, Autumn thought I looked silly and Trent....well, Trent was really embarrassed that his Mom would even wear a dress that they wore so long ago!