Munchy Mouthwatering Recipes

I am trying to get organized enough to have a weekly recipe plan for all of our meals. It needs to be something easy to follow, but varied enough so as not to get bored. This also helps organize what needs to be "put out" of the freezer the night before, and what needs to go on the grocery list.

So this is a basic plan I have come up with - tried to have a healthy balance - lots of fruit and veggies for the kids (and us too). We use all whole wheat products (bread, pasta, etc) and most of our veggies come from our garden :) Our diet tends to also be high-fiber - good for you, for weight-maintenance and proper functioning. LOL! Everything is also low sugar - reacts with my kids in not a good way! We have also incorporated a Meatless Monday - we do tend to eat a lot of meat, as we both grew up on the staple meat-&-veg diet - old habits are hard to break, even if they are boring!

Each week I'll share some of our favorite recipes - very family-friendly and easy to make (believe me I am no chef! or even a good cook - I love recipes but hate cooking - yes, bizarre!). We always eat dinner together as a family, even if husband can't always make it. I always make sure at least the three of us sit together, grace said, manners adhered to (most of the time), and must try everything on their plates at least twice. If everyone (and that means everyone) finishes all their dinner then we get dessert - makes it a team effort.

MONDAY:

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Sandwich & Fruit

Snack: Smoothie

Dinner: Meatless Monday - Vegetarian Pizza

TUESDAY:

Breakfast: Yogurt and Fruit

Lunch: Pasta & Veggie - Leftover Vegetarian Pizza

Snack: Fruit - Banana critter (via Pinterest) - this is so cute how could your kid resist!

From Little Page Turners

BANANA CRITTER

Banana

Grape

Pretzel sticks

Cut banana into segments and stick together using pretzel stick. Stick grape head on using pretzel sticks.

Dinner: Meat & Veg

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Eggs & Toast

Lunch: Beans & Fruit

Snack: Cheese stick

Dinner: Chicken

THURSDAY

Breakfast: Pancakes

Lunch: Sandwich & Yoghurt

Snack: Pudding & Fruit

Dinner: Fish

FRIDAY

Breakfast: Yoghurt & Fruit & Toast

Lunch: Pizza & Veggie

Snack: Fruit & Cereal Snack Bag

Dinner: Takeout or leftovers

SATURDAY

Breakfast: Eggs

Lunch: Beans & Yoghurt

Snack: Cheese

Dinner: Family Dinner

SUNDAY

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Sandwich & Fruit

Snack: Cookie

Dinner: Leftovers

Marvelously Mad Fitness

I'm currently on a mad fitness schedule to try to get beach-ready for August! Why, oh, why, do I always leave it until the last minute? In December I vaguely remember saying to myself "start NOW!". So what happened? I don't know - no excuses :( So here I am madly trying to get into shape so I can have a little sliver of self-respect when I squeeze into that swimsuit and head to the beach.

Here is this week's schedule:

Monday: Brooke Burke's video routine (video link is following), 1/2 hour Rodney Yee's A.M. Yoga for Your Week video and 1/2 walk (outside or on treadmill)

Tuesday: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred video (serious stuff - awesome video - about 20 minutes of intensity sure to get this rear into shape!), 1 hour walk

Wednesday: Rodney Yee Yoga video and 1/2 hr run on treadmill

Thursday: Jillian Michael's 30 day shred video, 1 hour walk

Friday: Rodney Yee Yoga video (Friday is my rest day but I always need my yoga!)

Saturday: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred video, Rodney Yee Yoga video

Sunday: Pilates, Abs & Legs workout from Denise Austin's book - Shrink Your Female Fat Zones


It's a little intense but I only have a little over 30 days to get ready. I am also an active person, so this is just an extension of my normal routine. Usually you need one rest day per week - so make one day a day you don't do anything, or just something light (like walking). ALWAYS consult with your doctor BEFORE starting any exercise schedule. It is important to make sure you are in good condition to start and that the exercises you choose are appropriate for you - it's always better to be smart than sorry!

I am working out at home. It is too difficult for me to go to the gym with my girls and I prefer doing it at home. We have a treadmill, so that obviously helps. I also have a great collection of workout videos, which I will share with you (and review) along the way. Most are easily available on Amazon, WalMart or Target. I also have a workout ball, yoga mat, strap, blocks, and a selection of hand weights and a kettle-ball.

I usually workout when my littlest is napping - that way I only have one to deal with - or before they wake up in the morning. I also split the workouts up. One in the morning, one after the girls have gone to bed. With workouts aimed to be around the 1/2hr mark this makes it more manageable if you have little kids to deal with too. It also helps with the motivation - you are more likely to commit to starting something for 1/2hr rather than a longer time. Well, at least it helps me - LOL!

So there you go - my weekly exercise schedule. And to start it off here is a short (but effective) video from Brooke Burke (you will need an exercise ball):

Get a killer butt with Brooke Burke:

A great butt can be achieved with simple exercises that only take 15 minutes out of a day, three days a week. Discover ways to use a workout ball to do butt exercises with helpful advice from Brooke Burke in this free video on exercises for an amazing butt.

http://youtu.be/JG1F2284ZrI

New Format

In order to better organize my thoughts I'm going to try a different format on my blog. I have so many different interests so I thought it might be fun to have a specific day for each (actually two a day, 'cause I'm crazy!).

So this will be the new format:

Monday
Fitness
Recipes

Tuesday
Kids Activities & Crafts
Fashion

Wednesday
Garden/Outdoors
House Projects/ Craft Projects

Thursday
Interior Decorating
Architecture

Friday
Photography
Art

Saturday
Books
Sewing Projects

Sunday
Lake House
Organization

Oh My! Well, we will see how it goes :)

Lake House and Birthday Parties!

Still working on our lake place. I forgot/didn't get time to get the paint last week, but with celebrating our little girl's 3rd birthday and her Grandma's birthday, we had a busy weekend anyway. 

Before the weekend I went to my new found love/addiction - Pinterest - to find some inspiration for the party! Whoever invented Pinterest needs to be...well, on one hand hugged and blessed beyond belief...and on the other Shot! (only kidding - 'cause it is SO addictive I'm on there for HOURS). I actually had a thought last night whilst on there that there really needs to be an actual job created for me as a professional pinterestress! Hire me to pin stuff, all day, every day. I could seriously do that!

Anyway, back to the story...um....oh, yeah! Party!! So these are some images I found as inspiration for our own little shindig!

These are cake toppers from Etsy store Gifts Define - I copied them, but made them out of fondant for the cupcake toppers. I think theirs are made from felt?? All their stuff is SUPER SUPER cute - go check them out.

Flag banner from Sweet Kiera:

Pretty little mermaid doll from Wee Wonderfuls (book).  I have been meaning to make these for the girls for some time (guilty, guilty) so with our Ariel/Under the Sea theme - this was the perfect time to get into gear and actually do it! I love this book - lots of super cute dolls to make that don't look too complicated :)

Pretty streamers from Style Me Pretty:

Lots of lovely inspiration for our Ariel/Under the Sea birthday party. Sooooo, here is what I came up with. Now, I was so totally unmotivated, for some weird reason, so I really came up with all this in one afternoon. I think it came out OK. The girls LOVED it, so they are really the most important critics for me.

I cut out some fish and octopus shapes and had the girls color them in.

Grandma's extra chocolate, double fudge chocolate, chocolate cake! Got as much chocolate in there as I could! LOL!

For the girls (and anyone who didn't want the chocolate overload) I made these super delicious whole wheat cupcakes! I have made them before and they were a hit at a MOMS event I took them too. I basically just googled a basic cupcake recipe and substituted in whole wheat flour (same amounts and same cooking time). Both times they have worked out great - my kids love them and I feel somewhat 1% better giving them whole wheat instead of white processed flour. I just try to ignore all the sugar I put in them and icing on top.

So here is my adjusted recipe:

BASIC WHOLE WHEAT CUPCAKE RECIPE

1/2 cup butter or shortening at room temperature.
1 3/4 cups sifted whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Put shortening in a mixing bowl.
3. Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl.
4. With a mixer, mix the dry ingredients in slowly with the shortening.
5. Add 1/2 cup milk and the egg to the dry ingredients and beat until flour is fully moistened.
6. Add the remaining milk and the vanilla and beat for about another minute.
7. Place paper liners in muffin pan and fill 2/3 full with the batter.
8. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 to 18 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Makes about 18 cupcakes.

Mermaid doll. 

May need to make some more - but next time I will make them a little bigger (I just used the pattern at the size it was in the book), as they would be easier to work with. Also, I used pen for the face, not embroidery, and I would do it after I put the hair on, so placement would be better. The tail was kind of difficult, my time and patience was wearing out by then, so I fudged it and finished it with ribbon to close the seam so you could not see the messy finish there (shhhh, don't tell anyone!). But, again, the girls LOVED them - so how can I complain (or anyone else, for that matter!).

I bought a lot of decorations from Dollar General and Party City. I made the flag banner from scraps of fabric I already had - all I did was cut out triangles with about an inch at the top so that I could fold the fabric over the ribbon, then sewed the fabric onto the ribbon. I also made the little mermaid dolls for my girls as a party favor of sorts! All in all, it really didn't take me very long to get it all done - which was so great because the motivation was lacking!

So here is my little birthday girl with her princess crown on - I think she sees the world a little different from the rest of us - and that is awesome!!! Still can't believe she is now 3! (tear, tear, sniff, sniff).

 

Now I'm exhausted...but happy :)

Super Super Day

My work day started at 8:00am this morning...well, in stay-at-home-Mom mode that really means that was the time I was woken from my sweet-but-far-too-little-slumber. I kind of thought today would be one of those days where I achieve nothing...well, not nothing, but you know, not much of any real substance that I can validate my existence with to my husband this evening. BUT, I was so pleasantly surprised when I kicked it into high gear and off I went - WoooHoooo! (with kids in tow, of course!).

1. Went to Moms meeting for brief stop to vote in end of year elections and drop off sweet free offerings (i.e. get rid of baby gear we no longer need).

2. Got pulled over by nice Policeman - was very polite (me, not necessarily him) - although I didn't technically do anything wrong (that's what they all say??) - no, actually it was my car! This car is a cop-magnet! Agghhh - it is dragging me down into criminal behavior (sort-of). Okay, I confess, my brake light was out, but really, why do I always get pulled over? Getting to where I'm a bit paranoid now every time I drive ("Wonder what's going to happen today", "What trouble will this car get me into now?", "Nice car, nice car!"). Okay, back to story - funny thing is that while policeman was looking up my information I text my husband to find out what to do about the brake light. He was on the freeway above me stuck in traffic, sees me, calls me and is like "What did you do now? Why have you been pulled over again!" - totally freaked me out - hahaha, but funny!

3. Went and got both brake lights replaced (oh, forgot to mention, I got off with warning because I was so polite! SCORE, for the good girl!) and car washed (hehehe - although this does tend to freak the kids out when I drive through the car wash).

4. Lowes - favorite store No.1 - bought paint, roller, paint tray, sandpaper, reflective numbers, oh, and drop cloths, and number & letter stencils (they were in the number section) - AWESOME! Half these items will be used as originally intended, half not so much ;)

5. Hobby Lobby - favorite store No.2 - what's not to like about this store - I can waste hours spend good quality time in this store any day any time! Umm.. bought scrapbook paper 50% OFF! Woot! And a few other little things...

6. WalMart - got to eat! (eventually...well the kids have to eat).

7. Kids did great - that is a lot to do in a morning, so when we finally got home, they had their lunch (me a protein shake - hey, summer is almost here and I have a lot of work to do before I can enjoy it!) I gave them a treat. Ice-cream in a cone! Okay - I know that sounds like wow, really, yippee - but to them it is more like WOOOOOWWWWWWW, YIPPPPEEEEE!!! cause they never have it (well, only rarely, and never during the day).

8. So now here I am typing this, have to put the groceries away, and finish painting girls' drawers and really want to do one fun thing with the kids today - something that I saw on Pinterest (gosh, SO ADDICTED).

So after this very long post I will sign off - I know I really wanted to make two points in here - one about office design (for my husband's office) and the other about the fun thing I want to do with the kids, but I've run out of steam and desperately need chocolate!

Lake Plans

We did a lot of tidy-up work at our lake place this long Memorial Day weekend. We now have our plans in place to repaint our place and finish staining the deck. All very necessary, although slightly boring (sorry hubby!), sooooo...... I still like to dream up a few exciting projects for after all the boring maintenance, but totally necessary chores!

It is SO funny I found this picture TODAY of all days. I have had this idea in my head FOREVER. Constructed one, then decided I wanted to make it bigger, so, of course it sat there for ages, all because I needed more besser blocks and could never find the perfect time to go to the store to get them. 

Better Homes & Gardens

So finally my husband "convinces" me to pull it apart so he can make this (we have never seen these pictures before!):  

Better Homes & Gardens

Although we only constructed one section I think it would look great to add more like this:

Better Homes & Gardens

I would like to add in a few very low-maintenance plants, like these:

Better Homes & Gardens

I love the casual feel of this sitting area - this would be great around our fire pit/grill:

Better Homes & Gardens

And I love this string of lights - would look fantastic under the trees:

Apartment Therapy

But first I MUST order the paint and buy more stain and come back to reality just for a few more weeks, then I'm off again dreaming up more things to annoy my husband with to do :)

 Oh, and of course I have no photos of our place to show you - BLAH to me! - I guess we were just too busy, but promise next time I will.

Girls' Bedroom - List

OK, here we go - please don't freak out - most of this list is little things that can be done quickly. Lists are also great to give to a starting point, and a finishing point! And, of course, can easily be changed along the way ;)

TO DO:

DRESSER:
* Paint dresser
* Distress edges on dresser
* Seal dresser
* Put on drawer hardware
* Clean inside drawers
* Buy paper for inside of dresser drawers
* Decoupage inside of dresser drawers
* Move old dresser out of room
* Move to new dresser into room
* Put clothes into drawers

BEDSIDE TABLE:
* Paint bedside table
* Distress edges on bedside table
* Seal bedside table
* Put on bedside table hardware
* Clean inside drawers
* Buy paper for inside of bedside table drawers
* Decoupage inside of bedside table drawers
* Move to room
* Put clothes into drawers

BEDS:
TWIN:
* Paint headboard
* Distress edges on headboard
* Seal headboard
* Secure on to bedframe
* Iron bedskirt
* Put onto bed
* Put on quilt and new pillow sham
* Make more pillows for bed 
TODDLER:
* Decoupage or disguise bed (instead of painting it)
* Make quilt for bed
* Make pillows for bed

WINDOW:
(the kids pulled down the curtain and, subsequently, pulled out the curtain rod fixture!) 
* Fix holes in wall
* Sand and repaint
* repaint curtain hardware from black to distressed white
* Put up new curtain fixture/rod
* Clean window inside and out
* Iron Pottery Barn sheer curtains and put up
* Reorder more white minky material for curtains (how annoying - I didn't order enough first time - grrrr, at myself!)
* Make minky white curtains with black-out backing (one kid still has daytime nap, and I really want that to continue FOREVER. Well. OK, maybe not forever, but how about for the next 7 years! OK. maybe just 2 more years.)

ACCESSORIES:
* Paint picture frames pink and frame horse pics
* Paint shadow boxes white and frame baby dresses
* Make bible verses for each girl
* Re-do initials
* Accumulate accessories from antique stores/Goodwill for room
* Move pictures around to suit new furniture arrangement
* Place ballerinas on dresser
* Make or buy another pink shade for second lamp
* Make flags for wall
* Make flower wreath mobile


I have done a few things, as you can see, but still a lot more to go! OK - I think I'm about to pass out, and all I have done it make up the list - aaggghhhhh.....