Back to school

We're off and running! The girls have had a good week so far and I am utterly thankful for that.

Morgan got a good schedule at school, PE at the end of the day and what could be more important than that!

Meredith's school is doing things a bit different this year, she'll be changing classes for every subject. This is odd for elementary school and not something that as a family we have experienced. She seems to be okay with it, I'm curious to see how it will go. Today is the first day of switching classes...we'll see. Her biggest complaint is that the bus driver seems to be an erratic driver.

Madyson's schedule was wrong, but she handled it all by herself! They still had her enrolled in Orchestra (she decided that she didn't want to continue at the end of last school year), after the front office mad her go get the teacher sign off that she had in fact dropped it they corrected her schedule.

Much to my surprise dinner has been a breeze this week! *Keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of the week* Did things a bit different this week, in that only planned for 1 week at a time as opposed to 2. Definately easier to compile! Meredith told me yesterday that I did a good job in planning for this week...made me smile. A step in the right direction considering where we were 5 weeks ago.

Grocery shopping this week was actually somewhat enjoyable! Trying to figure out this couponing thing...it is more difficult than I ever thought it would be. Went to the 3 stores I had mapped out and ended up saving $41.32!!! Not too shabby. I'm hoping to get better and faster at my planning and shopping while still increasing our savings. Still have A LOT to learn!!!

No new recipes tried so far this week....will be trying one on Saturday, keep your fingers crossed!

the last week

Well we survived back to school shopping with relatively NO fighting amongst the girls and I cannot state enough how happy that makes me. I was really amazed at how supportive they were of one another. Shopping took a totally different turn in what it has been in the past...I am thankful for that. I always enjoy spending time with my girls, can't say that it doesn't make it that much more fun when they are getting along too!

This is the last week of calm before school starts. The calm before the storm! YIKES!!

I'm praying that God will put into their lives teachers that will impact their lives in a positive way.

Morgan entering High School scares the crap out of me. So not only am I praying for positive impact of her teachers; but I am also praying for her safety, praying for her to make good solid choices with respect to friends, her body, sex, drugs, and boys. She has a good head on her shoulders and I can attribute that to God and guiding her. Jason and I will have to work harder than ever to keep her on the right path during these years.

Madyson entering 7th grade, my biggest fear with her is friends. I pray that she is able to continue to make good choices when it comes to selecting her friends.

Meredith will be going into 5th grade this year! I pray that she has a better year this year than she did last year with being more self confident and making friends that will not be caddy. She had a difficult time last year with feeling accepted by her peers.

Admittidly, we have been slacking in attending church on a regular basis...we will have to change this! I really believe that keeping the girls surrounded by those that believe the same things that we believe will not only strengthen their believe, but also keep them on the path that God would have them to be on. Keep us accountable for raising the gifts that He has given to us in a way that He would have us.

In addition to back to school shopping this past week, we had a flurry of doctors appointments for the girls. I'm happy to say that everyone is in good health and all received good reports at the doctor. Meredith had her nose cauterized in hopes that she will be free of nosebleeds for quite some time!

I also had to get my head in the game for August during this past week for myself. I had decided that August was going to be the time that I get my nutrition back on track. I have slowly been gaining weight (I guess not all that slowly really) and I don't like that! So knowing that I am the only one that can change what I put into my mouth I am committing to making healthy choices.

Yesterday being day 1, I did pretty good. I am going to be journaling my food, but I don't think I'll be committing to logging it on here every day. (As I type this there is a segment called "The Cheater's Diet")I haven't been very good at getting on here anyway and I have to do something that I am going to do everyday. What I am hoping is that I develop a habit that doesn't disappear in 2 wks.

Hmmmmmm....now that it is 11 o'clock, maybe perhaps my girls should join me in the land of the living/productive :)

Crankiness

I've been fighting it all day long. And "IT" has hit me in full ofrce this evening...I'm CRANKY! Kinda over tryin' not to be as well.

The day didn't start out well this morning, but turned out to be okay and everything worked out. Took Morgan to her doc appt and she is healthy, really can't ask for much more than that. She has some lifestyle changes to make, but nothing too drastic. Studying for final while waiting for np this am and again in the afternoon when Meredith had to go for her nose. Whew! what a day! Doctors and studying.

Took the final with all the preparation I could possibly do...did not do as well as I was hoping to do, but did the best I could. Prepared as much as I could. All in all will end up with a B in the class instead of the A that I had going into the final, but it is not the end of the world.

Found out that Jason talked with Kitchenaid today only to find out that they are sorry that we are having problems with our products, but that they really aren't able to do anything for us. I think this is where the bulk of my crankiness is coming from. Why is it that I am supposed to be okay with having a stove that only partially works??? If they think that they have heard the last of us they are sadly mistaken. I am making it a top priority phone call tomorrow morning. I will not stop until my problem is addressed and corrected without further issue. Don't put features out there unless they are in fact inteded to be used. I will take this all the way to the top if need be. I am in that kind of mood!

Watch out Kitchenaid, I will be calling tomorrow! I feel sorry for the person that answers my call in the morning.

Grocery shopping day

Try this again! I had just typed this up and LOST it.

Today was grocery shopping day and the beginning of week 3 for menu planning. I must say that it has definately saved me a ton of time, I don't have to stress about "What's for dinner?"

This time round it was much easier to plan out the meals, the entire family was in on the planning. So I am praying for less fussing when it comes to actually fixing the meals. Everyone should be getting what they want to eat :)

Before tackling the grocery store with menu in hand, I gathered up the coupons. This Sunday the paper was scarce in providing any good coupons. I am going to have to find a good site to get coupons. I don't like using the internet coupons, because some stores have stopped honoring them (WM in particular).

In following www.moneysavingmom.com and her 31days to a better grocery budget (or something like that) I did take her advice and used cash for paying for the groceries today. So I made a stop at the ATM and took out $200 for this trip. I am thankful that I had $11 in cash in my wallet (I never have cash), because I did go over by exactly $11. BUT, I didn't use my debit card. So that has to be some kind of victory (at least I think so).

I'm discovering that I do like shopping Publix and their BOGO offers! You don't even have to buy 2 to take advantage of the deal and pair it with a coupon and it's even better.

Overall, I saved a total of $40 today. $30 at Publix and $10 and WM. Could have been better if I had more coupons. I really need to stock pile some coupons and if the paper keeps skimping on the inserts its going to be hard to do.

Here's hoping to a better week of dinner time!

2010...the year of air condintioning woes

It seems that this is our YEAR of air conditioning woes...

Started with the truck a couple of months ago, driving down the road and whoa! HOT air coming out on the drivers side and at full blast mind you. It was coming out fine on the passenger side, but not the drivers side. So Jason looked up some information on the internet (he's very good at being resourceful) and found a fix for it. YAY! No more hot air, we can move on.

Not long after the truck's incident the house air conditioning unit started giving us problems. Well, I shouldn't say started giving us problems...it's never really been able to fully keep up (especially the upstairs unit), but one day it (the upstairs unit) had finally decided it had enough and kaput it went OUT! Nothing like not having air upstairs in the middle of summer in GA.

Acting quickly we got a hold of someone to fix the upstairs unit and while they were at it, they went ahead and replaced the downstairs unit as well. ICK!!! After some what seemed like were going to be big time headaches, turned out to be minimal headaches, were fixed the air conditioners were WORKING! Being more efficient is an added bonus to being cool.

Transition to today, the truck is in the shop getting diagnostic tests ran to see just exactly what is going on. While it is no longer blowing out HOT air, it appears to be possessed....coming on when it feels like it, blowing out cool air at random speeds that seem to be affected by the brake pedal. Amazingly frustrated at how expensive this summer has been with air conditioners! Hoping to get an inexpensive fix today...No, PRAYING to get an inexpensive fix today!

Dinner last night was met with no complaints. Could be because it is one that they ALL enjoy...Baked chicken, mac-n-cheese, and a veg or fruit (note, no mashed potatoes...lol)

Dinner last night

Dinner is by far my least favorite time of day. It has gotten slightly better since the implementation of the menu, but not spectacular that is for certain.

Last nights drama actually started to unfold over the weekend. YUP! Over the weekend. I had already started to hear scheeming on what the girls were and were not going to eat. As a parent this is frustrating. On average I spend about an hour in the kitchen most nights preparing meals for my family to eat and to be greeted with, "I'm not going to eat that"..."Eeww that's gross"..."That looks really bad"..."Can I have something else to eat?" Tonight was no exception. In fact, I was told that "I'm going to go to bed hungry" after the options of: Either eat what has been prepared or go to bed hungry. I was told this by both girls that were at home to dispute tonights dinner.

I will say that I did get a text message of apology from Madyson stating that she was sorry and that she had 4 servings of the meal. So I will take it as a victory! Both girls ate and did not go to bed hungry. Morgan was at a friends house so I guess she didn't have to worry about what I was fixing for dinner, although I venture to guess she would have liked it.

Just incase you are looking for a quick and easy meal to make with very little clean up involved this is what I made last night: Layered Mexican bake

You will need:
1 lb ground beef
green pepper (to taste, I used about 3tbsp)
onion (to taste, I used about 2 tbsp)
chili powder (recipe calls for 1 tsp, I use a little more)
salsa (1 1/4 c)
sour cream (1 sm container)
frozen corn (1 c)
shredded cheese (can you really use too much? But the recipe calls for 1/4 c)
tortilla shells (6)

Brown ground beef, green pepper, and onion together add in salsa, chili pepper, frozen corn, and sour cream mix together and let simmer for 5min.

Scoop out 1 cup of ground beef mixture onto bottom of 9X13 pan, layer tortilla shells ontop, follow process with another layer. You'll want to end up with the meat sauce exposed. Bake at 350 degrees for 25min, top with cheese and bake for another 5min or until cheese is melted.

I will say that Jason gave rave reviews for the dinner!

the last couple of days

The last couple of days have been uneventful to say the least! Although, I have been consistently getting my workouts in and my rear was really sore when I got out of bed this morning...GOTTA be a good thing :) Having to ice my wrist after the P90X workouts, but this series is really good and I hate not to stick to it. Gives me strength and cardio all at the same time. Still don't have a good schedule worked out, gonna have to find a time to fit some runs in there as well.

The menu has been working out okay so far, tonight is going to be a real test though. Chicken pot pie is on the menu, the girls have already begun to protest. Actually, the protest began on Monday when I developed the menu. I may sub it out for Lazanga that is for next Thursday only because I won't have class next Thursday and I can be here to fight them on the Chicken pot pie and at least persuade them to try it before they declare they don't like it.

They found out about the "you have to try it before you make yourself something else" yesterday when I dropped them off at the cabin...they think it is rather sneaky of me to say that. But, my logic behind it: "you never know, you may actually like it". MIL was very supportive of our new rules on the menu frontier. Always nice to be backed up on decisions that I (being Jason and I) make when it comes to our girls.