Sunday Project

Here is our project for today. Cole and I started it after I woke up at 2pm. This is a table we found at our old house. We were thinking of making it a kitchen island but decided it was too low. Sooooooo we made it lower by chopping the legs off and turned it into a coffee table. It will look fun in my front room! Now I just need to find a neat knob for the drawer. Enjoy.

Yep We Are Married!

It's your typical Friday night around the camp. Steve is grocery shopping and I have kid duty. No hanging out with friends, no dates, no movies. Just plain ol getting things done kind of Friday night.

I have made my meal plans for the next two weeks based around the sales. I handed Steve the recipe box and magazines and told him to pick out some meals. Out of the hundreds he flipped through he picked out 3 meals. Can you say picky!

I then sent him grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks. One of these days I am going to try a month at a time. I figured I better break Steve in slowly to this whole meal planning idea. You remember he is the guy that will eat tacos, pizza or burgers just about every night.

He just came home from the stores. He hit up Krogers, WalMart and Aldi. He spent $85.40 (savings 50.03!). He managed to get everything on the list plus a few more for the next 2 weeks! That boy can shop! Of course it did help that we will be back home for 3 nights. Sponging off Mom and Dad!!!!!! Maybe we will move back in? That would save $$$$$$$ for us and they get to see Cole. It's a Win /Win situation!

Here is my menu for the next two weeks.

8/30 Turkey Burgers

8/31 Spagehetti (something easy on soccer night)

9/1 Orange Salmon

9/2 Enchilada Stuffed Shells

9/3 Turkey Goulash

9/4 Bacon Wrapped BBQ Apple Chicken (crockpot)

9/5 Out of town

9/6 Out of town

9/7 Out of town

9/8 Skillet Lasgana

9/9 Homemade pizza

9/10 Ribs (crockpot)

9/11 Grilled Chicken Kabobs

9/12 Turkey & Bean Enchiladas

Well off to get ready for job number 2. TTFN

First Day of Kindergarten!

This is my favorite time of day.

When the world is going to sleep. My little man is worn out and wants to snuggle with his Mama. I am glad he still likes to snuggle.

When the sun is going down during the spring, summer and fall you can usually find us on our porch swing. While it is too dark for me to take a picture of it I am sure you all can imagine it. It reminds me of many a summer night on my Grandparents porches. Both sets of grandparents had porches or patios. We would run all over the yard while the grown- ups shelled peas, snapped beans, talked and relaxed. Neighbors would walk by and stop for a visit and we would watch cars pass. Then the snacks would come out. Strawberries, homemade ice cream, popcorn. They are comforting memories. 

I will always have a house with a porch. A place where I can find comfort and provide comfort. A place where I can visit with my neighbors. Several of them also have porches. I have yet to figure out why they do not sit on them as often as we do ours. Cole adores our porch swing and often requests to sit out there for a "little bit" until bed time. It is a tradition that I hope he carries on into his own family.

I am working on getting my magazine pile under control. I came across a article in January 2009's SHAPE magazine (yes I am that far behind). It was about packing your lunch for work. It is not only good for your waistline but also your pocketbook. It stated that the average person spends $6.50 a day on eating out for lunch.  That's like (hold on doing the math).............$1700 a year! Just one more reason to start loving leftovers!!!!!!!!!

Well off to get the little man to bed. He is practicing going to bed "early". He starts school in 2 days. We are all super excited and a little sad at the same time. He informed me that I could cry in the car :)

Weekly Menu

Roar! This was his prize off the back of the cereal box. He isn't tall enough to see himself in the mirror so he had me take a picture so he could see himself!

Mr K is not a fan of a weekly menu but I am. He is going to try it my way for awhile. Especially since our little man is starting Kindergarten this week. I don't think Mr. K understands how super busy he will be. 

That is not the only reason we will try it my way. We are also fans of Dave Ramsey. We budget down to our last dollar. We spend $300 a month on groceries out of our budget. We also have challenged ourselves (and our waistlines) to eat out only 4 times a month. So far so good! So here is my menu for this week.

Sunday: Nacho Bar- (our favorite night!)

Monday: Spinach and Tomato Pizza's on FlatBread

Tuesday: Minestrone and Garlic Cheese Bread

Wednesday: Tuna Melts 

Thursday: Parmasan Minute Steaks

Friday: Tortellini Carbonara

Saturday:  Crockpot Cranberry Chicken with Stuffing

It is so nice to have my kitchen back! 

In order to stay organized I have worked my butt off  in getting my recipes in order. I found this adorable metal box to hold them all. I then went through all my scrapping scraps and cut the scraps to fit the box. Of course then I had to embellish the divider cards! I still have a ton more recipes to copy and clip. I may have to look for a second box! I am also addicted to a few cooking sites. Tasty Kitchen and $5 Dinners.

 

 

 

I have also had to go to a dry erase board to keep track of everyone. With soccer, school, and boy scouts starting soon we will be an on the go family. I found this nice little one that fits perfectly on the fridge! If I move on of our nine million magnets that is!

We now have a little guy to pack lunch for everyday. If anyone has good lunch box ideas or know of any sites let me know! Poor guy has limited choices at the moment! Due to mom's lack of creativity!

Do you see this sweet little face. Who knew it could be so sweet yet so sour at the same time! Somebody is having a hard time since coming home from vacation with Gramma and Grandad. He forgot the entire universe doesn't revolve around him.  After a major family "altercation" tonight we had an emergency family meeting discussing behavior. It was also necessary to bring out the behavior chart once again. He was doing so well without it. We have one week to shape him up for school. Boot Camp starts now!

He had his first soccer practice tonight. It was cut short due to the storms coming in but he enjoyed playing in the rain. His shin guards are his new favorite "socks". I'll have to hide them or he will wear them daily

After soccer we had a tour of his school and got to meet the principal. Let us hope that this is the one and only time we have to meet him!

Just to show you all I am not the only one with the I wants. Here is Steve's vote for the 11 drawer pulls I need!

Here are some more pics. This is looking from the stove area towards the office. Yes we will be redoing the office also Probably the same as the kitchen. We are arguing about flooring for that room!

My little laundry nook.

The stove area. Yes those are fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. The are yummy!

As you can see we still have a ton of work to do. Rome wasn't built in a day! Feel free to come up and lay some flooring or hang crown moulding!

I got the I wants

www.tracyporter.com

More progress

I thought I would update you on the kitchen progress. It is such slow going, but it will be worth it in the end!

We now have running water and a sink! Nothing beats running water!

The fridge will be pushed back but we have to hook up the water connections first.

Last cabinet going in! The microwave is next! Yahoo!