Menu Plan Monday - The month of July

I am really trying to make quite a few freezer meals this month. I do love to cook, so cooking a bunch in one day is not torture for me. I will send Jeremy off with the girls and start cooking. The freezer meals I plan to make do have some links/recipes and you will find those in the weekly menu part of this post.

Freezer meals to make:
Beefy enchilada bake
Meatballs
Hamburgers
Salisbury steak
Seafood pasta casserole
Homemade pizza
Oven fries (Going to try to freeze a small batch...we will see.)
Chili dog sauce
Tortilla chips
Taco mixture

Week of July 1--
Wednesday: Hamburgers, green beans and watermelon
Thursday: Spinach ziti (I am going to add a little more spice to the recipe from reading the reviews)
Friday: Pizza night with salad and/or fruit
Saturday: Happy 4th of July!
Sunday: Tacos, black beans and corn and mexican rice

Week of July 6--
Monday: Beefy enchilada bake and a fruit
Tuesday: Strawberry and spinach salad with a small side of Lobster mac and cheese (might do 1/2 lobster and 1/2 crab)
Wednesday: Salisbury steak, corn and apple slices
Thursday: Spinach and bacon quiche and fruit
Friday: Pizza night with salad and/or fruit
Saturday: Out to eat
Sunday: Meal from a new cookbook

Week of July 13--
Monday: Seafood Pasta Casserole
Tuesday: Kid Kebobs, buttered noodles and a veggie
Wednesday: French dips (using meat from last night), baked sweet potato fries and orange slices

Thursday: Chicken caeser salad wraps
Friday: Pizza night with salad and/or fruit
Saturday: Spinach rice bake and fruit
Sunday: Steaks on the grill, baked potatoes and a veggie

Week of July 20--
Monday: Breaded chicken fingers for the girls and grilled chicken fingers for Jeremy and I with strawberries and oven fries

Tuesday: Beef and brocolli (using leftover steak)

Wednesday: Chili (turkey) dogs and apple slices
Thursday: Stuff you put over toast...I will share the recipe soon.
Friday: Pizza night with salad and/or fruit
Saturday: Out to eat
Sunday: Roasted chicken

Week of July 27--(Vacation?)
Monday: Chicken caeser salad wraps (Finals for class!)
Tuesday: BLTs and fruit salad
Wednesday: Quick black beans and rice and tortilla chips
Thursday: Meal from a new cookbook
Friday: Pizza night with salad and/or fruit
Saturday: Rotini with shrimp

Sunday: Sloppy joes from the freezer and a fruit.

For more recipe ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
--Virginia Woolf

One by one

1. Father's Day was great! We swam all day and it felt so good. This weather is so hot I can not stand to be outside unless there is water involved.

2. Classes are going well. So far, I am making a A in my class...woo-hoo!

3. Vacation is tentatively scheduled for the last week in July, after finals. Short little trip to the Lake of the Ozarks...for some reason, our kiddos do not like the beach sand.

4. Crawl for Cancer was a blast, as usual. Each year, it is a little different than the last. Next year should be quite interesting.

5. I have no life now that school is back. No time for anything...hence last of posting. I'll work on that.

What would you ask Dr. Sears?

I just received an invitation to join in on a teleconference call with one of American's leading pediatrician's Dr. Bob Sears! He has recently published a new book, The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood: Ten Ways to Get Your Family on the Right Nutritional Track. The Dr. Sears family becomes a household name the minute you become a parent and books they have written come part of your library.

I am submitting a question or two that will be considered and want your input...what would you ask?

Five winners!

I am over here today.

I am a slacker...

I have said it before...

I have nothing to say! I sit to type and there are no words. Not too sure what to do about that but oh well.

School is in full force. We had our first test on Monday and I think it went well. I have no idea when we will get the results but I am praying for the best! I studied and studied...I am really trying to develop good study habits before nursing school starts. So far, so good!

This weekend, Jeremy and I, along with ten close friends, will be in St. Louis at the Crawl for Cancer. I know I have told you about the Jennifer Ireland Foundation and blog. This is an event that benefits their foundation, along with a few others. It is something I organized the first year for our friends. It kind of just stuck...it was so much fun! We have done since then and it is the one time our friends let loose and act like young again. It has turned into a retreat for us...we will be 87 and still talking about when the Crawl for Cancer is!

Anyways, we are making a weekend of it. We plan on going up Friday night (we will call you Alicia! and coming home Sunday afternoon in which we are going to take Jeremy to his Father's Day present...ssshhhh!

All done. The end.

Oh! Be sure and check out my other blog tomorrow for a very useful giveaway.

Single mom here...

Well, well, well. This past weekend was super relaxing. We spent the weekend playing outside, painting some fingernails, swam, laid out, did a little shopping and relaxed with some books we got from the library. It was very low-key between the girls and I...just the way I like it.

Jeremy got home just in time for Macie's 2nd t-ball game. She did great and I have to show you some pictures. They are perfect!

This week is super busy..we have an Aerosmith concert to go to. I also have class and a little home party to go to. I also have some homework and some studying for a test that has to get done. I live for the weekends!

Come the weekend, Jeremy is once again out of town, only this time it is for a bachelor party. He leaves on Friday and will be home on Sunday. I get so bored without him home! Oh well, we will survive.

That's all for now...I hope you all have a great week!

Girls weekend!

Jeremy is in Chicago this weekend watching the USA rugby team play Wales. It is a once a year trip and it leaves the girls and I home to enjoy a girls weekend.

This will be the first year I sort of planned a weekend for us to enjoy. We plan to do a little shopping tonight then come home and lounge and watch movies. Saturday, I would like to get some cooking in and the girls love to help me! Class two nights a week leave very little room for cooking on those nights, so I would like to cook up around 8 meals to help out. Then, I will just have to thaw them out and pop them in the oven to heat them up. In between cooking, I would really like to play outside with the girls while getting some sun. We'll see...

Sunday we will clean up a bit and spend the afternoon outside while waiting on Daddy to come home. Sounds great to me!

Any plans for you?

A daughter is a little girl who grows up to be a friend.
--Author Unknown

One down...

Have you ever taken an ITV class? This is my idea of class...the professor/instructor is on the TV but all the class information is online. Powerpoint notes, syllabi, assignments...it is all online.

I love internet classes but I need more structure. I need an actual class to go to. Otherwise, I study at the last minute and doing that with the family in your face that not very fun. The class started on Monday and ends on July 27 with class two nights a week. With the way it is set up and the length, it should be a pretty easy class. (And I am taking it with one of my best friends, which is also a plus!)

Considering this blog post, my life is pretty boring right now. But boring is good in my book. :)

(Image via.)



"As long as teachers give tests, there will always be prayer in schools."

--Unknown

June Check-Up

June is here...that means summer! June will definitely be a busy month for us. Jeremy will be out of town two weekends and both of us will be out of town one weekend. Add to that a concert in St. Louis and it is jam packed! We did make our goal of getting a few things eliminated. It is motivating but boy is it hard!

The No Spending Experiment was can be described using only one word...challenging! We made it through 100% for the first two weeks. In hindsight, two weeks would have been the perfect goal. We did go out to eat about three times in May...no too shabby for us considering May was five weeks long instead of the usual four.

What did I learn from the NSE? I am so much more aware of where our money goes! I have learned that I can, in fact cook for 14 days straight. I would say our biggest weakness is eating out but if you look on my June menu, I allotted two nights for eating out as opposed to the weekly night out. I think this will be great for helping us reach our goal but still have a family dinner out.

Here's our updated list...

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
This has always been in place...we just have to use it instead of a credit card for emergencies.
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball. Our goal is to have everything but the student loan, car and land paid off my the end of the year.

• Doctor bill - Paid off in May 2009!
  
• Doctor bill - Made large payment.
  
• Credit card
• Credit card
• Credit card
• Doctor bill
  
• Student loan
• My car
• Land

May goals were altered a bit because school was not budgeted in...oops. We spent an additional $400 for a summer class I am taking. I start school next May and I am trying to take as many of the general classes as I can now so I can transfer them and make my load lighter during nursing school. If we didn't have that class to pay for, we could be a little farther but life happens, ya know?

I am going to continue on with the envelope system...it seems to work very well and helps us stop unnecessary spending which is the kicker in our house. June will hopefully allow us to pay off that the rest of the doctor bill and about half of the credit card that is next in line. We will see what happens!

(Image via.)

My financial life began turning around when I took responsibility for it.
— Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover