Menu Plan Monday: The week of November 29

Sunday: My baby turns five today! I don't know about you, but that means it is time for another one! Zoa will get to pick where we celebrate after her birthday party.
Monday: Steaks, Baked Potatoes and a Veggie
Tuesday: Chicken, Basil and Spinach Quesadillas and a side

Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken Chili

Thursday: Three Cheese Baked Spaghetti and Fococcia Bread

Friday: Burrito Night and Mexican Rice
Saturday: Homemade Pizza

For more menu ideas, check out I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Not your typical Thanksgiving post...

I sit here, groggy and tired. I am full and trying to catch up on my Google Reader. I am going to make this short and sweet...

I wanted to do a full on "What I am Thankful For" posts but I am barely awake to function, much less to make a heartfelt post. Instead, I will leave you with a picture or two.

This is how we roll on Thanksgiving night...

(You must click this picture and make it larger...then read the note I added.)

This ones for the girls....

...girls who wear mineral make-up.

I love Bare Minerals. I have worn their products for nearly four years now and will never go back. One downside to having it is you have little containers of all your minerals in your make-up bag. Not good.

I just wanted to share what a fellow blogger found...The Minerals Case!

For all you other mineral lovers...how handy is this?! All you would need is a small separate bag for your brushes and other small pieces of make-up and you are set!

Now if only I had enough Bare Minerals to fill it!

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Card Outtake

Macie looks terrified of what might happen if she does not smile and Zoa is just plain mad!

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Not so sloppy "Sloppy Joes"

We love Sloppy Joes around our house but my {almost} five year old is a texture kid...meaning she is weird about getting icky stuff on her hands. My menu for this week included Sloppy Joes and it reminded me of a tip to share.

My readers may remember a few months ago when I told you that we used hot dog buns for our Sloppy Joes. Don't break the bun apart completely...leave that little connected part connected. Just scoop the mixture into the bun and serve!

This has helped our girls stay a bit cleaner during dinnertime and they get to eat all the Sloppy Joe mixture...instead of half of it ending up on their plate!



Be sure and check out Tammy's Recipes for more kitchen tips and yummy recipes!

Menu Plan Monday: the week of November 22

Sunday: Slow Cooker Beans and Rice
Monday: French Onion Soup and a Salad with a Crusty Bread...any recipes?
Tuesday: Chicken Tetrazini with a side
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes and a Veggie
Thursday: Happy Birthday Jeremy! Happy Thanksgiving!
Black Friday: Zoa requested Chicken Wings. I'll add a side.
Saturday: Homemade Pizza

For more menu ideas, check out I'm An Organizing Junkie!

It's like I'm 16 all over again.

Ask me me I was at 11:59 Friday night? And where I want to be again this week?

I have not always been a Twilight fan...I did not even watch the first one until about four months ago. But I have been hooked ever since. This week, I want to start reading the books.

Are you on the Twilight Saga bandwagon?

dizzy

Even though I have unsuccessfully taken pictures on with my camera on the Manual mode, I am still trying.

Last weekend, Macie stayed with a friend. Zoa and I were outside, playing and snapping away in automatic mode.

Out walks Jeremy...

"Swing me, daddy!"




Have a great Saturday!

I always knew storage was an issue...

Tonight, after doing a bit of shopping, I started to cook dinner to stick in the freezer for next week. I started a pot of water to boil and ran upstairs to grab some spaghetti noodles.

Our stairs are used as part storage closet...our upstairs in this rental house is unfinished. This means that the stairs are full of items I have stockpiled that I use in the kitchen...Ziploc bags, salad dressings...just little random things.

Read: A 'quick trip' down the stairs means stepping over all kinds of things.

Anyways, I get down the stairs to find my kitchen full of smoke.

Ooops.

I turned on the wrong burner and a plastic tub was melting all over my stove. The tub had been there holding snacks because of lack of storage in my cabinets.

AND IT STUNK.

I turned the burner off, grab the plastic, which at this point was started to actually get small sparks in it, thew it in a cardboard box and opened up the windows.

Just so you understand, I sent the girls outside...in 44 degree weather because the fumes were so bad we were coughing.

*cough cough*

As I was cleaning up, I realized how lucky we are. It could have been so much worse. Thank God it is not though.

Moral of the story...slow down and make sure the right burner is on!

And make sure you don't store stuff on your stove!

{It's okay though...you can laugh!}

Menu Plan Monday: The week of November 15

Sunday: Whole Chicken from the crock pot, Rolls and a Veggie Went out to eat.
Monday: Grilled chicken, a veggie and a salad
Tuesday: Soup and sandwiches
Wednesday: Stuffed Shells and Garlic Bread (Made these on Saturday and stuck them in the freezer.)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Nacho Night and Mexican Style Rice
Saturday: Homemade Pizza (Going to try Chicken Alfredo Pizza using leftovers from Monday)

For more menu idea, head over to I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Christmas shopping...

Without touching our Christmas fund, I have managed to get a good portion of Christmas shopping started.

My list includes:
Mom
Dad -
Mom
Dad
Niece #1
Niece #2
Niece #3
Nephew #1
Nephew #2

And then the girls...this is the earliest I have started shopping in my life. I have been shopping since about June/July for Christmas and it helps so much. Normally, Jeremy and I would just go to Target and drop way to much cash and be done. No more!

So far...

I got this game for $5.00 at Target!


These two movies costs about $15.00 total...


I ordered two cupcakes sets through Scholastic to accompany the girls' aprons...

I ordered these on Amazon using promotion codes and payed about $20 total...some of which used gift cards from Swagbucks...

Jeremy picked up a dress similar to this right after Halloween for Zoa...$5.00 at Toys 'R' Us!

I have a few other things stashed away but cannot think of them at the moment.

I just want to say it again because I am so excited...I have not even touched our Christmas account!

This weekend, I think I may start wrapping. I am spending the day with one of my best friends who is due is 15 days with her first baby. (Say it with me...AWWEEEE!) She is on bed rest so I am going to go hang out with her all day Saturday. Maybe I can take my camera and learn how to actually operate it manually!

Have a great weekend!

In the market for a SLR? This deal is amazing!

I came across this deal online and just had to share. If you are in the market for an SLR camera and have the money to buy one, why not throw in a few extra dollars and get an extra lens?

Here is how you go about getting a Canon SLR and a lens for just over $640.00!!

Add this camera to your cart:

Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black)

Amazon has a deal going on now where you if you add a Canon XSi DSLR lens to your cart, you will get $200.00 off automatically. Here is the lens:

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

This deal ends up costing about $899.00 before discounts. Depending on your taxes and such, you will pay around $641.00!!

Make sure you your items are from Amazon directly or the deal will not work. If it does not say you are getting it from Amazon, then click "17 New" (or however many are mentioned) and scroll down until you see the vendor is Amazon.

I have had Canon's before and if I had the money to spend on this deal, I would have definitely considered it. Do your research and I hope this may be helpful to you!!

And it begins...

Even though classes usually have me strappped for time during the week (and not to mention housework), I have found a few minutes to just play around with my camera.

I am clueless on how to work this thing to it's full advantage.

One thing that I do not want to do is rely on 'Auto'. I want to learn the camera...ISO, aperture and shutter speed, just to name a few. Right now, for the most part, those terms mean nothing to me.

Which is why I am going to get this today...

I have to really, if I am going to get the full effect of what my Nikon can do. Hopefully this weekend will allow me to take some practice shots.

Once I learn more about the camera body and the lens I have that came with it, I will be looking at some lenses.

Eeeekkkkkk!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

You guys, I got it. I have not said anything here but I have been madly in love with the Nikon D40 (doesn't it just roll off the tongue so nicely?) for some time now. Anyone that knows me IRL (in real life) knows this. And Sunday morning I woke up and within three hours, knew that it was going to be the day this baby got in my hands.

In was not planned that way. The plan was for me to save up money...money from Ebay sales, doing surveys and a few dollars here and there. And I had close to 20% saved so far. Once I got the right amount of money saved, I would walk in and get it. Simple as that.

But then Whitney calls me. She has been shopping digital SLR cameras and just started today actively looking, catching a feel for them.

"Alaina, they have this Nikon D40 on clearance for $299.00. This years model and everything."

At this time, I think my heart skipped a beat.

After a bit on convincing Jeremy that this was the best deal ever, he agreed.

(Or maybe it was he was just sick of hearing about it. I am still not sure.)

But I have it! And I'm in awe. There are so many things this baby can do and I must learn it all, or at least try! So I am warning you, I will be posting some pictures. They may not be great but we can learn together, m'kay?

Menu Plan Monday: The week of November 8

The first week of November has come and gone. With the busy holiday season coming faster than ever, I am scared we are going to go waaayy over budget on our grocery bill. On top of all the holidays, we have both the girls' birthdays and Jeremy's birthday all before December 28. I did one big shopping trip this past weekend for the rest of November and will hopefully make some of the meals ahead of time so it will help me out in the kitchen (and give more more time to play with my new toy! More on that tomorrow). We shall see...

One thing I want to add is if I don't post a veggie with the meal, assume I add one. I have looked back on my menus and noticed that one is not always posted. Just want to mention that.

Here is what this week looks like...

Sunday: Hamburgers and a side
Monday: Rice Lasagna & No-Knead Fococcia Bread (I am hoping this will taste like the bread at the Macaroni Grill)

Tuesday: Baked Salmon, mashed potatoes and a veggie

Wednesday: Crock Pot Pulled Pork and corn

Thursday: Zuchinni Crab Cake Burgers and a veggie

Friday: Taco Night with Mexican Rice
Saturday: Homemade Pizza

For more menu ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday: The week of November 1 (!)

Typing out the title of this post is so odd...I can't believe it is already November! Here is my menu for the week...

This week is a menu for Jeremy - it has his two favorite recipes in it.

Monday: Stuffed Peppers (My own version of this recipe.)

Tuesday: Beef and broccoli

Wednesday: Crock pot chicken chili with cornbread

Thursday: Bruschetta n' Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Friday: Homemade Pizza
Saturday: Stuffed shells
Sunday: Seven layer tortilla pie

Snacks: Spiced Pumpkin Bread, applesauce, grapes and cheese and crackers

For more menu planning ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Don't throw away those Halloween candy wrappers!

I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about this promotion YoCrunch has:

If you send in two candy wrappers to YoCruch, you can get free yogurt! They will send it to you in the form of a free product coupon.

You can read all the details here, but I thought it was worth mentioning to all the trick-or-treaters!