Project one : Defrost and organize freezer

I decided it would be as good a time as ever to defrost my freezer. It was long over due, and I needed to find something on the bottom. So I pulled everything out.

 

 

It was in serious need of being defrosted. So I boiled water and poured it down the sides. It went pretty quickly. Then I took inventory. It's always good to see what you have. I realized I have a lot of baking chips… I tried to organize it so like items were together and items I access often were easy to get to.

 

I found that I had a pretty good stash in my freezer. I shouldn't need meat for awhile. My goal now that I know what is in there is to make and freeze some meals. It felt good to accomplish a project. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. I have big plans, but I may not have all the energy.

What a week

This week is going to be interesting. Dan is taking his PE (professional engineer) test this week so he will be gone all week studying. He will be home for about an hour a day to help tuck the boys in and get things ready for the next day.

We are also sick here. Isaac has had a yucky bug for over 2 weeks now. I took him to the ER yesterday (he ended up being fine). But I picked something up there. Asher is a little cranky and I think we all getting cabin fever.

So to keep myself busy I have a plan to take on a project a day. I will try posting to let you all know how I'm doing. If nothing else just for me to feel connected to the outside world.

Visit from AZ

My grandparents made a long drive to the midwest from AZ just a few weeks ago. They stopped by to see us which was a lot of fun. Grandpa and Max bonded, Bayley tried to make sure he got attention also. It was so nice to see them.

Yummy new cookie recipe

So, this doesn't help my diet, but I love love to bake. I found this recipe and it is delicious. It is for Cranberry oatmeal cookies. I subbed out the raisins and cranberries for Crasins, and it worked, but I would like to try it according to the recipe next time. I love white chocolate so this was pretty much amazing. Hope you enjoy.

baby shoes

There are lots of great baby giveaways going on at The Deal scoop this week. Here is a chance to win some free baby shoes. I love me some baby shoes. Just thought I'd share.

Lots of give aways

If you have a little one this may be worth checking out.

Meal plan for the week

We made a trip to Sam's this week which cut a portion out of our monthly budget. So my weekly budget this month is 33.75/week. However, I don't think I will need to buy much since we are well stocked.

Here is my meal plan for the week.
Mon- Tortilla soup
Tues- Chicken alfredo green beans garlic toast
Wed House Church
Thurs- Salad bar
Fri- Home made pizza, peas, salad, baked apples
Sat- left overs
Sun- youth group

Breakfasts:
eggs
french toast
pancakes
cereal

Lunch;
hopefully lots of leftovers

Goals and excuses

Ok so this is one of those just for me posts. The kind that doesn't provide any good to any one else. Not an update on my kids or our family, but a selfish spilling of the guts. :) I've decided I need to lose some weight. Now that I Levi is almost 11 weeks it is time to start thinking about getting healthy.

In the past I've wanted to lose some weight to be cute, fit into clothes, and all that good stuff. While that is still the case the bigger deal now is health. I have had 3 babies in four years. I have gained a lot of weight and not had a whole lot of time to get rid of it in between . Unfortunately I'm not one of those women who loses the weight just by breastfeeding either. In fact, I gain weight while breastfeeding. (Not fair, I know.) Obesity runs in my family. So does diabetes, heart disease, and lots of other yucky stuff. I want to be around for my kids so I want to work on being healthy for them.

First though, I'd like to get off my chest my list of excuses as to why it will be hard. Then I can move on. :)
1. I'M TIRED!!! I'm not getting much sleep so I feel tired all the time, and when I'm awake I am constantly taking care of kids which is exhausting.
2. I don't have time. Not to mention my busy schedule I have a baby attached to me almost 6 hours a day. He is a slow nurser and he eats 7-8 times a day still. Then when he isn't attached I'm taking care of the other two.
3. It is hard to work out with the kids around. I'm afraid to get on the eliptical machine when they are awake because they hang on my ankles and i don't want them to get hurt.
4. I'm hungry...enough said.

Ok now that we have that out of the way. I think I'm going to get moving on losing some weight. I am looking into joining the gym so that should help with childcare while I work out. (now to find the time and motivation.) I also will be attempting to work on my diet quite a bit. I really love sugar. A lot. So I will be making my first food goals to eat only one sweet treat a day and drink 50 oz of water a day. I don't drink nearly enough so this is a good starting goal.

Anyway, this is where I'm starting cheer me on. I know I will need it.

Free stuff!

I'm a huge fan of free stuff in my mailbox here are two awesome links I signed up for today that look like fabulous offers.

If you are like me you go through a lot of pregnancy tests. :) Here you can get 10 free or you can opt for ovulation tests or any combo. Awesome!

Also Moneysavingmom.com has the scoop on how to get some free homeopathic kids medicine if you have a blog. Check it out here.

Just thought I'd share. Have a gorgeous fall day!

Asher

I was sick today with a tummy bug. So I was laying on the couch. Asher climbed up with me and crawled under the covers. Then he wanted to watch football. So I sat and watched football with my boy. It was so fun to cuddle him and watch him love football.

Isaac

Tonight Isaac told us that when he wakes up at night, and he is scared of the moon. He just prays and then he isn't scared any more. I love him.

Levi

Levi is getting big. I love his little personalitly coming out. He has a great smile and talks all the time. So cute. He is such a good baby. We are really blessed.

This weeks groceries

This week I made two trips to Meijer. The first trip I purchased two family packs of chicken. This is enough chicken to last us at least 3-4 weeks. I took advantage of a few of the sales, but my coupons were not in good order so I only got a few things on the freebie list. Some of the deals for free this week are the Green Giant steamers, chex mix, and warm delights. Pizza rolls ended up .60 a box. There was a catalina deal on the yeast that you got .50 off your next order. So after coupons they were .95/3 and I got $1.50 in coupons. My first order ended up being right around $35

My second trip was pure coupons with the exception of the pudding. I was a little frustrated because several of my coupons that should have doubled didn't, but I had all three kids and my cashier wasn't willing to just double them. So all in all I spent $7.70 and saved just under $57.
I got 13 bags of chex mix which should have been free, but I think I ended up spending about .50/bag for about 5 because the coupons didn't double (grr there should have been free).
6 free bags of frozen steamer veggies
8 free warm delights
4 boxes of fruit snacks at .40/box
3 cans black beans and 1 guacamole seasoning for free

Altogether I bought 50 items and came out with $4 in catalinas and a $5 $50 or more.

So I stayed under our $50/week budget and still got quite a bit, but I wish all my coupons would have doubled to make it even sweeter. Oh well.



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