Planner, Planning, Plans . . ..

I had planned to finally get back into full time blogging this week but, as I mentioned before, I got hit with the stomach flu Sunday evening so my well laid plans did not happen!  I do plan on getting back into my daily blogging again and already have the next 3 weeks planned out. 

A couple of years ago, I jumped on the Erin Condren planner bandwagon and ordered my first planner.  I will admit that I did not use it - I ended up picking up something different half way through the year.  I then ordered a different planner last year but again, it just wasn't perfect.  Well, last December I got sucked in again and ordered my Erin Condren planner.  I decided that this time I WOULD make it work for me.  It has taken almost 6 months but I am not using it to fully plan my week.  I don't have lists laying around nor am I typing out a to do list every day but rather, I plan my week, write it down and cross it off.

 Here's a snapshot of my week-at-a-glance.  On Sunday, I take time to write down everything I want to get done during the week.  I do have a master to do list that I keep (it's the paper shown above laying on the planner) and that paper holds my "brain".  I take basic weekly things like laundry, grocery shopping and budgeting and fit those in first then I add things from my list.  For example, this month, I'm focusing on deep cleaning the dining room so each day I list a task to do in the dining room or I'm trying to work on scrapbooking so I list one thing I want to get done each day.  I also, at the bottom of each page, list the main course for dinner (so I know if I need to prep something for dinner) as well as the blog topic for the day.

 This also allows me to list appointments on a given day AND make notes about the day (notice the big "SICK" on Monday!

As I work through the week the list actually gets smaller until I get to Friday where the main item is "finish tasks from the week".  I know that I will never get through everything on every day so Friday gives me time to catch up.

I also use the sides to make notes - songs to sing, Christmas gift ideas, or something funny someone says.  

Yes, I take my planner just about everywhere with me.  It fits in my purse or in my Sunday-go-to-church bag so I always have it handy for planning. 

Weekly Menu - The one where we will go camping!

So, last week did not go completely as planned!  Last Saturday we met my niece-in-law for brunch, which was fabulous!  Then, we came home and I worked for about 5-6 hours on cleaning out our camper, going through our camping stuff and repacking everything nice and neat.  By the time I was done, the last thing I wanted to do was cook anything so we went and grabbed some dinner.  Sunday evening as we were praying with the boys I felt the awful wave of sickness came over me and even prayed that I was not getting the flu.  Well, guess what, within an hour I was taking a Zophran to curb the nausea YUCK!  I was sick all day Monday but, thankfully it was a true 24 hour bug and by Monday late afternoon was slowly feeling human again.  Dinner ended up being whatever I could put together from the fridge.  Tuesday I still wasn't feeling great but I made stuffed shells, left over from a previous week's menu . . .and then on Wednesday I ended up with a Worship Committee Meeting at church so we all ate left overs again. HA!

This coming weekend we have a long awaited camping trip to look forward to also and we cannot wait! 

Saturday - BBQ Chicken Pizza and frozen pizza for the kids.

Sunday - Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, corn and Rolls

Monday - My parents will be here for dinner so .  .I haven't decided what to cook yet.  :-)

Tuesday -Steak Fingers and gravy, Lemon Orzo Salad w/asparagus and tomatoes and rolls

Wednesday - Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, Fried Eggs and Fruit Salad

Thursday - We will be going out - my guess is Smashburger - since Darryl needs to go into town to the hospital to get x-rays again before his next doctor's appointment.

Friday - CAMPING!  I'll be sharing about camping in upcoming posts :-)

Things my kids say

* Every night before bed, we all pray together.  Josh almost always prays, "Dear Jesus, I love you AMEN".  Nate likes to pray silently so he sticks his head under his pillow and prays.  When he is done, he says, "Amen".  Lately, though, once he is done, he whispers in my ear, "Mom, I said Praise to God and prayed for Daddy's back"  I think it is so awesome!!!

*Josh told me that he hurt his head at Papa and Nana's.  He said his fingernail was ridiculously long and he just sharped his head.   Ok, it doesn't sound as funny written down but when he was telling the story, it was funny.


* Somehow, at lunch the other day, the boys started talking about the fact that they were old.  Nate piped up and said, "Well, Papa is REALLY old."  Josh continued on with his conversation for a bit and then, again, Nate said, "Well, Papa and Nana are old."  Josh said, "At least they can still run around!"  Then Nate laughed and said, "Nana can't run at all!!!!" hahahahahaha 

* Recently Josh was talking to Nana and told her that they wouldn't be coming over so much any more because they are getting older.  Yes, he is a little excited about turning 6 before too much longer!

* A few weeks ago my parents brought over a pop up camper for us (a long awaited, God-given, answered to prayer!).  Josh and Nate had already seen it since it arrived at my parents house while they were staying there.  We pulled up beside my parents and Josh told Papa, "I already mom all about how to open the camper so you don't have to show her anything.'  My dad told him that there were some little things he needed to still show me.  Josh told him, "No, I told her all of those things too."  (And you know what, when we put it up - he remember most of it!)

Weekly Menu

Last weeks menu stayed pretty close on track except we did go out to eat on Monday night for our anniversary - just to our local Big Boy but they have really good fish and chips (and onion rings . . .. and blue cheese dressing) so it was all good. 

There was no real food prep last week - I cut up a watermelon but otherwise, I had veggies to use from the previous week AND we had fresh stuff from the garden.  My neighbor brought us stuff (a pepper, cucumbers and a huge onion) and we got a zucchini and lots of cherry tomatoes from our garden.

So here is the plan for this week:

Saturday  - Burgers and and Fries :-)  What better meal to have on a summer evening when the grillin' is good!

Sunday - Stuffed Shells, Green Beans and Garlic Bread - it can all be prepped before church and just takes 30 minutes to cook after :-) 

Monday - Chicken Gyros, Hot Dogs (for the kids), Fried Zucchini, Fruit and Chips

Tuesday - BBQ Chicken Pizza (for the adults) and frozen pizza for the kids

Wednesday -Ham and Cheese Quiche and Blueberry coffee cake - a leftover from last weeks menu :-)

Thursday -Easy Philly Cheesesteaks, Amish Sweet Macaroni Salad and fruit salad

Friday - Sweet and Sour Tacos w/ beans, chips, and salsa.

Things My Kids Say

* We were teasing about snoring the other day when Nate pipes up with, "You should hear Papa and Nana snore." We all burst out laughing and of course we had to keep asking questions so we asked the boys if they really snore.  Josh said, "Yes, Nana snores like this  . .. " and proceeded to sound EXACTLY like her HA!  Than Nate said, "They must be really tired because they snore ALOT.  It was the funniest thing ever!!

A few of my (current) favorite things

I haven't done this in awhile but I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things as of right now:

So, a cook book like this one has become very important in our house.  Josh saw one similiar to this in the store last week and we bought it.  They boys have looked through it so much that pages were bent an curled; they looked at it every night and picked out all the cakes they want to make.  Josh even carried it to Pizza Hut and  showed the waitress the cakes HA!  Sadly, the boys were cleaning up the yard after we got back from the eating and Josh left it outside . . .and then it down poured.  Needless to say, we will be heading back to the store today to buy another one so that we can (attempt) to make 2 cakes.

I bought this last week because it reminded of college and I was not disappointed.  One of my favorite Saturday evening meals (because the dining hall on weekends - especially Saturday evenings - was gross) was to order a Pizza Fry from the Rec. Hall and take it back to dorm to eat while reading or studying.  Really, they are just cheese breadsticks with sauce to dip but they are just so good!  I will be stocking my freezer  with them again HA!

Ok, I seldom buy Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  It is pricey and you don't get alot but it is premium ice cream and very good.  It just so happens that it was on sale AND I had a coupon so I was able to get it for under $2.00.  I picked out this flavor since I love pistachio's and it did not disappoint.  Yum! 


I don't have a picture of this but I love my kids VBS CD.  Why?  Because THEY love it.  They ask to listen to it, sing it, and dance like crazy.  Nate has memorized words and loves to tell us those words he knows. 

Food Friday - Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Sour Cream Noodle Bake
adapted from: Pioneer Woman

A friend of mine brought two freezer meals of this meal just before Darryl had surgery and I really liked it.  It was something simple, different, inexpensive to make and similar to lasagna. It just so happened that this recipe showed up on Pioneer Woman just a week or so later so then I actually had the recipe!  This would be an easy recipe to cut in half OR once your family has eaten its full, individual servings could be frozen to use for lunch or for a quick dinner later.  I will admit that I totally did not read the last set of instructions so I did not layer mine - instead I dumped in all of the noodles, put the meat mixture on top and layered the cheese.  Personally, it tasted great and was SO much easier than trying to layer!  I also added the traditional lasagna seasonings to the meat mixture to add a little more flavor (I felt the meat was a little bland). 

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 pound Ground Chuck
• 1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1-1/4 cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1/2 cup Sliced Green Onions (less To Taste)
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown ground chuck in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir.
To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted.
Serve with crusty French bread.