Simplify - Become "unbusy"

You've heard me say it before, but I'm really striving to simplify.  This photo above is from our vacation last summer.  There is nothing better to me than sitting on the beach by Lake Michigan and I will do anything to get "unbusy" enough that we can go as often as we can each summer. 

I recently came across an aritlce that was very well written called A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy.    I just realized as I was writing this that I'm reading a book by this blog author called "Clutterfree with Kids".  He's got great ideas and really hits on the basics to living a more simple and "unbusy" life. 

Monday!

Last week I posted about some things I wanted to get done while the kids were away.  I thought I would share some bullet points of where we are at in the process.

* My husband had hernia surgery this past Thursday.  It was a long day.  We left home at 9:00 am and got home around 7:00 pm.  Really, sitting around the hospital for hours should not be tiring, but it is for some odd reason.  I got to enjoy a quiet lunch in the Hospital Cafe, which was surprisingly good and so inexpensive - we should just "eat out" there more often HA!  I also was able to get a fabulous foo-foo coffee from Starbucks while waiting.  I tried hard not to laugh at my husband when I was finally able to see him after surgery but he is quite funny when he is drugged up :-)  He did have a fabulous nurse AND it was a very slow day in the post-op so we got to stay longer than normal which was actually a good thing.

* I know I had thought about painting and setting up a new entertainment center but, on Friday, I was exhausted.  Since a week ago Thursday I haven't slept well thanks to some unexpected hot and humid days (our room is very stuffy and hot even with a window open!) and then sleeping on the couch one night followed by the day mentioned above . . .I didn't feel like doing much.  I did manage a quick trip to the store to get some groceries but otherwise, we hung out at home all day and, yes, I did nothing.  It felt good.

* Saturday I considered going to the garden center but . . .I didn't.  I even thought about going to town and wandering the mall but ultimately, I was tired.  Darryl was still in a lot of pain so really, we just hung out.  I watched a lot of HGTV and Food Network while he napped

* Sunday . . well, repeat of the above HA!  We did sit out on the back porch in the sun for a bit in the afternoon but otherwise, we were 100% lazy.  Darryl was still in quite a bit of pain so we just . . ..enjoyed hanging out together. 

Do you see how much I've gotten done? LOL  Oh well, Today a little reality comes back with babysitting so I'm going to actually work on some things like scrapbooking and homeschooling.  My printer took a lightening his last week so am waiting for my new one to arrive on Tuesday which means . . no printing :-)  That really cramps my style  .. . .since I am a huge list maker and love to print stuff!

We are missing these two little boys this week.  The older they get, the more fun they are so when they are gone, well, we miss them :-)  Don't get me wrong, the break is also great but they are just so darn cute!!

Things my Kids Say

Nate comes up with some awesome sayings:
* "Mom, it is hotter than a jacket out here!"
* "Mom, it is hotter than a hot chair!"


Josh came out of his room one night and said, "Just one more thing mom, I love you and . . .make sure and get enough sleep!"  This was done 1 1/2 hours AFTER he went to bed so I think HE is the one that needs to get enough sleep!

We had storms recently during the day and it was fun to watch Josh, who is scared of storms at night, say things like, "It's ok, it's just the sun fighting with the clouds to shine."  Or to Nate who was scared of the thunder, "Don't worry Nate, you don't have to be scared, I'm right here with you."  Now, if only he would do that at night when it storms instead of crawling in bed with me HA!

Another peek into Nate's imagination - he likes to smell things and tell me what he smells.  The other day he told me that I smelled like shirts, Josh smelled like pants, Darryl smelled like hair and he smelled like noses.  Or he has told me that China smells like the number 6.  The kid comes up with stuff that just makes me go, "WHAT???" LOL

Nate was putting some puzzles together and brought me some pieces.  He informed me that white cats are called Cats and all other colored cats are kittens.  I love how he thinks ;-)

The boys have not had great weather for soccer.  This past Thursday it was cold and damp.  Josh informed the coach that "This was not soccer weather and he was allergic to the cold".  Then he told my mom that "it was so cold he couldn't breath" :-)

Bike Helment Fun

Last weekend was a beautiful, sunny, way too hot warm weekend so we spent some time outside on Saturday working on bikes.  I was able to pick up a fantastic bike for the boys from a friend for, well, a steal to be quite honest.  It was a little bigger than I thought it was so our plan of putting training wheels on it did not go as planned.

We went through three sets of training wheels trying to get them on the new bike only one pair worked and they barely worked.  I made multiple trips to the store to buy and return training wheels before we just gave up!  They have to learn to ride without training wheels before they can ride the new bike.

 Waiting patiently to ride his new bike.

 We thought the training wheels were all set and then Nate starting riding it . .. oops!

 Trying once again to fix the bike. 

 On one of the trips to the store, the boys came with me and discovered some awesome bake helmets.  They were not on the purchase list but they were just too cute to not buy.  Josh even wore his while playing Pac Man . . just to be safe!

 Amazingly, we convinced the child totally against change, Josh, to start riding a bike without training wheels.  I'm still not sure how that happened but it did.  We took the training wheels off the tiny bike and Josh actually managed to almost pedal and keep his feet off the ground.

 This picture made me bust out laughing when I downloaded it from the camera.  Who is that kid in the background? LOLOL  What a goofball!

 And a glimpse of spring :-)  My flowers are slowly starting to open . . .making me realize how sad my little flower garden areas are and that they need some work!

Food Friday - Scalloped Potatoes

Scalloped Potatoes
adapted from  The Pioneer Woman

A few weeks ago I was looking for something to make as a side dish and remembered seeing an episode of The Pioneer Woman where she made some awesome scalloped potatoes.  Now, I grew up on the Betty Crocker version and that, for real, is the only version I've ever made.   I've never been totally happy with that version but hey, it's potatoes and ham so who's complaining?  Well, let me tell you, this recipe is THE best  Scalloped Potato recipe I have ever had and I didn't even include ham in it since I didn't have any!  The potatoes came out perfectly cooked and (drum roll please) there was no watery liquid in the baking dish!  Instead the sauce was think and cheese and oh so good!  I'm kinda sad that I won't make this again until the fall it was so good!  

 

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes, Washed Thoroughly
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced
• 3 cups Diced Ham
• 1-1/2 cup Half-and-half
• 1-1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/4 cup Flour
• Black Pepper To Taste
• 1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
• Chopped Parsley (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish.
Heat butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent. Add ham and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine half-and-half and cream in a microwave-safe container and nuke for a minute or so, until no longer cold. Whisk in flour and black pepper until totally combined. Set aside. (You may add salt, but cheese and ham are salty, so add sparingly.)
Combine the two grated cheeses. Set aside.
Using a mandoline or slicer, slice potatoes into 1/8-inch slices (very thin.) Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the ham/onion mixture, then 1/3 of the cheese, then pour on 1/3 of the cream mixture.
Repeat this twice more, ending with a sprinkling of cheese and a pouring on of the rest of the cream mixture. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes at least, or until bubbly and hot.
Cut into squares and serve. Sprinkle on chopped parsley if you'd like!
(Note: To speed along the process a bit, you may boil sliced potatoes for 3 to 5 minutes before assembling the casserole. Just drain and slightly cool before assembling.)

Weekly Menu

So last week, when I went shopping, I amazed myself.  Between coupons, special deals and a small gift card, I saved $100.00 on the groceries.  There were a lot of Buy One/Get one offers that just happened to be on stuff I buy weekly so I was able to stock up a little.  I also changed my menu planning concept slightly - I started by picking out the best meat deals for 4 meals that I needed and then went from there.  I ended up getting some nice steaks to marinade and grill, pork chops and chicken! 

This next week we will be Kidless - you know what that means!  I don't cook much :-)

Friday - Darryl will be recovering from minor surgery on Thursday.  I don't plan on cooking - we'll get Subway or something simple. 

Saturday - Thursday - Here are the general ideas for what we'll be eating this week :-)
 - We do plan on eating out  I would say four nights which includes Thursday night after Soccer.  :-) 
- Steaks on the grill with veggies, potato and garlic bread
- Swiss Steak, Mashed potatoes, and veggie
-Some other meat that I can get at a good deal, a veggie, bread and maybe corn or something

So, that's it :-)  Simple, Simple, Simple!

Daily Blog Topics

My husband has a blog.  He likes to tell me the "stats" of his blog.  I, on the other hand, just write because I feel like it.  I started writing my blog about 3 years ago or so and almost always wrote a post every day unless I planned to take a day or two off.  Until this year.  I know that it has been a number of things that has caused this lull in blogging - A long, cold winter where we didn't go anywhere or do anything exciting to blog about on a daily basis; no crafting or creating going on for me to blog about or show off; no schooling topics, crafts, activities since we stopped doing regular lessons since my kids are so smart (hahaha); I've had no bright ideas for topics lately. So, you've been stuck with weekly menus, a recipe here and there, and some random posts.  I'm hopeful that the blog bug will get back under my skin and I'll get creative one again :-) 

I've some plans for the upcoming week so I thought I would share . My husband is having surgery on Thursday, just some minor, unexpected surgery (his back surgery is in June!).  Along with that, my kids are heading to Papa and Nana's house for a few days.  Ironically, it has been planned for months for the kids to go this weekend because I was going to attend a Homeschool conference but now, am going to hang out at home and maybe, maybe, get some things done. 

Here's what is on my radar for the next 5-6 days:

1. Paint the living room - it is still on the radar . .. not even 50% sure it will get done but if I get up on Friday morning and feel like going to buy paint, I will!

2.  Clean, organize, and move a chair into the playroom.  Awhile ago we purchased a small TV for the playroom and it has been a fabulous addition.  Now, I just need to move a few things around and make the room more usable.

3. Pick out, put together and set up a new entertainment center for the Living Room.  Again, this is a 50% item - if I can locate what I want, at the price I want, then we'll get the huge beast out of our living room and put something smaller and cleaner in the space.

4. Finish some final little things in the basement including putting up a photo album on facebook of items I have to sell.

5.  Update the homeschool learning wall and learning stuff.  As well as start to work on lesson plans and a final order of what I need to get before the end of June (I plan on using Back surgery time to get our year planned out so I want all of our books!)

6. Some yardwork.  I'm thinking a trip to the Garden Center and some new plants are in the works.  I also need to get some mulch and get that spread out and plant our tiny little garden.  I might try to enlarge our garden area so I can actually plant enough stuff to make a salad and even can some pickles or something simple but since I have to do it all by hand, well, we will see!

7.  Scrapbook - to be honest, I have already planned to go scrapbook crazy in June during the back surgery time when I have no kids here for over a week.  I can leave it all out on the table and just work on that and Home School planning.  BUT I do have some organizing to do and just putting some albums together.  I would like to get that done this next week.  If I do it with the boys around, they want to look at every album, which is fine, but I don't tend to get much done!

Well, that's my plan.  I will also confess that I'm looking forward to a few days without any kids.  The munchkins that I babysit will be back next week after a three day weekend but a few days with no kids is always a nice break :-)