MPM

At this very moment I couldn’t care less about a menu! I have the flu and food is the very last thing on my mind.  My plan for this week is to get well and not spread my icky germs.  This is what I’m posting on the fridge, in hopes that the other 3 able bodies get the urge to help me out. 

~breakfasts~ waffles and bacon, shredded wheat cereal, oatmeal x 2, eggs in a nest x 2, breakfast bake, fruits, oj, milk

~lunches~ leftovers, cold sandwiches, hot sandwiches, salad, Ramen

~supper~

lasagna (from the freezer), garlic bread, salad

chicken and rice (crock pot), green beans

beef and barley soup, crusty french bread

oven-baked ‘fried’ chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed broccoli and cauliflower

cheeseburger pasta, English peas

chicken broccoli pasta, salad

What are you cooking up this week? For more menus, visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. Psst….she’s also hosting a giveaway!

‘Diet’ Muffins

A lady at our co-op was raving about this recipe for ‘diet’ cake the other day. She said it’s something like 4 Weight Watchers points for each serving – which is actually a cupcake. I’m not doing WW, nor am I a huge fan of cake, but the excitement with which she described it really intrigued me. Today, I whipped out the recipe. Again, not a cake lover here and these didn’t convert me, but if you are looking for low-cal/low-fat/low-point cake, give these a try. They were fast, easy, and tasty. Not to mention pretty.

Boxed cake mix of your choice. (‘Duncan Hines Golden Recipe Butter’)
1 can Libby’s pumpkin *This doesn’t give flavor, it just replaced the fat you would normally be adding.
1/2 cup water or FF milk (I used all FF evaporated milk & I think more than 1/2 a cup. I don’t measure.)
Mix & bake. Simple and quick!

Of course, adding a cream cheese frosting ups the points considerably. I’m just sayin’.

Today

Today is the only day this week that I don’t have to leave the house! Well, I do have to take my daughter to church. However, I will be dropping her at the door, so it doesn’t count. I feel so blessed to be a SAHM, however the days I actually, you know, stay at home are rare!

Mostly, I’m playing catch up, but I am also working on a few projects. The first is to frame some pictures my father-in-law recently brought over. They were taken in 1952. My father in law at age 15 and his father at age 47.

They are precious to my husband and to me. I’m excited to get them framed so we can display them. As much as I would love to have them restored and professionally framed, it’s just not in the budget right now. So here is what I’ve done. These frames were on the clearance table at Dollar General.

There were two of them – perfect – and they were marked 50% off. So, I bought them both for $6.00. Brought them home, disassembled and painted them.

Yes, I spray paint in my den. The floor is just painted concrete and only ‘temporary’. Here’s the finished product. In hindsight, I think I should have used chocolate brown paint. Black satin is just my ‘go to’ right now. Bonus: Hello cutie patootie! This is my husband at 5 years of age. How precious is he? This frame is way too dark for the picture. I’ll have to remedy that later.

My next project is this. I have a frame and the paint chips. I’ve sort of found an arrangement I like. There is just one problem. The background. I don’t have paper large enough to cover the area. I suppose I could paint the cardboard backing, but I’m afraid it will bubble. Suggestions?

MPM

Last week I was completely out of touch with the blogging world. Not to even mention the menu planning world. Too much was happening around here to even think about posting! At moments I felt like the To Do list was going to kill me. It was a blessing to have a menu plan posted on the fridge, if not on my blog. I’m so glad that menu planning has become a habit for me.  Thankfully, this week looks a lot less stressful. 

 

~breakfasts~ egg in a nest, oatmeal x 3, grits, fruits, oj, & milk
~dinners~ leftovers, sandwiches, Ramen, salad, fruits
~suppers~
tuna noodle casserole, green peas
meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad or green beans
chicken & rice, salad
taco soup, chips, onions/sour cream/cheese
chicken fried rice, egg rolls
breakfast
leftovers

Head on over to orgjunkie.com to see what others are cooking up this week!

It’s all about the savings

Have you been buying this magazine? 

No? Why on earth not?

It has quickly become my favorite magazine. It’s FULL of coupons! Coupons for useful stuff. Stuff I already buy, such as*:

$1.50 off Dove CreamOil Body lotion, $1.00 off Softsoap pump, $2.00 off any Advil, $2.00 off Spot Shot. Those are things almost everyone uses, right? Plus there is a coupon for $5 off the movie Fireproof…and $3 off Open Season, but I didn’t like that movie.

Back to my point, the magazine more than pays for itself. Just for kicks, I’ve added it up for you. The February edition contains $32.11 in savings. Here’s how it breaks down:$34.35 coupons-$2.24 cost of the magazine(10% off cover at the walmarts)=$32.11 in savings!
Plus, there are all sorts of recipes, craft, beauty, fashion, and other helpful  articles. How can you go wrong?

*Any time I type or say ’such as’ I cannot help but think of this poor girl…

 

and laugh. Oh, how I laugh! And then I feel guilty. And then I tone it down to a giggle.

MPM

We did fairly well with sticking the menu last week. There were more leftovers than I expected, whick resulted in rolling the lasagna for a 3rd week and a few less supper meals on this plan. You’ll notice that our breakfasts and dinner meals don’t vary much, but it still helps me to list them.

~breakfasts~ oatmeal x2, cereal, birds in a nest, biscuits with sausage, fruits, oj & milk

~dinners~ leftovers x2 or 3, pb&j’s, grilled cheese, 1 lunch out

~suppers~

chicken & broccoli pasta, salad, SF/FF pudding

lasagna, salad, garlic bread

fish sticks, mac & cheese, green beans (karate night!)

pasta fagioli, bread, brownies

pinto beans with sausage over rice, SF/FF pudding

What are you eating this week? Visit Orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas. PLUS, she is hosting a giveaway!

*I know this is Tuesday…I did write this on Monday, it just didn’t get posted!

MPM

Last week the hubby and I inventoried and reorganized our freezers. Let me tell you, it has been a tremendous blessing for me! I highly recommend it. So now that I have an accurate list, I’m planning meals around what I already have. There are 2 whole chickens I plan to roast and debone for some of my meals (like the nachos and tortilla soup).

~breakfasts~

oatmeal, quiche, cheese toast, peanut butter toast, biscuits & sausage, cereal, yogurt, fruit, oj, milk

~lunches~

leftovers, homemade pizzas (I don’t really have a plan but I’m always craving pizza!), beans & greens with cornbread, sandwiches, salads, grilled cheese sandwiches

~suppers~

roasted chicken, steamed veggies, brown rice

spaghetti squash, turkey meat sauce, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, garlic bread

chicken tortilla soup with cheese, onions & chips on the side, SF/FF pudding

deer meat & vegetable soup, cornbread

chicken nachos, Spanish rice, black bean & corn salsa, fruit

black bean & turkey burgers with sauteed onions & mushrooms, Cole slaw, baked beans

pinto beans with sausage, rice, no bake cookies

lasagna (made with ground turkey, fresh spinach added), garlic bread, salad **Rollover from last week. We had too many leftovers to use.

Of course, I planned too much so one or two of these will also roll over to next week, but I like to have options!

What are you planning this week? Click on over to orgjunkie.com to check out some other menus.

I’ve got the itch

Do you ever have those days or weeks where you feel you just must create something? I’m having one of them. There are no less than 10 things I want to do right.now. Unfortunately the state of my home is preventing me from actually doing much of anything!

I did manage to alter a new prayer book for myself.

The lighter colored paper was a little too light…but that’s ok.

Here’s the back.

Normally, I would embellish with some ribbon but since this one is just for me, I’ll leave it as is. What are you working on?

Frustration

My widgets are missing and I cannot load pictures.

This spells much frustration for me.

I’ll return when I figure it out.

Kitchen Makeover Take 1

When we moved into this house the eat-in kitchen was, and I’m being generous here, a MESS. Here it is in all its ugly. The way it looked when we viewed the house:

From the start I had high hopes for an expansion of this kitchen. So, for the first two years I didn’t want to replace flooring, paint or decorate it. I was holding out. Well, I finally got a grip and decided to work with what I have. After all, why live with a kitchen I detest while I am waiting on my remodel? Ha! I realize that the expansion/remodel will most likely never happen, but a girl can dream.

As an example of the mess…The previous owners had removed the wallpaper from the dining room and tried to texture the walls. My best guess is that they slapped mud on the walls and used a broom to give it texture. I’ve seen this done and done correctly, looks ok. However, they were not very experienced and what we ended up with was more like spikes. If you accidentally brushed your bare skin against the wall you would bleed. Totally not kidding here. I kept a too-big-for-the-space china hutch on the wall for protection against the walls of death.

The decorating was interesting as well. The mix of ivy and peppers just didn’t do it for me. Those quickly came down, as well as the towel bars.  I repainted a light beige on the walls surrounding the cabinets/counters. Other than those minor changes, it remained basically the same. At one point I did slap some things on the walls which was worse than having a bare kitchen, I believe. I tried to disguise the ugly, but really, it was pointless. 

The husband and I decided to do what we could to make it better. So here is what we did: We taped, sanded, textured & painted.

And then we put in vinyl tiles. Not my first choice, but we have a limited budget here! 

Please excuse the mess.

Take 2 will consists of stripping and re-staining the cabinetry. Eventually we will also replace the counters. Now to accessorize! And find some window treatments!