Joining the October Procrastination Challenge.

I've decided to join the procratination challenge again this month hosted over at Virtually Organized (click here to check it out). Last month the challenge really helped me get some projects completed around the house. This month, I'm going to start with one...my scrapbook desk. As you can see from the picture below, it has gotten way out of control. I didn't even take a picture of the floor around it! My goal is to get it back in order so I can start working on my baby scrapbook and handmade thank you notes for my baby showers. Its amazing how bad I procrastinate when things are not organized!!

Finished a September Project.

I finally finished one of my September projects last night. My spare room is now clean and my non-maternity clothes are all stored in the closet. I still have a bag of clothes to take to Goodwill and a comforter to wash to put on the bed, but for the most part, this room is finished! It feels so good to walk in to a clean room! Here are a few after pictures. Click here to see the before pictures.

Panic Update

So, it has officially been a week since I went into "Panic mode"! I just thought I would post a little update on how things are going. I worked last week to get some things ready for our little girl's diaper bag for the hospital. I'm sure I am going overboard, but I like being prepared for anything. I have a couple burp cloths (I will be buying a pack of cloth diapers to add to these), some travel size bath products, a bottle, two pacifiers, and a travel pack of wipes ready to go. I am going to add some newborn diapers (thanks to a purchase from my Mom) and some simple onsies. I will also add a couple "going home outfit options" to the bag. I am still in search of her going home outfit, but hopefully I can find what I want after a trip to a larger town. I do have the blanket picked out (it is hanging in the closet) that I will use to wrap her up in when we bring her home as well. So, I do feel a little better about having a few things ready for her.

In other news, we are almost completely finished with the nursery! We got the paper lanterns hung over the crib and a couple frames on the wall. I bought the shelves this morning for the other wall, and will hopefully finish the letters for her name that will hang over the changing table in the next day or two. After that, we will just be waiting to fill it with all of her stuff (and her of course)! It feels good to know it is almost finished. I should also be finished organizing the spare bedroom this week. That project was necessary because we will have some people staying with us leading up to and after our little girl arrives! I'm sure I will start to panic again soon, but as of right now, I'm feeling a little better about how things are progressing!

Starting to Panic!!!!

I've been slowly realizing that this pregnancy is flying by!!! It really hit me in the last couple days when I started thinking that I have 10 weeks...10 WEEKS until my due date! That is a short amount of time (especially when I look at my to do list). So, I guess you could say that the nesting is beginning. I am starting to look around and see all the things that need to be organized, cleaned out, or thrown away before our little girl arrives. Not to mention, I have some lofty goals of making all my thank you cards and having a scrapbook up to date to show at my baby showers that start in three weeks!! Whew!! I guess I need to start breaking everything down into daily tasks to accomplish. My goal for this week is to get everything I need for the diaper bag for the hospital. I know this is a little ahead of time, but I need to feel "ready" to go. I will also be working on my list of things for my suitcase so I know what I need to purchase and what I need to start packing! Hopefully, I will blog about my progress, and be able to sit back and relax a few weeks before our baby arrives!

Menu Plan Monday

This week over at orgjunkie, it is family favorite week. I am posting three of our favorite recipes!

Monday: Chicken Sante Fe (click here for recipe)

Tuesday: Chicken Crescent Rolls (click here for recipe)

Wednesday: Baked Spaghetti (will be making enough for two meals and taking one to a family that just had a baby)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Birthday party (we will be eating with family)

Saturday: Family reunion (we will eat there)

Sunday: Grilled salmon and veggies

Head over to orgjunkie here for more menu ideas!

Chicken Sante Fe

This week over at orgjunkie's Menu Plan Monday, it is family favorite week. The recipe is on of our favorites, especially in the fall. It is easy to make, and makes enough to freeze half and have leftovers!

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds chicken cubed
2 cans light red kidney beans
2 cans dark red kidney beans
2 cans chili beans
2 cans black beans
2 cans corn
1 jar southwest black bean and corn salsa
Tortilla chips
Shredded cheese

Directions:
Cook chicken in a pan until brown. Add all ingredients in a large pot (or crock pot) and cook for 30 minutes until hot. We serve this over tortilla chips and top with our favorite shredded cheese. Yummy!!

Another Project Completed!

I get to mark another project off my list! I managed to get the basement steps cleaned off, and here is the really sad part... it only took me 10 minutes! I have been procrastinating a whole year for 10 minutes of easy work! Its amazing the things I put off because I think it will be too hard to complete.

Here is a before picture:

Here is the after picture:

Head over to Virtually Organized by clicking here to check out more projects and some great tips!

Update on the September Procrastination Challenge!

One down, several to go!!! I managed to organize under my kitchen sink last night. As you can see from the before picture, I had stuff thrown anywhere and everywhere. I had a couple plastic CD storage baskets that gave me the idea for storing some of the things under the sink, and I really liked how it turned out!

Here is the before picture:

Making Some Progress
All Finished!!

Close Up of the Left Side.

Close Up of the Right Side.
I did manage to throw a lot of things out that were empty or I did not use any more (plus I found a stash of dish rags - I never seem to have enough of them). I also downsized my vase collection. I have 8 vases for sale on our local sales network in our town so I can hopefully get rid of them. I hate to just throw them away. If they do not sell, I'm going to take them to a florist to see if they want them for free!

Head over to Virtually Organized to see what others are getting accomplished!

Working more for 15 minutes.

Last night I spent another 15 minutes in my spare bedroom. I managed to get two more storage containers stored in the closet (thanks to dear hubby again), which cleared off some of the bed. I also started working on getting the t-shirts back in the hanging organizers in the closet. All in all, it was a productive evening in the spare bedroom. I didn't take any pictures, but will try to take some of my progress tonight!

September Procrastination Challenge

I ran across a great idea over at Virtually Organized! They are hosting a September procratination challenge. The goal is to pick a project you have been procrastinating on and tackle it this month (and you are allowed to have more than one project if they are small). I looked around my house at the things I have been procrastinating on, and this is what I have come up with for my challenges!

The first thing I will try and tackle is the large pile of magazines in my living room. As you can see in this picture, I have a large canvas tote full of them and they are now stacking up on the end table as well! My goal will be to purge the magazines I am finished with, and go through some of them and tear out the pages that I find interesting and keep them in a notebook for future reference. Hopefully, this project will not take me too long to complete!

The next project I plan on tackling is under my kitchen sink. It has really gotten out of control! There is just stuff thrown in anywhere, which makes it difficult to find what I need. I am also going to go through all my glass vases and clean them out. I have so many of the same vase from where I have gotten flowers over the years from my Dad and my husband (which is not a bad problem to have)! I am going to keep the ones that are different and sell the ones that are duplicates. I have some ideas for organizing everything under the sink as well, but I will need to purchase a couple plastic baskets to make it all come together!




This is a pile of stuff that has been sitting in the basement floor for quite some time now. My goal here is to get everything in its place and have some free space in our basement floor!

These are the stairs leading up from our basement. This stuff has literally been sitting on the steps for over a year. I think it is time to get the steps cleaned off, especially since we will be carrying a baby up and down the steps soon! This should not take long, I just have to be motivated to put the stuff where it belongs.

I have another project that I will be slowly working on this month as well. Check out this post and this post to read more about it! I'll do my best to post my progress as I go along!
Head over to Virtually Organized here to check out what other people are doing and find some great organizing tips!!

You Can Do Anything For 15 Minutes.

I finally began my "15 minute sessions" of cleaning and organizing last night. The first place I decided to start is the worst... our spare bedroom. This room has become the dumping ground for clothes that I cannot wear due to my growing belly. I've been slowly working on storing them in storage containers, but haven't made much progress. Last night I made a small dent in my 15 minutes. I did manage to get some clothes off the bed, some stuff in a bag to take to goodwill, and got a few things organized in the closet. I have to say that I'm embarrased to even post the before pictures, but I am doing it anyway. I'm hoping that gives me extra motivation to post after pictures!! The first three pictures are before and the last two are some of the progress I made around the closet. Hopefully, tonight there will be more progress made! The Bed full of clothes.
Storage Containers that need to be put up.
The closet that has "exploded"!
Storage Containers made it to the top of the closet. (I did not lift them, my husband did it for me)

The Empty floor in front of the closet.

Menu Plan Monday

• Monday - Salmon, sweet potatoes, and brocolli and rice
• Tuesday - Chicken stuffing bake
• Wednesday - Baked Ziti and bread
• Thursday - leftovers
• Friday - fend for ourselves (we both have previous engagements)
• Saturday - fend for ourselves
• Sunday - fend for ourselves

We will also be having chocolate cake and fruit with fruit dip for desserts. Go here for the fruit dip recipe!

We have a lot going on this week, so I've had to simplify the menu, plus we both have separate engagments this weekend, so we will be eating separately.
Check out orgjunkie for more menu plan ideas!

Fruit Dip

I found an awesome and easy recipe for fruit dip and thought I would share it. I made this fruit tray and dip for a baby shower this weekend and it was a big hit!

Here is the recipe:

• 1 7 oz. container marshmallow fluff
• 1 8 oz. container sour cream
• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

I put everything in my bowl for my Kitchenaid stand mixer and put it on medium for 2 or 3 minutes until everything was smooth. I made mine the night before so it would be nice and cold for the shower. I will definitely be using this one again!

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Here is a recipe I found for pancakes that uses ingredients I always have on hand. I use powdered milk to save on our drinking milk. I also usually have some frozen fruit in our freezer, so it makes a good little breakfast or dinner that is quick, easy, and frugal!!

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes (I believe I found this at allrecipes.com)
INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Head on over to the Grocery Cart Challenge for more frugal recipe ideas.

Frugal Friday - Using What I Already Have

Since most of my posts are centered around the baby, I thought I would continue the theme. We've been working on the nursery and are almost finished with it. I have been wanting a white shelf to go on the wall for pictures and cute knick knacks, but did not want to spend a lot of money on it. One day I was walked down to our basement and noticed the beautiful shelf that my husband built for me while we were dating sitting there collecting dust. It hit me that I could sand this and paint it white (it is stained right now) and have the perfect shelf for our little girl built by her Daddy! How great is that, and it will only cost me some time and a small can of white paint!! That is my "frugal revelation" for the week! Check out Biblical Womanhood for more frugal ideas!

Feeling Overwhelmed

The past few days, I have had a terrible time of feeling completely overwhelmed. I'm not sure what the main cause is (of course some of it could be the fact that I am 12 weeks away from my due date for my first child). I have a long list of things I would like to accomplish before my sweet little girl arrives, and have great intentions every day of working on some of the things on my list. However, something always seems to get in my way of getting these tasks accomplished. I am trying to come up with a plan to accomplish some of the things on my list without wearing myself down each night after a full day of work. The plan I keep coming back to is Flylady's mantra "you can do anything for 15 minutes". Having said that, I am working on a goal of setting aside 15 minutes each night to work on something on my "baby to do list". I am hoping that will give me a sense of accomplishment and help me not feel so overwhelmed. I am also going to try to post my progress on here (to keep me accountable), so check back for my 15 minute sessions!

Works For Me Wednesday - Saving Money on Crafts

I love, love, love to make handmade cards and have recently started scrapbooking. (Check out my card and scrapbook blog here). The prices of the materials involved in these projects can get pretty high. I have learned that Hobby Lobby runs sales on craft supplies every week. Since watching their sales and online coupons, I have not paid full price for crafting supplies in a long time. You can check out their website for their weekly specials and online coupons here. Saving money on crafts works for me! What works for you? Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for other ideas!

Frugal Friday

I wrote last week about trying out several ideas to save money to be able to not work full time after we have our first child in December. One of the things I have been really focusing on this week is food. One way I am using to save on food is to be organized. I have come across a website called organized home. One of the things this website focuses on is having a household notebook to keep your home organized. I have been working on my notebook this week and have been making some progress. The first section I worked on was the meals and menu section. I have already planned my menu for next week and am working on my menu for the month of August so that I can plan ahead with food in the freezer and using coupons. There are lots of free printable forms on this website to help you start your own notebook and have an organized home. Check them out here.

For more frugal ideas, head over to Biblical Womanhood!

Works For Me Wednesday

I began clipping coupons at the beginning of this year, and bit off way more than I could chew. I decided that in order to get the best deals at the grocery stores and CVS that I needed to clip every coupon. Well, between doing that and searching the weekly ads for deals, it would take up 3 – 4 hours of my Sunday afternoons. Since I work full time outside the home, my days off are very precious to me. Needless to say, I suffered burnout very soon into this process and gave up. Not to mention, I found out I was pregnant and began suffering severe morning sickness all day! But now I have devised a system that works for me. I have put together a notebook with month dividers and sheet protectors. I clip the coupons that I will use immediately, then slip the insert into a sheet protector behind the corresponding month. This also helps when I browsing money saving blogs like moneysavingmom.com. Most of these blogs tell you which insert the coupon you need was in. Now I do not have to dig through a big pile of coupons, I can just flip to the week I need, pull out the insert, and clip the coupon!! My coupon notebook works for me! What works for you? Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer to see other great ideas!

Feeding The Freezer

In an effort to try and save more money on food, I have been reading several blogs and articles recently. I am learning a lot of good tips, but one that I am really liking is freezer cooking. I watch many times and we dump leftovers out of the fridge because we are not very good at eating them. So, I’ve decided to try a new twist on cooking. When I make a dish that would normally give us a good amount of leftovers, I am going to split the dish in half and freeze part of it. I know this may not be a new concept to everyone, but I really like it. Sunday night we ate baked ziti. Normally, I would have made a 9 x 13 pan, but I split it between 2 8 x 8 pans. We had plenty to eat for dinner (and for me to bring for lunch 2 days) and I wrapped the aluminum pan up tightly and stuck it in our deep freezer. We were blessed to be given a large deep freezer, so I am excited to be utilizing it a little more. I should be able to freeze three meals this week from my menu plan, which will cut the next grocery bill dramatically! I also think this is a wonderful idea for me to use closer to December when our baby is due. I’m sure our church and family will provide some meals in the beginning, but that will end at some point, and it will be nice to have a fully stocked freezer to choose from! I found a wonderful article here at organizedhome.com that gives some great tips for once a month cooking. The once a month cooking is a future goal, but I believe I will start out small first so I do not get overwhelmed. There are also some places in larger cities that are actually set up for you to come in and create your own meals to freeze. I have some friends who have done this as a girls night, and I think it is a wonderful way to utilize your time! Not only do you get to spend some quality time with friends, but you are stocking your freezer with some wonderful meals! I am definitely going to try this one at some point. But, in the mean time, I will be feeding my freezer one meal at a time!

Frugal Followup

After my ambitious post on Friday to be more frugal, I thought I would start following up on how I was doing. I did plan out our menus for the week. I also went grocery shopping with some coupons in hand to try and get a lower price. I did spend more than I wanted to, but I had to buy lunch stuff for my husband who started back teaching today and likes to keep sandwich stuff at the school for his lunches. I also purchased some small storage containers to portion out some fresh fruit and veggies and leftovers for me to take to work. I have been eating out way too much for lunch, and that tends to put a dent in the budget as well. It was nice this morning to just open the fridge and have everything portioned out and ready for me to just grab and go! It took some extra time yesterday to get it ready, but I’m prepared for the entire week and have no excuse to not take my own food from home! I did look into purchasing a drying rack for my clothes, but didn’t. It looked way too small to handle a full load of clothes out of the washer. So, I started looking at clotheslines. I really do not want a big permanent contraption in my yard, so I’m still looking for the best option in that area. As Dave Ramsey says, “Baby Steps”! We will get there, and I’ll keep updating along the way!!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Cheesy noodles and chicken bake with veggies
Tuesday: Ravioli Lasagna
Wednesday: Potato soup in bread bowls
Thursday: BBQ chicken with veggies
Friday: Chicken Pot Pie
Saturday: Bean soup with corn muffins

I will work on getting some recipes posted to go along with some of my meals. I tried to make this an easier menu this week to keep me motivated to eat at home every night! Considering I still spent more than I wanted to on groceries, I definitely do not want to spend more money eating out!

Check out more menus at orgjunkie.com!

Super Savings Saturday

I do not have any good deals on food to post about this week; however, I did score some major deals on some clothes for my sweet little girl who is due in December. There is a big consignment sale going on in our town this week, so I hit it up on Saturday. I got one red sweater and one Christmas onsie that she can where during the holidays. I also got a pair of maternity pants and capris. My total at the consignment sale was $18. Today, I hit up JC Penny because I was told they were having a good sale. I also had a coupon for 15% off my entire purchase. I was able to get 7 summer outfits for next year for $17.57! One of the outfits alone was regularly prices at $17. I was very excited to get some clothes for my baby and me at a great discount!

To see what others are saving, check out Money Saving Mom.

Recipe Swap

The Grocery Cart Challenge is hosting a frugal recipe swap today, and I thought I would contribute my recipe for Chicken Crescent Rolls. By using store brand crescent rolls and cream of chicken soup, these are relatively inexpensive to put together because you only need one piece of chicken. I actually got this recipe from a roommate of mine in college. We used to make these a lot at our house, and I am still a huge fan of them! Click here for the recipe (complete with pictures and directions). Head over to the Grocery Cart Challenge for more frugal recipe ideas!

An Organized Christmas

I know it is July, but since it is the 25th and we are 5 months away from Christmas, I wanted to share a great website I have come across! It is called Organized Christmas and it is wonderful!! Since my little girl is due on December 5th, I am having to be super-organized and prepared this year for Christmas. This website is going to help me get there! It has detailed lists that you can print and wonderful ideas for getting ahead and not being stressed out over the holidays. (My kind of site!) I hope that it can help others out there to have a stress-free holiday this year! I am going to be printing my lists and adding them to my notebook this weekend to get a jumpstart on planning!

Frugal Friday

In one of my recent menu plan posts, I mentioned that I am expecting my first child. The pregnancy is going well except for occasional sickness and aches and pains, so I have been very blessed! The thing I have recently started being concerned about, is what to do after the baby arrives. Should I stay home, work part time, or continue working my full time job and pay for daycare? My dream is to stay home, but the reality is that we may need a little more income to be able to eat and make the mortgage payment! I'm not opposed to working, I just want to do what is best for our family. I've been brainstorming some ideas on ways to cut back so that I could at least go part time (considering daycare would take half of my full time paycheck) and work somewhere with an onsite daycare. So, here are some of my frugal ideas:

• Run the dryer less (I'm going to look into buying a collapsable drying rack or some type of clothsline that isn't permanent)


• Be diligent about planning menus (We have been eating out more since I have a harder time cooking when I'm nauseous, but if I would plan and have easy meals on hand, I could do a better job of eating at home)


• Clip coupons (I started this, but it is almost a second job to search the sale papers and coupons to come up with good deals. I am going to try to dedicate more time to doing this to save us money on groceries)


• Utilize CVS (I started this as well, but lost interest when I was really sick)


• Stockpile (I am making a list of what I use regularly (laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, etc.) and am going to try to have a 6 month supply on hand when the baby arrives. I'm hoping this will help cut down on some grocery spending at the beginning, and give me time to find good deals on the brands I use)

Any other frugal ideas would be greatly appreciated! I'm hoping to start using these ideas next week to try and get in the habit before December!! Head over to Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday ideas!

Menu Plan Monday!

Well, I am finally back to blogging (hopefully more consistently). I am 15 and 1/2 weeks pregnant and have been horribly sick, so cooking has been completely out of the question for about 8 weeks! Since, it seems to cost way more to eat out, I am trying to plan some meals at home this week. So here goes:

Monday: General Tsao's Chicken, Rice, and Steamed Broccoli

Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner (pancakes and fruit)

Wednesday: Frozen Meal (Blake will eat out because of his class)

Thursday: Eat at church (Teenside Devotional)

Friday: Hamburgers (We will be camping with my Mom and Dad)

Saturday: Chicken Low Country Boil (Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Sausage, and New Potatoes)

Head on over to orgjunkie to check out more menus!

Chicken Crescent Rolls

Here is my recipe for Chicken Crescent Rolls. My husband loves these, and so does everyone I've shared the recipe with!

Ingredients:

1 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 can crescent rolls

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup shredded cheese

The first step is to take one good size boneless, skinless chicken breast and cut into cubes. Next brown it in a skillet on tkhe stove. Once you have done that, you can begin to stuff your crescent rolls.

After you have placed the chicken on the crescent roll, you can roll them up.

Place each stuffed crescent roll in a baking dish.

Mix 1 can of cream of chicken soup with a half cup of milk.

Pour the soup mixture over the crescent rolls.

Sprinkle 3/4 cup of shredded cheese over the crescent rolls and soup mixture.

Bake Crescent rolls at 350 degrees until soup mixture bubbles and cheese is golden brown.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Bertolli Chicken Florentine Frozen Meal with bread and salad
Tuesday: Noodles, Chicken, Black Beans, and tortilla strips
Wednesday: Baked Spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad
Thursday: BBQ Chicken, Corn on the Cob, and Broccoli
Friday: Tacos and Chips and Salsa
Saturday: Eating out for birthday celebration
Sunday: Baked Chicken and Veggies

Encouraging Words...

I've fallen behind on my posts for my letters of encouragement, but I am still sending them out!! I will actually be ahead of the game this week because I have 4 birthday cards, 1 sympathy card, and 2 "hi" cards going out this week! You know what really makes me smile? Thinking of the look on someone's face when they get an unexpected letter in the mail! I love it!! I encourage anyone who may be reading this blog to send a random letter this week to someone who may need some encouragement!!

Monday Meanderings

Bible Study: continue studying and developing lessons for retreat

Must do: Finish taxes! Get house "company ready" for Thursday. Make birthday cards for upcoming April birthdays.

Blessing my home: I'm starting my spring cleaning this week, so my goal is to get two rooms (my bathroom and spare bathroom) sparkling and organized!!

Broadway Boutique: I was able to get 15 new cards in this weekend, but I would like to get 10 more in this week. I also need to get some signs up for the card party I will be hosting at the end of April.

I also must finished graduation invitations that I am doing for a lady at work. Her daughter is graduating this year from high school. I need to have them finished by Wednesday.

I have a busy week ahead of me! My husband's birthday is Wednesday and we have friends coming in from Nashville on Tuesday, and college students coming over on Thursday! I will have to make good use of my time to get everything accomplished this week!

Check out more Monday Meanderings here!

Menu Plan Monday

Here is my menu for this week!

Monday: Salmon, broccoli, and brown rice

Tuesday: Out with friends from Nashville

Wednesday: Bertolli frozen meal (these are on sale at Kroger, plus I have a coupon)

Thursday: Grilled Panini sandwhiches and chips (cooking for a group of college students)

Friday: Baked Spaghetti and garlic bread

Saturday: Birthday dinner for Blake

Sunday: Leftovers

Head over to orgjunkie for more menus!!

Works For Me Wednesday

What has worked for me recently is flylady. I'm not sure how many of you have stumbled across this fabulous site, but I have to recommend it. I do not do all of what it teaches, but it has taught me that I can do anything for 15 minutes. It is amazing the sense of accomplishment to finish one task in your home. It motivates me to keep going and accomplish more!! So, head on over here and check it out for yourself!

Check out more at Rocks In My Dryer!