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!