Moms Night Out

I wish I would have looked at the street last night, because friends said they had to park at the end of the street and walk down to get to our house! We had a great mom's night last night, and although I only quickly did a head count, I think there were 30 women there. What was all the excitement about? We had the Queens there - Penny, the Coupon Queen, and Anita, the Batch Cooking Queen. If you are like my husband, asking "What is batch cooking?" it's cooking a lot of one dish at once. It's different from once a month cooking in that you don't cook lots of different meals, but when you cook one meal, you make a huge batch and divide it up. For instance, Anita makes her own spaghetti sauce but only cooks it two or three times a year. They eat spaghetti quite a bit, and she has a big family, so when I say batch, I mean think big. Both ladies gave us lots of great tips, inspiring us to be smart at the grocery store, stay organized, and save money! Penny doesn't cook lots at once, she buys lots at once, often getting stuff for free!
What did I take away from it all? I want a Bosch (whatever that is), it pays to be organized, and I'm missing a great opportunity not cooking in batches -it's REALLY easy! Anita freezes in her casserole dishes, novel idea. I may scout out the Salvation Army and garage sales for more dishes. Reality check, with what time? I'll ask Mark's parents to help out there!
Penney's great tips are all on her website. Click on the cents off banner at the bottom of her blog. No need to play the grocery game if you check her blog!
It was a great night, and good to see so many friends. If you haven't hung out with a friend in a while, just pick up the phone! Tonight was very easy to organize.

Random Daily Happenings and COOKING!

Today was another good day with the kids. I think they are getting used to working hard - I call it the pressure cooker approach. When things get busy with work, I have to rely on the kids more and they always pull through (I know that's what you are thinking - gee, ya think she'd learn - See post from Sunday).
Here's the pressure cooker approach: things get under pressure for a little while, but when the steam is gone, everything is tender, nicely seasoned, and so much better than it was before. In addition to me working more, we've been doubling up on days in school and the kids are handling it like champs.

Tonight I am preparing three meals (grilled chicken and pork chops, and meatloaf) I'm also making extra meatloaf to freeze. Raeley is also going to cook one meal this week. She decided on Chicken Noodle Soup and toast. I grilled extra chicken for Raeley to put in her soup. I have some left over chicken broth I'm ready to get out of my freezer.

We have a joke about toast! To digress for humor's sake: One day I told Raeley I wanted her to start fixing breakfast for everyone while I am working out in the morning so the kids wouldn't eat cereal every day and so I could have a protein-full breakfast after my workout. We decided to start with dinner so she could cook when I was home. One morning I walk into the kitchen and there are crumbs all over the counter and a pile of toast on a paper towel. It sat there and sat there, so finally I inquired to who felt so compelled to make toast and not eat it or clean it up. Raeley said, "Mom, I don't know how to fix breakfast, but I can make toast!" I think she did it so I wouldn't ask her to fix breakfast again! Sweet Raeley, for some reason (maybe because she knows she can, or she has a thing for toast), likes to make toast for everyone. She has realized, though, that no one likes cold toast and the other kids LIKE to use the toaster. We have a funny story about toasters, but I'll save that for another time.

I ran into my friend Penny at the grocery store. She bought Cheerios for 69 cents a box! I had a coupon for them in my purse (for some strange reason) so I bought a few boxes, too. I only saved around $2.50 a box. She saved more than $3.50 a box! She tells you how she does it on her website, and no matter where you live, these tips can help you. They are not regional.

I started reading The Shack today. It forces introspection. So far I really like it. I'll keep you updated on that.

Clean Transformation

While I away, my husband took care of the kids. The kids learned to pick up after themselves. Everyone straigtened the house before they went to bed. When I got home, I arrived to see a spotless house. I had gotten calls though the week on how much work they were having to do. All they did was school and work, work, work. Precious teenage daughter didn't have time to play with friends after school. Boys were tired. What a transformation had occured when I got home. I was met with a barrage of do you know what we do now? It's so much easier to pick up if you keep it clean. I don't like messes! I can clean all by myself! The dishes go in the dishwasher as soon as they get dirty! You can't leave shoes lying around. I don't keep my room messy anymore. Cameron kept dry panties every day (unless she snuck them in the laundry room). They were so eager to show me everything they had done while I was gone. I was thinking about all of these things because it has truely transformed our house. I think my kids depended too much on me and I let them get away with too much. After keeping on them with school work, I didn't feel like keeping on them to pick up after themselves and they had really gotten neglectful. Then I would get stressed out and lay into them. Not healthy. Now we have had the house clean three days. Do you remember in an earlier post, labeled Too Busy to Share, when I mentioned that I never sat down to play with the kids without running around in between cleaning house? I have played games two nights with the kids, them having my full attention. This has been revolutionary!

First day of homeschooling - Ready or Not!

I have been excited about this day all summer. The first day of school, starting things off right, throwing my heart into it, working less, and homeschooling more. I love the curriculum I have chosen, and I have been looking forward to getting started ever since it arrived in May. I have slowly been working to get my chaotic life organized. Only problem is, I took too many vacations this summer to really get any substansial amount of work done. Truth be told, I only decided on Saturday that we would start on Monday. So, ready or not, here we go!

As you can see by the pictures, not many books made it on the bookshelves. Notice the fabric samples on the orange wall? I was hoping to have the curtains done this summer. My outlook, I need to do a little bit each day on getting organized, and forgive myself for not meeting my goals of organization this summer.