Friday, December 9, 2011

Grocery Shopping and cooking, Part 2

So the whole point to shopping with coupons and saving money and buying all these groceries is to actually make something with them.  We've recently been trying out new recipes, and we're going to continue to do that.  This post is going to be about a new program we're going to try.  Once a Month Mom is an awesome site that looks like it will fit just about any eating program you want.  Even making your own baby food.  Go check it out (after you finish reading this, of course!).  They aren't doing another monthly menu until January, so I'm kind of on my own for December.  They have a great series on their site about making your own menu, so I'm following that.  I've  looked all over the Internet for recipe ideas to cook during the month.  I still want to only cook one time, or at least only two times and be done for the month.  So, I've picked a few "starter" recipes to get me going.  Now I just have to make out my grocery list, check the coupon site, and go shopping... Here's what we're eating in December... Click on any of the recipe names to go view that recipe, I followed the advice of the Once a Month Mom site, and decided to make double of each recipe to have enough to eat in December.  Here we go:
Bubble Pizza
Chicken & Dumplings*
BBQ Sandwiches -  (just a roast and a package of onion soup mix with water in my crock pot til it falls apart, then shred it and freeze it.  When you're ready to eat, thaw, warm up, and put barbecue sauce on it and eat!)
Pizza Pasta Casserole
Taco Soup
Hashbrown Casserole (my mother-in-law's GREAT recipe)
Mini Meatloafs

Check out some of these and let me know if you try them... I'll keep you updated on what we thought of each of them.

I've spent the last three days cooking when I've had spare time.  We've eaten the Bubble Pizza (a HUGE hit), the Chicken & Dumplings (another hit), and the BBQ Sandwiches (this wasn't new to us)

*I made double the recipe for this, and froze the extra before adding the biscuits.  My "dumplings" weren't nearly as good as my mother-in-law's, but the rest of the dish made up for it.  It's almost as good as hers.  Also, I put some small cups of the chicken mixture aside for lunches over rice.  I'm eating that today, and I can't wait!!

101 Things mini-update:
The Chicken & Dumplings and Bubble Pizza are two new recipes I've never made... check that off!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

101 Things update #2

So I realized after I posted my list, that I had written two tasks that were the same.  I had "Take a picture of a location during all four seasons", and then one almost the same, so I took one of them off, but that meant I had to come up with one more task.  I decided on:
#101 - Learn a poem by heart! -   I couldn't decide at first which poem to memorize.  I already knew a couple, and I thought about just using one of those, but that would defeat the point of the project, so I had to choose a new one.  THEN I remembered... my parents came to visit us in September, and my Daddy was saying this cute little poem over and over, and the boys were starting to pick up parts of it.  So I decided to learn that poem because we could all learn it together.  So when I was home for Thanksgiving, I had my Daddy say it and I recorded it.  Here is the poem.


  1. One fine day in the middle of the night,
  2. Two dead boys* got up to fight, [*or men]
  3. Back to back they faced each other,
  4. Drew their swords and shot each other,
  5. One was blind and the other couldn't, see
  6. So they chose a dummy for a referee.
  7. A blind man went to see fair play,
  8. A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
  9. A paralysed donkey passing by,
  10. Kicked the blind man in the eye,
  11. Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
  12. Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,
  13. A deaf policeman heard the noise,
  14. And came to arrest the two dead boys,
  15. If you don't believe this story’s true,
  16. Ask the blind man he saw it too!

My Daddy's version is much shorter (the highlighted parts), and that is the one I memorized, but then I found this, so maybe I'll add these lines in and try memorizing the longer part for my next 1001 days.

As soon as I figure out how to load a sound wave (mp3) to my posts, I'll let you hear my Daddy saying it.  

I would also like to say how awesome I think it is that we live in the time we do.  There are a lot of disadvantages also, I know, but one of the greatest things we have is the ability to preserve memories.  My kids, and their kids, can click this button and listen to my Daddy saying this silly poem.  I also have my parents both reading different books for my kids too.  I never got to meet my Pappaw Goodwin, but I would give anything to have a recording of him reading, or just talking in general.  These things are important to the ones left behind after the people are gone.  So preserve as many memories as you can... and not just in your head because those will fade with age.  
What are some ways you preserve your memories?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Yahoo Articles!

So one of my 101 things is to find an outside source of income.  Another one is to write 30 articles, and I've just finished and published the first of those.  You can find it here.  It is about the Christmas we spent with our first foster child.  The names have been changed to protect the children, but everything else is true.  Also, there is a small typo... go read it, follow me on there, and let me know what you think of the article!
Here is the clickable link also...
http://voices.yahoo.com/our-extra-child-christmas-10565839.html?cat=25

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Boba is FIVE!!

While we were visiting our parents, Boba turned five years old!  He shares his birthday with his Meme (Han's mother), and they always have a joint party when we visit in November.  We have a tradition for both our boys on their birthdays.  They put on their daddy's uniform blouse and hat and each year they get a little taller.  Each year I notice how much higher the bottom of the blouse is getting, and while I love that they are healthy and growing, I also am a little sad about the coming day when that blouse will fit them like it does their daddy.  Like a man... until then, I will treasure every little moment I can... Happy Birthday, Sweet Boba!!
Loving his first birthday cake!!

2 years old!

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old
We learned early on that the first two birthdays cannot be done this way... they are too young to keep the blouse on and stay still.  Tell me about the way your family marks birthdays!!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Our week at Lacey

We spent the first week in Arkansas with Han's parents.  Here is our week in pictures... you've been warned... there are lots of pictures!!












As you can see... we did lots of card-playing... and lots of napping... and LOTS of laughing... we had a great time!!