Sunday is traditionally family day at our home.  We try not to do much work on Sundays, to leave the day for rest and time together.

We just got home from church, and the children are headed outside to construct Bamboo forts, with Daddy's help.  They are kept busy with schoolwork and chores throughout the week, and don't get a lot of time to spend on outdoor projects after the time change.  So today is a good, dry day to do it (so far).  I am feeding the baby his lunch, and I may head out there soon, myself.

Yesterday, I took apart my kitchen and reorganized it.  Should I say reorganized?  I never really organized it much when we moved in last month.  What organizing I did was not kept up by the person who puts away the dishes.  This person shall remain nameless for the time being .

Anyway, I have my appliances, but no cabinets or countertops.  This is the first time I've gone without cabinets in a kitchen, but I seem to be adapting pretty well.  I have one 8 foot workbench and my flat topped stove for work surface.  I have my refrigerator/freezer side by side combo, and I also have my 14 cubic foot freezer and my dishwasher and a trash compactor in there.  Oh, I also have two three-drawer units underneath the bench with my Tupperware, dishtowels, bread, and plastic wrap, foil, etc., in them.  On both sides of the stove, I have a large chrome shelving unit purchased from Costco.  Love Costco.  And that's my kitchen right now.

With Daughter's help, I removed everything and unpacked boxes that have been sitting and set everything up in a way that made sense.  I decided to put smaller items in bins, since I don't have drawers and cabinets to put them in.  So, I made a list of what I need and how many, to make sure everything looks neat and organized.  Then Daughter and I took a trip to Walmart to buy bins and Bi-Mart to buy half pint canning jars (for my herbs and spices).

I came home and put everything away in the bins and then discovered my labeling machine needed a new cartridge.  Oh, pooh!  I hate it when that happens.  If I had known, I could have gotten it at Walmart when I was there.  So, we ran by Staples just now to get it so I can finish my job.  When I've got everything labeled, I will be very happy.  I love it when things are labeled!

So, now my shelves are looking very neat, and everything has it's place.  I have yet to finish cleaning off my workbench, but I'll have to finish that tomorrow before or after school.

My next project is organizing an armoire in the room I plan to do school in.  We've been sitting at the kitchen table so far, but I have other plans....

Right now, I'm off to make the weekly menu before I do anything else.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Kris

This week has been a little strange, so far.  Today seems a little more normal.  I've been having some lung issues, and had to take time yesterday to explore the cause.  Ended up needing an inhaler.  So I basically didn't get anything else done except a few loads of laundry and one load of dishes, and some beds changed.  No school, or anything else.

Oldest son, "P", also had to see the dentist yesterday, as he had something strange popping up under his tongue.  Turns out it's a tooth!  Uh, oh!  He needs to see an orthodontist.  Honestly, I thought we had a few more years before we'd need to see one of those.  After our consult, we'll decide with our dentist how we'll proceed.  But we'll likely have to pull his baby tooth to see if the new tooth will end up where it's supposed to be.  If it doesn't?  Who knows?

Today, we got some schoolwork and housework done, and then went off to the Grocery Outlet and the Dollar Tree.  We participate each year in the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child.  If you aren't familiar with this project, click here to find out more.  Our children enjoy filling up the shoeboxes with hygiene, school, candy and toy items.  It's a challenge, sometimes, to get it all in there!  And it's fun!

Some of the items we like to include are: Hotwheels, hairbands/clips, crayons, pens, pencils, paper, soap, washclothes, bathpuffs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair brush/comb, playing cards, and of course, candy.

At the Grocery Outlet this week, they have organic BBQ sauce I normally buy at a local market for between $4-5 for .99!  Obviously, I stocked up!  That stuff is good and guilt free, since I know I'm giving my family a high quality product and I am being a good steward at the same time.  I also got Coconut water in shelf stable packs for .50 each!  Wow!  That stuff is great to have around, especially for baby.  So I bought a case of that for my food storage. Also got some good deals on organic crackers and some Annies products.

If you have a Grocery Outlet, check it out.  I've been there on and off over the years.  Never got into the habit of going much.  Now that we live in town, I plan to go more.  If I see a great deal, I will stock up for my food storage.  It's kind of like going to Costco.  You don't know how long they're going have it, so you better get it now.

Well, my children need some guidance, so I better go.  Thanks for stopping by!

Well, I never posted again after my menu plan last Monday.  I'll try harder this week to post something besides my menu.  Here is our menu for this first week of November.  I stuck with my menu last week, except on Friday.   I ended up getting pizza takeout.  What can I say?  I got tired and lazy.  But it sure was yummy!

Monday:  Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with Smoked Sausage and Tossed Salad

Tuesday:  Vegie Pot Pie, Fruit Salad

Wednesday:  Baked Chicken Breast with Curried Brown Rice & Peas, Baked Apples

Thursday:  Beef Soft Tacos, Spanish Rice

Friday: Homemade Pizza or Stromboli, Tossed Salad

Saturday: Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, Tossed Salad

Sunday: TBD

Back to Organized Junkie

Okay, so I am going to jump back into my old routine.  Here's my menu plan for this week.

Monday: Chicken Caesar, Shrimp Caesar, Spinach Fettucine with choice of Marinara Sauce or Butter and Parmesan Cheese, Sourdough Bread

Tuesday: Roasted Pork, Roasted Acorn Squash, Sweet Green Beans, Apples, Biscuits

Wednesday: Pork Burritos with Spanish Rice, Romaine & Carrot Salad with Pumpkin Seeds, Apples

Thursday: Sloppy Joes, Caesar Salad, Mandarin Oranges

Friday: Homemade Veggie & Cheese Pizzas, Caesar Salad

Saturday: Beloved is making Crepes at Children's request!  Yum!

Sunday: Some Kind of Rice Casserole, To Be Determined

Yeah, that's a lot of Caesar Salad.  But I bought the large package of Romaine at Costco over the weekend, and my family LOVES Caesar Salad, so we're going to enjoy it this week!

Also, we don't normally eat pork, but we've slipped in the last year or so and have been eating some.  After this pork roast is out of our freezer, we're going to go back to not eating pork again, for health reasons.  We do eat occasional shellfish (well, my family does, I don't), hence the Shrimp Caesar Salad.  But that's maybe about once every few months at most.  We'd prefer to stick with a diet closer to Old Testament guidelines, for health reasons only.  But we're not perfect.

Notice I am rolling items from one dinner into the next dinner a few different times this week.

Happy cooking!

Kris

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Hi all!

I have really missed writing here in the last months.  It's been so long, I feel like I don't remember how to write!

We have been so busy.  I wanted to share with you all what's been going on with us.  We were unable to keep our home in the country, and have recently moved into town.  We are so blessed to have another home to move to!  It's been a difficult time, but our children have adapted so well. 

We have gone from a 2800 square foot home with 1100 sq. foot garage, to an 1800 sq. foot home with no garage.  Now, 1800 square feet is not really small, but when you're used to something much larger, it's definitely an adjustment.  We've had to scale down and trying to figure out what goes, what we keep and what goes into storage is, well, a lot of work.

Also, we left five acres for 1/3 of an acre.  But it is really much more manageable for us.  We have TIME to spend with our family the way we want to.  Actually, in many ways, this has been a very good move for us -many advantages.  We would not have CHOSEN to do this on our own.  But God has a way of working things out for our GOOD, and we can definitely see Him in this.

He knows our hearts.  Our hearts are with our children.  The country house was a financial burden and time eater.  We've spent the last 3-1/2 years living there not realizing what we were sacrificing.  Now we see it clearly.  Hindsight is 20/20, right?

So, we are enjoying living close to town, but still having a little bit of land to grow food on.  We don't have any neighbors, which is nice.  We live about a mile from our office, so Beloved comes home for lunch most days.  We are a mile from the park and only a few miles from the library.  We're saving A LOT of money on gas.  I could go on and on...

I so appreciate those who come by and read my log, and I'm sorry I haven't been here in a while.  I am hoping to post at least once a week, now, probably on Saturdays.  I will be limiting my time online for a while until I get better organized.   But I'll be around.....

Blessings today,

Miss Kris

It's hard to believe it's been so long since I've written you.  Let's say that 2009 has been a year of trials and tests for us and it's not over yet.  I haven't wanted to burden my readers with all of the details, so I just stayed away from my blog these months while trying to keep my act together during a difficult time in my family's life.

But I would like to pop in here and share a salsa recipe with you that I created to make from items I can keep in my pantry.  This recipe makes one quart.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do here!

1 -30 oz. Can Whole Peeled Tomatoes (I use Muir Glen Organic)

2 t. Chopped Garlic

5 Slices of Jarred Nacho Jalapenos (plus a little of the juice)

Approximatelyy 1/2 t. Kosher Salt

Dash Black Pepper

2 t. Lime Juice or 1 t. Apple Cider Vinegar

Optional: Sliced Green Onions & Cilantro

Whiz first 6 ingredients in food processor until well blended, careful not to let your tomatoes get bubbly looking=two much blending.  Pulse optional ingredients in until broken up, but not pureed.

Fills a one quart canning jar and keeps for about 4-5 days in the frig.

Enjoy with our blessings!

PLAN B

Got 72 starts planted on a flat indoors.  However, it's now too hot to work outside, so will pick up the seed planting tomorrow morning, hopefully early if baby cooperates.

After we got our Piano, Math, LA and History done, we went for a nice walk to the corner store and those who ate their lunch got ice cream.  Lunch today was a hit to all who actually tried it.  Ornry 5 year old refused to try it.  Two and a half year old gobbled it up. 

Here's what I made and they were good:

Moistened cracker bread (Ok-Mok), spread cream cheese on half, add shredded carrots, cheddar cheese, mixed greens and black beans.  Sprinkle with a small amount of Ranch Seasoning Mix (natural kind) and roll up.

Mine didn't roll as they should, so they didn't look as nice as they should have.  I followed the directions, so if anyone has tips on how to roll up moistened cracker bread without it breaking, please add a comment for me!

Thanks!

Today, we're jumping on schoolwork early.  Piano, Math, Language Arts, History, and then our Science is starting our seeds for our garden which we are terribly late doing!

I need to do: laundry (as always!), clean up the Kitchen and make a huge Tossed Green Salad to bring to our Homegroup tonight.  I also have some calls to make and thank you notes write.

I better get busy!

WOW!

Time flies.  It's been two weeks since my last post and April will be over before I know it.  I apologize for not posting lately.  We've been dealing with a lot of stuff here and it's just been so overwhelming that I am merely in survival mode.  I haven't even been planning meals or thinking about dinner until after Beloved comes home in the evenings.  This has got to change!

So here I am and here is this week's menu for all to see and keep me accountable:

Monday: Homegroup-Pizza & Salad Dinner

Tuesday: BBQ Marinated Steak, Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Parsnips, WW Biscuits, Tossed Green Salad

Wednesday: Lentils & Rice with Smoked Sausage, Green Beans

Thursday: Bacon & Egg Stir Fried Rice, SnS Green Beans

Friday: Pasta with Marinara Sauce, Tossed Green Salad

Saturday: Crockpot Chicken Fajitas with all the fixings, Rice Pudding Dessert

Sunday: Grilled Cheese or Leftovers - Clean Out Frig

Your link back to Organized Junkie

Today, we are doing our basic subjects, then lunch and then we have a trip to the library for more books. 

After that, we will go by our project in town and see some friends who've been living and working in California for a while before they leave to return there.

This reminds me, I should get dinner planned right now, or we'll be scrounging at 6 PM!  I'm thinking about a Quiche.  I am sorely in need of groceries, but hoping to hold out until tomorrow when I can go alone (with baby, of course).  I need to pick up some things for Easter next week and for my Son's 5th Birthday Party on Sunday wihtout the children with me.  I can't believe my little guy, my third born, is going to be five years old.  Time flys by, as all mother's know.

I suspect nothing is being done with chores at the moment, so I need to bid you farewell for now!  Have a great weekend!