Enchilada

We had enchiladas for dinner tonight (just like I had planned...go me!).
Don't they look yummy?


Christian really liked them.
I had the camera in my hand and he looked at it and said "Cheese!" and this is the picture that resulted..dirty face, shirt and all.

Enchiladas are yummy. Corn is delicious. The Spanish rice...not so good. Oh well! You can't win them all. We tried Uncle Ben's Spanish style rice in the microwaveable pouch. Not a favorite. We'll have to try to find a good recipe.
Do you have one?

Menu Monday

Last weeks menu went fairly well. We did have to make a few adjustments, but all in all we did okay. We didn't eat out at all last week and that is a HUGE step for us. We even stayed within our budget for the week. Who knew it was possible?
So, even though I am posting this a day late, here is our menu for this week.

Monday - Pizza

Tuesday - Hamburgers and Tater Tots

Wednesday - Mashed Potatoes and Sausage

Thursday - Enchiladas and Spanish Rice

Friday - Waffles, Bacon, Hash Browns

Saturday - Rotisserie Chicken and Rice

Sunday - Lasagna

So far we are on track. I just hope we can continue with this trend. It will save us a lot of money each month. Who couldn't save a few bucks?

So True

Let's just say I don't listen to Country music very often. I used to be a Country music junkie when I was younger (about 15 years ago). A co-worker was talking about this song today and I just had to hear the song. So True! Please enjoy the video. It's so great. I'm sure I'm the only one that hasn't heard this song before...it's been out for well over a year.

I Will Never

The LEARNing never seems to stop. Today I went grocery shopping (which I was supposed to do on Friday) and with my list navigated up and down the aisles.

Is it sad that I make my grocery lists by aisle?
Is it sad that I know what is on which aisle to organize my grocery lists by aisle?

Once I was satisfied with my full cart I made my way to the front and realized that the only lanes open were the self checkout. Did you know that I had to scan my own (full) cart of groceries? It took me forever. Who buys $150 worth of groceries at the self checkout? Self checkouts are not designed to scan a full cart of groceries. It was quite the awkward experience.

Lesson learned. I will go shopping earlier in the day.

That's all.

Menu Monday

For a long time I have wanted to plan a weekly menu. I think it would be helpful on many levels. It would help with the grocery shopping, and I wouldn't have to think about dinner all day long, I could eliminate quick trips to the store that always end up costing a bunch, and I won't have to answer the annoying question, "What's for dinner?" I usually answer, "I don't know what do you want?" And then it's 8:30pm before we eat. So, I finally got my act together and pulled a little something together. And from that menu I made a grocery list. And from that list I stayed in our food budget. Who would've thunk?

It's nothing fancy, but here it is...

Monday: Brats --Dave ended up having a (steak) dinner meeting for work so I made a cheese quesadilla for Christian and I ate leftovers.

Tuesday: Mac and Cheese with hot dogs and green beans

Wednesday: Spaghetti, salad, and french bread

Thursday: BLTs with avocado and potato chips

Friday: Sloppy Joes and tater tots and carrot sticks

Saturday: Chicken quesadillas with fresh guacamole and spanish rice and corn

Sunday: Rice and Meatsauce and green beans (can you tell we like green beans?) -- We make this differently from my mom, but it still tastes good.

Dave closes on Tuesday nights so it's just me and the munchkin for dinner. Then he has Wednesdays off so he cooks (which means it has to be simple). I have more time to cook something elaborate on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights (but as you can see it's no guarantee that I will).

Now that I am looking at this menu, it's a bunch of kid food and cheap food. I'm going to have to work on this menu thing.

Today I Learned

Today, as I was taking a shower, Christian climbed in fully dressed. Then right after I put him in the bathtub he pooped in the water. I had to fish it out. GROSS! As I was washing dishes he managed to spread a whole bag of potatoes all over the house, and he took a bite out of one.

So as you can see, today was full of LEARNing experiences. Glad I chose such a great word for 2009. I think I will be learning a lot this year.

Word of the Year

A couple of weeks ago I posted about choosing my word of the year. I have been thinking about it long and hard over the past month. I wanted to choose the perfect word for 2009.

This is the first time I have picked a word of the year and I would like to make it a tradition every year. I just hope I can accomplish it before the new year.

This year I chose the word

learn.

I think there is always room to learn in every situation. I hope in 2009 I can take a step back in all situations in my life and learn something. I hope that by the end of the year I will be a wiser person. I also hope I can document what I have learned so that I will be able to reflect on my experiences in the years to come.

SPT-Loved Ones

I have a millon pictures of me and my son, but very few of me and my husband. I even have more pictures of our pets than of my husband. So, here's to us trying to figure out our webcam. It's not great quality, but it's us.

Construction

So here I am, sitting in my bed with big puffy pillows propping me up, having a pity party. Poor Me! My life is terrible. I can't believe how badly I've screwed things up this time. Will I ever learn? (You get the picture.) But you know, it's all fixable. It may take a long time, and a lot of elbow grease, but it's fixable.

It seems like the pity parties are coming more often these days. I don't know what my deal is, but I'm bound and determined to change my bad attitude. I'm tired of being a grump all of the time (and I'm sure Dave and Christian are too).

So, please bear with me while I am under ongoing construction. I may be a little rough around the edges until further notice. I promise I will try to maintain a suitable environment (and good attitude), but there may be delays or unexpected setbacks.

And then, when construction is complete, I will throw a party and you can all come and check out the new and improved me. But don't get your hopes up for anything prettier on the outside; however, I might wear mascara for the special occasion. All of the construction is being done on the infrastructure.

And once the party is complete, there will be clean up. And because of wear and tear I will need to do a remodel. And so the process will begin again. I hope you won't be bothered by it. I'll try to keep the noise level to a minimum.

She Got the Call!

My little sister decided a few months ago that she would like to go on a mission. She hadn't really thought of it as a real possibility for her life, until then, and decided to work on her mission papers. So, a couple months after that she submitted her papers and today, only 2 1/2 weeks later, she received her mission call. I couldn't believe it! I never would have guessed. I thought she'd stay stateside, but I was wrong.

Sister McLaughlin was called to the Philippines Cebu Mission speaking Cebuano. She will report to the MTC on April 8, 2009. We couldn't be MORE excited for her!!

Word of the Year?

Do you think I need a word of the year? I've never heard of it before, and I see it on SO many blogs. What do I have to lose? So, I'll think about it, and worry about it, and stress about it, and lose sleep over it, and come up with a word of the year. Yup...I will....maybe.

SPT-Better Late Than Never

I resolve to take more self-portraits

So, Christian and I decided to break out the web cam. He was pretty excited, but not as excited as me. What can I say? It's almost bed time.

Blogoversary GiveAway

Lene is having a Blogoversary GiveAway! Click on the picture to check it out and see the goodies you could win. You won't regret it, I promise.

Ever Heard Of...

Have you ever heard of the site MomsLikeMe? I heard about it a long time ago, but never looked into it. So, I decided to look around the site yesterday and couldn't believe how many people use it. What a great site to find playgroups, walking groups, blogging groups, any kind of group with people in your area. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

My other question is if anyone out there is familiar with Twitter? Does anyone use it? What's the idea behind it? Why is it something I should try? I keep hearing about twitter, but I don't know anyone that uses it...or maybe I do.

Does anyone know of other good sites or blogs that are a "must-read" site?

Earlier I posted about wanting to have 2,000 readers of my blog. Just today I stumbled upon a site that you sign up for and they leave comments on blogs to increase readership and following. How cool! I should have signed up, but I'm not that desperate...yet. It's not so bad having my 5 readers. Five...2,000...almost the same. I guess I didn't realize that it really does take a little "advertising" to get that sort of a following.

Oh and that brings me to another site...StumbleUpon. A place to find what interests you.

I am sure you all already know about these sites. They all seem pretty popular. But I don't spend much time online (other than Facebook). So, I just thought I'd share these sites with you and maybe you have some great sites to share as well.

Neat!

So, I was reading a blog and they had posted how to strike through what you are typing. So, of course, I had to try it out. But it was hours before I got around to trying it out and was happy that I actually remember how to do it. It's pretty easy. You just type <> with an s in the middle of it before the word or phrase you want to strike through and then < / s > after it. Just don't put the spaces in between the characters or it won't work. It's a fun little trick and I'm glad I know how to use it now. I'm going to start using it more. Now you'll know what I'm really thinking, even though it's not what I actually say. Is that a bad thing?

On a side note. I have come across a few blogs lately that have had thousands of readers leaving thousands of comments on one post. I want to be famous in the blogging community. I am going to strive towards stardom. So, all you (I know there are only really 5 of you) readers...spread the joy. I promise I will come up with something to say if you promise to read it and spread the word. And I might need some suggestions on what to blog about. Sometimes my mind goes blank.

Can You Say...Disappointing?

Wow! I just had to blog about this because it is funny and disappointing all at once.

December 31, 2008 came more quickly than I had ever imagined it would. 2008 brought a lot of challenges to our family, but we're pushing our way through. Dave and I had plans of eating pizza and rootbeer floats with chips and junk food all around. We got a movie to watch and got home with great hopes of ringing in the new year together.

BUUUUUUT...I went to bed at 7:30pm. 7:30pm folks! Really!?! Who goes to bed at 7:30pm and who goes to bed that early on New Years Eve? Nobody! The least you can do is stay up until 9 or 10pm.

I slept like a sleeping beauty until 8am on Jan 1, 2009. I missed the WHOLE thing. What a way to ring in the new year. ZZZZZZZZ On top of it all I was probably snoring because my nose is so stuffy I can't breathe and apparently that makes me snore. Now you are all glad you don't have to sleep in the same house as me.

Well, how about that! My 16 month old boy stayed up until 9pm, but his mommy went to bed at 7:30pm. It's a little funny and a lot disappointing all at the same time.