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Monday, October 29, 2012

Menu Plan Monday : Week 10/29/12

Do you plan your meals for the week?
If you aren't, you will save so much time and money at the grocery store buying things that aren't needed. This week my hubby asked why the grocery list was so small, probably like you, our pantry is overflowing with food items that never get used. But also, I don't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen making complicated meals but I still want the food to taste delicious.
So with this in mind, here's my weekly menu:
 
Monday: Hot Turkey Sandwiches
 

Wednesday: FREE
 
Thursday: Taco Soup - recipe below
 
Friday: Out of Town
 
Saturday: Crockpot Italian Chicken


Taco Soup
This is another one of our family favorite soups and is very filling and fast to make!

(picture courtesy of pinterest)

1 pound hamburger
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 can corn (undrained)
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can hominy (white)
1 can diced tomatoes

Brown meat and drain.
In crockpot or large kettle, add meat and sprinkle seasoning packets on top.
Add entire contents of the canned ingredients - do not drain the juice!
Stir until mixed and and cook on low for 2 -4 hours in crockpot or on stovetop until hot.

Feel free to add shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

SMASH - My Pet

 
Time to show off my second page in my SMASH book that is part of the challenge by 2tinytreasures.
The challenge was to devote a page to your pets. Even though we have cats, Storm was my favorite pet and I miss him everyday.  And so I used several of the funny pictures we have of him.
 
Storm was very photogenic, which makes for great pictures
but usually has the same big smile.
 


On the second page, I included the adoption paper from the Humane Society.
As I looked at the information sheet, they didn't believe he was house trained.
We slowly brought him into the house and who knew, he was house trained
and never chewed on anything other than his dog toys.
 

 
And most surprisely, he didn't jump on people or bark.
As much as I tried to get him to bark, he wouldn't!
 
Challenge Three - Where You Work.
I start my new job on Nov 5th, so I'll have to wait to do this page later on.
 
Challenge Four - Where You Live.
I'll need to do some research on this one!
 
Challenge Five - Favorite Animated Character
I'm going to have to think on this one, who's your favorite character?
 
Challenge Six - Favorite Drinks
I know what I'll do for this one!
 
Challenge Seven - Movie Stubs
How ironic - we're going to the movies tomorrow!!
 
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Linking to these parties


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Pinterest Inspired Layout

 
I fell in love with this layout from Pinterest and was inspired to
make a layout just like this one.



As you can see, my heart was nothing like the heart on the pinterest layout.
And honestly, it looked like a grade school student painted this, but I knew I could
use the paper for a layout.
 
 
I used the painted paper as mats for the pictures and used a zig zag punch
to cut out the strips from the remaining paper.
While it isn't even close to the Pinterest layout, it turned out cute.
 
Now I'm off to try to paint another heart,
I mean seriously, can it be that hard?
LOL
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Have you checked out my giveaway going on now?
 
Linking to these parties.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Giveaway - Randall Reindeer

As I shared yesterday, I am in love with Elf on a Shelf.
 
Last year right after Christmas I was checking out the Christmas clearance isle
at our local grocery store and I came across Randall Reindeer.
It's the same concept as the popular Elf on a Shelf and your kids will love this new tradition.

 
 
One winner will win this cute 9" plush Randall Reindeer plush, hardcover book and notecards.
 

 
 
I'm going to make this giveaway really easy.
 


 
All you have to do is leave a comment.
 
Unfortunately this is only for the US and I'll announce the winner Nov 1st.
If you'd like a second chance, post this giveaway on your blog or Facebook page.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

My Latest Pinterest Board

It's been just a little over a month that I had just over 5,000 pins on Pinterest.
Well today I thought I'd share my latest board on Pinterest,
 
I'm sure everyone has heard or seen what this phenomen is about,
but just in case you haven't heard or seen what fun this can be, I created a Pinterest board.
 
Growing up, weren't you curious how Santa Claus would know if you were naughty or nice?
And how many years did you hear, "you better be nice, Santa is watching you!"
 Santa has allowed his biggest secret to be revealed in The Elf on the Shelf.
Their Elf reports to Santa on their behavior at the North Pole each night. 
 
Simply Organized explains Elf on the Shelf this way:
 
The rules are as follows:

* The children cannot touch the elf or he will lose his magic.

* The elf can listen to what the children tell him, but cannot talk back, that’s Santa’s law.

* The elf flies back to the North Pole each night and tells Santa what he has seen – when he comes back he goes to a new spot in the house.

* The kids start searching for the elf immediately when they wake up!

CONS: 

* Your children will ask you every night from Halloween to Thanksgiving when the elf is coming back!

* You have to remember to move the elf every night! Sometimes this is a bit of a challenge for us. 


 
 
 There's a website for registering your Elf on the Shelf and also on Facebook as well as Pinterest.
Let me show you some of the best pins...


Pinterest

I think that parents might have more fun doing this than the kids finding the elf each morning, don't you?


Pinterest

Can't you just hear your kids squeal when they notice that the elf teepeed the Christmas tree?


Pinterest

What a fun suprise to open up the kitchen cupboard and see the elf hiding under a glass!

 
 
Much of the magic of The Elf on the Shelf is to think up fun ways to place him/her each night.
 
 
 
Pinterest

There are so many clever places to place the elf for your children to find each morning!

 
For more ideas, Blossom Bunkhouse
shares 101 other ideas for you!


Stay tune for tomorrow, my giveaway pertains to my latest pinterest board!

Linking to these parties, thanks for stopping by today! 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Menu Plan Monday: Week of 10/22/12

Well last weeks menu wasn't exactly followed as planned.
One night we had breakfast instead of pizza and ended up not making the taco pasta bake.
And come to think of it, we didn't have the crockpot chicken and dumplings either.
So grocery shopping should be easier and hopefully less money spent.
 
Last week ended up being one of those weeks that not much got done around here.
This week, I've got a list of projects that I need to get done.
 
 
 
Here's our menu for this week:
 
 
Tuesday: Taco Pasta Bake

Wednesday: FREE
 
 
Friday: Taverns (some people call them bar-b-ques)
 
Saturday: Grilled Chicken Breast
 
 
I'm going to have a giveaway later this week, something fun!!
 
For more menu ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Beginning to SMASH

It's been awhile since I shared how much I love to watch YouTube vidoes.

One of my favorite YouTubers is 2tinytreasure and she has a
Smash book challenge going on now.
I had bought a Smash book for my youngest daughter
to save her memories while living in S Korea but never had one for me.
So Saturday I went shopping and got lots of Smash items!


The pink Smash book that I picked out is pretty style and the pages are more of a shabby chic look.
While researching which book I wanted, I noticed there are so many other styles -
green/eco, blue/retro, red/doodle, yellow/international, lt green/baby, tan/wedding.
Who knew?


And if you're going to make a Smash book, how about some washi tape?


I also picked up these little word pads which help to prompt you with items to add.
I think I paid $3 for each pad and there are 3 copies of each page.


And my last item was to add a few envelopes to the pages that also have a calendar, love these paper clips and some cute little sticky notes.
I got my items at Michaels but I know that Target also carries a great selection of Smash items!

The first challenge was to do a page about yourself and this was the beginning of something that I found to be so fun. Not only did I use some of the Smash items but I pulled things out of my stash that I probably would never use. (I am a hoarder.)

I pulled out some of my glittering thickers and added a picture and then filled in the blank space.
Part of the fun in making a Smash book is that you fill in as much or as little as you want.

If you noticed on the left side, there is a date stamp. This is a Smash stamper that I bought
quite awhile ago but never used it. How fun this will be to go back in a year and see
if my favorites listed, are still my favorites.

I think it took me longer to come up with my favorites than it did to put the pages together.

I'll share my page 2 challenge next Wednesday - "My Pets"

How about you get a Smash book and become a part of this challenge?
I've also got a Smash Book pinterest board too!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Linking to these parties.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Day 9 Challenge - 3 Projects and More Martha Stewart Love!

The Organised Housewife
 
I am so behind in sharing my progress with the 20 Day Challenge that was last month.
In case you haven't checked out the challenge, you can take part at any time of the year.
Just think, take 20 days and be committed and the end result will be a clean home!
 
 
Clean - your ceiling fans.
 
Sounds simple, right? Well we have vaulted ceilings and usually the hubby gets
the ladder out and stands on the top step and cleans our ceiling fans.
Because I am not coordinated, I don't even try to climb a ladder.
So I found the next best thing.
 
 
I love pretty much all of the Swiffer products, and no I am not being paid
for this post.
 
The handle extends to 3 feet and made it easy to reach our ceiling fans.
And they get dirty so fast, after I got done dusting them, I continued
to dust the top of the kitchen cupboards, hanging pictures and mirrors
and I just love this product. Definitely a great cleaning product!
 
Declutter - Junk Drawer
 
I declutter our serving utensil drawer.
 
 
In our kitchen there are only two drawers that can possibly be used for silverware
and serving utensils and they aren't very wide. And as you can see, things can get lost
fairly easy. I think I have about 10 serving spoons and 5 spatulas and they get tangled up quickly.

 
After: Simply by shifting the holder to the other side of the drawer,
the left side seemed to be the right spot to hold my spoons.
I think I put 3 away in another spot that I keep utensils that are only used one time a year.
Hubby noticed this drawer right away, and did his little shift a roo and then I moved it back to
my way the next day...hehehehe.
 
Organise - Calendar/Diary
 
Yesterday I shared my desk and how I have added a couple of binders
to help keep me organized.  I now love Staples so much, hubby not so much!
 
 
Here's my newest organization from the Martha Stewart Home Office line.
As part of the challenge, I bought her planner. Now you certainly don't need to
spend any money and use a calendar - but I really, really loved this binder and
have looked at it so many times that I finally bought it.
 
 
Even though my craft space/office is mainly pink - this aqua color might be my second favorite color.
 
 
Staples does sell the binder in the larger size but I really like the smaller binder (5 1/2 X 8 1/2).
While the line is kind of expensive, I tried to use a 40% off coupon each time I visited the store.
 
 
There are so many Martha Stewart items, love the post it note tabs, zippered pouches, labels, and the list can go on and on.
 
 
I added a section for keeping my blog organized which I got the idea off
You can get the free printable here.
 
Would you believe I have my blog topics picked for the next two weeks?
I'm showing you the 3rd week page which is not done yet.
 


Another section holds a calendar with more post it note tabs.
The Martha Stewart line is pretty hard to find, virtually impossible to find online
and her calendars were all gone so I picked up another brand that fit the binder perfectly.
 

 
 
Okay, the labels and tabs are all so cute and I couldn't just pick one or two.
Like I said, I made several, several trips to our Staples store..and would you
believe the same girl checked me out each time!
 


No binder would be complete without paper to jot down those thoughts before they go to la-la land.
And I'm also thinking I'll use it to right down errands I need to do because...the memory is a going away whether I like it or not.
 
 
In the back of the binder are the page protectors that are amazing, there's a flap at the top so that things won't slip out. Some ideas to these protectors would be to hold coupons, pictures, important papers, credit cards, store cards. gift cards or store receipts. I've also seen online that papercrafters are using these page protectors for storing clear stamps - the flap will prevent them from slipping out.
 

 
 If you haven't been to Staples recently, you'll want to stop by and check out the Martha Stewart Home Office line. Make sure to take a coupon with us as most of the time, this line isn't on sale.
 
Thanks for stopping by today.
Linking to these parties

Monday, October 15, 2012

Day 8 - Craft Room Desk - Organizing Challenge

The Organised Housewife

The challenge for day eight  was to clean either a kids toy room, craft room, spare room or the family room. As many of you know, part of the fun in crafting is buying craft supplies and it doesn't take long before things begin to overflow.

I picked the office desk as a place that I wanted to organize and clean for this challenge.


I keep the laptop in the craft room the majority of the time. While the workspace was okay, I wanted to put together some binders for easy referencing. Computers are great for information but sometimes I like to refer to paper and not go through the bother of logging on the computer.
But as you can see, there wasn't much room for anything more.


I made a few trips to Staples to make my organizing workspace work better.


This organizer is from the Martha Stewart Home Office line.
I've got room for paper,stapler, calculator, notebooks, binders, lotion, chapstick,
tape measure and more.
There's so much being held in this space now.


I even organized the drawer with 2 plastic organizers from Target.
Everything has a place and makes it easy to find items when needed.


We can't have a workspace without having something special nearby.
My youngest daughter bought this cute kimmidoll for me for Mothers Day.


I'm not sure where this binder came from, if it was one of my kids or if I got it at a yard sale but it holds all the print outs from 20 Days To Organise and Clean Your Home Challenge as well as some other organizing tips I found off Pinterest.





 
This is one printout I need to spend some time reviewing. 

 
I'll show you in another post how I organized our file cabinet using this printout.


I used these printouts each time I reorganized a space and it made the job easier to decide where it should go - one of the four, none of that well I might need it..it was one of the four options.

If you'd like to get any of the 20 Days Challenge printout, click here

Tomorrow I'll show you my Day 9 and 10 projects!
Linking to these parties
Thanks for stopping by!

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