Monday Mayhem

Ok last week was not crazy. Other than my stupid banking moment where I freaked out, thinking I hadn't scheduled a truck payment, so I scheduled one to come out. And it did. And I already had scheduled one. So we made 2 truck payments this month. Which normally is cool and helps drop the payment and it was almost all applied to principle....but...instacare also cashed a check that they weren't supposed to cash. And I had to make an IHC payment for an ER visit for Mercy (same day as instacare visit which is why instacare wasn't supposed to cash the check.) That doc made it be a "no-charge" visit.  Not sure why they decided to cash it 2 weeks later, but they did. And now we have a credit on the account and they're going to send me a check, but probably not till next week.

**Side Note** - So at the end of September, Mercy was jumping on the couch and long story short, ended up needing some stitches. In a very sensitive area. Instacare sent us to the ER so she could be sedated when stitches were put in, instead of just a local anesthetic. She's one tough cookie. When they put in the IV, she just looked at the nurse was then said "I got a bandaid!" But now we have that payment (no insurance...not till Oct 31). Thankfully we have a zero interest payment plan, but we had to break it up into 4 payments and I had to make the first payment that day. Which wasn't planned in the budget. 

My little Mercy and Titus. She found him and dragged him to the couch. 

So Friday was a long day and my checking account was mad at me, but thankfully we have still have a little in our emergency fund. And thankfully both of us get paid on Friday. Hooray!! But the downside is we have no money for a grocery shopping trip this week until our checks go in. I had about $20 from tips this weekend so we could get some essentials: milk, bread, etc. So here's our meal plan....

Monday: Grilled Cheese & french fries
Tuesday: Spaghetti & meatballs
Wednesday: Enchiladas with slow-cooker refried beans (never made them, hope they don't suck!)
Thursday: ..... ugh? Good question? Maybe leftovers. Maybe grilled chicken? It's on sale this week.
Friday: My parents will be here, and my mom promised Mike a "home cooked meal" so I'm leaving that up to her.
Saturday: Ugh.....at this point we'll have money, so I'll get something then. Maybe loaded baked potato soup in bread bowls?
Sunday: Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Here's what adds on to that.

Monday: Parent Teacher Conference at 3:00. I'm teaching a SMART card class at 5:00 if anyone shows and I hope someone shows. Plus I'm working from 10-8 so busy, busy, busy.
Tuesday: I work 10-8 AND our owner is here. AND our compliance officer from the DABC will be at work to make sure we're complying and since I teach the SMART card class, there's no excuses for us not to be complying. And it's a half day at school for Grace, but thankfully Mike is picking her up.
Wednesday: Our 9 year anniversary! Wow, 9 years! What are we doing? Hanging out at home with our kids and eating enchiladas. Nice. And I'm having coffee with a friend in the morning. I need to see if coming to my house is an option. No school today, so Grace will be home all day.
Thursday: The plan is to go visit Jade and baby James. I do need to try and grocery shop in the morning. My payday is Friday, but my direct deposit goes through a day early, usually. Hooray! It's also Mike's Grandma's birthday and I might try and visit her. We haven't seen her for a while. Maybe 2 years. She's never seen Bethany. It might be nice to surprise her and let her see her great-grandkids. But it just depends on how crazy I feel after driving 2 hours to Lehi that morning.
That night my parents will roll in from hunting. Not sure on what time they'll be here, but looking forward to it.
Friday: No school again (fall break) and since my parents will be here, and since I have to work from 11-9, they're going to spend the day with my kids! Hooray! The kids are stoked to have Grammy & Pappy babysit and I'm stoked to not have to worry about daycare that day.
Saturday - I'm closing and thankfully Mike's not on call so hopefully he has a relaxing day at home.
Sunday - Mercy's Birthday! She'll be 3. OMG, she'll be 3!!! I gotta make a pink cake. That's what she wants. Pink. And mac 'n cheese cause that's what she wants all the time. I'm not working, which is nice, and after church, we just plan on spending the day with our little Mercy!

Phew. Long, long week. And now it's time to start it, so wish me luck!

Paleo Lemon Artichoke Chicken

Mike went though a paleo phase for a bit and we found some good recipes. But the phase didn't last long. This, however, was one of the recipes we stumbled across and it's good. I mean G.O.O.D. Everyone likes it and it's actually pretty simple. I'm adapting it for the crockpot cause slow-cooker meals work way better for our family. 

I took a whole chicken (very affordable and easy to cook) and added a can of artichoke hearts, 1/4 cup capers, 1 medium onion chopped up and the juice of 2 lemons. It's in the slow-cooker on low for 7 hours and should be ready when Mike gets home from work. He'll probably cook up some rice or potatoes to go with it. You're supposed to add bacon at the end, but we don't have any, so this time around, it's going to be bacon-less. Sad. But still good.

Like I said, Mike found this in a paleo cookbook. This one to be exact:

He has the online version, but it's also available on Amazon. The entire recipe took less than 10 minutes to put together and adding the lemon juice after the onions means you can get rid of the onion smell on your hands :)

Wednesday Weigh In

Yup, down 2 lbs! And I'm getting to the point where I need a belt again. My pants fit great for 20 min and then they stretch out too much. That's a pretty cool feeling,

Monday Mayhem

Start of a new week. Things are getting crazy. Well, this week is actually pretty calm. Looking at our schedule and not much going on, other than school and work.

But some exciting stuff happened this past weekend! My dear friend, Jade, had her baby boy! He came into this world on Friday, October 4th at 7:30ish pm. He was 6 lbs 14 oz and 19.5" long. And his name is James Robert. Beautiful! I probably won't be able to go visit until next week and I can't wait to see him, and her! Maddison's very excited to have a new baby brother.

I am also now officially a Eucharistic Minister at church. I read the schedule wrong and thought I didn't start until next weekend, but that was good cause I couldn't psych myself out. I'm going to post more about that later.

Also, had a "fun" conversation about population growth and stuff with a grumpy old lady at work last night. There will be a post about that, too. And I will be ranting. A lot.

But here's what's up for the week:

Menu:
Monday - Breakfast
Tuesday - Broccoli & Beef in the slow cooker. One of Grace's favorites!
Wednesday - Lemon & Artichoke chicken (also in the slow cooker and this is paleo!)
Thursday - Mini burgers (maybe on the grill), potato salad & baked beans
Friday - Bacon Mac 'n Cheese
Saturday - Leftovers or Sandwiches or Chicken Nuggets
Sunday - Chili & Cornbread

Have a good one!!

Restarting Day 1

So this is with me holding the iPad. The first time I stepped on, it said 141.3. Then it was 140.something. Either way, it's pretty good. I bought new jeans yesterday. I am now proudly wearing a size 10! I haven't done that in years. And a lot of people have been commenting on how good I look. It's funny, because I don't feel like I've been very diligent with dieting for the last few weeks. Work has been stressful, home-life stressful, money stressful. So that was good to hear.

So today, October 2, I'm going to re-start my diet. I'm going to restart ACE (I haven't taken it in about 2 weeks) and I'm going to lose those last 10 lbs or so. And I'm going to make it so next time I shop for jeans, I'm wearing a size 8!

And I'm going to try and blog a little more. And stay on budget. And save up for Christmas. And do a bunch more stuff. But mostly, enjoy my kids while they're still kids.

Old El Paso

Ever have one of those nights were you just don't know what to make for dinner? We do. All the time. And we even meal plan for the entire week. Sometimes it just feels like we're in a recipe rut and we need something to shake us out of it. I was recently invited to participate in the Old El Paso BzzCampaign from BzzAgent. I receive two Old El Paso cooking sauces (Roasted Tomato and Chile & Roasted Garlic) as well as a container of Stand & Stuff soft flour tortillas.

First thing that stuck out to me was the Box Tops For Education! We clip and save those for my daughter's school. I love finding products that have them and truth be told, I'm more inclined to chose those products verses other brands.

BOX TOPS! Score!

Then I stuck them all in my pantry and completely forgot I had them. Oops! One night a week or so ago, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I think I had chicken enchiladas on the menu for the night. I'm more of a "make it yourself" kind of girl and I don't usually buy prepared rice mixes or enchilada sauce. I'd rather make my own. And that night I was not in the mood to make enchilada sauce. A quick glance in the pantry and I saw the cooking sauce. And then another glance in my fridge and I had some anaheim peppers from our Bountiful Basket and I knew that enchilada night had turned into fajita night.

Yes it was really 7:00 pm. It was one of "those" nights.

The chicken cooked in no time and and I added the peppers and some onions. Then the Roasted Tomato Cooking Sauce. It instantly smelled amazing. The fragrant roasted tomatoes along with garlic and chiles filled my kitchen and suddenly my kids were more interested in dinner than in TV.

I make my own spanish rice with a recipe that I found on Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity. It's found here. I added some of the cooking sauce to the rice and it turned out delicious.

Then, of course, we served our fajitas in the Stand & Stuff flour tortillas. It's a cool concept. I liked that I could add everything to my fajita without making a huge mess. Then when you eat it, you have to squish it together so really, a regular tortilla works just as well.

The verdict: I loved it. Mike loved it. Girls....eh. They said the chicken was too spicy so they didn't eat very much. But they did eat all the sour cream off the top. Will I get them again? Possibly, if there's a good deal. Who knows, maybe the good eater (Bethy) will like them when she's old enough to figure them out. 

**I received these products for free to try and review because I'm a BzzAgent**

#GotItFree

First Grade

My baby. My first born. She starts first grade tomorrow. She'll be at school all day. Which means I won't see her much anymore. If I open, I'll see her before I go to bed. If I close, I'll see her when I pick her up to take her to daycare. I'm so not ready for this.

Brand Spankin' New

Being a farmer....and 6.5 years old