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29 April 2016

Friday RAOK!


 I stopped worrying (and spending SO much time) about the kids chores, and their lack of doing them, which left me with a few options, 1. Do it myself  2. Micromanage them to do it or 3. Call it Good Enough and let natural consequences do their thing. Well it's been tough on me for the last 10-12 days now but the plus side of letting Good Enough be the goal is that I have more time! I got my organizing for the week done earlier in the week because I wasn't managing their messes. So I have time to do what I want to, today that's making our sweet neighbors some treats. They moved in a couple months ago, and have been great neighbors!  Life has been less than ideal since then, so it's a little later than I normally would like a welcome treat to be!



I just love doing something for someone else! Random acts of kindness are so fun! Lots of ideas out there, some of my favorites

~Buying that frazzled looking mama at Target a coffee
~Leaving coupons on the product at the store
~Mailing a card to a friend, just letting them know you are thinking of them
~Help someone with their groceries
~Ding Dong Ditch some doughnuts to a friend
~Leave a redbox code on a sticky note at the redbox



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24 April 2016

Sports Night Meal Plan Round 3

 

 Another week of sports EVERY NIGHT, this last week I didn't really stick to our plan. We had leftovers and no one seemed super hungry at dinner time. Going to have some repeats we didn't have last week.

Monday
Teriyaki Chicken Bowls
Easy to eat on the go! Chicken, veggies and sauce over rice.
Tuesday
Greek Turkey Burgers
Ground Turkey, feta and spinach
Wednesday
1 Pan Cheater Lasagna
Uses ravioli instead
Thursday
Steak Salads
To go!
Friday
Pizza
 Likely will be an easy dinner night!

I have a couple recipe ideas to try, but I need to wait until we have leftovers, just in case the kids are not a fan!
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Elderberry Lemonade

 I've been trying to reduce some of the coffee I drink, just a little, and the weather has been warm here. Lemonade has been sounding so good and it's been an easy switch!


I am a big fan of flavored lemonade, other than it usually has a whole lot of sugar in it. I don't typically make a big batch of this and with these handy powdered lemon I don't have to!  I use

 2 packs of lemon, 
Water to fill my jar and then I add some 
Elderberry Syrup and ice! 

So good and I love the elderberry benefits! I use this recipe for the syrup.


http://amzn.to/23TLPjo

*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.
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22 April 2016

Mom Drawer

 This was my dresser growing up, I hesitated to take it back until just recently. Well now that it's here, it's perfect! It fits just right and has given me a convenient spot for my mom/wife life organization.


it's not quite the big command center I was dreaming of, like these.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/68730687253/


But it's working! My WOTY is FRESH, still working on it, in lots of ways.  A fresh perspective on what I actually need to make my life run smooth was one of those things. I don't need a big ol' command center, just this. This drawer, where I can keep my planner, my daily necessities like the speaker and devotional/Bible, grocery list, my few favorite pens, lip gloss and eye drops, yay allergies. I also keep my coloring books, in case I have a few minutes to myself ❤️


*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.
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19 April 2016

Giving in, working with Good Enough!


These bags of clothes, and toys and just junk in general have been making me crazy! I don't know if it's losing my step dad or something else, just changing my perspective a bit. I am a big believer in kids having responsibilities and not being coddled so much they end up as entitled adults, but this just isn't working anymore. We've been just taking the stuff they aren't treating right and tossing it in a bag. They have to earn it back, the problem has been that there is no time for them to do extra chores or other jobs to earn them back. The bags are in my way and after months they really haven't gotten any smaller. The kids have gotten a little better about picking up but not what I was hoping for. 



I'M GIVING IN!

I am just going to do my best to look the other way when their drawers are trashed and socks aren't matched and clothes are hung inside out. When their rooms are a mega pit, I am going to just let it go and clean it when I can. Things probably won't go where they want them, but if I do it, it's just going to have to be good enough. That is what I am focusing on, good enough!  I can't do all of their work for them, but some I can and I like to! I feel like right now I spend more energy worrying about the stupid bags full of stuff than it would have taken me to just put it away. They are still young, won't be for long and I know I will probably miss turning their teeny little jeans the right way and putting them away. And if they end up going to college without knowing how to do laundry, well then I guess that is a failure on my part, or maybe just a sneaky way to keep them close and make them come home on the weekends.  

Now I am not talking about letting them keep their room as a fire hazard or anything, but if they have the 1.2 million baseball cards on their bed, fine. I just can't spend anymore time asking them to put them away for them to either not do it or do it halfway (usually what happens) and then enforcing the consequences, which really are more of a punishment for me. I'm not keeping track of their stuff though, they are plenty old enough to do that. I won't be hunting in their rooms to find dirty clothes, or baseball uniforms. That is on them, they know where dirty clothes go. Natural consequences without extra effort on my part.

I'm really hopefull that this will just help the atmosphere here. I don't do what info to have them speak their appreciation, but it's nice when they do. Or just act like they do and chip in. Some days that is REALLY hard for me, to feel unappreciated by the whole group. But that's MY doing, my expectations of what they should be verbalizing and not really them. 
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18 April 2016

Today is my hubby's birthday! He is not the celebration type, and he woke up not feeling great today so we aren't doing anything big (just the usual baseball and softball)


But I do want to make sure we show him how much we love him!
This week I plan on a few little things to add to my schedule to bless my Mr.
Things like:
~Going to take his truck for a quick wash if the rain holds off. If not, I will just clean the inside of it for him.

~Hiding the To Do list for the week, he doesn't get much free time and this week I hope he can just keep it free!

~If he is feeling better and has his sense of taste back I am making his favorite treat! If you haven't made them yet, try them today! RECIPE
http://cupcakeskissesncrumbs.blogspot.com/2016/01/better-than-reeses-peanut-butter-bars.html

~And hoping his schedule this week isn't too busy for lunch one day!

I wanted to add some more to this list!

Have any suggestions?!


*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.
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Sports Night Meal Plan Round 2



Well last week was our first week of games, I was not very well prepared! This week though I have some meal ideas ready and am really hoping for no surprises this week! All of this weeks meals will be dished up into disposable cups, not my favorite but for 6-8 weeks it's just what works! Sometimes it's only 1 that has to eat on the way, for those nights that most of us can eat outside of the car, I am loving this picnic basket. Collapsible so it doesn't take a ton of room and insulated!

http://amzn.to/1qSgkom
Monday
Shepard's pie
I'm making 2, 1 for the freezer!  I just layer, ground turkey that is mixed with corn and a little gravy then mashed potatoes and cheese on top. Took us a while to find a combo the kids would eat.

Tuesday
Burritos
Leftover ground turkey, rice and seasoning with cheese.

Wednesday
Spaghetti
Ground turkey in hubby's but the kids are not a fan.

Thursday
Steak salad roll ups
I just use some thin cut steaks and roll them up with the salad fixens in romaine!

Friday
Teriyaki chicken bowls  cups
Our kids just like rice, chicken, edamame and pineapple with teriyaki sauce.

Going to prep all the meat today to save time later in the week because I know I have a few busy mornings this week. I need to try some new recipes too, just a little worried our picky eaters will be starving at their games if it's a no go.



*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.
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11 April 2016

Sports Season Meals

 Here we are in week 1 of games, and I didn't do a lot of plannin', but I have some ideas and have today figured out. That is as far as I have gotten!



I just tossed some pork roasts in the pressure cooker with some stone ground mustard and bbq sauce and seasoning that I didn't measure, because I don't measure much.  I did enough for at least 3 meals. We will have it tonight for dinner and I will put enough for a meal in the freezer for later.
Our kids like bbq pork nachos too, so I can make that a meal, or lunch meal for them.

I am making a double (or triple) batch of meatloaf tomorrow, going to slice them up and freeze the slices for easy lunches and dinner to go.  

And these gems are going to make my life easier as soon as they get here! Who knew?! Reusable, freezer, microwave and dishwasher?! Genius!

http://amzn.to/1qKpeV1

I haven't made it to Wednesday in my planning yet. But I know we will have orange chicken and edamame with rice at least 1 day this week.
*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.
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06 April 2016

Spring Sports Life Prep

 It's Baseball/Softball/T-Ball Season!
And things are already crazy! This year we added an additional insane element to our spring schedule. I'm coaching one of the teams, yikes!  And we also just added running club 2 days a week, because I don't know how not be overly busy I guess.

What this all means for me as a mama and wife is that I need to have my act together. Bad news?  I don't, not even close! 
I need to have some better dinner options that are easy and filling and also get my schedule for 3 teams down. Our gear better organized in the cars. I need a Spring Sports Survival Guide! 
Where is that?!

This Mama knows what I am talking about!
http://amzn.to/1XhfrQz


 I'm going to need some ideas! I see some late night Pinterest browsing in my future!  Follow me and send me your favorites! https://www.pinterest.com/brittanieg/

 I am hoping to have a meal plan in place for next week, when our games start and maybe my car will have everything I need in it too!

Fall Sports had me doing the same thing. HERE
But since then it has fallen out of organization BIG TIME!

Any favorite organizing tips for the car?


*May contain affiliated links* I participate in Amazon Associates Program occasionally. I won't recommend a product I wasn't myself interested in trying or have tried. I may receive monetary compensation for participating. This does not change the price for you.
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