weekly menus

{{This post was actually created about a week ago, on the 3rd. We finally got internet!!}}

So, I have decided to try something new (yup, just add it to my amazingly LONG list of *new* things!) but this one actually makes sense....  I want to create my meal plans and menus (and shopping trip!!) every 2 weeks. {Yes I understand that things like milk and chocolate pudding will need to be bought more often than that...} So far my menu is :

Monday 9/27------------Tacos
Tuesday 9/28------------Shrimp Primavera
Wednesday 9/29---------Turkey and white bean chili
Thursday 9/30------------Fajitas
Friday 10/1---------------Ravioli marinaera
Saturday 10/2-------------Soup with cresent rolls
Sunday 10/3 --------------Dinner with Shark's family. (Football and Conference!)
Monday 10/4-------------Presto Parmesan
Tuesday 10/5-------------Mac'N'Cheese with Hotdog mummies

Wednesday 10/6---------Garlic mashed potatoes and beef bake

Thursday 10/7------------Homestyle bake
Friday 10/8---------------Shredded bbq chicken sandwiches
Saturday 10/9------------Dine out
Sunday 10/10------------Dinner with Shark's family (Wings at Ang's)

This is how my week went so far! Monday dinner did NOT go as planned, I got home from work with an awful headache, and laid down to go to bed... It was awful! I hate migraines! I wish there was something else I could do, but just cry {yes literally!} in bed in the dark! But last time I went in for the migraines, I came out with new fingerprints on my heart! {And who needs more of those?!} So, I just kind of take the migraines as they come, and as soon as I feel one coming on, I take some Excedrin, and chug a bottle of water. Then Tuesday went as planned, I made dinner after work. I closed pretty much all week, which isn't all bad, Shark gets done with work around 8 and gets home about 1/2 hour after he gets off work.

Thursday I started work at 2, which is different than normal, I usually start work at 12. But Thursday, I babysat Whitney, so Steve & Heather could go to the temple. I had Shark go out and shake my pear tree Wednesday night, so I went and picked a bunch of pears Thursday morning, and then started to peel them, and I got the jars ready. I canned 6 quarts of pears on Thursday morning.

Whitney fell aspleep as soon as she got there, and then we watched Tarzan as I put our movies on our shelf. Then as Steve & Heather came back, they called me outside. There was a hen pheasant walking back and forth along our new fence. I snapped some pictures.

 But Thursday at work was a hard day, we were getting ready for the weekend, and it was my 4th day closing in a row, which is pretty rough. I went home with a headache {again!!} and just laid down, and cried {AGAIN!!} in the dark. No supper as planned.

I had Friday off of work, so took my trip down to Ikea. I bought a whole bunch of furniture.{I've been planning out the furniture for my house for a while now, and I didn't buy a single item over $20!!} I bought my end tables, my coffee table, my tv table, our curtains and rods, our lights, and some mirrors. I then went over to Angie's where she showed me how to make safety pin bracelets, which I made into a watchband.

Since this was conference weekend, all the craft stores around are having Ladies Night, and the Post is no different! We had a Ladies Night, with refreshments and giveways, and we have like 5 coupons out right now {or at least we did!} and it was so freaking busy, we had every single employee on the payroll working! It was crazy! I went in to work around 9 and then left around 8:40. We close at 8:30!! It was such a rough day!! But it was fun, there were some pretty fun people there last night!

We're still working on getting the boxes out of the living room, and the kitchen, and my craft room and that random living room-that's-supposed-to-be-a-carport room thing that still has boxes in it. We're working on it... Slowly, but we're doing it. It would be awesome if I could clone myself {sting-blub, anyone have a stung-bulb?!} so I could send my clone to work and I could clean my house!! So far, I'm going to try to work on 1 room at a time, and 1 box at a time... Slow and steady! HA!!

love to those who are still my friends, even tho I don't have internet and haven't checked their blogs in FOREVER!! ♥

lack of style

Ok, so I know I have been MIA on this whole blog thing for a while. I've been trying to get internet at the house for bit now, and I was hoping it would be up yesterday, but something is going on between my house and my modem.... So hopefully Monday we'll get it figured out. Trust me, things have been super busy! With work for me, and work for Shark (he's done with his driver training for a while, so we've got a little bit of a break!) and getting the house cleaned and ready to really LIVE in, we have been super busy! I've got loads to share with everybody, once we get internet!! I've got some posts that just need pictures, and a little bit more info. :) I'll post as soon as I can!!

Love to all who are being patient with me, thank you!! ♥

more about it

So, there are few blogs I frequent. Well, kinda frequent. And one of my friend's blogs {ok, so we're not really friends, but she asked followers on her craft blog who would be interested in reading about her "boring" life, and I said Ooh! ME! So, we don't know each other, but I read about her life... Maybe I'll post a link to my blog, so Erika can read about my life too....} anyways, back to what I was saying, on one of my friend's blogs, she talks about things that are going on in her life. And she said it was just the same stuff, and it got me thinking. That's what life is. It's the same things over and over until something completely random and unexpected happens. For the longest time, all my posts were about Bandit, and I'm sorry but there are going to be quite a few posts still about Bandit. And now there will be posts about our house. About decorating and painting and fixing things, and that is just what it's going to be for a while.

On Erika's blog, she also posted some goals. Which made me think of my sorry looking list of goals. {Look to the left... yeah that list!} I really have been trying, and I even checked a few of them off.... I've been kinda lame and haven't been thinking of my goals at all. But, what I really need to do, is post the daily ones a paper or a poster by my dresser/in my bathroom, somewhere I'll see it every day! Because there are things I could easily be doing every day, no extra time is really needed to accomplish my goals. Some of them are more long term, or projects, and those ones I just have to plan for. First of all : I want to get my house clean, I want to put things where they belong, not just on the counter. :) So that is my first step! Then I will be constructing a budget, no we already have a budget, we just need to implement it and stick to it. I'm waiting for it turn into October to start that.

OOOHH!!! I have been trying to eat healthy lately. Less burgers, less Double-Stacks, less french fries, less soda, less grease! Cuz remember back in April when I went in to see about having babies, and the doctor's took tons of my blood to figure out why I hadn't seen my monthly visitor, and she told me I have high cholesterol? Well, it's been on my mind lately. {Plus I've a little bit of pain, I don't really know how to explain it, but walking back and forth across the Post every day, on the hunt for the ONE candlestick our inventory says we have, has started to wind me, and now it kinda hurts!} So, after the slight freak-out about having mildly high cholesterol, I have decided to eat better. It's been along time coming. Shark got a ton of elk meat from work and I hear that wild game is healthier than beef to eat. I cooked it today, and I added a whole can of mushrooms just so the meat had something to cook in, not just fry and burn! THERE WAS NO GREASE, no fat!! So Shark, go kill me some more food!! Anyways, about having babies, I'm just waiting to hear back on that supplemental health insurance...

So that's just what life is, it's the same thing over and over, and it's what is important to us. I have 5 followers, and I love you all dearly, and I know you could (probably) honestly care less what Bandit eats, or what color I painted my walls, but that's my life, and if you read it, that means you care a little right? And honestly, I write because it's something to do, it's some kind of filter so my husband doesn't have to hear it all the time {I really do just talk his ear off, not that he knows it - he's snoring most the time ;) } but this really just a kind of diary for me, it's about our life. It's about what is important to us. I don't write this blog to try to change history, or anything like that. I actually started it to try to keep my family connected to me {they are all so very far away!} and it's worked! But this blog is also where I write how I feel, what's bugging me, what's exciting, what's new, and what's important! :)

So there is love for all who read my randomness and pointlessness, just because you care... ♥

back in the swing

So lately I've just felt unsettled. Not restless but not settled. Nothing in particular. I think I felt that way because we weren't really sure where we'd be next month or next year. Yeah I know a year is a ways away but it's still one of those useless things I worry about.

I knew we were safe at Steve & Heather's but we were still unsure of our future. Of what would happen in the next 2 months. For a while there we were pretty unsure of getting the house or not. {People have said there is a calm in my voice they haven't heard in a while.} it seems like we have a direction to go now. It's comforting to know there is a place we can call OURS. (Although, I would like to add, living with family has been wonderful, we really didn't have to worry about much, just washing our clothes pretty much.) Steve & Heather have been wonderful and amazing to let us live there, thank you so so SO much!

Pretty soon Shark and I will be getting off work around the same time now. Which will be nice, cuz then we can sit down and eat dinner together, although it'll be around 8:30pm, at least we'll have dinner together. I'm even in the process of making up a Meal Plan. I know some ladies have a weekly meal plan, I'm hoping to plan mine for 2 weeks, and then go shopping with a big list every 2 weeks. I'm also hoping to stock up and use what I've got. We'll have to see....

Shark and I are no where NEAR being unpacked. But that's one of those things that will take time. Right now, I'm trying to find my dishes. I found most of the food we had packed away. We've also got all of our clothes. I just need Shark to fix the hanger-bars in our closets so I can start hanging it all up! I've also got to find some more shelves and dressers, garage sales here I come. Part of me wishes I had a week with no work just to get the house organized. (Which reminds me, I need to find our alarm clock!)

Also in other news regarding food and my to-do list : I have decided I need to start canning food. That being said, I need to pick up one of those "Canning Starter Kits" from Wal-mart, they've got them there for $10 or something, and it comes with everything I need to can. I'll share in a bit what exactly I'll be canning.... :)

I guess, it really hasn't sunk in yet, or something. Shark and I are still ready to run. I talked to him this morning about it. He said, it feels like we're just waiting for what's happening next. Like waiting for the good times to stop, waiting for the punchline, the devastating disaster to strike, because it feels too good to be true. But really, we're where we're "supposed to be" by the views of "The Others" - we're married, we have a hosue, we both have jobs, we're both mid-20's. I'm just excited to have a place that is officially ours. A place to make ours. A place for our family.

Love to all who haven't let the good times stop. ♥

any other day

Yeah right! So my awesome SIL Heather and I cleaned the whole house. Ok, so she vacuumed, and steam cleaned the carpets, and washed the walls and mopped the floor.... I painted and patched holes in the walls. Like I said, she's freaking awesome!! I just put on a 3rd coat of paint on the wall in our room. :) I'm hoping to post pictures after this weekend when we get most of the stuff moved in and into place. Or it will just be pictures of a green wall and a blue wall.... So, we'll wait until we get most of our stuff in place. But we signed the papers last Tuesday, and funded and recorded it on Friday. Heather and I went to start cleaning on Wednesday, but I didn't start painting until Friday. Until I knew it was for sure ours. We're pretty excited to have our own place. I'm pretty excited to start unpacking. It'll be like Christmas, some of those boxes contain mysteries, I have no idea what is in them, or what I have!

Things at work have been way crazy, as we prepare for Christmas, yes already. We started setting up last week, and already have a few trees decorated. I love Christmas, but I feel I'm already sick of looking at decorations. I'm just glad I'm not interested in buying things for my tree. We've had our blue/black/silver tree for 2  years now, and I'm pretty content with that. Buying red or green glittery ornaments would throw it all off. And I do have enough Christmas decorations that I am NOT interested in buying those either. Halloween on the other hand is a totally different monster itself. I love Halloween, and I would buy everything they have for the holiday, if Shark would let me. But he does not, so I do not. I did buy some decorations, but after buying from the Trading Post and from the Dollar Tree, I've said no more. So I don't buy any more Halloween stuff, but that doesn't stop me from making them!!

Speaking of Christmas, I think I've got a pretty good plan on what I'm going to be doing for presents this year. If I could just get the boys' presents figured out... Why do I always struggle with the boys' presents? Probably because I can't make them a purse or a wallet... Yeah that could be it. But I think I have most of the gifts figured out. Now just to act on my ideas and get started! :) I'm just all around excited about Christmas and gifts, not just receiving them (although I am considering mailing a box to my new address, first to see my new address with our name on it, and secondly because I LOVE GETTING MAIL!) but also giving them. I love seeing the look on people's faces as they open a gift specially for them. It's pretty awesome. But enough about Christmas : HALLOWEEN!! I'm pretty excited about our costume this year. Once I get it all done, I'll post pictures! Yeah!!

I absolutely love my husband. He went hunting this past weekend in Nebraska. Him, Steve and his friend Pickup went, so that left Heather and I as Deer-Widows. So we cleaned my house (without boys or dogs trampling over everything, including the baby) and then we hung out at Denny's late night, like way late, so late, the baby didn't fuss or cry or anything, just blinked at us as she chewed on a celery stick. Then the boys almost got stuck in WY, apparently there was a brush-fire that closed down the highway... If it's not snow and wind, it might as well be fire, right? But they got home just fine, apparently the fire was in the morning, and now one cared to turn off the sign telling drivers I-80 was closed... :)

We're hoping to start moving in some of our stuff over the week, and moving most of it on Saturday. Although, Saturday at 4:30 is a Relief Society activity in my new ward, and I want to go to that. :) We've called enough poeple to come help us, that it shouldn't take very long at all. So excited!!

Love to all who have long-lost stuff they never knew they had until they found it in a box in the garage! (I love YOU ice cream maker!)  ♥

Its a......

HOUSE!!!

We closed on the house yesterday evening and we are able to move in tomorrow! Shark changed the locks on Saturday, so technically it's been our house since Saturday!! Yayayay!

Love to all who find being patient pays off BIG!! ♥

and a Tutorial

So, I have been wanting to get some girls together and do a cute little Halloween craft. I saw some Halloween Jars done a while back, but I cannot remember where I saw them. So I kinda just winged it, and created a tutorial while I was making them!

What you need :

• Colored tissue paper
• Scissors
• Modge Podge
• Jars (any size will work, I have quart jars from the cupcake in a jar thing I did) *Don't buy jars! Eat that last pickle, make some spaghetti, you'll find jars all around, and it's cute to have different sizes of jars!!
• Little brushes to apply the MP

1. Ok, cut the tissue paper into strips, it is easier to apply in strips, and easier to control around the curve of the jar. Plus it looks pretty cool with light coming from the inside.

2. Next start applying the Modge Podge to the jar, and then placing the tissue paper strips. I spaced my first layer of strips out and then put more strips in the spaces that were left. Put a coat of MP over the strips you just put on. **Don't pull the tissue paper, it'll rip.

(If I could do these over again, I would start with the end of the strip up at the top by the base of the threads, so it's even, and then cut the extra off the bottom of the strips. I kinda placed the middle of the strips in the middle of the jar, so I had some extra paper on the top and the bottom!)

3. Make sure the whole outside of the jar is covered with tissue paper, unless that's the effect you're going for. Then apply with a nice coat of MP to the whole jar.

4. Add a face or whatever accents you want to the jar. I made a Jack-o-lantern face, I used black tissue paper for the face.

5. You can add ribbon to hang the jar, or you can sit them all next to each other. I just randomly tied ribbon twice around the neck of the jar. Lots of knots and lots of loop-arounds, I don't want it to drop!

*You can get battery operated tea-lights, or you can probably use real burning tea lights. I have an idea to put them all on a shelf and put a line of white Christmas lights in them, so they all glow. But these would be way cute to line the walkway to your front door, to guide the little Trick-or-Treaters!!

Here are Heather's :

Here are Angie's :

Here are mine :

Once we get our house, I'll post pictures of where I put them for my Halloween Decor!!