Day of Fulfillment

Alright, so there are days, even weeks where I don't cook dinner.... It's not that we don't have food at our house.... But when I look in the fridge, all I find are ingredients! Ugh! That's the worst!

So I've been searching the Pinterest for CrockPot Freezer Meals... I love my crock pot, I love being able to dump a bunch of stuff in there and have a meal when Shark comes home. And for the most part, the meals are pretty delicious! And way easy. In the summer I lean heavily on the crock pot, I don't want to turn the oven on!

So I found a CrockPot Freezer recipe gold mine! I stumbled upon Baked In the South, and decided to make ALL of her recipes. She's got 5 parts! This link goes to Part 5, because parts 1-4 don't link up part 5. But part 5 links up the other 4. She's got about 5 recipes per post, so that's A LOT of food.

 Please ignore how disgusting my freezer is.... I bought berries from Dollar Tree... once the packaging froze, it cracks and broke open... Lesson learned.

It feels so good to have a freezer full of meals. I made 20! And no repeats either. Although I did have enough of some recipes to make doubles, I figured we'd try them out first, see if they were tasty, then make more.

Also, I ended up not having a few things, I thought I had more than 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, so I put on the bag the things I needed to add when I put it in the crock.

So easy, and I bought all the ingredients (expect for the stew beef!) with my bi-weekly grocery budget! It worked out so good!

Menu plan 4-15

Ok so my very ambitious menu plan for the next 2 weeks :

4.16 : going to a friend's house
4.17 : Bacon Ranch Slowcooker Chicken
4.18 : Minestroganoff
4.19 : Chicken and Gravy
4.20 : Crock Pot Taco Soup
4.21 : Sunday at in-laws
4.22 : Dorito Casserole 
4.23 : Pizza quesadillas
4.24 : Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
4.25 : Cheeseburger Soup
4.26 : Fish and tots
4.27 : Chicken alfredo with garlic bread
4.28 : Left overs for Sunday

So there you have it.

The 1st week I just kinda picked stuff that would be good for Shark's lunches. Ability to be reheated and how desirable it is upon reheat are the main factors.

The 2nd week I followed my theme - Mexican Monday, Pinned Tuesday, Chicken Wednesday, Meat Thursday, Fish Friday, Noodle Saturday. :)

We'll see how it goes.

Also, I'll have you know, I have ulterior motives for linking the recipes in my post... It's easier for me to find the recipes. Yeah. But I am also sharing them! Yay for sharing!

So we'll see how this goes.

I've also got a plan to stay within my grocery budget. This week I kinda didn't do so well... I was running to the store for things I forgot, or other. I needed to get toilet paper cuz I needed baby wipes. (Yes, I'm THAT mom, who makes her own butt wipes.)

So yeah. :)

Here's to plans! Love to all -

Menu for March 25 thru 30

So here's my menu plan for this week. (I'm going to try to post my menu plan every Sunday...)

3-25 : Tacos
3-26 : Brown Sugar and Balsamic glazed pork
3-27 : Slow cooker bacon wrapped apple chicken
3-28 : Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches
3-29 : (Finder's Keeper's) Shark is out of town, so it's just Danger and me.
3-30 : Shrimp Noodles
3-31 : Easter at in-laws

I'm planning a daily theme menu thing. You know - Mexican Monday, Pinterest/Favorite Tuesday, Chicken Wednesday, Meat Thursday, Fish/Favorite Friday, Noodle Saturday, Soup Sunday.

Maybe those days'll work - we'll have to see.

I'm pretty sure all of my recipes fit into those groups.

I need to lay down a plan, and stick to it. It's hard for me to plan my meals, I never know what to make. So I figure if I have a daily theme, that'll keep it straight and keep my recipes in rotation. (I think some months we end up having tacos once a week....)

So we'll see how this goes. I'll let you kno!

All in writing

We're getting our budget down on paper! Because I can never stick to it we're never sure what we've got left! So far so good, I bought 2 calendars to write everything down on. I bought 2, 1 for my goals (yeah, that list to the left is still REALLY long!) and 1 for our budget and money stuff. :)

I made a To Do list of all my Christmas presents this year. I can check 2 off! Yayayay! The items I make will NOT be posted until Christmas Day, so if you were hoping to peek, neener neener neener!! It feels good to get things done on my list. 

I went grocery shopping today and that means : NEW MENUS!! Yayay

M 11-8 ------- Waffles
T 11-9 -------- Crunch Wrap Supreme (homemade!!)
W 11-10 ------ Wings
TH 11-11 ----- Chili (Shark leaves for hunting)
F 11-12 ------- Tuna fish Sandwiches
S 11-13 ------- Mac & Cheese
SU 11-14 -----  Football
M 11-15 ------- Gnocchi (as found on Make it and Love it)
T 11-16 -------- Cheeseburger Soup
W 11-17 ------- Linguine Alla Carbonara
TH 11-18 ------ BBQ Beef Sandwiches
F 11-19 -------- Slow Cooker Pot Roast
S 11-20 -------- Soup
SU 11-21 ------ Football

Last night we made waffles as our FHE, and they were awesome! And tonight we made Crunch Wrap Supremes, as made famous at Taco Bell. I just guessed at it, but they turned out pretty dang good! (It helps that I bought this BIG huge can of Nacho Cheese 2 weeks ago... Nachos and Crunch Wraps for ever!!)

Yes, you read that right on Thursday's dinner.... Shark is going hunting... again. I'm crossing my fingers that he comes back with some deer! I need my freezer filled up!! Shark and Steve are heading to Nebraska for this big rifle hunt. I'm just excited for them to get some whitetails! I might even have to borrow Ang's dehydrator... Or maybe... Christmas is coming!! ;)

So anyways, that's what's been going on so far this week. :) Now it's time for me to go to bed. Good night all - and love to those who are crossing things off their To-Do list!! ♥

Crafts and menus

So, when I cut the blocks out for the Countdown Blocks, I let the employee cutting them, cut the entire post. So I had a ton of blocks left over, not really left over, cuz I already had ideas for those "extra blocks" - I wanted to make some seasonal word blocks found at Naptime Crafts. And I have paint left over from my awesome front wall (not decorated yet, so no pictures yet...Hopefully SOON!!) so I loaded up my paint, 2 sets of blocks and my Cricut stuff, and headed over to Heather's. Last weekend we were Deer-Widows. Our boys were out hunting the Utah Frontier, somewhere. So we hung out all weekend, and it was freaking awesome! I painted my blocks green, Heather painter her's the burnt orange of her front room. We picked a font that was creepy (for Halloween) but nice looking (for Easter and Christmas). I think the blocks turned out awesome.

Plus with that little owl on top, it just looks cool.

I decorated for Halloween, cuz it's my FAVORITE holiday ever!!

Too bad this year's Halloween has been taken over by Christmas (yes already!) cuz it has taken over at work, and I can't get away from the glitter and the oranaments and the stockings... But I decorated pretty good this year, considering we aren't even going to be at the house tonight. We're heading over to Steve & Heather's for a Halloween party. I'll get pictures of that too. (Oh, and don't worry, those aren't REAL knives, they are just stickers I found at the Dollar Tree! Awesome, right?!)

Next, my menus! So pretty sure, I'm already a week into this 2 week shift! Sorry, things have been crazy with work, cleaning and getting the Halloween party ready!

M 10-25 ------ Beefy Nacho Cresant Bake
T 10-26 ------- Chicken Cacciatore
W 10-27 ------ Last Minute Teriyaki
TH 10-28 ----- Teriyaki Turkey Lettuce Wraps
F 10-29 ------- Finger food party at the Smitty's
S 10-30 ------- Chili at Halloween Party
SU 10-31 ----- Leftovers & football
M 11-1 ------- Beef potpie wedges
T 11-2 -------- Cancun Chicken wraps
W 11-3 ------- Pasta w/ cream sauce
TH 11-4 ------ Tuna fish Sandwiches
F 11-5 -------- Spaghetti
S 11-6 -------- Soup
SU 11-7 ------ Football

Ok, so Tuesday was a bust, pretty sure I broke down and cooked our pizza cuz I did NOT feel good at all... Which sucks cuz I LOVE Chicken Cattiatore!! Just going to put it in my rotation for this next week, maybe bump soup out or something....

If you want any of these recipes, just ask and I'll share them. All my recipes are easy, and take less than a half hour to make, I get home around 9, cook dinner and then Shark and I watch a Chuck episode. Quick and easy!

Last night we went over to the Smitty's to hang out, I made Jalapeno Bites. They turned out pretty good, next time I'm adding more Jalapenos to the batch, not enough cream cheese/pepper ratio!!

So this next week at work, I've got a 40 hour load, but I'll find sometime to clean my house, and get cracking on those Christmas gifts (I know what month it is!)

OH! In other great news, Shark got promoted at work. Ok, so he took advantage of the situation and stepped up. He is one of the newest delivery driver's down in Salt Lake. We're pretty excited cuz that also means a raise! Plus, his work has *awesome* insurance and tuition reimbursement! Sweet!!

Love to those who love Halloween, even if it's just for the candy! ♥

Finally!!

We have the internet!! Ok, so somethings that happened this past week that I did NOT share. (Lots of pictures, that's why I didn't share!)

I made jam. I made Raspberry-Peach jam, and Raspberry jam (I had tons of Raspberries left over, so I made jam...) I made jam all day Thursday, after I cleaned the house up a bit. (The last picture is Shark giving his seal of approval...)

Also, Shark loaded his motorcycle up to go to the dump, and he helped load Steve & Heather's green car too. Their green car died a while back.

I got together with some friends and made a whole bunch of Halloween Jars. I bought a $2 string of orange lights at Wal-Mart and put the jars in my front window. {Oh Shark showed me how to twist the lights to turn them off, it worked for about 8 hours, then the whole strand goes dead, I've tried it on 3 different strands of lights, and they all end up dying after about a day. It seems like it works at first, and then it stops working. So don't try it. It was really awesome at first, but it just ends up costing money....}

And here is the Menu of the next 2 weeks....

Monday 10/11 -------- Minestroganoff
Tuesday 10/12 -------- Last Minute Teriyaki
 Wednesday 10/13 ---- Tortellini with cream sauce
Thursday 10/14-------- Brinner (breakfast for dinner)
Friday 10/15 ---------- Chili (and Wings)
Saturday 10/16 ------- Soup
Sunday 10/17 --------- *Football*
Monday 10/18 -------- Fettucini Alfredo w/ shrimp
Tuesday 10/19 -------- Shipwreck
Wednesday 10/20 ----- Baked Shrimp
Thursday 10/21 -------- Lasagna
Friday 10/22 ----------- Ward Party
Saturday 10/23 -------- Mac & Cheese/leftovers
Sunday 10/24 ---------- *football*

Sundays we usually go over to Shark's parents house to watch football and clean out their fridge. :) We get to catch up on all our shows. We've been watching Community, The Office, and The IT Crowd. Shark and I have also been catching up on Chuck. We're about half way thru season 2.

Ok, now to some more news about us. Shark has been going thru his driver training at work! He got the job as a driver, and he should start in November. I've been working crazy hours at the Trading Post, what with Christmas on the way and all. And you remember my post a while ago, about my body being all crazy again. Well, it's back to normal. Which means we'll be able to find out about the supplemental health insurance, so when we decide to have kids, we'll be financially taken care of for it. That makes me happy and relaxed! So that's what we're working on now, getting that insurance.

And as you know, Christmas is coming, so lately I have started gathering supplies for this year's presents. Again, I will be posting the day of Christmas or the day after. I promise to try to take pictures of ALL gifts this year, even the ones I mail!! :)

Love to those who put up with all my crazy pictures, even tho they are a little old... Thanks for loving me anyways ♥

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!! ♥