Monday Love

I've not been very industrious since our return from vacation, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to showcase some things that I love, and lately I've been loving whales! 

I love this print from jennasuedesign


I think my next baby girl quilt might have to be purple whales!  This is a Hawthorne Threads Hootie and the Blowfish Cuddle print.

How about this from Pottery Barn kids?  They always get it right!

Can we talk whales without mentioning how much I loved Lisa Frank?  I don't think so!

Whale softie + selvages = LOVE!  Check it ou at the selvage blog.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE?

What have I been up to?

This week?  A whole lot of nothing, except recovering from our amazing vacation!  This was the first vacation away from the kids for Brent and myself, and it was incredible, even though I got sick towards the end.  Check out the vacation blog here  http://www.brentmacyvietnam.blogspot.com/

Budgeting

I struggle with budgeting anything, but time and money are definitely the worst for me. I'm a huge procrastinator, and I'm certainly not opposed to a money budget, but it's stressful for me. Well, as it turns out, I'm sick of paying the car pmt. every month, we just acquired a bit more debt to build the garage, and as far as time goes, sometimes I feel like I'm stretched too thin. SO,  Brent and I made a budget.  The great part about budgeting as a couple, is that I only have to be in charge of the $ I spend, so I have three seperate budgets:  groceries, gas, and personal.   I'm on week three of the $60/week budget for groceries (food, paper stuff, diapers, everything!!!) and no problems.  Back in the day, when we were really poor I did $40.  I don't know if I'll try that again, but $50 seems like a good goal.  Ther personal budget is harder :(  I don't ever spend a lot of money on any one thing, but I do love a deal (anything under 50% off is NOT a good deal- trust me!), so it was really hard to pass up $2 shirts at Old Navy the other day.  I was telling a friend about my grocery budget, and she didn't know how I could do it.  It's not really that hard, here are the basics:

1. Cut down on cereal.  At the CHEAPEST, cereal is about $1.89/box.  Think about how many boxes you need.  It takes up a lot of the budget.  Oatmeal and eggs are cheap!!!  Also, the batch of pancakes I made this morning cost me about $.20   Seriously.
2. Cut down on meat.  As it turns out, you almost never need as much as a recipe calls for.  Especially ground beef, you can usually use about 50-75% of what the recipe calls for, and you'll never notice the difference.
3. Shop at a bakery outlet.  I get almost all of my really delicious, 100% whole wheat bread for $.65.  The same stuff in stores is around $3, and I don't know about you, but we eat a lot of bread! Find one now!
4. Eat soup.  I have about 5 soups that I make on a semi-regular basis.  They're cheap AND easy.  My favorites are:  Roasted Red Pepper, Tomato Basil, Beef Vegetable, Chili, and Chicken Tortilla.  The most expensive of these costs about $6 to make and can EASILY feed us for two suppers and a lunch.  Not too shabby.
5. Aldi.  If you don't have one near you, I'm so sad!  I don't buy everything there, but I do buy most of my basics.  $.50 canned veggies, $1.29 flour, $1.50/bag cheese, $2 butter, etc.  I can sometimes find these items cheaper if they're on sale elsewhere, but the prices at Aldi are always the same- cheap!
6. Research/Make a menu  I don't coupon anymore b/c I found myself buying things we don't need or want (a lot of coupons are for processed foods), but I occasionally run across some coupons for cheese or salad.  I do however always look at my local grocery ads and plan my menu around what is on sale.  SO, if chicken is on sale, we're not having chili.
7. Bulk Food Store.  We go to a place in Shipshewana called E&S Sales, and I buy all of my spices there for dirt cheap.  I also bought a 5 lb. bag of cocoa for about $6 and 1/2 lb. cinnamon for $2.  That is not a typo.

Here's my favorite budget friendly soup-Chicken Tortilla.  Price breakdowns and all!

1 lb. chicken breast, raw and cut into cubes- $2 (I won't pay more than $2/lb for it)
2 Tbsp. olive oil in bottom of crockpot- $.05???
1/2 onion, diced- $.25
2 cloves garlic, minced- $.10
1 tsp. cumin- $.05?
1/2 tsp. chili powder- $.05
2 can black beans, rinsed - $1 (I always get mine at Aldi for $.50/can)
2 cans dices tomatoes with green chiles- $1
1/2 bag frozen corn- $.50 ( I always buy the Birdseye super-sweet when its on sale for $1)
4 c. water
4 chicken buillon cubes- $.20

TOTAL:  $5.20
Stick it in the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours.  I know I said earlier this was $6, that's because I like to splurge on a little cilantro ($.50/bunch) and some corn chips crumbled on top ($1/bag, but you won't use the whole bag . . .I hope :)  Enjoy!!!

I hate titling posts

I have plans to blog at least weekly.  Really, I do; but life happens!  Not like a really glamorous and exotic life.  More like kids get sick, supper has to be made, the house needs cleaned and a few errands to run.  Regardless of the fact that things aren't glamorous in these parts- they are exciting!  Last week we got a ton of snow and Brent worked from home a couple of days.  The snow was so deep in some spots that it required two passes of the snow blower.  We're so thankful to have that!

Sophie got her ears pierced.  She loves them and is pretty good about letting me clean her ears.

A few friends came over this week to make some Valentine's Day decorations. It was great to get together, especially since we got snowed out last week. It was a bit of a mess for a little bit, but was refreshing to be with friends :)

I finally figured out why Nathan calls horses, cows.  I thought he just wasn't gettting it.  As it turns out, he's calling them cowboys.  Cute stuff.  Oh, and he's gotten CRAZY about wearing shoes or boots all the time.  Well, putting them on, taking them off and chasing me down to put them back on again, but you get the idea.  Obviously, pants are optional.

We just found out about fainting goats.  They're really, and really funny.  For a good laugh, check out this video:

Vivian got kissed by a boy- and she didn't like it!!!  She actually got pretty mad about the whole thing and told me it was "DEE-SGUSTING!!!!!"  Agreed ;)

January Update

 Winter is here- for reals.  Yesterday, the high was 10.  Yikes!  This is our first dose of super-cold weather, and I'm not loving it.  Last week (when it wasn't so cold), Brent took the girls outside to go sledding and build a snowman.  I stayed warm inside.   

Here's my little buddy on his 2nd birthday.  He's so cute!!!  Nathan calls almost all animals puppies; he does an AWESOME horse sound, he love cars, and seems to have a healthy dose of "punk" running through his veins ;)  Nathan is also the "coolest" person at our house, it is a real treat for the girls to get him up in the morning and get him up from his nap.  Oh, and he melts my heart with a hug and kiss!

 As promised, Roasted Red Pepper Soup

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 c. chopped onion, diced

1 tsp. Thyme

1 box Chicken Broth

1 jar roasted red peppers

1 large potatoe, peeled and diced

1 c. whipping cream or half and half

Heat your oil in a large saucepan.  Add minced garlic and cook for about 30 sec.  Add onion and cook until tender.  Add thyme and cook an additional minute.  Add all remaining ingredients, except cream and cover.  Cook until potatoes are thoroughly cooked, about 20 min.  Use a blender to puree soup and then return to heat- do not boil.  Add cream right before serving.  YUM-O!

Look at my cute girls drinking their hot chocolate at their princess table mats!

This is my latest quilt that is going to my dear friend Rachel who just welcomed a sweet little girl into the world!  This one is machine pieced and hand quilted.  I know, who does hand quilting????  Well, I have to say I really enjoyed working on it.  The work was nice and calming in the evenings, and I will definitely do it again.

It's a New Year, but not a new me

That's right, no new me.  Which means I will probably continue to post on a regular 2 month basis.  Regardless, here we go.  I think I'll work backwards.  1.Tomorrow I am going to take down the Christmas tree- really.
2. I just finished reading Wuthering Heights.  Um, I thought it was supposed to be a romance- and what is UP with people writing books featuring totally unsympathetic main characters.  Weird. 
3.  I made ridiculously yummy roasted pepper soup.  I mish-mashed about 3 recipes, and I think I'll give it another try tomorrow and hopefully document it for all of blog-land.
4.  The kids are OBSESSED with Star Wars.  Even Nathan.  He runs around the room trying to sing the theme music.  It is ridiculously cute.
5.  Speaking of cute- check out my kids!

6.  Christmas was great.  The kids were all so excited about everything, and grateful- even for socks.  I really do have great kids who are appreciative of everything they got.  Brent got a new surround sound system (courtesy of Nathan's meddling), I got a new cd player for the kitchen, and we're finally parking in the garage!  Also, got the Pioneer Woman cookbook.  I'm sure we'll all pack on a few pounds before the end of 2011.  Good news for Brent, bad news for me!
7.  Sophie's bumps and bruises have all healed up nicely.  Her smile is almost completely evened out and I can see her scar is beginning to fade.

Bad with the Follow-Through

You know how in basketball, when you make (or try to make) a shot, if you don't have a good follow-thru it doesn't ever seem to go in.  That's me.  I have no follow through.  Seriously, TONS of stuff that I don't finish or procrastinate on, and sadly, my little piece of blog-land is one of them.  So, here's the quick run-down:

I did a coule of craft shows this fall- one was a total bust and the other was not so bad.  While I was at one I met a girl named Lois who sells for Thirty-One, and I was hooked.  The stuff was SO cute!  I've done a few shows, made a little extra cash, and its fun and easy for me.  I'm still sewing, but this replaces my sewing "job" (aka, supplying the etsy shop and craft fairs), which means I'm back to sewing for fun.  Yay!  I havent's wanted to look at my sewing machine for weeks, but now I'm itching to start some Christmas projects :)

The other big news at the house was that Sophie was hit by a car a few weeks ago.  We are VERY blessed and extremeley lucky that nothing too serious happened.  Sophie ran into the street when we were visiting my cousin and was hit.  It was very scary, the EMS came, we went to the hospital.  Her chin was split wide open and it appeared that her jaw was broken.  The EMT was about 90% sure that was the case.  Brent was waiting for us at the ambulance bay and noticed right away that there was something "off" with her mouth.  LOTS, and lots of prayers were said in those first few minutes for our little girl and I know they helped heal her.  After she went for her CT scan, when she came back, her jaw looked back to normal.  She had no broken bones, no internal bleeding, her jaw was fine, and not even a concussion, which is a miracle considering she had tire tread on her face.  She ended up with some stitches in her chin and her neck.  We did an overnight stay at the hospital to be observed and got to come home the next day.  What a miracle!  The only thing now, is that her lower lip isn't moving correctly.  We're very hopeful that it will heal on its own, but for now I'm happy to see her crooked smile!  Sophie won't even walk to the car now without holding my hand.  I'm sad she had to learn that lesson this way, but grateful that it seems to be sticking with her so that we won't EVER have to do that again.