Clorox Splashless Bleach

Don't buy this. I don't know what it is, but I don't think it's bleach. I have had a couple of jugs of bleach in my cleaning cabinet for a while now. One was a really old off-brand one that was left in the previous house we bought. I used it first to get rid of it. The second was one I picked up at Target and was Clorox brand but I hadn't really used it much. I don't think I realized it when I picked it up but later noticed that it was "splashless." I thought that was fine since once in a while I will find a bleach spot on a dark piece of clothing I'm wearing when cleaning or laundering.

This week I noticed my dish rags were starting to stink so I figured I would soak them in bleach before washing them to get the smell out. I left them in their bleach/water bucket longer than I meant to and was afraid they would be ruined since bleach tends to be hard on fabric if you use too much or soak for too long. But in reality, my bucket stunk worse than when I put the rags into it. I checked the bleach to see what the deal was and it didn't even smell like bleach - not even a little bit. At first I thought maybe it was too old and sort of went bad. Then I noticed the jug said it wasn't to be used as a disinfectant. That seemed really odd so I looked it up and apparently the stuff is nothing like bleach. One person said it didn't even take the color out of clothes she was bleach-painting.

Anyway, if you want bleach, don't get this. I don't even know if it works well as a cleaner. It sure made my dish rags stinky and they are now soaking in vinegar since I'm out of regular bleach. So I'm not sure what it would be good for. Nice one Clorox, you got me.

An Update on Life in Seneca

We have been contemplating for the past 2.5 years what I should do about my job. I have "quit" three times but am still employed there. Basically they need me, they pay well, they have great benefits, and they are super flexible for me. So it has been extremely difficult to pull the plug. Oh, and they are pretty persuasive and open to new ideas in terms of said flexibility. Anyway, I thought we were settled on me quitting after my upcoming maternity leave until Brett has started questioning that decision over the past couple of days. So I went back through this blog to see if that offered up any clarity on the situation. It didn't. But here is where we are at right now in life...

Almost two years ago, Brett and I were both working in Kansas City at what I would call pretty decent paying jobs. If we got that salary here, they would be very high paying jobs. Unfortunately, with those paychecks comes a lot of responsibility, hours, work, and sacrifice. We were miserable and felt like we were focused on all the wrong things. Brett was traveling 30-50% of the time and I was working such long hours that we had to put Kyler in full time daycare during the worst weeks of busy season even though I was working "part-time." So we sold our house, Brett got a new job, we moved to Seneca, and I started working remotely.

I cannot tell you how much things have changed since we moved here and got settled. Brett's new job is night and day compared to his old one. Most days he leaves the house around 7:30 and is home by 5:30 or 6:00 in the evenings. Once in a while it is a little later but if he needs to be home earlier he almost always can be. He has had to travel one time since he's been there (which has been over a year now). And it was only for a week. My job is also a lot different since I started working remotely. I can actually work the hours I'm supposed to for the most part and don't get stuck in the office out of guilt or pressure. The house is usually picked up and often times even clean as long as I'm not out of town for doctor appointments or work. The laundry is done and most nights dinner is prepared. Kyler has had a lot more evenings at the park or just enjoying family time whereas before one of us was always working while the other was on baby duty. Things are just nicer, more relaxing, and more family-friendly.

Financially, we are still much the same as we were before even though Brett took a considerable pay decrease (my pay has stayed relatively the same since I was already part-time before moving). Our mortgage payment is at least $500 less than it was before. We are saving at least that amount on child care as well. I don't have to pay for parking and we go out to lunch much less frequently. There aren't a ton of places to eat so we save a lot going out to dinner too. The places we do eat are generally a lot less expensive and having drinks at the bar is much less expensive than in Kansas City. Groceries are probably the only thing that we are spending more on since I was shopping at Aldi in Kansas City. And once the baby is here and I don't have to drive to doctor appointments in Kansas City anymore, our fuel bill will probably go down as well.

There are also other benefits to our move. First and foremost is child care. My mom has been taking care of Kyler since October when she sold her day care center (which he went to before that). That is really nice for when I need to attend a call or training on a day off or have a call outside of regular business hours. Plus, even if we had to have Kyler back in daycare, it would be considerably cheaper than in Kansas City and we know the people who would be taking care of him. Another nice thing is that everything is super close. So to get to a friend's house or meeting at a restaurant takes a few minutes rather than a minimum 20 minutes of driving. We live about a block away from one of the bars so I don't even have to worry about Brett driving home after Thirsty Thursday. I haven't really missed the convenience of shopping either. I'm not a big shopper in the first place but I can get most of what I need here in town. For other things, I have a Target debit card so I get free shipping and 5% off when I use that. And most other places also have shipping discounts if I really need something and can't wait until the next time we are in the city. One of the best things is grocery shopping. Here I never have to carry my stuff out to my car. They always have someone do it so all I have to do is buckle the kids in the car and unload once we get home.

All in all, the move has been a great change of pace and allows us a lot more quality family time and less stress. At this point I would not trade it back to our "old" lives for anything. I would say the worst things are not seeing our "KC friends" and not having as many options for places to go out for dining, bars, and entertainment. Brett would also add beer variety to that list. :)

Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

I tried a soup recipe last night and it turned out really really good. I will definitely be making it again, and not just because I cooked way too much rice. I don't really measure anything out, but here is my best guess of the version I made:

5 T butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped
1.5 cups frozen corn
1 cup carrots, chopped
3 chicken breasts, cubed

Cook the above ingredients on medium to medium-high for 10 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked and vegetables are tender.

3/4 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth

Stir in four and then slowly add chicken broth. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer until thickens slightly.

3 cups cooked wild rice
1 t salt
1 t dried parsley
1 t cumin
1 t paprika
1 t black pepper
2 cups-ish half and half

Add the remaining ingredients and let simmer until thickened to your liking. Enjoy!

Things to Eat this Week

When I go grocery shopping, I need an idea of what ingredients I am going to need. So although I have stopped meal-planning for the time being, I still need to remember the list of recipes I intended on making when I made my shopping list.

Crockpot Spaghetti & Chicken

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Stromboli

Chicken A La King

Slow-Baked Mac & Cheese with Baked Chicken Strips (I dip in flour, egg wash, then breadcrumbs)

Steaks

Making Applesauce

Our new house has an apple tree and we picked a huge box of apples on Sunday. Since we're leaving for vacation tomorrow we had to do something with them. So we decided to try making applesauce. I made a batch last night with my mom at her house and got rid of half of the apples and then Ky and I worked through the rest of them today.

We started with one side of the sink completely full of apples. It filled this red bowl 3-4 times. The first step was to give them a good rinse.

Next, I quartered the apples and cut out any bad spots as well as the stems. I left the skin and core. I thought I was going to get away without seeing a single worm but then one appeared toward the end. Gross! Kyler thought it was funny that I was getting so grossed out by it. Anyway, after cutting all these apples, I am pretty sure my finger is going to blister. Kyler played with the quartered apples that were soaking and rinsing and called them his boats.

Next, I filled my stock pot a little over 3/4 full of apples and put them on medium-high heat. Once they got to cooking I turned the heat down to medium-low. I stirred a few time throughout the 25 minutes of cooking time. (I can tell you that other apple varieties take WAY longer than this to cook but the ones on our tree soften pretty quickly even though they don't seem that way when you cut into them.)

This is what the apples looked like when they were finished cooking. They were really mushy and the skins turned from green to yellow.

The next thing is to put the apples in the canning sieve. This belongs to my mom and was given to her by my dad's mother. I think I am going to buy hand crank strainer for next year since we still have tons of apples on the tree. And hopefully we will have some tomatoes in the garden to make juice out of too.

Here is the finished product. I think we probably got about 90-100 ounces in the end. The color on the above picture is a little more accurate - ours turned out to be the same color and generally the same texture as what you would buy in the store. We add a little sugar (about 1 cup for a batch this size) to finish it off.

Now we get to do it all over again next weekend when we finish picking the top of the tree.

This Week's Meals

Meatloaf/Mashed Potato Casserole

Pork chops and potatoes and beans on the grill

Chicken and rice

Chicken nuggets with macaroni and cheese

Moved

We moved... again. This is the 4th place we have lived in less than a year. I am happy to finally say that we are here for the long term rather than a temporary place. However, we ended up moving during the hottest week of the year so far which wasn't exactly ideal. We do still have a few pieces of furniture that need moved to our new basement but I need to clean the carpets down there first. Other than that, everything is pretty much put away and in its space besides the garage. We also have some odds and ends things to finish up - put blinds up in the bedrooms, put the bedrooms doors back on, change out the outlets, install ceiling fan fixtures in the bedrooms, paint the bathroom, and get a refrigerator.

Right now we have a mini fridge in our kitchen and an old refrigerator from the '60s in the basement. It's not really convenient and we are planning to order a really nice refrigerator that we will keep when we eventually remodel the kitchen a few years or so down the road. Oh, and did I mention that we don't have a dishwasher? We are going to wait a while and probably cut a place out to install one but in the meantime we will be washing in the sink daily (that's the plan anyway).

So far I am really liking the ranch style house. We have never had everything on the same floor before. Kyler's toys are actually staying in his room for the most part since it's not that far away from the rest of the house. And getting laundry put away happens much more quickly. The downfall is that Kyler has been waking up around the time Brett is getting ready since he's not used to the noise. I hope that comes to an end once we get his door put back on his room.

Finally a Closing Date

We are finally scheduled to close on our new house. It will be Monday afternoon and I'm pretty excited although sort of dreading all the work to be done in the next month. I really need to start figuring out what we need to do but it will be easier to pick paint colors and carpeting when I can get back in there and really look at the place again.

The living room needs to be painted but at this point I have no idea what color I want. It will most likely end up getting repainted in a few years anyway when we renovate our kitchen and open up the wall between the kitchen and living room. I thought about painting the trim and windows white but I think we'll just wait on that until we do the other renovations. It's a very time-consuming task. We are hoping to salvage the existing carpet in the living room and hallway. It's just a plain off-white color but is pretty dirty so hopefully after we do the carpet cleaning it will be good enough. We will have two kids under 3 here pretty soon so I don't think we would be doing ourselves any favors by getting brand new carpet in there.

The bedrooms are the other rooms that will need immediate attention. All the ceilings have the popcorn texture on them so we decided to do away with that in the bedrooms now since we will have to get new carpeting in those rooms anyway. (It is old 70s style shag carpet and has to go.) We will put a more modern texture on the ceilings and have them painted white. Brett is in the process of getting in touch with someone to do that. I think I will go ahead and paint the trim white in those rooms since they are being completely redone anyway. Then each room will be painted. I think I'll use the same paint color in our bedroom as I used in our current house. For Kyler's room we will have a little darker shade of gray. And for the nursery I am going to use a tan/brown color in hopes that it will be neutral enough for either gender. I have no idea what we will be getting for carpet. I need to go look around and price some out soon.

The bathroom and kitchen will need to be painted and have some cheap and minor updates done but that isn't as urgent since we won't be putting a bunch of heavy furniture in those rooms. We intend to remodel both in the next few years so there are no plans to do a lot of work right now as we prepare to move. I have no idea what paint colors I want to use in those rooms or anything at this point. As for the basement, we will probably just give it a good cleaning for now prior to moving stuff in. It will eventually be completely refinished as well but not in the next month or so.

More Before and After

We are *almost* done with the house we're in now. We Brett has some trim to put up, drywall to patch (we moved some light fixtures and electrical outlets), and shelves to build in the bathroom. But that should all be done in the next month. So here are the before and afters. Notice any difference?

This first pair of pictures is a view of the living room. We repainted the ceiling and walls and painted the trim white. We also replaced the curtains with something a little more bright and modern. The carpet was pulled up and we had the floors refinished.

Below is a view from the living room to the rest of the house. As you can see, we opened it up a LOT. We basically tore out a wall that was the hallway and turned a bedroom into a dining room. This was a great decision and really brightens up the house. Again, you can see that we repainted the walls, refinished the floor, and painted the trim white.

Here is the kitchen which I think is one of the most drastic improvements. While removing the wall, we also took out the built in hutch. All of the cabinets were painted white and we replaced the knobs and pulls. We actually painted over the wallpaper in this room which I was a little worried about but it turned out really well. It has a new light fixture, dryer, over the range microwave, and dishwasher. We pulled up the two layers of linoleum and refinished the existing hardwoods.

Here is another view of the kitchen from a different angle. You can't tell but the wall we took out made a huge difference in making the space feel a lot bigger and letting in a lot more light from the patio door we put in the dining room.

This is the area that most people think is the cutest part of the house. I had wanted to turn this bedroom into a dining room and put a patio door out to the back yard. Again, we painted the walls and trim and redid the floor. We also put some nice carpet on the steps which really finished things off.

By far the grossest part of the house when we got it was the bathroom. It was really outdated and just icky. So we gutted it and replaced everything. We took out the half-wall between the vanity and toilet which opened things up. We also reversed the door as it original opened against the vanity (so you would have to go in and shut the door to wash your hands).

The shower was originally just a shower kit with sliding doors. We put in some nice, modern tile (also used one the floor) and put a curved double shower rod in. The double rod is nice because we hang our towels on the interior rod since there isn't a good spot for a towel rack in the small bathroom.

Next is one of the upstairs bedrooms. The picture I took isn't from the same angle but you can see the difference painting the trim and paneling made. We did the same to the other bedroom (Kyler's room) and I will post picture of that as soon as I get it straightened up to take pictures.

Looking at these pictures, they really don't do justice to the shape the house was in when we moved in. You just can't see how dirty things were and how dark it seemed. We love all the updates we've done but unfortunately this house is just a little too small for our liking.

Getting Close to Closing

The appraisal went through without exception which is nice because we have a little more time to get the roof replaced (an extra pay period will do wonders). All of our information got sent into the underwriters to get approval for the loan and they had a few questions. We got the remaining paperwork together and sent it to the bank, so now we are just waiting to see if they approve now. It's looking like we will probably close around the first week of June. Now I need to get bedroom carpet and paint colors picked out and we need to line someone up to take off the popcorn ceilings in the bedrooms and replace it with a more modern-looking texture. Lots of work to do again, but we are excited to have more room!

We are hoping to get our current house rented out soon as well. We should be able to be out of it by July 1st so it would be great if we could find a renter by then. With all the updates we have done and the location, we are hoping to get around $700 per month and have the renter pay utilities. If we can get the right person in that we trust and know would stay a while, we might consider decreasing the rent some. We aren't in a huge hurry at this point so we'll just have to see what we can find.

Moving On

We have finally reached an agreement and are moving on in the home buying process. The seller has agreed to pay for half of the cost of the roof. Now we just need to wait on the appraisal to see if they put an exception on or not. That will determine the path we take (repairing before or after closing). We will hope that it goes without exception but are okay either way at this point. We're just glad we got it ironed out and will have enough cash to proceed.

A Pain in the Roof

Who knew a roof could be such a pain when it comes to purchasing a house?! Unfortunately, both the home inspector and the roofing contractor said that it was almost an immediate need. We hope the bank's appraiser disagrees, but that is highly unlikely. We have basically narrowed our options down to two scenarios and are hoping that the seller agrees to them.

The best-case scenario is that we get the bank's appraisal done by the end of the month and it comes back without any exceptions for the roof. Then we will get approved for our loan which will probably take right up until closing. Once that's done, we can close. If we're lucky, that could still be done by Memorial weekend. If this happens, we will request that the seller pay for our settlement charges (closing costs and prepaid items) to free up some cash for our immediate roof repair.

The much more likely scenario is that again we get the bank's appraisal back by the end of the month but this time it comes back subject to a roof repair. We would ask the seller to pay for half of the repair and the repair would be done prior to closing. We would have to wait until the bank approved our loan (which again would be close to Memorial Day) prior to starting on the roof work. So here we would be looking at closing hopefully sometime in June depending on how quickly we can get the roof done.

Once we get that all straightened out, we will have to make sure our insurance company will insure the house. Our agent has told us that most likely we will have 60 days after closing to get the roof repaired (assuming we don't have it done prior to closing).

House Inspection

We had the house inspection done today. My main concern was a valid one - the roof. It already has two layers of shingles on and is in really bad shape. It needs replaced immediately. We have already got an estimate and just need to negotiate to try to get at least part of it paid for. It's just a lot of money up front in addition to closing costs and a down payment so we have to go back for some additional money. Hopefully we can get it resolved tomorrow and move on.

Nothing else in the house was immediate or overly concerning. The garage ceiling is sagging a little so he recommended some things to reinforce it, but not something we need to do right away. There are also a few electrical things that need to be taken care of or at least looked at by an electrician at some point. Other than that it was lots of little things here and there that we were planning on updating or replacing eventually anyway.

Moving on Up

When we moved to Seneca, we didn't have a house. We lived with my parents until we found and purchased our current home. It was a great deal and something we planned on being at least somewhat temporary. We wanted to live in it and fix it up, and then turn it into a rental property eventually. It's a little smaller than we wanted, only a one car garage, and doesn't have a basement. We have been keeping our eye on the housing market and in yesterday's paper I noticed a house for sale that seemed to meet almost all of our wants. I called about it this morning and we planned to look at it the first of next week. As Brett thought about it, he decided that we probably better jump on this house since they don't seem to stick around too long. So we looked at it early this afternoon.

The house is pretty nice from the outside. It could use an updated pair of garage doors, and probably some new exterior doors at some point as well. There is an older shed in the backyard that needs some new shingles and a new paint job. I was anxious to see what the inside was like. When we walked in, the living room was pretty spacious. It needed a good cleaning and fresh paint but it was nice. Next was the kitchen. It was pretty large with quite a bit of counter space but the arrangement just made it seem really crowded. It's livable for now, but something we would definitely want to open up to the living room at some point. There were three good sized bedrooms on the main floor, all needing new carpet and fresh paint. The bathroom also needs a facelift but it's roomy enough and not in too bad of shape.

The basement was the next part of the house we saw. It was HUGE although it did need some work. All the walls were paneling and the ceiling wasn't in very good shape. The carpet was pretty old as well. But there was a very big family room, two other rooms blocked off to be used as bedrooms (one had a closet but the other did not and neither had fire safety windows). There was also a small kitchenette in another room that housed the water heater and furnace, and there was a bathroom with a concrete shower. In addition to all that, there was an unfinished storage area. The garage was spacious as well. It was a two car garage but had a lot of space toward the back for all kinds of boy toys. There is a patio out back that was in good shape, as was the yard and landscaping for the most part.

We found out that the house had already had a couple of other offers but that the seller was ready to get rid of it, and would accept a reasonable offer. Brett and I both really liked this house and the potential it had. Nothing needs to be done right now (except paint and bedroom carpeting) but we could definitely make it into something we love over time. The location is nice, and only about 1/2 block or so from my parents. So we decided to proceed with what we felt was a very reasonable offer that she would hopefully accept. As it turned out, she accepted it and we are hoping to close at the end of May. We are scheduling an inspection for next week and had already spoken to the bank a few weeks back about a different house that we put a higher offer in on. So it looks like things are going to move along nicely and we should be moving (again) in June. I am very excited about this house!

Landscaping Before and After

Since the interior of our house is pretty much complete (with the exception of the baseboards and some light fixtures) and the weather has warmed up, we have started working on the exterior. So far, we have planted some grass in the front yard where there were lots of bare spots due to the previous caretaker using Round Up rather than weed eating. We also pulled out the old "landscaping" in the front of our house and replaced it with new.

When we first looked at the house, the front bushes were ridiculously overgrown. In fact, it wasn't even possible to get in the front door at that time. Pretty much as soon as we took possession, my dad came over and helped pull them out with chains and his truck. Then we were left with a gravel bed (I know, who uses gravel for landscaping?) with some plastic weed mat sticking out that looked like trash bags blowing around. Bricks were used as edging.

Once the weather warmed up, we scooped out all the old rock and removed the weed mat. Brett tilled the area and we put down new weed mat and planted some boxwood bushes (which will grow to 2-3 feet) and asiatic lilies. We covered it with dark brown mulch and added some solar lights that we had gotten for Christmas. Brett later added edging that is made out of some type of composite material that isn't supposed to rot.

We had also taken off the old shutters and repainted the mailbox a while back. After the landscaping, we removed the old iron porch railing. Eventually, we want to add some traditional white slatted shutters and a white vinyl porch railing. But for now, this facelift is pretty refreshing.

Master Bedroom Before and After

This post is the first of many "before and afters" of our new home. We purchased the house in October, did a lot of renovations, and moved into a "livable" house in December. A few months later, the inside is getting very close to completion. We still have some lighting/electrical and trim to do. But our bedroom is pretty much complete at this point. Pictures hardly do justice to the transformation this house has undergone.

Before, the room was painted white and very dirty. It didn't look like anything in the house had been wiped down for a long, long time. There was wooden trim and cracks in the sheetrock under the windows. The wall coverings were outdated and the carpet was old and icky.

After, the room is light and uplifting. The paint we chose I believe was called Warm Chinchilla. We painted all the trim white and put up white faux wood blinds. It's difficult to see with the furniture, but we uncovered the hardwood floors. Although we had the floors in the rest of the main level sanded down and re-stained, we opted to leave the floor in this room as it was. We also added an oil rubbed bronze doorknob and will be replacing the outdated and simple light fixture with a more modern ceiling fan.

I look forward to showing you the rest of the house soon... once we get the trim up so it has a more "finished" look. Although it is much smaller than we're used to, we are enjoying our cozy little home.

Farewell, Maggie

Many of you might think this is crazy. I would have never thought it to be possible just a few years ago. But we found a new home for one of our dogs, Maggie. Ever since we moved, having two dogs has been more than we can handle. Well, we can handle it but it isn't the best situation for our dogs.

For one thing, they get really crazy when they see people or animals outside or if someone comes over. They bark and bark and are really hard to control. Then our other dog, Baxter, bit one of our neighbors who came over shortly after we moved in. We are lucky he is a super nice guy and didn't report it because it was a real bite. We've been much more aware since then and ALWAYS make sure he is locked up if someone comes over. But because of how crazy they get, they end up being in the crate a lot. Even when I am working from home they have to be crated because I never know when I'll get a phone call and they will start barking about something they see or hear outside. Same thing for when Ky is sleeping. We don't take them out much because the two of them feed off each other and hardly ever stop barking if we cross paths with someone. We also moved into a much smaller house without a fenced in yard. And Maggie sheds terribly. I can vacuum the rug and as soon as she walks through the room, it needs vacuumed again.

So, we had been sort of joking about it, and then sort of talking about it, and finally I decided I was going to see if I could re-home Maggie. She really is a good dog - great with kids, completely housebroken, and super sweet. We knew we couldn't get rid of Baxter because of his biting so if we were going to go down to one dog it had to be the "good dog." We hope that this will allow us to socialize Baxter more and cause him to be less aggressive (although we will never trust him completely again).

Today we found a couple who really wanted Maggie. They drove a good distance to come meet her and get her. They had had their previous dog for 17 years so that is a great sign. They came with a couple of their grandkids and Maggie was in heaven with them. She didn't even look back at us wondering what was going on. As they drove off, she was looking out the window and you could just tell she had one of those doggie smiles. We were totally honest and open about her quirks and they didn't mind a bit. She now has a fenced in yard with a privacy fence and a family that loves her. We offered to pay for half of her vaccines because she was a couple of months behind and they declined our offer which tells me she is in a good place. I even received an update already that she played hard and crashed on one of the blankets we sent with her. I know without a doubt that she will receive a lot more attention and less time in her crate than when she was here. We told them that they could return her at any time for any reason. We just want her to be in the best home possible.

We miss her already. Baxter isn't sure what to do by himself since he has always had Maggie around. And I'm glad we made Kyler stop playing at the park to say bye-bye to Maggie and watch her leave with her new family. Tonight he grabbed one of their balls and said "here Wong-wong" (his name for her) and walked around looking for her but ended up at the crate saying "here you go, Baxter" when Wong-wong didn't come. I was able to say "remember Wong-wong went bye-bye at the park." He said "yeah." So I think he sort of understands.

Even though we thought taking Maggie in was for her entire life, that didn't end up being the case. I realize we are being a bit selfish but at the same time I truly think she will be happier there. We had many mixed emotions (and still do) about doing this and it wasn't an easy decision. But hopefully it is the best for all involved.

"Loosing" the Grammar Game

Yes I know that "loosing" is not the correct word there. I read a lot of blogs and one thing that drives me CRAZY is the use of "loose" instead of "lose." It seems that about a third of the blogs I read get that one wrong. And some bloggers use it all the time. So please let me know if I am annoying you with any poor grammar in my blogs. I don't care about a typo here or there but repetitive mistakes are bothersome to me.

March Menu

Thursday, 3/1 - leftovers

Friday, 3/2 - baked fish with rice

Saturday, 3/3 - stromboli, southwestern eggrolls

Sunday, 3/4 - chicken pot pie

Monday, 3/5 - chicken cordon bleu casserole

Tuesday, 3/6 - leftovers

Wednesday, 3/7 - white chicken enchiladas

Thursday, 3/8 - leftovers

Friday, 3/9 - fish & noodles

Saturday, 3/10 - Freddy's

Sunday, 3/11 - taco lasagna

Monday, 3/12 - smoked pork chops with crunchy spaetzle

Tuesday, 3/13 - leftovers

Wednesday, 3/14 - chicken soup with spaetzle

Thursday, 3/15 - leftovers

Friday, 3/16 - knoephla soup

Saturday, 3/17 - chicken a la king

Sunday, 3/18 - chicken nuggets with macaroni and cheese

Monday 3/19 - roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy and dinner rolls

Tuesday, 3/20 - leftovers

Wednesday, 3/21 - stuffed shells with breadsticks

Thursday, 3/22 - leftovers

Friday, 3/23 - chicken pillows

Saturday, 3/24 - meatball garlic bread with spaghetti

Sunday, 3/25 - runza roll-up

Monday, 3/26 - pizza and breadsticks

Tuesday, 3/27 - leftovers

Wednesday, 3/28 - pollo magnifico

Thursday, 3/29 - leftovers

Friday, 3/30 - crock pot chicken and dumplings

Saturday, 3/31- ham with baked mashed potatoes topped with kraut

Lenten Promises

Today is Fat Tuesday. How did that happen? I knew it was coming but it came really fast!

I will be following the Catholic guidelines of fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (not eating between meals) and abstaining from meat on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays through Lent. Last year I didn't do so well. I would end up going out to eat and forgetting I wasn't supposed to be eating meat. Hopefully this year will be easier since I will be eating most of my meals at home.

Additionally, as a couple and for our family, Brett and I are giving up "screen time" while Kyler is awake. This means no television, computer, or phone (besides making and receiving calls). Skyping with distant family and work that can't wait until he's in bed are the only exceptions. (Because I'm a tax accountant it probably isn't realistic for me to never have to get on my computer for work during this time of year.)

Finally, we will not have any excuses to miss church during Lent. We have been doing okay at going every week but just this past weekend we skipped.

Do you participate in Lent? If so, what are your Lenten promises?

Happy Fat Tuesday and good luck with your Lenten promises!

February Menu

Here is my ever-changing February menu. I did a two-week menu to reduce our grocery store visits and then have extended it along the way as our dinner plans change. Here's what it looks like:

Monday, 2/6 - spaghetti, crescent rolls, corn, oranges

Tuesday, 2/7 - hamburger macaroni and cheese, corn, applesauce

Wednesday, 2/8 - oven baked Frito pie, corn, strawberries, magic peanut butter middles

Thursday, 2/9 - chicken spaghetti, green beans, applesauce

Friday, 2/10 - eating out with friends

Saturday, 2/11 - sticky bun breakfast ring, Old Chicago (gift card) for dinner

Sunday, 2/12 - leftovers

Monday, 2/13 - leftovers, sugar cookies for Ky's Valentine treats

Tuesday, 2/14 - leftovers

Wednesday, 2/15 - dinner at parents'

Thursday, 2/16 - dinner at parents'

Friday, 2/17 - prime rib at golf course

Saturday, 2/18 - hot ham and cheese for lunch, french dip sandwiches and American fries for dinner

Sunday, 2/19 - honey beer bread and knoephla soup, slow cooker chicken and dumplings for dinner

Monday, 2/20 - ham and bean soup, cornbread, apples with fruit dip

Tuesday, 2/21 - leftovers

Wednesday, 2/22 - fish and hash browns at Mom's

Thursday, 2/23 - chicken pillows, green beans, apples

Friday, 2/24 - tortellini spinach bake with Olive Garden breadsticks, strawberry shortcakes

Saturday, 2/25 - pizza grilled cheese with leftover green beans for lunch, family get-together with pizza for dinner

Sunday, 2/26 - Windmill for Grandpa's birthday lunch, leftovers for dinner

Monday, 2/27 - French onion soup

Tuesday, 2/28 - French bread pizza, carrots, applesauce

Wednesday, 2/29 - cream cheese spaghetti with homemade slow cooker marinara sauce, corn, apples

Cooking Tip: Softened Butter

It seems like I am constantly getting a recipe out to make something and it calls for softened butter. But I never have the foresight to set my butter out for an hour or so to soften. So I set out to find some tricks on softening butter. My favorite idea was to grate it if it's going in something that gets mixed up anyway. To avoid getting my grater dirty, I'll probably just go with another method of cutting it into small pieces so it softens faster. A third option would be to put it between two pieces of wax paper and roll it into a 1/4 to 1/8 inch piece where it would soften very quickly. While I was at it, I looked for ideas on softening cream cheese. Turns out you just microwave it. Good deal - that's what I've done all along!

P.S. You don't want to microwave your butter to soften it since it will heat unevenly and you will have some melted butter. This makes baked goods turn out poorly. Some say you can do very short intervals on a low setting but I haven't yet had a successful attempt.

Weekly Menu

Here's this week's menu:

Monday - German casserole (ham/potatoes/saurkraut), peaches

Tuesday - baked cream cheese spaghetti, grapes, salad

Wednesday - stromboli, salad, grapes

Thursday - loaded baked potato soup, applesauce, veggie tray

Friday - pizza, salad w/ breadsticks, oranges

Saturday - chili, cinnamon rolls, veggie tray, oranges

Sunday - chicken and black bean enchilada casserole with homemade tortillas, oranges


Desserts for the Week:
- Chocolate covered pretzels
- Microwave Pizookie with vanilla ice cream
- Ice cream