I am a Aunt!

I have not posted in the last couple of weeks. I had a cold which turned into strep throat. On meds now and feeling much better. This weekend my sister in Indiana gave birth to a perfect little bundle of joy. (The first grand baby for our family)

Jayson Scott

1-24-10

7.5lb and 18in

With huge gobs of dark brown hair

Mommy, Daddy and me

Look at all my hair!

Meeting uncle Aaron

Meeting Aunt Tasha

Meal Plan Monday & New Year Goals

I had some down time today while at school. So I decide I would take the chance to get this posted. This year I made Goals rather then resolutions. As we all know that no one ever keeps their resolutions, and it is slightly easier to reach small goals and take baby steps toward progress and change.

Speaking of baby steps, that is exactly what my goals this year are all about. Following Dave Ramsey's baby steps to financial freedom. Aaron and I followed Dave's plan a few years ago and we did great with it. We truly enjoyed the stress relief it gave us knowing where every dollar was going. I am sure you have heard of Dave Ramsey, if not stop on over to Dave Ramsey site.

2010 Goals

1. Make a weekly meal plan & Stick to it!

2. Bring all basic bills current

3. Put $1,000 in the bank for emergencies

4. Pay off $5,000+ in debt (I know not alot, but I wanted to set a small goal to start)

5. Start using coupons again

6. Build our stockpile of HBA & Pet supplies

7. Start a small garden

8. Learn to can (my great mother in law has volunteered to help us in this adventure)

9. Lose weight!

10. Fall more in love with my husband and repair our marriage with God as the center (I left the best for last)

Some of these goals will take longer then others. Some will take more patience and hard work then some. But I hope and plan on obtain all of them, or at least die trying, by the end of 2010.

Here is our first monday meal plan.

I should point out a few things. We eat alot of salad, and make normally everything from scratch with little carb, pork or processed food intake. I am looking forward to sharing some very yummy recipes coming soon too.

Breakfast Staples: Oatmeal (we eat alot of this), eggs and leftovers (why not yet dinner for breakfast, you eat breakfast for dinner. lol

Lunches: We both normally take a salad, wrap or leftovers for lunch so this varies greatly.

Dinners:

Mon - Leftovers from Sunday

Tue - Pork Steaks & Baked Butternut Squash

Wed - Chicken & Salad

Thur - Applebee's (date night is every Thursday after my class for 1/2off appetizers!)

Fri - Homemade Chili (Will post recipe soon)

Sat - Curry Chicken w/ Yogurt sauce (Will post recipe soon)

Sun - Veggie & Beef Stir Fry (Will post recipe soon)

If you would like to join everyone else who is joining in on Meal Plan Monday, be sure to check out Organizing Junkie. You are sure to find some recipes your family would love.

Wool Bag Makeover & Dried Fruit

I am posting this early today since my second semester of school starts today.

I am going to be having very packed days. I have my writing class 8am-10am, Math from noon-3pm and sociology 4-6 on Mon & Wed and a evening 4hour class on Thursday nights for wedding floral design. (I needed a easy fun class).

I figured I will be planning on jamming all my homework and projects into Mon - Thur. Which will leave me Friday and the whole weekend to craft. We will see how long that plan lasts though.

My cold has moved from my chest to my head now. So I will be carrying a box of kleenex around this week with me, oh what a job.

I was hoping to start/finish several projects this past week. Although with my cold it really put a halt to all my energy.

I did manage to work on a small trash to treasure project.

I found this burlap bag at a thrift store in a 90% off Christmas bin. It was stuffed with cotton batting, had broken candy canes, a small dirty stuffed toy and ugly little presents all sticking out of it. But for only 10cents I could see past all that.

I was so excited to rip it all apart I forgot a before picture. lol But trust me it looked awful.

I free hand stitched the word wool, stained and baked it in the oven. Which was my first ever attempt at baking fabric in the oven. I love how it turned out though. No more air drying for me. lol

Here it is. I still need to find some real sheeps wool to stick in there.

I had mentioned in a previous post about trying to dry fruit. Well I need some help from the pros out there. I don't know what went wrong with my fruit. But it all looks burnt! Some looks dark brown and burnt while others are half burnt and half not dried. Urgh!

I did put them in lemon juice before drying them. Any pointers and tips would be appreciated.

I should say that I did not dry these in the oven. I just put them on the cookie sheet below for the picture.