Surviving At Home

It’s not very often that I am organized. You don’t want to see my kitchen junk drawer, I usually send out birthday cards the day before the birthday, and I have a small counter right by my phone that gets all the miscellaneous paper thrown onto it. I’d like to say I know exactly where everything is but I’d be lying.

So it’s really amazing that I’m even thinking about the holidays today, in mid-August. I can thank my mother for that, the Queen of Organization and Planning. She got me thinking about Christmas and gift giving already and I started to panic thinking of all the gifts I will need and the amount of money we usually end up spending (it was enough to make my palms sweaty).

You can imagine how thrilled I was to find this new website, CouponChief.com, where you can find online coupons to your favorite stores and start your holiday shopping today! There are bunches of stores, some of which are in my mall, but there are lots that I’ve never heard of. We have a new little niece in our family so I’m excited to check out the BabyCenter deals and I can’t wait to see the Amazon coupons because I always rely on them for the kids’ toys or when I’m stuck for ideas.

I’ve fallen in love with online shopping, especially if I’ve procrastinated and the cold weather has arrived before my first trip to the mall. Heck, if I can avoid the mall parking lot altogether I’m a happy mamma!

Much to my own dismay, we received the first Halloween costume catalog on Saturday. I understand that the company only has seasonal sales and it’s trying to make money but in the name of everything that’s sacred, can we not get through summer without being bombarded with winter clothes at the malls and Halloween costume catalogs in the mail!?

I was even more confused as to why my husband gave it to our daughters to digest (I need to get faster with the throwing-away-the-seasonal-catalog-thing). As you can probably guess, all of these Halloween costumes are quite expensive, both girls have circled a dozen costumes that they would like to have, and I’m not likely to spend upwards of $100 for dress up clothes!

My youngest daughter actually loves to dress up in costumes almost daily. Every year we save the Halloween costumes, some of which are beautiful because they were made with love by my mother, and inevitably they get worn for weeks after the Halloween trick-or-treating event but eventually they get retired to the ol’ “dress up box”.

This poor dress up box has been through the ringer! It’s just one of those cardboard storage boxes from an office store but after being stuffed to overflowing with these Halloween and dance costumes, it’s in shambles. But it’s a good standby when my girls have friends over and they complain about being bored. My favorite response is, “Go check out the dress up box!”

Now, if only I could figure out a way to prevent the kids from growing so we can recycle these Halloween costumes yet again…

Only 25 days until preschool ends and only 32 days until my 4th-grader becomes a 5th grader. Is it any wonder why I’m quaking in my boots?

While the children always look forward to their 11-week summer vacation, many parents (including myself!) dread the thought, wondering how to keep their children occupied and happy without hearing the dreaded, “I’m bored!” or “There’s nothing to do!”

For parents to keep their sanity, it’s very important to have a plan in mind and to really study your kids to know what activities will help them stay happy.

This summer I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on camps, so at the moment, our calendar is pretty empty. We attempted this a couple of years ago and I wasn’t well-prepared so we didn’t last a week before the moaning started. Then we found out just how busy all of her friends were with camps and activities, so we were hardpressed to find friends with spare time for playdates. So step #1 for us is to schedule visits/playdates with family and friends.

I discovered during the school year that my 4th grader is a visual person and likes having a printed schedule to follow. She’s a bit fanatical about adhering strictly to the times but at least all the homework and music practice was getting accomplished. So step #2 is make up a summer schedule for her to follow. I love the Google calendar function and maybe this can be a project for her to complete since she loves the computer. And this way she can make her own decisions about when certain things will get done rather than have me decide her every waking move.

Step #3 is print out our tv and computer tickets so we can start using them soon. I make them kind of fancy on the computer and each child gets 4, 2 for 30 minutes of tv and 2 for 30 minutes on the computer. It’s their decision if they use the tickets together for 1 hr of viewing or break it into 2 separate times. A friend of mine tried this idea and she added the caveat that her kids could earn an extra 30 minutes of tv or computer time during the day if they did 30 minutes of reading or workbooks or something else educational. I think I’ll try that tactic this year.

So this is the start of my pre-summer planning. I guess I’m also a visual person like my daughter because I feel better seeing the calendar fill up and my panic about summer lessens. I’d love to hear some other coping strategies!

Greetings to all of you visiting me for the first time! I look forward to getting to know you.

Let me preface my plan by saying…I am not a cook. In fact, I couldn’t be more opposite of the definition of cook. I need a recipe for nearly everything (except boiling water); I skip any recipe that has unpronouncable ingredients; I either over season or under season our meals (there’s no in between for me); I love caterers; AND I have an incredibly picky family. So needless to say, cooking is definitely NOT a favorite thing to do and our meal plans are incredibly boring! I look forward to seeing some of your plans and being inspired.

Monday: spaghetti & meatballs
Tuesday: Honey-Pecan Crusted Chicken& rice *see below for recipe*
Wednesday: turkey club sandwiches & salad
Thursday: turkey burgers (shhh…don’t tell my hubby!) & roasted potatoes
Friday: BBQ chicken & cornbread

I know, I know…we need veggies added to this plan. Our usual is putting the baby carrots on the table and letting the girls help themselves. My youngest likes her version of salad (everything but the lettuce) but my oldest thinks we’re poisoning her by even offering such a thing.

Here is the recipe for the Honey-Pecan Crusted Chicken. It’s from Cooking Light but I think you need to be a member to see the online recipes, so I’m not sure if my link will work. Just in case, here it is (and it’s delicious!!):

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 (6-oz) skinned chicken breast halves
8 (4-oz) chicken drumsticks, skinned
1/4 c honey
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1-1/4 c finely crushed cornflakes (about 4 c uncrushed cereal)
1/2 c finely chopped pecans
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken; set aside. Combine honey, mustard, paprika, and garlic powder in a small bowl. Stir well. Combine cornflakes and pecans in a shallow dish; stir well. Brush both sides of chicken with honey mixture; dredge in cornflake mixture.

Place chicken pieces on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat chicken with cooking spray, and bake at 400 for 40 minutes or until done.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week, and come back to visit soon!!