Friday Favorite on Organizing

Friday Favorite on Organizing

One of the things I struggle with in terms of staying organized is remembering where I put that great 40% off coupon.  Or finding the receipt I need to return something that didn't fit.

Here is my solution. This bag hangs in our mud room by the back door. So, when I am heading out to run my errands, trying to balance Camden's sippy cup, diaper bag, purse, coffee (a neccesity), I don't have to coral all the things I need to check off my items on my to do list because they are right there in my bag.

In the front pocket, I stash coupons...

and receipts.

The body of the bag is reserved for items I need to return.  Like this lid for a container I bought that I didn't realize had a big crack in it until I got home.

And the bathing suit I bought for Jonah that swallowed him whole.  (Gotta get some meat on that boy.)

So, as I'm running out of the house, arms loaded, paperless list at the ready, I don't even have to think about rounding up returns or searching through stacks for a coupon.  I have my bag all packed and ready to go.

I LOVE time savers.  Do you?

I also love when I finally follow through with a promise I made to myself!  Three momsanity workouts DONE this week.  Thank you Debbie, Kate, and Emily, for being so encouraging in your workout videos.  I feel more muscular and confident already!  Here's what I did this week...

Saturday--June 20 minute full body workout--gotta love the wall sits at the end :-(

Wednesday--June 10 minute heavy lower body workout and hill sprints

Thursday-- 1 hour walk and June 10 minute heavy arms 

I noticed that with just the one to two workouts I was getting in per week I was building muscles I have never had before in my arms and abs, so if I can hit my goal of three workouts, I should really see some results!  Excited!!!

Why Wouldn't You...

do something you're not think you're not good at?

A couple summers ago, I painted my downstairs powder room.

It took me two months.

In my defense, it was the first room I have ever painted by myself.  Ever.

And it was in the heat of the summer.

And I painted stripes.

And I was two months pregnant.

Climbing on a ladder.  Crouching down to tape the lines with frog tape so I could paint in two subtle-ly different finishes of paint to achieve the wallpaper look I was going for.  Seriously?  I'm not sure why it was so important to me.

BUT.

When I was done, I was PROUD.  Even though I was teased endlessly by my husband and friends that the smallest room in our house took me two whole months to paint, I am very happy with the outcome. Because it was all me.

So.  I have had the paint to paint these stools for about a year now.

And I just couldn't seem to get around to painting them.  Maybe it was the hard time I was given (all in fun) by my buddies when it took me forever to finish my last painting project?  Maybe it was the fact that the last furniture painting project I took on ended up chipping and not looking the way I wanted?  

One weekend spent with a great friend, and one comment by that friend, and I threw off any concerns I had and tackled the project.

"You can't mess up when you're painting.  All you have to do is paint over it." 

And that was all I needed.  Permission to mess up.

And they're done.  And I LOVE them!!!

So, go on.  Tackle that project.  What do you have to lose???

Mayhem

It was a nail biter.

Jonah's team, Mara Mayhem, could endure just one more loss.  Then they would be out of the state tournament they had worked so hard to qualify for.

The coaches looked on worriedly, as they saw their team begin to fade under the pressure.  They had played a game Friday night, two Saturday, and were playing this game on the heels of a victory in their first battle of Sunday's games.  

(This guy wasn't phased.)

But the Mara Mayhem, as fiercely as they fought, could not pull out another win.

It was a sad day.  Until...

This happened.  Justin and I spent much of Saturday night filling water balloons.  The plan was to use them as a "coach's challenge" to entice the kids to play their little hearts out.  And if they won, they would get to take batting practice, with balloons instead of baseballs.  Well, they came up short in their baseball game, but there was no shortage of fun on the sidelines after the game.

These boys came off the field happy to have gotten a chance to play in the state tourney, but pretty bummed they would not be playing more baseball.  The best thing that could happen to them was to be told, "Grab your bats, boys.  We have more playing to do."  One of the dads agreed to pitch, the coaches were catchers, and the game was on.  These boys cheered each other on as they smacked the water balloons, spraying themselves and their coaches with water.  There were even a few "whiffs" and coaches ended up taking water balloons to the face.   When each boy had had their turn to hit ten balloons, we turned the rest over to the siblings, who had given up part of their summer to support their brothers' summer baseball team.

The siblings battled it out, and then it was time to head home.  As the boys were packing up, there was talk of playing at the pool, having friends over, and heading to the beach.  

But there was no talk of losing or going home early.  

The water balloon fun washed away any concern over winning and losing. 

It was a good day at the ball park.

Meal Planning Monday

You know what's one of the most annoying questions of all time?

What's for dinner.

If you're like me, some weeks you've planned so well you end up with more leftovers than you know what to do with.  And some weeks you find yourself at the grocery store every day, just flying by the seat of your pants, lucky to get something edible on the table.

I was at Target the other day wondering just what to have for dinner when I remembered a meal my whole family had enjoyed (hard to come by, right?).  So I purchased the ingredients for yummy Enchiladas.

I can't promise this is the healthiest dinner you can throw together, but I can guarantee it is better for your family than going out to eat, or swinging through the drive through.

And, on a whim, I decided to figure out just how much each serving cost.

Roughly $3.00.

AND, I had black beans and rice left over.  Leftover rice means stuffed peppers!!!

So, BOOM!, with just the purchase of a few peppers, an onion, a can of stewed tomatoes, frozen corn, and spices I had on hand, I had two meals for the week.

For the Enchiladas...

Ingredients: 1 lb. of chicken (cooked--I salted and peppered mine, drizzled olive oil on it, and baked it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes), black beans, Frontera Enchilada sauce, Archer Farms cilantro lime rice, whole wheat tortillas, corn tortillas (not pictured), and cheddar cheese (not pictured).

 After I baked the chicken I used my pampered chef chopper to chop it into bite sized pieces.  Then I mixed the chicken with the cheese and rolled some into the wheat tortillas and some into the corn tortillas.

After I arranged the corn and wheat tortillas in my baking dish, I poured the Enchilada sauce over the tortillas and finished it off with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.  Then I popped them in the oven (check the back of the sauce for cooking temp and time).

I served the Enchiladas with black beans and rice.  Camden dug in (he usually does), and Carson and Jonah ate their Enchiladas well too.  Justin admitted he liked the corn ones more than the whole wheat ones, so next time I will make more of them.

The next night, we used the leftover rice to make Confetti Stuffed Peppers, another fav in our house.  It is from the Desperation Dinners cookbook.

Yum!