Playing Catch-Up

I have some hobbies that I don't always make time for (cake decorating & scrapbooking are the 1st two that come to mind). As I'm finishing up Allie's 1st year calendar, I realized I'm really really behind on her 1st year scrapbook! I decided this week was going to be the week I got caught up! We have a yard sale planned at my house on the 9/10th of September and I know Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here as soon as I blink, so it's time to get this project checked off my to-do list!

Another reason for me wanting to get it done, it consumes my entire dining room table. Now if you just read last night's post, you know I like to clean the whole house up before I go to bed. I'm becoming anal about it. And I really won't want to look at this mess day after day so my motivation to get this book done is off the charts!

I'll post some pics of my favorite pages in the next day or 2 when I get it done. I'm using every spare, kid free second to work on it.

Bye Bye Cable

A few months ago I was telling Kevin how I was tired of getting nothing done in the evenings after I put the kids to bed. The problem was, I was watching way too much tv! I kept telling myself it was "me" time and then I'd sit and watch 3 hours worth of shows I'd DVR. Then I'd wake up the next morning and have a sink full of dishes, the house wouldn't have gotten picked up and I was trying to do all those things while getting breakfast ready for the kids and myself. It just got to be too much. Enough was enough. I told Kevin I wanted to cancel our cable. He was all for the idea. We were just starting to get back in to our Dave Ramsey ways and we thought saving $40 a month on cable was a great idea!

We cancelled with the mind set of 'if we don't like this change, we can always get it back'. It's been about 3-4 months since we've canceled and if someone offered to pay for my cable I would tell them no! I don't want it! I'm SO much more productive at night. I get menus made, dishes done, the house cleaned, lists made, and I usually do some exercising. I feel so much better when I wake up every morning with a fresh new day ahead of me (and most nights before I go to bed I get breakfast prepped and as ready as possible).

We did buy an antenna. We get about 15 local channels. The big thing was getting PBS so Hayden could still watch some cartoons in the mornings. I'm not against tv or cable, I was just letting it control too much of my time. I do think the PBS shows are educational and I don't mind Hayden spending an hour or so watching tv.

There is 1 show I do miss. 19 Kids & Counting. Hayden and I would watch it together and I learned so much from the Duggars! (I always left them on the DVR for Kevin to watch on his nights off). There is another show, Secret Life of the American Teenager, that I am addicted to and can still watch online. Maybe one day I'll be able to catch up on the Duggar's life but for now I'm enjoying focusing on our life and making better choices for me and my family :) Maybe you should re-evaluate how you spend your time and see what you can cut out too?

1st Family Boating Adventure

Kevin borrowed his parents boat for the day. It was Allie's 1st time out on the water and my 1st time on the Ohio. She was a little scared at first (by the noise) but quickly became use to it. She ended up falling asleep before we got back to the boat ramp :)

Hayden got to drive the boat!

Sweet sleepy girl :)

Going under the twin bridges was one of my favorite parts!

Funny pics

Some cute/funny pics from the last couple days.

It looks like my arms are coming out of my neck and Allie's face cracks me up!


Allie likes pulling hair - and she thinks it's funny!


Okay so this isn't my greatest picture, BUT I think Allie looks like me in it, so I had to post it!


I've been trying out some new hair dos on Allie :)


I washed our sheets a few days ago and Hayden had fun playing!

Celebrating Tyler's 25th

This evening my parents hosted a dinner for my brother's 25th birthday. He asked mom to make fried chicken, twice baked potatoes, & broccoli casserole. I added homemade bread to the menu and was supposed to make a pumpkin cake. My cake baked funny. It had a weird line of pumpkin that didn't seem to get mixed in with the rest of the batter, so after it baked, that line of pumpkin turned to goo. Gooey pumpkin cake = nasty, so I let the trash have that one. I did, however, make the cream cheese icing. I iced mom's pumpkin cake that she whipped up once I arrived for dinner :)
The food was wonderful and we had a good time celebrating with friends and family! I feel totally spoiled and privileged that I have a mom that can out cook just about anyone! Here are some pics from the feast party.

Canton Inn

When Kevin and I lived on Keck Ave, we'd make a weekly trip to Canton Inn. Its our favorite Chinese buffet! (We actually had our rehearsal dinner there and Kevin almost choked to death there - lots of exciting events!) Last night, after church, and after talking about it for a month, we ended up eating a late dinner there. The buffet closed at 8:30 and we got there at 7:50 starving and ready to eat! We haven't been in close to a year, but we recognized all the workers faces but one, and when we walked in all the workers gathered around us wanting an update on our lives. The owner, his daughter, and a waitress all remembered us by name. It feels good going to a place like that! To top it off, the food was A-MAZ-ING last night! You know with buffets all the dishes aren't consistently the best, but last night was an exception. It was Allie's 1st trip there and she ate her weight in food. Kevin says we aren't waiting so long for our next trip back and I agree. I'm ready to eat there again :)

Golden Eye

I was trying to come up with some gift ideas for Christmas. This yellow beauty really wants to be mine, I just know it :)

The Golden Eye Diamond is a flawless 43.5-carat Canary Yellow diamond, claimed to be the world’s largest of its cut and color. The gem is about an inch long, almost ¾-inch wide and nearly ½-inch deep. It is listed at number four of the top ten notable diamonds. It came from the Kimberley area of South Africa. It will be sold via online auction in September 2011, with a minimum bid of $900,000.

Hmmm who wants to buy it for me???

Buying Used Clothes

I figured I needed to put my money where my mouth is! I keep talking about saving money, but I really don't save much when it comes to buying my kids clothes. Yes I shop sales and use coupons, and I even raid clearance sections, but I have known for months I could get a much better deal on clothes if I started garage sale shopping. This past week I made a list of the things the kids still needed for this fall/winter. And today was the day that may have started something in me! I really actually enjoyed garage sale shopping!

I have a friend that lives in Evansville and has 2 super cute little girls. They are always well dressed. She was having a sale today so I figured I'd start at her house! I got an entire bag full of clothes for Allie for $15. Then I made some other stops. I got Hayden a few shirts and Allie a couple more shirts. I really wanted to go back into Evansville and find more sales to go to, but the kids were getting tired, so I came back home. I spent $20.60 for all the clothes in the pictures below. What a deal!!! Oh, and they are all name brand! (Children's Place, OshKosh, Cater, etc.) I'm ready for some more sales next weekend!

As you can see, I snagged lots of cute summer clothes for Allie next year!

I decided if I yard sale a couple times a month, and make a list of what I need, I can be more picky about what I'm buying. And I'm not going to feel bad about being picky. If i get 1-2 things in excellent condition from each sale, no one will ever know my babies are wearing used clothes :) I'm really looking forward to this!

4 years ago...

At @ 7am, 4 years ago, I woke up from a crazy dream. I had a dream that I was pregnant! I knew I wasn't, but I thought I'd take an early pregnancy test just to make sure. As soon as I peed on that thing it popped up "pregnant". Kevin was working day shift and had left at 5:30 that morning. I was just dumbfounded. I kept staring at myself and my stomach and thinking really?? There's a baby in there? My co workers had talked about trying to have babies for a year before getting pregnant. Then I thought the test may be wrong, but I googled the chances of that and realized getting a false positive is rare. So, I was a mess all day at work (I was a teller at Bank of Evansville) and that day my drawer didn't balance. I didn't want to tell my boss before I told my husband, so I just made up some excuse about being really distracted. I remember I was off by -$1000. (I ended up finding my error.)

During the morning, Kevin texted me and said one of his friends and their girlfriend had their baby girl. Odd timing. Then the same day, my mom texted me to tell me my cousin had a miscarriage. Even weirder timing. Now, can you see why I was a little distracted from counting money?

I left work about 15 mins early and ran to Babies R Us. I picked up a green bib that said "sweet pea" on it. I thought I would somehow use that when I told Kevin I was pregnant. As soon as I got home, we rushed to the hospital to see our friends new baby girl. I was SO scared! I was thinking Kevin may freak out after seeing her, say he's really not ready for kids, maybe we shouldn't have any for awhile - and then what would I do! But he didn't. As soon as we were leaving the hospital, he kept saying he couldn't wait to have kids. He "wanted one right now". I just smiled and said, "Maybe one day."

We picked up Subway for dinner. As he was eating his foot long, I quickly ate my 6 inch sub then went in the bathroom and grabbed the test I had hidden that morning. I also got the green bib out of my Babies R Us bag. Kevin was still eating when I set down next to him the bib and pregnancy test. He glanced at it, looked at me (I was crying), looked back down at the test, and said "REALLY?!?!" I managed a "yes" and he literally started bouncing off the walls. He hopped and ran from room to room, he couldn't stop smiling, he wanted to call everyone right then and tell them.... but we waited till the next day, the 28th (my brother's 21st birthday).

Cleaner Cookie Sheets

This post is directed towards no one in particular *cough* my mom and sis *cough*.

Have any of you ever used parchment paper? You MUST try it! I had a recipe last year that called for it and ever since then, it's all I use to bake my cookies on. Here are some reasons why I love it:

1. Cleanup is a breeze! You just wad up the paper and toss it!
   
2. If you have a big batch of cookies, you can use the same piece of parchment paper over and over and over!
3. You don't use ANY cooking spray - and that stuff is a pain to scrub off your cookie sheets!
   
4. You don't get a greasy edge on your cookie from the cooking spray.
   
5. The cookies lift right off the parchment paper with zero problems.
6. If you're baking only one sheet of cookies, you can slide the parchment paper right off and let the cookies cool.
   

Have I convinced you to try it yet? I tell you what, if you buy it, and don't like it (which I just can't imagine), give me your extra b/c I will use it :)

Cash Organization

Generally, I don't splurge on myself forget that I just bought a big new expensive camera. This month especially, I'm very efficient when I go into a store. I get what I'm going for and walk right back out - no browsing! After figuring this weeks budget, we had a little bit of wiggle room. I had been eying this to keep my money organized. I showed it to Kevin thinking he would agree it was a wonderful idea - but he didn't. He said it was crazy to pay $30+ to keep my cash organized. I kinda agreed, but I really liked it (and still do) and don't like telling myself no. Boo. So, I told him I'd be practical. Walmart has plastic accordion organizers for $3.88. So, today I bought myself my first cash organizer! It came with pre-printed tabs I was able to turn over and personalize - the pretty cloth one doesn't have this option. Okay, that still doesn't make me like the plastic one better, but I'm working with what I have! :) I did a little color coding on the tabs to liven things up a bit. All my envelopes fit very nicely in it. It was a good buy for the money!

Here's how my tabs are organized:
Church
Food
Bills (separate envelope for each bill I pay with cash)
Clothes (separate envelopes for Hayden, Allie, Me, & Kev)
Diapers
Cat Food & litter
Hair care
Toiletries
Makeup
Doctor visits
Gifts (separate envelopes for Holidays and Birthdays)
Extra

Time Saving Tip...

I made my big weekly store trip today. The kids are getting much better about behaving in public! I figured out if I leave Allie in her car seat so she can't pull Hayden's hair and Hayden sits in the cart with her, but not next to her, we usually have a successful, drama free trip! One thing I've started doing lately is buying bigger portions of ground beef (or turkey) than I need. This week I needed 1lb of beef, but I bought a 2 1/2lb package. When I got home I browned all the beef and divided it into baggies. Each bag is labeled with the date it will be used (all will be used by next week), the recipe it's being used in, and approx how much beef is in the baggie. It makes things easier if I get behind one day and I'm rushing to get dinner ready. You should give it a try too!

My Queso Sauce

When the burritos were cooking away in the crockpot, I was looking at them thinking they would be good with a queso sauce. I had a Hacienda version of queso in my mind, so I started googling some recipes. I didn't have anything to make any of the recipes I found online. So, I experimented. I took my traditional cheese sauce recipe and kicked it up a notch. I loved how this turned out! It was the perfect consistency. I wanted it somewhat runny but cheesy with a little spice to it. Here's the recipe...

My Queso Sauce

2T butter
2T flour
1C milk
8oz cheese (I used velveeta)
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C salsa
dash of hot sauce

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add the flour and stir well. Add milk and stir well. Let mixture sit until thickened. Once it's the consistency you like, add the cheese and reduce heat to low. Stir occassionally until cheese is melted. Add sour cream, salsa, and hot sauce. Stir well.

This is great for topping off burritos. It would also be good to dip tortilla chips into!
Enjoy!

Crock Pot Burritos

Tonight Kevin and I had one of our bi-monthly dinner dates. This is something we started doing a couple months ago and we're really glad we're taking some time for ourselves. I had thought Kevin and I would just run into a fast food place and have dinner together. My parents came over to watch the kiddos and I had prepared a dinner in the crock pot. After smelling this new recipe cook all day, I was really wanting to try it too! So we opted for a better plan. We packed up some of what I made, took it to the river, and had a nice quiet dinner watching the barges go by :) Definitely going to do this kinda date more often! And the double bonus - it didn't cost any money! Here's the recipe:

Hearty Burritos

1 lb ground beef (or turkey), browned
2 cups refried beans
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 burrito size flour tortillas
1. In a large bowl, mix beef, beans rice and spices.
2. Place a rounded half cup of the beef mixture and ¼ cup cheese on
each tortilla.
3. Fold up burrito style
4. Place in a greased slow cooker.
5. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

Make sure you buy burrito sized tortillas. I didn't and should have. Or if you're feeling really spunky, make your own! Here's a recipe. I'd like to try to make my own next time!
I actually turned my crockpot to the warm setting about 4 hours into it b/c my tortilla shells were looking a little crispy. Maybe it was because I didn't use big enough tortilla shells?
We topped ours with a homemade queso sauce (which was awesome), mild ortega, and Kevin added sour cream to his. You can buy already made queso sauce to save time. It would also have been good with lettuce (and probably tomatoes if you like them). I'll definitely be making these again!

*This recipe was adapted from Slow & Savory Suppers E-book by Angela Coffman*

Inconvenience

There is not much about my life that I would change. However, I'm very irritated today - with Kevin's schedule. I really appreciate how hard he works for our family. He is a great husband and wonderful father. He has a great job that allows me to stay at home and raise our kids. But since I'm being Debbie Downer, here's a list of hardships his 3rd shift schedule brings upon our family:

1. Kevin's sleep. The only way Kevin actually sleeps is if he takes a sleeping pill. Neither he nor I like him doing that. I just don't think they are good for someone to take for long periods of time.
   
2. 95% of the time I'm frustrated with the kids, it's because I think they are being too loud and will wake Kevin up. They would think I was the coolest mom around if I wasn't always getting on to them. Is it pathetic that Allie now holds her finger to her mouth and goes "Shhhh"? I think so.
3. Some days the kids and I try to get out of the house to let Kevin sleep. This hasn't happened too much lately because it usually results in me spending money, which we're trying to do less of these days.
   
4. We eat dinner at 4;30 along with all the other 80+ year olds out there. I don't mind eating early, but the kids do. I usually have to feed them again @ 7. Hayden usually doesn't finish his dinner the first time around so he just gets his plate reheated. I guess it's not that bad, but I'm trying to paint a sob story here.
5. I can't enjoy my cats. Holeshot sleeps with Kevin and is getting huge from lack of exercise. He needs to go on Extreme Weight Loss Cat Edition. Harry is the best cat in the world and there are days I want to beat him for doing things that will wake Kevin up. He is notorious for going to the bathroom door and beating it with his paws or scratching at that door to get in. We have to keep the door closed b/c little Allie likes to splash around in the potty that doesn't always get flushed by her older brother.... not that it's happened before or anything.
6. Once I get out of the bedroom in the morning, I don't go back in until it's time to wake Kevin up. Little things like putting on make up and doing my hair become more of an inconvenience than they should be. Normally, I blow dry and straighten my hair in the kitchen using the reflection from the microwave as my mirror. I really wonder what my neighbors are thinking when they are driving by.
   
7. The days Kevin gets up early (usually just Thursdays to mow) are never good days. He always ends up with a terrible headache from lack of sleep, or lack of sleeping pill maybe. Even if he is off that evening, he's usually in bed trying to get his headache to go away.
8. The nights Kevin doesn't go into work, he is sitting at home all by his lonesome self. He has started finding projects to do in his "man cave" but he doesn't get the family time he wants and needs.
9. Our laundry is a pain in the butt to do. Once things are washed and dried they have to sit on our dining room table (out of Allie's reach) until the evening when I can go back in my room and put things away.
10. My bed rarely gets made. One of us is always in it so what's the point of making it for a couple hours.

Ahhh I feel lightner now having gotten all that off my chest. Bottom line, 3rd shift isn't easy for any of us. It's for sure the hardest on Kevin. Give him some encouragement next time you see him. I just need a chill pill :)

A Sweet Day

When I got in the kitchen this morning, I noticed one of my favorite little bags sitting on the counter. Kevin surprised us with Donut Bank. We'd never given Allie a donut, but he got her one this morning (and a long john for Hayden & me). Having your 1st Donut Bank donut is a big deal in the Devine house :)

She loved it!

After breakfast, we made a trip to the west-side to visit Kevin's mom. Hayden asked for a banana popsicle as soon as we walked in the door. They are packaged in pairs and Margaret asked if Allie would want to try one. She was all sugared up from breakfast so I thought what the heck, right? Turns out, Allie really likes sweet things... and I'm so surprised by this b/c I ate NO sugar when I was pregnant with her (I'm totally lying, that's practically all I ate!)

Apparently she wasn't done when I took it away...

My Uncle Ray came in town tonight and I wanted to make some cookies for our dinner get-together. I planned on making sugar cookies, but I ran out of time. I whipped up some snickerdoodles. I've never made them before, but I was armed with my mom's recipe, so I knew they'd be good. And they were. I tried 4 just to make sure.

We also discovered a hidden talent of Allies. She is quiet the musician! So glad this toy is at Mamaw's house and not mine!