Menu Planning Monday

In an attempt to effortlessly feed my family good meals on a regular basis I have decided to link up with I’m an Organizing Junkie on Mondays for Menu Planning Monday. I will tell you what our family is eating for the next week and maybe you can get an idea or two.

I am a cookbook collector and, not only do I love to just look through them, but I also love to try new recipes. Typically when I am creating a menu I will pull one out and flip through. I try to add at least one new recipe to my menu a week. Then fill the rest of the week up with foods my family requests and is familiar with. Here is my first installment, of hopefully many, that I will link to Menu Planning Monday.

Please note, not all of these meals are totally healthy, but in my book if it isn’t Mickey D’s we are doing pretty well. Friday’s recipe came from Betty Crocker’s Healthy New Choices cookbook.

Monday – Roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, steamed veggies

Tuesday – Shrimp burritos with pinto beans

Wednesday – Macaroni & cheese with hotdogs and garden salad

Thursday – Grilled chicken breast and steamed broccoli with cheese sauce

Friday – Portabella Stroganoff

Saturday – Grilled Pizza

Sunday – Chicken Pot Pies

Baby Shower #1

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I will be putting on 3 baby showers before Thanksgiving for three wonderful mommies. I love giving and having parties so this is like planning heaven for me!

I had the first shower yesterday for my cousin. The theme was butterflies and flowers and the colors were pink and brown. I started with the Butterfly Baby Shower Invitations. Then I added the Decorative Candy Container and the Pinwheels and Fabric Flowers here and there and ended up with a super cute baby shower. I also gave the Tile White Boards as game prizes. Check it out!

Sweets!

Pinwheel decorations with game prize bags.

Candy Bar game. Here are the instructions.

Diaper Wreath (tutorial to come)

Yummy spread with flowers decorating tablecloth.

Cute water bottle labels!

All in all lots of goodies for mommy and baby and smiles all around. Now to plan shower #2!

Well it was a "Great Deal Alert!!"

Sorry for those of you who tried this. I think they got wise to the awesome deal and discontinuted it. Although Plum District is still a pretty sweet site for some good deals if you keep an eye on it.

You can get a $30 gift card for FREE to Kitsel.com. I just tried it and got this for my son.

Ok, hurry and do this because I think it expires soon - I found it on one of my mom message boards and thought I'd pass it along.

1. Sign up for Plum District.
2. Add the deal for Kitsel to your cart (right hand side).
3. In the promotional code area on the checkout page, type in the code WELCOME for $5 off.
4. Once you see the $5 credit, again in the same promotional box, type in KITSEL for another $10 off. This will take $10 off your total, which will bring your checkout total to $0!
5. It will automatically put the coupon for Kitsel in your account & you can start shopping right away. You get a FREE $30 gift card.

The gift card doesn’t cover shipping and if you don’t use the whole certificate you can’t use the balance later.

The site is a bit expensive, but for a free $30 gift card beggars can’t be choosers. :)

Oh and if you sign up and get the gift card, I get $10 for the Plum District website. You can refer friends and do the same!!!

Super Cute Fabric Flowers

I have been spotting these flowers all over the place. I never really thought I would want to do them because they looked like they were too difficult to make. I was looking for a few more doodads to add to the shower decorations and decided to check out the tutorial from Pony Tails and Fish Scales.

Well, Ms. Tere proved me wrong! Indeed! These are so easy I just rocked out 10 of them just for the baby shower. I can’t wait to make more for gifts too!

Here’s my version.

Tile White Board

Here’s what I made today. It is super easy and great to make for easy little gifts for any occasion. I made a few to stash in my gifty box.

Here’s what I used:

2 small square tiles

Ribbon

Gorilla Glue

White Board Pen

Vinyl

Line up your tiles the way you want them to hang on the ribbon.

Put a thin stream of Gorilla Glue along the edges of the back side of the tiles. Don’t get it too close to the edge or it will drip over the side.

Place your ribbon along the glue line with a loop at the top.

For the pen holder, wrap the ribbon around the pen and give yourself an additional inch to attach the ribbon to the tile.

Glue the ribbon to the bottom of the tiles loop side down.

Let your ribbon dry.

Flip it over and decorate with the vinyl or other goodies. Pop the pen in and tada!

Rocking these parties

Seven Thirty Three Sugar and Spice

Black Kats Designs

Shabby Chic Cottage

Pony Tails and Fish Scales

Somewhat Simple

Make and Takes

So, I was looking for a tutorial on how to make Scrabble tile necklaces and I came across this awesome blog!

I was particularly drawn in by the kid's crafts and recycling crafts. The more I look the more I can't pull myself away. I want to get the kiddo to be A.S.A.P. so I can start trying out some of her awesome ideas.

More Baby Shower projects to come soon!

Words of Wisdom #6

I am feeling a little froggy today so how about some rib ticklers.

If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

Pinwheel, Spinning Around…

One of the decorations I am making for the upcoming baby shower are pinwheels. I don’t know where I got the idea, but they are so cute. I am not sure where I am going to use them either but again, they are too cute to pass up. There is more than one way to do this and if you want them to turn, don’t follow my instructions. Mine are just for pretty.

I used:

Scrapbook paper, (two sided works best)

Brads

Tiny hole punch

Craft razor

Scissors

Paper Cutter

Here’s what I did:

Cut a square out of scrapbook paper.

Fold paper in half diagonally.

Unfold and fold it in half diagonally the other way.

Cut your folds from the corners to about 3/4 of the way to the center. Now you will have what looks like 4 triangles connected in the middle by their points.

Make a punch in every other point.

Using your razor, cut a small x in the middle of your paper.

Pull on of the hole punched points toward the center and put the brad through it. Continue with all 4 punched points.

Then stick the brad through the small x in your paper and fold out the prongs.

Tada! Cutie patootie pinwheels.

I am thinking I can poke the brads into the eraser of a pencil and stick them in one of those tiny little terra cotta pots as decorations. I will let you know what I figure out. I welcome any ideas you might have.

Sweetheart's Home

Hello,
I have to explain my recent absence from blogging and crafting. My honey is home. I am a proud Air Force wife to a man who spends a lot of time "on the road". I began blogging when he was on a trip and I had a time on my hands. So, if you see a lull in activity on my blog, it is not because I have dropped off the face of the earth. It is because he is home and I would rather spend my time cuddling than on my computer. :) More to come this week I promise!

Winners!

I am so sorry this didn’t get posted over the weekend. I tried the whole mobile blog post and obviously it didn’t work. I guess I should have given it a trial run beforehand. I got to go on a last minute adventure up to Lake Tahoe with my family this weekend and had a blast.

Anyway…on to the winners. Thanks for everyone who entered. I am having a fantastic time with this whole blog thing and I hope you enjoying my musings.

 

Winner of the Personalized Mini Tote Bag

Conradspot

Winner of the Personalized On-the-Go Coffee Mug

Stephanie from dcmegieawayblog

Winner of the Personalized Sippy Cup

saraban13

Winner of the Key Fob

Christina

 

Let’s have a round of applause for all of our winners! Keep an eye out, I am getting to like this whole giving stuff away. :)

Party Idea

Don’t forget to enter my very first GIVEAWAY!

 

Here’s a good one! The stores sell all sorts of cute gadgets to mark your drink glasses, but who would have thought you could find something in the kids' section to do the same job?

Tub crayons work great to mark glass and acrylic glasses at your party. Guests can put names on their glasses and decorate them too! Just provide a bunch of different colored tub crayons and let your guests have a ball. As a bonus, since tub crayons are soap, it is easy cleanup.

Yummy Mexican Casserole

Prepare this dish and while it is cooking come and enter my very first GIVEAWAY!

I made this casserole tonight from the good ole’ Betty Crocker cookbook but I made it my own. Here’s my version.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

1 red bell pepper

2 tsp cumin

1 c Pace picante

2 garlic cloves

1 can seasoned diced tomatoes (undrained)

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed

2 cups cooked chicken (I used leftovers, Beef would work too)

12 corn tortillas

2+ cups of cheese

Garnish with chopped tomatoes, cilantro, onions, shredded lettuce, sliced olives and sour cream.

What to do:

Cook the first 6 ingredients in a large skillet for about 10 minutes.

Add the beans and chicken to the skillet and warm through.

Place 1/3 of the bean mixture in the bottom of a 3 quart casserole.

Top with 1/2 of the cheese.

Top with 6 of the tortillas.

Add another 1/3 of the bean mixture.

Top with the remaining tortillas.

Finish off with the remaining bean mixture and cheese on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until everything is bubbly.

Garnish and enjoy!

Words of Wisdom #5

Got this one over here at Joy's Hope. No explaination, it says it all.

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have." - unknown

Lisa, Tell Them What They’ve Won!

Wooohooo! I reached 100 followers today. Now it is time to give away some sweet stuff.

Here's how to win:

(Mandatory)Follow me on Google Friend Connect and leave me a message. (If you are currently a follower just message me and let me know)

Like my Facebook page and leave another message.

Follow me on Twitter and leave another message.

Sign up to follow via email and leave..yep you got it...another message.

Give me a shout out on your blog and get 3 entries. Leave me another message. :)

The Giveaway will end at Noon PST on Friday the 13th and I will draw and post winners on Friday evening.

I will put all of your messages in a hat and let my darling kiddo pick out 4 lucky winners.

And now for the prizes, drum roll please! (You may see a theme going on here)

A Personalized On-the-Go Coffee Mug

A Personalized Mini Tote Bag

Your Choice of a Pink or Blue Personalized Sippy Cup

A Cute Mommy Key Fob

All personalized items will be an initial or single name in your choice of colors.

So get out there and do some followin’ and win win win!

So Close!

As I write this post, I am only 10 followers away from 100 and I am so excited! I never knew blogging could be so fun! So, when I reach 100 followers I am going to give away some sweet stuff to my 100 new friends. So, hook up with me and tell a friend. Then check back often for the sweet stuff!

Decorative Candy Container

Check out my first blog GIVEAWAY!

Another episode in the ongoing baby shower saga! I have finally gotten the butterfly baby shower invitations complete and in the mail. Now it is time to decorate! I am pretty sure I saw something like this somewhere, but you know the drill. Can I find it now? Of course not! So if this looks familiar to you and you have something like it, let me know what your version is.

These are as easy as they are cute!

Here’s what you need:

Glass containers/vases

Short glass candlesticks

Gorilla Glue

Rocks, or something heavy

Ruler

Marker

Ribbon or paper to embellish

Turn the container over and put a small mark in the middle of the bottom.

Apply a line of Gorilla Glue around the rim of the candlestick.

Carefully center the container on top of the candlestick. Using a Q-Tip wipe excess glue from the glass.

Fill the container with the rocks or weight. The glue will still be very wet and the pieces will slide easily. I measured around the bottom to make sure I still had it centered after I put the weight in.

Let the glue dry overnight.

Measure around the container where you want your embellishment to go and add about an inch.

Cut a strip of paper or fabric according to your measurement.

Wrap the strip of paper or fabric around the container and stick using a glue gun or double sided tape. Place a cute decoration over the overlap of your strip.

Place them in a group and fill them with candy and you have a sweet decoration that looks like you spent a fortune on it!

I will post pictures of them all set up at the shower at the end of August.

Check out the parties!

Found a New One!

Hey there! I just wanted to let you know that I joined another blog hop in hopes of sharing my craft ADD with the world. :)