Menu Plan Monday

It's that time again. Time to plan my menu! I am super excited this week and you are about to find out why.

Monday - Small group. . .hmmm something easy. How about chili, fritos and cheese! :)

I am going to make Cream Cheese Squares and coffee for my Small Group. Cream cheese really unites people! :)

Tuesday - Sesame Chicken

Wednesday -Chicken and Mushrooms
4 ckn breasts
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
uncooked bacon
pkg. mushrooms

Wrap bacon around chicken (1-2 pieces) and lay on bottom of pan. Slice mushrooms and put them on chicken. Mix cans of soup and spread them on chicken. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve with Rice.

Thursday - Heart Shaped Pancakes with Reese's Peanut Butter Chips. Oh MY!!! If you like Peanut Butter, these will speak to your soul. Serving with bacon and strawberries.


One of my friends has a lake house and has generously allowed us to use it for the whole weekend! Hubs has someone lined up to preach for him. Wow what a weekend! Don't know what the kids are going to be eating. . .mom, don't forget to feed my kids. They are not too picky, but Gretel says that she is allergic to hot dogs and milk. :)

Friday - Steak/Twice Baked Potatoes/Salad and Spanish Flan for dessert

Saturday - Stir Fry-we love to chop vegetables and cook together-one of our newlywed things that we used to do. . .a couple that cooks together stays together. . . :) Just made that one up. Can you tell?

Sunday - lunch out/dinner -probably hot doggin it! Sorry Gretel.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Valentine's Day. If you are looking for some fun Valentine linkage, check out My Sunday's Best-Valentine Edition.

My Sunday Best-Raisin' Kids

Kids. . . wonderful kids. They are such a joy . . .I almost typed job there and that would have been correct as well. When I think of my kids and how amazing they are I also get the mixed up feeling that we are not doing something right. There is still this edge to them that I want trimmed off. I am sure that the good Lord is saying that about me too as I type. With the responsibility of kids, I always have this added weight on me. Yes, it shows around my waistline, but it shows up in my prayer life as well. We are always striving (and will until the day we leave this crazy earth) to be parents that are worthy of the calling.

Here are some links that we as parents are always checking back in with to make sure that we are on course and I found some fun ones this week on my regular blogging rants.

1. How do I teach my kids about money?

2. How do I raise healthy kids both emotionally and spiritually? Great tips here for teenagers!

3. This is a regular newsletter that I get. They offer families a way to discuss films as well as culture with your kids.

4. What is a great book that offers creative disciplining tactics for parents? The fun part is that it is written by Blair off of The Facts of Life. Now she is a cool gal!

5. What is a great way to teach your kids manners?

This is what $28 will buy ya where I live. . .

Yesterday, I had a day off. It was blissful. On Fridays, my routine goes a little something like this. . take Gretel to school, pray with some amazing ladies from my church and then ride the waves of freedom while my Prince Charming teaches Science and Music.

I shopped with my envelope full of $28.00. Yes, we do the envelope system. If you have never been tortured by experienced the Envelope System it helps to control spending in certain categories of your budget.

Anyway, back to the original intent of this post . . to celebrate what $28 got me yesterday. This is a picture of it. The most expensive part of my purchase was indeed the wooden caddy from an antique store in town. The moment I saw it, it opened opportunities I had never experienced before. I saw little candles in each of the compartments with a festive bow at the top. Then my imagination took me to the possibilities of a silverware caddy when my friends are over feasting with us. Where does your decorative mind take you when you look at this?

The clothes I bought at a place kind of like Goodwill. Yes, I shop at Goodwill from time to time. No shame in my game! I am a smart girl with a shopping habit and $28.00 in my envelope so don't mess with me! :) All of $7 I spent there. I bought 1 fancy shirt, a pair of workout pants, a black cardigan, and a little vest thingermajiger.
One of my other, but most intense shopping issues is a fabric fetish. The place that I go to is the most amazing fabric warehouse. Even the little ladies that do not live in my area were commenting yesterday that they have never seen so much fabric before. It is wall to wall with upholstery, sheers, and other sewing paraphernalia. One of the ladies said as she was weeding through the dollar pile, "No reason for anyone to be cold. . . all you need is a needle and some thread." I wholeheartedly agree. No reason for any pillows to not be cute or a window to be bare. :) This pretty much concluded my shopping after I spent a whopping .54 cents on that cute fabric to cover a couple of pillows for my bed.Every town and city has their own charming places to shop. Where are the places that you like to shop and get bargains on? I would love to know. Leave a comment and maybe you and I can go there together some time!

Have an awesome Saturday.

These are a few of my favorite things ...

Do you hear me singing as I type? The hills are alive with the sound of music. . . .

Shopping makes me sing. Online shopping makes me sing louder and "purtier!" That is a word where I am from.

Lately, every time my hubs gets home he is greeted with a box that says Coldwater Creek. They just have these nasty email updates that say, 300 Hottest Deals in Outlet and I just can't resist! The reason I like them so much is because they fit my little odd shaped body. I have big hips but I am short! Their clothes fit right.
Word of caution: You do have to weed thru the little ole' gray hair ladies section first before you can get to the fun stuff.

Speaking of Valentines or Mother's Day I really like Snapfish or Shutterfly for fun gifts. Last year I made My Prince Charming a fun mug for Father's Day. It had this cute pic of some really cute kids collaged all over it.


Back in the day when I sold jewelry from Premier Designs (which was super fun by the way) I did my bulk shopping for give-aways and accessories at Wholesale Accessory Market. It truly is eye candy when the screen pops up. I believe there is a $50 minimum order which should not be too hard if you really search around enough. Do not tell your husbands though or he may ban you from my site.

Also, I have a few of my favorite Valentine sites on My Sunday's Best Post. There are some free Valentine supplies on one of the sites.

Check out all of the other Works for Me Wednesday posts to find out what is putting everyone else on the edge of their seat as far as online shopping goes. Fun times we live in.

Scrapbooking for Dummies

Did I mention my scrapbooking retreat? I probably did not talk too much about it because I was embarrassed. I am just now crawling out of my closet of shame.

You see, I was invited by my one of my roommates from college to attend her semi-annual scrapbook retreat that she helps to host. She asked me back in like September and the retreat was not until January. I thought to myself, what's the big deal? Why would you need to sign up five months early to get a spot for something like that, but she was pretty emphatic that we reserve our spot quickly if we were interested.

A little bit about me. I love to collect paper and stickers. Very seldom do I actually use them. I have "Scrapbooked" a time or two so I thought. Mainly, if you know me, this will not come as a surprise, I like people and I like to talk. That's it, that was my motivation for signing up so quickly. Forty-five women to talk to. Yay!

Well, let me tell you what a big deal this scrapbooking retreat was! I just did not know there were such people out there so interested in their "hobby" to have special cup-holders to hold their drinks in while they cut paper. And much to my dismay and utter shame I wheeled in my American Tourister luggage (shown on the bottom left hand corner of the pic) full of scrapbooking supplies. I was even a little impressed with myself that I even thought to put my "scrapbooking" supplies in such a handy device. Well, if you don't know I will let you in on a secret. They have scrapbooking carrying cases just for your scrap-booking supplies. Many of them go by the code name, Crop in Style.

Alright, now that I have let you in on the secret you can imagine my face when I walked in on about 45 ladies scrapbooking that had walked in earlier with these and these. Yeah, I was one of the last ones to arrive and they had been there all day and I made my GRAND ENTRANCE with my American Tourister Luggage BABY.

Many of them brought their own cut-out machines called Cricuts. Well, where I am from, you hear those at night, not on the table while you are cutting out paper. Girls, it was a real wake-up call to me to be around such classy scrapbookers. I learned a few tricks of the trade like how to make a sticker out of ANYTHING! People kept saying, "Could you pass the Xyron!?" I didn' t even know what language they were speaking. . .I guess scrapbookease.

It was super fun because my original goal was still being met. To sit there for almost 48 hours straight talking with women about all kinds of things. The biggest reward of the whole weekend was the intense love I felt coming home to my kids and husband. I had been looking at thousands of pictures and recounting all of the memories that my family and I had shared over the last year. It was an amazing weekend . . .even if I am a big ol' dummy when it comes to scrapbooking.

Menu Plan Monday

Oh my, I am so behind! Usually, I have my menu planned out on Sunday evening. We celebrated the Super Bowl with my wild friends from church last night. We had a blast, but I had a major dip hangover this morning! I did not wake up until 10 minutes before Gretel had to be at school. Not the way to start a Monday! Oh well, hopefully we will be back on track before long.

Hansel has been awesome to help me this morning. He is serving as my secretary in going through the large amounts of papers that I have accumulated. He also, without asking and trying to avoid school work, worked on cleaning Gretel's room. Amazing kid!

So here goes my menu for the week.

Monday – hotdogs/leftover dip

Tuesday – Mushroom Chicken from Lazy Day Cookin' Slow Cooker Meals (have not tried this yet, so wait on my review until you try it, ok?)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 pkg. dry chicken gravy mix

10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom

1 cup white wine

8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

Put chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle gravy mix on top. In separate bowl, combine soup and wine and pour over gravy mix. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking time, stir in cream cheese. Before serving, remove chicken (keeping it warm) and whisk the sauce until smooth. Serve chicken and sauce over noodles or rice.

Wednesday – pancakes/fruit and bacon (prep lasagna)

Thursday – lasagna/salad/garlic bread (this is one of my favorite recipes and the best/easiest lasagna ever)

1 lb. bulk sausage

8 oz. small curd cottage cheese

1 egg

1 lb. grated mozzarella cheese

1 jar (32 oz.) Ragu chunky garden style spaghetti sauce

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Make meat sauce by combining sausage and spaghetti sauce. Create cheese sauce by pureeing cottage cheese, sour cream, egg and Parmesan cheese in blender. In greased 9 X 13 put enough meat sauce to cover bottom of pan. Layer UNCOOKED noodles, 1/2 meat sauce, 1/2 cheese sauce, 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering again ending with mozzarella cheese. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until cheese is brown and bubbly.

I usually make two batches of this to freeze for later or for a friend in need.

Friday – homemade pizza

Saturday – chili or leftovers

Sunday – Taco Salad

And the Winner Is. . .

Drumroll please!

After plugging in the random number picker. . . #43 is the winner of the $15 Sonic Card. Helene from The Sun-Kissed Home, as well as her blog, Plato's Kitchen won the prize. Congratulations, Helene!

Thank you for visiting Clappy Shoes and I hope that you will be a regular "checker" of my site. I love blogging and I hope you love reading my blog.

My Sunday Best-Valentine Edition

This picture is of Prince Charming's Grandparents. I adore them. They are rock solid, still growing in the Lord and have a very sweet marriage. I praise God for marriages like these to look to as an example. Thank you for persevering Grandma and Grandpa!

What do men really need and what makes them really happy? This is a great blog! She is a wife and mother to five kids! Simply Amazing!

What does Donald Trump really think of marriage? There is a bad word on this site, if you can blind yourself and look on the 10th personal quote you will see his thoughts on marriage.
Note to self: Do not think Donald Trump holds the answer to marriage.

Have some extra money this Valentine's? Personalize your M & M's!

Need help with a marital issue? Check out this website for resources to help you through the hard times as well as to improve your marriage during the easy times. Is there such a thing? :)

Romantic Freebies. . .print out love coupons, free ebooks,romance plans, love puzzle, etc. This is Christian site based on the books of Lorraine Pintus and Linda Dillow. They have really helped to change my perspective of romance in a Christian marriage.

Ok, now that you are all prepped for Valentine's Day. . .make an action plan and give your hubbie the best of you! My prayer for you this year is that your marriage will be everlasting and full of beauty. Have a great week and stay tuned for the next episode of My Sunday Best!

Super Bowl Double Dipping Warning

According to Wikipedia the definition of Double dipping is as follows. . ."Double-dipping can refer to an offense derived from the unsanitary practice of placing food back into a communal bowl after it has touched a person's hands and/or mouth, i.e. dipping a carrot stick in vegetable dip, biting it, and dipping the remaining piece of carrot back into the communal dip. This causes the communal bowl to become contaminated by whatever was in the person's mouth, making it communicable to anyone who uses the bowl afterward."

I did add the bold and italics because I was shouting at that point.

To me, double dipping is one of the ugliest offenses out there. When I got married and had kids I realized there were a couple of other attacks on my Sanitary List of No-No's that were pretty high up on the list. Unfortunately, for my sanitary practices and fortunately, for my character building, double dipping is not a federal offense to the rest of my family.

This post stands as a warning and reminder to those who are teachable. My father-in-law forwarded the following article to me because he knows how important my stance is on "Double Dipping" in which he was caught "in the act" this past weekend. He must be filling the weight of his sin! You ask, is this really worth blogging about? Well, read for yourself how "Bad" double dipping can be. Are you interested in kissing everyone in the room that you are double dipping with? Hmmm. . .something to ponder. Check out the article link.

Sea-Monkey Sadness Strikes Again

Does anyone know how to clean up Sea-Monkeys off of an upholstered couch?

Tragic. . .so tragic that my son was looking for wet paws on the cats to see who committed the crime. Hansel and I walked in after taking Gretel to school and saw a puddle on the floor. I quickly deduced either cat pee pee or a spilled cup. . .either caused by cat naughtiness! Nope, neither one, our poor Sea-Monkeys had been washed ashore onto the back of the couch. Our minute pets had no hope of making it once again in my home.

Yes, I said once again. When I around the age of seven I had my very own Sea-Monkeys. You see, I was trying to keep up the Sea-Monkey tradition with my daughter, but not the part where they depart! My Sea-Monkeys developed some kind of cancerous growth and died quickly. My seven year old brain wanted justice so I wrote the Sea Monkey company a quick letter.

Dear Whom This May Concern,

My poor sea monkeys died. I would really like for you to replace my sea monkeys or give me my money back.

Sincerely,

What did the company do. . .they wrote me back. They expressed their sympathy by returning the comment "I am sorry that your poor Sea-Monkeys died." and there they were. . . a replacement pack.

So I in keeping with tradition, I expressed my remorse to my daughter and offered her a replacement pack.

Easy W-2 Organization

I am so enamored with all of my prize give-away comments that I totally forgot today is Works for me Wednesday.

I have been thinking about how clever I am for the past few weeks though. You see, every year we have this issue. Actually, we have lots of issues every year, but never mind that. Anyway, my hubs always always always does our taxes. . . no matter how complicated they seem to be. If he were to suddenly disappear, Lord forbid be taken to Heaven. . .just so you know honey, we will hire out!

Anyway, again there is this deep strain in our marriage. I want the taxes done. . .ie money! But he has the same problem every year of finding the tax information that we have been receiving in the mail for the last month. This year I had the foresight to put an envelope on my desk of all of our 2007 W-2 and tax information. Now, aren't I clever. No excuses this year honey! It is all by the desk waiting for your magic tax wand! :) Love you! Hope this works for you, not necessarily this year, but for many years to come.

Sonic Card Give-Away Fun

Ok, I have been sitting here for two days reading all of the comments that you sweet ladies and I think I saw one guy :) have left about your favorite Sonic drink. Guess what I have thought about for two days straight!? McDonalds you say? No, they have the nastiest drinks (in my opinion.)

You guessed it, Sonic! So that is where we went after school today. I told the kids it was a reward for their hard school work. Do you see the sheepish grin on my face? That was part of it, I promise!

I think this give-away is going to cost more than I expected. As you read through the comments, look at all of those fun drinks that we need to try! And for you poor souls that have never even visited Sonic, I hope you win and if you don't try it out anyway! Just stick with the drinks that we have in the comment section and you can't go wrong.

I am dying to try the chocolate coke that several of you have mentioned. That sounds like a deadly combination! Yum.

Bloggy Give-Away-$15 Sonic Card

As I reading over the basic instructions for this bloggy give-away, Shannon said to give away something that is reflective of me. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for you a Sonic Card is reflective of me. We visit at least once a week for the very minimal drink during Happy Hour. We have "Happy Hour" in our town every day from 2-4 pm.

Please leave a comment telling me what your favorite Sonic drink is and you might be the lucky one to win a $15.00 gift card from Sonic. Imagine how many drinks that will get you as you are out running errands, picking up kids from school and the millions of other activities you will be participating in over the next month or so.

I will do a drawing Sunday, February 3rd. I will have the winner on my site as well as Rocks in my Dryer's winner announcements. Make sure to stop in at Rocks In My Dryer Bloggy Give-Aways and check out all of the other give-aways. You will not believe the amazing Bloggy Love going on around there. Happy Commenting.

Note: This give-away is for those who have a blog, as well as, those who do not!!!

UPDATE: This Give-Away is closed and Helene from The Sun-Kissed Home has taken the prize! Congratulations and thank you everyone who participated!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday – Turkey fajitas; refried beans
Tuesday – Easy Teriyaki Chicken (recipe below); rice;
2-3 lbs skinless ckn pieces
20 oz. pineapple chunks
Dash of ground ginger
1 cup teriyaki sauce
Place ckn in slow cooker. Pour remaining ingred. over ckn. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours; high 4-6 hours.
Making the dessert listed below for a meeting

Wednesday – AWANA – pancakes, sausage
Thursday – eating at a friend’s house
Friday – homemade pizza
(I get my bread crusts at Sam’s). This is a whole family (like extended family) favorite. There is something about this crust that makes the pizza amazing. They are called Dallas Gourmet Bakery’s Flat Bread and they are located in the fresh bread area.
We top them with tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, veggies like green peppers, onions, sometimes pineapple and Canadian bacon. Everyone who tries this at our house looks for the bread to be able to make their own.
Saturday – chili
Sunday – taco salad or leftovers

Special Dessert: Not sure what to call it other than Bowl of YUM! A friend of mine from church makes this and it is delicious.

In a trifle,
1st layer - crumble up brownie with walnuts (see note on Sam’s Club brownies, but add walnuts)
2nd layer – prepared chocolate pudding (large box of instant)
3rd layer – Cool Whip (1 8 oz. carton)
4th layer – Heath bar (1/2 to 3/4 bag)
5th layer – Cool Whip (another ¼ to ½ the container)
6th and final top layer – Heath bar (1/4 bag)

By the way, I do not live very close to a Sam's I just mooch off my mother-in-law or friends to take me when I am visiting them. Here's to being a great friend! :)

My Sunday Best

1. . Have you ever wanted to see a You Tube Video of the kind of dancing my aunt used to do? Probably not, but it is still cool! These dancers were on the Jackie Gleason show. This week I was visiting with my Uncle Brian and he showed me this website. Apparently, I have an Aunt Jeanine (my middle name) that used to dance like this back in the 60's and 70's for Horace Heidt. Instead of synchronized swimming, they do synchronized dancing. I always new I came from fame!
2. This is the store that I have been buying a lot of clothes from lately. The reason being, they have great customer service, you can find $25 coupons off all of the time in Southern Living and they have a great section of petite clothing. By the way, I do not wear petite clothes because of my waist size, but because of my height or lack-thereof! :)
3. What is my favorite way to find friends? This week I have found two of my really close old friends. It also makes me feel young inside to be able to communicate this way. :)
4. What is my favorite curriculum for home-schooling my son?
5. Been wanting to get organized? This is a great place to take the Monthly Organizational Challenge.

Blurb, Blah Blah Blah!

This is a tale about when scrapbooking meets computers.

I told you about my scrappin' retreat I had last weekend. Well, it was a blast, but I was a little miffed at the whole blurb.com business. I have posted before on how my husband made a really cool Guatemala Mission Trip "scrapbook." Little did I know that he did not change any of the fonts or try to fluff it up. All he did was plop his pics into blurb and he popped out a really cool book.

You know, if you are a real scrapbooker, that things are really rarely that simple when making a scrapbook. . .plop and pop. I was inspired by my fellow scrappin' friends crazy books that they were making at the retreat. They were throwing together some paper and tape and it made me want to fluff my pages up a bit on my computer screen. All I wanted to do was add some fun fonts and make the sizes fit the page better. Nothin’ extraordinary.

I got everything set and then decided to change the themes and backgrounds. Then kapoof all of my text and sizes went adios. . . back to the same font I started with on all 126 pages that I had perfectly arranged on each stinkin picture! URGH!

I went to the “Help, I want to strangle whoever made this stupid program” section to check out what just happened. In the blurb forums I find lots of people irritated with the same thing. So I have joined the ranks of the Irate-Can’t-Format-Font-on- Blurb Friends! I think I will make that a facebook group! Anyone want to join me?

Netiquette

This is something that one of my co-workers sent to me. Maybe it was a hint?! Just kidding. She sent it to our staff and thought it would be useful to us as professional emailers. I think it is really helpful to look at and to remember as we are interacting in cyberspace.

Use of good “Netiquette” is essential in an online environment. Please observe the following rules of common courtesy:

a) Focus on one subject per message or use pertinent subject titles.

b) Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or for titles. Capitalizing otherwise is generally interpreted as SHOUTING!

c) Be professional and careful with your online interactions. Remember that you should be comfortable with your statements if they were published on the front page of the local newspaper.

d) Cite all quotes, references and sources.

e) Never forward someone else’s messages without their permission, this is considered to be extremely rude.

f) Use humor with care. The absence of face-to-face cues and body language can lead to misunderstandings. Feel free to use emoticons such as :) or ;) to communicate that you are being humorous.

g) All postings should be of top quality, on time, and rich in text. This means no comments such as “at a boy”, “you go girl”, “I agree with that”, “couldn’t have said it better myself”, etc. will be considered master degree quality responses. Make sure to take the time to add richness to the discussion and make connections to the many theories in counseling, diversity and leadership that will be covered in this course. Remember, postings are tracked for quantity, quality, and punctuality of deadlines set forth.

(The above “Netiquette” guidelines were adapted fro Rinaldi, A. (1994) The Net User Guidelines and Netiquette, Florida Atlantic University, available from Netcom.)

http://www.cs.biu.ac.il/home/leagal/netguide/elec.html

Menu Plan Monday

It is hard to get back on track today. I have been digital scrappin all weekend and I came home to a sick family. Hopefully we will be on the mend soon after a great week of food! :)

Monday - Farfalle Florentine
Tuesday - crock pot roast with beef broth and pepperoncinis/Roasted Potatoes/broccoli and cheese
Wednesday - Omelets
Thursday - Creamy Chicken Burritos
Friday - mooching off of my in-laws
Saturday - still moochin
Sunday - The Traditional Taco Salad

Happy Cooking with Love this week!

Scrappy Time

Don't be jealous! Promise me you will not. I am going on a whole weekend (Friday morning - Sunday late afternoon) Scrapbooking Retreat. Some of you might be thinking that this would be heavenly, but I am a little ill-prepared. My biggest problem is that I don't scrapbook or haven't in several years. My son who is eight has a first year scrapbook and my daughter who is six has been a little neglected. So, in lieu of that. . .

I have gone digital. I will miss the hours of cutting, pasting and pop dotting, but I have to be efficient. This weekend I will devote my time to Blurb. Blurb is a site where you can import (not upload, which is great) your pictures to make a scrapbook. Another alternative is that you can make cookbooks from your favorite recipes or even make a book out of your blog. It is a really cool site. I imported about 4,000 pictures the other night which took about 1.5 hours to do (meaning: finding, picking and importing pics). That is a huge time-saver in light of the hours upon hours it has taken on other sites like shutterfly and snapfish. I can't wait to tell you how it turns out and all of the details.

Another thing is that if anyone knows how to auto-pilot blogspot I would be extremely indebted to you. I want to be loyal to my readership, but I am a big blog dummy when it comes to techy stuff. So, if you know how to make posts happen when you are not actually around I would love to find this information out for the future.

Have a great clappy, scrappy weekend!

Signs of Life

While most everyone around the country is shoveling snow we are mowing our grass. Just kidding. . .not mowing yet, but I have discovered some bulbs that Hansel and I planted late October, early November are sprouting. I never believed they would come up. Someone had told me or I read somewhere to plant better bulbs than Wal Mart offers, but I did not feel like spending a fortune on bulbs. Also, I have never planted bulbs before. The main reason I have never planted bulbs was because you cannot plant bulbs in concrete, a tribute to our former life in an apartment in Dallas. Well, I am just too excited. Soon we should see some pretty little daffodils and tulips. Yay!

An exciting story and a big tip for you!

It seems like I collected most of my wild stories when I lived in Dallas. Bare with me for a few minutes and I promise to get to the Works for Me Wednesday part.

A few years back, I lived in downtown Dallas. At that time I had the "blingiest" purse known to man woman. Just imagine in your mind for a moment, black lining with every color of the rainbow sequins draping the outside. You know the kind. . .the kind that was popular back then and the sequins fell off all over the place, but you carried it till it shed every last dangling sequin. I bought it at Sam Moon. Aggh, do you see the drool when I think about Sam Moon. Anyway, I loved my purse as well as my cute pink Liz Claiborne wallet.

Not as much as I love my life though. I was enjoying a nice fast food dinner at Taco Bell with my kids, a girlfriend and her 3 kids. If you know me, you know I was talking more than eating and was not paying any attention to what was going on around me. That is when I felt a push from behind me and saw my dazzlling diva purse go right out the door. Two guys had come into Taco Bell, scoped out the place and snatched my purse.

The point is that when guys like this snatch your purse and run out your money is sure to be going out even quicker. Before I got home, my debit card had been used. I canceled all of my credit cards as quickly as possible, but there was one thing I did not cancel. You're not going to believe it.

. . .my library card. I did not cancel my library card. In Dallas, they notify you if you are late on returning your books via email. I had a book out, but it was just this one book and so I ignored my emails that kept coming. Finally, one day they were being so insistent about the emails that I popped one open and realized that there was something odd going on. I figured it was just a mistake on their part, but then started thinking I needed to stop by the library to clear this up. I ended up having to go to the Main Dallas Library to solve the mystery when they informed me that I owed them like $1,000 for over 20 CD's and DVD's + late fees that were out on my card. My mouth dropped and I started to tear up when I realized that they were serious. You see my husband was in seminary at that time and we were Buh Roke, BROKE!!!!

The not-so-kind or compassionate librarian said that we would be turned over to a collection agency if we did not pay it. I could not believe it. This group of scoundrels, the thieves, not the librarians, had charged up my library card. The librarian said that I was supposed to report my card as lost or stolen. I said, "you have got to be kidding me. . .my library card!!!"

We talked with the person that was in charge of this kind of dilemma and she said that we needed to replace $200 worth of the merchandise and they would not report us to the collection agency and this would be over. We got on half.com and found $200 worth for about $85.00. We probably bought it back from the thieves. Can you believe this? So the moral of the story is that when your purse is lost or stolen, CANCEL YOUR LIBRARY CARD TOO!

It Feels Like Two Days - Tackle It Tuesday

Have you ever gotten up so early and worked so hard that you thought surely two days have passed? Well, that was my today (or was it yesterday? :))

These are my results of my "Tackle it Tuesday" by 5 Minutes for Mom. It took overcoming the avalanche, a family sock party as well as standing in line at the post office with my two kids and chatting with those around me to accomplish it. Also, I almost tackled my 8 year old home schooler! :)

Drumroll please. . . .



The avalanche came down. . .it is still being sorted through, but it has been broken down!


No packages waiting to be mailed. They are off! I even sent some things that I had been meaning to mail to family since last June. Don't faint. It could be worse, right?


This is where a great deal of the clothes were this morning. Yay, I can sleep on the blanket instead of on clean underwear. Better than dirty, huh?

These are my helpers! I could not have done it without them.





You know it's time to get off the computer when you can hear yourself snoring. Gotta run! See you tomorrow for Works for Me Wednesday and a post about the Spring's A'comin!

Tackle It Tuesday

Last night we had "Small Group" at our house. Most of my house was clean, but if you would have opened my desk door an avalanche would have poured out on your head. This is the "real" me! I love organization, but every area of my life is not organized or ever will be.

So, that is why I need this humiliation accountability! :)


This is the first area of business.

The good news is that they are all clean!! The bad news is that they need a place to go!

The other dreaded thing I have to do is go to the Post Office to send some clothes back that I bought online. Also, my little niece Bridget is going to be receiving a fun package soon! :) I think the lines are longer now than they were at Christmas. My husband thinks I have a Post Office Disorder because I abhor so it much. I think I do too.

This is the avalanche waiting to smother me. Maybe I should refer to my post on Paper Clutter to help myself out! What do you think?

This is my last area of tackling and I am not sure that I will get to it. I am going to try to give myself lots of grace. Not too much. . .but enough. This is the way I started organizing my car and I will post more about that later.

The other tackles are calling my name as well.
1) homeschool my 8 year old
2) work!

Hope you are enjoying your tackles today! I hope to have pictures of my accomplishments at least by midnight tonight :)!

Menu Plan Monday

Last week, we ate well, but this week may top it! I love planning my menu each week. I know I have said it before, but it is such a relief to me to not have to think about what we are having for dinner each night. I have a plan and for the most part we stick with the plan.

Monday – Chicken Packets; green beans
Small Group at my house
cheese ball/crackers; brownies (I always buy my brownies from a box. I get them at Sam's Club and they have Hershey's chocolate kisses in them = double yum) and strawberries
Tuesday – BBQ/French Fries/Cole Slaw
Wednesday – Farfalle Florentine -
Thursday – Omelets and Pancakes/Apples and Dip
Friday -  I am gone all weekend, but honey check the blog for what you should eat, ok? :) Dinner: Frozen pizza
Saturday – Breakfast: frozen waffles
Lunch: Either leftovers or sandwiches and chips
Dinner: Burger/Fries/Fresh Fruit
Sunday lunch – tomato soup and grilled cheese

Favorite thing I made last week: Frosty Pineapple Salad

My Sunday Best

1) What do you do if you find alcohol in your teenagers car?
2) Do you know your Geography Trivia? (If you called me this week and I was a little distracted this might be why. :))
3) Are you a mom, love to write and looking for a way to get published? Join this essay contest for Mother's Day.
4) Have you been wanting to sell on ebay, but were not too sure how to go about it?
5) What is a great site for fabulous decorating tips?

Would you like to see "My Sunday Best" be a place where you can add your own links? If so comment and let me know if you would like to add your own links. They can be linked to your own site if you feel like it was the best thing you saw on the web all week. I will add a Mr. Linky next week if I get enough feedback.

Have a wonderful week!