Fall Decorating ala Pinterest

If you aren't a member of Pinterest yet, you probably will be soon.  It is finally a visual way to organize all those great recipes, tips, crafts, decorating ideas you see all over the web in one place.  It is very inspiring and I'm not just a "pinner", I'm a do-er!  I have made countless recipes and several new crafts based on my pins.

Here are some of my interpretations from my pins...

My front door wreath.  A simple grapevine wreath with rosettes made out of burlap and buttons:

and here is my indoor fall decor

I had been wanting some apothecary jars for a long time and I finally found them at a great price and for fall filled them with brown rice, split peas and pinto beans with a pine cone nestled inside based on this pin. 

Next project: thumbtack and decopaged pumpkins next to the front door!

Cheerleading bucket

My daughter does Upward Cheerleading and I love it.  We are very intentional about what activities to be involved in and this was a conscious choice because she needed more confidence, it doesn't over commit our time and it is very affordable.  I love that there is one game and one practice a week for about 2 months as well as the positive Christian environment.   My job this year was to help buy items and design the "cheer buckets" that would hold all their "accessories" (poms, megaphones, etc) and it provides a great place for them to sit before and after games.
We got 5 gallon buckets from Wal-Mart and I made a seat cushion using supplies from Hobby Lobby.  The blue cloth was some scrap felt and just some silver trim.  I traced around and then cut some Poly-Foam for the top, hot glued the felt around it and then hot glued it to the lid.  I then hot glued the trim all around and added stickers from the Homecoming Mum section and Scrapbooking sections.

7 Can Tortilla Soup

So cheap, so easy and quick.  I make this usually with cheese quesadillas for a great lunch or dinner.  Great topped with cheese, sour cream and or chopped avocado...and of course crushed tortilla chips!

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis (Rotel)
1 can corn
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can white meat chicken breast
2 cans chicken broth

Dump all in a pot, undrained...bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add any seasonings to fit your tastes.  I love the cilantro cubes you can find in the Mexican food section.  I also usually add diced onions and garlic but all are optional!

What we eat

So here are my most cooked meals every month.  Some with links to the recipes.  I think I may try one major grocery shopping trip for the month to buy most of the ingredients and I may even start cooking some ahead of time and freezing them so things go smoothly after school gets going.  Having a meal in the freezer keeps me from running out to a restaurant.  If a recipe involves ground beef we usually use ground turkey and look for other substitutions in these recipes to save fat/calories/salt.

Potato Soup with Paninis
Waffles and Turkey Bacon (thanks to this magic machine and the waffle plates)
Beef Stew and homemade bread
Slow Cooker Pot Roast, Mashed potatoes and Veggies
Ham and Homemade Mac and Cheese
Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Veggies
Grilled Salmon, Rice, Salad
Our Favorite Chicken, Rice, Veggies
Mostaccioli, Salad
Chili with Cornbread Muffins
Taco Salad
Stuffed Peppers with Veggies
Chicken and Dumplings and Salad
Tacos or Burritos with Rice and Beans
Spaghetti with Salad and Garlic Bread
Sloppy Joes with Sweet Potato Fries
Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup with Quesadillas
Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches with Steak Fries and Veggies
Baked Flounder/Cod/etc with Rice and Steamed Broccoli
Stir Fry Chicken or Beef with Rice (frozen stir fry veggies with the meat with this and then I make fried rice)
Marinated Grilled Chicken with Rice and Veggies


I usually try 2-5 new recipes every month so those are somewhere in the rotation and we eat out occasionally.
Share your family favorites!

Money Saving tip for Pet Owners

As many of you have heard, Wal-mart is now selling a generic version of Frontline called PetArmor.  I'm sure it is cheaper than buying Frontline throught the vet but there is another way to save money and keep those pesky buggers off your furry kids if they are smaller dogs or cats.  They charge you the same amount whether you are buying a three month supply for a Chihuahua or a Great Dane but the amount per dose is very different.  So I buy the biggest bottle designed for the biggest dogs for our Schnorkie (who only weighs 10 lbs) and just repackage and dose out exactly how much she needs.  I found an old Mylicon bottle that actually shows 0.6mL which is perfect because the proper dosing for a small dog is 0.67mL, so I just go a little over the 0.6mL line on the dropper.  I marked out the label for safety and keep the bottle inside the PetArmor box so there is no confusion.
Here is the dosing by weight as shown on an eBay seller's site who sells the larger bottles.  This is how I used to buy it before Wal-Mart began selling PetArmor.  This will help the boxes go a lot longer and ensure your furbaby is flea-free for cheap!

Cowgirl 1st Birthday

Here are some pictures from my little Charlotte's first birthday.  She is our first to be born in Texas so we thought a Cowgirl theme would suit her perfectly.  Here is her invitation (with a fake last name):

Our Menu was:

 Sliced Brisket or Smoked Sausage

Potato Salad

Beans

Watermelon

Banana Pudding Cupcakes with dark chocolate cowboy hats

Our drinks were Cowgirl Pucker (cherry limeade and pink lemonade) for everyone and Parker County Punch (Fuzzy Navel mix, OJ, and Malibu Rum) for the grown-ups

Here are the pics!

You can buy her shirt from www.leelynncrafts.com

My first attempt at fondant  for her smash cake

found the cowboy ducks on Amazon

They had this pinata at Party City.

Yee Haw!

Keeping it Clean

I'm back on a cleaning schedule everyone!  I slacked a while after we moved into our new home but I'm back on track.  For those of you looking for ways to keep a cleaner home without the strict "Fly Lady" type schedule, here goes.

I keep my cleaning chart on my kids' chore chart so they see that everyone has a job to do every day.
Every morning, I announce what their chores are for the day and what area I'm going to focus on.  I do a specific deep cleaning every day plus our "10 Minute Pick-Up" which I will explain later.

Today's focus was the kitchen.  I spent about 30 minutes to an hour deep cleaning which to me means: steam mopping, cleaning the appliances, counters, organizing, etc.  Yesterday was the Master Suite so I vacuumed and straightened up my room, and deep cleaned my bathroom.

This way I know that it all gets cleaned every week and my kids know that we do our housework first and then we can sit back and play.

Now on to the "10 Minute Pick-Up".  This is my sanity saver.  Every night at 10pm, my husband and I set the timer for 10 minutes and pick up the house as fast as we can.  That usually includes loading and starting the dishwasher, starting the washing machine, picking up a few toys, sweeping the floor and wiping down the cabinets.  It is amazing what can get done in just 10 minutes!  Then we can go to bed and the morning starts off with a fairly clean home.
Hope this helps someone!