Company Girls Coffee

Hello Girls!

This week Rachel Anne had us work on a monthly meal plan.  I put mine here to show what I had come up with but unless you have 20/20 vision you probably cannot read it--sorry.  I usually do better with a week by week plan since I try to use up the leftovers and not end up throwing out a lot of food SO if it looks like the Lo are accumulating, we skip the planned dinner and have a "microwave" dinner night;-)

Last month Rachel Anne had us work on our housecleaning plans.  Here is mine.  Notice in the pictures that everyone in the family is helping in some way or other.  That is how things would be in my perfect world.  Everyone would help out around the house with various chores and meals and then we would have more time to sit and play all together~instead of Daddy sitting watching TV, kids playing or doing whatever,
and Mom doing EVERYTHING.  In Hubby's perfect world, he would come home to slippers and h'ordeuvres, dinner served to him, enjoy a nice movie or chat while eating, dessert served, and then relaxing in bed while winding down with another movie.  Needless to say, we've had a time coming together with our "perfect worlds"!  But in the 9 + years of marriage we're at a happy place.  Something that Rachel Anne's post about finding the frog in your Prince or finding the Prince in your frog encouraged my heart about. 

Another tool I use to stay organized is a shopping list.  This idea was given to me long ago in my single days.  My list undergoes changes whenever we change our major shopping places because I tailored the list to the aisles in the store.  No hop, skipping, and jumping around like what happens with a list I jot down on paper.

and a copy of our weekly menu plans.  Weekly plan~Monthly plan. . .very handy to post on the fridge so the never ending question of, "What's for dinner tonight?" can easily be answered;-)

I watched a great movie this week--The Gathering Storm about the life of Winston Churchill.  I laughed and cried and was amazed at the personal life of this man who was responsible for such great political prowess.  At one point he and his wife have a fight because he calls her selfish and later he goes to find her and entreats her to open her bedroom door with such patheticness. . .

Mrs. Pussycat, Mr. Pug is very sorry.  pause

Pussycat, do let me in.  pause

Mr. Pug is very lonely out here.  pause

Mrs. Pussycat, pleeeease.  pause

she opens the door and he says

woof        woof-woof

meAow

is her reply

It was so sweet and tender!

Churchill and his youngest daughter go to see a chorus line play that one of the older daughters is in.  This song cracked me up and shocked me at the same time. . .the song has such a catchy peppy tune but THE words. . .

starts off with the chorus line scantily clad girls kicking and singing. . .

Keep young and beautiful

It's your duty to be beautiful

Keep young and beautiful

If you want to be loved.

a happy pert man comes out singing and dancing. . .

Keep young and beautiful

It's your duty to be beautiful

Keep young and beautiful

If you want to be loved.

If you're wise exercise all the fat off

Take it off, off of here, off of there

When you're seen anywhere with your hat off

Have a marcel wave in your hair.

Churchill loves Dundee Cake and talks about it several times so, of course, I had to look up the recipe today.  It sounds like a fruit cake with dried fruits and nuts and many recipes call for rum, brandy, or whiskey.  I am definitely adding Dundee Cake to our menu plans sometime in the near future.  I simply must try some!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  We will~~it's like spring out~~the trees are starting to bud and bloom!

**movie warning!!!!!  There is a scene in the movie where Churchill wakes up, walks across the room, and takes his morning potty break--all naked, of course.  You don't really see anything except his backside--kind of like a giant toddling pudgy baby. . .why isn't it so cute when we're older?  I watched the movie again with the commentary and the "guys" said that Churchill was known for wandering around his house in his birthday suit.  The servants and his secretaries got used to it and turned a blind eye. . .cracks me up. . .the homebody personal things of such a great man. . .who would've known?

Craft Night with Kim & Kris of The DIY Dish - Lifestyle Crafts Giveaway

I found this blog today by Paige Hill! I was drawn to the blog from the title of her post Defending Pollyanna. Go check out her blog and see her beautiful vintage children's pictures, join the Pollyanna "glad game", and browse all the scrapbook kits she has. Oh, I so want to have a scrapbooking night.

I love to scrapbook but getting out all the supplies, working for even 15 minutes, putting everything away, just seems like such a waste of time. . .wasn't I just wishing something like this recently. . .starting to sound like a broken record!!!! Well, anyway, today I also came across this amazing giveaway over here. . .




It's a scrapbook night with the two sisters who run DYI Dish!!!!!! You get to invite 10 of your friends to a catered party and all of the scrapbookers get amazing gifts!!!!!! And these two sisters look like they'd be a blast to have a party with!!!!!





Ahhhhh!!!!  So go check it out. . .win. . .have a party. . .invite me!!!!!!!!!

Since my scrapbooking is non-existent Little Helper did not have a 1st year scrapbook.  I came across the company Smile Books.  They were having a special linked from their Facebook page for a free 8 x 8 scrapbook--you just pay shipping.  I uploaded their program, designed the scrapbook, and they printed it off and had it back to me within two weeks!!!  The scrapbook is absolutely precious!!!!!!! 

I am planning to make another scrapbook for our daughter who is graduating this year.  She was supposed to graduate next year but we just realized that she has enough credits to finish up this year.  She only has to take U.S. History next year and would be bumbling about with tons of time OR extra work on her hands, we figured she might as well make the studying count toward something and send her off to college;-)  So she is busy making lots of plans, studying U.S. History,  and I am digging for pictures to scan in to the computer--whooo hoooo!!!!!!!

Gotta run. . .typing this from school. . .switched school day from Tuesday to Wednesday. . .normally I run errands in the afternoons but didn't have any today so played on the computer that's why all the new stuff. . .yea for browsing time. . .

a regular law breaker?!?!?!?!?!

I received a NOTICE of TOLL EVASION in the mail a few weeks ago.

Here is the letter sent to CONTEST my TOLL EVASION:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to contest a notice of toll evasion.  On the date in question we were on our way to Marine World for an outing.  I was driving and aware of the general time and in the excitement and talk was just driving along thinking that we were going to make it to the toll booth during carpool times.  I was driving only slightly familiar roads and watching traffic and which lane to be in--it can be very confusing at times, you know.  So when I was in the carpool lane and all set I glanced up at the time--10:14.  Panic.  I had to cross multiple lanes, lanes with white lines which I've gotten in trouble for crossing before, the correct lanes were backed up way back.  We got to the booth and slowed down but there was no person inside.  I pulled over at the toll island and went inside with money to pay the fee but was told that money was not accepted inside and that I would have to pay the fee plus a fine since I went through the wrong spot.  I pleaded with the man and asked what I should do.  I wasn't trying to "evade" a toll and was trying to make things right.  He gave me a yellow card and said that when the violation came in the mail I could dispute it.  He also gave me his badge number--#173.

So I am asking that you take pity on me for not paying attention and being in the wrong spot.  I wasn't intentionally trying to get away with anything and did try to rectify the situation immediately.

Thank you for your consideration.

I included copies of the EVASION notice and the yellow card with the badge number on it.

My husband said they would laugh their heads off at me after reading the letter.  But he mailed it off anyway.

So this past weekend we received another letter saying:  We have reviewed your inquiry regarding the above reference violation.  Based on our review of the documentation you provided and our records, we have determined you are responsible for the violation.  However, as a one-time courtesy, we have waived the associated fees and request the toll amount only.

So maybe they did laugh but they for sure showed great MERCY.  And I am so thankful!

souper!

They're having a Soup-a-Poolza over with Tidy Mom on February 15th.  We just blog about our favorite soup, stew, chili, or chowder and share about it over with Tidy Mom or Dine and Dish.  There are some amazing prizes. . .go check them out. . .


so. . .“Come join Soup-a-Palooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers”. 

a fun blogger of a beautiful blog!

Look how fun this button is!  I've followed the blog of Amy Locurto for a while now.  She is an amazingly talented lady who designs paper products for parties.  She has a facebook page and offers exclusive freebies from time to time.  That's how I am going to be able to have her beautiful Red and Black Valentine's Day cupcake toppers on our treats for Bible class next week!!!!!!

picture taken by Amy Locurto

Anyway, Amy was featured on the blog Where Women Create today.  So not only are they featuring the beautiful artwork of Amy, but the site is an introduction to beauty in itself!!!!!  I was hooked at the flippin' button!!!!!!!  I can't wait to have more time to browse through the website.

One of the first things that caught my eye was a cooking magazine they have coming out soon that features Ree Drummond from The Pioneer Woman on the front!  I'm saving all my extra pennies for a subscription to that magazine!

Congratulations Amy for the awesome feature at Where Women Create and Congratulations to all the ladies involved in this new magazine coming out!!!!!

**oh, almost forgot the best part!  Amy has given Where Women Create two $50 gift certificates for a giveaway today!!!!  Stop by, visit, get to know Amy, get to know Where Women Create!!!!  GO, go, GO!!!!

Company Girls Coffee

Reading about all the ice storms there in Texas with Rachel Anne and seeing these pictures that my aunt sent:










makes the fact that the ice cream truck came through our neighborhood last night seem a little extra odd.  It's weird enough that it was too hot in the summer for him to come through each day but that he comes through in the twilight evening of winter with such storms going on across the country--someone's a little confused. . .and it's not me this time!

We are a family of thinkers and philosophers and last night an interesting question came up.  Eddy was getting ready for bed and Heidi stole his jammie pants.  We couldn't find the pants.  And then it hit me:  why are they called pants?  It's not like socks or shoes--which obviously have two parts.  Or glasses which come as one but have two pieces of glass.  And if pants are pants why isn't a shirt shirts?  That last statement brings another point--pants are referred to as plural--always:  I say pants are pants,  go get the black pair of pants.  Why?  My husband says it's because we have two legs.  I reminded him that we also have two arms but that a shirt was still a shirt not a pair of shirts--because that would mean 2 shirts.  Then he thought of some other clothing items that were singular but could be plural and the conversation deteriorated rapidly after that.  So anyway, that was the highly intelligent conversation that you missed at our house last night!

This past week we had some delectable foods at our house:

This first one was originally intended to be dessert for Thanksgiving--yes, Thanksgiving!  But we ended up having so many other desserts that we never got around to putting this one together.  The inspiration for this dessert from Tidy Mom.  I forgot where I found the recipe and eventually ended up making the recipe from memory:  crumbled shortbread cookies, pumpkin spice pudding, cool whip, and caramel topping.  I found the pumpkin spice pudding at Walmart during Thanksgiving.  My mom who was buying ingredients couldn't find the pudding at her Walmart.  But now in February I can still buy the pudding at my Walmart--so I did and we had the real thing rather than mixing vanilla pudding and pumpkin from a can--our way to improvise the pumpkin spice pudding;-)   What we did not have was the caramel topping--what was bought during the Thanksgiving season has been eaten along with several desserts along the way!

So I got out the handy dandy Seasons of Refreshing cookbook and found a Caramel Sauce recipe:

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Serve over puddings, crisps and fruitcake.

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. whipping cream OR half-and-half

1/2 c. butter

1 t. vanilla

In true me fashion, I didn't have whipping cream OR half-and-half but found a recipe substitution:  1 c. Cool Whip = 1/2 c. half-and-half!  Believe me, this caramel sauce recipe is so yummy!!!!!

I wasn't sure if the kids would like the pumpkin spice pudding so we had a chocolate option available.  Everyone LoVeD both!  And now that I've re-found the actual recipe, we are going to have this dessert again in the near future because the pecan topping looks out of this world!

Last night for dinner we had meat and cheese burritos, Mexican rice, and pinto beans. 

Here's a super easy recipe for the Taco Seasoned meat:

*brown 1 lb. hamburger with 1/4 c. chopped onion and 1 clove garlic

*drain meat

add and mix well 2 T. chili powder and several dashes hot sauce

*enjoy

and the Mexican rice recipe a friend gave me:

*saute 1/4 c. onion in olive oil over medium heat till translucent
*add 1 c. long grain rice and cook till browned
*add 2 c. water, 1 Mexican chicken bouillon cube, and 1/4 c. tomato sauce and simmer over low heat 20 minutes.

So that's it for yumminess, high falutin'-ness, and weirdness.  Now on to this huge project I'm working on for my husband.  It's taken up every morning for the past week and looks like this afternoon will be occupied as well.  All I can say is please pray for us and then pray some more and some more and some more. . .

Hope you all have a great weekend--'specially those of you with snow!  Wish we could come sledding with you!

. . .Savvy!

So this morning while Helper naps I should be cleaning & organizing and all that good stuff but instead I've been blog/facebook hopping because The Savvy Moms have an amazing giveaway going on at their blog!!!  You simply must check it out and who knows maybe you'll be a winner of something--whoo hooo!!!!!  So I'm off to get something done before you know who wakes up;-)



**oh yes, while I was checking out some of the many shops that The Savvy Moms are featuring for their giveaways I also came across this amazing blog--Inkspot Workshop which is also having a giveaway today!  Check out this amazing lady and all of her fantastic printables.  I so want to have a party.  Wanna come?

and guess who's awake?  Nothing better than a snuggly sweet sleepy baby!