Ok, so my husband decided it had been too long since he had visited his mother.  I decided it had been too long since he took the children with him to visit his mother!  HAHA!  So, my sweet husband packed all four kids and my brother into the van and went away for 3 and 1/2 HOURS.  Leaving me in the house ALONE!  WAHOO!  So, I tackled my office mess.  You have already seen the before picture.  Here are the afters!

I am putting on my brave face.  This is the current state of my office area.

I know, I know, it IS a wonder how I find anything!  It is actually better than it was.  All the papers were in that white laundry basket!  Then I got the plastic hanging file folder boxes from office depot and started sorting :).  I have done so well with my inital New Year's Resolutions (live on a budget, cook at home/eat healthier, and get home school stuff organized) that I am ready to introduce new things.  The next thing is to organize & declutter.  I actually don't have a large amount of clutter, if you think of clutter in terms of things you don't use, but I am dedicated to getting rid of what I do have.  The things I have that I tend to use on a regular basis need to be sorted somehow or another and then labeled. 
So, I am going to do one area at a time.  Today/this week/however long it takes, my project will be my office area.  I will post pictures when I am done.  :)
Oh and the desk drawers are open, evidently because my two year old was rummaging through them, looking for batteries for the VSmile.
If you have any ideas to send my way, be sure and leave a comment!

Need I Say More?

I was drug by my meanie friend/torturer/exercise-forcer-onner to the local YMCA for Zumba class.  She promised it was going to be fun.  I showed some hesitation, more for her benefit than mine, as she likes to feel like she has influence over people, so she basically told me that I had to have a broken limb to get out of going and told me that she would be picking me up at 5.  (I told you she was mean!)  After briefly toying with the idea of breaking one of my own fingers or something, I said ok.

Ok.

At a little after 5, she arrives and we leave to go Zumba.  Another friend was there for the torture Zumba class as well, and at 5:35 we entered into the chamber room.  There were several people there and I was pleased to see that everyone was not skinny and 5'9", well one lady was, but I will get to her in a minute.

We sat our things down in the corner of the room and stood, waiting for the instructor.  Suddenly, I hear my friend saying, "Girls, we have to move our stuff, because it is in SOMEONE ELSE'S SPOT."  Friend met someone meaner than her that announced our bags and bottles of water were encroaching upon her territory.  So, we moved our things a bit further down the wall. 

Speaking of the walls, all the walls have mirrors from ceiling to floor.  Pfft.....  I have not seen that much of myself all at one like that since the last time I tried on clothes and had to stand in front of those three way mirror things.  Hmmm, I was with torturer/friend that time too.  I am seeing a pattern here.

Anyhoo, the instuctor walks in and the class gets started.  It was a cross between wiggling everything on your body that can possibly wiggle - ON PURPOSE I MIGHT ADD AND THE MORE IT WIGGLED, THE BETTER - and aerobics.  The instructor was very difficult to follow and midway through I was doing some sort of twisty butt thing and essentially broke my knee.  How did I manage that, you ask?  You have to do a twisty knee thing to do the twisty butt thing, or at least that is the only think I can figure out. 

The tall skinny chick I mentioned earlier knew how to do all the twisty things and made them look easy and fun.  She was wearing this clinky skirt and made it jingle jangle in a way I would never be able to manage.  She was clinking with rythm.  I suspect that if I were to have the clinky skirt, the only reason it would make any cool clinky noises at all is because of all the wiggling the wiggly parts of me do without trying. 

So my verdict for now?  It was not fun. But I was told that was because of this particular instructor and that I should not pass judgement without going to another class. 

But, I will have one of those clinky skirts no matter what! 

My new choice of grocery store wear!

I decided to make hashbrown casserole this evening.  I threw one together this evening.  Remember, my family is large, so this will feed anywhere from 8 to 12 people, depending on how many are adults or big eaters!

Hashbrown Dinner Casserole

1 bag of shredded frozen hasbrowns
2 cups of cubed ham (about the size of dice)
1 box of frozen broccoli (thawed in microwave and drained of water) or fresh broccoli florets
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (I used extra sharp)
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces of sour cream (you could easily substitute plain yogurt here)
1 envelope of lipton onion soup mix
1/4 to 1/2 tsp of pepper (depending on your family's tolerance)
Bread crumbs or crushed Ritz crackers or French's fried onions (I used bread crumbs)

Mix together hasbrowns, ham, broccoli, and cheese in a very large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together mushroom soup, sour cream, lipton onion soup and pepper.  Combine with other ingredients in the large bowl.
Pour into a buttered or oiled 9 x 13 baking dish.
Top with bread crumbs, crushed crackers, or onions. 
Bake for 1 hour or until the middle of the casserole is hot.

I really liked this!  I did not add any extra salt, between the canned soup and the onion soup mix, I felt like there was plenty!

I have been homeschooling for a couple of years now.  I really love it!  But, I did not love having to direct every single little thing about the children’s day.  Contrary to popular belief, I am NOT a micromanager.  Or, at least, I will never admit to being one!  I needed to organize the kids school stuff in a way that they could get started on the work they do independently, until I was ready to get out of my pajamas start their corporate work.  I heard a lot about the workbox system by Sue Patrick, but knew that there was no way I could implement her system.  I don’t have room for 3 carts holding a total of 36 shoebox sized boxes, and this would be before I added Bekah’s.  So I read blog after blog after blog, searching for the answer.  What I came up with is more of a combination of what I found. 

I have a workbox, singular!  I decided to go with a file folder system.  I bought a box from Office Depot (on sale for $4.99), a box of hanging file folders, and some clips I found for a buck.  I could not find the medium point sharpie markers my friend Sam found, but perhaps this was because I had my husband and all four children in tow. 

When we arrived back home; I got to work.  I labeled 10 folders with Jaela’s name and numbered them 1 – 10.  Then I did 5 for Quin and 5 for Micah.  I used the remaining six folders for my own things.  I got out my lesson planner, scanned down it, and put all of Jaela’s stuff in the folders; math in one, drawing in another, reading instructions with the book in yet another, and so on. 

 

I interspersed some fun things, like time for snack, in other folders as well.  The idea is she will start with the first folder and continue working through them in order.  Every few folders, or after a particularly long activity she will find a break with something fun.  This will, hopefully, keep her motivated.

 

I did the same thing for the little ones as well.  I will make up some pretty snack break and computer time pages today.  Then I am going to laminate them with my spiffy new laminator.  (How did I EVER live without that thing?)  But a sheet of paper and a marker works for now!

Tell me what you think?  How do you organize your children’s schoolwork?

This is what I made for supper tonight.  My husband and kids LOVED it.
I will now no longer spend a fortune on canned sloppy joe sauce.

Super Simple Sloppy Joes

1 pound of ground beef
3/4 cup of Ketchup
2 tbsp of worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of onion powder
1 tbsp of paprika
1/2 tsp of cumin
1/4 tsp pepper

Brown ground beef and mostly drain.  Return to pan.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer for 10 minutes or so, if the mixture is too thick, add more ketchup. 

Serve on toasted buns.  Serves 4 to 6, depending how much you put on the bun.

New Years Eve I made a wonderful taco pizza.  My kids loved it, my husband loved it, and the dog loved what the baby dropped!
It is really good and the crust doesn't take anytime at all to make.

Taco Pizza
1 Homemade crust (recipe to follow)
1 pound of ground beef
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 package of your favorite taco seasoning
3/4 cup of water
1 to 1 11/2 cups of salsa
1/2 head of lettuce, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 cups of cheddar cheese
1/4 cup taco sauce

Preheat oven to 450.  Pat out pizza crust onto a large pizza stone.  (I use the large sized one from Pampered Chef). Take the crust all the way to the egde of the stone.  Spread the salsa on the unbaked crust.
Brown the ground beef and drain.  Mix in the rinsed and drained black beans, packet of taco seasoning, and water.  Cook in a skillet until water is gone. 
Spread this mixture onto the crust and salsa.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese.
Bake until the crust is done, 15 to 20 minutes. 
Sprinkle lettuce over pizza, top with the remaining cheese and taco sauce.

Pizza Crust
1 packet of yeast
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of sugar
3 cups of whole wheat or plain flour
1 teaspoon of salt

Mix yeast and warm water with sugar until dissolved.  Let stand 5 to 10 minutes.  If the mix has bubbles or froth on the top, then add the salt and 2 cups of flour.  If not, allow it to stand another 5 to 10 minutes.  (If after 20 minutes it has not shown any changes, discard and begin with new yeast.
Stir until flour is completely mixed in. 
Turn onto floured surface and knead and add flour until you have a smooth dough - about 5 minutes. Let rest while you are preparing your other pizza ingredients.
This makes 1 large crust.

Enjoy!

Maybe I should have called this “How I am getting out of Moo Moo Land.”   I dealt with my son’s illness by grazing on food like a cow.  He cried because he had a headache, I cried and ate a Little Debbie Swiss Roll.  He threw up all over the carpet in the living room; I cleaned it and him up and then polished off a bag of BBQ potato chips.  So, in turn, he lost 6 pounds and I gained 20. 
Getting back on the scale was not a fun thing for me.  So, this new year has brought about the resolution to lose that 20 pounds.  I decided that, since I don’t want to look like I am ready to be slaughtered and served with lettuce and mayo, I should probably not eat like that.  I have taken appropriate steps to take back the better food habits I had prior to October and have started to Couch to 5K running program.  You will recall I tried jogging with a friend/torturer before, but that fizzled out as her busy time of the year came around.  If the world must know, I own a really nice treadmill.  It is not even a clothes rack.  My DH uses it with such frequency, the tread belt needs to be lubricated.  His dedication to fitness both fascinates and disgusts me, but that is a new post altogether.
Anyway, an online friend suggested the Couch to 5K running program.  The idea is to start slowly and build my way up from running o ne minute at a time to a 30 minute run.  I printed off the schedule for my treadmill made the conscious decision to follow through.  I put on some running shoes, some workout clothes, and hit the treadmill.  After the 5 minute warm up walk, I thought about rethinking the plan.  But, I pressed on.  At the 12 minute mark, I was ready to throw in the towel and just make a will and order the extra large casket.  Humiliation at the thought of people attending my funeral just so they could see “just how big” the lady was, whose pallbearer was Mr. Forklift, kept me going.  I stayed on until the 32 minute mark.  I had to get off 3 minutes before the end because I literally got too bored to stay on. 
The week carried on and did the walk/run program twice more as it prescribed.  I am happy to report, that at the end of the week, I felt like I could keep going.  YAY!  I also did not get shin splints, which normally plague any kind of running or walking program I start.  I learned that the reason I have gotten these in the past is because I am starting too fast.  I would start the walking part walking as fast as I could without running; and then would basically be sprinting for the running part.  So I was walking at 4 MPH and running at 5.5 or 6 MPH.  This time I am walking at (DO. NOT. LAUGH.) 2 MPH and running at 4 MPH.  I will pick up speed as I strengthen my body and build endurance. 
So that is week one.  I am oddly excited about beginning week two!

Happy New Year!

First put a pound of blackeyed peas in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and turn off.  Let soak for an hour or two.

Drain, rinse, and add 6 cups of fresh water to the beans and put back on the stove.

Bring to a boil, add 5 beef boulion cubes, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of black pepper.  Add 1 chopped onion, and 4 thick slices of bacon.