My Wordle

Being sick is for the BIRDS...

This is the official sick house with the most diversified of illnesses you will ever find under one roof within a residential neighborhood. Yes, Kaden has a cold, Braylee has Strep Throat, and I of course have Bronchitis. No, it is not fun. It is horrible. But, what are you going to do? We are all knocking back our antibiotics and hanging out in our PJs all day watching Dr.Seuss classics that I recorded on DVR from ABC Family channel. I love moments like this. My son is in love with The Cat in the Hat. I love listening to him laugh while watching the show. My daughter doesn't care either way. She is just more concerned in what he is doing and where I am at. Anyway, family will be coming in next weekend from out of town to celebrate Christmas early so hopefully we are all well and ready to meet up with family.
My sister will be taking my pup, Titan, back home with her. We are in need of letting him go due to his fear of Patrick. He will have a dog friend without having to compete for attention with a three year old and a two year old. So, hopefully this will work out well enough that the transition with the children will be good and smoothe. NO MORE ANIMALS FOR A LONG TIME! I love critters, but I think it is just time to just be us for a long while. If we decide to get any more animals I think it is going to have to be cats because of the independence. But, that won't be for a long while. Anyway, hope everyone had a great week!

I caught the Funk!

So, I thought I was going to get by it. I didn't think I needed to worry about catching it - but I did. I caught it. I took my children to the doctors today because here it is Tuesday, my daughter has been running a fever since Saturday morning, and my son started to catch it.
And, now, here we are. Both children have tonsilitis and I feel like I am getting a sinus infection. Yippee! Plus, I have a CT scan in the morning which I am not looking forward it. Such is life, right?
Anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of a sinus infection without over the counter medicines? That is one thing I do not want to do is use medicine from the pharmacy - or the doctors for that matter. I usually just wait it out, even if it takes a month to be rid of it.
Anyhow, I hope everyone has a good rest of their week! Three weeks until Christmas. Can't wait!

Feels like winter!

What is the temperature in Florida, you ask? Well, its .... I am not sure, but it is just downright cold! The wind is blowing, and the air is cool. You would not think this is Florida weather. I mean, sure, the sun is shining. But, it certainly is not the temperature you would be expecting it to be.
Both of my children are sick. They are laying on the sofa as we speak sleeping. My daughter has been running fevers every since Saturday. They seem to be pretty high ones at that. Oddly, she has no other symptoms. Teething? Not sure.
My son has what seems like a cold. I am watching to see if his temperature is going to go up.
My mother in laws counts are down so she won't be joining us for dinner tongiht. She has chemo coming up on Monday - her last treatment for the year, then radiation begins in February I believe. So she gets a few weeks off before having to endure that! Thankfully. She has been strong through it all. After losing her husband in 2008 to cancer and watching him go through chemo then losing his battle to brain cancer.
Well, I hope everyone is having a really nice cool day.

Whats on the Menu

Right now, work is slow for my husband and I have allowed my Thirty One business slow down due to how busy I am during the holidays. I have been working on menu planning and coupon clipping. I thought that I would share my seven day meal plan, plus one. So, I have eight meals planned for the third week of December. But, first I would like to share what I have planned for the second week of December:

Sunday - White Chicken Chilli
Monday - Soupy Baby Limas with Ham
Tuesday - Mini Calzones
Wednesday - Breakfast
Thursday - Hamburger Helper
Friday - Frozen Lasagna
Saturday - Leftovers

Okay, so the simplicity from this menu is screaming BUT they are simple and inexpensive. I will break from of this down a bit into recipes:

White Chicken Chili Chicken Broth Cumin Great Northern Whites Can of Green chilies Chicken Garlic Powder Onion, Red pepper ¼ - ½ c salsa liquid	Soupy Baby Limas with Ham Chicken broth 2 pkg baby limas 1 pkg diced ham Carrots Onion Celery Dried parsley and chives, garlic powder Salt and pepper
Mini Calzones Pizza dough Parmesan Pizza Sauce Pepperoni Mozzarella	Breakfast Any breakfast food you have on hand. We have eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, frozen waffles, sausage patties and links – pretty much anything!
Hamburger Helper Just pick your favorite flavor, add a ½ lb of beef, freeze the other half for meatballs, taco salads, another hamburger helper, etc. Eat mashed potatoes or green beans and then there you go – you have a easy and great meal.	Frozen Lasagna Okay, now this is a no fuss meal. Our local grocer, Winn Dixie, has specials where you buy one item for around $14 or less, you get anywhere from four to six things for free. Well, we bought the lasagna and got peas, soda, ice cream cups, and garlic bread for free. Its an entire meal and it is quite nice.

Week Three:

Mashed potatoes with Campbell’s Chunky Sirloin Burger, with a salad. Buy a box of instant mashed potatoes and you have an easy weeknight meal.	Hamburger helper with green beans. Use only ½ lb of ground beef and save the other half for another meal.
Spaghetti with mini meatballs. Whole grain pasta, and garlic bread. I actually am out of Italian bread crumbs so I am going to crush up some croutons, add grated parmesan cheese, a pinch of Italian seasoning, and one egg and mix them up and make mini meatballs. I use regular jarred sauce because the meatballs will add tons of flavor.	Crockpot chicken with potatoes, carrots, and celery. I usually add a package of ranch seasoning or a package of onion dip mix on top of the chicken when beginning the cooking process
Chicken stir fry. I will be using the left over chicken from the night before, buying a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables, and cooking in soy sauce with brown rice. Our freezer section at Walmart has a fabulous selection on Chinese food. We will probably have pot stickers or egg rolls along with this meal.	Mini Pepperoni Calzones ( I usually try and sneak in veggies in the sauce. For example, you could always finely chop your veggies and add it in the pizza sauce or buy a jar of sweet potatoes baby food and add it in. This adds to the nutrition without taking away the flavor.)
Turkey Hot dogs with chili and French fries	Campbell’s Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder over biscuits with a salad.

Altogether, for eight meals and feeding a family of four, dinners only cost around $51.50. This rounding out my prices to the highest end. Also, this is without using coupons. I have coupons on the soups and biscuits.

With breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, groceries will cost us around $20-$30 more for that week.

What is on your menu this week?
How do you save money? 

Brussel Sprouts in a Butter and Herb Cream Sauce

So I have been experimenting with foods lately and one of my favorite foods in brussel sprouts. I know, crazy, right? Well, my family is not a big fan of these little green round balls. But, I found a way to take away that bitterness and add some tastiness to it in the process. Now, let me tell you, if you are watching your wastelane you may want to tweak this a bit. It is not low calorie!
First off, you will need either frozen brussel sprouts or fresh. I personally use frozen because they are cheaper and easier to come by.
1 tbsp Butter/Margarine
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Dried Chives
Pinch Dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp Dried Parsley
1/4 c Heavy whipping cream

Unfortunately, these are just rough guess-stimates of my measurements because I usually eveball everything so forgive my cooking tactics! After cooking my brussels in the butter to just soft, I cut them in half, add all of the herbs and cook for a few more minutes. They may break up a little bit but that is okay. Towards the very end of my cooking I add in my heavy cream and let it sit on low for less than a minute. Generally, you do not want to cook cream because it has a tendancy to curdle.
Then, salt and pepper it to taste and voila! There it is, simple!

Miscarriage and Loss

Miscarriage and Loss - this is a term that is all too familiar to me and in my life. Finding out I was pregnant made me ecstatic, nervous, stressed, elated - every emotion under the sun. I just knew my daughter, who is my youngest, would be in love. My son, who is the oldest, has been there done that. He is like an old sole at times. He loves babies, loves seeing them, as does my daughter. I was excited in the sense to have a new addition to our family. But somehow, deep down, I knew this wouldn't be. A few weeks before miscarrying, I told my husband that I just knew that this wasn't meant to be; that I would not be able to carry this baby to term. He told me to not worry about it, that the more I thought like that then the more likely it would happen. When the day came that I was cramping terribly and my ultrasound yeilded no baby, I just knew that it was my fault. I knew that because these were my thoughts that this is why this happened. As I lay there, crying, waiting for the news that I knew was coming but wanted to deny was realistic, I knew that this was it.
Having to wait to see the doctor was the worst. I already knew I had no baby in my stomach, why did I need to see the doctor? For him to tell me what I already knew? This was shear torture, punishment. I did not want to talk to anyone, see anyone. I just wanted to go home and go to bed and just cry. Fourty-five minutes later, in walks the doctor. With his sincerity, he quickly rushed through the appointment that I did not want and sent me to the lab. There, they were not able to draw blood, sending me to the hospital. After four sticks with a needle, finally drawing out what needed to be taken, I would then return to that place four times for the same thing every other day - as ordered by my doctor.
Through all of this, I remember what it was like losing my first baby on Christmas day of 2005. You become depressed, people ask you what is wrong, you become a pin cushion. People solicit advice on how you should feel and why you should be thankful to of miscarried early. Why you should be thankful to already have two children.
You begin to lose yourself after a while.
People don't know that this advice is hurtful. I felt like saying that this was my baby, whether it be six weeks of six months along, it is still my baby. I am mourning because I just lost my child. I love the two children I have now, but I also loved the babies I lost, too.

I am better than what I once was. I can get through a day without crying. I can get through a day without wondering what could have been.

My Two Angel Babies

♥11/11/2010, 12/25/05♥