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Ch-ch-ch-changes….

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Our fluffy, fatty learned to climb and jump and last night he decided to pull an all-nighter. Cats. Dirty little stay-out!!

Back-to-school always brings a new routine with it and, try as we might, it ALWAYS takes a couple of weeks of tweaking and a TON of patience as we all get in to our new groove.  I’m a structured person and change is rarely easy on me, however, God’s grace can carry us through…..if we let it and so far……so far…..a fairly successful week.  We only have a few binders to purchase and some extra loose leaf paper…not bad, not bad…

1.  Oldest son started high school.  New faces, new classes, taking the bus for the first time EVER and so far….so far…..he only got on the wrong bus the first day (coming home).  Aside from that, it appears his transition–especially the waking @ 5:30 a.m. change, has gone pretty well.

2.  Youngest son’s academic brilliance overshines his common sense on occasion and had a little lapse of such during a rainy afternoon resulting in major miscommunication with Dad.  All ended well, its times like these that I have to keep repeating to myself……he’s only 13, he isn’t using his full brain yet…he’s only 13….it’s painful though.

3.  Oldest daughter forgot her backpack one day BUT remembered her lunch.  Dad to the rescue which meant getting snagged in morning school traffic….GRRRRr…..tweak, tweak, tweak….must get in the habit of remembering all that’s to be remembered…

4.  With rain ALL week long the girls FINALLY had practices last night, so we’ve had mostly all family dinners this week!  Which I love.  And which will also be the biggest challenge for me with these evening practices messing up our dinner schedules, but see how good God is??….he eased me into it this week.  How often do YOU have family dinners??

This puppy is on sale now and has some GREAT dinner ideas….a lovely addition for our weeknight dinners…save money….save time…eat well….I like it, I like it!!

5.  Hubby has taken on the coupon challenge and is in the researching phase (and accumulation phase) of coupons and how to work the sales.  He is a detail guy and has infinitely more patience than I in these matters and I look forward to him steering this ship AND saving us some cash!!!  We’ve reigned in our grocery bill for our family of 6 (2 teen boys included) to roughly $600/mo…but I know we can go lower.  What’s your average??

6.  I finally broke down and bought new sneakers.  My work ones are shot, so I’ll swap out my walking ones for work (not my favorites) and use my new ones for walking.  Broke them in on the track at practice last night….3 miles!!  Nice.  Add to that 2 days at the gym (3 today) and I’m feeling pretty good about this week.  Woop woop!!  Definitely helps to manage the stress level!!

My feet liked these….on sale@ Kohl’s…

7.  Having dinner and a night out with one of my oldest girlfriends tonight and several other high school friends. She’s in town from California and it’s going to be a min-high school reunion!  She and I have been friends since 7th grade!!  It will be fun…but with an early game tomorrow morning this Mama will be home early-ish so I’m not so grumpy tomorrow.  That leaves Hubby on practice drop off/pick up, etc, etc….he’s the Bomb and a Blessing.  Balance.  All Balance.  A constant work in motion, isn’t it??  Have  a great weekend!!

Join in @ Conversion Diary and check out what Jen and the rest of the world have been up to!

Road trip!

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Waycross, GA. or as I like to refer to our little trip as Waaaaaaaay-‘cross Georgia..

School is upon us and we can no longer deny the fact that the lazy days of summer are crashing to a close.  The kids will be grudgingly turning in sooner, waking earlier and submitting to whatever form of homework their teachers proffer (while Hubby and I pray we can keep up and help them if needed–mostly we just stay out-of-the-way!).  With the addition of cheer and soccer (which I’ve mentioned a zillion times already) as well as band commitments, I realized my traveling-for-fun weekends are done.  So, I decided to take a “quick” 8 hour road trip up to spend time with my girlfriend in Atlanta.  Her Hubby was traveling for work and her boys were on a school retreat, so the girls and I made the trek for a super-quick all-girls Road trip.  Let’s just say, I’ve cured myself for a bit.  I’m not as young as I used to be, but I can definitely say…..it was well worth the effort!

A visual “Quick Takes” of our road trip and the you can check in with Jen @ Conversion Diary and LOTS of other people, too!  Enjoy!!

1.

Our sassy girl found a little mailbox that reminded her of our cat during our little exploration of Roswell’s “Alive after Five” event in historic downtown Roswell. Tons to do and see and eat (if you want to wait an hour….)

2.

Bulloch Hall. A pic for my Hubby who is a big Teddy Roosevelt fan….so this will do until he can see the childhood plantation home of President Roosevelt’s mum!

3.

A pic for my meat and sausage and BACON loving boy! Provisions…quite the happenin’ spot as we picked up some sausage for my girlfriend’s lasagna the next day…sadly it was forgotten in the trunk until the next day! OOPS!

4.

The girls enjoyed the burlap chairs and couches @ Provisions (a super quaint and old-timey spot) as well as great people watching and super tempting delicacies all around…dinner was CALLING!

5.

The. BEST. Part of the evening (for the girls)…topless in the Beamer….”put your hands in the air like you don’t care!” They loved it and are now spoiled for all other vehicles. Poor dears.

6.

Cruising through downtown ATL. The girls were fascinated by the toll booths–apparently they forgot we actually have a few in Orlando…***the girls were iPhone-shooting all pics from the car, not me.…PuhLEEZE!! I was white gripping that wheel like a maniac!!

7.

Had to stop and get a photo OP with ‘Mater in a little used car parts/pieces place just south of Waycross. Although that doesn’t explain why our youngest’s shorts are pulled up like Erkel….ah well, whatcha gonna do?

***a couple bonus shots…

8.

My girlfriend’s AHHHHHH-some deck. We most certainly spent ALL morning on this baby, chatting, reading, drinking coffee and enjoying the breeze, the shade and each other’s company. Simply the best part of their renovation–and their kitchen is to die for–but this….this is beyond peaceful.

 

Taz enjoys the deck also. What he wasn’t all the interested in were 2 little paparazzi who wanted to use his image on their Baldify app….

 

9.

Nothing like a rainbow to settle your nerves after a good storm on the road

Happy weekend y’all!

 

 

 

 

 

Manic Monday

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After the whirlwind weekend comes crazy Monday….

Starting off innocently and with bright hopes for the day with a great boot camp, shower, some quiet time and then off to wake up the littlest (our older girl had a sleepover) and then…..at 7:22 a.m. as I was gently waking her and asking what she wanted for breakfast….I realized….I……was the early person.  Yes, the person who “opens up” at 7:30 a.m.  Oh.  crud.  Bless her heart,she opened those eyes and joined “Team Mom” and dressed and got ready in record time as I made lunches and got myself ready.  I made it to work @ 8:06 and FORTUNATELY had NO patients waiting…..phew!!!

Nothing like a little adrenaline to start the day.

The evening was apparently a bit of a peek into what the next few months have in store for us with dueling sports/practices/games going on.  We’ve done this before and I guess enough time must have passed that I forgot how psycho that time was….kind of like being pregnant/giving birth/babies.  So….here we go again.  Lord, have mercy on us.

We have a cheerleader for a Pop Warner football league and a soccer player entering the club bracket for the first time.  We will have NO.  LIFE.   for the next four months. So call me.  maybe.  or text.  or email.  or Facebook me.  or read my blog, it may get interesting as the seasons start (because we’re still in “practice” with no games until September)….on a plus side, I’ll be getting lots of cardio in during the practices, so there’s that.

I thought it went fairly well with Hubby on “deliver-the-girls to practice” duty and me on pick-up.  I had son #2 put dinner in the oven and Hubby would be home in time from his swim to dish it out and get the sides ready, except………somehow…..the oven didn’t actually get turned ON.   Therefore….pancakes, eggs and hash for dinner.  And it was ready.  My Hubby rocks.  and he makes great pancakes, too!  😉

So…..little speedbumps to smooth out…but that’s what practice runs are for, right?   Boys and girls we learned a few good lessons today:

1) Make sure you know WHEN you are supposed to be somewhere.

2) Make lunches the night before.  Time saver here.

3) Teach the boy to push the button PROPERLY…

4)  Always have  pancakes, eggs and hash on hand.  oh, and chocolate chips.  they go good in pancakes and in a REAL crisis you can just eat them by the handful.

Spastic Sunday….

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Sunday.  A day of rest.  After our “shopping Saturday melee” you’d think I’d really take advantage of that….and the day started out innocently enough:  Mass and donuts and then home for a “Teamwork” chores activity and by Noon, the house was clean, laundry was going, it was raining (again–thankfully!) and we were one kid down for a sleepover.  Then I don’t know what happened.

I had to take our youngest to get shoes (shoes and supplies are essentially all that’s left on the school shopping list) for her and her sister, who told us what she wanted…we ran a couple of other errands (buttons to bling up her backpack and a new pillow for my awful, aching neck), somehow managed to drop her off at her friends (now down two kids to friends) and made it home.

Love this cookbook!!

Sitting for a few minutes I remembered I really wanted to cook a few meals ahead and freeze because we have an insane couple of weeks with practices nightly until 7:30 and it’s so much nicer if dinner is READY when we get home.  So I began.  Sometimes when I do stuff like this, it is utter chaos….controlled, mind you….but there is nothing anyone can do to help me because it would take WAY too long to explain the stream of consciousness going on in my head and here’s the breakdown that took place in the two hour period:

(It’s kind of like “If you give a mouse a cookie“….I am the mouse.)

  • I fried up some bacon because bacon=yummy dinner to my kids
  • I chopped and caramelized onions in the bacon drippings because kids don’t mind onions if they taste like bacon
  • I browned some ground beef added the onions and split it up for two dinners
  • I made some coffee and sweetened condensed milk ice cubes for my weekend iced coffees
  • I hardboiled a dozen eggs because we had a ton in the fridge
  • I had leftover SCMilk so I made a killer chocolate cake
  • I made two shrimp quiches and had leftover cream so…..
  • I made homemade whipped cream for the cake
  • I finished dinner for that night which was SOOOOO easy and so delicious that my 9-year-old daughter’s friend said, “Let me know the next time you have this and I’ll drive myself over here!”  Here’s that recipe:

Spray a 13X9 pan and place chicken breasts in pan

Pour a jar of Alfredo sauce over chicken

Sprinkle bacon crumbs over sauce

Grate Havarti cheese and sprinkle over bacon

Bake @ 375 for 20-30 minute (until chicken is done)….enjoy!

I ran out of steam and then had a mountain of a mess to clean up, but I am hoping that it helps our hellish evenings go a little smoother knowing that dinner is ready when we get home.  How do YOU prepare for your crazy nights without Driving Through and killing your budget???

Now it didn’t go as planned on Monday….but that’s another post!  Have a blessed day!

Sweet nectar…

Saturday, snooze, snacks and shopping…

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As of right now, we have 15 days of summer left (for those people in this who don’t hold full-time jobs), so that means since it was raining AND tax-free weekend we attacked the bulk of the school shopping on Saturday.  Somehow, I managed to guilt Hubby into coming (who would rather you play Beethoven’s 5th on a chalkboard with your nails than to go shopping).  Sadly, I didn’t really think about the lethal combination of Tax-free shopping+rainy Saturday+Son#2 who shares Daddo’s extreme dislike for all things shopping…..anyone have a lighter and an aerosol can???  I’ll spare you the details, but trust me on this….That.  Combination.  Will.  NOT.  Happen.  Again.  Ever.  The good news is, we are all aware of this now and on the same page.  The other good news is that after 2 thrift stores and Old Navy we completed the bulk of the shopping.  The OTHER good news is that over a dinner of pizza and Wings (I worked OT remember????) all was well.  

We (meaning the cat) also took advantage of the rainy day and snoozed….

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We (meaning ME) also made some snacks….Lemon Puppy Chow via A Sweeter Thing….Oh.  My.  YUM!  I had no lemons (apparently someone ate them….) so I used lemon extract…it worked…

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And to sum up the day with the BEST.  PURCHASE.  EVER.  Really.  If you knew this kid, you’d understand how perfect this shirt is for him…maybe you have one of your own….

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OK, that’s all for now…but fear not…it was a busy weekend and there’s some seriousness on bullying, some manic cooking and bedazzling that occurred…I also uploaded Evernote and Skitch…to help me be more productive…kind of an oxymoron since they are sure to take plenty of my time to master!!  Either way, stay tuned!  Now I have to get in bed…Boot camp is calling me (my last week of early a.m. craziness, we’ll just move it to the cheer fields @ night!).