I decided to change my meal plan slightly today {which was actually Sunday, with two sick kids this took a minute to write. And by a minute, I mean 2 days}. If you recall from yesterday’s post, I was “planning” on making beef stew with skillet cornbread. But like I said in the comments to reader Tamara, I totally fudge my plan based on what’s on hand, whether or not I procrastinated, and other life factors. Today’s life factor was a tube of Sunsweet Prunes on the verge of expiring. Prunes, eww, right? Hey I bought them when I was … Continue reading

So you may recall that I hinted in a past post that I would share my focaccia recipe. Well a funny thing happened while I was in the process of writing that post. Ever the ADD addled multi-tasking person that I am, I was “watching” the Food Network while writing my Vines, Views, and Vinaigrette post. {If you recall, I was talking about how I like to put Trader Joe’s Everday seasoning on my homemade focaccia.} And on the Food Network was this show called My Grandmother’s Ravioli with Mo Rocca where they were making focaccia. Besides the strange coincidence, I noticed … Continue reading

For the last 3 weeks we have been “meal planning”, that is, planning out our meals for the week BEFORE going grocery shopping. It’s an awesome budgeting tool because we have spent less than $200 in two weeks {$67 this week and $90 the week before}. This is a huge deal for me because I usually spend about $120 a week at Super Target {so it includes all of my household needs in addition to grocery}. Quick shout out to The Frugal Girl and The Frugalette for the idea! What does this have to do with Cajun Chicken Pasta? Well … Continue reading

With all of this money drama and life changing stuff going on, I have been reading, appropriately, God Wants You to Be Rich-The Christian Guide to Financial Freedom & Unlimited Wealth. Not because being rich is one of my goals, that’s not what this book is about anyway, but because I want to be more in control of my financial life. Now, I have a very expensive useless MBA, so intellectually, I know how to manage my money. But knowing and doing are two different things. And the dichotomy between knowing and doing is about as Christian as you can get. … Continue reading

On Thursday, after the rain lifted and took my pity party with it, hubby and I decided to have our belated Valentines Day lunch. He had to work Tuesday and I am just terrible at getting anything done on a Monday or Tuesday. I think I get paralyzed on hubby’s working days or maybe I’m just overwhelmed doing everything solo {remember, there is a reason my kiddos are 8 years apart!}. It totally worked out though because the earlier part of the week was plagued with poopy weather. Also my super awesome mother in law sent us a gift card … Continue reading

Sorry I have been slacking on my posts. Truth is: I have been having a big ole pity party for myself and none of y’all were invited. I can get like that sometimes. When I get bummed out, I get all hermit-like. Even more hermit-like I should say. Have I ever told you how hard it is for me to leave my house? Not sure if I have agoraphobia or just extreme laziness, either way I have problems folks. So yeah, totally been whooping it up at my pity party. I’d post some pictures but they are depressing. What inspired … Continue reading

  My husband loves me.   Deeply.   Intensely.   So much so, that sometimes, it is hard to take it all in. Hard to believe that I get all of this just for being. Or specifically, for being me.   I don’t feel worthy.   And I cannot believe my luck.   How did I land such a man?   Today after getting my hair done, totally re-done, cut, styled, fancy peek-a-boo highlights, the whole shebang….     ….I come home to a husband that is so thrilled with the results that he really wants to get me upstairs.   … Continue reading

As you know, I take most of my pictures with my iPhone. The awesome part about taking photos with your iPhone, other than the fact that you have it with you all the time, is that you can edit on the spot and use apps from the iTunes App Store to accomplish cool effects. So when I was looking in the App Store the other day (for a new watermarking app, obviously) and I accidentally hit the “Featured” icon, I found a new and FREE (gangsta!) photo effects app called Hubba Hubba. I downloaded it right away because there is no … Continue reading

So this may be a little off topic for a mom blog, but hey, this is my platform for expounding on things that quite frankly piss me off or at least give me pause.  This did a little of both. What is “this” you say? “This” is an email sent to me by an iTunes app developer after I reported a bug in the app that basically rendered it unusable. Was I nice in the complaint? No, not at all. Could I have been nice? Maybe, but who is when something they use daily and count on stops working? That’s … Continue reading

So as you may or may not know, we love us some hockey in this house. More specifically, we love our Los Angeles Kings. But ever since Dustin Penner joined the Kings late last season, he has been something of a running joke in this house {and I think other households too} for his failure to, well, score. Dustin Penner rally towel anyone? Inside joke…a very inappropriate one at that. Anyhoo, the current running joke/press linking Penner with pancakes and the ensuing nicknames, Pennercakes, aka Penner Pancakes, aka Uncle Penner’s pancakes, etc have actually endeared the guy to us. So … Continue reading