Organized for the Holidays?

Have you looked at the date? 8/31/15. Do you know how few weeks are left before the holidays are upon us?

I used to stress a LOT when thinking of this. There is always so much to do. I normally host both Thanksgiving and Christmas for my family. And since we have moved away from all of our extended family, yep, the task is on me every holiday now.

Shopping, budgets, meals, gifts, decorations...ahhhhhh stop the madness! It can be very overwhelming to say the least. Most people just go along their way, while hating the holidays more and more and they can't wait until it's all over. That's not how I want my holidays to be! I love Thanksgiving and Christmas the most. And since becoming a grandmother, Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning. I want to relish each and every moment slowly.

And now that we have the boys living with us, I want to relish those moments even more. I want to plan fun activities and adventures for the boys. I want them to be able to look back and say I always loved Christmas with my Mammaw!

There are so many traditions to pass on.

One of my favorite traditions is what I like to call our Christmas Baking Palooza! It's happened every year with Braedan and now Cameron gets to join in the fun. Every year I get a list of all of the yummy treats I want to make for the season. Cookies, cakes, fudge all kinds of yummy bits! Then we choose one day and we make everything! We make several batches also so we can give these yummy goodies to friends and family. It's gone over quite well with the adult children in my life, and Braedan is having a great time handing out treats to his other grandparents as well!

I'll be starting my organizing/cleaning/list making for Christmas this week. Yes I know it's only August. Do you remember me telling you I'm a list person? Well along with that goes I'm a planning person. I don't want to wait until the last minute to plan anything. Yes I love spontaneity, but when it comes to something as huge as the holidays, I want most things planned on paper where I can see what I have going on, when it's going on, what's my cost for what's going on. I want all the little details. The little details can make or break an event or gathering.

Of course you know what's coming next don't you? Binders!!!! You know me so well :) I have found a couple of programs online that I have been following for a few years now. They give me the ability to have a stress free holiday and love every minute of the time I get to spend. They are both put out by Organized Christmas. You just need to decide which plan you really want to do and go for it. Both plans began yesterday 8/30/15, see I'm not the only one thinking ahead!!

The first one, The Holiday Grand Plan can be found here. It's really in depth and takes cleaning and organizing to a crazy level :) This is the one that I have done for years. But this year, I found something that I think will work even better from the folks at Organized Christmas.

The House and Holidays Plan. Same type of info and tasks, but seriously, why clean the attic for Christmas when no one is going to be in the attic? Or the garage or this or that. This plan is a simpler version of the Holiday Grand Plan, with all of the same great information.

I will be working on my Christmas Central location, also known as my desk in my bedroom office. Yes it needs a ton of help. Way too much is disorganized there, I have no idea what half of those papers are and more than likely, they can be shredded and thrown out! Since I use this space every day for my jobs, it can get quite messy quite quickly. This is my mail center, my I'll look at this later center, my homework center for me, my everything really. And it's stressful when there is no organization. I know I put a piece of mail somewhere on this desk and now cannot find it, well it's probably under that 2 ton stash of mail/magazines/etc that you call your look at later pile. Seriously, this has to go! Of course, since this area is in my bedroom, this means that while getting this organized, I'll have to get other areas organized at the same time so it all flows really well.

Both plans have a ton of printables for you and I promise, you will find that following either one, will make your holidays more enjoyable and you will see a huge difference in your joy level! Come join me in this fun adventure and let me know where you are at and how you are doing in it!

I'll be sure to post some pictures of the outcome, there is no way I'm posting pictures of the before ;) Add your pictures as well, let's support each other in our goal of an organized, blessed, wonderful, joyful holiday season!


Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

 Shelly

Serious topic this morning. Your health.

 I know, I know, no one likes to talk about their health! It's boring, most of us already know we could be doing so much better where our diet is concerned. But it's a topic that needs to be talked about, it needs to be shouted from rooftops and made a daily conversation at the dinner table or when sharing your day with your significant other or bestie!

One health topic that is a huge one for us is Diabetes. The mere mention of the word sends my mind reeling. The diet, the sugar testing, the medications, all the complications that can arise. It's a very scary disease. And anyone who has this in their family needs to be concerned not only for the family members who suffer from it, but also for themselves. 

It's an ugly word for sure. My husband was diagnosed with Diabetes 2 years ago, and in my opinion probably should have been diagnosed a long time before that.

I have to watch my diet very well now also. Both of my parents and my brother have been diagnosed with Diabetes. I have always been hypoglycemic so I am at more than a good risk to be diagnosed with this condition.

I check my sugar 4 times a day, watch my carb and calorie intake, I've never eaten so well in my life! I try, TRY being the key word here, to get some kind of exercise daily (as if chasing a toddler around wasn't enough!) I take my medications like I'm supposed to but let's face it, this is so time consuming.

I've found a few websites that help me tremendously with all these tasks. My favorite one by far is Go Meals. This lets you track sugar, carbs, calories and activities for the day. Then you can print out weekly reports that you can take to your doctor. By far one of the best resources available.

I know a lot of people think Diabetes is a death sentence. It's not and can be controlled. And honestly, if you cook right, you don't miss a thing! Yes you can still have that ice cream or piece of birthday cake, just use moderation! When my husband was first diagnosed, I thought wow, how do I cook meals for him now. So I went searching on the internet for the best resources for recipes, funny thing is, it's not necessarily what you cook, but how you cook it and how much you portion it! I found some wonderful cookbooks on Amazon.com that I highly recommend!

I am absolutely in love with this one! A full year of recipes without ever repeating a meal!

Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cook Book. 

Another really great one is

You Don't Have to be Diabetic to Love This Cookbook: 250 Amazing Dishes for People With Diabetes and Their Families and Friends

I have so many little booklets also that I can track my sugar on. All boring and ugly lol I have to make sure I add checking my sugar on my daily planning sheet or yep, you guessed it, I just space it and don't do it. So I made myself a pretty little printable to go along with my daily planner that gives me all the info I need and then I can plug my numbers into the website of my choice or take directly to my next dr.s appointment with me. You can download it here in my health printables folder.  I'll be working on my health binder printables soon also!

I hope you take your health as serious as I now take mine, we have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of our loved one. Each one of us has someone who depends on us, don't let them down!


Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

 Shelly

Boys room

So when the boys came to us, our extra bedroom was my office. It had first been my office/Braedan's room, but since he never slept in the bed we bought for him, I sold it! Shame on me!!!

Since coming to us, we have turned that room back into their bedroom, however some of my office remnants remain. Well that is about to change. I discovered Ikea. How come no one ever told me about this place before??? Holy Jalapeno (yes I watch entirely too much Disney Jr)!!! I was in heaven walking through that place. Oh so many items I wanted!

Well it's high time the boys get a little boys room all their own. I have painstakingly gone through the Ikea website and picked out pieces that are much needed for organization. Bunk beds are the way to go. Since Cameron is almost 2 years old, he is ready for a big boy bed, just have to make sure to get a bed rail and he gets the bottom bunk. Lots of cubbies and trays and fun containers for all the treasures lil boys hold so dear.

I also found beautiful bed linens, lamps and other items on Amazon.com that I will be ordering. All in all just a little over $1500 will be spent (at least on my paper) to make this room a wonderful little boy hang out that will be well lit, beautifully organized and fun for play/homework and sleep.

I'll be taking some before and after photos, be prepared for a shock! I know I'm in shock just looking at the list and thinking of the beautiful possibilities!

All of my planned purchases can be found on my Pinterest board :)


Follow Shelly's board Boys room on Pinterest.

I'll update as the room progresses, big changes are a coming!!! I cannot wait to get started on this room for the boys. Of course I may change my mind as to the theme of the room, but the furniture is a sure thing!

Of course nothing I do can be done without checklists :) Check out my new printables for room renovation here!

Have you totally remade a room that you are proud to show off? Share your story in the comments below!  



Until next post, Have a very blessed day, Shelly

College life

We are sending our youngest son off to college! He will be going to a local community college, but still, college none the less. I too am in college classes. With all the websites, classes, instructors and homework, it's very easy to become disorganized really quick!

I have to admit, I'm OCD when it comes to keeping class information organized. I'm one to pour through the syllabus and write down assignment dates and what we are going over in my calendar so I don't forget anything. I tend to never look at the syllabus again actually once I have everything in my calendar.

But why keep the information in so many different places? If I had a place where I could keep all information about school together, wouldn't that just make more sense? Of course it would, but you know, I have to go through trial and error first before I finally get it all together. Then my mind quickly ran to binders! My mind said to me, "you have a binder for everything else, why don't you have one for your classes?" "Hmmmm, how right you are right self!"

So I sat down and thought about what I needed for my college binder. I know what information I want to keep close at hand and decided I would only put that information in my minder, no need to add things, it will just clutter it up. This binder set is simple, yet very functional. I made one for my son and one for myself, and will be adding more colors also as I like to change things up a bit :)

This is specifically directed at college students, I know here, our school system gives each student a planner/calendar and it's a wonderful bound book. No need to re-invent the wheel ya know?

In my binder package I have a cover page of course, every binder has to have a pretty or nice looking cover right?

Then I made printables for semester info, student info, class info and a perpetual calendar. I have 2 colors as of right now, khaki and tiffany blue. Working on getting others completed and will post links to those as soon as I get them up!  I love the look and feel of these printables, and can't wait to use them during this semester. Who knows what I will come up as the semester goes along that can be added.

Do you have an idea for a printable that should be in this package? Let me know, I'd love to add anything that will be useful!

You can download the khaki binder here. 
And the tiffany blue binder here.


I'll be making more printables soon to share, remember, if you have any to add, leave me a comment. Want something you don't see here? Leave me a comment! 

I hope you enjoy these and get a ton of use from them!

Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

 Shelly

Another devastating diagnosis

 Friday July 31 another specialist appointment. Another devastating diagnosis.

Cameron has had so many devastating diagnoses in the last 18 months.

Schizencephaly, in which we found out 25% of his brain is missing. This is the big one. You can read more about this very very rare condition at we are rare.

Also diagnosed with Polymicrogyria. Many small wrinkles on the brain. More information about this condition can be found here.

And now, we get the Cerebal Palsy diagnosis. I'm still processing this information. I don't know what this means for our little guy, but I do know this, he will continue to move mountains to reach those stars and God has very special plans for him! I still need to process this information more before I can grasp it, come to term with it, and get another plan of action together!

Any and all prayers are very welcomed for our sweet lil boy!

Our beautiful sweet boy enjoying his frozen candy at big brothers football practice.

Yep, he loves his candy!

Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

Shelly

Summer Fun

 Summer has been sorta blah around here this year. It rained the entire month of June. The boys were stuck inside the house the whole month. Thank goodness July and August have been a bit better! And with that, we now have PeeWee football to look forward to!

This is our first year with Braedan and football. He is loving it, we are loving it! He plays quarterback on offense and safety on defense! It's been quite interesting to watch these littles come together to play as team and learn everything about the game.

This is a fantastic organization, who believes in the boys showing respect at all times and doing what is necessary, including homework. School doesn't start here for a couple of weeks, but the coach has already told the players, if they get a color change in school, they will be running laps. And they are very serious about it. Already, if the boys are all hyped up and aren't listening, they are made to run laps.

I think this is going to be a very good thing for Braedan. It's teaching him teamwork, listening skills, and making him feel like he is a part of something much bigger than himself! And who knows, he may just love it so much that he decides football is his calling!

What organized sports do your children participate in? Have you noticed changes in their behavior or attitude? Let me know your story below!



Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

Shelly

Beef Pot Pie Freezer Meal

Now I couldn't leave out beef for pot pies. I swear my husband thinks there is no other meat than beef. This is as simple as the chicken pot pie meal and tastes just as good.

This recipe makes one pot pie, so you will want to double, triple, or even quadruple for your freezer cooking session.

You'll need:
1 pound sirloin steak (stew meat or cubed roast works well also)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can beef broth
3 large carrots, diced
3 potatoes, cubed
1 cup frozen peas or green beans
1 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup water
Pie crusts (I use a deep dish frozen crust for the bottom and the pre-made crusts found in the dairy section for the top)

Directions:
In a saucepan over medium heat, brown the beef on all sides. Pour in some water to almost cover. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer until meat is tender and falls apart easily, about 2-3 hours. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and shred slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
In another saucepan over medium heat, pour in broth and add carrots and potatoes. Cook until almost tender, about 15-20 minutes.
Transfer these to the mixing bowl with the beef, leaving the liquid in the pan. Add the peas (beans)  and corn.
Dissolve the cornstarch with the 1/3 cup water. Pour into the sauce pan of beef broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat, cook for 5 minutes.
Pour the gravy over the beef/vegetable mixture in the bowl.
 Add this to your pie crust, top with top crust, trim, and seal.
Place in zip lock bag or seal with your seal a meal.
To bake:
Thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Add a salad and some crusty bread and you've got a wonderful hot, quick meal!



Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

Shelly

Chicken Pot Pie Freezer Meal

This is probably my all time favorite freezer meal to fix. A large version of one of our favorite quick to go meals. This one is very inexpensive to make and will go along way. It's one of those stick to your ribs kind of meals that will not leave anyone hungry!

The original recipe I found said this yielded 2 pies per recipe, but I get 4 pies out of each batch!

What you'll need:
4 cups cooked chicken, cubed
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup frozen peas or green beans
1 cup frozen corn
Pie crust for 4 9" double crust pies. (I use 4 deep dish frozen crusts for the bottoms and the already made pie crust from the dairy section for my top crusts.)

Directions:
Boil potatoes and carrots in large stockpot. In another pot, boil chicken for 8 minutes or until done. Drain vegetables and chicken and set aside.
In a large skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme, and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil and stir for 2 minutes until thickened.  Add chicken, peas (or beans), corn, potatoes, and carrots. Remove from heat.

Add 1/4 mixture to each bottom crust. Top with top crust and trim and seal. I then use my seal a meal to individually wrap each pie. You can use a gallon size zip lock bag for each one if you do not have a seal a meal system.

To cook: Bake one pie at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand for about 15 minutes before slicing.

Add in a nice side salad and some fruit for a well balanced meal.

What is your favorite pot pie meal/recipe? Leave me a comment below!


Until next post, Have a very blessed day,

Shelly

Hearty Beef Stew Freezer Meal

 We love to have a really good, thick, rich, and hearty beef stew on those very cold winter nights. This one I found has been a tremendous hit! (Shhh don't tell the hubs there is mushroom soup in here, he would refuse to eat it even though this is his favorite stew!)

Very simple to throw together and cook!

Recipe makes one stew:
1 pound stew beef (you can also take a nice rump roast and cube it up if you find a really great deal)
4 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, cut into large cubes
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 pkg frozen green beans
1 pkg frozen corn

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a zip lock gallon size freezer bag. Mix in the bag. Label and freeze. When ready to cook, remove from freezer and thaw for 24 hours ( I've placed mine frozen in the crock pot same day and still have the same great results). Place in crock pot and cook on low for 7-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.

This is great when served with a nice crusty Italian or French bread along side!

I normally make 3-4 of these for my freezer.

Do you have a favorite beef stew, soup or other stew recipe? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it!


Until next post, Have a very blessed day,


 Shelly

Twice Baked Potates Freezer Meal

This has quickly become one of my favorite recipes for side dishes for the freezer. I can take out just the amount of potatoes I need for the meal and have a very satisfying side dish!

You will need the following:

8 large baking potatoes, baked
2 Tbsp butter, softened
3/4 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
1 c. of your favorite shredded cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
4 green onions, sliced

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the center of each one. You want to leave a nice shell with some potato still attached to the skin.
Place scooped potato in a large bowl, add butter, milk, and egg and beat with mixer until smooth. Add some of your cheese to this mixture.
Heap this potato mixture back into your shells, top with more cheese, bacon, and green onions.
Flash freeze by placing potatoes on baking sheet into freezer for at least 30 minutes. After this time, take out and place each potato in a zip lock baggie. You can then place all of these in a larger gallon size baggie to keep them all together.

To serve: Take out the number of potatoes needed for the meal, thaw completely and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Top with sour cream if you would like. Enjoy!

Until next post, Have a Blessed day,

Shelly

Chicken and Wild Rice Freezer Meal

This is one of my favorite meals to prep for the freezer. So simple and very delicious. I usually make 2-4 of these at one time so I have plenty on hand in the freezer for a quick dinner idea. Pair this with a favorite bread and a beautiful salad and you have a great meal.

You will want to double, triple or quadruple this recipe depending on how many you need to make. This recipe makes one casserole.

1 box wild rice with seasoning packet. (4.3 oz size)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of water
1 small can of mushrooms, drained
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you can use thighs also if you like) uncooked

1. Mix rice, seasoning, soups, and water together in a bowl. Add mushrooms.
2. Pour this mixture into an 8x8 aluminum baking pan. Top with the chicken pieces.

Top with the lid, and if you like, double wrap in foil and label. Place in the freezer.

To cook: Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour or until chicken juices run clear.

Note: I have adapted this recipe from one found here.

If you try this let me know how you like it! Have you made changes that you just love? Leave me a comment below!

Have a Blessed day,

Shelly

Freezer Cooking

Let's talk freezer cooking. Have you heard of this wonderful phenomenon? I think it's actually been going on for a very long time, but with the advent of social media, the internet, and blogs, it now has an official name. Google the term "freezer cooking" and see how much info is out there, go ahead, I'll wait..........

Did you see the number of blogs and websites and pins devoted to this new hobby? The wealth of information regarding freezer cooking is astronomical! And for good reason. It's a wonderful way to have stress free meals all the time. And it can be done in a variety of ways.

First thing you need of course, is a freezer! I have a wonderful stand up deep freeze that I adore. I will never be without a freezer again. My freezer has been another life saver, especially since our boys came to us.

Second thing you are going to need, recipes. Your favorite recipes can most likely be turned into freezer cooking selections!

Third thing you will need: bags, containers, and a seal a meal system. I use a combination of all 3 for my freezer cooking. The Dollar Tree is a great place to go. I use gallon and quart size zip lock freezer baggies, aluminum tins of all different shapes and sizes, with lids, and then my seal a meal system.

I'll post some of my favorite recipes as we go along but you will want to do your research and get recipes that of course your family will eat, I mean honestly, this is to help you save time and money, and if you have to throw out that casserole because no one likes it, you really aren't saving money!

You can add to your freezer meals in a few different ways. When you cook a meal, you can make a second exact meal and place one on the freezer. You can buy all the ingredients necessary to make a batch of meals and spend an entire weekend prepping these meals and add to the freezer. You can make a small batch of meals from meat you found on sale, such as chicken, just grab your fave chicken recipes and make a batch of meals. It's all up to you how you want to do it. I tried to do the freezer cooking in one weekend, honestly; it's not for me. I was exhausted and that entire weekend is a blur!

I love to do small batch freezer cooking though. Especially if I find a great deal on a certain meat, or I pick up a meat package from my local butcher. I choose my meals carefully, get all ingredients and containers and go to town. Then my freezer is filled somewhat with delicious meals that all I have to do is throw in my crock pot or thaw/bake in the oven and dinner is served.

Of course you'll want to keep track of what you have on hand in the freezer so you can make your monthly meal plan easily. Just use the freezer inventory sheet found here.

Do you have a special tip or recipe you love for freezer cooking? I would love to hear about it, please feel free to share in the comments below!

My families favorite recipes coming soon :)

Until next post, Have a Blessed day!

Shelly

Sleep number sheets

So we have a Sleep Number bed. Love love love my bed, but that's a different story. We purchased special sheets for this bed when we purchased the bed. The bed is a King, split as both side are manipulated on their own base.

It's been a few years now, almost 3 actually since we purchased the bed and sheets. Our great Dane, Roscoe, thinks this is his bed if no one is in it. Since the time of purchasing said sheets, he has managed to create holes which become large rips in the sheets. Of course this drove me nuts as I really do not have money in the budget for a new set of Sleep Number sheets for this bed. I just checked the pricing again and the sheet is $179.99! This includes 2 special twin sheets and a top sheet. Special financing is available. This is nuts, financing sheets??? There has to be a better way.

Yes these sheets are fitted to the mattresses of the Sleep Number system, and the only real difference I can see is the elastic bands that are on the corners of the sheets that hold the sheet on as you raise the head/foot of the bed. Hmmm.....this got me thinking...surely I can make this right?

Well I'm proud to say YES, YES I can! I went to Walmart, (I hate shopping Walmart most of the time, people are rude, there's never stock and why why why do they have 40 check out lanes and only 3 cashiers no matter what time you go in?) Anyway, I was able to find a basic twin fitted bottom sheet for only $4.97 each (x2). Then I went into the sewing department and picked up some elastic (I totally over estimated the amount of elastic I would need), for $1.77.

After getting home I took one of the original Sleep Number sheets and measured the elastic and used it as a guide as to where to place my elastic strips. I began to sew. Now, sewing is NOT my forte. I'm still learning what all this machine does, but I can do a basic straight stitch like a winner! The job is not beautiful by any means, I used white thread when I should have used dark blue, it's not completely straight, yada yada. If you come over to see the corners of my sheets, we've got other issues to talk about. In the grand scheme of things, the sheets work beautifully! Fit the bed really well and the sheets do not come off the bed when it is raised/lowered. So win win for me! $179.99 vs $11.71. Yeah I'll take the latter please!

Moral of this story, just because it's out there doesn't mean it's the only option! I was able to save myself $168.28 just by thinking I could make something work, and I did! If your goal is to save money, live as frugal as you can (as you want to be), then always think outside the box to see what you can do yourself before you make that really expensive purchase!

Do you have a DIY tip you would like to share? Something that would have cost your next born child but you were able to make at home for a fraction of the cost? Leave me a comment below, I would love to hear about it!

Until next post, Have a wonderfully Blessed day!

Shelly