Ben's Bday present

I finished Hobbes a little after two this morning. Ben was so happy! I was double guessing if he was too old for a stuffed animal or not, but he loves it!

It's hard to believe he is already 8. It really does seem just like yesterday.

Breakfast conversation

Cate: Ellie, you should give me your phone number when you grow up if you have this cream of wheat.
Ellie: Why?
Cate: So we can have a sleepover and you can make this for me in the morning.
Elllie: I already have a phone.
Cate: Yeah, but you're not married yet.

Challenge 3

This week's challenge is to buy only generic brands and see how much you saved. As my shopping list for this week is fruit and chicken, there are no name brands to buy. Also, there are only a couple of name brands food I HAVE to have. The rest seems the same to me. Not a very refined pallet, but somehow I survive just fine.

Challenge 2

So last week's challenge was to make a list and not buy a single thing NOT on it. As I did not go shopping last week, I did it!! Yeah- But I am about to go check what this week's challenge is, so I'm not letting my head get too big quite yet! Josh would probably say it's a little too late for that, but what does he know?

update

Receipts: So since June 20th, I have already spent around ...$800! That is as much as I need to spend in a MONTH! Hopefully, I am pretty set for the rest of the month and will only have limited expenses. I'll let you know.
Menu: So far, I've done pretty well. Only one night didn't go as planned and we hit the drive-thru. Boo! I hate being accountable. Even if it is only to myself!

Menu for the week

So here is my menu for the week:
Friday: Applebee's
Saturday: BBQ chip coated Orange Roughy, garlic mashers & carrots
Sunday: Grilled chicken thighs, corn & beans
Monday: Crab topped fish, sweet potato & apple saute
Tuesday: Smother chicken, noodles, beans
Wednesday: Steak with peppered onions, broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes
Thursday: Chicken in lime butter, noodles & zucchini
Friday: Skillet fish with spinach, rice pilaf

6 out of 7 are new recipes, so here's to the unknown. And yet another trip to all the stores in town!

Something new, well not really, something a bit more challenging

My friend Camille sent me this link and I am up! I am going off the deep end as far as wanting to simplify my life. Yesterday was toys (gasp!), today is something very near and dear to my heart...office supplies!!! Not sure I will make it out alive, but I am going in.

While I am in a hurricane of clutter and chaos, why not add another challenge and do a complete make-over? No one would ever accuse me of staying stagnant.

Sooooo this week's challenge is-making and KEEPING a menu. I would like to say that I have always enjoyed menu planning. I love thinking about food, making shopping lists, figuring out what kind of meals we will want depending on schedule & weather. (Tonight we are having beef stew and homemade bread because shocker- it's raining and cold in the middle of summer.) Keeping to my menu and not over-planning is my problem. It gets to be about 4:15 and my ducklings are asking about dinner and nothing sounds good. I would equate this to someone with any sort of fashion sense (I humbly admit to have very little) standing in a walk-in closet and having nothing to wear. So we get pizza or have mac & cheese and whatever I bought for that week or took out of the fridge gets pushed back a day, which dominoes into the rest of the week. The next thing you know I have some mysterious smell in my fridge and I am throwing away meat and vegetables that I so carefully picked earlier in the week.

Man it is hard to keep a train of thought going and typing (when you don't know how) when you have three little kids wanting something everything every nanosecond that you are on the computer.

anyway..

I am determined to make and keep a menu this week.

Challenges: holiday weekend- not sure what we are doing/ bringing anywhere; moving-we sold our house and they are moving in soon, so we need to finish bringing all our "other" stuff to this house; kids- I also have been wanting to teach the kids to cook. So I have them each picking out something they want to help with this week. Why or why do I do this to myself? I guess I love stress and want to see if I can rise to the challenge. So here we go!