Good Bye 2012

Well 2012 has been a year full of ups and downs. We lost our first 2 grandparents this year and that has ushered in a different phase of life for us. We went on a wonderful cruise with my in-laws to the Bahamas. S started kindergarten and is doing great and loving it. So much so that when I mentioned today that she only had 2 days left of vacation she jumped up and said "YES." She loves her teacher and the whole school life. K turned 2 at the beginning of the month and is talking and walking like a three year old. She is pretty amazing at everything she does.

As years come to a close my husband and I usually look to the new year  with a list of things we want to accomplish in it. We keep lists of projects/goals we would like to accomplish and often revisit those lists, re prioritize and check off and add items as needed. And this year is no different. However this years list is little more overwhelming then the other years it seems.

You see a few months ago my husband interviewed for a job that would have taken us out of our home and move us away. When that was a possibility we thought about cleaning the house out and not moving things we didn't need to. Well the move isn't happening and for that we are happy but we still have a lot of stuff we just plain don't need and for that we are not happy.

We want to simplify our life and if you look in our basement our life is anything but simple. The main part of our house is pretty well trimmed back to the necessities but the basement is another story all together. Boxes that haven't been unpacked for the last 5+ years and worse stuff that we have accumulated since then and just don't use or need.

Se we made a plan to have a purge, sell, give away, throwaway ect... what we just don't need. But that is a big task and is a little daunting. So I found this list on pintrest. It is a 21 day cleaning challenge, with 20 different areas of the house to clean out and organize.

Some things on the list we get to "gloss" over like a make up bag (I don't have one I have 6 things of make up I think that's pretty simple). Other things like that basement are gonna take weeks to tackle. But I wanna keep you up to date on how it's going so I'm gonna try to take a picture every week or so to show the progress.  We do plan to go through the list (with some minor modifications) and I'll update how those have gone too but the biggest job is the basement. Here's hoping by spring our house is a "new" house.

For today I'm gonna share, though I think I may rather sand on a scale and share that number, with you the picture of our basement as it is right now. Please don't judge me too harshly this is the reason we need to do this.


The main room, (should be a living area)

The back room (also has laundry ideally might be a shop)

The office and under the stairs



One corner of the storage closet

The other side of the storage closet

A milestone

 Well as of today there is exactly 37 days till I turn 30. I can't believe it. I bet some of you read that and think "30? What I wouldn't give to be 30 again. Or 30's nothing your still a baby." Well regardless of what you think for me it is big. You know it's the oldest I have ever been. It also really has me reflecting on my life. Where I've been, what I've done, and what I had hoped I would have done, thinks like that. I've never had this list of things to accomplish before ____ (you fill in the blank), so it isn't like I'm looking at this list I made when I was in high school or college of things to do before I turn 30. But at the same time it gets me thinking.

I think a lot about what I've done...
I'm a mom to 2 beautiful girls
A Wife to a great Godly man
I've succeeded in college, when it looked like from high school that may not have happened, and even excelled there.
I've been to France and England (thanks Aunt Carol I still think of that trip so fondly).
I've been to Hawaii
I've started my own business (though it's still small).
I've learned to challenge myself.
I've tried so many new things I never thought I would.

But when I think about what I've done there always seems to be a list of what I haven't done.... YET!
See all 50 states (I've only been to about 11 give or take and I don't count drive-threw or Layovers).
Run a 5K.
Reach my goal weight.
Have a house with a wrap around porch.
Expand my business


But I know there's time, even though I feel like 30 is such a big milestone I also know I'm still young. I have lots of life to live and I look forward to living it healthier, happier, stronger, and Godlier (is that a word? well you know what I mean).

A day in my life

Well it has yet again been a long time since I last posted anything. Sorry if you are one of the handful of people who actually read my blog. We have been busy enjoying our life and loving it to the fullest. We recently went on a cruise and visited Disney World while in port one day. I just registered S for Kindergarten and can't believe she is going to be getting on the School bus next year (Ok the truth is I'm not sure she will ride the bus or if I will drop her off and pick her up we shall see).

K is getting big 15 months old now and weighing in at 19.5 lbs and about 27.5 inches. You maybe thinking for a 15 month old that is small and you'd be right but she started out at 5lbs 7oz so she has come a long way. She walks, runs, walks backwards, babbles and makes the cutest squint faces. She snuggles every night with her new Simba stuffed animal she got a Disney and it is too cute.

So it feels like Spring is here in the Northeast we might his 80 degrees this weekend I think is what I heard. That is CRAZY! It wasn't 80 degrees in the Bahamas when we were there on our cruise. We have been outside playing and enjoying the weather.

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself I just finished week 6 of the Couch to 5K program and start week 7 tomorrow. I never actually thought I would get this far in the program to be honest. I had good intentions but I always do so I'm not sure what made it happen this time but I am so excited to finish this up and I found I really like to run.

So that's where we are. We are enjoying our beautiful girls, loving our warm weather, hitting the gym and life is good.

Freezer Meal Take 2

Meat Loaf! Need I say more? I mean who doesn't love a GOOD meat loaf. I know there are a lot of questionable meat loaf recipes out there but I found one that is not only healthy but yummy. I can say this with full confidence because my 4 year old eats it AND my dad, who is probably the most picky eater I know and loves red meat. Both even say they like it.


The best part is I make it and freeze it so it is not only yummy and healthy but also easy.


I got this recipe from the Biggest Loser Cook Book. But you can always use your favorite family recipe for meat loaf and feel free to substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for the ground beef. But you may have to alter the recipe to make that taste right so I do recommend a LEAN ground beef we use 93-95% lean ground beef, the flavor will come from the other things you put into it not from the fat in the meat.


So here is what I do. Like I mentioned in my Organization 102 blog I make a big batch like 4-6lbs of this recipe. Then before I cook it I divide it evening and put it in to Rubbermaid containers and freeze. I label the top with a piece of masking take. I put the Date, What it is, Cooking time and temp. So there is no reason to have to consult the cook book when it is time to bake.


Here is the Biggest Loser New Fashioned Meat Loaf recipe modified to be a 4lb, 4 freezer loaf recipe. (each batch yields 4 servings).


2 ½ C Old-fashioned oats
2 C skim milk
4 lb lean ground beef
2 C chopped spinach
1 C minced onion
5 Eggs (Biggest Loser recommends 8 egg whites but I like to use the whole egg)
8 tsp Italian Seasoning
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
4 Clove garlic Minced

Directions for preparing meat loaf mix. Mix oat, and milk let it sit 3 min.  Add meat, spinach, onion, egg, Italian seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and salt. Mix together well. Press into pan. Some tips I like, I use a food processor to chop the spinach and mince the onion. I have even found that a big bag of baby spinach makes about 4 cups of chopped spinach so I chop it all and freeze the half I didn't use this time and use it next time. You can do the same thing with the onion. You know you already got the food processor our and messy might as well make this even quicker next time right?


Next Freeze (remember to label it, Date, Item, Cooking Time and Temp)


On baking day.... Pre-heat oven to 350. Lightly mist and 8/4/3” loaf pan (or I like to use an 8x8 glass baking dish). Bake for 30 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160. Let sit for 10 min, and serve.


I really hope you enjoy this. We eat it at our house just about every Friday during the winter, and serve it with baked sweet potatoes and broccoli. Yummy, warm and comforting in the cold winter months.

A (freezer) Meal Idea

Most of the comments I got from people about my last blog (Organization 102) were about my freezer meals and their recipes.


I love doing freezer meals cause we all know when we are running late and stop by the grocery store to grab a quick dinner it is usually from the freezer isle. Either a frozen pizza, lasagna or the like. Well those foods even if they say No Preservatives or All Natural are really still full of ingredients that I can pronounce. So to make my life easier and healthy and frankly Yummier (yeah I said it, my food is yummier then that frozen junk you can buy, I know it to be true cause my 4 year old will eat it), I make large batches of our favorite foods and freeze them.


I'll be honest though I didn't create any of these recipes, I may have adapted them to make them freezer ready or something but they all came from other sources.


What I keep in my freezer all the time....
Apricot Chicken Glaze. I got this recipe off of the Real Age website. But it was only for 2 servings, that's not real helpful for a family. So I did the calculations and made it serve like 16. Then I freeze it in 4 small Rubbermaid containers and when I want it I just pull it out pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and spread it on the chicken pop that in the oven 20-30 minutes latter I have a yummy dinner (and I only used one dish). I guess I also took out the scallions they told me to use cause I don't like Scallions (too closely related to onions which I hate). So I added a little onion powder to their recipe. But here is my beefed up recipe.


This recipe makes enough glaze to make about 16 boneless/skinless chicken breasts each about 4 oz.


32 Dried Apricots, Chopped
1 C. White Wine
1/2 C. Olive Oil
1 t. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 t. Onion Powder (optional)

Saute the ingredients until tender, transfer to a blender/food processor and puree. Now separate evening into 4 freezer/microwave safe containers label and freeze.


On baking day...
Pre heat oven to 375, place chicken in a glass baking dish. Thaw about 1lb of boneless/skinless chicken. Thaw the glaze (about 30 seconds in a microwave) spoon over chicken and bake until chicken is cooked through (about 30 minutes).


We often serve this with long grain brown rice, and either some veggies or a salad.


I hope you like this as much as our family does.

Organization 102

Well... I wrote this post back in July I think when I did a series on Household Organization and then because I wanted to find a name to give credit to someone in this post and I kept forgetting to do it (I must not have put it on a list). So now that it is a new year I am trying to tie up loose ends so without further ado...

This is the final post in my series on Household Organization. I have really enjoyed writing this, it served as a constant reminder of my plans and goals.  Some days I didn't want to do what was on the list for the day but I did it anyway cause I was being reminded that I have just told the world (or the handful) reading this that I do this so I guess I better do it. I can say I do always try to do my best on the follow-through.


So where does that leave us, we have talked about having a plan in Organization 101, Laundry 101, and Cleaning 101. So what is the need to Organization 102? Well I have a list of tools of the trade that I can't live without so I thought I would share some of them with you.


1. Keeping the list....
I use a white board on my fridge to keep my lists in order. What do I put on the board?

This is the board today

- Grocery list (actually it is just a piece of paper that magnetically stays there)
- Weeks schedule (each day has a number of things on it like the vacuuming, what laundry needs doing, errands, what's for diner, meeting/appointments, workout schedule....)
- Up Coming Events (parties, appointments, meetings etc....)
- Dinner Ideas (what items we typically eat or ones I want to try so I can get dinner ideas quick)
- To do list (make baby food, prep foods, project list, big cleaning projects)

Before a Mommy Binder (this is Dads pile)

2. Mommy Binder: This is not my idea but I got it from a lady who spoke at my MOPs group named Dawn Fiorillo so I give her credit.

This is a 3 ring binder that I keep on the table that has clear, tabbed folders inside that I use to organize all kinds of things. Basically this organizes that pile many people get on their table or counters. I have a folder for...

- each of the girls where I put Drs info, school info,  growth charts etc..

After Mommy Binder

- my All Cozy business (receipts, notes etc...)
- coupons
- personal stuff (letters I got, cards whatever really)
- recipes
- random stuff
- preschool info (class lists, phone numbers, calendars, helper mom schedules...)

A look inside

3. Meal Planning/Perp
We pre-make a lot of foods and keep them in the freezer so diner during the week is just a matter of thawing something and putting it in the oven or on the grill.
Ideas we love:
- Meat Loaf (we make 4-6lbs at a time and freeze it 1lb per container so we only make the big mess of mixing it up once.
- Apricot Chicken Glaze (again 4-6 batches made at one time and frozen so all we do is thaw and put on chicken)
- Chicken Rollatini (I do a double batch and freeze individually so I take out and cook what I need)
- Pork Chop spice (mix it up and just have to sprinkle on the pork)

We also plan our meals a week ahead (and write them on the whiteboard) so there is no need for the questions "What's for dinner" when my husband gets home.

My last notes on the subject of household organizations....

 Our house runs on lists if it doesn't get written down it doesn't get done. I really don't know who said this but I feel it is so true "If you fail to plan you plan to fail." Well here we plan to succeed so we do a lot of planning.


Notice I have used a lot of the word "We," that is because even though I am a stay at home mom I'm not the only person around who can help to keep our house organized. My husband is aware of the plan, helps create the plan and helps carry out the plan. We are a team and as the kids get older they too will help with the plan to make our house organized and run smoothly.

I hope you have enjoyed this series. If you have questions or thoughts on anything you read in the series please let me know. Thanks for reading.