Menu Plan Monday: Retreats galore!

Life has been so interesting lately!  Two weekends ago we went along with our high school youth group as coaches on their retreat weekend.  Wow!  There is definitely a difference in my energy level now, than what the high schoolers have.  Pregnancy doesn't help.  It was a great weekend though.  We had been praying that they would have soft hearts and many really opened up.  I used to not like retreats because I felt they were high pressure situations that caused people to feel like they need to make commitments they aren't ready for.  That may still be the case in some instances, but now I really appreciate them for what they are- a retreat.

The students are "retreating" from the real world and so, yes, it will be different.  We give them way more opportunities to talk about spiritual or personal things going on in their lives than what they would get normally.  So many of the kids finally get up the courage to discuss really personal and hard things they are going through.  Some may point out that there is little change after, but I want to stress how it might not be huge change, but some of the things might just be floating around in the back of their brain.  It takes a while to process everything, but the freeing power of confessing our problems is worth the whole weekend's worth of little sleep.

The second retreat was for us and by us I mean my husband and I.  We went on a Weekend to Remember retreat/conference put on by Family Life.  Something to note is this is not something that we do- leave town for conferences that is.  My husband might have brought this up repeatedly prior to the conference, but I felt that it was something we should do.  I am still processing everything from the weekend, so I'm not going to write much other than that I am really glad we went.  Hopefully later after it has all settled in I will give you a bunch of details.

The menu for this week will be as follows:

Dinner #1: Tacos, pineapple, peas

Dinner #2: Ravioli, salad, cut up apples, broccoli

Dinner #3?: Crockpot chicken breasts, mashed potatoes/gravy, green beans

Find more menus at Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! 

Menu Plan Monday: Two easy meals!

This week I've got to make this quick!

Dinner #1: Egg and sausage casserole ; cut up oranges; applesauce

Dinner #2: Crockpot chili (watch out if you don't like beans)- about the easiest thing ever- 1 can corn, 2 cans chili beans, 2 cans vegetable chili (Aldi), 1 can great northern beans, 1 can chili tomatoes, a few fresh tomatoes, and add a bit of chili powder, cumin, pepper, onion powder, garlic, and maybe some chopped onions
-currently ground beef is kind of weirding me out so I will make it on the side for hubbie to add to his

Dinner #3: out to eat for youth group

Dinner #4: Leftovers!

Back up plan: Baked chicken breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Find more and more varied plans at Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday: Fall Break!

I have been doing the end of trimester count down for my students for the past two weeks because the end is near!  They (and I) have a short week this week for fall break and then just a short while and bam we'll be switching classes again.  Crazy how fast it goes!  I have to say that is one of my favorite parts of my job is that there seems to be clear start and end times.  I'm not sure if I could handle a job that didn't have that.  I think I would have to make some self imposed project start and end times.

Anyway, I have been feeling soooo much better lately.  Seriously my first trimester I felt like a warmed over turd (excuse my French).  I just didn't want to move or do anything.  Last week I worked out (lightly) 3 times!  Last fall we purchased a Tivo box and it streams youtube, so I have been loving Colleen Riddle's 2nd Trimester Workout.  She's supposedly some type of pre/post natal specialist, so I like her videos better than my typical workout videos (which I have to modify) or some other prenatal workouts because they can be too easy.

This week will be a bit weird because of fall break, so here is a list of possible dinners.

Dinner #1: Chicken and Black Bean Tacos!  This recipe looks really easy, but delicious!  Aldi is running a special on tomatoes, so I might chop some fresh ones up.



Dinner #2: Easy chicken and vegetable fried rice


Dinner #3: Crockpot BBQ chicken, roasted red potatoes, broccoli

Find more menu ideas at Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday: Empty the Pantry/Freezer

This week for my menu I am going to try and use up some items that have been hanging around our freezer and pantry a bit too long.

Monday:  Spaghetti with Spinach/Tomato/Meat sauce(from freezer); broccoli; pineapple
-To make the sauce I pretty much browned about 1 lb of ground beef with chopped onion, then added a jar of Aldi spaghetti sauce, added some extra Italian seasoning/garlic, used my Magic Bullet to chop up some frozen spinach that I had hanging around from my smoothie stage, stirred in the spinach and voila!

Tuesday:  Chicken (crockpot? or Nelson's?); mashed potatoes/gravy; peas; chopped up apples

Wednesday:  Eat out- youth night

Thursday:  Chicken and black bean tacos; if you want to go all fancy try this recipe- otherwise I pretty much just chop up a chicken breast and cook it in a pan on medium high with some Mexicany (I like to make up words) spices- you know the like- cumin, onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, chili powder or I get really lazy and use a Mexican spice packet, then I just throw in the black beans and call it done.  I've got some chopped up green pepper in the freezer, so I think I might throw some of those in as well.  As far as sides go, maybe I'll have some more pineapple or chopped up apples and carrots/dip.

Extra option:  If for some reason none of these dinners seem appealing or we don't go out a night next weekend we could have meatballs- I have some homemade frozen ones that I made a while ago, but honestly they might sit in there a while because meatballs have been sounding particularly disgusting lately.  Who knows though, that could change.

Check out more menu plan ideas at Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

I'm back... I hope!

Wow, it has been a while since posting and for good reason.  I find it is so hard to keep "good" secrets, and boy do I have a good secret to share.  I'm expecting and due next April!  Woo hoo!  I decided that during the first trimester it was really hard to share our menu plan because it was kind of weird because I was so tired and felt I could barely muster the energy to cook after a long day teaching or certain foods would suddenly gross me out.  Luckily I wasn't really sick, just a bit nauseous.  Now things are settling down a bit, so I'm hoping to get back to posting.  Looking forward to posts on menu plans and other things- however for those of you that love belly photos you will have to look elsewhere:).  I don't think I can quite be that open, however I love those who are. If any of you are expecting I highly recommend Alpha Mom's pregnancy calendar because it is hilarious!  See you tomorrow for menu plan Monday.

Where have I been?

Where have I been?  I've missed so many of my normal posts, since summer began.  Well here is a glimpse...

I have been tearing out everything, but three bushes of our front landscaping (ok my husband pulled out most of the big bushes, but I did absolutely everything else).  This required several days worth of shoveling stones.  I'm not a physical labor type person during most the year.  The most I carry around during the day is a dry erase marker.  Needless to say I was sore pretty much every day, but proud of my work.

We had stones at the house that we used to rent and I hated weeding and spraying them all of the time.  The stones at our house now were in just as bad shape (lots of dirt had accumulated on top).  I still have fresh memories of all of the weeds at the old house.  Honestly I think I start to get that Clint Eastwood glare just thinking of them.  I decided that it would be worth the work to get rid of all of the stones here and replace with mulch.

Here is a very very before picture (before we bought the house- it was a foreclosure and looked like a jungle!).

Things I learned from this process:
1. Do not overload a wheel barrow with rocks.  During this process I listened to all of the The Help on 15 cds (yes that is how long it took- not counting that I paused every time I took a wheel barrow load to the ditch).  That book was so entertaining to listen to that I wouldn't always pay attention to how full I had filled the wheel barrow.  I would end up barely able to lift up the load and I think the neighbors found me pretty entertaining when I would get it stuck in a low spot in the yard.  I'm not a very big person so it took everything to get it out of those dips.  I have a mental topical map of our yard now:).

2.  Old landscape fabric is the devil.  The previous homeowners had dutifully used these plastic pokey things to hold it down so I had to pull up each one of those.  Then I would have the fun of slowly pulling it up.  The stuff was stretchy and would pull out in small chunks.  Roots had slowly pushed their way through the cloth in a way they acted like stitching- sewing it tightly to the ground.

3.  Our neighbors are home a lot more than I thought.  I figured that I would be pretty much alone working in the yard most of the day, but I found that some of my neighbors make 4-5 trips to somewhere (who knows where) a day.  I like to think I providing some entertainment for their frequent travels.

4.  Wait a little while before buying plants and they go on great sales.  I wanted to get this landscaping done right away, but it took me quite a while to remove the rocks and till up the soil to flatten everything.  By the time I went to buy most of the plants they were on great sales compared to the spring.  I learned a lot from my parents that most of the sad looking withered up plants just need a bit of water and they'll be back to looking great in no time.

5.  Borrow, borrow, borrow.  We are lucky (yes I said lucky) that we live near family.  I was able to loan a nice little rototiller to till up our rock hard landscaping.  There was no need for us to buy one and then have to deal with storing and upkeep for our little job.  We also got a lot of splits of hosta and daylillies from family.  They were completely free to us and actually helped out one family member who no longer wanted the daylillies at all.

6.  Use local expertise.  My dad has always loved plants.  I did not inherit that love.  However, I was able to use his wealth of knowledge and landscape books to find a significant number of plant choices that were low/no upkeep that would probably survive my lack of care.  Also, my husband recently switched jobs and now does landscaping, so he used some of what he has learned to teach me the best ways to plant things when you are going to use mulch afterwards (I grew up in a no mulch/stones family so it it weird to put in mulch to me).

7.  Wheel barrow stones first, then mulch.  By this I mean, after days and days of hot, sweaty, dirty work with pulling out the stones, putting in mulch felt like a dream.  Seriously, I would load up our wheel barrow to where it was heaping and it felt like feathers!  What a nice reward!

Here's two after shots (hopefully the bushes will eventually grow and look a bit less pitiful).

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Another project that has been tackled with the help of my saintly mother was our front porch.  Eventually we would like to replace the posts and rails with the vinyl stuff, but for now we decided to spruce up what we had.  I loaned from my in-laws (thanks!) their power washer and power washed all of the railings/spindles/posts.  This was my first time using a power washer.  It is an interesting device and I have to say that it is a thousand times more fun than cleaning and scraping (what I grew up doing).

Before the power washer...

After the power washer (things get worse before they get better)...

My mother then came over and we put on one coat of Clark and Kinsington Paint and Primer in one. This is my first in years, full price gallon of paint, but it was worth it.  We matched the color to the white of our vinyl front door.  That was actually my husband's idea and I'm glad he thought of it because we didn't want the front porch to glow compared to the door.  My mom was a saint in dealing with me though because I hate painting.  It is just yucky.  However, I love the way newly painted stuff looks, so I normally just suck it up.  Luckily having a painting partner made the work so much more fun... wait that is not true... the work was still terrible, but she took my mind off it which made the process more fun.  Now our porch looks great.  It should probably get another coat, but we might just save that job for next year.

After!

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Another project I have worked on that is still a work in progress is the deck.  Our poor deck had soft boards, splintery boards, bowed boards, and carpenter bees (they don't sting, but are super annoying).  I attacked the bees and then spent an afternoon bent over unscrewing by hand all of the unacceptable boards.  My husband suggested prying them up, but that was really comedic because I am a naturally cautious person and I don't weigh a ton so me vs. the boards- the boards won hands down.  I then tried using a screw gun.  My husband didn't suggest it because he thought I would break a bit.  Well, he was right- I did, and the screws were so rusty that it just stripped the tops.  Finally I went all 1800's and got out a screwdriver and unscrewed by hand over 100 deck screws.  I learned that I have the power to pry up a 10' deck board if it is only held down by 6 screws, so I would just remove enough to pry it up.

Here is the original before picture from when we were looking into buying it (yes those trees are growing in the deck...

Removing some boards...

Three steps gone- watch your step!

Can you tell which are the new boards?

Ahhh.... Steps again!

Funny thing from that day is that apparently my shirt slid up just enough that I have a lovely burnt stripe on my back that is about 1-2 inch wide between the waistband of my pants and the bottom of my shirt from bending over with my butt in the air!  Next time I'll tuck my shirt in!

I went with my mom to Menards and was so proud of myself for picking out replacement boards and screws.  My husband has now put them all in.  It looks like a lovely striped deck.  I've almost got the whole thing power washed and then next week my mil is probably going to come over to help paint it (return a favor) and I can use my awesome $15 deck stain find  (5 gallon bucket from Menards that was a mistint) to make our deck gleam!

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Yet another project I have tackled is organizing our bedroom and closet.  Pretty much last fall we brought in everything and dumped it and it has stayed their ever since because I was too busy with school to deal with it.  Well, I went through everything in our closet and I love the way it looks now.  I was able to donate a whole trashbag worth of stuff, plus I probably threw away a trashbag worth.

After all of that I went through our nightstands and dresser.  Finally I gave it all a little polish and boy does it look good!

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Another project that most won't consider a project, but I do, is I did my bi (maybe tri?) annual cleaning of my car.  I don't like cleaning the inside of my car.  There are way too many crooks and crannies.  However, it is so nice to drive it when it has been Armor-Alled and vacuumed.  I'm good to go now for the summer.

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My not so productive self watched through not one, but two full seasons of Downton Abbey in only a few days.  Seriously sucked me in!

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Next there was the July 4th holiday and then it was southward to Kentucky for our youth group trip.  This year they were in charge of a camp in the hollows of Kentucky.  Half of our group ran the camp and half of the group was part of maintenance and local outreach.  Although the trip was very different than the Honduras trip it was very good.  Trips like that really pretty much force me to get over my insecurities.  I had a lot of time to think because my group was in charge of music which left me with free time in between practices and chapels.  I realized that I had been lying to myself that I am not good with people in a touchy feely way.  By the end of the week I had come to the conclusion that God had made me the way I am for a reason and that I don't need to be like this coach or that coach, but that I just need to be me and quit worrying about how well I am doing.

During camp I pretty much finished So Long Insecurity, You've Been a Bad Friend to Us by Beth Moore.  It really spoke into my life.  Beth talks a lot about how women constantly are comparing themselves to others based on what is valued.  I think that is why I struggled a lot at the beginning of the trip because I felt "touchy/feelyness" was highly valued and I was out of my element.  If they would have thrown up some math problems or asked me to teach how to do them I would have been right at home.  I also lean towards the introvert side which doesn't help.  By the end of the week I felt a peace that I am an alternative to the other coaches that really glow in areas that I don't.  Some girls who might not open up to the other coaches opened up to me.  Another key point in the book is that another person can be better than you in an area, but that doesn't mean that you are a zero- maybe they're a 10 and you're an 8, which still isn't bad.

It's one of those books that I didn't want to be caught dead with (own up that I have a problem with this), but now that I've read it I wish that all women would read it (especially the girls in our youth group).  There is a chapter that only consists of ridiculous things women have done because of insecurity and I found myself laughing and nodding along.  If you get a chance this summer I definitely suggest reading it.  It is one of those books that I think I will look back and say that it really changed me.

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So I leave this post with 3.5 weeks left until school starts.  I am more grateful than ever that I essentially get a summer sabbatical each year.  I still have projects left to complete, books left to read, and people left to see, but it has been a great break so far.  I wrestled with the common core standards for a few hours yesterday trying to get them to fit into my units that were based on our old standards.  At the end I was super annoyed, but then I realized how grateful I was that I did have time to dedicate to tweaking (although it is more like an overhaul) the curriculum.  Many teachers are on a much tighter budget and have to work during the summer.  Time is a luxury and I am basking in it right now.

Happy Summer!

Friday Favorite Finds: June 14

Wow this week has gone by super fast!  I got a bunch of projects done and I hope to share some pictures of them eventually.  Here are my picks for this week.

Easy Grilled Corn.  They are currently running corn on sale 5/$1 so this looks really good!


Oven Fried Fish.  This might be on my menu next week because we have a quart size bag of fish that we were given that is frozen that needs to be used.


Chinese Spring Rolls.  These look delicious, although it might be a while before I get the guts to attempt making them verses take out!


To finish up there has to be some chocolate.  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt.



Find more Friday Favorite Finds at Finding Joy in My Kitchen!

Menu Plan Monday: VBS week!

Wow! School is over.  I think that is still sinking in, probably because Wednesday was the last teacher day and I woke up Thursday with the absolute worst cold ever.  Rather than listening to my body I tried to push through it and by the time my husband came home I was like a tired grumpy baby.  I ended up taking a two hour nap after dinner, tried to stay awake for a while after that, gave up and went to bed and slept for another 12 hours.  Needless to say, Friday I didn't do much.  Then, this last weekend was graduation and the marathon of graduation parties, so here I am and it is Monday!  The cold is still holding on, but it is not near as bad.

This week is VBS at my parents/inlaws' church.  They actually have speakers for adults as well as children late in the evening (after dinner) so we will be going most nights this week.  That means I want simple dinners that won't make a huge mess to clean up.

Monday:  Slow Cooker Hawaiian BBQ Sandwiches.  Last week I actually made this and we ate it plain.  Tonight I am shredding the meat and adding some BBQ sauce for sandwiches.  Yum!



Tuesday:  Hamburgers.  I am crossing my fingers on this one.  I have never made what I would call, delicious, hamburgers.  I'm not sure whether it is because we normally use 90/10 meat or because it is normally the 1/2 off meat ;).  I randomly have coconut oil from something else that I made that needed it so I was excited to see that this calls for it.  I think I am going to saute some green pepper and onion with it as well.  Although then I'll have bad breath for VBS, but onions are oh so yummy, so I think my bench neighbors will just have to deal.



Wednesday:  I'm not quite sure what we are going to do this week.  If we go to youth, then Taco Time as usual.  If we decide to take a week off, then Crockpot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs.


Thursday:   Grilled Cheese (bread/cheese- not gourmet this week)!  It's simple and easy and I think, scrumptious!


Find more menus at Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Friday Favorite Finds: Survival Mode!

This week I am participating with Finding Joy in My Kitchen's Friday Favorite Finds.  I've got to make it quick because I am in the end of the school year survival mode.  Each student's crisis becomes my crisis.  I will miss seeing most of them, but I'll leave the reminiscing for next week.  Next Friday I will be relaxing on my deck (that is if I don't get eaten alive).  It is a nice perk of my job.

Here are my finds for the the week (a few is all I could fit in).

Aldi is running pineapple on sale, so this Pineapple Chicken looks like a delicious frugal find!





I'm almost ready to eat salmon again (I got food poisoning and it kind of ruined it).  This Mango Pineapple Salmon might get me over the hump.





Frozen Chocolate Banana sounds like the best summer treat.





Just think in a week I'll be free!  I love me job, but the summer is so refreshing!

What a crock!

Last fall when we moved I lost a very important part of my life.... my mini crock.  I don't use it a whole lot in the winter, because using the oven is so nice and warm and cozy.  Also, in the winter it is fun to cook with my hubbie at night.

Now even in the winter occasionally I would want to use it and then remember that it had gotten lost in the shuffle (tear)  I also own a larger (normal?) sized crock and would think of using that.  However, it is really too big to make food for just two people.  I tried once and ended up with all kinds of crusty stuff that I had to do my best to scrape off.

Last fall during the move, we stayed briefly at someone's summer home.  Last weekend we went back for a visit and what do you know, my crock was there way way back in this cavernous cupboard they have.  I was and am still, soooo excited!  Now that spring has come (and almost summer) we are so busy.

I've been staying late at school trying to stay on top of grading for the tri-annual parent 'oh crap my kid is failing and the trimester is almost done' deluge of emails and forcible turn in of low quality homework papers (student- my parents are making me do this work, but they have no idea what Algebra II should look like so I will scribble random equations on a paper, so that they will get off my back).  Of course the parents should now know every second exactly what their child's overall score in the class is so I must grade their child's mountainous pile of late homework right now.  Plus, I always offer free help after school for an hour, but normally only a handful take advantage of it.  Now that the end is near though I am tutoring the entire hour.  This leads me to staying later at school which means less time for cooking.

This week I have already used my little friend Cathy the Crock once.  It was so nice to come home to dinner pretty much being made.  I normally make up salads, cut up some oranges (my fav), maybe get out carrots/dip or steam up broccoli and we're set!  Then it is quick clean up and out to do some yard work.

If you are a young couple I highly recommend getting a small crock pot/slow cooker with a black crock.  Our large slow cooker is white and it is such a pain to clean.  Honestly, I feel like I never can get it completely white.  However, our black one hides a lot.  No judgement here... sometimes there is just that stain that you just can't get off, but it is clean and safe to eat from.

This week I missed out on Friday Favorite Finds and Menu Plan Monday, but school will be out in the next two weeks and then I should have lots to post!  Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Frugally Fit Friday: Yardwork

This week for Frugally Fit Friday (err... Saturday) I want to focus on the amazing workout of yard work.  It may not be a glorious task, but it can definitely be a workout, which I have learned more with this new house.    So before you go out and buy a riding mower, or pay someone to landscape or mow check out some of the numbers that I ran this week.

On Thursday, I decided to be nice and mow our yard.  Normally this is something that my husband does, but with his new job he gets off work later and he's been doing a lot of side jobs, so his "to do" list was getting long.  We have currently have a push mower on permanent loan.  At our old house that we rented just our front yard was over 0.1 mile long, so there was no way that you could push mow it, so we used the owners' riding mower.  At our new place we have a medium/small yard (in rural Indiana terms), so push mowing is an option.  This was the first time that I have push mowed it.

I thought I would surprise him and have it all done.  Well, it was just a trick to get the mower started.  A little bit of shoulder strengthening exercises is what I could label it as.  Then I had to push it through our grass.  I hadn't thought that our grass was super tall, but my husband has informed me that I am weird in that I like tall grass.  Apparently the grass was long because I could barely push the mower through the grass without it almost dying.  Also, it was hard to push the mower through the grass because of how long it was.  Maybe I'll have to rethink my long grass love, or else I'll have to learn how to raise the deck of the mower.

I only killed the mower once.  I'm still not sure whether it was lack of gas or too long of grass, but it definitely died.  I gave it some more gas (even though, from what I could tell it didn't need a lot) and promptly partially flooded the mower.  I found out later that you don't need to push the red ball if the mower is "warm."  I pushed through the back yard and the sun was blazing down.  It felt good though.  I definitely felt alive.  Our carpenter bees (who's days are numbered) were very upset though.  I rolled my eyes at them and kept moving (they don't sting, just act very territorial).

By the time I reached the front yard I was getting pretty tired, but I was determined to finish it all.  We have a half mound septic system in our front yard and a ditch, so I really worked hard going up and down the mound.  This is how I felt like I looked.



Luckily when I was about halfway done with the front my husband came home and I went in and made us up some food.  All in all I had push mowed for two hours- non - self propelled.

Being the curious person that I am, I looked up the calorie count.  With my weight, I burned over 500 calories!  Not too bad if I say so myself.  I think all of the neighbors thought I was crazy though because they all have riding lawn mowers.  I want to put off buying one as long as possible, because a 500 calorie workout is something that I need on a regular basis.  I like workouts like this one because I am accomplishing something other than just exercising.  Maybe I'll take over more of the mowing chores this summer.

I figure doing yard work like push mowing saves me money in two ways.  First, we currently have a free to us (permanent loan) push mower.  We would have to go out an buy a riding mower.  Push mowers cost only  a couple hundred bucks (if you can convince your significant other to get a reel mower they are even cheaper).  Riding mowers are easily $1000-$3000, and some are more than that.  Push mowers also use less gas (once again- if you can convince your significant other (I can't yet) to get a reel mower, gas isn't an issue, also there are electric mowers out there as well).  Having someone come mow our yard would cost at least $30 a pop.  Finally, if I went to our local gym to get that amazing lawn mowing workout it would cost me $40/month in membership fees.  So overall, push mowing our yard is a huge $$ saver and helps keeps me and the Mr. healthy!

Here is a website that you can go to to look up calories burned by yard work activity and by your weight: Calorie Lab.  They have lots and lots of other calorie calculators.  I find them motivating when I'm not feeling like doing a certain job.



If you need motivation here is a good video I found online (I think Mr. Money Mustache posted it) about the benefits of fitness (and my kind of fitness - low/medium level- not the gym rat level).  Enjoy!

Friday Favorite Finds: A Bit Late

Ok, I know it is no longer Friday, but I thought I would participate anyway.  This week has been really busy at school and at home.  I stuck with my early morning wake up time and it was terrible, but very very needed.  In fact, I might switch to 6:05 next week (6 just sounds so early) that way I have a bit more time in the morning to get things done.

I rode my bike every day, but one because of weather.  I have to say I really look forward to riding it!  It kind of wakes me up in the morning and gets me outside, since I'm not a natural outdoorsy person.  It is really funny how many random comments I get from students.  They are really curious about it, and I hope maybe at a later point in their life they will think about riding as well.  I have found that it is a nice way to sneak in a bit more exercise into my life without it feeling too, excersy (yes I just made up that word).

Well, I am definitely looking forward to the summer just as much as my students.  I am really trying not to get to hyped up about it, because I really really need to make a list of my goals for the summer.  I have a tendency to go great guns for the first week or two and then fizzle out and get really really lazy.  This summer I want to be more purposeful and have weekly goals.  We have a lot of house projects, and I want to completely revamp my Discrete Math curriculum and tweak my Algebra II curriculum (make it more common core friendly).  There's no way I'll get it all done without some kind of plan though.

My first find comes from my desire for summer.  I am really looking forward to free zucchini.  I feel like everyone around here has that friend that some how grew 5 zucchini plants and has zucchini coming out their ears.  I am always a grateful recipient of their surplus (and an understanding one, because we had one zucchini plant and it was too much for me, since my husband will eat, but is not in love with zucchini).

Fried Zucchini Spaghetti from the A & B Stories.  I will definitely add some more veggies to this and maybe pair it with a the Heroin Chicken Strips from Low Carb Crock.











When I was in college there was this delicious Greek/Mediterranean tiny restaurant that was cheap.  It had the best wraps.  Anyway, I found a wrap that looks just as good.

Chicken and Spinach Wrap with Greek Yogurt Sauce from Magda- What's for Dinner.




Avocados have been really cheap here lately and I've been reading all of the amazing ways you can substitute it in recipes.  The main problem is that I am only one person.  By that I mean, my hubbie is not as much a fan of the green stuff which means if it is in guac or something similar, I end up eating the entire avocado (that's a lot of avocado).  I found a way that I can freeze it though, that might help me from having guac overload.  I'll be able to just use as much as I need.

How to Freeze Avocado from My Gutsy.





My Friday Favorite Finds would not be complete without a yummy chocolate recipe.  This week's deviant delight is Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake with Caramel Sauce.




Enjoy more finds at Finding Joy in My Kitchen!

Menu Plan Monday: Early Morning Challenge Week #2

Here's the update on my early morning challenge.  I was able to get up early (not even hit snooze once) on Wed/Thurs/Fri.  Woo hoo, go me!


However, I was just not able to do it on Saturday.  I woke up when it went off, groggily got out of bed (I've moved it to the other side of the room), and turned it off and went back to bed.  I actually remembered my challenge, but said screw it, and jumped back into my really amazing bed.  It is seriously, the best bed ever, which doesn't help.

That probably was actually a good thing, because my husband and I ended up going to prom to supervise a bit and ended up staying up way past when we usually do.  It was seriously such a super fun night.  The music was great and it took everything in me not to get up and get my groove on (my students would be just rolling their eyes at me now).  My husband laughed because my body just automatically starts to move to the beat and when they have that much bass playing you can really feel the beat, literally, like I think my rib cage was vibrating.  I was hard to focus on conversations with the other teachers (many who I had when I was a student) with the fun music playing.  Plus, they kept playing songs from when I was in high school and middle school, so I couldn't resist singing along at least a little bit.  Maybe our music was just better and that is why they were playing so much of it.  And yes, I might have gone home and had my own personal dance party afterward to the summer hits of the 90's and 2000's Pandora stations to get out all of my dance fever.

So anyway, this week should have a somewhat better menu than last week's that was almost too embarrassing to post.  I am linking up with Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Dinner #1:  Ground Beef and Black Bean Enchiladas.  You might have noticed a lot of ground beef recipes lately.  That is mainly because we were able to get 90/10 hamburger marked down half off at Aldi, which made it less than $2/lb.  I'm not a huge ground beef fan (I don't mind it, but I'm not like gosh, I just have a hankerin' for ground beef), so I have been trying to find some good recipes.  This one looks like a good one.



Dinner #2:  Hot dogs!  We didn't end up having them last week, and I always feel terrible, but I really do like hot dogs.  Something about a hot dog with relish and ketchup just says bring on the warm weather to me.  Also, we pair them with peas (my hubbie's fav veggie), cut up oranges/pineapple, and salad which I think more than evens out any unhealthiness(apparently that is a word because there's not any red squiggly line).



Dinner #3:  Roasted Chicken Thighs.  I have been trying to get around to making these and we always end up eating leftovers.  This is our back up meal if there's not leftovers, but it seems there always are some to use up before the weekend.



My goal for this week is to get up by 6:15 weekdays and 7:30 Saturday.  I think that is a more reasonable goal and if I've learned anything is that I have to set easy goals.  It wasn't until I set my 10 min weekly exercise goal (no that was not a typo- it was a weekly goal of 10 minutes total for the week), that I finally started exercising regularly.

So far I have noticed that the early wake up is not that bad during the week.  I pretty much feel like crap when I wake up whether it is 5:30 (my old job wake up time) or 6:50 (my oh poop I hit the snooze too many times and today is a work day), so I might as well get up a bit earlier.  My husband says my body's get up function is broken and I would agree, because getting up is just terrible (even if I went to bed early), but somehow I manage to do it each day.  I found this on Pinterest and it pretty much describes me to a T, except that I have been doing a much better job (in general) of going to bed early.


If anyone has some magical cure other than coffee (that requires getting out of the bed which is the hard part), let me know.  Anyway, it does make my day feel a bit more calm and put together in the morning when I am up a bit earlier.  It was really helpful this week especially because there was some stuff that happened at school that slowed down my day to a crawl, so I needed every extra minute.

Good luck with your menus and your goals for the week!

Friday Favorite Finds: Early Morning

Here's my sad looking picture of my clock this morning (6:13am)!  Can you tell I have a cheap phone?

This has been a crazy week this week.  On Thursday a random rain shower came through on my bike ride home (20% chance of rain) and I ended up stranded at a local dollar store for 20 minutes.  It was worth it though, because today I chickened out about riding because of the chance of rain and I can honestly say that I missed it.  We also haven't had internet/h drive at school this week, which has made pretty much everything come to a screeching halt.  I had a very fun time describing the "olden days" before you knew what you grade was at every single instant.

Here are my finds for the week:

Baked Potato Soup in a Baked Bread Bowl



Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches



Watergate Cake



Chocolate Caramel Mini Cheesecakes



Enjoy!

Woo hoo! 6:14!

Day 1 early wake up- done!

Busy Biking and My New Self Challenge

Well, this week I decided not to post my menu plan on Monday because it was not really worth posting. If you feel you must know it goes: leftovers, family dinner out, Taco Time, grilled hot dogs/side dishes, eat out with friends, eat out with family. I know, I know, it looks terrible.  It is pretty bad because this happens to be some type of education appreciation week which means I get all kinds of sweet junk and breakfasts/lunches (last year we barely had anything (bite size snickers?), so someone must have complained because they are going all out).  So bad food day and night means I have to find balance and should probably do the Jillian workout this week.

Luckily I have been biking more to work.  I barely feel silly anymore.  It is a nice way to wake up in the morning and it helps me feel like I've accomplished something in the evening.  It is easy to get my hour of exercise in each week if I count cycling.  I probably shouldn't though, because this week I will need more than just that.

Anyway, my new self challenge for the rest of this week (through Sunday and then we'll reassess), is a set get up time at 6:15.  I used to get up much much earlier, but it seems that as the year wears on I get up later and later and later and it throws my day off and leaves me groggy.  I am the absolute worst person in the morning.  There have been threats of sledge hammer action.  I always have been a terrible morning person since I was little, but I really want to change to be nicer and calm.  I feel super groggy every morning and I read that almost getting up earlier can help.  So it is worth a try.  If it seems to be good then I will try it again next week.  This is going to be a huge stretch for me on Saturday, but it should be good.  I heard on the radio that getting up at a way different time on the weekend is bad because it is like your body is constantly changing time zones.  For some reason that clicked with me, so I'm going to try it for one Saturday.  My accountability is going to be taking a picture of my alarm to share with the world each day.  I think I might move my alarm across the room as well and maybe change stations, although I do love NPR in the morning.

A good Bible verse for me during those trying mornings will be Psalm 90:14 "Oh satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."

See you tomorrow, bright and early!

Friday Favorite Finds: Happy May!

I am linking up as always with Finding Joy in My Kitchen's Friday Favorite Finds.  This week has flown by.  The weather has been so beautiful and school has been so crazy that I've barely been at the computer for non-school stuff.  Here's a few finds for the week.

Mashed Cauliflower - I'm a mashed potato queen, so this could be a healthier option!




Creamy Asparagus and Mushrooms





Lemon Chicken





Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert

Menu Plan Monday: Bike to Work Edition

I did it! I biked to work this morning. It helped that we had a fog delay. I have to admit though that when I was getting ready to leave our subdivision I almost turned around. I felt a bit silly in my work clothes on my white/purple bike, yet I pressed on and after I rode a bit the weirdness of the situation slowly wore off.



Some of the best things about it was that my ride has what I would call four parts which makes it interesting. On one part I am on a very busy road and so that is my sprint.  I go as fast as I can (remember I'm on a kid's cruiser, so even at my fastest I'm not going super fast) so that I can get to a side road.  Another part takes me beside a local lake (very pretty!).  The third part takes me through town which is pretty much flat and somewhat interesting.  The last part that is closest to the school has a hill with a really really steep incline.  I have seven speeds and I move it down to 1 and I am pumping it.  It is just the perfect length hill because I feel it in my legs, but I can do it.  Also, I know that at the top of the hill is my school, so I don't have far to go.

I liked how the ride got my blood pumping a bit and kind of woke me up.  On the way home it was a nice way to stretch out my legs after just shuffling around my classroom all day.  I'm not sure how often I will bike to work- I'm no Mr. Money Mustache, but it was fun enough that I will do it again on fair weather days.

Funny update on last week's menu plan.  Last week I listed that I would make Cajun Chicken Pasta.  Well, my husband got home before I did, so I called and asked him to pull out a bag of chicken to defrost.  When I got home I looked at the thawed out bag and laughed.  The meat had a large bone in it.  It was a very very old bag of pork chops that was from before I learned the importance of labeling and dating your meat.

Rather than waiting for the bag of chicken to thaw I just used the pork chops and it wasn't too bad considering it was meant for chicken and the pork was old.  Here's a pic (warning- I'm a terrible food photographer because I just feel weird when I'm doing it- should I tell it to say cheese- oh wait it is cheese:)).

Here's my plan for this week (I'm linking up with Organizing Junkie):

Dinner #1:  Easy Beef Stroganoff (made this yesterday and ate the leftovers tonight with cottage cheese on top- yum!)- modified by using tomato sauce instead of paste and cream of mushroom instead of fresh mushrooms- had noodles cook in the sauce

Dinner #2:  Use up your leftovers Italian Bake:  I have a significant amount of leftover meaty tomato sauce that we froze the last few weeks.  I'm going to thaw that out, halfway cook up some rotini noodles that I have, add some cottage cheese, a tiny bit of water (to finish cooking the noodles),top with a bit of mozzarella and bake it.  If I really go crazy I'll saute up some green peppers (I chopped and froze them and they're not bad sauteed).  Salad.

Dinner #3:  Chicken Thighs (Salt/Pepper) roasted in the oven, mashed potatoes/gravy, peas

Frugally Fit Friday: Map my Ride

Today I want to share with you my latest free fitness find.  This week as I was pondering biking to work (it didn't happen, but I know it will next week), I found this lovely site: Map my Ride.  I used to use Map my Run when I would run when I was in the country.  Now I don't run much because I live near my students and frankly I look like an awkward chicken when I run. Running is something that I only enjoy doing on wide open, semi-private, country roads.  Anyway this website and its app, allow you to log your trip.  It shows the inclines and everything.  For people who are more disciplined than I am you could log each trip and all of your workouts/food intake.  For people like me, it is just mainly interesting because I can map my ride and see how far I went and how many calories I burned.  Try it out!

Friday Favorite Finds: Feeling Nutty!

Well, at the beginning of this week I thought I might ride my bike in to work.  I probably could have on Monday, but that was Monday which is a rough morning anyway.  After that it got really chilly, and I have to say that I am a very fair weather biker.  So, I think next week now will be the week.  The lows next week will be in the 50's and this week they were low 30's, which is just a bit too cold for me.

I am linking up as always with Finding Joy in My Kitchen's Friday Favorite Finds.  Before I indulge you with my picks for the week I dare you to search Pinterest for "yum."  The range of items that comes up is hilarious.  Anyway, back to my picks.  I've been filling a bit crazy(nutty) today because I took a much needed personal day, so my picks this week all involve nuts.

Peanut Butter Pancakes (add a bit of protein to your morning)





Almond Cheddar Pinecone Appetizer (ok that is just funny)





Cashew Chicken Stir Fry





Pistachio Cake





Peanut Butter Dessert (for the chocolate fans)





Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday:

I think this is going to be the week.  Today (Sunday) I tried biking to work on a test run and I did it(!) and it wasn't that bad.  This might be the week that I actually bike to work on a work day.  We'll see though.  I kind of want to chicken out because where I live only the drunks who don't have driver's licenses ride their bikes to work, but I think this could be good.

Anyway, back to the point of this post, this week I am again linking up with Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Dinner #1: Cajun Chicken Pasta (I braved Walmart and finally bought some Cajun seasoning, because I'm not always up for making my own mix); Salad; Cut up oranges


Dinner #2: Mini Meat Loaves, Mashed Potatoes/Gravy, Peas


Dinner #3: Hot ham and cheese sandwiches, Steamed Broccoli, cut up fruit

Happy Menu Planning!

Saturday Morning Free Funnies: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me

I am a creature of habit.  We all are.  I just read a book over break about it.  I thought I would share one of my automatic Saturday rituals.  11 am exercise (because I rarely get in my 60 minutes before the weekend) while listening to the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me the NPR news quiz show.  If, for some odd reason, I can't be by the radio during that time my day feels incomplete.  They have several comedians, the audience, and normally a super smart person answer questions about the week's news.  It is really funny.  The good news is that you can listen to them online now, so if your NPR station doesn't play it, you can listen online.

The episodes kind of remind me of the Daily Show from what I remember of it.  I'm more of a radio person than a TV person, so I really enjoy laughing along with the weird news.  Since I'm nerdy the quiz aspect is fun as well.  Go to http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/ to listen in online or look up past episodes.  Remember, laughing is good for you and free!

Frugally Fit Friday: Tracey Mallet Abs and Flexibility Workout

Last week Youtube suggested this video and it was amazing, so I have to share it, however creepy it is that Youtube knows me that well.

Tracey Mallett: Booty Barre- Abs and Flexibility workout is 13 minutes of exercises that are difficult, but not too difficult and yet they leave you feeling it in a good way the next day.  You can fit it in at any point in time during the day because they are strength moves as opposed to sweaty cardio (which I like, but you have to plan cardio around shower times- at least if you sweat like I do).  Try it out today!

Friday Favorite Finds: April Showers!

This week I'm linking up with Finding Joy in My Kitchen's Friday Favorite Finds. This week has definitely brought April showers! Just after I was so excited about my new bike it seemed that there were storms and rain and more storms. Oh well, I'll get a chance to try and ride it to the school soon enough.

This week I had some interesting finds:

Strawberries have been on sale for $0.99 at Aldi, so this recipe looked especially appealing!
Fresh Strawberry Pie from Brown Eyed Baker





Blackened Chicken with Cool Avocado Sauce from Sarcastic Cooking (which is hilarious)





Another Orange Julius Recipe from 2 Sisters 2 Cities





Nutella Kiwi Popsicle from Pinfoody





Chocolate Avocado Smoothie from Texerin





Nutella Microwave Cake from Babble




Happy Friday!

Menu Plan Monday: New Bike Edition!

I'm linking up with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday today, but first I have to tell you about what I bought this weekend.  Ok, you guessed it (it's in the title) a new bike!  I've been thinking about this for a while now because our new house is super close to town compared to the place we used to rent.  Where we used to live I would have had to risk my life around some very sharp curves to get to town and would have hoped and prayed that the drivers would see me.  Now, the only "dangerous" part of my trip to town would be 0.1 mile strip on a busy road that has ample shoulders.  The rest of it allows me to take some beautiful side streets.  Needless to say, I am really excited about this summer.

Here is a picture online I found of my beauty.  It is kind of a long story how I ended up with this specific bike, but I am super happy with it.

I still have my old mountain bike from middle school, so when I get a chance I hope to list it on Craigslist to recoup a bit of my new bike cost.  I just hate the idea of it lying around unused, but honestly I never liked mountain bikes.  I hate leaning so far over.  I'm always sure that I am going to fly over the handlebars because I am super clumsy like that.  Furthermore, I have no need for the "mountain bike" features as I never take it off road and it is pretty flat around here for the most part.

My new bike is a cruiser style and I love it.  I looks a bit more girly than I would prefer, but after a strange series of events I was able to get it brand new for $150, so I couldn't say no!  I was planning on getting it used for that price (new 24" 7 speed cruisers go for over $200 around here and are impossible to find).  I'm looking into eventually getting some fenders so I don't get a skunk stripe and maybe baskets for the back for library trips (my husband said the front would look even more ridiculous).  I am toying with the idea of riding it to work.  The only problem is that there isn't a bike rack and I don't really trust locking it to a tree at a high school all day.

Here's my plan for the week:

Monday: Leftovers from the weekend

Tuesday: Black Bean Quesadillas from The Curvy Carrot with fresh tomatoes, chips and salsa


Wednesday: Taco Time!

Thursday: Spaghetti, Salad, Roasted Asparagus

Friday- Sunday: Dinners with family and friends!

Saturday Morning Free Funnies: Sh*t My Kids Have Ruined

I was looking at finally finishing my kitchen chairs project this morning and found out some really good information and found a hilarious website.  First, I have decided that I want to use vinyl fabric for the kitchen chairs because children are in our 5 year plan and I just can't see regular fabric working well with them.  I also am lazy and don't want to put nice fabric on now and then have to change it when they come.  Second, I am not going to buy vinyl fabric (looked online and it was, *gasp* $15/yd or more!).  Instead, I am going to find a cute vinyl tablecloth to use.  I thought this was an original idea, but I guess it isn't because I found a tutorial here that is pretty good.  That blog mentioned a site that I have found to be hilarious- mainly because I used to work at a daycare during the summer, so I know the path of destruction kids can leave behind.

If you or someone you know has kids and a good sense of humor (and doesn't mind a small amount of language in the title), check out Sh*t My Kids Have Ruined.

Friday Favorite Finds:

This week I'm linking up with Friday Favorite Finds at Finding Joy in My Kitchen.  This week has been a different type of week in two ways.  My husband has switched jobs which means a more fluctuating type of work schedule.  Also, coming back from spring break is always a bit challenging.  However, I don't want to complain, since most other people do not have a break.  Finally, the weather has been all over the place- super warm and sunny and cold and rainy.

Here's my picks for the week.

Healthy Orange Julius from Miss Indie



Chicken Gyros from The Girl Who Ate Everything



Roasted Broccoli with Cherry Tomatoes from Jeanette's Healthy Living

Kit Kat Mocha Cupcakes from Kitchen Karate

Frugally Fit Friday: 100 Reasons You Should Workout Today

I find that so many days I am so stoked to exercise after work when I am at work.  However, by the time I've spent the whole day convincing teens that logarithms are something they need to know and then graded their papers and tutored for free after school, made dinner and cleaned it up, I am not always motivated to work out.  I found this giant list of reasons why I should workout.

So far, reading through this list has been motivation enough to help me get motivated to do at least a little bit of exercise.  Enjoy!

Finance Isn't Just for the Fellas

Photo credit: Epsos

My class has been going over exponential growth and decay recently.  I had them read some Mr. Money Mustache, analyze the real cost of a car with a 60 month loan after researching different local bank rates, depreciation of vehicles, saving early vs. saving late for retirement, mutual funds vs. savings accounts,credit card debt, Check into Cash (there eyeballs fall out of their head when they calculate a 391% APR), etc.  During this unit I have talked with several adults in the building about how excited I am about this unit.  I had several people act surprised that I, a woman, would find any of that guy stuff interesting.  Seriously?!  Is it 1950?  Do I need to have an allowance for shoes?

Needless to say I informed them that I enjoyed working with finance and that it is what I like to spend some of my extra time doing.  I actually enjoy finance stuff more than my husband.  More surprise.

There are many women that work finance and it just saddens me when other people at school act like I am super strange mainly because I would hate to have the young women these people are around think that they don't need to learn finance.  The woman in Proverbs 31 clearly understood some finance as it showed that she had a business.  I guess I just worry about the young girls in my school getting the idea that they are supposed to be the stereotypical spenders that they see in movies/tv and that they don't need to think about money.

Many of those girls faces that I stare at each day will be single moms, on their own, within a decade if they follow current norms.  They won't have a man to be in charge of the family spending.  They are precisely who needs to learn these ideas the most.  I just hope that none of my students come back and say that this (basic finance) is what they should have learned because I am teaching it right now even if it doesn't seem to be sticking.  I am forced to teach conic sections and imaginary numbers, but this unit, exponential growth, is a unit I get to teach.  It is my baby.  Each year I tweak it and add to it and maybe steal a day or two from other units to turn this unit, this unit that I consider to be absolutely crucial, to bloom as nicely as the crocuses are this spring.  I do everything possible to get these young women and men to start thinking of the future, how their habits now will effect it.  They can dream big if they start now.  They don't have to be part of the herd.  Think differently and you might get a different result.

Every time I teach this unit I normally have a few of my male students stay after class asking more questions and wanting more information about how they can start investing now.  I have yet to have a female student do this.  So I wait..... Someday.  Someday.

JCPenney Tanking Means Great Deals for Me and You!

I just got a $5 off $5 coupon in my inbox a few weeks ago and was able to get the cutest most comfortable turquoise shirt for free!

I just found out that flip flops are only a buck this Friday!  Seriously, I know they are tanking as a company, but I've never seen better deals.  Enjoy them while you can!

Menu Plan Monday: Back to Reality

If you might have noticed last week was a bit spotty.  That is because I was out of the country enjoying some time with my in-laws and some sunshine!  I'm sorry for the lack of posts, but I was trying to be completely "present" with all of them and not in my own little blog world.

Last week they had us stay at the most beautiful all-inclusive resort.  I was able to try so many different foods, which was really fun, because normally I just play it safe and just order something that I know that I will like.  Despite this I will be glad to have "normal" food again this week and some healthier options than what I was eating all last week.  Honestly I feel like I should do one of those smoothie cleanse weeks this week because I ate so much food last week.  It was delicious though!

Here is my plan for this week (most nights we have cut up fruit each night as well):

Dinner #1:  Easy Chicken Fried Rice with Veggies


Dinner #2:  Hamburgers, Baked Fries, Veggies


I had to include this picture that I found as well because it was so funny!


Other random thought- when looking for hamburger recipes I found tons of hamburger looking cupcakes.  I'm sorry, but I think that is just a bit strange, but hey I guess having something sweet look like something salty might do it for some people;).

Dinner #3:  Sticky Orange-Glazed Chicken Thighs, Sauteed Green Beans


Find more amazing menus at Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Friday Favorite Finds: Spring Break 2013 Edition!

Spring break is coming to a close, but I have several finds for you!  I'm linking up with Finding Joy in My Kitchen's Friday Favorite Finds.  This week I'm focusing on easy meals or things with small amounts of ingredients, because we're on break, which means a cooking break (but not completely).
Sorry if this post has some funky formatting.  Pinterest changed the way you embed their links and I'm still learning how to work with it.

Easy Skinny Mushroom Stroganoff:  What could be better than an easy dinner that is good for you?

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

Slow Cooker Sweat and Saucy Chicken

3 Ingredient Halloween Apple Bites (okay- so it is nowhere near Halloween, but these looked hilarious and were easy so I had to post them!)

3 Ingredient Raspberry Healthy Icecream

3 Ingredient Tagalongs