Summer in the 'Hood...

It's been two months since I posted anything new.  If you're still out there, leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear from you.

Here are some pics from a recent walk through the neighborhood.

Things that are yellow...

Things that are red...

Things that are precious...

Are you enjoying your summer?  What have you been up to?

Only By His Grace,

Billie

It's been a while....

Good Sunday afternoon ladies,

It seems like forever since I've checked in with you.  I've missed you and your sweet comments.  I've missed linking up to parties and writing about what's going on.

Last week we took the kiddos on a weeklong, much needed vacation!  It's been spring break here, and we had the most fantastic time.  The weather was as close to perfect as we could ask.  The destination was beautiful.  We lounged by the pool, we took in a couple attractions, we ate the most glorious meals! It was so great!

But this week, it's back to life as normal.  And what a busy week it will be...

It may not seem overly busy to you, but for me, having a bundle of things on my schedule is a bit daunting when you factor in the post vacation laundry, lawn mowing, end-of-school year activities, girl scouts, and catch-up at work.

So, here's the reason I'm posting today.  I wanted to give you my game plan for dinner on one of my busy weeks.


This week's menu consists of:

Tacos

Salisbury steaks

mashed potatoes and gravy

peas

salad

Spaghetti with meat sauce

salad

garlic bread

Steaks on the grill

baked potato

salad

steamed broccoli

Chicken (in the crock-pot)

with veggies

noodles

Fish

Oven Fries

Cole Slaw

Corn on Cob

Baked beans

How, on a week, when I have so much else going on, can I manage to make home-cooked dinners 5 nights of the week?

Today is my prep day!  Let me tell you how it all comes about:

I have three meals this week that include ground beef.  I have two meals this week that need chopped onion.  I have three meals this week that include a salad.

So today, here is what I did.  I gave myself 30 minutes to prep these meals for the week -- all of them.

Let's look at each meal individually:  

Salisbury Steaks need:

Hamburger, chopped onion, bread crumbs and salt and pepper.

Chicken in the crock pot needs:

Chicken, chopped onion, chopped carrots and chopped celery.

Spaghetti needs:

Tomato sauce, spices and ground beef.

Tacos need:

Ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, spices and shells

Steaks need:

Steak, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Fish is pre-cooked from the freezer section -- no prep needed.

Starting with veggies:  I know I need onion for two meals, so I chopped enough for both the salisbury steaks and the chicken.  I went ahead and chopped the lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and celery for the tacos and crock pot chicken.

I know I need ground beef:  So I separated my ground beef into thirds.  In one bowl I put 1/3 of the chopped onion and 1/3 ground beef.  I added the bread crumbs to the mix.  The other 2/3 of ground beef went directly into my skillet to brown.  I scrambled it up well -- and while it was cooking, I mixed up the other ground beef mixture and formed them into patties.  These guys got covered and stored in the meat drawer of the fridge.  Meanwhile, back to the skillet.  The ground beef was cooked thoroughly, so I separated out about a cup of ground beef -- and stored it in the fridge.  The remaining beef got taco seasoning added to it.

We'll be having steaks:  So while the taco meat was simmering, I trimmed the excess fat from the steaks, put them in a ziplock freezer bag with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and rosemary.  Enough.  It will be well-marinated when we want it later this week.  Into the meat drawer it went.

Chicken in the crock-pot:  So I already chopped all those veggies, right?  They got stored in a handy-dandy snap top bowl.  I buy flash frozen chicken in the big bag at the price club.  So out of the bag came 3 large chicken breasts - bone in, skin on for the crock-pot.  It never dries out or overcooks that way.  It went into a large gallon sized freezer bag with a chicken bullion cube.  As it thaws in the meat drawer of the fridge, the bullion cube will dissolve and it will be ready to go directly into the crock pot.

What does all this mean?  All this means that this week, when I arrive home exhausted and ready to fall asleep on the sofa, my evening meals will only take me about 15 - 30 minutes to make. 

How?  Why? Let's take a look:

Salisbury Steak night:

Grill up the salisbury steaks on my stove top grill (10 minutes)

make the pan gravy

Make the mashed potatoes (10 minutes)

Steam the peas (3-5 minutes)

put together the salad 

(remember I already chopped the salad fixin's and stored them separately in the fridge)

Spaghetti night:

Assemble the sauce with the pre-cooked ground beef, canned tomato sauce, spices, 

pre-chopped onions and garlic

Assemble the salad

pop the garlic bread in the oven

cook the pasta

Steak night:

Grill the steaks on the stove-top grill

pop the potatoes in the microwave (I cheat here a bit)

assemble the salad

steam the broccoli

Chicken night:

In the morning before I leave

Pop the thawed chicken and veggies in the crock pot with pre-chopped veggies and 1 cup chicken stock

In the evening when I return

cook the noodles and heat up any left-over veggies from the previous meals

Fish night:

This is the night I totally cheat.

I buy pre baked cod fish from the price club, I just have to re-bake it

pop the fries in the over with the fish to bake

heat the baked beans in the oven with the others

cook the corn on cob

serve with store-bought cole slaw

So, there you have it.... my weekly meal and prep.  I usually don't skimp on meals like I am this week, but it is quite the week, and the week following vacation.  I'm sure I'll still be in a vacation state of mind...  I hope!

I have other meal plans that I use when things get really crazy.  I'll try to post those at another time.  I just find that 30 minutes of prep on the weekend, and 45 minutes of planning before I grocery shop makes my weekly meals so much easier to manage.  

How do you plan your meals on your busy weeks?

Only by his grace,

Billie

Reasons...

It is a beautiful sunny morning here.  I hope you're feeling the warmth of the sun where you are today, as well.

I haven't posted very much lately.  There are many reasons.  But I've been contemplating why I blog - why I post what I post.

Let me explain:  When I first started blogging, I wanted my blog to be an inspiration.  I wanted to show a lovingly decorated home without spending a boat load of money to do it.  I love to shop used furniture stores and consignment shops.  I love a good bargain, almost as much as I love shoes!  I do love shoes!  I'll have to post about that soon...

But I found myself in a very strange place.  It almost felt like competition to keep up with other bloggers.  I felt compelled to shop for the next blog entry -- meaning, I had to shop to find something interesting to blog about.  Not that I was spending too much money, or being frivolous, but it seemed like my focus wasn't on sharing, but on keeping up.  I didn't really like that feeling, so I've taken a step back from blogging some.  I wanted to see what in my everyday normal life I could blog about.

What do I do that I enjoy?

What do I spend time on that you might enjoy?

What is my reason for blogging?

I contemplated shutting down my blog.  I thought about just abandoning my blog.  But neither of those things felt right either.  So I decided there must be a balance to it all.

So over the next few weeks, or months, you may see all sorts of things here.  It may not always be home decor or remodeling.  It might be shoes, or running, or pictures I've taken.  I don't know.  But I've decided that I want to blog about the things that make me feel happy... not just about the things I buy.

Life isn't about how many things we own.  It's about the time we spend with those we love and enjoying the time spent together.  :)

On that note, last Saturday was my niece's first birthday.  I got some really good shots of the kids playing outside.  I thought I'd share some happy times with you!

Only By His Grace,

Billie

The Birthday Girl -- 1 year old!

Mr. Austin -- the coolest cousin a girl could have -- or so he thinks!

Another cousin, Ayda.

Birthday girl's sister, Lillly.

Cousin, Mina. 

Cousin, Teta.

Miss Kayla -- a little grumpy from lack of sleep.. but still the party girl all the same.

The first birthday cupcake!  Don't burn the baby!

Mmmm.  That's good stuff!

It was warm and sunny, so outside the kiddos went.  What kid can't have fun in a jeep?

I won the race up the big hill!

Austin, are you sure you can drive this thing?

Looking out over the farmland...

Playing on the fun set.

Even big girls just wanna have fun.

The backyard view...

Must say... it was a great party!  And so relaxing to be around all those kids.  Wonder when I forgot how to have fun like that?

Now, back to our show...

Remember when television used to say that?  "And now, back to our show..."

That's how I feel about this whole laundry room remake.

Do you remember what started this whole fiasco?  We started a load of laundry... ALL the kids school uniforms were in that load... the washer finished the wash cycle but failed mid way through the rinse cycle.  Being a front loader, the door locked... of course... and so our wet clothes were in there for 3 days before we could get it fixed and get our clothes out.  It cost us approximately $150... to find and remove this little guy:

Trouble-maker!


At least we didn't have to buy a new machine, replace parts, or fight with the manufacturer for further instructions.

But, as any good wife would do :), when I got in there to clean up the mess, it occurred to me that we should do a little updo... Ladies, I know you've never done that before!

As most of the rooms on our main floor, our colors are red, gold, brown, sage... But I wanted a change.

Here's the before.  Remember, ladies, it IS a laundry room.  Don't be shocked if you actually see some....
gasp LAUNDRY.  :)


Warning:  These pictures aren't badly exposed.  The room is just really that yellow!

So here are the yellow walls -- with the little hole in the background where Holly was apparently planning a prison break.  We wondered why she put up that poster....

Here's the recently repaired washer... pushed all the way down toward the wall - in it's new location.

The lovely shelving above the washer/dryer units.  No matter how hard I try to organize this space, it still just looks like ick!

Another view -- this long shelf will come down, and the new cabinetry will go up in its place.  Can't wait!

Here's the adjoining wall where I currently hang our clothes for drying or waiting to be ironed.  This shelf will come down and we will move the hanging bar to the other wall.

Here is the view from the doorway.

Here's the ugly painting I had in there:

So out with the old, and in with the better... I'm thinking spa blue and birds!

First purchase:  A pale blue print, "Live, Laugh, Laundry."

A couple of small mirrors I had in storage

A "new" $3.00 mirror -- Thanks Goodwill!

This adorable pale blue watery wooden shelf...

Here's the detail of the shelf.

A couple of blue plates... just in case I get hungry for a snack while I'm washing all those clothes. :)

A little glass bottle with a precious blue bird on top.

An off white candle holder from Target and a pale blue candle from Home Goods.

Here's that little birdy -- she's ready for her close up.

While I was at Target, I purchased the cutest little brown bird.  The gentleman helping my cashier was so helpful to wrap up my little bird in tissue paper.  He said, "this little bird needs some love."

When we (the little bird and I) got home, I dropped her on my concrete driveway.  See how pretty she looks now?  :(

No worries.  Nothing a little Elmer's glue won't fix.  She's taped up while her glue dries.

she's alright from this side.

Here's an iron bird cage I'm planning to place the little broken bird in.

And here she is.  Snug as a bug in a rug...

Here are those plates again...

A couple of iron sconces...

Those found mirrors from the basement...

The candle and those little birds from my powder room...

A wreath we had in the basement family room... If you look closely you'll see a little pink bird in there.

And here's this side of the room.

Opposite the laundry area --- my picture, a couple of carafes and my new shelf.  In the bottle on the far right, I will eventually put my Downy.  In the bottle on the far left, I will put my Era.  Lovey only requests that I wait until he can rehang my shelf with some Molly bolts... I can do that!

Here's my blue birdy again.

So once I got all that done, I realized I didn't like the metal shelves after all.  Of course, I've known this for 4 years now... but it really, really made me want my laundry room to look more like this:  a laundry room where I can tuck away all those things you want to hide, and a nice clean place where I can display all of the beautiful goodies I just hung up and placed.

But, I would also be pleased with this:

But more than likely, it will be more like this:

We purchased 2 sets of cabinets to go above the washer dryer.  Our wall is 90 inches long.  The cabinets will be 48 inches.  We will attach a clothing bar to the left wall of the cabinets and then again to the wall.  This will be where I hang our wet clothes, and those needing to be ironed.

We will then remove the other hanging bar, and hopefully put in a small table to use as a folding table.  I happen to have on in the basement I'm not using... :) It might need a paint job, though.

So we'll see how it goes!  Mr. Lovey assembled the cabinets last Sunday, but we haven't received the metal hanging bracket in the mail yet.  As soon as we receive it, I'll post again, and then you can see the final after shots!

Until then...

Only by His Grace,

Billie