New Year's Resolution #2

The birth of the New Year's Resolution came about as such:

People were so tired of Christmas parties, cooking, baking, eating, dressing up, shopping, decorating, flitting from here to there and here again that the average person said STOP ENOUGH! I need to do something different! So they made a list of all the new things they wanted to do. Now, the reason NYR's don't last is because people get sick of keeping track of all the NYR's. They say ENOUGH! I need to NOT do something different....and then they're off the hook. Remember a key when making NYR's is the high the standards the less guilty you feel for blowing them off.

Not that "I" would do anything like that...making too high standard NYR's or blowing them off...nope, not me.

So here is #1 A Year Without Eating Out

And #2 is this: Use up all the soaps, lotions and sprays I have gotten over the years to make room for the batch next Christmas.

Not too difficult, eh? I seldom buy this stuff for myself, but I was looking in my medicine chest and noticing the lotions I got LAST Christmas. I really must use it up.

Now What? Sewing Room Rescue

Now that Christmas is over I am like a ship off it's moorings. NOW what do I do with my time? I am sure things were put aside to be dealt with later, but I don't know what they are.

One thing is for sure, my sewing room became FUNCTIONAL. It functioned as a gift making center, gift storage, mud room annex, and a catch all for just about everything!

We spent an hour or two this last Saturday putting things away as much as we can. We still have the Christmas decorating boxes in here but they will be gone by the end of the week.

I want my room back and I want to know what to do in the room once it's in order. So...I made a list :D

Sewing Room Goals
1. Catch up on ironing (KE is earning a Keepers Ironing Badge :D)
2. Clean
a. Organize Craft stuff
b. Clean File Cabinet
c. Clean Desk
d. Clean Kids Craft Area
e. Wash Windows
f. Clean on and under scrapbooking table so I can uh you know scrapbook
g. Clean sewing cabinet
3. Make a project list
4. prioritize project list

My hope is to make items to sell this summer at the Farmer's Market. KM wants to make items to sell on Etsy and at the FM. But she and I have other projects to finish first. That's what Sundays without football are for I guess :D.

A Very Lovely Christmas

Our Christmas this year was very lovely. I think, though, that any Christmas is better than last Christmas with it's sickness and just-had-a-baby-and-I-want-to-crawl-into-bed-with-her-and-sleep-all-of-you-just-go-awayness.

I can't say that I was prepared. Some presents were made at the last minute and some not at all. The house wasn't perfectly clean and I was ready JUST in time to head for church Christmas Eve.

But this Christmas was the most laid back I have ever had.
There were no snarling at one another over the decorating of the tree.
We did school and didn't blow it off...much.
We had fun and went ice skating, to the parades and other holiday activities.
We worshiped and talked about the Christmas story at dinner.

Christmas Day brought family and friends. Yes, it was a lot of work and I hope everyone felt welcome and full :D. The children didn't have the gimmies and were content with the humble gifts they were given. One child spent most of his day entertaining an elderly guest.

This Christmas was a very international one...we had guests from Vietnam and Canada...AND we ate Mexican food :D.


Would I do anything different? Of course. . I MIGHT not have made so many cookies and I would have had an easier time had I not been sick. I am happy with the way things turned out

I think the biggest difference was my attitude. I tried to be as pleasant to all about everything as possible. I think it trickled down. Let this be a lesson for the REST of the year!

It was indeed a lovely Christmas.

A Year of Dining In

My friend Gina has proposed a challenge to help save money and trim out bods. We are calling it "A Year of Dining In".

You can read about it here.

Our family eats out maybe once or twice a month. But still, the cheapest we can eat out for (for 10 people) is $25. If we did this twice a month, imagine the amount of groceries that can be bought for $50!

Our biggest budget buster is eating "late night". It all began on a fateful Tuesday evening way back in the 90's. My husband worked until 11:00 at night, so I would often wait up for him to come home to have dinner together. It just so happened that every Tuesday night he would suggest Taco Bell. This became known as Taco Bell Tuesday. It evolved into one or two times a week of "late night", which got more expensive when our teen joined us. Oh, sure, we had long reprieves of not eating out at all, but we always fell back into the pattern. As I said, imagine the amount of groceries we could have bought with all that money.

So I told my friend that we are in. With the exception of eating out that can be done for free...meaning a gift card or someone else's treat. Also, we are excepting Mom and Dad's birthdays :D. I wonder how this will go over because we usually have Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizza on Valentine's Day. Hmmm Overall I think the not eating late night will have a big and immediate impact on our budget and bodies.

We will see how it goes.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This recipe was given to me by a sweet woman named Jessie Hartke from Majestic church. We made two pans of it for Christmas dinner this year as well as a lunch gift for our Bridges Family. I have been nagged...er asked to post this for all to enjoy.

2 26 oz pkg cream of chicken soup
2 sm containers sour cream
2 4 oz pkg green chilis (we used Pantaleo's Anaheims and Pueblos mixed)
5 to 7 cooked chicken breast cut to bite size pieces or shredded
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 pkg cheese shredded (we use a mixture of MJack and Cheddar)

Mix soup and sour cream. Pour a bit into bottom of casserole dish.
Put down a layer of tortillas.
Layer of mixture, chicken, chilis, cheese
Layer of tortillas
Layer of mixture, etc
layer of tortillas
Layer of mixture etc
Top with layer of tortillas, misture and cheese

NOTE....an alternative method would be to make rolls of chicken and cheese and top with mixture and cheese.

Bake at 350 until it comes to a boil about 30 min.

It freezes well and is good for leftovers...which we know well as we have been eating it the past few days :).

Cowboy Cookies

Here is a recipe that we make each year to put on the plates we make for the neighbors and take to the library. I think it is the same as the Neiman Marcus cookies but I am not sure. They are RICH and we like them....we get the leftovers for Christmas goodies.

We DO make them other times during the year when we want more than your average chocolate chip cookie.

I was given the recipe by a woman I went to church with. My MIL made a recipe book and put this one in it....just fwi.


Cowboy Cookies (Mrs. Carol Wurtz)
2 C Shortening
2 C white sugar
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
12 oz chocolate chips (we always use Toll House)
1 C choppted nuts (we use walnuts)
4 C oatmeal

Cream together first five ingredients. Mix together flour, soda and baking powder. Add to mixture. Mix in oatmeal, nuts and chocolate chips.

Refridgerate for several hours or overnight. (We use it right away and it's fine). Allow to warm slightly to room temperature. Mold with hands to walnut size or larger and flatten on oiled cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes. Be sure to not overbake.

We usually let them sit a while on the sheet before we put them on the cooling rack and we hardly ever oil the pan.

This makes a BIG batch...be sure to use a big bowl.