Meal Planning Monday

Sunday: Birthday Party
Monday Chicken Pot Pie
Tuesday: Baked Mac & Cheese and Steamed Vegetables
Wednesday: Beef Tacos
Thursday: Baked Shrimp and Vegetables
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Buca Di Beppo with 23 of my favorite people!  

Meal Planning Monday

Saturday: Seasoned Baked Salmon, Baked Potatoes, & Broccoli
Sunday: Vegetable Beef Stew
Monday: Out
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday: Chili & Cornbread
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Tortellini & Pesto with Salads

Menu Planning Monday

One thing I have been doing, just not sharing, is my meal planning.  I don't know what we would do without it.  Well, I do know.  We'd spend probably twice as much on groceries and throw out a lot of unused stuff.  Oh and my favorite, I'd be whining at 4p that I didn't know what to make for dinner and wasting a lot of energy by staring into the fridge.  Anyway, if after reading those last couple of sentences you were thinking "Is she actually talking about me?" then maybe meal planning is something you could give a try!

Monday: Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings (recipe up soon!)
Tuesday: Cubed Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy & Steamed Vegetables
Wednesday: Potato Leek Soup & Salads
Thursday: Baked Seasoned Salmon, Baked Potatoes & Steamed Vegetables
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Panko Shrimp & Vegetable Fried Rice
Sunday: Out with friends

Menu Planning Monday

Sorry gang.  We just don't have much going on around these parts lately!  We're in the stages of mad prepping to finish the basement.  Then I'll have all sorts of quality material for you!  For now, you just get my meal planning :)

Sunday: Chicken Pot Pie
Monday: Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps & Veggie Fried Rice
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Ahi Tuna, Edamame and Rice
Saturday: Out :)

Lunch: Leftovers,  PB&J, bananas, cuties, Goldfish crackers, salads, Baked Mac & Cheese from the freezer

Breakfast: Toast with jam, cereal, bananas, fruit smoothies, yogurt, waffles

Snacks: Cheddar Cheese Bars, fruit, Fig Newtons, Edamame

Menu Planning Monday (on Tuesday)

Sunday: Creamy Fiesta Chicken
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Crock Pot Roast with Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus
Wednesday: Tortellini with Pesto & Salads
Thursday: Jalapeno Chicken & Rice Pilaf with Asparagus
Friday: Birthday Party (Pizza)
Saturday: Out :)

Lunch: Leftovers,  PB&J, bananas, cuties, Goldfish crackers, salads

Breakfast: Toast with jam, cereal, bananas, fruit smoothies, yogurt, waffles

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday: Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Monday: Chicken Pot Pie (from the freezer)
Tuesday: Spaghetti & Salads
Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas
Thursday: Florentine Shells & Salads
Friday: Jalapeno Chicken & Rice Pilaf with Asparagus
Saturday: Birthday Party (Pizza)

Lunch: Ham & Swiss Sandwiches, PB&J, Potato Soup (from the freezer), bananas, cuties, Goldfish crackers, salads

Breakfast: Toast with jam, cereal, bananas, fruit smoothies, yogurt

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday: Super Bowl Party
Monday: Swiss Chicken (new)
Tuesday: Ground Beef Casserole
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Honey Sauced Chicken (new)
Thursday: Chicken Piccata with Homemade Rice Pilaf
Friday: Double Batch Baked Macaroni & Cheese (Half for freezer)
Saturday: Leftovers

Lunch: Ham & Swiss Sandwiches, PB&J, Potato Soup (from the freezer), bananas, pineapple, Goldfish crackers, Pringles, cottage cheese

Breakfast: Waffles, Cereal, bananas, fruit smoothies, yogurt

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

{Friday}
work on cam's birthday party details (it's coming together nicely, the invites went out yesterday!)
meal plan- below

{Saturday}
make a bunch of chicken pot pies- I got 4.5 done!
deep clean the floors they'll have to get done this week instead, we were busy working on the blue :)
date night!! we were able to get out for the night unexpectedly, so yay!

{Sunday}
grocery shop
enjoy the day!
had my brother and SIL over for dinner
did a little coupon shopping

{Somewhere In There}
find a fun valentine's project on pinterest- i found one, but i'm not 100% sold. i'm going to keep looking
clean the laundry room so i can show you the changes we made!- it's half way done. i'll be featuring it later this week!

{Meal Plan}
Sunday: Crockpot Horseradish Garlic Pot Roast & Salads
Monday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wraps
Tuesday: Creamed Chicken & Corn Soup
Wednesday: Leftovers or Chicken Pot Pie
Thursday: Going to dinner at Carl's cousin's house
Friday: Panang Curry Soup & Spicy Thai Noodles

Lunches: Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Soup, Bananas, Cuties, Apples, Carrots
Breakfast: Waffles, Bananas, Hard Boiled Eggs, Cereal
Snacks: Goldfish Crackers, Oreos, Stove Top Popcorn

New Year: New Goals

That's a lie. My goals are always the same. Clean House. Eat at Home. I don't like to call it a New Year's Resolution because then I am destined to fail. But each year, I try to be a better wife and maintain my home that June Cleaver would be proud of, and now I get to add "be a better mom" to that list. How fun?!?

Anyway, back to my goals. Clean house. I need to get back on track with my weekly cleaning. I don't like using my alternate schedule for cleaning now since the weekend is family time. So my other option is to focus on my daily cleaning. I'll be updating more on the Facebook page on a daily basis if you want to follow along or participate too!

Then there is the subject of eating at home. I think we are pretty good at it. We rarely eat out for lunch and will go out for dinner on occasion, but I'd like to even scale that back. We are usually disappointed when we go out anyway and then to have to spend $30+ on a meal for two is just wasteful. I'll continue doing my meal plans with the Weekend Planning, but I'll start listing out more detail- breakfast, lunch and snack information will be included as well as what meals I plan to add to my freezer for future use. It's mostly to hold myself accountable, but hopefully will also inspire someone else out there!

To get started on the right foot, we are taking down all the Christmas decor now, and starting on Monday, I'll be back on track with daily cleaning. And as for meals, I've got all my meal planning done for the week, and lots of prep work has been completed. (Peeled and cut carrots for snacks, prepped lettuce for salads, etc.) Since I've taken a vacation from WP the last few weeks, I'll give you my meal plan here.

Dinners:
Sunday: Tacos at a Birthday Party
Monday: Dinner at Carl's parents' house (dinner always tastes better when you don't have to make it!)
Tuesday: Sante Fe Chicken over rice
Wednesday: Chicken Nachos
Thursday: Leftovers (I'm solo for dinner, so it'll be simple)
Friday: Broccoli Cheddar Soup & Salad
Saturday: Chicken Pot Pies

Lunch: Baked Potato Soup, Ham & Swiss Sandwiches, Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Salads
Snacks: Clementines, Apples, Bananas, Carrots, Goldfish Crackers
Treats: Cool Mint Oreos (OMG YUM)
Freezer Meals: Broccoli Cheddar & Baked Potato Soups, Chicken Pot Pies

If you do a meal plan on your blog, let me know! I'm always looking for ideas and great new recipes!

P.S. Weekend Planning will be back on Friday! Come link up YOUR Weekend Plans!

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

Yeah, this weekend didn't go quite how I planned it, but at least with all my green and red I look festive.

{friday}

• Make a full Turkey Dinner- you can check out the details here.
  
• Finish, fold, and put away 3 loads of laundry
• Clean up the Christmas Tree boxes and packaging
• Decorate the family room- I need a few key pieces before I can actually finish it
  

{saturday}

• Meal Plan
• Grocery Shop
• Take our Christmas Card photo
• Make dinner for our photographers :)- Sort of, we had lunch instead
• At home movie date night
  

{sunday}

• Take Gibson to see Santa Claws
• clean the laundry room
• file my "to file" papers
• Grocery shopped
• Finished the second tree

Meal Plan:

Sunday: Mostaccioli & Salad
Monday: Out for Sushi :)
Tuesday: Sweet & Sour Chicken with Stir Fry Vegetables over Rice
Wednesday: Pierogis and Salads
Thursday: Corn Chowder and Salads
Friday: Chicken Piccata
Saturday: Broccoli Cheddar Chowder

Don't forget to share your Monday Morning Round Up below!

My Happy House is #2 on Home Design! Help us get to #1!!!

Friday:

• drive home from Chicago
• get unpacked and start laundry
• start tidying up the house
• meal plan (below)
  
• participate in the October Followers Fest

Saturday:

• work on the pantry project- I have no photos to share quite yet, but they are coming!
• make pancakes for breakfast- check out what I made here
• clean the dining room furniture
• clean the eat in area furniture
• carve our pumpkins
• ran a bunch of errands with Carl's Mom
  

Sunday:

• grocery shop
• clean the rest of the dining room
  
• start doing some work on the next big event for the blog
• coupon shopped
• made a quad-batch of baked potato soup!
  

Somewhere in There:

• Bake something fallish- I'll count the pancakes for this...
• Make something from Pinterest- ...and this
• Paint my fingernails and toenails- now this is just getting sad

Meal Plan:
Sunday: Baked Potato Soup
Monday: Roast with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies
Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Tacos
Wednesday: Chicken Apple Saute with Apple Dressing
Thursday: Chicken Kiev
Friday: Gnocci with Pesto
Saturday: Leftovers

Lastly, here is a photo from our Chicago trip. If you want to read a few details, check out Cam's blog by clicking the photo.

Share your Monday Morning Round Up here!

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

Oh weekend. I am, for one of the first times in my life, not sad to see that you are over. Carl left on Friday afternoon. Cam does not do well when Carl is out of town. That made it difficult enough. But on Saturday morning, it got even crappier. Cam and I fell down the stairs. My foot slipped, and mommy instinct kicked in. I held on tight to Cam, but that meant I had no way to brace myself. My tailbone took 100% of the hit and I've been in pain ever since. So, it's no surprise that my "green" is limited. :/

Friday:

• Meal Plan- below
  
• Make progress on the living room and dining room fall decor
• Make Double Decker Tacos (enough for leftovers to minimize cooking for the weekend)

Saturday:

• Finish the living and dining room fall decor
• Cider Mill with some ladies, babies and a puppy
• Watch UofM wallop on MSU or vice versa. Doesn't really matter to me, but I'll be spending the day at my brother's house :)
• Do 2 loads of laundry, fold and put away
  

Sunday:

• Farmer's Market
• Go down to my parents' house
• Pick apples at a family friend's house

Somewhere in there I'd love to:

• Bake something fallish
• Tackle a Pinterest project- the center portion of my dining room table decor was inspired by Pinterest!

Meal Plan:
Sunday: Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Monday: Baked Potato Soup & Salad
Tuesday: Leftover soup & salad
Wednesday: Crab Rangoon & Veggie Fried Rice
Thursday: Chicken Kiev with fresh vegetable
Friday: Crispy Chicken over Creamy Italian Pasta
Saturday: Leftovers or Out

All in all, it wasn't terrible considering the circumstances. I'm definitely looking forward to Carl getting home though, and so is Cam. :)

Did you recap your weekend? Share it below!

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

(Talk about cutting it close on being able to call this a "morning" round up!)

When doing my planning on Thursday, I sort of forgot about a major event, my nephew's Baptism. That's what I get for not planning by my calendar! So, things got switched around a bit.

Friday:

• Continue working on our decorating project- It was the mantle project. If you missed it, see it here!
• Fold and put away some laundry
• Meal Plan (Details below)
• Go be a chaperone for my nieces and their boyfriends. (Long story short- I wasn't needed, but it was good news. It meant my BIL got home from the hospital!)
• Went out to dinner with brother and SIL and had them over for a bit afterward

Saturday:

• Catch up on some magazine reading
• Some light maintenance cleaning
• Organize the basement a bit
• Pumpkin Patch with Carl's cousin and his family (Photo Below!)

Sunday:

• Farmer's Market (Photo below!)
• Grocery Shop- I'll have to go today!
• Organize Coupons- I got some, but not all of it done
• Pumpkin Patch
• Possible dinner with cousins
• Nephew's Baptism

Meal Plan:

• Monday: Chicken Caesar Salad
• Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Tacos
• Wednesday: Chicken & Dumplings
• Thursday: Baked Crab Rangoon & Veggie Fried Rice
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Double Decker Beef Tacos

*If you see repeats from the week prior, it usually means something came up and that item wasn't made the previous week. Unless it's Chicken Fajitas. Then it's really true.


The pumpkin patch was ridiculously fun! We got some great photos, you can check out all the details here on My Happy Line.

And then here are my goodies from the Farmer's Market. So many new things this week!

• Apple Cider
• Cauliflower
• Blackberry Apple Jam
• English Toasting Bread
• Honeycrisp Apples
• Concord Grapes
• Brussel Sprouts

Now, link up YOUR Monday Morning Weekend Round Up here!!!

Wednesday Wound Wup?

I realize I didn't round up my weekend on Monday, or Tuesday for that matter. I'll do a real quick one here.

Friday:
Pack :)

Saturday:
Relax

Sunday:
Relax

Meal Plan

• Monday: Eat at the in-laws on our way back from the cabin
• Tuesday: Cheeseburgers, Fries and Mixed Vegetables (in order to give myself a day to get to the store)
• Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas (We're having some warm weather, need to sneak these in a few more times!)
• Thursday: Classic Beef Chili
• Friday: Buffalo Chicken Tacos
• Saturday: Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings

Yeah, it's not difficult to relax when you are at the cabin. I'll have some photos to recap our trip shortly, but for now I'm still working on yesterday's Tackle It Tuesday. I've also got some things in the works including a new decorating project and possibly a new type of challenge. Stay tuned to see what's happening in the Happy Homestead!

Don't forget to enter in the Scentsy Giveaway, and if you love me, Cam, Gibson or just feel like clicking, My Happy House would love your vote! It just takes one click!

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

This weekend was most certainly busy around here, how about you? Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop on Friday. Don't forget to update today!

Friday:
Take Cam for a Play Date
Make Salsa to take to our Godson's birthday party
Clean the sliding glass door
Meal Plan (Below)
Make Grocery List
Make Dinner


Saturday:
Prep for the large purchase to arrive...then blog about it - Working on the post now :)
Attend Godson's birthday party


Sunday:
Organize Coupons
Farmer's Market
Grocery shop
Make Dinner


Meal Plan:
Chicago Style Hot Dogs, Homemade Buttermilk Onion Rings and Salad
Slow Cooked Roast with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy and Carrots
Chicken Fajitas
Slow Cooked Pork Chops with Homemade Applesauce
Jalapeno Chicken, Rice Pilaf & Salads
Thai Chicken Bites w/ a Spicy Thai Cucumber Salad

That's it for now, I've got other posts to work on for you guys, and they are far more interesting than this :)

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

The weekend didn't go exactly as planned (when does it though?), but almost everything got done. Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop. If you are doing your own update, be sure to link up so we can see how your weekend went!

Friday:
Make Salsa for BBQ on Saturday
Make Cherry Buttermilk Scones for the freezer...this is down below
Meal Plan- below
Make Grocery List
Wash, dry, fold & put away 2 3 loads of laundry
Packed up Cam, Gibson and myself to stay at my in-laws' house

Saturday:
Weed & Tend Garden- I need to give the garden a little TLC this week
Wash the exteriors of the kitchen cabinets- Because of all the blue, this was done on Sunday
Go to a BBQ at our friends' house!
Helped my MIL at her office


Sunday:
Check sale circulars for week
Organize coupons
Farmer's Market
Grocery Shop
Make Dinner
Make Cherry Buttermilk Scones for the freezer
Wash the exteriors of the kitchen cabinets
Researched and shopped new kitchen appliances- my fridge is on it's last leg!


Sunday: Eggs, Turkey Bacon & Sourdough Toast with Cherry Rhubarb Jam
Monday: Thai Chicken Panang
Tuesday: Grilled Burgers & Homemade Buttermilk Onion Rings, Salad
Wednesday: Chicken Broccoli Garlic Pizza
Thursday: Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Friday: Homemade Sloppy Joes
Saturday: Birthday Party for my nephew

Monday Morning Weekend Round Up

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop on Friday. The new Weekend Planning Link Love is up in the sidebar. Congrats to our first 3 participants! This weekend didn't go exactly as planned for me, but hey, that's OK. It was still fun and productive.

Friday:
Birthday Party #1
Birthday Party #2
Meal Plan (Below)
Make Grocery List
Put away 2 loads of laundry
Finish up Cam's 6 month post

Meal Plan:
Sunday- Pizza!
Monday- Chicken Fajitas
Tuesday- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup & Cornbread
Wednesday-Spicy Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry
Thursday- Leftovers
Friday- Pesto Tortellini & Salad

Saturday:
Weed & Tend Garden- I'll have to do this today
Check sale circulars for week ahead Vacuum Dust Living/Dining Deep Clean Living/Dining Floors Drop off Cam and go to a concert- yippeeee!

Sunday:
Pick up Cam Organize coupons
Farmer's Market
Grocery Shop
Make Dinner
Attempt to do some meal prep for the week ahead
Did a quick coupon shop

We ended up spending a lot more time at my parents' house when we picked up Cam, so no time for grocery shopping and we ended up picking up a pizza from my favorite local place back home! Luckily, it's one of Carl's new favorites too :)

Did your weekend go as planned? Maybe you were MORE productive than you expected. Maybe more productive actually = relaxing. I'll be jealous if that's what you say!