Weekend Inspiration

I am off to the Sacramento Temple today for my Weekend Inspiration.  It has been a week full of colds and sore throats, softball and little league (with two tournament games scheduled today, no less), and work and dishes and laundry, oh my!  But I love jumping onto this computer contraption for a little bit of inspiration almost every day.  I'll leave you with some of the lovely places I've been this week:  

Some thoughts on  Making Time for What Matters from the blog The Art of Simple.  

These 10 Freezer Meals in 2 Hours would be easy to put together and make me feel like I am ahead of the game for once.

I am so inspired by the beach painting on old barn wood that Aimee from My *PINK* Life made.  Loving the subtle color shift and simplicity of it.  And I'm loving the Mumford & Sons quote at on the last sign, too.

This sweet essay on encouraging our spouse to follow their dreams got me thinking.  Andy encourages me, but sometimes I am the one to hold myself back. Definitely food for thought.

And Ali Edwards.  Always inspires me.  Every time I visit her blog.  Take a look at the picture, and then choose to live in the front row.

Fabulous, fragrant almond blossoms.

Have a beautiful weekend!  And don't forget to change your clocks tonight to Spring Forward!

Just a few contests and promotions around the web...

This is by no means a deals/reviews/contest/freebies site, but I like to win things, and get a good deal.  A few contests and freebies around the web I saw today:

Craftaholics Anonymous is giving away a cool WorkTop from the Original Scrapbox.  She's also got tons of organization advice going on this week.  

Mother Earth News is offering the Wiser Living and Country Skills Resource Set 

At 100 full-color pages each, these six topical guides include tips and how-to information straight out of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. Packed full of information, these glossy guides combine to teach you all you need to know about organic gardening methods, choosing an energy-efficient car, preserving your fresh-from-the-garden bounty, living a self-reliant lifestyle, baking delicious breads, and so much more! 

You'll receive 6 Wiser Living Resources for Living on Less and Becoming Self-Sufficient for $10.   Use the promo code  MMEEMD17.

And enter to win a year's supply of from My Patriot Supply here

This Giveaway will contain:  NON GMO – No Added MSG

Almond Coconut Granola
96 Servings

Whey Milk
32 Quarts

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
96 Servings

Cheddar Broccoli Soup
64 Servings

Creamy Potato Soup
64 Servings

Chicken Alfredo Pasta
64 Servings

White Cheddar Sauce Pasta
64 Servings

Cheesy Chicken Rice
64 Servings

Vegetable Beef Stew
64 Servings

Seasoned Mashed Potatoes
64 Servings

Potato Cheddar Soup
64 Servings

Pasta Fagioli Soup
64 Servings

Minestrone Soup
64 Servings

Tortilla Soup
64 Servings

Beef Stroganoff
64 Servings

Chicken Noodle Soup
64 Servings

Au Gratin Potatoes
64 Servings

Chili with Dumplings
64 Servings

Tropical Fruit Medley
16 lbs

Here is a peek at the year supply of food.

New Year's Inspiration on the Mantel with banner tutorial

With me, and with the rest of the family too, out of sight is out of mind.  I need to have something in front of me to remember what I'm doing or what I need to do.  We've been talking about goals and new year's resolutions, including making some individual and family goals, and I wanted to have something front and almost center to give us some encouragement and to keep us thinking about them.

So I thought I'd make a simple banner.  The nice thing about this is that it can be mass produced in stages.  It took me an hour or so at the most to do all of this except paint the small frame.  I did that the night before.

I used "the sweetest thing" line from My Mind's Eye because I love these colors.  I use them in a lot of projects (even my blog background!) the corals, reds and pinks mixed with turquoise-y blues.

I started by using the paper cutter to cut out 4x6 inch rectangles from a few sheets of the paper.  

To make the banner shape I just set the short edge of the rectangle against the measuring grid lines of the paper trimmer and marked two inches up in the center.  Then I stacked two or three pieces at a time and hand cut the wedge with scissors.

Then just lay out the banner papers in an order that looks good!

This is the time to put the details on each piece of the banner.  I knew that I would have the letters D R E A M B I G , and I wanted to have two extra pieces to make 5 above and 5 below, so I stamped the letters with these chunky foam stamps onto white cardstock with  coordinating ink.  Using a small cat's eye shaped ink makes it easier to get full coverage without getting ink on the background of the stamp.  Then I trimmed to a quarter inch of each letter.

Adding some ink or paint around the edges of the different elements give them a little bit of dimension and even more color.

When done with each of the banner pieces you can clip them onto a string or wire, like I did on the frame, or punch holes and tie the pieces together to hang up.

This is on the mantel with the other "motivational" sayings.  Hopefully it will help us to keep on track!  And for your listening pleasure, the song that inspired the banner:

I'm sharing here:

The CSI Project

TidyMom

Your Home Based Mom 

Meal Plan for January 2013, Week 3

Our meal plan this week will depend heavily on crockpot meals and meals that I've prepared ahead.  We did a family grocery shopping trip to last us for 2 weeks.  It's sometimes frustrating to shop with the kids and the husband, but it is also good for them to know the cost of what they eat and how to get the most bang for your buck.  I use some coupons and have a list that gives an estimate of what I will spend.  Then I keep track of what I'm putting in the cart by jotting down the price.  This shopping trip I wrote down the prices and was just $3 over my estimate (which means I probably missed something that went in the cart.)  This is so helpful because I don't like to be surprised at the checkstand!  Nothing worse than thinking you've stayed in budget then checking out $25 or more over! 

We found some sales on meat, including some pork shoulder roast on sale for $1.64/lb that I prepped for stew and for the colorado burritos (instead of beef) and boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.78/lb. that I came home and prepped for soft tacos for tonight and Cajun Chicken Pasta for later.  We bought 4 whole chickens, then I cut up 3 and threw the backs straight into the stock pot with some water to cover to make some chicken stock.  So I had 5 meals and the chicken stock prepping all at once!  And I'm not even a multi-tasker!  

The three chickens that I cut up I used for oven "fried" chicken that we served to the missionaries Saturday night.  The 3 birds were cut into 6 pieces each.  Usually there would be 8 pieces, but I kept the leg quarters whole since they were pretty small.  The breasts were huge, though, and I ended up splitting one with the hubs.  We made enough chicken so that we could send some home with the sweet missionary boys for lunch the next day.  I also made twice-baked potatoes for dinner while I peeled and cut up potatoes for the stew for this week.

It was a little bit hectic in the kitchen that afternoon, but I feel like I got a good jump on the week's dinners.  

Our menu this week will be:

Homemade Minestrone with polenta added for mock farinata.

Chicken Soft Tacos with rice and pintos on the side.

Tortellini Vegetable Soup from Two Peas and their Pod with some of this incredible and incredibly easy bread.  If you love a good, crusty, slightly sourdough bread you've got to try it!

My Crusty Bread in the cast iron Lodge pot.

I'm going to try this Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta.  I love Cajun seasoning!  It is one of the most used seasoning in our home.  I sprinkle it on pork chops or chicken or vegetables.  It is even yummy sprinkled on garlic bread for a little kick!

Broccoli Cheese and Rice Casserole is meatless but has cheese, and sounds yummy and filling.  I might even add some curry to mine..

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup 

Colorado Burritos in the Crockpot

Breakfast For Dinner was requested with pancakes, eggs, and sausage on the menu.


I'm sharing here:

Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie

Susie QT pies mentioned last week's Baked Tacos that got a thumbs up from the peeps here. I made them ahead of time, stood them up in a 9x13 pan, wrapped with foil and froze.  Then I baked from frozen until they were heated through.  

My favorite project from 2012

One way I keep my spending on decorating and crafting in check is by taking what I have already and using it in a way that helps me stay organized.  I have an old china cabinet that is kind of shabby chic-ish, and in our old house I had dishes in it, including our everyday dishes because we had a limited amount of cupboard space in our kitchen.  And it made setting the table easy because the plates (and cloth napkins in a drawer) were right there by the table.

The house we live in now is smaller but has a bigger kitchen with more cupboards, so I don't need the extra storage.  I kept my great-grandmother's china packed up and decided to use the china hutch for scrapbooking supplies storage.

The hutch is sitting on the only wall-papered wall in the dining area, and I have to say that I love this wallpaper!  I'm pretty certain that it's original to this 1960's house, and it's in perfect shape.  Not a tear or smudge.  When I unpacked I just threw everything onto the shelves, so this was half-empty (or half-full for you optimistic folk). 

So this is BEFORE:

The back wall of the hutch was painted a lovely light pink (it was previously a blue and a dark red) and I wanted to brighten it up a bit so  white it is!  Just a couple of quick coats did the trick.

And here is AFTER:

I already had the canvas totes on top and they're holding larger supplies and alterable wood.  Most of my containers were aqua blue and green, which go just fine with the yellow and greens in the wallpaper and china hutch. 

This cute couple holds some paintbrushes, and my art journals are behind just begging to be taken out to be used!  The tins hold tags and some pictures.

The large green buckets are planters I got at an awesome yard sale for a quarter apiece.  The small buckets are from Target's dollar spot. These are holding small embellishments sorted by color.

Love these cigar boxes, they're the perfect size for metal embellishments like eyelets, grommets and brads. One of them holds old clothespins, and another has some tape runner refills. 

Jars are my other favorite go-to holder; makes everything visible. 

Old music books I use in my projects and some paint in an old wooden box that I picked up at a yard sale, too. It was already painted that awesome blue!

This isn't everything, but I wanted to keep some of my favorite and often used things in the cabinet.  I have ribbons and tools and all kinds of other things in the cupboards and drawers.  And the coat closet in the entry way holds even more supplies. 

Hope this inspires you to use something in your home in an unconventional way!  It's not the prettiest thing in the house, but it is functional and useful for me.

This is a revamp of the post from last August, one of my favorite projects I've tackled this past year, and I'm sharing here: