Monday, February 18, 2013

Meng Menu


Sunday: Frozen pizza (for boys)
Monday:  Salmon, rice, broccoli 
Tuesday: Taco salad
Wednesday: Chili, garden salad
Thursday: Pan chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans
Friday: Eggs, bacon, fruit salad
Saturday: Leftover Chili, corn bread

Is it just me or are grocery prices rising? I spent way over my budget this week: $164 BOO! I did spend a lot of coffee (Aaron and I have a taste for Starbucks coffee) and while it was on sale ($2 off each package) it still adds up. Plus I bought toilet paper. Still, it seems to be increasingly hard to keep my spending to $125. 

Then I think, what is my grocery bill going to be when I have two 17 year olds and one 12 year old??? AHH! 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Disorder to Order: A Mother's Divine Work

I hate cleaning. Some women find it therapeutic. I usually just find it irritating and discouraging. Because 2 minutes after the dishes are done, the sink is full again.
Fifteen minutes after the living room floor is picked up, it is full of blankets, toys, and socks. 
And, don't you know the rule about mopping your dining room floor? If you mop in the afternoon, someone WILL spill a full cup of kool-aid at dinner that night. 

Cleaning feels like my life is going from order to disorder, order to disorder. Constantly. 
Here is my livingroom at 11am this morning. My sink, countertops and kitchen table were also overflowing with dishes. Disorder in its full glory. 

Like many mothers, I struggle with finding purpose in the every day. "How is cleaning up those pointless messes actually promoting the work of Christ? Does this daily cleaning drudgery even matter to God?"

It is easy to wrap my mind around the fact that, as a mother, I am a giver of life, just like my Heavenly Father. After all, I carried my babies in my body and birthed them; I nurture my family every day with food. 

I readily embrace my God-given female vocation as life-giver. But cleaner-of-messes? Can that job be redeemed?  

It can. Not redeemed in the sense that I am super-happy about cleaning my house but redeemed in the sense that bringing order from disorder is an imitation of the work of God. 

God formed the world from an order-less nothing. 
He takes sin--the ultimate chaos--and replaces death with life. 
He constantly takes our out-of-control thoughts, emotions, and lives and draws us back to his truth and his heart. 
Again and again. 

So in my daily dish-scrubbing, sock-sorting, blanket-folding, laundry-lugging, kool-aid mopping I am imitating God's work by bringing order and peace back to my home. 
Again and again.**
 It took exactly 17 minutes for me to get to this "After" picture, including folding the basket of laundry that had been sitting in the living room for 5 days. Ironically, the basket was full of cleaning rags and burp clothes, a testament of how I, as a woman, wife, mother, must constantly bring order back to my home.

Order to disorder?
No.
Disorder to Order.
Again and again.

A Mother's Divine Work.

**Note: This was not my original idea. I read something like this on a blog many months, maybe even years ago, but I have lost the link. I hope, though, that by reiterating the thoughts of another, I can encourage someone else. I know I need this truth daily.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Meng Menu


Sunday: Fried Catfish, cheese grits, garden salad
Monday: Hellman’s chicken, parmesan rice, broccoli
Tuesday: Pizza roll w/ sausage and onions, salad
Thursday: Pork chops, parsnip and potato mash, kale
Friday: Bacon and eggs, hashbrowns, fruit
Saturday: Sloppy Joes, oven fries, green beans

Truth: eating healthy is more expensive. Hence, my grocery bill has been a bit high lately. This week I spent $142. :P Not what I like but if half my grocery cart is fruits and veggies, then it is worth it. 

We have been trying new veggies lately. Two weeks ago we had cauliflower mash. Last week, I made stuffed green peppers (we eat peppers all the time but I had never made stuffed peppers). This week, we are trying parsnips. I actually have never eaten a parsnip before so we'll see how it goes. So far, all of our new veggies dishes have been a big success! 

While Thursday is Valentine's day, Aaron does math tutoring on Thursday nights so we are going out on Sunday night. Yea! Looking forward to a date. :) 

Eye (heart) U: DIY Valentine's for kids

I loved making Valentine's when I was a little girl. In fact, I loved making anything. However, I am the mother of two rowdy boys who aren't really into "making things." They needed to bring Valentine's to school for each class though and I wanted to do homemade valentines with them

Enter the Super-Simple, Super-CUTE Valentine solution!
Eye (heart) U
or 
I love you (even a kid can read this!) 
It doesn't get much easier than this. Googly-eye + paper heart + handwriting practice. 
Yep. That's about it. 

And they turned out so adorably! I love them. 

We made 40 valentines for about $3.50. Not bad! (if I do say so myself!)
We made the Valentines over 4 days. This four day process was a testament to how much my boys don't like to do crafts (or practice their handwriting) and how little patience I have. In fact, the first day, it was a toss-up who screamed more: three-month old little brother (who was ignored during the crafting process) or me ("write your name!! Stop..will you just..! here...NO! Glue it...ahhh!!!!)
Just keepin' it real, folks. 

The next 3 days went much smoother. No one screamed. 
In fact, we even had fun! :) 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Meng Menu


Sunday: Pigs in a blanket, chips, veggies and dip
Monday: Cheeseburger soup, bread
Tuesday: Marinated Asian pork, rice, broccoli
Thursday: Italian Stuffed peppers, salad
Friday: Pork chops, parmesan rice, green beans
Saturday: Leftover soup 

Under budget this week at $112! Plus I am trying to use fewer carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta) in our meals (Aaron's request) so I am experimenting with some new recipes. This week the newbies are the Tuna casserole (which is a mix of pasta and cauliflower) and the stuffed peppers. 

I kinda hated stuffed peppers when I was a kid but I am giving it another go as an adult. This recipe looks especially promising. I'm not a huge recipe-follower so I am jazzing up the one linked above. I'm using mild italian sausage and some cream cheese to add some extra flavor and creaminess. We'll see how it goes! 

Do you have any lower-carb favorites that your family loves?