MPM

Ok, So I forgot to post this up last night, you know, my Sunday night... so... here I go!

Monday- Crock pot chicken that is going to make tacos... other than salsa and a bit of cheese I don't know if we will have anything else in them

Tuesday- Left over beef stew, yes... I never used it the other time I had it on my menu!

Wednesday- Chicken and rice casserole... basically chedar cheese soup, cream of something soup, rice, chicken and probably broccoli with a bit of cheddar over top!

Thrusday -Turkey carcus soup... I plan to actually make a rather big batch and freeze individual portions in the tupperware set i got on black friday... Basically going to trim the fat off the bird then boil it all for a few hours.... get a good stock going and then pick off the bones and let it cool to skim the fat, add mixed veggies and cook some noodles and rice and make about half each noodle and half rice should be good

Friday- Random, whatever I feel like cooking...

Saturday- left overs

Sunday- eat out/shopping

So there you have it... Our week of dinners...Things many move around, obviously Monday is being followed because it is already in the slow cooker!

Menu Plan Monday is brought to us by orgjunkie! Thank you for giving us such a great way to connect!

Over 400 pageviews.... wow...

That is all I have to say... wow... the MPM bit has helped a lot on the traffic, but still!... As for cleaning goals... I am no where where I wanted to be as of when I started this, but I will say this...the house looks a heck of a lot better than it did before I started this blog! I have a few baskets of laundry I need to fold from last night.. and a few pots and pans to wash up and a bit of decluttering... but otherwise... the living room are presentable... and that alone is a big step for our family/house!

As for the bigger goals... our room back tracked a tad, I really need to get on it this week! It is mainly due to the "grab and stash" from Thanksgiving... Same with the storage room.. a lot of it will be pulling it out and finish grabbing the stuff that needs to get out of there! The third big thing.. is my kitchen... not cleanliness... but organization! I need to pull everything and I mean EVERYTHING out of my cabinets and put it back in a different order.. I have a game plan of where everything will go... I just need to do it.... but there always seems to be more pressing items on the agenda!

Our Christmas tree got decorated on Friday... now we just need to make and add the homemade ornaments with the kids! I have a couple plans for that but am always up for suggestions! We do have all the family presents for Xmas and for my youngest's birthday... including stockings stuffed for the kids... a solid chocolate Santa, a M&M candy cane thingy, some mini candy canes... a barrel of monkeys, and 4 small play dough containers... mind you that's for one kid...I am impressed, they have left the wrapped Xmas presents alone sense I started the store room ( they were sitting out here because I didn't want them ruined in the process of everything getting moved around!) and so we left them under the tree when we put it back into place!  I do still need to pull out the snowmen grandma sent me last year... after I told her we weren't doing Xmas( we had just moved here and just weren't up for it due to everything that had happened... we still did a few presents just no tree or anything like we are doing this year). Where I just rolled my eyes last year, this year I am very glad she sent them sense she passed away this summer. I miss her but she was suffering so I am glad she is finally able to be at rest, she is part of my motivation to doing this, I know she always kept me in check... and now that she is gone, I needed to do something other than sulk around! I do miss calling her, I even miss her giving me hell as she did so very often!

Thanksgiving

Ok.. I'm panicing! Hubby is at work... I've got roughly an hour... little over... till the guys show... my living room and table are still a mess! Granted, not as BIG of a mess.. but a mess! On the other hand the stuffing liquid is ready to go... the potatoes are trying to boil...  gravy will be last minute.. I wanna get the table cleaned off so I can make a pretty spread... yea you get the point... So... I am taking a smoke break.. I need to chill ( or else I wouldn't be typing this!) Luckily the girls are helping... well my eldest is helping the youngest is unhelping! I don't think that is a word... but it is today darn it! Well.. only a few puffs left so I am gonna go take a few seconds to woosah and then get back at it.



Well.. I had to play the "stash" game in the end, but the house is decent... the feast was good... turkey wasn't worth $70 but it was one less thing I had to worry about! Forgot to take a pic of it though... sorry.  Well.. going to try to drown out the guys and their odd sense of humor.

The day before Thanksgiving...

Well... not a whole lot of cleaning has gotten accomplished today. I wiped down the bathroom surfaces and tasked out the hubby with doing the floor during his shower... which has yet to happen... I have on the other hand, managed to keep up with my dishes from today's pre-feast cooking spree... 3 pumpkin pies ( one given to neighbor), 2 dozen homemade white rolls ( 1 dozen to neighbor), corn casserole mixed ( need to dump in dish and bake tomorrow), green bean casserole ( same as corn+top with the onions), sweet potato pie/casserole... it is literally the casserole recipe ( with the pecan topping) tossed into a pie shell with some cinimon... we shall see how it turns out!, bout to go chop up apple and some herbs and throw some craisons into a bag so all I have to do is toss it in with the stove top ( yes... semi homemade!). I was gonna do the mashed potatoes tonight, but decided I will cover them in the morning and put them in the slow cooker on the warm setting to keep them hot till lunch. Gravy I cannot make until time to eat.. Cranberry sauce from a can.. gonna mix it up... gonna cream/whip some butter and put them in my side by side serving dishes... so...

Where is the turkey?! Oh yes... I decided to spend the money and save the headache and buy a precooked turkey offered by one of the Army resturants here... I just hope it will be worth the $70.. yes... expensive... but we also received a $50 voucher for Thanksgiving from the chaplins... was not intended but much welcomed! Hubby gets to pick up the turkey and the guests at 11... planning for a noon lunch....


Now the scary bit... I need to clean... Where my Temptations party is getting cancled due to lack of guest number, thusly I am only entertaining a handful of guys....My house still needs some major work... more decluttering and a bit of scrubbing. Maybe I will get modivated and clean off the table tonight while I continue to wait for the pie to finish cooking... maybe. I should, it will leave me just the living room pick up, and to take care of the floors quick.... I really should do it lol...


On a side note.. Scentsy products came in today.. I LOVE them... the smell fab and look good... problem is... I cant smell my oven cooking! I am a "nose" baker so it is hard to tell when things are done if I forgot to time... like i normally do! Speaking of that, I just pulled out the pie.. just in time.. looks great, I will find out tomorrow if its taste matches its looks!

Well it is late here... hubby still hasn't done his stuff and work problems are making him go in to work in the morning... he will get to come home for the lunch so it is not THAT big of a deal... but hes been home working the issue for the last 2 hours.. though there isn't a whole lot he can do... oh well... I'll do what I can.. if the soldiers don't like what my house looks like... they can just not eat the home cooked food! Aka.. they won't care what my house looks like!

I fell behind..

Ok.. I will sadly admit to it, I fell behind... big time... apparently, when the husband is home, any resemblence of cleaning goes out the window! He was on a 4 day weekend and we did next to nothing! So I am sure you all can imagine what my house looks like at the moment...

On a positive note.... we did do some laundry! Some folded and put away! There is some still in the washer and dryer ( need to empty the dryer... its towels and blankets so it SHOULD be quick and easy to get that taken care of... might even give me the modivation boost I so badly need... My husband has been home 2 weeks now... and my house is in utter chaos! What is worse... I have guests coming over in 2 days and again in 4 days!!!!!  In all technicalities..I shouldn't probably be typing this!  On the upside, he isn't coming home for lunch today so I can't use that as an excuse for an interuption.. I don't plan to clean to the point of exhaustion.. my goal today is to get my kitchen and laundry cought back up... a lot of it is garbage.. more recycling... the system I had in place is only so good and I've been at a loss for the extra alternitives I needed once the tiny cans were full... I think I have it.. now just to get cought up and implement it! Well, I shall update as time goes on!

Well.. its not done yet... its 5pm not quite done with the kitchen but it should be better by bed time... kicking the hubby back into the store room to finish removal in there once were done eating dinner...  at least I won't be able to say that today was a complete loss!

Well dishes are caught up, hubby is about to run out the trash, tomorrow is scrub, organize, pick up... won't be fun... but it has to get done!  It is late here, almost forgot to update so I need to crash out if I have any hopes of getting anything done tomorrow!

MPM week 3...

Last week went rather well... not all the menu stayed on the same days... but hey... everything but the chicken and broccoli was made and eaten at one meal or another.. and that was replaced by todays menu item lol, suppose I should make up the chicken and broccoli for dinner tonight.... but regardless... a rather... unplanned menu this week say for Thursday, which of course, is Thanksgiving!

Monday- Either pork chops or steaks ( depending on what the chops look like at the store on sunday) veggie and either noodles or potato

Tuesday- cream of mushroom 'gravy' with hamburger... cooked in crock pot... over rice

Wed- Chicken noodle soup in crock pot

Thursday- Thanksgiving.... turkey needs to be picked up ( cost me $70.. but my oven doesnt fit a normal sized turkey... stovetop with crasions and apples... mashed taters, cream corn casesrole  and green bean caseerole... bread made the day b4... dessert.. TBA

Left overs doctored up for the rest of the week... turkey, potatoes, cheese make a wonderful kfc bowl style dinner or lunch.. add some corn or beans on the side... sandwiches... the likes...

Rather easy menu plan, hope to be able to stick to it... by the way, the chicken noodle soup will be just chicken broth, cubed chicken, some frozen mixed veggies, and some egg noodles added towards the end ( of course with your standard plethra of spices and herbs to season it!)


Menu Plan Monday brought to you by orgjunkie!

Day 12.... not a whole lot accomplished...

Wow.. almost 2 weeks at this already! Kind of hard to believe... MPM hasn't been going quite as I planned... but over all well... Monday instead of grilled cheese we had fried egg with a slice of cheese for breakfast... Last night I so stuck to the plan.. the steaks per normal turned out amazing! ( as did the potatoes and the corn I pulled from the freezer) ... and we did the quiche for breakfast today.. the hubby didn't have to go in to work till later than normal meaning I had his help prepping it so it was more than easy to accomplish. We had it in the oven before the kids woke up! So now I am in a pickle of what we are going to do for dinner... I have a few options... I can throw something together, I could do my Pantry day up to today... found out the guys had discussed that we wanted to do a cook out ( our neighbors) and we settled on Saturday... or we could go out... I've been itching to go back to the Diaso store at the AK Plaza ( it basically is a giant mall on top of the train station.. 8 stories!) and my husband wants to try the bimbimbap place I raved about because of the awesome kimchi ( and that's saying something sense I am NOT a fan of normal kimchi!) Problem is.. I am so not in the mood for bimbimbap! don't get me wrong I will gladly eat it.. it's rather healthy and delicious... most Korean food is...

Diaso.. or whatever its called... is one of my new favorite stores.. I don't know if there is others not in the station stores.. but its basically a Korean dollar store! More like a Family Dollar than a Dollar Tree... sense most things do cost more than $1... but most of its stuff costs under the equivalent of $5. They have an organizers dream paradise there... If we go I will try to sneak some pictures... try is the key word! The last time we tried to take pictures in a Korean store... we got yelled at.. but.. I still have the picture!

This is what the picture was... it was at our near by Lotte Mart... basically a 3 floor super Walmart... This creature.. is a Kangaroo Mouse! So odd we couldn't resist taking pictures of it (the guy in the back ground was my husband's old NCO whom was shopping with us).


Ok.. Back to the cleaning, though if I go to Diaso.. expect lots of pictures... ( note... Diaso is where I got the pac man garbage can!) Other wise... I finally made our bed... Mama was sleeping so cozily when we got up I just couldn't bare to disturb her.. but it is made now, so I don't feel bad :) I have dishes to empty and load.. probably have a full load already sense the dishwasher is TINY compared to American standards...  I am about to go hang up the clothes from my hubby's bag of Army lol, yes, I know I should have done it last night... but darn it... I was just happy to have him home and get to spend some time as a family and as a couple. Hubby was rather impressed with the house.. I meant to say that yesterday... maybe I did... don't remember what all I typed other than " he got home early!". The house still had a lot of stuff to do that I never did but planned to... still does.. on the good note.. the hubby laughed at my spider fear and told me he will handle the boxes in the store room! Compared to when he left.. the house really is a LOT better.. I mean.. we do have the ability to walk around in our room! And the store room for a large part! The living room and kitchen where messy, are both less messy than when he left... and we have a lot less junk.. and a lot more to still go... all in time, a bit at a time! He was also impressed with the girl's room.. he knew that they had purged toys.. even sent pics.. but for some reason.. seeing it in person makes a major difference!  Well... back to it I suppose.. I've got a few hours before he gets home from work.



Well.. we went there after all.. didn't get crud done but oh well.. hubby came home and made my day with a bit of what he said... things were starting to look up for us before but I finally feel like he is putting in some effort now.. makes me want to keep working on us! ( only took 5 years rofl) Got a handful of cute things from Daiso... as well as some baskets for organizing the shelves...Regardless.. were gonna watch a movie then head to bed... luckily he starts work late again so yey!