Leftovers

Well, we enjoyed a wonderful Ham dinner on Easter. We are now left with lots and lots of extra ham. I have been trying to be creative in using up all of the leftovers. Here is my list of recipes so far:

Ham, Broccoli, and Pasta
Cook pasta and drain. Add a few tablespoons of butter to pot and let melt. Put pasta back in pot and add 2 beaten eggs. Stir until the eggs have cooked themselves in with the pasta. Add diced ham and cooked broccoli.

Ham and Potato Soup
So good. I wonder if this freezes well?

Ham and Potato Frittata
good but not as good as the soup!

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

We will have gotten our fill of ham by the time we get through all of leftovers!

It's never too early to shop for Christmas!

Toys R Us are having a nice sale this week on DS games - 2/$40 for certain DS games. My older two boys each got a DS for Christmas this past year. I know they will be thrilled with a new game for Christmas next year. I am planning a trip to Toys R Us this week to pick up 2 games. Planning ahead for Christmas definitely makes it less stressful and hectic. Each month, I set aside a certain amount of money specifically for Christmas. If I see a great deal on something that I know my kids will love, I have the cash to spend. I have always shopped ahead for Christmas but this is the first year I will also be putting money aside each month. Hopefully this will keep me from overspending and overbuying!

Kmart Deal

Kmart currently has a great deal on Kellogg's select cereals, 12oz - 20 oz, for $1.88. Plus, Kellogg's is running a deal where you get a free gallon of milk if you buy a certain number of Kellogg's products. I went there the other day and got 5 boxes of Frosted Flakes for $1.88 plus I got two coupons for a free gallon of milk. Five boxes of cereal and 2 gallons of milk for a total of $10.15? Not bad even if the cereal will only last a week, maybe 10 days, in my house!

Working Mama Monday

Morning Routines

I love having a morning routine! It helps save me time and aggravation. My kids do better with a routine and I think they like knowing what they are expected to be doing or what they have to do next. During the week we have a very strict morning routine given the early hour we all have to be up and out of the house by. Our routine works because both my husband and myself stick to it every morning.

During the weekdays we get up in shifts - my husband, my youngest son and myself are up first and I am out of the house, with my youngest son, by 630. The second shift is my husband and the other two boys. He gets them up, dressed, fed, and on the bus before he leaves for work. Each kids know he has to get dressed before he comes downstairs. Each child chooses between two or three breakfast choices. The older two know they have to eat all of their breakfast before they are allowed to have 10 minutes of Wii or DS. Sometimes they have a bit of homework left over that they have to complete before they can do anything fun. The older two boys have to get their backpacks (put take home folders in it) and lunch on their way out to wait for the bus. My youngest son knows he has to get dressed, eat breakfast, use the bathroom, get his shoes and coat on and then we leave. Being four years old, this set routine keeps him focused and cooperative(usually).

On the weekends we really have no set routine. But I have noticed we have more behavior issues and sibling fighting on weekends compared to weekday mornings. I am going to have to institute a weekend morning routine!

Week in Review

This past week has been the second of two very busy hectic weeks. I am happy it is over and we are that much closer to our Spring Break. I didn't do a lot of cooking or cleaning or organizing or really much of anything these past two weeks. We did have our annual St. Patrick's Day party last weekend and I did obviously cook for that but no extra cooking. We have been eating very simple meals here this week, pasta, pancakes, etc. I even took the kids to McDonalds twice in the last two weeks! I haven't done that in quite a while!
As for shopping, I did get a great deal on cereal at Price Chopper this week - 4boxes of cereal for $6 plus I had 2 $1 off 2 boxes coupons. That brought the price to a dollar a box for the four boxes I bought. Nice but... there is only less than half a box left! Kmart has cereal on sale this week for $1.88 a box so I am going to go stock up again. I am seriously thinking about not buying any more cereal since it is expensive and we go through so much.
I am also planning a Toys R Us run this week. They have DS game on sale - 2/$40. I will buy 2 and put them away for Christmas. It is never too early to start Christmas shopping if you get some good deals!
Have a Happy Week!

Home Improvements

My husband and I have must have gotten struck by Spring Cleaning Fever. We have started or at least purchased a few home improvements this weekend. We are in the process of sealing our living room hardwood floors. Some areas of our living room floor are down to bare wood - all of the sealant has been worn away. We really don't have the extra money to have the floors professionally redone. We decided to just add the sealant in order to improve the look of the floor (it definitely is shiny!) and to protect it until we have money to have them redone.

We also decided to rip up the carpet in our sunroom and lay down wood flooring. Our dog will have accidents every once in awhile in that room and I don't want the dog urine to soak through the the ply wood beneath the carpet. My husband bought the flooring to install and hopefully we will have it done by the end of this coming weekend. We used the money from our House Maintenance envelope to purchase the flooring and it felt great to be able to use cash for it!

I am also itching to paint that room as well as our bedroom. I did spend one day during our winter break cleaning the walls in our bedroom so it is all set to be painted. I still have to decide on a color for our sunroom - I am leaning towards a cream or little green since we have left over paint form other projects. We are planning on painting our bedroom a light brown with an even lighter brown trim. I then need to figure out wall treatments for both rooms. I will definitely post pictures when we finish these projects!

Working Mama Mondays

Craigslist

Maybe of us have many many unwanted, unnecessary items hanging around. I know we have our share and then some of items that are taking up space. I wanted to unload some of these items but don't want to have a garage sale. Garage sales take a lot of time and effort to have and I don't have any extra time or energy to have one. Enter Craigslist. Without leaving the comfort of my home, I sold three items this weekend - a floor length mirror, a wooden train table, and a booster chair. I love Craigslist!