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Today's To-Do

Hmmm...so it's been a long time since I've done this!  Here we go again:

1.  Spend 15 minutes tidying up kitchen.

2.  Go to the doctor to see if I have an ear infection (please no!)

3.  Spend 15 minutes tidying up the Christmas tornado that hit our dining room.

4.  Put up rocket wallpaper in TC's room.

5.  Do one load of laundry.

Going Gray?

As you can tell from the picture, my roots are coming in.

I'm sick of dying my hair all the time. It's expensive. It's messy. It really can't be healthy. I've seriously considered this before. I've always chickened out.

For some reason, I can't stop thinking about it now. I think I might do it...

Moms of Multiples Resale!

If you're in the Chicago area, this weekend is the big Moms of Multiples resale!  I've shopped this sale before, and it's a great way to get the things you need for your kids for a great price.  Here are the details:

Saturday, September 17 · 9:00am - 12:00pm

Unitarian Church of Evanston

1330 Ridge Avenue (at Greenwood)
Evanston, Illinois
 
Shop a huge selection of gently used children’s clothing (NB-5T), toys, books, baby gear and equipment, strollers, high chairs, car seats, and much, much more!
$1 General Admission – please bring a single dollar for quick entry

CASH-ONLY SALE

One laundry basket per shopper allowed inside; NO strollers, please.
Please visit www.momsofmultiples.org/resale for more information.

DEAL ALERT: $10 for $20 in Groceries at Whole Foods on Living Social!

Sweet!  I love when there are deals for stuff I actually use.  There's a deal on Living Social right now for $20 worth of groceries from Whole Foods for $10.  Yippee!!  Click below to get your deal:

https://livingsocial.com/deals/123805?ref=conf-jp&rpi=25835375

Whole Paycheck no more!

Menu Plan Monday 9/12/11

Here's what's cookin' this week:

Sunday - Rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club, brocolli, refried black beans, Kashi rice pilaf

Monday - Velveeta chicken dish (I had a coupon for this Velveeta mix thing), peas, cilantro rice

Tuesday - Mahi mahi, cilantro rice, refried beans

Wednesday - Steak, twice baked potato, frozen veggie

Thursday - Salsa chicken in the crockpot, rice

Friday - Yummy barley recipe from the Cooking Light cookbook, pineapple, tortilla chips

For more menu fabulousness, check out orgjunkie.com.

Weekend To-Do Follow Up

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't finish the list this weekend.  My husband was out-of-town, and I had some computer issues, so that sort of made me less productive.  I'm proud of what I did get done though, and I'm happy I got to spend a lot of time with my sons.

Here's what happened:

1. Create menu plan for the week. Done!2. Prep grocery shopping list and coupons.  Half done.  The list is made, the coupons are planned, but not clipped.
3. Do two loads of laundry (one each day).  Done!
4. Give the boys a bath - this is going to be tough. The boys want to be on the move all the time!  Done!
5. Feed the boys mangoes for the first time. I'm nervous about this one. I had a friend who was allergic to mangoes, and I really hope that our boys aren't.  Done!  And, without allergic reaction.
6. Keep up with my Daily Feats and Superpoints accounts. Trying to earn some free Amazon gift cards.  Done!  I didn't get any gift cards from these sites, but I did win one from Swagbucks.
7. Order diapers from Amazon. These should be free since I've earned a bunch of free credits.  Done & free!
8. Prepare for the Moms of Multiples resale. It's only a week away, and I need to get items ready. If you're in the Chicago area and have kids, you might want to check it out. Click here for more information.  Done!
9. Spend one hour working on a classroom website (I'm a teacher).  Not done.  School computer crashed.
10.  Pictures of maternity clothes for Ebay.  Not done.

Weekend To-Do List

Ahhh...the weekend is here!  Time to tick off some items on my to-do list.  Here's what I have in store for this weekend:

1.  Create menu plan for the week.
2.  Prep grocery shopping list and coupons.
3.  Do two loads of laundry (one each day).
4.  Give the boys a bath - this is going to be tough.  The boys want to be on the move all the time!
5.  Feed the boys mangoes for the first time.  I'm nervous about this one.  I had a friend who was allergic to mangoes, and I really hope that our boys aren't.
6.  Keep up with my Daily Feats and Superpoints accounts.  Trying to earn some free Amazon gift cards.
7.  Order diapers from Amazon.  These should be free since I've earned a bunch of free credits.
8.  Prepare for the Moms of Multiples resale.  It's only a week away, and I need to get items ready.  If you're in the Chicago area and have kids, you might want to check it out.  Click here for more information.
9.  Spend one hour working on a classroom website (I'm a teacher).
10.  Take pictures of maternity clothes to sell on Ebay.

That's a lot.  Considering that I only really have nap time to do this, it's going to be tough.  I think I can do it, though...

The Vinegar & Water Solution

My sons are at a stage where they like to move around and get into things, but they also spit up.  It's gross.  I was using Clorox wipes, and sometimes baby wipes if I was in a pinch, to clean up all of the various little puddles of spit up that seem to appear out of nowhere.  While I liked the disinfecting properties and convenience of the Clorox wipes, I felt funny exposing my little ones to the fumes from the chemicals...even though they usually weren't around when I used them. 

I've always been a big fan of using vinegar to clean everything, but during this busy season of my life, I thought I didn't have the time to put the extra elbow grease into cleaning naturally.  I needed quick and easy.  I needed wipes pre-soaked in a bleach solution.  Thank you Clorox.

This weekend, the little ones actually took a two hour nap at the same time.  I was able to be totally productive, and I stumbled upon my old stash of Sam's Club vinegar.  It's cheap.  It's non-toxic.  I decided to wash out an old Windex bottle and fill it up with a solution of 50% vinegar and 50% water. 

Then I started spraying stuff.  First I tackled the exersaucers.  They have so much nasty old spit up on them, it's embarassing.  At first the mess didn't come off.  So, I sprayed again, and I let it sit for a while.  I came back five minutes later, and I was able to get everything off the exersaucers.  Yay!!!

So, now I keep my bottle of spray vinegar & water solution within an arm's reach.  It's really helped me keep up with all of the little messes.

Image from fsbohow2.com.

In Search of Organic Meat & Fish

Lately there's been a lot of publicity about the benefits of eating organic.  Especially since the movie Food Inc. was publicized on the Oprah Winfrey show, it seems as if interest in eating organic has become even more wide-spread.

I tend to be a tad cheap when it comes to buying groceries.  However, I'm convinced that it's worth the extra money to spend more on quality ingredients.  One thing I'd like to do is try to eat at least one meatless meal each week.  We've also tried to incorporate more fish into our diets. 

But it's all so confusing!  I thought we were being super healthy by eating salmon once a week, and then I read that if you're eating Atlantic salmon as opposed to Alaskan salmon, you're doing your body more harm than good because of all the chemicals.  Since I've learned this, I've noticed that it can be downright difficult to find Alaskan salmon!

Chicken is a whole different story.  I'm able to find organic chicken at a very high price at my local Whole Foods.  But I wonder, is the chicken that is labeled as being grown with no hormones just as good?  It's certainly a lot cheaper.

As with many things, there's a ton of conflicting information out there about what should be organic, and what doesn't need to be.  I don't know who to believe.  Who has the facts, and who is trying to employ scare-tactics in order to make a buck?

Clearly, I don't have the answers to this one.  But if anyone out there has any ideas on this topic, please comment away!

Menu Plan Monday 9/5

Here's our menu plan for this week:

Monday - Pork Lo Mein - recipe from the newest All You magazine.  Making big batch of baby food - prunes (boy do we need them in this house!)

Tuesday - Brats & onions on the grill, baked beans, applesauce.  Making big batch of baby food - nectarines

Wednesday - Mahi mahi, whatever random frozen veggies I can dig out of the freezer, Kashi rice pilaf

Thursday - Salsa chicken in the slow cooker with cilantro rice

Friday - Healthy Choice frozen dinner, fruit

Saturday - Out to eat with the family!

For even more fabulous menu plan ideas, be sure to check out orgjunkie.com.

I'm Back!

After a long time away from blogging, I decided to revisit this blog...and I laughed so hard that it made my Minute Maid squirt out my nose.

I have twin boys.  My house is never clean.  In fact, I am never clean.

I cannot believe I used to do all of this house cleaning.

Clearly, my focus has changed.  Things have gotten considerably easier in the last couple of months.  I'm still working and raising my two boys, but I'm also getting sleep at night.  Thank goodness.

So, I'm going to try to get back into blogging, and hopefully I'll be able to find some of my old buddies from the blogosphere.  I'm going to keep up all of the cleaning stuff, but please know that I won't be doing them until the little bambinos go to college.

Fresh Food Fast Cookbook

Because our Superfast Suppers cookbook by Cooking Light ended up being so great, my husband ended up buying me another Cooking Light cookbook.  This one is called "Fresh Food Fast" and promises five ingredient, 15-minute recipes.  One of my prerequisites for a cookbook is that it have fast recipes with few ingredients, so hopefully this cookbook will deliver.

A lot of the recipes in my menu plan for this week are from the Fresh Food Fast cookbook.  I'm enjoying using these cookbooks a lot more than I thought I would.  They are teaching me about different ingredients, and I like the fact that they're pretty healthy.  I was concerned that I'd spend a lot of money on extra ingredients, and that hasn't been the case.  My grocery list for this week was relatively short because we already had a lot of the ingredients on hand.  Who knew?

Reviews of the new cookbook coming next week...

Ides of March Week Menu Plan

Here's what's cooking for this week:

Sunday - Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes and Mushroom & Zuchinni Orzo, Salad, French Bread

Monday - Leftover Thai food from this weekend

Tuesday - Pesto Shrimp Pasta, Salad

Wednesday - Corned Beef & Cabbage with family

Thursday - Tilapia with Warm Olive Salsa and Lemon Couscous with Toasted Pine Nuts

Friday - Out to eat with our fantastic out-of-town friends!  :-)

Getting Back on Track

After a long, unplanned hiatus caused by bad luck and a chain of unfortunate events, I am back to blogging!  Things are starting to calm down a little bit after my father's illness, my surgery cancelation drama and my bout with the stomach flu.  It's nice to just have the normal everyday worries to contend with, and I'm thankful that my family and I made it through this tough time relatively unscathed.

I contemplated not blogging anymore, but decided to keep up with it.  Although I don't have many readers, I have really enjoyed "getting to know" a lot of people through this blog.  And, supposedly, this blog is supposed to keep me on track with my domestic activities. 

Thank you to those of you who have stuck with me!  It's good to be back on track.

In Need of Prayers

My father has been in the hospital since last Wednesday.  I probably won't be blogging too much until he gets better.  He needs all of the prayers he can get right now. 

A Tip for Salty Shoes

After all of the snow that we've had, my black shoes were looking pretty sad.  They had so much salt on them.  I tried wiping the salt off with water, but it didn't work.  Finally, I tried getting the salt off with vinegar, and it worked.

I love vinegar!
image from theartofdressingwell.com

Cleaning Granite Countertops

What's the best way to clean granite countertops?  This is a question that come up a lot.  And, truthfully, I'm not really certain about the answer to the question.  About two months ago, I started doing research and I came up with a lot of conflicting information.

Because I'm a saver, I decided to try cleaning the countertops with a combination of alcohol and water.  After using this combination for several weeks, I've decided that it's a great method.  It's simple, and the alcohol in the solution disinfects the countertops.

I also bought some special granite polish spray that I use about once a week.  It was really expensive, so I'm glad I don't have to use it every day.  After I use the polish, the countertops look really nice.

Here's some more information I found about granite countertops if you're interested in exploring the issue further:

Cleaning countertops with a concoction of alcohol and Dawn dishwashing detergent is highlighted here.

This site ranks the best ways to clean granite countertops.

A lot of the information on the internet is complete non-conclusive.  Check out the article here to become even more confused and frustrated.
image from supremesurface.com

Is the Cleaning Necessary?

I've been using my cleaning lists for a while now, and I've realized that I'm wasting a lot of time spinning my wheels.  I'm so obsessed with sticking to the lists that I'm not being smart about my cleaning.  If something's not dirty, I shouldn't be cleaning it!  However, if my list tells me to clean something, I do it. 

It's madness!

So, I've decided to start slacking a bit in my cleaning.  If something is clean, I'm not going to re-clean it.

Duh.
image from summitstreetgarden.blogspot.com

Weekend To-Do Report

Phew!  What a busy weekend!  Even though it seemed like we didn't do much, we got a lot done. 

1.  Plan menu for next week - Done.  Click here to see the menu.

2.  Trip to Sam's Club - Done.  I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any organic meat or Alaskan salmon.  But, I ended up spending $100 and came home with a lot of healthy stuff.

3.  Regular Grocery Shopping - Done.  I ended up shopping on Monday morning, and it was so nice.   No crowds.  Everything we needed was in stock.  Heavenly!

4.  Laundry - Ugh.  There's still a load running in the dryer. 

5.  Order new running shoes - Done.  More Saucony Stabils are on the way.

6.  Color hair - Done.  Thank goodness!

7.  Make a nice dinner for my wonderful husband - Done!
image from doulamomkk.blogspot.com