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Thursday, September 29

She's 18 months!

My baby is 1 1/2 years old!

She's totally into Elmo, books & babies!

She weighs 19lbs. and wears 12months clothes.

She likes chocolate milk, juice, cookies, cheese and fruit snacks!

She has 10 teeth!

She goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes around 6:30- 7.

She takes one 2 hour nap after lunch.

She talks A LOT!!!!

She loves to play outside and go for walks!

She is absolutely adorable!!!!!

PB & J for lunch!



This might just be my favorite picture to date! So sweet!


Tuesday, September 27

Rotisserie Chicken in crock pot Wins this week!

Whole "Rotisserie" Chicken in the Crock Pot
1 4-5 lb. whole chicken
1/2 onion
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. each: thyme, sage, rosemary, pepper, garlic powder & paprika

1. Rinse chicken in warm water, place in crock pot and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Combine all the spices in a small bowl and mix well.
3. Rub dry spices all over chicken. I like to pull the skin back and force the spices in between the skin and the meat. This helps keep the herbs on the chicken allowing to really penetrate the meat.
4. Roughly chop onion and place around the chicken.
5. Place breast side Down, put lid on and cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8.

-When I prepare chicken this way Ken and I eat just the breasts with some sides on the first night. The following day I shred/chop the leftover chicken and use in a soup, tacos, enchiladas (tonight I am making "Lone star enchiladas" from the new Taste of Home!)

Fits perfectly in my crock pot. This is after it is rubbed down w spices. You can not see them b/c they are in between the skin and the meat!

All done. This is as I'm peeling the ICKY skin off. Now you can see the spices!
Dinner is served!
Nutritional Info: I had trouble coming up with the WW points for chicken prepared this way. Since I just ate the breast I considered it 4 pts.

Monday, September 26

Working Moms need to try this!


Apologies that my "Friday" freezer idea is coming on a Monday; I hope you'll be forgiving since this past Friday we left early for a trip to Indianapolis to celebrate Kenny's sister's wedding! Welcome to the family, Greg :) We had a great family weekend.


Here is the set up for this post:
2 weeks ago I got into my chest freezer to find it half thawed, not cold at all!!!! Thinking I left the lid open or maybe it came slightly unplugged; I cranked the temperature gage up and hoped it would get cold quick! Well it didn't! Something was wrong. To save ALL my meat, 25 lbs. of blueberries and Lord knows how much corn; I had rearrange my other 2 freezers to make room for my thawing food. Thankfully, 4 pounds of ground beef was the only totally thawed food. It couldn't be refrozen so I had to do something with it quick...

~The first 2 lbs. I made into meatloaf that we ate for 2 days. The other 2lbs. I made into taco meat.
~I added green pepper, onions and all the seasonings I add when making tacos: cilantro, cumin, chili powder, S & P etc. and browned until everything was cooked through!
~Next, I let it cool completely and transferred into 2 air tight containers, labeled "taco meat" and stuck it in my freezer. (Where it stayed for about 2 weeks)
~Yesterday, before church I took 1 of the taco meat containers from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. Because it was already in a crumbled form it thawed within a few hours.
~When we got home from church I warmed it in a skillet for about 5 minutes (warm slowly and with a lid to prevent drying out) and added a little bit more spices to taste.
~Lunch was served from start to finish in about 7 minutes and with only 2 dirty dishes (freezer container & skillet). I loved the ease of this. Right away I wanted to share this idea with working/Busy moms. Spaghetti meat sauce and/or meatballs would work perfectly too.

Note: A repair guy came out and our chest freezer is ruined. Some part went out! Thankfully, it is still under warranty since it is ONLY 6 months old! A new one should be delivered soon…

Thursday, September 22

I had a facelift....

Ha, No not me personally. I'm too young for a face lift. My blog is the one that had the cosmetic surgery. Did you notice?
This is the official launch of my NEW blog! I've got a New web address, New name and a New design!
A special Thanks to GrassGreenDesign.blogspot.com for creating Exactly what I had in mind!
Also, Thanks again to everyone that voted on the new name a few weeks back. I am ready for more followers- so share my site with others! Remember my next give away will be when I reach $1,000 in savings by using coupons. I am less than $200 away....
Thanks for the support!

Mae's 18 month check up

Last Monday I took Mae for her routine 18 month check up (2 weeks early, since she won't be 18 mo. until next Tuesday).
  • She has grown some, now in the 10th percentile for weight at 19lbs!
  • She had to get 2 shots at 2 separate times because the nurse forgot 1 dose! :( I felt so bad for lil Mae. When she saw the nurse came in the second time she starting crying because she knew...and those crumby shots made her sick that evening. She came down with a slight fever and the chills. (But nothing that Tylenol, rocking and sleep couldn't fix.)
  • The hardest part of the appointment was when the doctor told me MaeMae had a heart murmur and I needed to see a pediatric cardiologist! I wasn't overly worried but was more than willing to have her checked out.
  • So the next day, Tuesday, we had to go to another appointment for a chest Xray. Picture this: she sat on a bicycle type seat, a big plastic tube came around her chest and her arms were raised above her head. She was screaming "Mommmmmy" Thankfully, it didn't take long and they got good pictures.
  • Chest Xray from Tuesday! Aren't her lil bones the cutest?
  • The third day, Wednesday, we went to see the pediatric cardiologist. When her name got called and she saw the nurse she started crying. She had just about had it with nurses and doctors. Praise the LORD this doctor did not hear a murmur! Since she is a specialist she mentioned to me that often times children with extra thumbs can also have heart defects. (It's a pure miracle how we are formed in the womb) So she ordered one last test, an echo cardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart. Scheduled the following Wednesday.
  • By Thursday, MaeMae and I were both woren out and tired of running around. We didn't do anything except walk down to the park 1 block away. We passed on a few get togethers and stayed home! It was fantastic! We also had a great weekend celebrating Kenny's birthday.
  • Celebrating Dad's birthday at the Pumpkin festival!
    
  • So now it's Wednesday the day of the ECHO. She did great considering she couldn't have anything but apple juice past midnight. What a crazy week---Glad it's over---Praising the Lord for my beautiful baby girl's precious heart! Just as I thought, her heart is healthy and perfect. Made of pure Gold ;)

Friday, September 16

Friday's Freezer Friendly Food~ A peek inside my freezer!


This week is a simple post on things I commonly freeze. Some are pretty obvious to most- other items you might be surprised by. I often buy items that are on sale and freeze them. Examples: cheese, bread, milk, coffee....
Two things in my freezer right now are All purpose flour and corn meal. In late July, while I was visiting IN we took a day trip to Shipsewana. We stopped at a bulk food store and two of the many items purchased were 25 lb. All purpose flour and corn meal. Now I won't have to buy either for a year!


I just pictured my upright. I also have a chest freezer and of course the one with my fridge!
See my peaches and zucchini?
Items normally in my freezer but not pictured for various reasons:
-Milk
-Meat (all meat goes in my chest freezer)
-Jam (all jam is in my refrigerator freezer)
-Homemade chicken broth
-Homemade bread crumbs
-Homemade yogurt
-Cream cheese

Friday, September 9

Friday's Freezer Friendly Food- Peaches


"Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches

I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches

I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches......"

Peaches by Presidents of the USA


This week my Freezer Friendly Food is Peaches. I got 2 half bushels of delicious peaches from my in laws. I froze 14 quarts, canned 5 quarts/2 pints, prepared 5 half pints/1 pint of peach butter, 1 peach/blueberry crisp, ate probably more than we should have & still have 12 fresh to do something with....

Proof of my work :)
Follow these instructions to freeze peaches: Remember there are many different kinds of peaches. If you are going to buy a large quantity be sure to get "free stone" which come away from the pit easily. Also, some types peel easier than others!
1. Fill a large stock pot with water about half way to the top. Bring to a light boil.
2. Drop peaches in for 30-45 seconds. Remove immediately.
3. Rinse in cold water but do not allow to soak.
4. Cut in half & twist to pull two halves apart. Remove skin (which will come off easily b/c of dipping in hot water). Remove pit. Dig out the pink center (grape fruit spoon worked great) this prevents browning.
5. Slice peaches and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet on their "bottoms".
6. Freeze over night or until completely frozen. Transfer to Ziploc bags. (I put into quart size. Gallon would work great too since they are frozen individual. You can use what you need and put the rest back in the freezer!)
-Uses: pies/crisp, cobbler, smoothies/milkshakes, on top of yogurt/cottage cheese, or as baby food.
--Note: Browning may occur after thaw. But taste is not affected.


16 half bushels of peaches


My portion to process all by myself


Arranged on a cookie sheet on their "bottoms"


Thursday, September 1

And the 1st give away Winner is----

Thank you to all who voted on a new name for this blog! Your opinions matter to me! I love all the advice that has been given to me thus far. Diary of a Homemaker won! I am glad and love that name too.(A HUGE thank you to Liz Bradley ;)  Watch for more changes to come here as I roll with the new name!

My next give away will be held when I reach $1,000 worth of savings from using coupons! As I have mentioned before, I am keeping a spread sheet of every penny that I save by using coupons. My guess of when I'll reach $1,000 is mid- November! The prize and details are not finalized for that give away so please stay tuned!

Now to the BIG NEWS:


I used http://www.random.org/ to randomly select the winner. Since I only had 1 gift card to give away #1 wins. Which was RACHEL DILLABAUGH! Congratulations! Rachel is actually my sister that lives in OH! Ironically, I am going to be seeing her this weekend. So I get to deliver the gift card in person :)

Thanks again for voting and playing. It has been a great joy to watch this blog grow over the past several months. Much more to come..........