Meals for thanksgiving week

Missed a couple meals last week due to things coming up and being overwhelmed with leftovers. So two meals from last week are getting moved to this week, and then of course we have thanksgiving on Thursday which will likely create enough leftovers for another whole week... so here we go...


Monday - Grilled Chicken with Peach Salsa

made the salsa last night... I was a little skeptical on the quality of the peaches I got, so we shall see how this turns out. The chicken is soaking in the spices today and we will grill it on the George Foreman when we get home.

Tuesday - Roast (Crockpot) and potatoes

I am thinking that I will have two crockpots going and put the potatoes in the second one. I haven't decided yet if I should wrap them in foil or just put them in.

Wednesday - thanksgiving gatherings begin! Salsa chicken and black bean soup

Thursday - Thanksgiving! I am responsible for mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes

Friday - Leftovers leftovers and more leftovers.......

Curtained bookshelves...

I saw this idea this morning and fell in love. I am not sure yet that I have a good spot to use it but I just think it is a neat idea and I want to save the idea for possible future use...


Covering your bookshelves with decorative curtains



Found this on BHG in an article called "19 Ideas to Steal for Your Apartment". I may just have to steal it for my house :) Now just to find some curtains that I want to hide my stuff behind!

Also this one, another solution for hiding things behind some pretty fabric:

Basically some fabric attached with velcro to hide or make any sort of table or shelf more attractive!

Meals this week (Nov 14-20)

Monday - Penne Pasta with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce
I actually did this a bit different. Instead of roasting the garlic, I sauteed it, and instead of roasting the tomatoes, I used a can of tomatoes, and put them (along with the seasonings they would have roasted with) in the pot with the garlic and cream. Toasted pecans instead of pine nuts since I forgot to look for pine nuts at the store. This was very yummy, though it turned out to be a sort of funny color of orange. Adding the tomatoes to the sauce makes more sauce than otherwise, so it could have covered more than 1 pound of pasta.

Tuesday - Chicken and Italian Sauage Gumbo (Crockpot)
yum! :)

Wednesday - Chickpea and Lentil Soup (Crockpot)
this was pretty good but I don't think I'm going to put it in my regular rotation.

Thursday - Roast (Crockpot) and potatoes
moved this to next week...

Friday - Grilled Chicken with Peach Salsa
moved this to next week...

Saturday - Thanksgiving get-together with friends - candied sweet potatoes

Did a bit of scouting this weekend for some of the supplies I'm looking for to reorganize and/or redecorate a couple rooms.



Found some baskets with lids at Michael's that will work in the master bathroom to help contain some stuff, and some other baskets that I think will work in a few other places.



I thought these sand colored wicker baskets would go nice with my beach theme in the bathroom, plus they have lids so I can hide stuff! (sorry for the crummy picture!)








The coffee table is new so I haven't cluttered it up yet! Found the two brown baskets at Michael's. I think they will stay there to catch anything they need to that I normally would clutter it up with! Maybe remotes, coasters, I haven't figured that out yet! I also got 2 smaller versions of those - their home is still up for grabs!

The colorful boxes I found on clearance at Target. I love the 3 colors together, although I expected them to be bigger. I haven't decided for sure yet what to do with them. I may take them upstairs to help sort and contain scrapbooking stuff. I originally thought I could use them in my closet, but that's before I looked at their dimensions. They're cute enough though that I think I will keep them and find a new use for them.

That's all for now. I haven't actually had a chance to start containing stuff in these new containers though... one step at a time :)

Meals for this week

I'm actually ahead of the game for once this week! Got my meal ideas ready yesterday. I am trying to get back in the habit of planning!! Sure saves a lot of arguments and headache if I do!


I may switch around the order of these a bit, but this is probably how it will go - The three linked ones will be in the crockpot:


Monday - Lemon Dill Chicken with wild rice

Tuesday - Cream Cheese Chicken with pasta

Wednesday - Gumbo! (I am super excited for this - I've only made it once before and it was so good!!)

Thursday - tacos

Friday - leftovers

Menu Plan - better late than never

I threw my menu plan together on sunday but only ever wrote it on my whiteboard in the kitchen! So here it is, better late than never, I suppose...

Monday - Italian Seasoned Roast with potatoes - ended up getting a package of Hormel meat and Bob Evans potatoes... super easy - hubby cooked for me ;)

Tuesday - Baked Ziti - Used Rachael Ray's 30-min meal recipe - very yummy!

Wednesday - Salsa Chicken and Black Bean soup

Thursday - Irish Stew - didn't brown the meat, just threw everything in the crockpot!

Friday - double date night - going out with friends to dinner and bowling!

Saturday - leftovers & clean out the fridge!

Brainstorm list of supplies

Ok, trying to gather a list of supplies I might need to help me with a couple rooms.

My two main rooms I want to focus on attacking first are the kitchen (in desperate need of some organization!!!) and the master bedroom. We finally picked out a bedroom set of furniture, so it's time to get rid of the mis-matched stuff and actually make the place look polished. Maybe even a coat of paint, if I can decide on a color!

Let's start with my thoughts for the bedroom. This is mostly just a place for me to capture my ideas so I don't forget them!!

Things to look for:

• boxes - decorative but can store/hide things
• matching lampshades for nightstands
• floor lamps - have one, need to swap the second with the matching one that's downstairs
• plants or vases for the dressers/nightstands
• large-ish wall hanging mirror
• shelf w/ pictures, vases, candles??
• tray for nightstand to hold contacts case, glasses, water cup? things with possible moisture

...one room at a time...

Ok, before I lose even the little bit of motivation that I have, I'm gonna start up a real basic plan. Here's what I'm thinking. I'll list out the rooms I want to do something with, and set a goal of one room a month. if I get to more than that, great. if not, oh well. and when I get to the end of the list, I'll start back up at the top!

November: kitchen

December: master bedroom

January: living room

February: family room

March: guest bedroom

April: downstairs bathroom

May: upstairs hallway

That's good for now. Lets see how far I actually get!

it's about time

Well, today I went out with my mom and aunt to look at a bunch of model homes that are for sale and just drooled all over them. I've decided that I'm gonna make an effort at decorating my house. If I could make my house look like the model homes then maybe I wouldn't feel so much like I want to look for a new place! Cuz even if I got a new place, it still wouldnt' be decorated like those houses that brought in a professional interior decorator!!

I realize I'm taking on a big task that I don't know if I can handle, but right now, I'm excited about it. I figure if I take on one room at a time, and research a bunch of ideas, set myself a monthly budget or something, maybe I can do it all myself. I would love for my whole house to be painted but we'll see :) start small, Becky, you know how you get overwhelmed and give up!

Maybe I'll even work out a plan so then when I get overwhelmed and start saying "I don't know what to do next!" then I just come back to my plan and see what I should be doing.

Baby steps... that's how I work...

to do

my task list for tomorrow:

menu plan

decorating plan