How I had Fun on My Husband's Birthday...

Today is my husband's birthday. It's not a milestone birthday, but I think that birthdays are special and that they should be recognized. I often try and think of things to do for my DH, but I feel like I have exhausted most of the typical birthday plans. I have done a surprise party, a regular party and a singing gorilla with balloons (my personal favorite!!). I'm not creative at all, so I was pretty tapped for an idea for this year. Plus, I didn't want to throw money away on something that he probably wouldn't find that amusing. Also, the building that he is working in now has some kind of security set up which makes it hard for anything to be delivered.

Added to this is the fact that I am pretty (very, probably) easily amused and while my husband has an excellent sense of humor (which I just love), he often does not find humor in the same things I do.

So...my big plan was to go to his work and decorate his car, which I did. It was a risk, because on the wrong kind of day, this could really irritate my husband. But, the more I thought about it, the more it cracked me up and I decided it was worth the risk. I was so conservative with it. I could have done so. much. more. I ended up just doing a couple balloons and some window paint (which was actually much harder to find than I thought that it would be). I wrote "It's my birthday!" backwards on the front window so that cars in front of him would be able to read it. I had to practice it at home and bring a piece of paper with it written down with me so that I would be able to write it under pressure, with no mistakes. I certainly didn't want to have to try and clean that stuff off of the window!



My husband did end up texting me to let me know, that he knew, that I had been there. He went to go and get a drink on a different floor and saw the balloons on his car. He also saw the other decorations and told me that he was going to clean it off before he drove home. Oh well. That was probably a given. I still got a great laugh out of it (I told you I was easily amused!!).

Thanks Honey :)

Menu Plan Monday - The Wednesday Edition

Ugh!! I am pretty late with this and it's amazing, but I am already having trouble remembering what we had two nights ago!!! (I have been feeling a little overwhelmed this week.)

Ok - so this week was/is nothing too spectacular:

Monday - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - we ended up not having these last week because my girls ended up all eating dinner at my parents' house. Very nice!

Tuesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs - a standard at our house

Wednesday - Bacon Beef Roll - This was a new one for us. It's from Fix-It and Enjoy-It Cookbook and it's basically mini-meatloaves wrapped in bacon. It's a keeper :)

Thursday - This was going to be a tough one. It's my husband's birthday and I wanted him to have a nice dinner. I'm not a great cook and I have one meal that he really enjoys :) The problem is that I tend to make it a lot, like before he has to travel out of town for work, when I know he's having a tough week, etc. Well...he's been traveling for work a lot lately, so it wouldn't be anything special for his birthday. I was thinking about getting something from Make and Take, but luckily for me (and him!!), my parents volunteered to watch the girls so that we can go out to dinner. I feel like it's my birthday too :) He hasn't decided where he would like to go, but it needs to be in the area so that limits us a little bit. Still...

Friday - Halloween Night buffet - popcorn chicken, mini hotdogs, mini pizzas - things that will be quick and easy to eat as we try and get ready while answering the door for the early TOTers.

Saturday - Pizza Night!! My favorite night of the week :)

Sunday - We are planning on being out of town for the day so we will be eating out. I LOVE eating out, so this is a good week!!

See more great meal ideas at I'm an Organizing Junkie's blog!!

Fridays Fave 5

I came across this on another blog and I just love it!! So here are some favorite things from this past week.

1. Candy corn and peanuts. I'm not a big fan of either separately, but put them together...YUM! Personally, I like the ratio of 1 candy corn to 2 peanuts.


2. Cozy, dark Fall days. It just makes it so nice to be warm and comfy inside. Unless you aren't inside!


3. These great containers that I found for lunches. I am really trying to reduce the number of plastic bags that I use in general, and especially for lunches. These are working out great for my two oldest (they have two lids - a big one and one for the middle section). Also, I am a big fan of Bento lunch blogs and while I can't/don't make our lunches look like those, this is a step in that direction.



4. California Rolls from Wegmans. I love to get these for a special treat for lunch every so often.


5. That this spider was outside and NOT inside (It looked much larger in person. Really!). I am not a fan of spiders. At. all. A friend of my oldest found this outside and was excited to show me. Thanks.


6. Ok - I know that I shouldn't break the rules, especially on my first time doing this, but I have another one: watching Cloverfield with my husband on Wednesday night. Great movie, great company :)

Happy Friday!!!

My Preschool Delimma

We were lucky enough to get our twin daughters into a preschool program (UPK) that is paid for by a grant through the state. This was a huge blessing for us and I am very grateful for it.

The class has a teacher and an assistant teacher and there are 18 kids. I think that ideally they would have an additional assistant, but they don't. So...recently the teacher put out a sign-up sheet so that parents could volunteer to spend the afternoon in the class and help out.

Today was my first day and it was cute for...maybe...the first 5 minutes. If that! Clearly they love having the help and I am all about giving back, but, this will be a challenge. I hate to admit it, but I am really enjoying my time away from my own 4 year olds, so to be with them, plus an additional 16? I guess I don't have it in me to be a preschool teacher! I went ahead and signed up for another date for next week, before I had a chance to think about it too much :)

My dilemma is to try and figure out how much to be there. I really feel that I need to do double duty because we have two kids in there. I am thinking maybe 2 times per month. Is that enough? I give Preschool teachers a lot of credit because I don't think that I could do it on a daily basis!

Italian Beef (Sandwiches)

Jennifer - this is for you :)

This is from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. I love this cookbook!!

Italian Beef

3-4 lb. beef roast
1 package dry Italian dressing mix
12 oz. can beer

1. Place roast in slow cooker. Sprinkle with dry Italian dressing mix. Pour beer over roast.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours, or High 3-4 hours.
3. When beef is done, shred and serve with juice on crusty rolls.


Easy Peasy! Just the kind of recipe I like :)

Menu Plan Monday

I have been lurking at I'm An Organizing Junkie's blog now for a long time and finally decided that I would join in on Menu Plan Monday.

Here's our plan:

Monday - Chicken Soft Tacos with Spanish Rice

Tuesday - Cheese Lasagna with salad

Wednesday - Meatballs and Noodles

Thursday - chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese (DH will be out of town and we need to have a quick dinner and head over to the school's Open House.)

Friday - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and soup (Another quick dinner so that we can head over to the preschool's Fall Festival Night.)


Saturday - Pizza Night :)


Sunday - Italian Beef Sandwiches (done in the crock pot) with I don't know what yet!

The Countdown has Begun!!

We now have less than 50 days until we leave on our "BIG" vacation. It sounds like a long time, but I have a feeling it's going to go fast and soon I will be entering into Panic Mode.

We get back home the week before Christmas and because of this, I want to have all of our Christmas related things, as well as packing, done by December 1st. This will allow me to have those last few days for last minute packing, cleaning, etc. This is a pretty big stretch for me, and us, because, while I love to plans things, I am a last minute person. I am no stranger to shopping on December 24th and staying up late to wrap. I guess I love the adrenaline rush?? This year, I want to enjoy that last week (really weeks!) before Christmas.

So...my goals include having the tree up and decorated, out of town gifts purchased wrapped and sent, some cookies made and frozen, our gifts wrapped and ready to go, and stocking stuffers ready and waiting. I would like to have our Christmas card labels and stamps ready for our return. I am hoping to get a picture for our cards while we are in Disney and order the cards so that they arrive to our house around the same time we do. So that's Christmas.

Then, I obviously need to be all packed (meaning packing for all of us). That shouldn't be too hard (ha, ha) because a lot of the clothes that we'll be bringing are warm weather clothes and I am sure that we won't have much need for them here at that point!

That just leaves my pre-trip cleaning and organizing frenzy. I love the idea of coming home to a clean house and the majority of the laundry is clean, ironed and put away. I have to admit that this usually isn't the reality when we leave for vacation, but I think that I get closer and closer to my goal each time. Maybe this is my time :)

We'll see how it goes.

Sharing a recipe

I love blogs!! I am always adding new blogs to my favorites list and I love it when I find a new post. I normally will spend some time at night going through all of my blogs and seeing if there are any new updates, but I have recently discovered Google Reader. What a great tool. I don't have all of my blogs added to it yet, but eventually I will. With one click, I can find out which blogs have been updated and can then go and check them out. Wonderful!! And a time-saver. Who doesn't love that??

One of the things that I love to see on blogs is recipes. I have found a ton of great recipes this way. This nice thing about most blog recipes is that they are tried and true.

On to the recipe. Awhile ago I found this recipe through a blog, through a blog, etc. Unfortunately, I can't remember who posted it but I do remember that it's a Paula Deen recipe. In general, I love Paula's recipe and this is no exception. I think that it's partly due to my Southern heritage :)

Corn Salad

2 cans of whole kernel corn - drained
1 small white onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 cup of real mayo
1 small bag of chili cheese Frito's

Mix the first 4 ingredients together, chill. When serving, add the chips on individual plates and mix. Enjoy :)

I would post a photo but I made it last month and it went quick :) Hmmm...maybe it's time for more!

I guess I'm not very good at this!!

As I wait for some laundry to finish in the dryer...

Well...it was a good idea when I started it, but this little project was definately put on the back burner. However, I am hoping to do better with it from this point on :) We'll see how that goes.

DH and I are very focused on our upcoming trip to Disney. Next week will start the 50 day countdown! Holy cow!! It seemed like it would never get here and now it seems like it is coming up too fast. The girls are excited about it, but I think that it seems too far away at this point.

My main concern right now is flying. I haven't flown since February, 2001 and so much has changed. Also, we are heavy packers. It's not such a big deal when we're driving but my husband keeps reminding me that we have to make sure that the suitcases aren't too heavy. I know that we can do laundry there, but we are going to be gone for 10 days and there are certain things that I think we need!

Like I said, we're heavy packers!