Soap, lunch, burritos and school supplies! WHEW!

Oh my goodness what a crazy few days! So glad to have Gage home. I am LOVING the homemade laundry soap I made. It's a box of Borax, a box of Arm and Hammer baking soda, a box of Arm and Hammer washing soda, a container of Oxy Clean, and three bars of FelsNaptha soap. You great the soap bars and mix it all together. Use a tablespoon or two per load and away you go! I have probably enough laundry soap to last 6 months to a year for less than $20.

Yesterday for lunch I made grilled cheese and chicken sandwiches with some of the rotisserie chicken I made last week. Super easy...butter the bread flip it over and put your cheese on then put on the shredded chicken and then top with a piece of bread and butter the top. Grill it on the stove top and you have grilled cheese and chicken. The kids loved it and it was super easy to make.

This Sunday is Mission Trip Sunday at church. Gage went in June to Kansas City and worked with Urban Plunge to help the homeless in Kansas City. It was an amazing learning experience for him. So since the youth have to help at both services they are having breakfast during Sunday school. So I took the opportunity to make breakfast burritos. I had planned on making a batch for the freezer for the boys to have for breakfast. I ended up making two batches and had 64 burritos when it was all said and done. 

Two pounds of sausage

Two pounds of bacon

18 eggs

3 cups of shredded cheese

Tortillas

Cook it all up scramble the eggs, chop up the bacon and crumble the sausage. Mix it all together along with green peppers and onion if you so choose. I put about 1/3 cup in each burrito. Then fold them up and if you are going to freeze them wrap them in saran wrap. They will last 2-3 months in the freezer. Just unwrap them and microwave them for 45 seconds and then flip it over and microwave it for another 45 seconds. The boys each had one and thought they were great so I am going to say kid tested, kid approved!

After burrito cooking it was off to Wal-Mart to school supply shop. Both boys are SUPER excited for school to start. Carter was most excited about his book bag and pencil case. Both boys came home and loaded up their backpacks and put them by the door. I snapped a few photos of them with their bags.

Now we are only missing one!

Gage and grandma came home from their vacation today. Thank heavens!!!! I have missed them both a lot so it feels great to have almost everyone back where they belong. They had a fantastic time but were ready to be home.

They also brought the last ingredient that I needed for my homemade laundry detergent. So we mixed it all up tonight and the first load is in the dryer. I am hoping it turned out great. So far so good. If all goes well in a few days I will post more info about it.

Tomorrow I will have a new lunch recipe. I am quite excited about it!! I will share with pictures tomorrow night for sure! It's a small update for tonight but hopefully tomorrow will be a more exciting today. It's hard to write a whole post about how we cleaned Carter's room and went through all of his clothes and bagged up what doesn't fit for Heather and Mel!

Movie reviews and a new dinner from Pinterest

Before Ben left I rented a bunch of movies. Ben and I watched 21 Jump Street and American Reunion before he left. Then I have watched four more since he left.

American Reunion - It was good. I liked it more than the last couple. 

21 Jump Street - LOVED IT! I found this movie really funny with a great script. I can't wait for the sequel that they have left everything wide open for!

One Day - I hadn't heard of this movie. It has Anne Hathaway in it and I love her. It follows two people and where they are each year on July 15th. Starting on their college graduation day and follows to current day. I really enjoyed it. 

Jumping the Broom - I LOVED this movie! A couple is getting married and their families meet for the first time and a great movie ensues. 

The Vow - How did my friends not tell me about this earlier! Yes I loved this movie. I cried and laughed and I agree to disagree about red velvet cake!

Swinging with the Finkels - I expected more out of this movie. It is about a couple whose relationship has hit the seven year itch and what they try to do to save it. It was good but not great.

So...on to dinner! I had come across a pepperoni and mozzarella cheese stuffed chicken breast recipe on Pinterest at some point in the past few days that sounded good. However, I only had boneless, skinless chicken tenders. So I adapted the recipe and it was FANTASTIC. So here is my adaptation:

First I pounded the chicken tenders flat. Then laid the pepperoni slices on the chicken and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. I rolled the chicken up and used a toothpick to secure the roll. Then coat in flour, roll in egg and then roll in bread crumbs. On the stove top have a skillet of olive oil heated hot hot hot! Brown the rolls until they are crispy. Then put on a baking sheet and put in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. This just finishes cooking the rolls. Once they are out remove the toothpicks and serve. Carter ate two and has already called dibs on the leftovers.

 

When it rains it pours!

What a day! We got up this morning and went to Sunday school and church. It always feels like such a great start to the week after a service at Church of the Cross. Ben and Carter then took me out to lunch at Longhorn for my birthday. We had a great lunch. We then headed home where Ben finished his honey-do list and packed up everything he needed to spend two weeks in Omaha. He left about 4:30 and Carter and I settled in to do a whole bunch of nothing!

About 4:30 my phone rings and it is Ben. He is at the Minneapolis exit and his car is overheating. Now those of you who know us well know my car has been overheating lately. So now both cars are doing it.  However, thankfully my mom and Gage are still on vacation so I still have her car. He made it home and loaded up his stuff in my mom's car while Carter and I threw things together to make a trip to Omaha.

We left the house about 6:30 and didn't stop until York, NE. We realized at that point that none of us had eaten anything for dinner. So it's 9:15 and we pull into Runza. Everyone has been telling us how great Runza is. Well I'm sure it is...but we don't know because the doors were locked. So we went off to the KFC/Taco Bell. There were lots of people inside so we parked and went to the door that was...locked. At this point it was funny to us. Perhaps due to the stress of the day. We went to Arby's and were quite pleased to be able to get in.

The rest of the ride to Omaha was uneventful thank heavens. We pulled into the hotel that Carter and I are in tonight. It is beautiful and our room is a suite. Carter thought it was pretty cool that we had a room with a couch, a full size refrigerator and a separate room with our beds in it. We took Ben to the dorms and he got checked in. We helped him take his things up to his room on the 14th floor of the dorm. He walked us downstairs and gave big lovies to both of us. We got in the car and headed back to the hotel. We hadn't gotten more than three blocks away and I hear a wailing cry from the back seat. Carter was sobbing uncontrollably. He missed daddy. So we called Ben and they talked for a bit and now he seems fine. We didn't make it into the room more than 5 minutes and he was sound asleep.

Earlier in the day my mom called to let me know they were taking Gage to Urgent Care in Utah due to both ears draining fluid. He has double ear infection that is not to his ear drum yet. So he is now on ear drops and they are in Salt Lake City. He will be home on Thursday and Carter and I will be home tomorrow.

Creighton Pharmacy School Welcome Week 101

Ben has spent the past few days getting all of the paperwork filled out for pharmacy school. Which includes getting his immunization records. At first we couldn't figure out why in the world they would need his immunization records for college that was going to mainly be done on the computer. However, since he will stay in the dorms for two weeks he has to have them. So after a call to his mom and she called the doctors office we learned that your immunizations are registered with the state of Kansas. So he was able to get them all squared away. He will move into the dorms tomorrow evening. So for now he is writing essays still and packing. We will go to church tomorrow morning and he is going to take us out for lunch for my birthday and he will probably hit the road not long after.

Carter and I are all set to be house bums this week. We went to Family Video and rented a LOT of movies to watch. I am really looking forward to spending a lazy week with him. It will be good to have some bonding time with Gage still away and Ben gone.

Tonight for dinner I had some boneless skinless chicken breast tenders. I put them between layers of saran wrap and beat them with my mallet. I'm not gonna lie it always makes me feel better to beat up some meat with the mallet. I heated olive oil in a skillet and then mixed up panko, Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning and shredded cheese. Wet the chicken and dip it in the mixture and then put it right in the pan. It doesn't take long to cook up since it is so thin. I put a piece in and would beat the other one and bread it and put it in and flip the one that was already in the pan. The next time I would take the already flipped one out and flip the one in the pan and add the new one. Carter had two on his bald head face plate. He wanted me to be sure and add a picture of it with it's honey mustard earrings and ketchup mustache. Super easy and great flavor. You can add whatever seasonings you want to to the panko.

I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday. Tomorrow I turn 35 which I seriously thought was ancient when my mom was 35. Now I don't feel like it is that old.

Pinterest...

I finally had another email from Pinterest. It showed me the offending pin that I had not pinned to my account.

So they let me reset my password and move on to pinning. So the withdrawals are starting to subside and dinner was courtesy of Pinterest tonight! Tonight I used some of the chicken that I made in the crock pot to make Chicken Rollups.

In the mixer I put:

4 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter (very soft but not melted)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 cups of shredded chicken
3/4 cup grated colby jack cheese
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 Tbsp. milk

I mix it all up in the mixer until it is well combined. Then take refrigerated crescent rolls and unroll them. Put a heaping tablespoon of this mixture in each roll and then roll it all up and place it seam side down in a baking dish. Mine made 16 roll ups. 

Next mix together:

1 (10 3/4 ounce) can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup, undiluted
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese or swiss cheese (or any cheese of choice)
1/2 cup milk

Spread this over the top of the crescent roll ups in the pan and then sprinkle one or two cups of shredded cheese on top. Put it in a preheated 350 degree oven and cook for 30ish minutes and you have an amazing dinner. Carter ate three of these tonight!

I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday!! I'm wearing my tiara to work since it is my last day of work before my birthday. Any day you wear a tiara is a great day! Budgets are almost done which makes it even better. Oh and the fact that I am on vacation all next week. 

I am proofreading the first of 6 essays that Ben has to write for this microeconomics class tonight and hopefully he can kick out the others in the next two days. 

I hope everyone has an amazing Friday!

Test day

Ben has this microeconomics class he has to pass before he is officially a pharmacy school student. Having to be in Omaha on Monday for two weeks has really shortened the amount of time he has to get it done. So in a two week time period he has taken an entire class. So he took a test on Monday, one on Tuesday and three tests and final today! I have no idea how he has a clue what he is doing. So all of the quizzes are done and the tests have been taken. All that is left is 6 essays. So I will be proofing essays for the next few days.

I am very excited to have my friend Gary and his boyfriend Jeremy coming for a visit on Friday. It is always great to have people over and I love to cook for friends. So we will have dinner and some fun with the Wii. I haven't seen Gary in probably 10 years so it will be great to spend time together.

We are also getting Ben ready to leave Sunday afternoon. Of course he has to leave on my birthday!! He will be gone for two weeks. It will just be Carter and I until Thursday when Gage gets home from his vacation with grandma. I'm going to take vacation next week so I can have some time to relax after weeks of working on budget numbers and stressing over Ben's schooling. It will be wonderful to have that time with Carter and then time with Gage when he gets home.

Pinterest update: Still locked out and still not happy!

Chicken, chicken and more chicken!

So yesterday we started the crock pot rotisserie chicken. I came home from work today to a house that smelled AMAZING! I opened the lid to the crock pot and had to lift the liner out in order to get the chicken out in one piece due to the tenderness of the chicken. 

It fell off the bones. No knife ever touched this chicken. It tasted great and Carter even liked it! When we were finished we picked the bones clean and shredded the meat. I will use this in a dish later on this week that also came from Pinterest. Here is how much meat was left after we ate dinner.

On a total side note my Pinterest account has been locked due to "suspicious activity". I seriously am going through withdrawals!

On the school front, Ben has been studying his tail off to get this last class out of his way. He also has his orientation packet that came in his email yesterday. He has been filling out forms and financial aid papers. He leaves Sunday night for Omaha. Carter's babysitter is also on vacation next week so I am taking a week of vacation myself. It will be great to have a week at home not having to worry about anything really. Sleeping in and relaxing. Who could ask for anything more?

Pinterest Rotisserie Chicken

I love rotisserie chicken. I love to eat it. I love to pick it off of the bones. I love to use it in other recipes. That being said we are working on a budget and part of that is figuring out ways to eat for less. I was able to pick up two fryers at Wal-Mart for about $6. I should probably say before we go any further that I have NEVER done anything with a whole raw chicken.

I did check to make sure all the yuck inside had been cleared out. I washed the chicken and mixed up the
spices:

2 Tbsp Paprika
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
2 Tbsp garlic powder or 3 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Add a bit of water at a time after they are mixed until you have a paste.

Then take your raw chicken and slather on the spices. Rub it all over. I personally did not enjoy rubbing the chicken. However, you may find that you love it!

Then pop it in the crock pot. My bird is currently chilling in my fridge Tomorrow morning I will turn it on and let you all know how it goes.

How do you cook a whole chicken? Anyone have any other great recipes that you would like to share?

Recipes, homework and church

We skipped Sunday school this morning since we had had such a busy few days. However, we did not skip church. This morning the sermon was another one in the series of family Bible stories that Pastor Greg has been doing. This one was on the baptism of Jesus. He compared it to when in Toy Story Buzz Lightyear learns that Andy has put his name on his foot. God chose to put his name on each of us when we were baptized. As I sat in church this morning it all really hit me that I have to let everything going on in life go to God. I felt a tremendous peace as I left the service this morning.


So after I got home I got to work. Our budget is going to have to change. The first start is going to be eating at home pretty much every night and taking lunches to work. I now have a 30 page cookbook of things I can make so far. I have started a monthly menu and have started a budget. I also started reading a book America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams. I am getting some great ideas.

Ben spent the day doing homework. His dedication to this microeconomics class and how he knows it must be completed to continue this journey is a fantastic sign as to what is coming in the future. He finished 3 chapters today and is now working on notes for his 6 tests he has to take this week. Tomorrow it is back to work for the last week before Ben head's off to Omaha for two weeks.

Pinterest

As part of our scale back financially I plan to make monthly menus and cook at home. Pinterest is my go to place for everything! I have made a lot of things and used a lot of the tips. I will share my reviews of the things I find there as we go. So be sure and stay tuned!

In the beginning...

My husband has been going to school since I met him. We have been married for almost 7 years now. He graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University with a degree in chemistry a year ago and applied to Creighton's online Pharmacy school this past year. We waited and waited and waited for a response. Finally the beginning of June he got a letter. Yes we did sing the Blue's Clues "We Just Got A Letter" song when it came. He had me open it and we learned he had been chosen as an alternate.

We figured he would probably not make it into Creighton this year. However, we hoped and prayed and on July 3rd he got an email offering him a pharmacy school interview on July 13th! We loaded up the car and headed to Omaha where he spent 3 hours learning more about the program and going through the interview with two staff members. They told him he would probably receive a call that day as to the status of his application.

Our youngest son is 5 and we took him to the Omaha Children's Museum to kill some time. At 2:45 I noticed my husband was on the phone and sure enough it was Creighton. He was in. The panic set in. My husband was going to become a full time student and a VERY part time employee of the pharmacy he currently works in. Our lives were going to change and they were going to change very very quickly.

This all happened yesterday. Today we are home and he is cramming in every moment he can to finish the microeconomics class he has to finish before August 1st. I am trying to figure out how first I am going to handle him being gone for two weeks the end of this month and how we are going to adjust as a family to the changes before us for the next four years. I plan to chronicle our adventures here. The good, the bad and the ugly. Care to come along for the adventure?