Trying to catch...

Already 4 days into February and I am trying to catch up. Filed our taxes the last day of January, as well as Kolton started back at Day Nursery. He is still iffy about it, but once we leave he starts to interact with the other kids. He has been dealing with sinus infection and bronchitis since Sunday and I hope he starts to feel better soon. I hate seeing him sick. Well, I have decided to start a long "To-List" as well as a "Daily List" to hopefully catch up on projects around the house. Well, this is going to be short till I can catch up on these lists but wanted to show what I have cooked this past week.

First one was the beef enchilada bake --

Ingredients needed (besides the scissors and baby meds)

Prepared and waiting for it to cook:

Not the greatest, but was still good:

Recipe:

what you need

1

lb. lean ground beef

1

can (10-3/4 oz.) reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup

1-1/4

cups cubed VELVEETA® (1/2-inch cubes), divided

6

corn tortillas (6 inch), cut in half

1

can (10 oz.) RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained

make it

HEAT oven to 350°F.

BROWN meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in soup and 1 cup VELVEETA.

SPOON 1/3 of the meat mixture into 8-inch square baking dish; cover with 6 tortilla halves and 1/4 cup tomatoes. Repeat layers. Top with remaining meat mixture, tomatoes and VELVEETA; cover.

BAKE 25 min. or until heated through.

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Lately I decided to try Italian Chicken. Really easy and its a crockpot meal (added carrots half way through the cooking):

Kolton ate half a chicken breast, didn't care for carrots or the rice but he was eating.

Recipe:

Italian Chicken

• One bottle of your favorite Italian salad dressing
• 6 Chicken Breasts

Stick the chicken breasts in the crockpot and pour the Italian Dressing over them. Cook on high for 4-6 hours until completely cooked through. Serve over brown rice.

For variation, you can add in a bag of frozen veggies halfway through.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

This is really good and makes enough for left overs. I highly recommend it.

Just some of the general ingredients:

Once placed in slow cooker, not a pretty sight but the ending is great:

The after math:

Here is the recipe:

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 4 (14.5-oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 6 to 10 cups water
• 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 Tablespoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 2 bay leaves

Brown ground beef and onion together until meat is lightly browned. Drain off excess fat. Add all remaining ingredients and bring mixture to a boil.

Cover and simmer for two to four hours. Check periodically and add more water, if needed. Remove bay leaves and serve.

Makes 18 to 20 cups of soup. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days.

Welcome to the new year!!

Yes, I am 26 days late since the beginning of the year 2012. Been trying to get into a schedule but still nothing has been working as I want to sleep in as much as possible. I am tired daily so I know I need to work out and start eating right so I can start having more energy. My little man is 20 months old and I need to keep up with him. It is a change I need to consider for my family, even if I have a husband who is stubborn. I've been also trying to cut back on eating out so we can start knocking down debt. So far, we've used my tuition reimbursement money given from my employer and paid off all our credit cards.

What we paid off:

Capital One - $266.29

My Bill Me Later Account - $45.96

Andrew's Bill Me Later Account - $978.02

Sam's - $583.75

Best Buy $2002.94

I am still currently paying off a FingerHut account, but that was roughly $270.

Now, we are only down to loans. There is student loans, the amount I still owe McMurry, 401K loan, personal loan, vehicles, and mortgage. If we can just stay on a strict budget, I say we could probably be debt free in maybe 2-3 years. I am just looking at paying off McMurry, 401K loan and maybe half of the personal loan this year. Student loans looking at starting to pay partially but knowing it will be a long shot but at least take advantage of it. Vehicles and mortgage, I am hoping to keep what we have and maybe try to save enough so we can buy a bigger house or add on to our current house so we can have a master bedroom/bathroom and enlarge the kitchen. So many ideas, and just maybe prepare for baby #2 maybe sometime later on this year or next. Well, hopefully I can keep those interested with positive updates.

December 2011

Need a change

As we complete the first half of the year, I am becoming more aware of the changes I want to do in my life but not have done anything to get started. I want to try to find a routine that will work with everyone as well as myself since I am looking at going back to school in September.

My main goal is to try to get my health on track. I've been eating fast food more often and drinking more of my Dr. Pepper than water and I know that will be a bad habit for Kolton to pick up. We did start walking a few weeks ago for almost the entire week but then the overtime kicked in and I stopped doing it. I need to get back into it as I know that was what was helping me maintain and start to lose a little more weight. I want to be more of the woman I think of trying to be instead of the woman that basically everyone has pictured. I do want to do a slight change so maybe I'll be able to have more confidence in myself.

We have paid off some debt last month and hopefully the rest of the year just gets better. We need to be able to set some $ aside for college and emergencies. This way we can start teaching Kolton the importance of budgeting money and hopefully not make too many mistakes that we have made in the past.

I am hoping as I am putting this down that I decide that I really need to get what all I hope to change get started. I wouldn't know if it will actually help me and work unless I actually try it. I think I have picked up some habits my grandmother has done and that is be there for everyone else first before yourself and I know that is what I really shouldn't do. I know I need to be there for my family but I also need to take care of myself first. If I can't, then I will not be able to help others who do need me and depend on me.

Well heading to bed as tomorrow will mark day 1 of change, hopefully......

Finally...an update on our vehicles

Here is another recap on our vehicles. These are the vehicles that Andrew and I have had since we met in Feb 06.

1) 96 Nissan P/U (my vehicle)
2) 05 Chevy Cobalt (Andrew's)
3) 98 Jeep Cherokee (traded in 1)
4) 88 Honda Civic (Andrew puchased)
5) 83 Chevy Chevette (Free vehicle)
6) 06 Jeep Wrangler (traded 2 & 3)
7) 96 Mitsubishi Eclipse (was mine, turned to Andrew's)
8) 07 Dodge Ram (traded in 6; my vehicle)
9) 92 Honda Accord (free; just till we were able to sell it)
10) 03 Chevy Avalanche (Andrew's vehicle, sold after three months)
11) 08 Toyota Scion XD (obtained a few days after sold #10)
12) 83 Jeep CJ7 (swapped #7 for, sold after a year)
13) 09 Honda Shadow Aero (our first motorcycle)
14) 05 Jeep Liberty (sold to my brother about January 2010, now it has been wrecked)
15) 10 Toyota Tundra (traded #8 in)
16) 11 Toyota Camry (hail damage sail, traded in #11)

Besides the motorcycle, we are still trying to keep up on the years. '07 Dodge in 2007, bought the '08 Scion in 2008, '09 motorcycle in 2009, '10 Tundra in 2010, and finally '11 Camry in 2011. Hopefully as we have paid off some high interest rate debt, maybe I can get the motorcycle paid off soon to have extra $$ to put back in savings. Gotta prepare whenever we are ready for baby #2.

Oh, if for those of you who are wondering...we are probably done with trading in vehicles (unless we are able to trade them in w/o rolling over into the next one) but it will probably be several years till we get another one.

Kolton @ 1 year

We have finally made it to the one year mark. I can't believe how much he has grown. Enjoy the pictures.