A new way to grocery shop...

So one of my goals for this year is to be extremely strict on our grocery budget. As we prepare to grow our family that means most likely our income will be changing. Therefore I need to get in the strict, strict habit of staying within our budget. For the most part I, we do, I mean really we have no room since our normal "fixed" expenses are set and can't change, mortgage, vehicle fuel, electric, tithe, sitter, etc. So when I do the monthly budget and enter in all those plus more, there's nothing left. Which should be the case so that we are not wasteful, but that being said, that means whatever I budget for groceries is all we have and that's that.

Starting in 2010 I have set a goal to diligently plan our meals in advance and only buy what's on the grocery list. However, I know I will always forget something and not realize it until I am at the store, so I always leave room for those items. I usually shop at Wegmans and Aldi's, mainly Aldi's for veggies and some fruit and then Wegmans for everything else. And I found something awesome on Wegmans.com that makes grocery shopping easy and fun, well maybe not quite fun but easier.

The Wegmans secret...online shopping list and they give you the prices! So awesome! I enter everything from my list and add up the cost, of course some items will be variable such as meat and fruit but I know what I spent last week and can guessimate. I always leave $25-30 for those unexpected items and to buy milk inbetween grocery days. We grocery shop every other week, which I found early on in our marriage is the easiest and we save money rather than weekly shopping.

We have our regular items that I try to find coupons for, either online or in the circular, great way to save, obviously.

And so far so good for the first month of meal planning. I've been using all those magazines that I sorted through, usually one magazine per two week period, sometimes I can get longer out of it. This obviously means that we are always trying new recipes, some good some just ok. If it's good, it gets a smiley face with a date and if not, a frown with date and why we didn't like it. If I do anything different to the recipe than what it calls for, I always make notations. I try to have one meatless meal, crockpot meal, and then every other Friday homemade pizza. We don't try new recipes everyday and oldies/regulars get added to the meal plan too, but I still have to mark them on the list in order to make sure I have all the ingredients.

And another bonus of putting in some extra time to plan our meals, means that every morning I don't have to guess what's for dinner, and less waste because we use the fresh vegetables first. Plus, we have great leftovers usually for lunch the next day or day after. Resulting in spending less on those frozen meals for lunches.

And with all this extra effort I hope to really fine tune my strategy, such as planning our meals according to the sales flyer, but that will come in time. Plus I want to get very thrifty and begin to start our family on organics. This will take time since it is so much more expensive to buy organic but this is my goal for our family...overtime, little by little.

I actually started this post to share a wonderful recipe that we had the other day...potato soup. It was absolutely delish and so very easy to make. But since I babbled on about grocery shopping, who knew so much could be said, I will have to post the recipe tomorrow. But it will be worth the wait...

Have you ever wondered?

For those of you that have been pregnant, I am sure you have wondered what in the world the baby is doing in there sometimes. Every night around this time, 9:30/10pm the baby is so active. I just sit and stare at my belly and wonder...what in the world are you doing in there? I mean it feels as if he is doing some gymnastics, or should I say karate or something. I know it like a big, warm bathtub so he's probably in there splishing and splashing.

It's so weird but amazing at the same time. He's in there growing and getting bigger everyday but he manages to remind me every night that he's there, not that my ever-growing belly doesn't.

I of course wonder how different will this littly boy be from his big brother, looks, personality, etc. I am so excited for Chase to meet him. We always ask Chase, "Where is your baby brother?" and he answers, "Mommy's belly" and then proceeds to lift my shirt, wherever we are, so that he can pointt to my belly button. I wish that he could touch and see my belly when the baby is moving but the baby is so sporadic Chase wouldn't get it. But how neat would that be?

Preparing the baby's room...

So I decided with baby #2 that I would do his room with a safari animal feel. Now I am not one for themes, I refused to "theme" Chase's room. I just don't like the whole borders and such, and they outgrow it so fast. So his room is blue and brown with stars and circles. I think it turned out really cool and it will grow with him for however long we are in this house.


Well, that being said I kind of broke my "no theme" rule and did buy a matching bedroom set such as the comforter, curtains, pillows, bumper etc. for Chase's baby brother. It's funny because Chase never used his bumper, which I am sure we won't for his brother either, but it is so cute. I will probably hang his comforter on the wall as decor, like his Chase's. But even though I did breakdown and buy the set, it still will not be real themey.



I plan on having it be based around safari animals. Having Chase I realize how much fun it is to have animals and how much he enjoys them. I plan on obtaining, not collecting, many different small safari animals such as the mid-size TY animals. I like that they have the beans in them and are small. Chase loves them too. My mom had about 10 already from her garage-saling over the years and gave them to me. So the search continues to fill a basket full of them.



Without further ado....here is the bed set I found on Ebay, brand new. I couldn't decide between two and went with this one because it wasn't as busy, I liked the colors, and the curtains were basic. And no I did not get the border and don't plan on it. I also didn't get the lampshade or mobile, I actually just remembered the other day that I already have a mobile with giraffes that just might match.

And then Katie surprised me today with an early birthday present, she was too excited she had to give them to me today. They are so stinkin' cute and will go perfectly in the baby's room. They are so unique and just how I want the room to be...fun and unique. Not quite sure how I am going to display them but I do know I will find something fun.When I was looking at them again tonight Chase wanted to give everyone of them a kiss as I put them back. It was so stinkin' cute and out of nowhere.


Now if only the room was finished. We need to put a floor in, plaster/sand/prime one of the walls, paint all the others and the ceiling. And I am debating on doing wainscoating, it will help with sound but not sure how it will look in the room. We'll see, oh and if it's in the budget too. Plus we need to get the baby crib, glider etc. All in time and God will provide, he always has.

Oh the yummy goodness

What a great day today turned out to be, after yesterday, it could only get better but that's for another blog day.

The morning started with Chase sleeping in, which meant mommy and daddy sleeping in, yeah! Then fresh blueberry pancakes with fresh blueberry syrup, neither Brad nor Chase used the yummy blueberry syrup, they so missed out. And while I was in the blueberry mood I made Chase some mini healthy whole-wheat blueberry muffins. He loves them. I cut the recipe in half and made about 20 mini-muffins. Put about five in the fridge and froze the rest for snacks for later.

After breakfast it was cleaning time, as always. And now whenever I do dishes Chase wants to play in the bubbles. He drags the chair over and says "Chase play bubbles." It's our "cleaning" time together. I actually enjoy washing the dishes as he plays and then I even dry and put them away.

Giving Bob a bath. We bought him at the thrift store so a bath was much needed.

More Saturday around the house work. We've been working on cleaning out the baby's room since we have so much to do in there and it has been the "catch-all" room for some time. But in order to clear out the storage bins, Brad needed to put some more plywood down in the attic to make room. That was a task in and of itself, pratically all morning.

Lunch time came and went and before we knew it, it's time for Chase to take a nap. Thankfully, oh so thankfully, he went down without a fuss. For some reason this week he has been out of sorts and giving me trouble whenever it was time to sleep, nap or bedtime. He would cry when he went down and cry when he got up. But this morning he woke up and was playing happily in his crib until he called to get out. It put joy back in my heart to wake up to my "old" Chase. And then to go down easy for his nap was oh so wonderful too.

After he got up from his nap, happy again, yes, he was a little clingy to daddy but woke up happy. We called some friends over for dinner and dessert so the boys could clean their guns. Boys and their toys, starts when their little and never stops.

Watch out calories here we come...

We decided to have homemade from scratch pizzas; one for the kids, pepperoni and cheese; and one for the adults, pepperoni, cheese, onions, green peepers and basil. Oh my heavenly goodness. Cloe made the kids dough and I the adults. Well, as we're in the middle of making the dough I noticed that I had "spilled" some yeast on my belly, great catch shelf, and then saw some on the floor. Oops, let's hope the dough rises.

After 20 minutes or so of rising, it was finally time to decorate them. Cloe's looked so much more fluffier, must be because all her yeast made it in the bowl. After our decorating it was time for the oven. Yes, finally. Set the timer and wait.

Adult pizza before the oven.

Kid's pizza before the oven. I let them use the pizza stone. :)


Let me say it again, Oh.so.yummy! Even with using half whole-wheat flour they were so good. Cloe's did puff up a little more but they were both delish and filling. Mason couldn't eat his fast enough, two pieces to be exact. He liked his sister's pizza better. :)

After 20 minutes in the oven.

And now for the grand finale...dessert!

This is where all diets are null and void...Chocolate Melting Cake or some people call it, Molten Chocolate Cake, either way it is sinfully rich and delightful. We first had this on one of our cruises and Brad found the recipe and modify it to four servings. We delight ourselves to this heavenly, rich dessert very seldom, so it is a real treat. Just imagine sweet, smooth chocolate melted with other yummy ingredients poured into ramekins, partially cooked so that the inside is warm and gooey. Serve while still warm with a huge, heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream, maybe two scoops.

Yes, it is that good. The baby had a delightful sweet high tonight.

A blessing in disguise...

It's all perception on how you look at life, pessimism or optimism. I believe in most circumstances I am a very optimistic person, I try to balance that with reality, well that's Brad's job to do...bring me back to reality sometimes. Anyway my blessing, and it's a blessing in my eyes.

So the past two months have been pretty burdensome for Brad and I, mainly just life happening, but all at once. Brad's truck woes, our first "baby" Sierra Jane dying, both brad and I getting hit with the 24 hour bug at the same time, our washing machine on its way out and then my car accident. Thankfully none of our woes caused bodily harm, emotional, yes. But I am thankful that we are all well and healthy. I questioned if we were being chastised or tested. It just didn't seem to end, after one then another.


We just continued on faith that we could afford all the fixes. Our floors are still without carpet or hardwood, but that's ok with me, for now. I painted both the hallway and the living room and I can live it for awhile.


I digress...my blessing. So it's been two weeks since I was rear-ended and what a pain it is to be in an accident...paperwork, talk to insurance, paperwork, estimate, paperwork etc. And it stinks even more when you are the victim, however again, I am so very thankful that no one was hurt. That is a huge blessing but the blessing in disguise was that after getting my car repaired, just the muffler thankfully...we got money back. I took it to my dad's work and they are just awesome. But how cool is that! We have so much to do to the baby's room and we have enough money to get it done. I don't and won't feel guilty at all for buying the supplies to finish the room...paint, flooring, bedding, etc.

I may have had to go through some frustrations but God always provides, in one way or another.

Chase you're too big for that chair...

As I continue to purge, Chase enjoys going through the boxes of stuff that I plan on getting rid of. Yes, this is a cute chair but it's been in the attic or storage for, hmmm, six years or more. So even though I might someday have a little girl that would enjoy this I have decided to get rid of it. But before I could, Chase decided he wanted to "sit" in it.

Attempt #1

Putting it with his other rocking chair.

Yeah still not quite fitting.

The little chair fits in his other rocking chair.

Ah ha. I knew he'd find a way to fit.

Where's my friend?

No we will never forget our beloved Sierra and apparently our neighbor's dog hasn't either. While Brad was outside bringing in wood on this beautiful day, our neighbor who lives in the valley behind us pulled up on his snowmobile to chat. You know how it gets in the winter, we all become hermits until it turns 40 degrees and we all thinks it's Spring.

Well, anyway he asked where Sierra was and that's when Brad gave him the sad news. Oh no the neighbor said, I was hoping you wouldn't say that. I was hoping she just needed surgery and couldn't come outside. That's too bad and so sad. Buddy has been all excited and looking and waiting for her.

You see our neighbor has a dog himself, a little Boston terrier, Buddy, he was a quarter size of Sierra but they were the best of friends. When they first moved in, Buddy was the first to introduce himself with a visit to our house. We then met our new neighbors too.

After that Buddy and Sierra became "bosom-buddies." Every morning when we would let Sierra out to go potty she would just disappear. We would call her and call her, close the door, wait a few minutes and go call her again. Finally we would see her come running up the hill and around the barn. She was too busy playing with Buddy to want come in.

Just a reminder of how special Sierra Jane was and how many people and animals loved her.

Chase disciplining Guy...

A quit history on Chase's style of discipline. When I took this video back in December Chase started "asking" me to tell his toys "no". Such as he would be playing with his guy and the guy would "hit" him, in other words Chase would take his guy and hit himself with Guy which meant Guy "hit" him. I am not sure where this started but he would then hand me Guy and say "no". So I would tell Guy no and that's not nice and give him back to Chase. He did this a couple of times. I thought it was hilarious and cute. And then one day take he crawled into the laundry basket with his barn, Guy and his pig and apparently Guy wasn't being nice.

Notice the kiss at the end.

Yes, my day really did go this way...

I had to work today when I normally have Fridays off....I should've just stayed home.

6:30am...Leave the house head to Pittsford Wegmans driving so slowly because of the lovely snow.

7:30am...Get rear-ended. Can we say, Ouch! Oh the neck and back pain. And oh so loud of a muffler now.

7:50am...Arrive at Wegmans, get the food for the breakfast we sponsored at MCC. Load ALL the food, coffee, and fruit in my co-workers car.

8:20am...Arrive at MCC. Make four trips to bring in all the food. Grab enough donuts, muffins, and bagels to take to my dad's work where I will get an estimate on the damage.

9:00am...Call Dr. to schedule an ultrasound to make sure the baby and his home is ok. Leave MCC for my dad's work.

9:30am....Arrive at the shop, get an estimate, chit chat with my dad, drop off the snacks and coffee for everyone. Leave to go to the doctor's.

10:15am...Have 45 minutes to spare, what to do? Do I dare try grocery shopping in 45 minutes? It's never been done before, can it be done today? Let's give it a try, I mean I did have a thorough grocery list printed right from Wegman's website telling me where everything will be what aisle, cost etc. So I had faith it could be done and be within budget. So I parked, set my alarm and took off, headache, soreness and all.

11:00am...Leaving Wegmans. I did it! Not sure if I forgot anything yet. Probably.

11:15...Dr's appt. Ultrasound came back ok with no abnormalties, the next little man was just as happy as can be floating around in there and his home was in good shape too.

12:00pm...Leave Dr.'s office, run to Target to get dog food, and the paper towels and toothpaste I forgot.

12:30pm...Head to Webster to drop off stuff for work at the picture framing shop.

12:45pm...Finally on my way to work to make an afternoon meeting.

1:45pm...Get to work, fill everyone in. Sit down to turn my computer on and no computer. ?? Long story short, it's broken and not on my part.

2:15pm...Since we didn't get a police report I wanted to call to just let them know it happened, so I try to find the police station number. Couldn't find anything for Pittsford so I just called the town, they told me to call 911. Well, it's not an emergency and happened this morning, I just want to report it for record keeping. You still need to call 911. Ok, then. I hung up and called 911...from work. STUPID. Never, never call 911 from a financial institution. Everyone from Senior Management was by my side in 2 seconds. I was clueless until...it hit me. Oh my what did I do? What an idiot. I was the brightest red ever. And to make it worse I was a manager before so I knew what happened when you call 911. I felt like a total, total idiot. It's Friday, right?

2:40pm...Get to my meeting. Uneventful. Thankfully.

4:30pm...Leave work to head home. Try for the fifth time to reach my general Dr. to see if I can get in to get checked for my neck and back. I've never been in an accident and not sure on what pain is normal for whiplash. Finally I reach someone besides a voicemail. Honey, you need to go to the emergency room all the doctors leave at 4pm on Fridays. Ok, again it's not an emergency I just want to get checked out and have a report in case I have complications later on. You will have to go to the emergency room. So do I or don't I? Call Brad, what does he think. Whatever you think. Well, second guessing usually means it will come back to bite me later. Oh I'll just go. I'll go to Newark where it will be less busy. I felt like a moron walking into the emergency room with no emergency. But I was the only one there. Works for me.

5:15pm...At triage explaining what happened, my pain level, check my vitals...good. Go to another room and wait for the nurse/doctor. Have my entire spine checked, sore and tender. We should do x-rays on the base of your neck. What about the baby? The baby will be ok and safe.

6:00pm...Get wheeled to x-rays by the most talkative nurse, she was too funny. She was the type of person with the bubbly, kind of goofy personality but she would never know it. Definitely someone that would lighten the mood not even knowing she was. She put all the garb on me and a sensor to confirm I didn't get any rays on me or the baby.

6:20pm...Get back from x-rays and just relaxing. Kind of strange that I was able to relax in the emergency room. But it was the first time that day that I had sat down and "relaxed" even if I was in one of those stupid hospital gowns and in the emergency room. The PA offered the tv while I waited but I just layed there and listened as a fly on the wall. Interesting what you hear going on in an emergency room. Young 14 year old who fell wrong on his ankle, sprain/fracture? Others on wheeled beds going to other parts of the hospital and then over the loud speaker..."Code Blue arrival in 11 minutes. Repeat. Code Blue arrival 11 minutes." Three times this was announced.

6:30pm...PA Jessica informs me that two of the x-rays look good and she was just waiting on the third but the doctor has to see them too and we have an emergency coming in so it might be a little while. Ok, I know I am fine but what am I going to do besides wait. So wait I did. I never saw the ambulance arrive but 30 minutes later, three people walked by and the one in the middle was crying very hard. Oh goodness. I just sat there and thanked God for all the good in my life and that I was ok, the baby was ok and Chase wasn't in the car with me.

Then I got thinking, that's it, in just a blink of an eye your entire world could be turned upside down. What should or could I be doing more in my life? What is important in life? We all live our lives everyday and don't even realize how we interact and effect one another. You know how many people I was in contact with today and spoke too? 20 at least. That's 20 people's lives I could have made worse or better by my actions and reactions. I can think of two that weren't too nice to me, just seemed miserable and to hate their jobs. And then there was the x-ray lady, Lujean or Lu is what everyone calls her. I remember her and her fun spirit. Or the PA Jessica in the emergency room, very sweet, kind and genuine.

I want to think I was pleasant despite the pain and frustrations of the day. But you know, it happened and it's up to me and how I react. No one is at fault for the day's happenings, well besides the young girl that hit me, but I was pleasant with her amidst the adrenaline rush. She was scared. I even called her later in the day to verify her address and I was pleasant. Accidents happen, unfortunatley.

It does matter a whole lot on how I react to situations. I am to be an example, a Christian example. If I am hollering and yelling and just outright a witch, why would they want what I have? Even though no one that I came in contact with today, except a few people that I know personally, knew outright that I was a Christian, it still matters. I could have made their day worse or better. If you've ever worked customer service and had to deal with an irrate customer, you know how that can ruin your whole day. Just a thought as I reflect on the today and look to a new day starting.

Oh to finish my day...

7:00pm...Get discharged, call Brad to let him know I am on my way home after getting gas. Ugh.

7:30pm..Arrive home and see my men. Mommy!! Chase yells from building blocks. He then proceeds to run around crazy. I love him so much. Oh and I forgot the groceries have been in the trunk since 10:30 this morning. So thankful for freezing weather and no sun.

7:45pm...Put away groceries, give Chase some blueberries and raspberries.

8:00pm...Say goodnight to Chase so Brad can get him to bed. Kisses. Hugs. Kisses. Hugs. Get in the shower.

9:00pm...Finally sit down to relax for the evening.

10:45pm...Going to bed. Oh yes, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

No she didn't...

For the past few years my mom has always bought us girls, including herself, pajamas, sometimes matching sometimes not. Well, this year since we only did gifts for the younger kids, she decided to go all out and buy all us older kids pajamas, matching pajamas, well, girls matched and the boys matched. Quite funny.

She made us wait until the kids opened all their gifts, cleared the floor and then it was our turn.

Everyone SMILE...

My brother Shawn was being a bum and didn't open his...

Until the very end.

Those are some crazy pajamas mom. Chase calls me a zebra. Wonderful. I feel like a big 400lb animal sometimes.

I think I have an addiction...

An addiction to cookbooks, cooking magazines, recipes etc. I've always enjoyed baking and cooking even if I didn't experiment with new recipes all the time. But I have come to realize that I seem be addicted to "collecting"anything with a recipe in it that I would like to "try." I once had subscriptions to Taste of Home, Simple and Delicious, Quick Cooking, and Cooking Pleasures. All of which I no longer receive because I was getting overwhelmed and never got to try recipes as often as I wanted.

I have been in orginazation mode since I've been off the past week and a half. The baby's room isn't going to sort, organize and clean itself. But all these cooking magazines were actually in my very antique china cabinet in the kitchen for awhile and it was on my list to organize...sometime. Well, the sometime came today. I took them ALL out and laid them on the floor to organize.

Wow, I have A LOT, more than I realized. I do use them almost on a weekly basis but not all because I didn't realize how many I had. But they are now organized into 3-ring binders by magazine and a binder for Christmas magazines. Now I just need a Dymo to label them. That's next on the list....labeling.

Even though I no longer have subscriptions to any of the above mentioned magazines, I still do receive two cooking magazines, Wegmans and Kraft Food and Family, but these are free so I don't count them. :)

My addiction doesn't end with cooking magazines it also includes cookbooks. Goodness, I have many but you really need too. You know for different seasons, holidays etc.

I have two that are just slow cooker cookbooks, perfect for our loooong winters. Smoothie recipe book, Betty Crocker, which everyone must own as well as Joy of Cooking and....the list goes on. I find that whenever I stop at a garage sale and see a cookbook I have to check it out but not always buy it. :) However, when the book guy stops by at work, I almost always get sucked in. They are such a steal and good books.

No more. Starting this year I hope to plan most of our weekly meals from each of these magazines. I usually pick one or two anyway but I must stick to it on a weekly basis and not to buy anymore cookbooks from the book guy.

And I said I don't collect anything. LOL.

As I was writing this I just remembered I have a box full of Pillsbury magazines too. Some are my own and others that my Grandma gave to me. One of the only things I received, her cookbooks and food processor...the best gifts.

Meet Snowman Salatino and his little friend...

It was a such a great first day of 2010, a packed day actually. Sleeping in, breakfast and then playing trains, blocks and animals with Chase. This has been my day everyday since Christmas. "Mommy play trains. Mommy play blocks." Oh, and daddy gets invited too but usually not together. I went to play when daddy was playing and Chase told me no, daddy play. Well, ok then.

After playing for awhile we decided that since daddy was going outside to shovel, Chase and I would join him, not to shovel of course, but to play. So we got all bundled up and headed out to the snow. When I realized it was perfect snowman building snow, the ball starting rolling. And I really mean rolling, I got it started and pushed it down our steep hill. Chase and I followed, slowly but surely Chase made it down the hill with mommy's help.

As me and my pregnant self built our first snowman of the year, Chase sat on the hill and watched. I built him a miniature snowman in the meantime and miniature meaning about a foot tall. I also threw snowballs at him while he laughed and said more. Well, until my aim was off and I planted one right in his face. Talk about a horrible mom. Thankfully they weren't real snowballs but just picking up snow and tossing it at him. I cleaned off his face and we were good to continue building.

After all three parts of the snowman were together we called over daddy to stack them for us. After patting them down and rounding it a bit I decided to build a "Chase" snowman. This Chase helped a little. He put the arms on him. And of course we need eyes and nose. So instead of "eyes made of coal" our snowman sported black olives and baby carrots for a nose. Oh, and the black olives made great buttons too. Marveling the results of our handywork.

Chase putting his new John Deere tractor from Grandpa S. to work. If only we could really plow with it.