Organized :)

Happy Tuesday! 
Most everyone that knows me knows how organized I like things to be.  I even go to the extreme of having my DVD's in alphabetical order.  Now I'm not so sure that there's some craziness to that.  Cause if there's a movie that you know you have and you are looking for it....it's in alphabetical order and will take no time to locate it.  If they weren't organized it could take forever to find that 1 movie that you are looking for. 
As long as I can remember I've made a weekly menu for my family.  So there are no questions asked as to what is for dinner.  You look at the menu and that's what we are having.  And plus....I only have to think once a week and not every single day.  There's no questions asked as to what's for dinner.  It's nothing fancy just something that stays on the front of the fridge that shows breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  It's a time saver.  Then I take that menu and use that to make my grocery list.  Which eliminates going back and forth to the store during the week cause you forgot something for dinner; or you forgot something for breakfast.  Go line by line from the menu and write EVERYTHING down that you will need to make those meals.  When I was doing my grocery shopping at WM I would go the extra mile while making my grocery list and write things aisle by aisle.  I knew exactly where everything was in the store (hints the almost 10 years working for WM)..  Yes...it's a little time consuming while making all these lists.  But I would write things down from the menu and other things I needed and then go from that list and then write them in order.  I still kinda do that with my HEB grocery shopping list but I have them in categories now; bakery, can goods, cold items, drinks...etc. etc.  The reasoning I do this is cause of fast shopping.  I can go in the store and be back out in my vehicle in 30 minutes...yeah I know that doesn't sound real does it?  But it's true.  Even with the kids with me it's a quick shopping experience cause they get involved.  My daughter helps me to not over spend too :)  She will remind me....Mom that's not on the list.  But trust me....it's a big huge time saver.

Friday evening after getting back from my 30 minute shopping experience I decided to go ahead and make my kids a list of what they need to do.  Every morning I'm always reminding them...did you make your bed?  Did you take your vitamins?  Is your backpack ready?  It's every morning we go thru this.  Since one of my kids can read and the other one can't I had to make it simple for them both to understand.  Which I think this will also help my son to read....that's my plan at least.  All the basic things that they need to do I have them on this chart.  I have them written out and beside that I have a picture of what that item it.  For example: if it's make your bed...I have a bed there.  I started out with these magnetic pages that you can get at WM (2 per pack) and they have the option to remove the paper and it be sticky.  So I cut out each item and placed them on these magnetic pages.  Cut them out and placed them on a dry erase board.  Took 2 round magnics and placed a label on the front of them....1 a "C" for Cheyenne and another one a "T" for Terran. 
I have one for the morning list:

And then another one for the afternoon list:

So as they do each item they will move down their initial.  This morning was the first morning to do this.....and they were completely done with the morning list in 10 minutes.  I NEVER once had to tell them that there was something that they needed to do.  I just hope that they keep up with this.  Once they have the hang of this.....more will be added.  Do the dishes?  Clean your bathroom? Help pick up in the Living Room?  More of actual chores will be added.  As of right now if I have to tell them....or if they just don't do it....they will have to pick a card out of the sad bucket.

It's nothing fancy but it will work.  There are cards in there that say: clean all windows, wipe down all doors, clean baseboards.  They have already told me that they don't want to have to grab from the "sad bucket". 
Today is only day 1 and I know that the Lord will guide them into making the right decisions and completing everything so they don't have to grab from the bucket.

God bless each and everyone of you; just like God has blessed me!

What to do on a rainy day!

 

What to do on a rainy day!!

What an exciting Saturday we have had.  Even though it's always sad to hear or see postings on FB of my parents and sister and her family spending the day together.  Being 3 hours away it's not as easy to just get up and go to attend these things.  But it's always a blessing when we are able to be there.
I have made a commitment to myself and to my children that we will have craft time together every Saturday if we are home.  Grant it....I'm not the best crafty person; with the help of Pinterest I think I've done pretty good.

This Saturday started out with making a new recipe for breakfast.  With the help of my husband off to the kitchen we went and made Bacon & Egg McMuffins.  The recipe calls for the use of a Texas size muffin pan; which I did not have.  Before making this again I will have to get one.  I would recommend using the Texas size one.  Using the smaller one the eggs don't get done.  I started off with the 6 cup muffin pan and got all my other ingredients together.

Then I took the english muffins and pressed them into the muffins pans...I recommend spraying the pan before hand with cooking spreay; I did not and when the eggs overflowed they would stick to the pan.   Wrapped each one along the inside with a "Fully Cooked" bacon strips.  Took just a pinch of cheese and put in the bottom and then cracked an egg and put in the middle of the english muffin.  Sprinkled  a little bit of kosher salt and crushed black pepper on the top of each one.  Baked for 20 minutes on 350 degrees. 

FINAL OUTCOME :)



After breakfast was complete and kitchen was cleaned; off to the store we go to get the stuff for our Saturday craft. When I say craft...I thought I was only doing 1 thing; which I ended up doing 3 different crafts today.  And I did 1 craft type thing last night.  But I'll explain that in another blog; along with the 3rd craft that was done today.

Started the great craft time by making an Easter egg tree.  Having help from the kids I think is what makes it so wonderful.  They love being involved and helping.  They did so well!!

We got all of our supplies today: 4 packages of foam glitter egg ornaments (I got small ones which still worked great, but you could get the big ones if you can find them), 1 foam cone, Green paper Easter grass, a pair of scissors & a hot glue gun. 

Now the first step is where I was really able to get the kiddos involved.  Take the foam glitter egg ornaments and cut the strings off of them.



Take one of the eggs and place a dab of glue on it and then place it onto the cone...starting at the bottom.  

Working your way all around the cone leaving a space inbetween each one; which is where the grass will be placed.  On my bottom row I did place them too close and then I realized that I wasn't going to have enough eggs if I was to do that through the whole cone.  Made my way all the way to the top...EWWW had just enough eggs. :)  Then take the grass and place it in the empty space.  I actually took a pencil and put the grass onto the end of the pencil then ended up putting a hole in the cone with the pencil.  So the grass would be placed into that hole and stay in place.  Going all around the cone looking for empty space to place grass.  It was very time consuming..but all worth it.

For me not being to crafty I really think that it turned out great.  The bunny is from Cheyenne...adding a little more touch to the tree.

Onto the next craft....which was a cereal box paper holder.  You get tired of coming home and the mail is laying around the house.  So I saw the idea on Pinterest to make a cereal box paper holder....what a great idea.  Any school papers or mail that I need to go thru when I get home will be placed in this box which is located on the fridge.
Took the box and cut the front off, but only 1/2 of the front of the box.  Glued the flaps down..then wrapped it with construction paper.  In our "new" craft box we had some magnetic strips left over from Friday's thing I did.  So I took those and placed them on the back of the box.  I don't plan on the box getting very heavy so no worries of it falling down.  Emptying it every night while dinner is cooking is a MUST!
It's nothing fancy at all...just something simple.

What a fun Saturday we have had.  Hope you had a great one too. God Bless each and everyone of you; just like God has blessed me! 

The Start of my Blessed Life!!!

Where do I begin...this is my first blog so I guess I'll start my telling you about my wonderful life/family.  I have a past but not as exciting as other so I won't go into that. :(
In May 2009 I married James it was such a exciting day.  On that day God sure was in the blessing spirit :)

After the reception off we went to our honeymoon.  It was so hard leaving the kids behind while we were on a 7 day cruise.  But I knew that they were in good hands.  A 7 day cruise...wow was it fun and for sure relaxing.  Every night after dinner we would go back to our room and there would be a towel animal on our bed.

So  here we were walking thru the cruise ship back to our room; wondering.....and making guesses of what the animal was going to be this evening.  Our orignal cruise trip was suppose to be a 5 day trip to Cozumel and Yucatan Progreso, Mexico.  But at that time the swine flu was really bad down in Mexico so no travelers were allowed there.  For the price of a 5 day cruise we were able to get a 7 day cruise and ended up going to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.  It was so much fun...I've never been so relaxed in my life.  Our first stop was in Jamaica; not the best place but still alot of fun.  The main thing we did was just walk around and site see.  Next stop was the Cayman Islands; which is where we decided to get souviners from.  Still just did alot of sight - seeing there as well. 

I think for me the best night on the cruise ship was Dinner with the Captain.  You actually got to dress up; so we took advantage of that.  Ended up paying $50 to get my hair done...which I can say it looked great; but not sure if it was worth that much.  You be the judge of that:

July of 2009 the place that I worked at got some horrible news...the plant was closing down.  At that point I didn't know what I was going to do...I had a family to take care of.  But I knew it was all part of God's plan.  After the announcement we all headed back to our work areas...for me the tears started rolling..honestly I wasn't really looking at what everyone else was doing.  I know not the Chrisitian type; but I was really focused and trying to think about what God was doing here.  We all know God only knows the outcome.  I worked with some amazing people....we were a team.  Not only that; we were family that was going to be seperated. 

We stood in the office and held hands and prayed.  Asked God to watch over each one of us.  As I went to sit back at my desk....the tears still rolling down my face.  My boss (which is now my best friend and I'll talk about that more in another blog) kept on telling me; it's going to be ok, you're going to be just fine. Oh man..the time has come, I was being called into the big man's office.  Quickly wiping the tears away trying to act like I wasn't crying or being emothional at all.  Please have a seat Jennifer, were the words I heard as I entered into the office.  Most of the time those are words that you do not want to hear...so the butterflies started showing up in my stomach.  What's going to happen I thought?  Then the best words of that day were....it's okay Jennifer you're going to be fine.  I want to offer a position for you at another faciity; but the downer is that it's 200 miles away up by Dallas.  A raise was at stake at the same time.  Of course I couldn't immediatly say "YES" knowing that I knew that was the Lord telling me this is the path to go.  I will let you know by the end of the day what my decision is, was my response.  Left the office and got on the phone to call my husband to talk with him about what was going on.  "The plant is closing down.....BUT I'm being offered a position at another facility up by Dallas (200 miles away I added)..with a raise"  We will make it work was his response.  The Lord is leading us in this direction for a reason.  So back into the office I went to let them know that I would accept the position and the move.  My boss (Phyllis) was offered the same thing as I; but she felt led by the Lord to stay and see where the Lord would lead her after the closing of the plant.  Which took place in September 2009. 
August 2009 we started our life in a new area.  My husband received a manager position at the Taco Bell and started right off the bat.  Our daughter was starting Pre-K and we found a Daycare/Learning center for our son to go to while we were at work during the day.  We found a church to attend; which took a little while.  But we were not going to stop serving the Lord and He wanted.  It was a VERY rocky road for me at that facility.  But NEVER not once did I loose faith....with the help of Phyllis praying for me and guiding me thru things.  With Corporate being onyl 30 minutes away from where I worked I had set my goals.  Maybe they were high but nothing wrong with that. 
December 2009 I was offered a postition at the Corporate HOTLine department.  Wow..4 months it only took me to reach the goal I had set.  I still had to go thru a couple of interviews...praying hard that the Lord would Bless me with this position.  And sure enough.....the Lord takes care of His children; I got the position and started right before Christmas time.  There's proof there that you keep the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; He will bless you!!!!!

So here I am today...loving my job that the Lord has blessed me with.

God Bless each and everyone of you that read this.  And may the Lord bless you as He has blessed me! :)