For the Covetous Ones

For all those who have coveted my meal organizer thingy that hangs on my refrigerator - here's how to do it so simple yourself. I just updated mine and kicked myself for not having spiced it up before.
Supplies Needed:
Computer & Printer
Recipes you Like (w/ingredients if you want)
card stock paper
Plastic sheet filer/covers for buisness cards

Easy Breezy on your compy use the 'new project' in word and go to labels. Choose the buisness card size. This makes the perfect size template and you type in it. Don't for get to make the days of the week for along the top.
My original cards have all the ingredients listed on the back side, which you can do, but you have to be smart and make the second page a mirror that would print double sided- way to complicated for me AND I found out that I rarely pull the cards out to see anyway. So, this time I put the extra ingredients that I normally would not use just under the title of the meal. I also put the book and page of the recipe so I could find it. I am liking this new version. I kept a lot of the old meal ideas, but now have specific new recipes that I will try and then I can rotate them through.

Once you print off the cards, you slide them in whatever order you want in the plastic sleeves. You use 3 full sheets of the plastic sleeves and then cut one in half and add it on the end. You have to buy several of these sleeve things so it may be a good idea to buy the pack and make stellar christmas presents, or jut have alot of buisness card organizers for all those loose buisness cards (or you can use them for a coupon book and slide coupons in them to organize them, that was an idea I learned this week). I just taped the 3.5 sheets together with Scotch tape and WALLA! Put the days of the week across the top in order then fill in the foods and you have four weeks planned out. If you are like me, you have to have something easy and visual there to get you to make more than frozen pizza. This months family feeding goal: add good side dishes!

Here's the list of the standard meals that are in there:
Chicken Tetrazzini
Turkey Soup
Fish Sticks
Navajo Tacos
Manicotti (Stuffed Shells)
Meatballs & Gravy
Spiral Baked Ham
Pot Roast
Chicken Pot Pie
Polynesian Pork Chops
Tacos
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Pop Overs
Barbequed Spareribs
Tater Tot Casserole
Chicken Nuggets
Left Overs or Go Out
Malibu Chicken
Pizza
Beef Stroganoff
Hamburgers
BLT Sandwich
Minestrone Soup
Chicken Hay Stacks
Taco Salad
Baked Chicken
Spaghetti
Chicken Club Sandwich
Stir Fry Veggies & Rice
Enchilada Casserole

p.s. This is NOT a Nancy Button original idea, I got it at a wonderful 5th Ward RS Enrichment 6 years ago. Sadly, this month was the first time I took the initiative to switch in some new ideas!

Star Bellied Sneeches and other Cute Creatures

I love the dollar store for one great reason - STICKERS! They keep Faith entertained longer than coloring right now. Tuesday morning while I was running I set Faith at her desk with her stickers and notebook to create. As I looked over to check on what she was doing I noticed a perfectly placed star in the middle of her forehead. I laughed, which made it all the more enjoyable for Faith. I told her to go look in the mirror and see how funny she is. She then began a pilgrimage to the wonderful star removing machine, or bathroom, each time returning without 'one upon thars' to get another. I later had to gather stars from various places in the bathroom. But, Faith giggled each time she saw the stars on her face, sometimes adding more than one.



Little did I know how entertaining they would be for Danny too! Wednesday as I left Danny to his own devices in the walker while I did some finances, he found the crinkly star sticker paper and began to eat it , of course. He got a bit frustrated when he became a sneetch too!

Final Friday: Pre-Easter Fun

The 27th brought family fun again this Friday. I was not as put together this month and didn't do so stellar of advertising. We had the Ricks family for a bit, then a lull, and then the Landen's came. It was fun both times. I had plastic eggs with slips of paper inside. Much to the boys' glee, some of the slips said that the eggs were worth money. Others were vouchers for horsey rides or kisses from mom. One had them ask what was in my pocket which varied from milk duds to tissue paper, to a 'high-five.' We had fun hiding the eggs for each other and finding them. Egg hunts are great for all ages because you can vary the ease of finding the egg. Faith and little Josh and fun finding the easily hid eggs together, and since they couldn't read, we ended up altering what the papers said. Everybody got at least one voucher for a 'nest.' Now that we have tried this once, I am better prepared to do it again with a whole slew of funnier inserts for the eggs.

Self Smarted Myself

I just recognized a pattern in my life: when I am learning about new things and establishing better goals in different/new arenas of life/job/motherhood, I feel happier and more productive.
I also just recognized that it takes me about a week to feel like I am semi-savvy on almost any subject and then generally I get bored.
Thus, to maximize my happiness, productivity, and short attention span, I have made an official goal to become semi-savvy in a new subject each week. Within that time span I try to set a goal as to minimum acquired knowledge and a goal as to what I will DO with that knowledge.
The past few weeks have been: Emergency Preparedness, First Aid Kits, 72 Hour Kits, Gardening, and this week I chose Coupon shopping. I now have an Emeregency Preparedness binder that I am adding to almost daily with sections for 72hr, 3 mo supply, 1 year food supply, gardening, emergency, and finance (you can see some potential savvy topics to come). We do have First Aid kits in all our cars as well as our 72 hr kit. We have completed 72 hr kits hung in our garage (okay, they are not quite hung yet, that is Josh's job). We have planted the 1st part of our garden and have a great plan using intercropping and have transplants in our window sill. I have DONE something!! It feels good. And it feels even better that I am giving myself a pat on the back right now.

This week is coupons. It is now Thursday, and I already feel smarter! I am no coupon whiz, but just by asking everyone I talk with how they use coupons, or what are some good sites on the internet they use. I have found a wealth of knowledge. I put some links on this blog under "cheap" if you also want to use. And if you have good ideas and I haven't talked to you yet, please share!

I will try to post a weekly synopsis of what I Self Smarted Myself, and mabye I will back log a bit so I can share my mast lists for First Aid and 72hr Kits, if you are interested.

Prickings of the Heart

From "Come Unto Christ" by President Henry B Eyring

The words “come unto Christ” are an invitation. It is the most important invitation you could ever offer to another person. It is the most important invitation anyone could accept. From the beginning of the Restoration of the gospel in this dispensation it has been the charge given by Jesus Christ to His representatives. Their charge has been “to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ.”

Every member of the Church, upon accepting the baptisimal covenant becomes a disciple who has promised to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ at all times in any place he or she may be in.The purpose of our witness is to invite people to come unto Him.

All of us should be intensely interested in learning how to issue that invitation effectively. We know from experience that some will not respond. Only a few responded when the Savior Himself offered this invitation during His mortal ministry. But great was His joy in those who recognized His voice. And great has been our joy when those we have invited have come unto Him....

Another wonderful thing will happen. When you give your heart to inviting people to come unto Christ, your heart will be changed. You will be doing His work for Him. You will find that He keeps His promise to be one with you in your service. You will come to know Him. And in time you will come to be like Him and “be perfected in him.”By helping others come unto Him, you will find that you have come unto Him yourself. If you want to be near Him, to feel His peace, you can do it best in His service.

The Book of Nancy

As recorded by Nancy, in the time of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As written to foretell the good of her days and the prophecies in the land. An account of a family as they journeyed through the blundering wilderness of the mortal world to return to their Savior, the Home, and fulfill the plan of their Heavenly Father.

And Nancy was a decendant of Ann, who was begat by Oda.

Yeah, it did come to pass in the days of Nancy that she did grow in the knowledge of the Gospel; and she did wax strong in the knowledge of her mother and the testimony of her heritage, even to the great understanding of the true doctrines of Jesus Christ.

And Nancy to marry to Josh, who had also been brought up in the ways of righteousness, having fulfilled a mission to the Lord in Colorado and returned with great rejoicing in the many souls he did see enter the waters of baptism.

And they did multiple and replenish the earth and help to subdue it.


As part of my scripture study today in the student guide for Lesson 13 "This Generation Shall Have My Word through You" I was reading the prophecies of old concerning our day. It occured to me that theses scriptures where compiled during times that there were prophets on the earth, containing great truths and teachings, including prophecies as well as accounts of what was happening. The scriptures are the great synopsis of civilizations that knew God.
So what about our civilization? Who shall be the great abridger of our time? And will our posterity read through the records and know of the teachings of prophets and the patterns of mortal wickedness as people do not heed the words of the prophets?

I took a few minutes to begin a search for an 'official' Church compilations/history that would hold all the wherefores, wos, and yeas - but I stopped. What if (and probably more probable than not) I am responsible for writing down the journeys, rejoicing, rebellion, and righteousness of me?! I must report on my branch. We understand that each group of people in the Book of Mormon kept records of their own, later they were compiled and abridged. I now am starting to believe that I must be more careful in my record keeping so that it will reflect, when all the other boring details are melted out (went to grocery store, ate dinner etc) that all I have been working for in my life is to heed the voice of prophets, live by their warnings and teachings, and do all I can to convince my people/children that Jesus Christ is the Living God, the Son of Man, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and mostly, I know He lives and atoned for me.

Therefore rejoice, and know that He lives and does watch over His people, yea, even the people of Boise Idaho that do heed His voice and do know Him through their patience and hope in that day in which all shall rejoice and be again with Him.

Gardening Giggles

Last night Josh and I planted the hardy vegetables in our little plot and then finished planting a few starts indoors. We certainly have a lot of fun working together - as Josh mentioned last night, working together was 90% of our courtship and how we got to know each other so well so fast.
Here are some true colors that shone through last night:

Since we did not have any suitable rake to cover over the lettuce seeds which need a very shallow covering, I decided to use my hands. As I moved up the row I couldn't help but notice "I am tickling the dirt!"

Once we had mixed some sand with a bit of potting dirt, Josh was wandering into the pantry with the open bag of potting soil. When I asked him what he was doing, he looked at me puzzled. "You don't need to keep dirt in the pantry you know," I teased. "No, I know that!" rebuttled Josh "I was just looking for one of those clips to keep the bag sealed." Uh......for freshness? It is dirt! We laughed together then Josh said "What would the pioneers think of us! They would probably say 'give me a nickle and I will empty out my boot for you, may even scrap the manure off the bottom for free.'"