Happy Birthday, Mama Boo

Today my Mom would be 52 years old and you bet if she were still around I would be teasing her about getting older. You see my Mom was not only my Mom but my best friend. It was just her and I growing up and we did every thing together. We went to stock car races together, shopping together, summer trips to Brookfield Zoo and Chicago together. The memories we made I treasure now and looking back we had some great times.

Of course we had the usual mother daughter fights. I dated guys she didn't approve of and I of course was a little rebellious, aren't all kids at some point, but I always knew my Mama Boo would be there for me. We had our ups and downs but my Mom was always my best friend. We solved the worlds problems on our fun little road trips and always had a good laugh.

Mom's battle with cancer started when I was in 8th grade and I will never forget the moment she told me she had been diagnosed. You see I lost my Dad when I was just 2 years old so the thought of losing my Mom was terrifying. I was determined she would beat this and she did for a while. But after a long hard fight cancer won in the summer of 2002. I don't think anyone can ever understand what I felt at that moment, I know my family didn't, at least at that time. I didn't just lose my Mama Boo I lost my best friend, my support system, my everything at the age of 16.

I haven't had my Mom by my side for so many big moments, prom, graduation, my wedding, the birth of H but I know my Mom is always right here next to me. I really just wanted to post a special Happy Birthday message to my Mama Boo....she is getting older after all. :)

Memories are so treasured and I will never forget all of the great memories my Mama Boo and I made over the years. She was kind of the crazy picture lady taking pictures of everything but you know what now I am so glad she did because I can look back and remember all the great times we had.

Anyway happy 52nd Birthday Mama Boo! I love you to the moon and back! Thanks for being the best Mom in the world. Miss you!

Mil-Spouse Fill-In

Its that time again for Wife of a Sailor's Mil-Spouse Fill In.....

1. My plans for Labor Day included going down to the river and fishing all day, but what really happened was we left for the river at 3am, spent the morning on the river. We had a blast! When we came home we blew up the air mattress and watched a Bones marathon (thanks Netflix) as a family. It was great day!

2. Call me crazy, but sometimes I just need to go to the gym and sweat out my frustrations!

3. One of the funniest things I’ve seen lately is H potty training. He gets so excited to use the potty.

4. It’s strange, but rude people drive me crazy while being a nice as possible to those same people is perfectly fine with me!

5. One, two, buckle my shoe… three, four I am ready for real fall weather...to bad I live in the desert!

Head on over to Wife of a Sailor to check out more Mil-Spouse fill ins.

Household Organizational Challenge

Lately I have found myself to be overwhelmed with all that I have to complete in a day and have been struggling to find a way to get our household and myself organized.Finding a balance between home, school, family, and my new AVON business is not an easy task. I can't stand having a messy house but also obviously have to dedicate time to family, school, and my business.

I have decided to create an organizational plan for getting house work done first. I think the housework is what overwhelms me the most. I can't just sit and focus on anything when the house looks like a tornado just swept through. My plan includes not only a weekly chore chart but also weekly challenges so that I can attack those problems areas that we all forget or ignore (aka the master closet etc).

I am stealing a play out of the FlyLady's play book and limiting myself to only 10 minutes on each task (except laundry and dishes) so I don't spend all day cleaning the house rather than studying, playing with H or any number of things more fun than cleaning the house!

I have included screen shots of my organizational plan, it isn't the greatest quality but you get the idea. I will let you know how this goes. :)

Getting into a routine....

or at least I am trying too. I don't know if I have mentioned that not only am I a stay at home Mom but I am also a full time student and recently have become an Independent Sales Representative with AVON. School started a couple of weeks ago and I have really struggled to balance it all.
I am trying to find a routine that will work for all of my responsibilities but so far am struggling with it. It doesn't help that S's schedule isn't exactly set in stone and the talk of possible future deployments always throws a wrench in my plans. We currently function on a 2nd shift schedule because that is the shift S works and H is a night owl anyway.
Balancing the needs of your family, home, school, and a business is very challenging and I may pull my hair out by the end of the semester. :) I am looking for a way to balance it all, do you have any advice? Currently I am trying to create a schedule that will allow me to keep up with everything but I am afraid there are not enough hours in the day. If you have a great schedule that works please share it!

Snacks/Desserts 9/5 through 9/11

I am going to try something different this week, S and I always have a snack after he gets home from work. It is our time and we like to unwind watching some television and eating a snack. I haven't been buying a lot of snack type foods for a couple of reasons, 1) a lot of snacky type foods are high in processed junk and 2) I love to snack so if we have snacks on hand I WILL snack.
This week I am going to try to plan a couple of snacks I can make over the weekend and have on hand for the week. Now the hard part will be keeping S, H, and I out of the snacks. :)
So I am thinking of making the following for our weekly snacks:
Monster Cookies with milk
Corn Tortilla Chips with Salsa
Air Popped Popcorn (this one I will make the night we decide to eat)
Applesauce Brownies
I am looking forward to trying out these recipes and seeing if I can keep my hands out of the "cookie jar" so to speak and not snack too much. I will let you know how it goes!

Bountiful Basket Round Up

This week's Organic basket came with all kinds of great produce including: tomatoes, celery, lettuce, celery, cucumber, squash, bananas, limes, peaces, watermelon, and mango.

Head over to Bountiful Baskets to see if baskets are available in your area! A great way to provide your family with produce at a great cost.

This morning I finally got the chance to head to the pickup site early and volunteered with Bountiful Baskets. It was a great experience and I will be heading back to volunteer every week. It was great to get the opportunity to help participants get their produce.
I arrived at 8am to be greeted by the site coordinators, who were very welcoming. We eagerly awaited the arrival of the semi-truck to deliver our site's produce. Once the truck arrived the hard work began. We had to unload the pallets of produce and organize them into piles. After everything was unloaded it was time to fill the baskets. It was fun to see what was going into each of the baskets. Finally as the participants began to arrive I was able to help everyone get their basket.
Volunteering was a great experience and very rewarding! I love Bountiful Baskets even more now. I look forward to seeing what surprises are in next week's basket and volunteering again.

Menu 9/3 through 9/11

Monday- Happy Labor Day!
Breakfast: Leftover Donuts (We are going on a VERY early morning fishing trip)
Lunch: ? We will be on the boat and probably won't get around to lunch. Just snacks or the Marina Grill
Dinner: Whole Chicken in the Crock Pot with Brown Rice and Veggies
Tuesday
Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs/Green Smoothie
Lunch: Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce
Dinner: Chicken Salad Sandwich/Green Smoothie
Wednesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal/Green Smoothie
Lunch: Barbeque Chicken with Baked Potatoes and Veggies
Dinner: Spaghetti/Green Smoothie
Thursday
Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs/Green Smoothie
Lunch: Teriyaki Salmon with Brown Rice and Veggies (Sauce from Healthy Meals for Less)
Dinner: PB&J with Chips/Green Smoothie
Friday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Pork Chop Supreme with Veggies
Dinner: Free Meal
Saturday
Breakfast: Egg in a Hole/Green Smoothie
Lunch: BLTs with chips and fruit
Dinner: Cheeseburgers with French Fries and Veggies
Sunday
Breakfast & Lunch: Its GAME DAY! During Football Season we visit our local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Chicago Bears play. Most games start at 10am so we just eat at Bdubs.
Dinner: Turkey and Cheese Omelets