Meal Plan Monday

Monday - Chicken Strips, Fries, Applesauce

Tuesday - Sloppy Joes, Mashed Potatoes, Corn

Wednesday - leftovers

Thursday - Tacos with friends + Queso Dip + Dessert

Friday - Pizza Pasta Bake

Saturday - Burgers on the grill

Sunday - Birthday party with friends...pizza, cake

My Favorite Week!

Its 10/10 week at Meijer, Kroger, and Carnival this week! Oh yea!!!

A highlight: FREE Ronzoni pasta this week at Meijer (10/10) if you use the coupon from your Parents magazines...always check your mags for coupons.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday - beef and noodles, green beans

Tuesday - homemade pizzas (we didn't get to these last week)

Wednesday - G's first day of school (fun dinner out, Taco Bell?)

Thursday - easy peasy lemon squeesy - seriously I don't know. I have drs appt in the am and my flooring is to be laid in the afternoon. Sandwiches off of the new floor? :)

Friday - picnic where I have to bring a side dish

Saturday - Steaks and grilled veggies

Sunday - lasagna roll ups, italian bread, yum!

Chipolte

The word is that Chipolte now has kids meals and that they are offering "kids eat free" every Sunday through Sept 5th. The new kid's meals, all priced under $5, include quesadillas or tacos with lots of options to add fresh ingredients and sides like chips and a choice of milk, apple juice or soda.

Realizing the Blessings of Virtual Education

Many of my bloggy friends have been complaining (i mean blogging) about the cost of back-to-school shopping. I will admit buying USB drives, white board cleaner, toilet paper, and all of the regular stuff does seem excessive. I would probably be complaining too if we had lists like that issued by the local district or even the private school we considered (plus uniforms, ugh!). However, we made a different choice this year for our kindergartner: public school done virtually at home.

The purpose of this post is not to debate our choices, but rather to point out how RELIEVED I am over NO supply list. I honestly had to make up one of my own to buy. It went like this: "Oh, you like those crayons, let's get some. And throw the erasers in the cart too!"

The only thing that I stocked up on was printer paper while Staples had the .01 promos. (Oh, and the 25 boxes of Crayolas from Kroger that I kept after donating almost 100 to our school supply drive...remember how they were earning me money?) Ok. Seriously. That's all. I'm feeling blessed, relieved, and thankful. Good luck with school this year!

Meal Plan Monday - Better Late than Never

Monday - Grilled Chicken, Pasta Roni, Green Beans with Almonds, Healthy Weight Frozen Veggies, Key Lime Pie

Tuesday - Cresent Roll Hot Dogs, Fries, Salad

Wednesday - Roast, Potatoes, + Carrots and Brownies

Thursday - Chicken Parm + Spaghetti + Garlic Bread

Friday - Pizza Nite (hawaiian + chicken alfredo)

Saturday - Beef and Noodles + Salad

Sunday - leftovers for lunch, lite dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup

Breakfasts: waffles, cereal, oatmeal

Lunches: lunchmeat/pnut butter sandwiches, chef boyardee, tuna, mac and cheese

So many contests right now...

There are TONS of bloggers giving away $100 gift cards to Carters. (Thinking they got offered these promos at BlogHer which was last week in NYC - oh, BlogHer, someday I'd love to come visit you!)

Anyway, enter as many of these as you can to win. Some to check out include:
Hoosier Homemade
For the Mommas
Once a Month Mom
My Frugal Adventures

Happy contesting - let me know if you win!

Meal Plan Monday - What Little there is of It!

Monday - Grilled Chicken, Pasta Salad, Fresh Peach Crisp

Tuesday - I'm going to Wicked! (and Buca de Beppo) Hubs is making mac and cheese.

Wednesday - Hubs is working late at the fair. We are having chef boyardee (exciting, huh?)

Thursday - I have to fast for some testing I'm having on Friday, so its jello and 7-up for my dinner. I'm having Mark take the kids out so I don't have to smell real food.

Friday- Tests are over - let's eat. Smoked Sausage, Potatoes, Green Beans in crockpot

Saturday - BBQed beef in crockpot, corn on cob

Sunday - Steaks on grill, Grilled Squash, some kind of potato

If you need cereal - this is your week!

Meijer is having a promo where when you buy 10 boxes, you get a $10 off your next order catalina coupon. That's like $1 off per box and you can use coupons too! I paid .25 or less per box of cereal!

Kroger is having a 50% off sale on certain cereals (cheerios, lucky charms, cin toast crunch) and Fiber One bars. This sale can also be combined with coupons. Watch out Kroger - here I come!

Kroger Crayola Deal

OK, here's my secret deal of the past two weeks. For every 9 boxes of 24 ct Crayola crayons you buy (.25/ea) you get a $4 coupon oyno. Here's the deal: buy 9 boxes, play 2.25, earn $4. You MAKE $1.75 on every 9 boxes. I've used this $1.75 to buy milk, juice, bread, bagels, etc. Stuff we needed for FREE! Try it - it really works!!

Oh, and Kroger also clearanced all of their Toy Story stuff to 70% off. I was able to get some stocking stuffers for FREE by doing the above deal.

Get Motivated Monday

I haven't posted one of these in awhile, but I am starting something new so that we have things under control here for when school starts (in 3 weeks). I started subscribing to FlyLady. My goals for each day are slightly modified though:

- I usually accept her 15 minute challenge (today it was wiping down entry way doors, sweeping porches, and shaking mats)
- I do get dressed everyday, although not always down to my shoes.
- I have a clean sink every night.
- I run a load of laundry every day (except the weekends).
- I "swish and swipe" app. 3 times per week (instead of daily.)

In addition to her daily reminder, I have also put up some chore charts for the kids to earn allowance and a weekly list for me. Here's what mine looks like:

Meals and Money Monday(Includes Grocery Lists, Budget Updating, Coupon Clipping, Etc)
Tubs and Toilets Tuesday (Clean all 3 Bathrooms Except Floors)
Whatever Wednesday (Deep Clean Kitchen, Grocery Shop, Sweep Basement, etc)
Trinket Trap Thursday (Dust)
Find the Floors Friday (Mop and Vacuum)
Savor Saturdays (Family Day)
Spirit Sundays (Spiritual Renewal)

So, right now, here is what it all looks like for me. I am trying to get this chaos under control. I REALLY need school to run smoothly this year and only have about 1 1/2 hours a day to spend on focused cleaning. So, I need to have a plan. Then, if i miss something or run out of time, its no big deal...I'll catch up soon enough. Anyway, hope this helps someone out there! Happy cleaning!