Simple Sunday {Grocery List}

Good morning, friends!  Can you believe that Thanksgiving is over?  It always seems that the anticipation building up to these kinds of big family gatherings lasts longer than the actual event.  I'm glad I have pictures to remind me of how much fun we had!  Now, though, we're back in Iowa and we've moved on to the Christmas planning, and I must say, I do enjoy the planning!  I don't know about you, but I started my Christmas shopping last summer, so now we just have a few odds and ends to pick up and I can focus most of my attention on Christmas baking!

I've been slowly stocking up on my baking supplies for the last few weeks.  It seems that the grocery stores alternate running super deals on flour, sugar and butter - the Holy Trinity of baking!  I've been picking up 5 lbs of flour here and 2 lbs of butter there.  Today, I want to give you a little pre-Christmas present, something to help you spend less time at the grocery store and more time actually baking!  I know that it can get a little confusing knowing which stores are having which sales and when.  Most of us don't have an hour or two a week to look at the ads, make comparisons, plan a strategy of what to get and where, and then make our grocery list.  So, I took one of those steps out for you.  Behold, The Grocery List:




You're still going to have to compare your local store ads - and while we only have two grocery stores here, I know that it takes time to compare ads and stretch our dollar the farthest.  I like to print my grocery list and then make an additional list on the back side of each store and the sale items that I want to get at that store.  Sometimes the stores have the same item on sale, for the same price, but one will have a limited number that can be purchased, so I make a note of that.  I also make a note if I have a manufacturers coupon to go with the sale item - always a good thing!  On the original side, I highlight the items that I need and as I pick them up at the store, I make a check in the small box to the right of that item.  I've listed the things that we purchase most often and have left spaces to add things that we don't buy on a regular basis.  It's also much easier - and faster - to shop your grocery store by section, rather than running from one end to the next multiple times (been there, done that; no fun with a small child in the cart!).  I find that, with a list, I'm less tempted to pick up things I don't need or am less likely to have to make extra trips during the week because I forgot something.  Of course, the key to being a prepared shopper is having a weekly menu!  I'll share some of my tastier (and easier!) weekly menu ideas with you next week.  In the meantime, if you'd like a copy of the Grocery List  for your own use, send me an email to hchefter@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy.

I think we're almost completely ready to get started with our holiday baking, made easier by smart grocery shopping, of course.  Although it will be a couple of weeks before I do any actual baking, today I'm going to pull out my old stand-by Christmas recipes and I'm going to start searching for one or two new ones to try this year.  I can't wait to get started!

Have a good week!

Good morning, friends!  Can you believe that Thanksgiving is over?  It always seems that the anticipation building up to these kinds of big family gatherings lasts longer than the actual event.  I'm glad I have pictures to remind me of how much fun we had!  Now, though, we're back in Iowa and we've moved on to the Christmas planning, and I must say, I do enjoy the planning!  I don't know about you, but I started my Christmas shopping last summer, so now we just have a few odds and ends to pick up and I can focus most of my attention on Christmas baking!

I've been slowly stocking up on my baking supplies for the last few weeks.  It seems that the grocery stores alternate running super deals on flour, sugar and butter - the Holy Trinity of baking!  I've been picking up 5 lbs of flour here and 2 lbs of butter there.  Today, I want to give you a little pre-Christmas present, something to help you spend less time at the grocery store and more time actually baking!  I know that it can get a little confusing knowing which stores are having which sales and when.  Most of us don't have an hour or two a week to look at the ads, make comparisons, plan a strategy of what to get and where, and then make our grocery list.  So, I took one of those steps out for you.  Behold, The Grocery List:




You're still going to have to compare your local store ads - and while we only have two grocery stores here, I know that it takes time to compare ads and stretch our dollar the farthest.  I like to print my grocery list and then make an additional list on the back side of each store and the sale items that I want to get at that store.  Sometimes the stores have the same item on sale, for the same price, but one will have a limited number that can be purchased, so I make a note of that.  I also make a note if I have a manufacturers coupon to go with the sale item - always a good thing!  On the original side, I highlight the items that I need and as I pick them up at the store, I make a check in the small box to the right of that item.  I've listed the things that we purchase most often and have left spaces to add things that we don't buy on a regular basis.  It's also much easier - and faster - to shop your grocery store by section, rather than running from one end to the next multiple times (been there, done that; no fun with a small child in the cart!).  I find that, with a list, I'm less tempted to pick up things I don't need or am less likely to have to make extra trips during the week because I forgot something.  Of course, the key to being a prepared shopper is having a weekly menu!  I'll share some of my tastier (and easier!) weekly menu ideas with you next week.  In the meantime, if you'd like a copy of the Grocery List  for your own use, send me an email to hchefter@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy.

I think we're almost completely ready to get started with our holiday baking, made easier by smart grocery shopping, of course.  Although it will be a couple of weeks before I do any actual baking, today I'm going to pull out my old stand-by Christmas recipes and I'm going to start searching for one or two new ones to try this year.  I can't wait to get started!

Have a good week!

The Civic and colds and all that jazz.

Winter is sneaking in, crunching around the edges of our yards and our lakes and causing me to shiver every morning.  We haven't really had a flake of snow yet, but I pulled out my winter coat, mostly because I have been recycling Finn's cold for the past few weeks, but also because even the sun has started to look cold.

The lights are firmly secured to the outside of our house, waiting for Thanksgiving to pass so that we can start preparing for Christmas.  Uriah wants to get a real tree this year, and while I'm not opposed, we are also spending the holiday in Missouri, so to a certain extent, I feel a real tree will be wasted on not even being here for the big day.  But that will be our conundrum every year for the foreseeable future...if we're not with Uriah's parents, we're with mine and I guess it will be awhile before we really do start to have our own home (at the place where we physically reside - not the place that we grew up) traditions.  Santa really is bringing gifts to our home, though, because I don't think we can safely fit everything into the Civic.  I mean, I guess we could, but we'd all be wearing the exact same outfit the whole time we were there because we would not be able to fit our suitcase in the car.  

Speaking of the old Civ...she crapped her fat pants on me last week.  She didn't die all the way, but she was making a funny noise (if we're being honest, she'd been making a funny noise for months.  I just choose to be in denial about some things, car problems being one of them.).  So, anyway, I thought we should probably get the old girl checked out before we head south for the Thanksgiving bonanza.  Good thing...the alternator bearings were going out.  Now, I have absolutely no idea what that means, I just know that it means I have to pay a lot of money to get it fixed.  And not so much for that part, but the labor.  I am in the wrong profession.  I should have been either a mechanic, a doctor or Martha Stewart .  Damn my need to procreate and stay at home with my offspring.

Anyone want to buy a used previously enjoyed Civic?

Just kidding.  I don't think she and I are ready to part ways yet.  We have a lot of living to do.  A lot.  I think. Unless Uriah convinces me that we should consider a larger automobile to haul our 2 kids and 200 lbs of crap around in.  But it will take a lot of convincing.

Friends, it's time for this girl to wash down some Nyquil liquid caps with some cough syrup and say adios until tomorrow.  Literally, I probably will not wake up until tomorrow.  I do not recommend this particular cocktail of cold meds, and I'm certain all medical professionals would frown up my "mixing it up," but I want to enjoy my holiday (and the fact that my husband has 3 whole days off.  In a row!), so a girl's gotta do what it takes to not be a colossal sick, whiner, baby on a 6+ hour road trip. I did that once and it almost ended in divorce. And we weren't even married. But...another story for another time.

For now...bundle up, it's awfully brisk out there.  And, also, get your cars checked.

Winter is sneaking in, crunching around the edges of our yards and our lakes and causing me to shiver every morning.  We haven't really had a flake of snow yet, but I pulled out my winter coat, mostly because I have been recycling Finn's cold for the past few weeks, but also because even the sun has started to look cold.

The lights are firmly secured to the outside of our house, waiting for Thanksgiving to pass so that we can start preparing for Christmas.  Uriah wants to get a real tree this year, and while I'm not opposed, we are also spending the holiday in Missouri, so to a certain extent, I feel a real tree will be wasted on not even being here for the big day.  But that will be our conundrum every year for the foreseeable future...if we're not with Uriah's parents, we're with mine and I guess it will be awhile before we really do start to have our own home (at the place where we physically reside - not the place that we grew up) traditions.  Santa really is bringing gifts to our home, though, because I don't think we can safely fit everything into the Civic.  I mean, I guess we could, but we'd all be wearing the exact same outfit the whole time we were there because we would not be able to fit our suitcase in the car.  

Speaking of the old Civ...she crapped her fat pants on me last week.  She didn't die all the way, but she was making a funny noise (if we're being honest, she'd been making a funny noise for months.  I just choose to be in denial about some things, car problems being one of them.).  So, anyway, I thought we should probably get the old girl checked out before we head south for the Thanksgiving bonanza.  Good thing...the alternator bearings were going out.  Now, I have absolutely no idea what that means, I just know that it means I have to pay a lot of money to get it fixed.  And not so much for that part, but the labor.  I am in the wrong profession.  I should have been either a mechanic, a doctor or Martha Stewart .  Damn my need to procreate and stay at home with my offspring.

Anyone want to buy a used previously enjoyed Civic?

Just kidding.  I don't think she and I are ready to part ways yet.  We have a lot of living to do.  A lot.  I think. Unless Uriah convinces me that we should consider a larger automobile to haul our 2 kids and 200 lbs of crap around in.  But it will take a lot of convincing.

Friends, it's time for this girl to wash down some Nyquil liquid caps with some cough syrup and say adios until tomorrow.  Literally, I probably will not wake up until tomorrow.  I do not recommend this particular cocktail of cold meds, and I'm certain all medical professionals would frown up my "mixing it up," but I want to enjoy my holiday (and the fact that my husband has 3 whole days off.  In a row!), so a girl's gotta do what it takes to not be a colossal sick, whiner, baby on a 6+ hour road trip. I did that once and it almost ended in divorce. And we weren't even married. But...another story for another time.

For now...bundle up, it's awfully brisk out there.  And, also, get your cars checked.

Simple Sunday {Chunky Monkey Muffins}

Each year I take my birthday to reflect on the previous year and decide what I want to accomplish this year.  I also like to try to learn something new every year.  Last year I learned how to move 3 times.  I hope to never repeat that lesson!  This year, my goal is to simplify.  We have been way too busy and it's time to take some measures to simplify our life here in Iowa and give ourselves some breathing room to be able to actually be a family...be together.  To do that, we need to get rid of some of our clutter.  We need to learn to rely on less (moving a million times will do nothing but show you how much extra crap you really have and don't need.).   We need to learn to re-purpose what we do have.  I've got a pile going in my basement of items that we don't use or seldom use.  Tote by tote, box by box, I have been simplifying our life.  We are going to have a garage sale this summer to allow someone else the opportunity to use those things.  I've also already started with menu planning and streamlining our grocery list/shopping.  I'm going to organize our closets and I'm going to revamp our cleaning zones.  I'm going to make our time quality.

Today, though, is simplicity in another form...breakfast, specifically muffins.  I hate mornings.  Hate.  Them.  I don't like to get up until I'm good and ready (something that is not really possible with kids, but I do have a nice husband who usually gets up in the morning so I can sleep for a few extra minutes and trick myself into thinking that I'm getting up because I want to and not because Uriah has to go to work.).  I don't like to talk.  I certainly don't want to have to mess around with figuring out what to make for breakfast.  I've found that, in addition to cereal - both hot and cold, muffins are the easiest way to get some fruit and fiber in my kids each morning and, as an added bonus, the kiddos feel like they're getting a special treat.  Muffins are easy to freeze and take only a few minutes in the microwave in the morning - something Abby can do for herself if we aren't up yet.  My next goal is to have a breakfast menu - hot cereal, cold cereal, eggs, pancakes, waffles - so that Abby and Finn have some diversity in their morning and it's not just an alternation between oatmeal and Rice Krispies.

This week I made Chunky Monkey muffins and between Abby and Finn, they are almost gone!  My goal is to make a couple of different kinds and have them stocked in the freezer for easy breakfast and snack options.

What do you do that makes your week a little less hectic?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Makes 1 loaf or 18 muffins

Cream together until smooth:

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs

Add:

• 3 bananas, mashed

Sift together, then add to the banana-butter mixture:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Mix the batter well, it will be slightly sticky.  Then stir in:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

Divide batter into 18 well-greased muffin cups.  Bake at preheated 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out smooth.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack and cool completely.

  

Each year I take my birthday to reflect on the previous year and decide what I want to accomplish this year.  I also like to try to learn something new every year.  Last year I learned how to move 3 times.  I hope to never repeat that lesson!  This year, my goal is to simplify.  We have been way too busy and it's time to take some measures to simplify our life here in Iowa and give ourselves some breathing room to be able to actually be a family...be together.  To do that, we need to get rid of some of our clutter.  We need to learn to rely on less (moving a million times will do nothing but show you how much extra crap you really have and don't need.).   We need to learn to re-purpose what we do have.  I've got a pile going in my basement of items that we don't use or seldom use.  Tote by tote, box by box, I have been simplifying our life.  We are going to have a garage sale this summer to allow someone else the opportunity to use those things.  I've also already started with menu planning and streamlining our grocery list/shopping.  I'm going to organize our closets and I'm going to revamp our cleaning zones.  I'm going to make our time quality.

Today, though, is simplicity in another form...breakfast, specifically muffins.  I hate mornings.  Hate.  Them.  I don't like to get up until I'm good and ready (something that is not really possible with kids, but I do have a nice husband who usually gets up in the morning so I can sleep for a few extra minutes and trick myself into thinking that I'm getting up because I want to and not because Uriah has to go to work.).  I don't like to talk.  I certainly don't want to have to mess around with figuring out what to make for breakfast.  I've found that, in addition to cereal - both hot and cold, muffins are the easiest way to get some fruit and fiber in my kids each morning and, as an added bonus, the kiddos feel like they're getting a special treat.  Muffins are easy to freeze and take only a few minutes in the microwave in the morning - something Abby can do for herself if we aren't up yet.  My next goal is to have a breakfast menu - hot cereal, cold cereal, eggs, pancakes, waffles - so that Abby and Finn have some diversity in their morning and it's not just an alternation between oatmeal and Rice Krispies.

This week I made Chunky Monkey muffins and between Abby and Finn, they are almost gone!  My goal is to make a couple of different kinds and have them stocked in the freezer for easy breakfast and snack options.

What do you do that makes your week a little less hectic?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Makes 1 loaf or 18 muffins

Cream together until smooth:

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs

Add:

• 3 bananas, mashed

Sift together, then add to the banana-butter mixture:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Mix the batter well, it will be slightly sticky.  Then stir in:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

Divide batter into 18 well-greased muffin cups.  Bake at preheated 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out smooth.  Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack and cool completely.

  

Simplicity is the goal.

I think we like

to complicate things

when it is really 

quite simple; 

find what it is

that makes you happy

and who it is

that makes you happy

and you're set.

promise.

I think we like

to complicate things

when it is really 

quite simple; 

find what it is

that makes you happy

and who it is

that makes you happy

and you're set.

promise.

Jackie Evancho is My Real Daughter (or How I Celebrated My Birthday)

I left Finn at daycare a couple of extra hours yesterday, allegedly because I didn't want to pick him up at the start of nap time, but mostly because I wanted an extra hour all to myself to peruse Pinterest and watch an episode of Glee without being interrupted.

Evidentally, I should have left him at school longer.  Or maybe I should have picked him up before nap time.  Or maybe I should just learn to play games that are appropriate for a one-year-old.  Maybe then we could have avoided this:

Sometimes after I've picked Finn up from school, we're so excited to see each other that we play a game called, "Chase each other around the living room."  During this game we, in fact, chase each other around the living room.  It is loads of fun.  Usually.  There is lots of laughing, some head butting, and a little bit of flopping down on the floor from the shear exhaustion of trying to catch each other.  Yesterday, in addition to the laughing, head butting and flopping, there was also some crying and bleeding added to the mix.  During one of the flopping episodes, Finn got a little exuberant and his tooth broke the skin of his lip.

After we got that taken care of with an Iron Man freezie, which, by the way, a one-year-old has no intention of leaving on an injury to minimize the swelling, Uriah, Abby and Finn presented me with birthday presents.  I won't bore you with the details...they were heartfelt and meaningful, blah, blah, blah.  Mostly what I truly cared about was Jackie Evancho.

Last year...or was it the year before?  I don't remember...all I know is that it was when we had spare time and television channels, we watched America's Got Talent and on that show, Jackie Evancho debuted.  Voice like and angel, that one.  We were mesmerized.  Uriah mostly that we had stooped so low as to watch a show like America's Got Talent, and me because her voice was amazing and I thought she could be my daughter because my voice is amazing, too.  Actually, my voice is amazing in the shower and in my car and in my own head, but for some reason, I told Uriah that I thought Jackie Evancho was my real daughter.  And now I am listening to my real daughter sing Christmas carols.  

I can't wait to see what this year is going to bring me (I'm pretty sure it's not going to be Jackie Evancho calling me Mommy, since I know where I was in 2000 and birthing a child-protege music genious is not it.).  I know for certain that I am going to be taking a photography class, courtesy of the lovelies that live in my house with me.  I might take a yoga class and I'm trying to find a book club.  

This is going to be a good, good year.

I left Finn at daycare a couple of extra hours yesterday, allegedly because I didn't want to pick him up at the start of nap time, but mostly because I wanted an extra hour all to myself to peruse Pinterest and watch an episode of Glee without being interrupted.

Evidentally, I should have left him at school longer.  Or maybe I should have picked him up before nap time.  Or maybe I should just learn to play games that are appropriate for a one-year-old.  Maybe then we could have avoided this:

Sometimes after I've picked Finn up from school, we're so excited to see each other that we play a game called, "Chase each other around the living room."  During this game we, in fact, chase each other around the living room.  It is loads of fun.  Usually.  There is lots of laughing, some head butting, and a little bit of flopping down on the floor from the shear exhaustion of trying to catch each other.  Yesterday, in addition to the laughing, head butting and flopping, there was also some crying and bleeding added to the mix.  During one of the flopping episodes, Finn got a little exuberant and his tooth broke the skin of his lip.

After we got that taken care of with an Iron Man freezie, which, by the way, a one-year-old has no intention of leaving on an injury to minimize the swelling, Uriah, Abby and Finn presented me with birthday presents.  I won't bore you with the details...they were heartfelt and meaningful, blah, blah, blah.  Mostly what I truly cared about was Jackie Evancho.

Last year...or was it the year before?  I don't remember...all I know is that it was when we had spare time and television channels, we watched America's Got Talent and on that show, Jackie Evancho debuted.  Voice like and angel, that one.  We were mesmerized.  Uriah mostly that we had stooped so low as to watch a show like America's Got Talent, and me because her voice was amazing and I thought she could be my daughter because my voice is amazing, too.  Actually, my voice is amazing in the shower and in my car and in my own head, but for some reason, I told Uriah that I thought Jackie Evancho was my real daughter.  And now I am listening to my real daughter sing Christmas carols.  

I can't wait to see what this year is going to bring me (I'm pretty sure it's not going to be Jackie Evancho calling me Mommy, since I know where I was in 2000 and birthing a child-protege music genious is not it.).  I know for certain that I am going to be taking a photography class, courtesy of the lovelies that live in my house with me.  I might take a yoga class and I'm trying to find a book club.  

This is going to be a good, good year.