Menu Monday

We had a great weekend jammed packed full of activities. I don't know about you but I look forward to Mondays. During the weekend the schedule is out the door. Mondays bring me peace and a quiet home while the big kids are at school.

Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs

Tuesday: Grilled Burritos... I love, love love these! It's been way too long. Remember we just get big ole tortillas and fill with rice, black beans, meat, cheese. Then we throw them on the George Foreman grill. Top with salsa and sour cream.

Wednesday: Make Your Own Pizza

Thursday: Out for a work dinner. Yeah, for dinner with no little one's!

Friday: I have no idea... I think we're going to purge the freezer for some old meals.

What is your favorite homemade meal?

My favorite homemade meal is Enchiladas.

My New Blog

My new blog is up, Mothers United in Christian Homes. I've had some friends ask if I will keep my frugal blog. I sure will!

I wanted to have a separate place for creative things and my personal life. I'm excited to have a place where I can write honestly with issues I struggle with.

For those of you who are just interested in frugal stuff I will be posting later in the week with my new kids art wall. We've finally got a place to put all those projects the kids bring home from school.

Mothers United in Christian Homes

I'm working on a new blog called Mothers United in Christian Homes. The more I've been reading Gods word and praying the more I know I'm being called to share. Anyone want to design the header and blog design?

Our family is tested on a daily basis in normal every day situations to stand up for the morality of our children. My husband and I often laugh because it's ridiculous. Now I see some of the reason is for experience to share with others. We could have our own crazy reality show.

I feel very called to share my inspirations in raising Christan children for Christian mothers. We are living in a world where our children are loosing morality rapidly. The worldly things are taking over our homes and children.

I'm not a radical type of mom just a traditional one that raises my children to love Jesus and follow the 10 commandants. My kids go to public schools, I try to be fashionable, I enjoy decorating. I'd say I'm the typical suburban mom. The main difference is we try to live our lives the way Jesus calls us to. I fall short but I try really hard. This is something people have been doing for ages. It's quite simple but's it's been lost and moms act more like "Cougars" or "Real Housewives" than good Christian mothers.

Today in 2010 we have so many different Christian based religions. I'm Roman Catholic but I was raised Southern Baptist. They share one very big common theme Jesus. Satan wants us to believe we are all so different that way we get distracted and don't join forces for the good. We're trying to "save" each other. When really we need to focus on saving our children and teach them good strong morals.

I see so many people are focused on saving others and getting others to change religions or religious labels. We've lost focus on living our lives like Jesus and raising good, moral and Christian children. We're caught up in things, money, and the newest and latest gadgets.

My vision is a place where moms that are Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, LDS, Presbyterian, Non-Denomination, and all the other Christian religions can join forces to save the morality of our children. Let's put aside the differences and have a common goal of getting our families to heaven.

I plan to share our daily struggles and challenges. God is putting so many things in our path I know others are encountering them to.

So what do you think? Have I lost my mind? I hope you follow along on this crazy journey.

Sweet Caroline's Room

I can't believe this little girl is 3 months old!

Really it was yesterday when I was blogging about being on bed rest and asking for your prayers.

Thank you Lord for my healthy smiley little girl! What a blessing she is! Finally a view of her girly room. Remember we thought she was going to be a boy. Here's a link to the boy version of the nursery.

I repainted the mural over the bed. I found this beautiful script and saying. I bought a new red crib skirt and added some rick rac.

Remember I scored this Pottery Barn bedding at a garage sale for $20.

Ribbon and ruffles can make a blue curtain girly. I love the way they turned out!


I'm using red as an accent color to bring out the whimsy. This changing table has been wood color, white, pink, black and red. It's held up for 4 children.
We've got a growing bow collection.

Madeline has the mother load so these sisters will share bows.


Caroline is sleeping in her crib now. The best news.... she's officially sleeping through the night. It's been a week now of going to be at 8 pm and waking up at 5:30 am.

However mommy still wakes up 3 times and sneaks in quietly to make sure she's ok.

Free Decorating

Having 4 kids has shown me I have little control over my life. What I do have control over is my house. That's why I enjoy decorating so much.

You get immediate results and gratification. Plus it just makes you feel all warm and cozy.

My favorite decorating projects.... the free kind. Rearranging and moving stuff around. I just love when my husband comes home and sees that I've accomplished something in the day. (You can't visually see the kids being taken care of)

Here's the way my eating area in the kitchen looks right now. I want to refinish and paint my kitchen table so bad... I'm thinking a dark top with cream colored based distressed a bit.

I'm getting out of my paint everything black phase. This is the way it looked at one time.
Update on our built in's: These darn things are so expensive! Who knew built in's would double the cost of 2 bookshelves at a furniture shop?

We're going to review all the bids this weekend and decide what we're going to. I'm ready to just get it done. My living room has 2 huge empty wall spaces that are driving me crazy!

Repurposed Cabinet Door

One of my many finds in Canton was this unfinished cabinet door. (I've got 2 more for other projects)

I've wanted a chalk board at the end of my cabinet for a while. I just needed to find the right shape.

I found one that had the same arch as our kitchen cabinets. I scored this for $5!I sprayed the whole thing with chalk board paint. Then I did some distressing and applied a natural color stain to the edge and trim. I left the middle un-coated so I could use it as a chalk board.

With some little wooden accent pieces I was done! I plan to use this as our menu board. The kids are always asking what's for dinner.

Master Bedroom Update

This beautiful piece of furniture has caused a lot of drama in our home.

We bought the furniture set because of this 5 foot by 5 foot piece. After 4 failed attempts to get it upstairs we sadly sad good bye. We even considered tearing out the banister and having it replaced it get it up.

But then if we move we couldn't get it back down. Here's the way our bedroom looks right now.

We got a new ceiling fan, window arch, furniture and bedding.

I'm still on the hunt for drapes, chunky lamps, accent pillows and wall decor.

See my iron work it will go above the bed. I got it in Canton for $30. We're not sure how to hang it up. It's really.... really heavy. Not exactly something you want to fall on your head in the middle of the night.

This is the way our room looked before with our old furniture. We sold it on Craig's list in 1 day!

My husband got this furniture when he was in high school about 15 years ago.
It was still in great shape but we desperately needed a king size bed.
Plus we were just plain tired of it.

Getting Professional Help

Now that Caroline is getting into a routine I'm able to get some home projects done. I've had some serious nesting since I spent the last 3 months of my pregnancy on bed rest. I'm going to clean up the house and share some photos tomorrow.

But today.... I have a real life interior designer coming to the house. She was even on HGTV's Design Star!!! Her name is Jamie and her company is Cheap Thrills Decor. Why you ask? Well our living room built in's aren't going as planned.

We've had 3 carpenters out and none of them will paint or do the electrical work. When I have contractors do all three separate jobs surprisingly it's more expensive then just going with a designer to handle it all. I had a painter quote me $1,500 just to paint the built ins. CRAZY! No thank you! I can't wait to see what they come up with. Plus I will get the whole living room finally put together.

Check out their blog!

Free Clothes at Khols

Sign up for Kohl's emails and get $10 gift codes by email. The more you use the coupons the more they send them to you.

Plus they will start mailing you additional coupons and $10 cards. If you have a Khol's credit card you save even more.

This is what I got for my $10 last week. I only paid $4.86 for these 2 cute outfits! Here's the proof:

Gotta love it!

Menu Monday, Twins

Here's Madeline at 2 months old Now Here's Caroline at 2 months old

The only difference is Madeline's cheeks were a bit chubbier. I think Caroline will catch up since we've gotten her eating situation under control.

Although I dropped off the P90X program we are still eating healthy. My husband is a trooper he is still going strong on week 9. He's lost a ton of weight. I go back to the gym in 2 weeks! We have to wait until Caroline is 12 weeks old to attend.

Let's talk food.

Monday: Homemade Burgers. I mix in a packet of lipton onion soup with with the 96% lean ground beef. Side of sweet potato fries.

Tuesday: Chicken and Rice. Packet of cooked chicken tenders shredded add in 2 cups of cooked rice, 1/4 stick of butter, 1 can cream of chicken and 1/2 can of chicken broth. Mix together and cover with foil and bake. This is a family favorite.

Wednesday: Leftover Chicken and Rice or Sandwiches.

Thursday: Spaghetti with Meatballs. It's been a long time since we had this favorite. I use whole grain pasta to make it a bit healthier. This time I bought store meatballs. I wanted an easy prep.

Friday: Make Your Own Pizza.