DIY- Making your own Laundry Detergent

For about a year and a half, I started making my own laundry detergent.  At first Ty was skeptical about how the clothes would feel and smell.  After making my first batch, we realized our clothes were just as soft and smelled just as great as before.  The product lasted a long time, it smelled good, was HE washer safe and saved a lot of money.

We ended up switching to a newborn detergent when Jackson was coming and we actually have been using since.  Once the new baby’s skin has been acclimated to the world, we will probably switch back.  If you are interested in making your own detergent, I have the perfect recipe!

The best part about homemade detergent is that it can make a really great thoughtful gift.  If you package it in a cute container, it would make a great housewarming gift or gift to someone going off to college!

Recipe:

1. One 12oz box of Borax

2. Three bars of Fels-Naptha soap

3. One 4 pound box of Arm & Hammer baking soda

4. One box of Arm & Hammer super washing soda

 

5. Four pounds of Oxy Clean

6. Laundry softener cyrstals for scent. I prefer the Gain brand

Directions:

To Mix the recipe:
1. Grate the Fels-Naptha bars into a bowl
2. Dump Fels-Naptha into a large container
3. Mix all other ingredients into the bucket & shake it all up together.
4. Place into container of your choice!

Pretty simple recipe and it lasts forever!  It is safe to use in the HE washer and all you need is to add 2 tablespoons per load at the bottom of the washer!  Feel free to use dryer sheets or your own version of fabric softener, but we have never felt like we needed them.

Update: 5 ways to save money

It’s been over a month since we implemented 5 different things our family is going to do to help save money, I decided to do a follow up post.  We have had great success with implementing and following the rules we set up to try to save money.  I even had my sister write a guest piece on how to knit up some simple rags to use instead of using so many paper towels.  Ty has been taking his lunches to work daily, we have been shopping generic first and we have been conscious of turning lights off when we are not in the room! So here we go again, more cost saving sacrifices we are going to make to help our family save money.

1. Make our own snacks.  Now that Ty is taking his lunch to work everyday and we are eating out less, snacks have been a big budget waster when it comes to grocery shopping.  So I am going to start making some of our snacks.  Mini muffins, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, fruit snacks and even bread.
2. Coffee.  Ty could drink coffee made from the same coffee grounds that we used yesterday.  He is not picky at all when it comes to coffee.  I, however have a brand of coffee I love.  But its expensive.  To help save money and still enjoy the coffee I love, I will mix half and half with store brand generic columbian coffee.
3. Ty has also made an adjustment to his work schedule.  By increasing his time at work a little bit everyday, he will now get to enjoy every other Friday off of work.  The benefit of this, besides spending more time with him, is saving money on commuting to work another day.
4. Pay cash only.  This pertains to grocery shopping and any major purchases.  Cash only so you don’t overspend and you don’t use credit.
5. We are going to dedicate one meal a night to a cupboard clean out.  This means that we have to find something in our cabinets and make it work.  This will help us to use things before they expire and go to waste.

 

Thats it for this month! Do you or your family do anything regularly to help save money?  I’d love to hear what you guys do and perhaps it will inspire us for some more things that we can do as well!

Crafts/Activities

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday but I did want to share the crafts and activities that Mayson and I completed this week.  We spent time working on the letter “G” and we did some pretty fun projects.

Besides focusing on the letter “G”, twice this week we made “Goo”.  This is a really easy to make.  You just mix together cornstarch and water.  The consistency will look like a liquid, but if you work the concoction together, it forms a solid.  The second you stop working it, it melts back into a liquid.  Its pretty cool and fun to play with.  It can get messy, but clean up is very easy too.

Letter G Sticker Craft

Gum ball Machine

Grapes

Ghosts

Guitar

Here are our completed crafts for the week.  We actually didn’t get a chance to complete the guitar craft due to a very busy schedule!  Next week we focus on the letter “H” and since Mayson is very excited about Halloween, it should be a lot of fun.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Whats new at OutOfNormal.com?

Our little Etsy shop has been busy!  Our shop opened up on July 1st of this year, and we had maybe 7 items that we were offering.  Since then, we have been working hard at getting more products, ideas and designs available.  We have been open for 75 days now, we have over 150 different items listed and more then 4500 people checking them out!  I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but as a new business we are extremely proud of the work we have done and orders we have completed!

I have put together a blog post to show our most recent items that we now have available at our Etsy shop!  So here are the new items we have added to our shop this week!  And remember to check out the other items we also offer.

Sports related gifts and decorations:

2016 Chicago Cubs Team Roster Mosaic Print

 

 

 

 

Personalized “Never Let The Fear of Striking Out Keep You From Playing the Game” Inspirational Poster/Print

 

 

Chicago Sports Team Family Rules – Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bears!

 

Business Cards:

 

New Rodan & Fields Business Cards

Rodan & Fields Thank You Cards

If you don’t work for Rodan & Fields and are needing business cards or thank you cards, let us know.  We can custom create a design to fit your needs!

Invitations and party supplies:

 

Kansas City Royal’s Thank You Tags for Gift Bags

 

NFL Themed Birthday Party Invitations

  Please check out all of the different NFL and MLB party invitations we offer!

 

Suicide Squad Party Invitations 

Fall Birthday Party Invitations

Fall Decorations:

 

Personalized Family/House Rules – Autumn Wall Print

 

 

Birth Announcements/Baby:

 

Chicago Cubs Themed Birth Announcements and Wall Print

 

Chicago Cubs Themed Baby Shower Invitations

 

When you have a chance, please check out our shop and everything we have to offer.  If  you know someone needing a personalized gift, wedding present, decorations or someone who has a birthday party or baby shower coming up, please refer them to us!  We will be more than happy to accommodate them in anyway!  We definitely want to say THANK YOU for everyones business and continued support!

 

Thank you!

 

Freezer Meal Cooking

I am so excited about this post!  I have less than 5 weeks before the baby is born and knowing I am going to have my hands full, I wanted to freeze some dinners so we would have them and not have to worry!

Lucky for me I ran across a blog post by diaryofafitmommy.com entitled “15 freezer meals before your baby“!  I spent some time prepping, shopping and 2 days of preparing, and lucky for you I documented it all so I can share.

Below you can see my Youtube video showing me preparing all of the meals (or you can click here).  I have also included all the meals so you can make them too!  Most meals are so big they were packaged in two different containers for two different meals.  Others are big enough to have plenty for leftovers.  So really, there are close to double the meals.  Are you ready?!

Youtube:

FREE Freezer sticker Printable: Freezer Meal Labels.  I wish we made these earlier!  These would have been helpful (and cute) to add to the meals when they are ready to be frozen. I created them free for you!

Recipes:

1. Cheesy Taco Bake
2. Tuscan Pasta Bake
3. Freezer Crockpot Beef Stew
4. Freezer Mac & Cheese
5. Southwestern Chicken & Rice
6. Chicken Chimichangas
7. Lasagna Roll-ups
8. Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken
9. Beef, Bean & Cheese Burritos
10. Breakfast Burritos
11. Slow Cooker BBQ Spare Ribs
12. Chunky Beeft Chili
13. Teriyaki chicken
14. Beef & Brocoli
15. Lactation Bites
16. Bonus: White Chicken Chili

Shopping List:

Dairy:

• Cheddar cheese -8 cups
• Butter -10 tablespoons
• Cream cheese -16oz
• Milk – 3 cups
• Parmesan cheese – 10oz
• Mozzarella cheese – 4 packages
• Eggs – 14
• Ricotta cheese – 15oz container
• Monterey jack cheese – 2 cups

Condiments/Dressings:

• Salsa – 1/2 cup
• Dijon mustard -1 cup
• Maple syrup – 1/2 cup
• Rice vinegar -2 tablespoons
• Taco seasoning -1 package
• Chili seasoning – 1 package
• Ketchup – 1 1/2 cups
• White vinegar -1/2 cup
• Teriyaki sauce -1 cup
• Peanut butter – 1/2 cup
• Honey – 1/3 cup

Cooking/Baking:

• Oatmeal – 1 cup quick oats
• Lime juice – 1-2 teaspoons
• Chili powder – 2 tablespoons
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Cumin
• Basil
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Rosemary
• Bay leaves – 1
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Old Bay Seasoning – 1 1/2 tablespoons (Can substitute with seasoned salt)
• Brown sugar – 1 1/3 cup
• Ginger
• Mini chocolate chips – 1/2 cup
• Coconut – 1 cup
• Ground flax seed – 1/2 cup

Grains, Pasta & Sides:

• Brown rice – 3 cups
• Bowtie pasta – 16 oz
• Barley – 1/2 cup
• Elbow macaroni – 1-2 packages
• Pasta sauce – 2 jars
• Lasagna noodles – 12 oz
• Flour tortillas – 3 Packages

Meat:

• Ground beef – 4-5 pounds
• Chicken breasts -10 pounds
• Beef chuck roast -2 pounds
• Bacon (Can substitute with sausage) – 1 pound
• Spare ribs – 1-2 pounds

Produce:

• Onions – 6 cups
• Garlic – 12 cloves
• Bell peppers – 1-2 green peppers, 1 red, 1 yellow
• Cilantro – 1/3 cup
• Carrots – 3
• Celery – 2 ribs
• Brocoli – fresh or 1 package frozen
• Optional – fresh spinach

Soups & Canned Goods:

• Tomato sauce – 2 cans
• Beef broth – 7 cups
• Black beans -15oz can
• Canned baby corn – 1 cup
• Refried beans – 15oz can
• Pinto beans – 15oz can
• Kidney beans – 15oz can
• Tomato paste – 2 small cans
• Chicken broth – 5 cups
• Northern beans -15oz can
• Pinto beans -15oz can
• Cannelloni beans -15oz can
• Chili peppers – 1/2 can chopped

Materials:

• Aluminum foil
• Wax Paper
• Gallon freezer bags
• Aluminum pans with lids

Lets get cooking!

Cheesy Taco Bake

Ingredients

• 1 cup Brown Rice, cooked

• 1 Yellow Onions, chopped 

• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced 

• 1.25 lb Ground Beef

• 1 Green Bell Peppers, chopped 

• 1-2 tsp Lime Juice

• 2 Tbsp Chili Powder

• 1 tsp Oregano

• 1/2 tsp Thyme

• 2 tsp Cumin

• 1/3 cup Cilantro, chopped

• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded 

• 1 can Tomato Sauce

Preparation Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with EVOO, set aside. (skip, if only preparing to freeze)

2. Boil brown rice in water on stovetop. Set aside.
In a 12” pan, spray with EVOO or cooking spray, add onion, garlic & jalapeno & sauté over medium-high heat for 1 minute.

3. Add ground beef, breaking it up as it browns. Cook for about 5 minutes & add peppers. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink.
Add lime juice and seasonings. Stir to combine. Adjust seasonings to taste.

4. Remove from heat – add rice, tomato sauce, & 1/4 cup of cheese to the skillet and stir to mix well.

5. Pour mixture into baking dish. Top with remaining cheddar, cover, and freeze.
To cook while frozen, cover with foil & bake for 40 minutes.

6. Remove foil & bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted & edges are bubbling. Remove from oven & let cool for 10 minutes.

Tuscan Chicken Pasta 

Ingredients

• 1 16 oz pkg Pasta, bowtie 

• 4 Tbsp Butter

• 4 Cloves Garlic, minced

• 1/2 Tbsp Basil Leaf

• 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened and cut into 8 pieces 

• 8 oz Jar Sun Dried Tomatoes, rinsed, drained and chopped

• 2 cups Milk

• 6 oz Parmesan, grated

• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• 1 cup Chicken, cooked and cubed

Preparation Steps

1. In a medium pot or skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the whole time. Stir in the dried basil. Add the cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is smooth. It will look curdled at first, but with constant whisking for 2-3 minutes, it will become a smooth creamy paste. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes.

2. Over medium heat, add the milk and whisk quickly and constantly until it becomes incorporated into the sauce. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the cheese is melted and the sauce is the desired consistency, 5-10 minutes. Serve over hot, cooked noodles. I put my chicken on top, or you can mix it in. You actually don’t even need chicken if you don’t want it!

3. When making them into freezer meals – put the noodles and sauce into two 9×9 foil tins. Wait until it cools down a little, place foil on top, and stick in the freezer.

4. To cook when frozen: Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until heated through
To cook when frozen but then thawed: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Freezer Crockpot Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 2 lb Beef Chuck roast, fat trimmed and cubed 

• 3 Carrots, peeled and chopped 

• 2 Celery Ribs, chopped 

• 1/2 Onions, chopped 

• 2 tsp Thyme

• 1 tsp Rosemary

• 1 Bay Leaves

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• 1/4 tsp Pepper

• 1/2 cup Barley

• 7 cups Beef Broth

Preparation Steps

1. Label your freezer bag with the name of the recipe, cooking instructions, and “use-by” date.

2. Combine all ingredients (except beef broth) in a gallon-sized plastic freezer bag, adding the beef to the bag last so it’s the first ingredient poured into the crockpot.

3. Remove as much air as possible, seal, and freeze for up to three months.

4. When ready to eat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or in a bowl of cold water.
Add to crockpot with beef broth and cook on “low” setting for 8 hours or until carrots are soft.
Remove the bay leaf and enjoy!

Freezer Mac And Cheese 

Ingredients

• 1-2 pkg Pasta, elbow

• 3/4 stick Butter

• 1 cup Milk

• 16 oz Mozzarella Cheese

• 16 oz Cheddar Cheese

• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Preparation Steps

1. Cook elbow macaroni noodles as directed, drain and rinse and return to pot.

2. Add remaining ingredients to the pot and stir well until cheese is melted.

3. Spray a foil pan (these are so much cheaper if you buy them in bulk) with cooking spray and dump the pasta mixture in. You can freeze it at this point if you want to deliver it frozen.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes (if this is frozen it will probably need to cook longer).

Southwestern Chicken And Rice 

Ingredients

• 2 cups Brown Rice, cooked 

• 1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed 

• 1 cup Canned Baby Corn

• 1/2 cup Salsa

• 1 tsp Cumin

• 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded 

• 2 cups Chicken Breast, cooked and shredded 

Preparation Steps

1. In your aluminum pan, combine rice, beans, corn, salsa, shredded chicken and cumin.

2. Top with cheese.

3. Cover tightly with foil. Label and freeze.
Bake from frozen at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until cheese is melted and rice is warmed through.

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

Ingredients

• 8 oz Cream Cheese

• 8 oz Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

• 1 1/2 Tbsp Taco seasoning

• 1 lb Chicken, cooked, shredded

• 8 Flour Tortillas

• Cooking Spray

• Cheddar Cheese, shredded

• Green Onions, for garnish

• Sour Cream

• Salsa

Preparation Steps
1. Stir together cream cheese, Pepperjack cheese and taco seasoning.
2. Fold in chicken.
3. Divide among flour tortillas.
4. Tuck in sides, and roll up each tortilla.
5. Freeze after wrapping them in tortillas, wax paper and foil.  

6.  Defrost, lay seam side down in a sprayed 9 x 13″ baking dish. Spray tops of tortillas with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Turn chimi’s over, and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Serve with cheddar cheese, green onions, sour cream, and salsa. 

Lasagna Roll Ups

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs

• 15 oz Ricotta Cheese

• 1/2 cup Parmesan

• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded 

• 24 oz Pasta Sauce

• 12 Lasagne Noodles

• 1/2 lb Ground Beef

• 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

• 2 Tbsp Onion Powder

• Salt & Pepper, to taste

• 1 Tbsp Basil

• 1 Tbsp Oregano

Preparation Steps

1. Brown beef in a skillet and mix in the pasta sauce. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

2. In a bowl, combine eggs with ricotta, parmesan, and half of mozarella and mix well. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil.

3. Cook noodles as directed and lay flat out on wax paper sheets. Place 1 tbsp of meat mix on the noodle and spread evenly.

4. Place 1 tbsp of the cheese mixture and spread evenly.

5. Gently roll up the noodle carefully, top with remaining mozzarella, and freeze.
To cook frozen, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes…(editors note, everything always says 30 minutes for lasagna…and it’s NEVER done in 30 minutes).

Crockpot Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb Chicken Breast

• 1 cup Dijon Mustard

• 1/2 cup Maple Syrup

• 2 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Preparation Steps

1. Place all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

2. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). Sprinkle with fresh or dried rosemary before serving.

Beef, Bean & Cheese Burrito 

Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Beef

• 1 can Refried Beans

• 1 pkg Cheddar Cheese, shredded 

• 1 Onions, medium

• 1 pkg Flour Tortillas

• 1 pkg Taco seasoning

Preparation Steps

1. Brown beef in a skillet & drain well.

2. Top each tortilla with 2 tbsp. ground beef, 2 tbsp. refried beans, and 2 tbsp. cheddar cheese.

3. Top with onions and fold into a burrito.
Wrap burrito in wax paper and then in tin foil. Place in gallon freezer bag.

4. To cook, remove from foil and paper and wrap in paper towel. Microwave for 2-3 minutes

 

Freezer Breakfast Burritos 

Ingredients

• 12 Eggs, scrambled 

• 1 lb Bacon – or sausage

• 1 pkg Cheddar Cheese, shredded

• 1 pkg Tortillas

Optional Ingredients

• Onions

• Spinach

• Green Bell Peppers

Preparation Steps

1. Lay each tortilla on wax paper and top with either sausage or bacon, eggs, and veggies of choice.

2. Spoon 2 tbsp. shredded cheddar cheese on top.

3. Fold burrito and wrap in wax paper and then tin foil.
Place into gallon bags and freeze.

4. To cook, microwave for 2-3 minutes.

Slow Cooker Bbq Pork Spare Ribs 

Ingredients

• 1-2 lb Spare Ribs, country style 

• 1 1/2 cup Ketchup

• 1 1/2 Tbsp Old Bay Seasoning, or season salt

• 1/2 tsp Liquid smoke 

• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar

• 1/2 cup White Vinegar

Preparation Steps

1. Place pork in resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Mix remaining ingredients together in a bowl and pour over pork. Mix together in bag and zip closed.

2. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or LOW for 6-7 hours.

Crockpot Freezer Chunky Beef Chili

Ingredients

• 1 can Pinto Beans

• 1 can Kidney Beans

• 2 lb Ground Beef

• 1 can Tomato Sauce

• 1 cup Water

• 2 cans Tomato Paste

• 1 1/2 cup Onions

• 1 pkg Chili seasoning

Preparation Steps

1. Brown beef on stovetop and mix in remaining ingredients.
Place in freezer bag to freeze.

2. To cook, thaw and place in crockpot on low for 4-6 hours.

Freezer Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken 

Ingredients

• 4 Chicken Breast

• 1 cup Teriyaki Sauce

• 1 cup Water

• 2/3 cup Brown Sugar, light

• 3 Cloves Garlic

• Ginger

Preparation Steps

1. Add contents to freezer bag and place in freezer. Make sure to get rid of any extra air in the bag.

2. To cook, thaw and dump contents in crockpot and cook for 4-6 hours on low

Freezer Crockpot Beef And Broccoli 

Ingredients

• 2 lb Flank Steak

• 1 can Beef Broth

• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce

• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar, light 

• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced 

• 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch

• 1 pkg Frozen Broccoli, or 2 cups fresh 

• 2 cups Brown Rice

Preparation Steps

1. Mix beef and sauce ingredients, place in bag.
If you bought fresh broccoli, place in its own gallon freezer bag. Otherwise use bag of frozen broccoli when you go to cook the beef.

2. Thaw and cook on low for 3-4 hours

 

Freezer Lactation Bites

Ingredients

• 1 cup Oatmeal, quick 

• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter

• 1/ 2 cup Flax seed, ground 

• 1 cup Coconut, shredded

• 1/3 cup Honey

• 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips, mini

Preparation Steps

1. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and then mix in the wet ingredients.

2. Refrigerate this mixture for one hour.
Remove and roll into ping pong sized balls.

3. Wrap individually and store in a gallon freezer bag to freeze.

BONUS MEAL

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili – I didn’t prepare this one.  I actually already had one frozen from when I prepared this a couple of weeks ago!

Ingredients

• 3 cans Beans, 15 oz northern, pinto, cannelloni

• 2 1/2 cup Chicken, cooked

• 1 cup Onions, medium sized; chopped

• 1 1/2 cup Sweet peppers, red, green, yellow

• 1/2 can Chile Pepper, chopped

• 2 cloves Garlic, minced

• 2 tsp Cumin

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• 1/2 tsp Oregano

• 3 1/2 cup Chicken Broth

• Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

• 1 loaf Frozen Bread Dough, Rhodes

Preparation Steps

1. In a slow cooker, stir together the drained beans, chicken, onion, sweet pepper, jalapeño peppers, garlic, cumin, salt and oregano.

2. Stir in chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (high 4-5). 

3. Make round balls out of the bread. Bake as directed.

4. Serve in bread bowls! Top with shredded Monterey jack cheese. Enjoy!

Thats it!  Thats all of them!

This was definitely a lot of work.  It took me about a day and a half to get everything done.  I struggled with having a messy kitchen.  I found myself getting stressed and moving quickly on to the next recipe.  If I do it again, I would change the order in which I did the recipes so that I would be dealing with similar items.  I went in the order that she had posted them and I found this a little stressful. I would also spend more time preparing; I’d prepare my containers, group things together and get the most complex recipes out of the way first.  Hope you enjoy!

Week 3 Review

Last week seemed to fly by.  It was a great week and I felt like we got a lot of things done.  Our meals for this week were super simple.  I’m glad we planned it that way after we had so much traveling the previous weekend.  Although I appreciate having a relatively simple week, the meals may be less than inspirational 🙂  Everyone seems to be liking the routine we have established and Mayson even wants to do projects on the weekend!

This Weeks Projects

Monday – Letter C Sticker craft.  We also worked with the Lauri Tall-Stacker Number Express.  Mayson really loved playing with this!

Tuesday – We made a cloud picture filling in the letter C.  We also played with a number puzzle we got from the Dollar Store.

Wednesday – We made a carrot!  We attached ours to contact paper so we could see through the tissue paper.  We also practiced writing in his alphabet book we also got from the Dollar Store.

Thursday – We made a crab picture and we practiced cutting with scissors

Friday – We made corn on the cob and used a paint roller to create a letter C picture.

This weekend Ty and Mayson painted with shaving cream and we played with sensory beads.  It was a lot of fun!

Meal Plan

Monday – BLT’s

Tuesday – Hamburgers

Wednesday – Baked potato Bar

Thursday – Pasta

Friday – Pizza

Organization/Cleaning

I have mentioned in previous blog posts that I follow a daily organization schedule found here!  This week was focusing on organizing the kids closets.  This was kind of something on my to-do list anyway.  There always seems to be a lot of clothes they no longer fit in or wear, and their closets tend to be storage areas for stuff around the house.  It was great to get it cleaned out and organized.  Our nursery closet was also the holding ground for all of Jackson’s first birthday decorations, so its nice to have that space back so we can start hanging up clothes and preparing for baby Barr’s arrival.

Upcoming

This upcoming week we are focusing on the letter “D” and will have some projects based around that letter.  I will also be working on a blog post about saving money.  I am still working on reading my book and hope to have a review out soon.  We also signed up for a free Home Depot workshop for September.   They will be making a dry erase board that can be used for school or home projects!

Jackson’s 1st Birthday!

So many times, planning for a party can be extremely overwhelming.  For us, Tyler’s family and mine both live almost 3 hours north of us.  So realistically, it is easiest for us to travel up and have our parties up there.  This means we have to party plan from afar, which can be a challenge all on its own.

This past weekend, we celebrated my son’s first birthday.  We went big with this birthday, just like we did when my oldest son turned one.  The party was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.  It went by fast and I think everyone had a great time.  I am going to share with you some tips on party planning and different things we used that can be found right in our Etsy shop!

Theme

The first thing we did when planning Jackson’s party was to pick out a theme.  Our oldest son had a sports theme, so to follow suit, we decided to have a Chicago Cubs Baseball themed party.

Once you have a theme picked out, which is sometimes half the battle,  its pretty easy to go from there.  Since the internet provides so many different resources for ideas and purchasing supplies, you really can create a perfect theme.

Location

Location is another important factor in party planning.  Where you hold your party can determine how many people you invite and what kind of decorations you need.  Your location can also be weather dependent, so its really important to chose your location well.  Although we have two sets of family up north, we tend to hold our parties at a church recreation room.  The space is large, provides tables, chairs, a kitchen to use, and is a great location for everyone to go.  This always seems to work well for us, however the possibilities are endless.  If on a budget, consider having your party at home.  Just keep in mind the space you have and accommodating your guests with seating.

Invitations

I believe that the invitations are what set the tone for the party.  They give your guests a glimpse at what the theme is and helps them either prepare for the day, or decide on a gift.  If your theme is Disney and they receive an invite for a  Disney themed party, they can probably assume that your child likes Disney things, and this helps with picking out presents and clothing options appropriately.

There are so many options for invitations.  Pretty much any store offers pre-printed invitations.  These are usually a cheaper option, quicker, easy fill-in-the blanks  and they are usually not theme specific.  You can create your own invitations and print them from home.  There are also invitations you can purchase from places and print out yourself.  Our Etsy shop offers a couple different types of invitations that can be printed from home, or we can do the printing for you!  (As we grow our business, we hope to offer a wide variety of invitations, however we do take custom requests!   So if you have a specific theme and don’t see what you are looking for, you can always ask!)

Food

Since we travel up to our families for the party, we wanted to keep the food options simple.  To go along with our baseball theme, we decided to offer stadium concessions.  We made up a couple of signs that showed the menu.

We provided pizza, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, cotton candy, drinks, Cracker Jacks and chips.  We also wanted to provide some healthier options, so we added a  salad, veggie trays and baseball fruit kabobs.

Decorations

Decorations are where you can really go overboard and spend a great deal of money. There are so many different creative things you can do to achieve the look you want.  Some of the things we had at our party were:

1. Hall of Fame monthly pics using our digital backgrounds
2. Baseball bowls made with red electrical tape.  We already owned the bowls, so this was a cheap and creative way to decorate
3. Cups, plates and napkins – I purchased 1 package of each from Party City using our Cubs theme.  To save money, I purchased the remaining plates, napkins, silverware and table clothes in like colors from the dollar store.  When you incorporate them together, you don’t have to spend as much money and they look great
4. Concession Signs – This gave the menu options for our guests and we had a couple of different ones made up.  We also had a banner that we made through Party City
5. Mason Jar baseball themed silverware holder
6. Cracker Jacks, Peanuts, cotton candy – these were all purchased off of Amazon.com
7. Cotton candy bags with custom stickers
8. Old baseballs and old mitt
9. Engraved baseball bat – we found on Etsy
10. Hat, shirt and bib – we also found on Etsy
11. Custom crate – we created this as well (Coming soon!)

Gift Bags

We decided to keep it simple with our gift bags.  We went overboard with our oldest sons birthday, so we really only gave out two things this time.  We purchased baseball bat and ball combos, added one of our custom tags and added some Big League Chew.  It was simple, but definitely was a unique gift!

Thank You Notes

It is so important to show gratitude to family, friends and loved ones whom all took the time to help make your child’s birthday so special.  A simple thank you for the time, money and effort that everyone put in really goes a long way.  These are usually handwritten and although how you write them doesn’t matter, there are options to say thank you using the same theme as well.  We offer these in our shop to go along with the baseball theme.

Notes

Our theme was baseball.  Our Etsy Shop can create custom prints, invites, thank you’s and everything else for any kind of theme.  We’ve had requests for different themes in the past and they now are a part of our Etsy store.  We really want the process to be easy and fun.  We are able to personalize it to make it unique for your party! We love new ideas and we like to custom create things for people.

Have a party coming up or know someone who is? Please share our blog and let them know we can help them!

In the end its about celebrating a person’s life.  The decorations are fun but they do not make a party.  The people do.  As long as we are able to connect and share the day with the people we love, our parties will always be a success!

 

 

Week One

So I’ve completed my first week at new my job!  I haven’t received much feedback, but I feel things are going pretty well.  This blog post will be used to highlight my first week; things that went well and things that are a work in progress.  I will go over my to-do list, my menu planning, craft planning, and current projects.

To-Do List

The first thing I did to prepare for this week was to make an in depth check-off, to-do list.  This was extremely important for me.  I wanted to make sure I was prepared for each day, running on a schedule and planning activities.  While doing research on stay at home moms, there was emphasis on the importance of establishing routines and having things planned out.  I think this is important so everyone doesn’t spend their whole day in front of the TV in their pajamas.  I framed the list I created and used a dry erase marker to check-off items and write in notes, like what I was planning for lunch.  Even though I am sure I will use it less and less as time goes by and I become more confident in my routine,  for now, it keeps me on track.  Checking off on my to-do list gives me a feeling of accomplishment similar to when I completed tasks when I worked outside the home.  Below is a copy of the check-off list that I created.  It’s very detailed, in that, it lists literally everything I wanted to make sure I did everyday.

Menu Planning

The next thing I set out to do to be prepared for my first week as a stay at home mom, was meal planning.  I am completely new to this.  Usually my husband and I would get home from work, play with the kids, feed them dinner, get them ready and to bed, and then scramble around trying to make ourselves dinner before 9:00 pm.  We are both extremely indecisive when it comes to making decisions about dinner.  Sometimes we’d make a quick pre-packaged dinner meal or someone would be running out to get some fast food.

Clearly this was not a healthy behavior or habit we had, and now that we are down to one income, it is even more necessary to be conscious of what we are eating.  Because of my past history of failing to plan and think ahead,  I  really wanted to make meal planning as simple as possible.  I sat and wrote down every recipe or meal that we really enjoy eating and any that seemed like ones we’d like to try.  When I planned out the meals for the week, I was conscious of using any freshly bought meats first and preparing extra to freeze or to have for our designated “leftover” night.  I planned the meal so we would have variety, but also so we could utilize things we bought in multiple recipes.  I also designated Friday as pizza night and Saturday as Tyler’s choice, which means my husband is in charge.  This gave me two days that I really didn’t have to worry about.

All this week, we have not only ate the home cooked meals that I planned, but we have also eaten all of our meals together at the table, as a family.  No more 9:00 pm dinners for us!  The added benefit of completely following a meal plan is also following a budget.  We designated a certain amount of money to go towards food, and we didn’t spend any extra.  We didn’t eat out at all.  This was definitely a great success from the week.

The best help I had was from my phone app “Anylist“.  On the app, you can enter all of your recipes or import them from a website (super easy).  From there you can add specific meals and recipes to the meal planning calendar and then, pick ingredients to add to your shopping list.  This was very convenient and basically saved me a lot of time because I could do everything at one time in one place.  In case you were curious, our meals from this week are below.

Monday – Chicken Chimichangas (We made extra and froze the rest!)

Tuesday – Taco’s

Wednesday – Beef and Barley Soup

Thursday – Leftovers

Friday – Pizza

Saturday – Tyler’s choice!

Craft Planning

For my three and a half year old, I wanted to make sure we had planned crafts and activities to do each day.  After doing some research, I decided I would spend each week focusing on a different letter of the alphabet and plan crafts around those.  This week was the letter A, and below is a list of the activities we did.

Monday – We made an “apple” garland.  This turned out cute and we ended up using it hang the rest of the weeks activities from

Tuesday – Mayson placed stickers in a print out of the letter “A” and also started tracing

Wednesday – We picked apples off of a construction paper tree and sorted them into baskets that held either uppercase or lowercase A’s

Thursday – We painted apple plates and practiced writing the letter A

Friday – We painted with apples and trucks

I then decided to place them all in a binder so that along the way we can create an alphabet book full of the crafts that he made!

Current Projects

Currently I am reading “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo.  I love a clean house, but…. we definitely need to work on our clutter problem.  We own a lot of things and we need help with sorting and putting things in their own place.  I also follow this daily organization calendar.  It’s fun and challenges you on a daily basis to get your house in order.  This is definitely a work in progress for me.  Next week we move on to the letter B and I already have some fantastic projects planned.  I will also be working on finishing touches for Jackson’s first birthday party!

Overall I would say we had a pretty fantastic week, and I hope that the momentum continues.  We have a lot of things planned for our Etsy store, so stay tuned for new products being introduced daily!  And if you have time please like us on Facebook and share some pins on Pinterest.  I hope some of the information I have provided have been helpful or motivating in any way.  I’ll keep you posted on my next projects, meals and tips!  Have a fantastic weekend!

 

 

What have I gotten myself into?

What have I done?  What am I doing? I woke up this morning at 5:30 am.  Not to get ready for work like I have for the past 15 years, but to get ready to start my day as a stay at home mom.  Yes, 5:30 am.  I have two amazing little boys with another one on the way.  As I turned my alarm off, I couldn’t help but think, “What have I gotten myself into?”.

I am 33 years old.  I’m married to my best friend; an incredibly supportive husband named Tyler.  We have two kids.  Mayson who is three and half years old, and Jackson who will be one in  10 days.  We also have another little boy due in October.  I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life working full time and the last 5 and a half years working for a company that doesn’t appreciate their employees.  I have a bachelors degree in science and a masters degree in business administration.  And I just quit my job to be a stay at home mom.

I’m literally five days in and I feel like I have no idea what I am doing.  I took a week between quitting my job and the kids quitting daycare to research, clean, prepare and rest before jumping into my new role.  I read “Say Goodbye to Survival Mode” by Crystal Paine (I highly recommend) which is about getting your home and life organized and about making the most out of each day.  I deep cleaned my entire house.  I created specific schedules with check-off lists.  I created a weekly meal schedule utilizing my fantastic “Anylist” app and I went as far as picking out all meals for the next five plus weeks.  I planned crafts and activities.  I prepared and organized to the best of my abilities and put my OCD into full force. But boy oh boy, I was still not prepared!

In the midst of all of this, my husband and I decided to open an Etsy shop.  So we’ve been working hard to set that up, create new products, pin them on Pinterest, make and operate a Facebook page and send out tweets on our Twitter account.  And if that wasn’t enough, I thought, “Hey, I have no experience writing or blogging, let me set up a blog to document my failures.  Er…. journey”. Ha!  Five days in and I work from 5:30 am until the kids go to bed between 7 and 7:30 pm.  And then I clean and set up for the next day.  I research for our new business adventure and I try to relax.

OutOfNormal.com

 

So again, what am I doing?  I have no clue.  I guess time will tell.  We will see how far my planning and preparation combined with what sense of humor I have will get me.  Please follow me on my new adventure as I conquer being a stay at home mom, a personal organizer and cleaner, a business owner and now blogger!

 

-Becky

Newly stay at home mom Out Of Normal, Illinois