The winner of the Back to School Giveaway is………………………..Lou!
The winner was selected by use of the random.org – True Random Number Generator.
Lou, please email me your mailing address and I will get your package into the mail. My email address is jmcoyan@yahoo.com
Happy 1st Day of School!!!
Labor Day, an extra day off…so we labored!! It was harvesting day at our house. Tommy was excited to get out to the garden and pick vegetables. Then it was up to Mom and Dad to preserve all the vegetable. That is where the real labor came into play!
Josh told me today that we were lucky I grew up in the middle of no where so I knew how to do things like canning. Thanks, kid! By the time I was born, my parents were no longer farming, but we did always have a garden. We would also go to the huterite colony to get produce to can or freeze for the winter. So as much as I complained about growing up in the rural area, I am truly blessed to have skills in sewing, gardening, cooking, canning and being very frugal! Thanks Mom and Dad. This way I can teach my city slicker hubby and son how to do all these things. Just a family of urban farmers, ok…maybe not, but we do can food from our garden!
The first wave of Roma Tomatoes and Green Peppers.
Hubby processing the pickles. Don’t drop them…..oops too late!
The finished product…I used a mix for pickles this year. I have never done that before, it sure saved time. I hope they are good as it was easier to do.
I cut up all the green peppers and flash froze them.
Then the peppers were bagged and vacuumed sealed.
Time to process the tomatoes for canning. Today we made tomato sauce. Josh, hubby and I washed, cored and quartered all those tomatoes.
The end result…..16 pints of tomato sauce.
Now a very tired couple is heading to bed after laboring all day on Labor Day!! Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day. We have a sick little guy this evening so I am not sure he will be making it to the first day of school. I am not sure if he is just nervous or sick. We will have to wait and see how he is in the morning.
Happy Labor Day !!
Grilled Teriyaki Shrimp and Veggies
1-1/2 lbs large Shrimp
1/2 C teriyaki Sauce
Marinate shrimp in teriyaki sauce for 2 hours in refrigerator. Remove shrmip from marinade and grill over med heat in a grill pan or on skewers for 5-6 mintues or until done.
Grilled Veggies
1-1/2lbs summer squash and zucchini
1 large onion, quartered
Fat Free Italian Dressing
Marinate squash, zucchini, and onions in dressing. Grill in a sprayed pan 10 min, until tender.
Dessert………Ice Cream with raspberries from the garden. YUMMMY!!!!!
Happy Grilling !!
Grilled BBQ Ribs
Ingredients:
Country Style Pork Ribs
BBQ Sauce any brand
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 TBSP Honey
Seasoning of choice (Emeril’s Essence Original)
Apple Juice
Take a broiler pan and fill the bottom section of the broiler pan about half full of Apple Juice. On the top section (the part with the slits) lay out your ribs. Rub the ribs with Emeril’s Essence Original seasoning.
Cover the pan with foil and fold edges under to seal in the steam as they cook. Place in a 300 oven for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Remove foil carefully as steam will be hot. Now all the grease is down in the bottom of the pan with the apple juice, the ribs are completely cooked and tender.
All you need to do is finish them up on the grill . Add honey and brown sugar to any barbecue sauce. For grill place ribs on grill and coat with you favorite sauce. Grill on each side just a few minutes until crispy.
**Recipe from Mommy’s Kitchen’s Blog
Happy Grilling !!
Back to School Giveaway!!
LAST CHANCE TO ENTER: Give Away closes at 11:59pm on September 6th, 2010. Winner will be posted on Wednesday, the 7th. Don’t forget to stop back to check if you have won!
I am excited about “Back to School”. I love looking at all the school supplies and I think that would be great for this or that. Yes, I get excited over office supplies. I always tell people the simple things in life make me happy!
So I want to share my happiness with you!!
I will be giving away a “Back to School” organizing pack! This will get you started on developing your own Control Central! It will include a great new calendar that I am previewing, Amy Knapp’s Big Grid Family Organizer.
Don’t get me started on how much I love a new calendar. So fresh and ready to conquer my demanding schedule. I will also include a few other organizing treats to help you make your own Control Center! What is control central?? It is a must have for all busy households. I will be posting a entry about how to set one up and their importance in two weeks!
EDIT:
Also included in this “Back To School” organizing give away is a Magnetic dry erase board, magnetic pencil holder, and spiral idea book. All essential items to complete your Control Center.
HOW DO I ENTER????
To enter this drawing simply leave a comment below, that will count as one entry into the drawing. If you post about this drawing on your blog and leave me a second comment on this post with the link to that post, you will have a second entry into the drawing. You may only have two entries in this give away.
I will be closing the giveaway at 11:59pm on September 6th. I will randomly draw a winner and will post the name of the winner on Wednesday, September 7th to celebrate the day my little guy heads back to school.
Good Luck!!
Grilled BBQ Chicken
Yield: 8 Servings
4 Lb chicken parts (we used thighs)
BBQ sauce recipe
Our Favorite BBQ Sauce Recipe: (great on burgers)
SAUCE:
In a small saucepan, combine the first 10 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat
Place chicken in container and pour BBQ sauce over your chicken, reserving some of the BBQ sauce for basting. Turn chicken over to coat well. Let marinade at least 30 minutes.
Bake chicken in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. I struggle with getting chicken fully cooked on the grill so we bake it a bit first. We usually put a rub like Emril’s Essence on the chicken before baking.
Preheat outdoor grill for medium-low heat. Spray rack lightly with oil spray to prevent sticking. Place chicken on grill rack and grill about 5 minutes, basting with remaining BBQ sauce as you desire. Turn chicken over and cook on other side about 5 minutes more or until juices run clear.
Happy Grilling,
Hello everyone!! I had a great day at the library today. I found many books that had to just come home with us. Now I just want to curl up in bed for the whole week!
I was too tired to post my Library Loot here on my blog, but check out my other blog, Reading in White Bear Lake and see what came home from the library from me!
What did you find at the library this week???? Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend!!
Happy Reading!
Friday – Outdoor movie night with friends and family! Tommy was finally better after 2 weeks of being sick. Allergies are still bothering Tommy and I, but it seems to be getting better.
Saturday – we decided to do some outings! Our summer is almost over and we have not done hardly any outings. So off we went……………………first stop……Noodles and Company for lunch.
This was Tommy’s first time eating at Noodles and Company. Since he was still feeling a bit under the weather he and I shared a meal. He loved the chopsticks!
Next stop…was a great hobby shop, my friend, Michelle told us about located in little Canada. 
This store is packed full of stuff, so it took us a long time to go through it. We didn’t even finish! We bought a board game, snap together models and army guys. Tommy enjoyed going there!
Lastly, we went to the movie. I had free passes for the movie since Christmas. So we went to see Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore.
We rarely go to a movie at the theater so this was a treat for Tommy. We do rent movies frequently from the Red Box, but it is just too expensive to go to the theater.
That was our busy Saturday!!!
SUNDAY – we went to church and then came home to have a quick lunch. After lunch we went out to go geocaching. What a great way to discover your town and local parks, searching for hidden caches. We visited a number of parks and found 3 caches. It was great to get the kids outside for a bit and hunting for treasure!
Tommy and our nephew, Kaleb getting ready to find the cache in this park, Apple Tree Park. One of the new parks we discovered.
More Geocaching fun…..we could not find the one at this park!!
“Look, Mom, I FOUND IT!!! ” – another cache successfully found.
We were hot and tired and ready to head home! So we went home to make supper! Hubby and I make baby back ribs! Yummy!! They were very good. I will share the recipe and our BBQ technic in a post later!
It was a wonderful weekend spending time with my guys! I could not ask for anything better. We are planning a few outings for next weekend to enjoy our last weekend of summer. School starts on Sept 7th for Tommy. Can you believe my little guy will be in the 3rd grade??
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!!
Love,
Before we get started on today’s topic, I am wondering how you are doing with your morning and bedtime routines? Come on fess up? I have done terrible….sorry, it is true. Tommy has been sick all week and it has thrown me off schedule in a big way. I hope this week is better.
CONTROL CENTRAL – The brains and heart of organization.
Now, on to calendars and how to develop your own Control Central! Over the years I have tried many different things to get track of the many aspects of my life. I am very happy with my current system. I have tried to only have one calendar and that has not worked for me. I have to have a work and home calendar.
At home, I have what I call control central or you might call it the side of my fridge. The side of our fridge plays a very important role in keeping us organized. Everyone knows to look there for important info. It is my job to keep it up to date for everyone.
I have had the same calendar on the side of the fridge for about 10 years. This year I have a new one and I really love it. Amy Knapp’s Big Grid Family Organizer, I love this calendar!
Amy’s Big Grid Family Organizer has many great features:
I happen to be giving away one of these wonderful calendars. Stop by my giveaway post to enter to win this wonderful calendar and other great items to make your own control central.
Other items in my Control Central (side of the fridge) as you can see in the picture above:
Magnetic Pencil Cup: Don’t you hate it when you can’t find a writing utensil when you need one!! We always have a pen or pencil handy by having them on the side of the fridge.
Frequently used phone numbers: The pink paper on the upper left side of my control central is where we keep frequently called numbers. It makes it easy for the kids to find the numbers for our neighbors and our cell and work numbers.
White Board: The white board has been used for various items through the years. I used to have my weekly chores listed on it. I now find it more helpful to have my shopping list and notes of things to remember on the white board. I keep my chore list on my new calendar in the area titled Family notes and reminders.
Magnetic Key Holders: This is where we keep all our car keys. This is helpful as we have 4 cars and need to move different ones when we are blocked in.
What to do with the various school and soccer calendars??
I enter all the dates on the school calendar on my work and home calendar. I enter everything in and put the original calendar away for safe keeping.
For the monthly school lunch menu and the classroom schedule for Tommy, I have that hanging on the closet door by the front door so we can review it each day on our way out of the house. We also use this closet door to showcase Tommy’s art work and school papers.
The other thing that is good about having this info on the closet door, is I am teaching Tommy to use it as well. When he asks what is for lunch at school, I send him to go look on his calendars.
Wow….just typing this up I am realizing how much it really takes to keep me this organized. If you wear less hats in life you might be able to get by with less, but I have many hats and it takes a bit to keep me on track. Oh how my mind wanders!
Please share with us your ideas to keep yourself organized. I look forward to hearing from each of you!
HOMEWORK: Find a calendar that will meet your needs and start filling in important dates for the upcoming school year. The best way to start using a calendar is to have one!! The Home School Mom has some free online planners to get you started. The website My Free Calendar Makers has all formats of calendars: yearly, monthly, weekly and daily.
I happen to be giving away a wonderful calendar, Amy’s Big Grid Family Organizer. Stop by my giveaway post to enter to win this wonderful calendar and other great items to make your own control central.
Have A Great Weekend!
Menu Plan Monday: August 29 – September 5th
My family has been commenting how good meals have been lately at home. Thank you E-Mealz.com! Meals last week that were well received were the following:
One Dish Nacho Bake
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
French Dip Sandwiches/
Rotisserie Chicken (Crockpot)/ (family stand by)
Grilled ribs/ (family stand by)
I can’t say enough about meal planning. My youngest and I have been suffering through ragweed season. After being sick for over a month, I think Tommy will finally be returning to daycare this week and I will return to work. I am glad we had our meal planned during his illness as we ate at home each day and it made it very easy for my hubby to step in and assist with meal prep allowing me to rest a bit.
Here is what is on the menu this week at our house.
Mon – 30 – Balsamic Pork Chops/ Baked Potatoes/ Green Beans (P-337)
Tues – 31 – Tilapia Almandine/ Veggie Mix – (P-337)
Wed – 1 – Spaghetti/Garlic Bread
Thurs – 2- Meet The Teacher – Classic Deli Wrap/ Cukes/ Sour Cream Chips
Fri – 3 – Crock Pot Sloppy Joes/ Corn Chips/ Celery w/ Ranch
Sat – 4 – BBQ Chicken/ Cole Slaw// Stovetop Beans (A-337)
Sun – 5 – Grilled Shrimp Teriyaki/ Grilled Vegs/ Wild Rice (p-338)
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! Just remember that a bit of planning will sure make your week go smoother, giving you more free time and saving you money! For more Menu Planning inspiration stop by and visit Laura at Organizing Junkie and participate in Menu Plan Monday. Weekly over 400 bloggers share what they have on their menu.
Don’t forget to enter to win my “Back To School” giveaway. I am holding a Back to School organizing giveaway, so make sure to enter to win. To enter leave a comment on the give away post. I will be giving away a “Back to School” organizing pack!This will get you started on developing your own Control Central!It will include a great new calendar that I am previewing, Amy Knapp’s Big Grid Family Organizer. I love this calendar!
Happy Eating!!!
