The Pooch

Warning... This is a little rant....

Not the dog kind, but the tummy kind. I was recently told that I was already starting "pooch out some". I'm not going to lie, I wasn't thrilled to hear that since I see zero change in my body. It did remind me of a pregnancy fact I had forgotten about. When you're pregnant, everyone thinks your body is public property.

Example 1: Once you start showing, people feel that they can point and stare. Sometimes in a sweet "look a pregnant lady" way. Not always though. Sometimes it's "wow! look how BIG she is!" way.

Example 2: Everyone wants to touch the belly. I love it when friends and family touch my belly and get to feel the baby move. Give them a chance to start bonding too. But when strangers try to touch my belly, not cool. I want to ask, " Excuse me, do I know you?"

Example 3: People feel they can ask you things they never would have before. The main one is about weight. How much weight have you gained? How much do you weigh now? Seriously people?

I know and need to keep in mind that a lot of that kind of stuff is people being excited. I'm glad that people are excited, even strangers. But just as a reminder to everyone, pregnant women are going through a whirlwind of changes physical, not to mention what's going on with their hormones. Stick with sweet comments like, you look wonderful! you're glowing. And instead of asking about their weight, just tell them they're all belly. Thanks from all the peggers out there!

BABY!

If you hadn't heard I'm PREGNANT!!!

Found out a week ago today. We got home from the garage sale last weekend and were exhausted! After getting Jeremiah down, we were watching a movie and talking. We both talked about how we really wanted to be pregnant but had a feeling we weren't. The plan was to take a test Sunday morning, but we got too antsy. I was ready to watch and wait to see if another line would pop up. Matt told me that wouldn't help and to give it time. I left and then turn around to see him just watching and waiting!He slowly looked up at me with a completely shocked and ecstatic expression. I started freaking out! Ran and grab the test and sure enough, TWLINES!

Faint, but two!

Happy parents!

Jeremiah is super excited to be a big brother!
If I ask him where the baby is he'll pull up my shirt and pat my belly while he says "be" (baby). He'll even give it loves. So adorable, till he starts doing it to Matt. Apparently Jeremiah thinks a belly button is a baby. We'll work on that. Not bad for a 16 month old.

I'm only 4 weeks along. I go in for my first appointment next Wednesday. Won't be far enough along for a sonogram. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get one around 7 weeks. We're thrilled but a little anxious after what we went through in April. Trusting in God to do what's best for all 4 of us.

Garage Sale

Do you ever feel like there's just too much stuff in your home? That's how I've been feeling lately. As I came across something we didn't need or want any more I would toss it onto the stairs leading to our bonus room. We collected so much stuff that most of the stairs had something on them. When I would get really motivated I would pick it all off the stairs. And throw it on the floor of the bonus room. There was so much stuff scattered all over the room that we couldn't use it. About a month ago I decide it was time to REALLY get motivated. Garage sale time!

I sent an e-mail out to my relatives in the area to see if they would want to have a garage sale too. Brenda, my mother-in-law was the only other crazy, I mean brave person out there. This week we started pricing and taking things to their house. I was please with how everything was going, on Monday.

By Tuesday I was freaking out! I had no idea how much thought wen into a garage sale! Dates, advertising, pricing, location and more! Originally, I thought it would be on Saturday only. Brenda said they always had better days on Friday. So I decided to do it on Friday, three days before. That added to my stress. Last night I told Matt I was really regretting the whole garage sale thing and we would never do it again!

We got to Brenda's before the start time and there was someone already there. We had a crowed of at least five people for the first 3 hours! We sold over half of everything we had. By the end of the day people were asking us if it really was a multi family sale, just because there wasn't a ton of stuff. Matt and I made more then we hoped his parents and we would make, combined! Right now I'm pretty gun-ho on garage sales!

We're in the process of updating/redoing our room. Some of the money will go to that. Mainly making a head board. Don't worry, I'll blog about that as it happens. I'm so excited!

It was a long, hot day. But so worth it! The plan is to have it again tomorrow, but it's POURING rain right now. With how well it went today, I'd be ok with not having it tomorrow. :-)

Recipes

Thought I would share the recipes I used for my freezer cooking.

I got several of them from MoneySavingMom. Neat website with lots of ideas on how to save and earn money.

I used her Southwest Rollups. I was a littler nervous about this recipe because I've just started to enjoy beans. But I love it! Great for if you need something fast because you can just toss it in the microwave. I added a little more chicken then she does.

Also her Butterhorn Rolls. So yummy! We've enjoyed lots of these already.

The last one form MoneySavingMom is Pizza Crust. I did a quadruple batch of this. My family loves homemade pizza!

The rest of the recipes are from friends of mine. So glad I know lots of good cooks!

Taco Soup
1lb cooked ground beef or turkey
1 envelope Ranch dressing mix
1 envelope taco seasoning
1-2 cans Kidney beans
1 can corn- undrained
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
Combine all in crockpot and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Serve with chips, cheese and sour cream

Baked Beans
32oz baked beans - any brand
2 16oz cans Navy beans - drained
2 16oz can Kidney beans - drained
2 16oz can Garbanzo beans - drained
1 cup catsup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbl yellow mustard
1 tbl vinegar
1 yellow onion
1/2 - 1lb
I cook the bacon and onion together. Combine all and cook for 1 hour at 350 or in crockpot on low 3-4 hours

Chicken Rice and Sausage Casserole
4 cups cooked and shredded chicken
1 lb cooked sausage
5 cups chicken broth
2 envelopes Lipton noodle soup
1 cup rice
Mix all. To freeze put in ziplock bags before cooking. I was able to get two meals from one batch. To cook: cover and cook 45-60 minutes at 350. Remove cover and cook at 450 for 15 minutes, or till rice is cooked and broth evaporated.

Let me know if any of you try some of the recipes!

Nostalgic

Two years ago today, I found out Jeremiah was on the way! I had to wake up early for work and was dying to take a pregnancy test. I calmly brushed my teeth and wait for the three minutes to tick by. I went to check, telling myself it would be negative and that would be ok. But there were two lines! Faint, but two! I ran and jumped on Matt, who was still sleeping. Took him a minute to decipher the squeals and understand that we were going to have a baby! We were thrilled! We spent the rest of the days calling and visiting family to share the news. One of the best days of my life.

It's over!

I finally finished all my freezer cooking yesterday. I had to cut the meatloaf. Just wasn't happening with having to deal with the AC. Praise the Lord, that got fixed on Friday and it was very minor! Yay!

I cooked the meatballs yesterday. I forgot to set the timer. Not a good thing. When I remembered to check, they were a little crispy. Nothing that I could cut off. lol. Sounds bad, but it really wasn't! They're still really yummy, just not whole balls any more. I guess it made half-meatballs.

Freezer Cooking: Day 3

This morning I was able to make banana chocolate chip muffins and four pizza dough crusts. I was so glad I was able to get that done this morning. I had my meat thawing so that during nap time I could make meatballs and meatloaf during nap time.

That was until I was getting lunch together and I noticed how hot it was in the house. When I check the thermostat, 84 degrees! At 11 am! Not a good sign. Called Matt and Jeremiah, Tonks and I loaded up had came to my in-laws where it's nice and cool.

So day 3 of cooking is on hold. After nap time we'll head home and hope it's cooled off.

Freezer Cooking: Day 2

So today was the end of Day 2 of freezer cooking. Made for an interesting few days...

Day 1: we went to Kroger to load up on groceries. They were rearranging to store. Have to monomer around the workers, shelves, while trying to keep Jeremiah entertained and keep up with my list and coupons was a challenge. I think until I get a better handle on couponing Jeremiah will be staying home on grocery day. :-)

Speaking of coupons, I was able to save a surprising about of money. Just by looking for what was on sale and using some coupons. I'm going to be making the time to learn more about couponing!

The main recipe I was working on yesterday was butter horn rolls. I found one recipe and started them. Then I found another one online with information about freezing. I glanced at the ingredient and they looked the same so I switched recipes. Should of looked a little closer because the amounts of the ingredients were different and the first few steps were different. After winging it and a call to my mom, I got it! So now my freezer has lot of rolls in it. We had some with dinner tonight. Very yummy! Jeremiah loved them! Ate two of them.

Day 2: Had to do a quick run to Aldis. Had to wait till nap time to work on anything. Able to get a big batch of Chicken, Rice and Sausage casserole. Should feed us our meals. Wohoo!

Next was Taco Soup. I love this recipes because you brown ground beef or turkey, toss it in a crock pot with a few canned items, add some seasoning and you're done! My kind of recipe. My can opener died. I don't know what happened but it wasn't working, Gave me a chance to talk to my neighbor again. I could of just stopped. But nope, I went over to my neighbors that I don't know well and asked to barrow theirs. I was a women on a mission! There are now to things of taco soup in my freezer... Matt brought home a new can opener. :-)

The last recipe on my list for today was baked beans. I got an awesome recipe from a dear friend, and I'm a little addicted to them. Which it really funny since I didn't like beans till I had this recipe. I kept sneaking bites. I can't wait to dig into them! These beans are like the taco soup. Cook some bacon and onions and then trow them in the crockpot with cans of beans. I have some packaged to have as a side and one to have as a meal. When it's out meal I'll add some smoked sausage and rice. Goes from being baked beans to a nice stew.

So there an update on my freezer cooking. Tomorrow I'm making spaghetti sauce, meatballs, meatloaf and some muffins. Hopefully, I can get all of that done, then I'll be finished! I'm off to bed. The last two night I've dreamed about coupons and cooking. Here's hoping for a more restful nights sleep.

What's this????

I know, an insane mess! What this mess is, is me trying to get on the ball. I'm wanting to lower my grocery bill so I'm trying to figure out the whole couponing thing. It's not easy. And completely overwhelming! I see blogs of women who spend 20 bucks a week on groceries. That's just mind boggling to me! So I'm trying to figure it out... Slowly.

I'm also going to do a freezer cooking week. I did a sample of it last month with some of our favorite meals. Got to say, I loved being able to just pull something out of the freezer in the morning and have a tasty dinner that evening. I'm going to be trying some new recipes and favorites.

After I figure out what coupons I'm going to use and finally go to the grocery store I'm going to start cooking! A few things each days as I have time. I'll try to keep the blog up to date with how I'm doing. So wish me luck!