Hautemama of 2

Favorite

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 15:01:00 +0000

Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:55:00 +0000

Today the boys were home from school since its President's Day. Hunter spent the day laying around with the puppies, watching Netflix and YouTube. Tyler went to his Dad's to see the Datsun 260z that he's restoring. Tyler took his friend Kyle C. while Hunter stayed home. Then Tyler came home and helped his friend Denton cut down a tree. He was paid in donuts, a teenage boys dream.

I got home from work and we decided to go to Sonic to eat since Jim was gone to Chapter and Council. The hotdogs were a dollar tonight. Score! I, however, went to Taco Bueno to get a bean burrito. Score again!

Tonight we've been lazy sitting around watching TV. Tyler actually sat and watched the Grammy's for a little bit with me. It's fun sitting around with the boys just goofing around. That's kind of scarce since Tyler drives now.

Rule breakers.

Happy Heart Day

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:48:00 +0000

Jim thinks he's funny pouting while I want to take a cute picture.

Hunter and his Nana

Tyler thinks he's funny brushing his curly hair out to an Afro.

We took my Momma out for lunch at Lone Star Steakhouse in Owasso for Valentine's Day. I think she really enjoyed it and liked visiting with the boys. We spent time with her at her apartment after lunch and visited for a while. It was a relaxing time and she always loved to get out and about. I came home and payed down for a little bit, then made chicken pot pie with a biscuit topping. It was good, even though Hunter told me the bottom of the biscuits were soggy. I guess you can't win them all. Ha! Our niece Madie came over to visit us before going back to OSU, which was nice. It's nice to keep in touch with her, since we don't with any of the others.

My life

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 19:51:00 +0000

Tyler Schulz overcame partial paralysis to play football - Tulsa World: Football

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 21:09:00 +0000

Tyler Schulz overcame partial paralysis to play football - Tulsa World: Football http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/78/358613D49EB2FFC122DE4385B6DC476F.png

Plant based lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 17:58:00 +0000

I need a place to post my new journey in hopes that I keep this darn Lupus at bay. I've gone a good 9 months without feeling horrible, then summer family stress and school starting hit me hard. I'll be posting my meals so I hope no one gets sick of seeing them. I haven't blogged in so long-I'm not sure anyone will notice.

Breakfast:

1scrambled egg with 1 tbsp cheddar cheese

Sautéed spinach, mushroom, onion and a small piece of a very hot jalapeño

Lunch:

Sautéed zucchini, onions, mushrooms

V8 spicy juice in place of stewed tomatoes

Piece of jalapeño

1 tbsp cheddar cheese

1 tbsp sour cream

Cavenders Greek seasoning and seasoning salt

First real job and other stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Wed, 13 May 2015 16:33:00 +0000

Tyler got a job at Tastee Freeze last week. He's the meatboy, which means he makes about 400 hamburger patties a day. He works with one of his friends that he's played soccer with forever so they have a lot of fun together. I mean, how hard can it be to make 400 hamburger patties. Ha!

He's always liked getting money and I think the love of having his own will really kick in, making him want to work really hard from now on.

I'm getting ready to register him for the ACT test. He's taken the prep course and I'm ordering online study materials so that should help him. I think if you make a 27 on your ACT in Oklahoma, you get to attend any college in the state free. We would really like a 27, por favor!

Hunter is finishing the eighth grade and is really struggling with organization. He had 29 missing assignments in two classes. We've had a serious talk about it and he's going to work hard on keeping things together for ninth grade. He's growing his hair out like Johnny Depp, which cracks me up. He's so stinking cute that any hair looks good on him!

Life has been calm this past semester, the boys aren't playing a Spring sport, which, dare I say, is a wonderful thing. No meets, games, late practices. I love it. After all the years traipsing to practices and games, it's nice just to have a break. It's helped my stress level and my ability to keep from feeling worn out constantly.

My health is getting better, my doctor prescribed a rheumatoid arthritis medicine for the pain I always had in my arms and ribs, and I haven't had it since the day I started taking the medicine. It's a miracle. I don't think anyone around me realizes how horrible I felt on a daily basis. I was in constant pain but tried so hard not to show it. I even walked three miles down our nature trail the other night....I hadn't done that in three years. Three years!

Now I just need to get this Lupus/steroid weight off and I'd feel tremendous. I hate how I look right now and it's definitely weighing on my self-esteem. I'm trying to eat mainly a vegetable/fruit diet so we'll see how that goes. I hope it helps.

Football State Championship 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:00:00 +0000

On December 6th, our Skiatook Bulldog football team went to the 2014 5A State Championship in Oklahoma City. We played Lawton MacArthur in Yukon, Oklahoma.

To say that we were excited is an understatement. Our little town hasn't had a state championship in football since 1974. I've never seen the entire town so united in a common goal in my life.

The week before the game, people were posting pictures of themselves in their letter jackets from high school on Facebook. It was the funniest thing to see all of the football players' dads trying to squeeze into their twenty five year old letterman. Jim pulled his out and put it on. He had to suck in a little but, by gosh, it fit.

Our downtown area had all the windows painted for the football boys with their names and encouraging words. It was so wonderful to see how much excitement there was for our football team. We weren't expected to do as well as we did at the beginning of the year, which made it even better.

New Year's Day luck

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 18:45:00 +0000

New Year's Day is always a time of tradition in our house. My Momma is from deep south Alabama, where you don't break tradition, no matter what. She's been following the same Southern traditions for years.

The most important tradition for the New Year is eating Black-eyed Peas. You have to eat them for good luck in the coming year. It's also a tradition to eat greens for wealth. Believe me, we eat the greens because we could always use a little more wealth! Ha!

I was so proud of myself after cooking our Christmas ham, I took the bone with some good chunks of meat left on it and froze it wrapped in tin foil. I use three or four layers of tin foil just to make sure the ham doesn't get freezer burn.

I started the ham cooking in two tablespoons of olive oil. It's best to get some color on the meat, bringing out all the flavor.

It doesn't look very appetizing coming out of the freezer.

Put your dried and soaked black-eyed peas in a pot with just enough water to cover the peas. Add one onion, rough chopped and let the ham and peas cook until the peas are soft. You'll have to add water occasionally as the peas soak it up quite a bit.

We've been forked

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 18:36:00 +0000

Tyler picking up the forks some of his "buddies" left for him

A couple of mornings ago, Jim came back into the house and said, "We've been forked!"

I thought, "What on earth is forked?" Then I remembered.

I glanced outside and was instantly impressed. I mean, how on earth did teenagers put so many forks into our grass? It had to have taken at least 30 minutes to get all of that work done.

It took Tyler at least 5 minutes to get it all out of the yard.

Teenagers-they just kill me sometimes!

Letterman

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:58:00 +0000

#gagecancook2015

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:56:00 +0000

My bestie visits

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:49:00 +0000

Last night my best friend Becky and her husband Bobby had to come to Tulsa for an insurance class and we met for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. They didn't bring their kids (they have 5) and we definitely missed them. We took Tyler and Hunter to dinner, I always want my friends to see how much the kids are growing. Becky's oldest is leaving for college in a couple of weeks and that makes me feel so old. Geez.

We had the best time catching up with each other and discussing the crazy antics of having 6 boys all together. Yes, 6. Crazy, huh!? In college, if you told Becky and I that we'd have six boys between the two of us, I would have laughed my head off! I'd have never thought we would be responsible for that many humans, ever! Ha!

It's amazing to me that no matter how much time has passed between our visits, we can always just start right off where we last stopped. I love that. We've been friends for twenty-five years now. Actually, I think this year is our 25th friend anniversary. She's one of the only friends I've ever had that has been with me through thick and thin. She's always supported me in everything I've done and been a shoulder to cry on when I needed one. That's a true friend and I'm so thankful for her.

We think we're selfie queens!

With the family - Hunter loves to look goofy in our pictures

I'm even wearing a necklace she gave me

My hometown

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:58:00 +0000

Our niece Madie is going to Oklahoma State in the Fall for her Freshman year of college. Jim and I wanted to go to Stillwater with her and scope out her dorm etc. While there we drove around Stillwater, which happens to be where I grew up until I was twelve years old. I still consider it my hometown and have the best memories from living there. I think it's because my Aunt and Uncle lived in the same town with my older cousins as well as my Grandma. Every week on Wednesday night, my Aunt Nila and Uncle Carl would come to our house with their dog Fritz and have an ice cream cone with us. I looked forward to it every week.

That's the only time I've ever lived with family in the same town that we did things with all the time. Now that I have very little family, I really miss those times. I wish my kids had family like that to spend quality time with on a weekly basis.

When I was a kid, my Grandma (Mama Lou) was a fraternity housemom. She lived in the fraternity house with her own little apartment throughout the school year. She ate every meal with the boys and taught them manners and etiquette classes. When I would eat dinner at the frat house, I would have to eat ribs or fried chicken with a knive and fork.

Imagine being eight years old and having to eat like that in front of 100 cutie pie fraternity boys. It was so embarassing but I loved every stinking moment of it. I think this is where my boy crazy started. OSU fraternity boys!

My parents would even go on vacations and leave me with my Mama Lou for the week. I loved it. She had a cook named Amy that would make me cinnammon toast in the mornings with chocolate milk. In the afternoons, about ten of the boys would come into my grandma's apartment and watch Jeopardy with her. Every day they did this. Now that I'm an adult, I realize how sweet that was to spend time with their Mama Lou. They loved her just like I did. She was the best.

Delta Tau Delta fraternity

My first church, Salem Lutheran

After driving around campus, we went by Eskimo Joe's and my church, Salem Lutheran, where I was baptized. My Dad was best friends with our pastor David Turner, who was our backyard neighbor. We are Lutheran because my Dad just loved David. He was such an interesting person and very sweet.

We finally drove by the house on McDonald Street I lived in when I was in Kindergarten and First Grade. My parents rented this house and I remember it being a little odd. They had a basement that had two poles on either side of the house and I used to spend hours roller skating down there. There was also a mud room that really freaked me out. It seemed huge but in all honesty it probably wasn't. I used to think the window on the second floor on the house right in front was soooo big. In my mind, it was a gigantic, huge picture window. Funny how things look so small as an adult when they were gigantic when you were a child. The hill on the right also seemed like a mountain. I remember running up that hill all the time thinking I was king of the mountain. Now that I look at it, it's barely a hill.

This house looked much better in the 70's

The house below is our final house in Stillwater. When we moved here, we thought we had made it. It had a swimming pool and my parents were so proud. I spent my days hitting tennis balls against that brick wall. That's when my love of tennis started.

The last house we lived in in Stillwater

The temperature guage on the wall below is the original one that my parents bought for the pool area in the early 80's. I thought that was awesome that it was still there. Old looking but still there.

This backyard about killed me.

We had a beautiful pool back here with gorgeous landscaping that my Dad worked so hard to put in.

Who fills in a pool? I was so mad that I called the real estate agent (it was for sale for $182,000) and asked when they filled in the pool. It's sad when you have such great memories of pool parties, swimming all summer with your friends and it's gone. Just dirt.

This is the Country Club where I first took golf and tennis lessons. I played golf here every weekend with my Dad, my Uncle Carl and my cousins Brian and Craig. I'm seeing a pattern here and now know why I prefer being with men than drama filled women.

My greatest regret is that my boys didn't get to grow up next to a Country Club with a pool, tennis courts and golf course. They've missed out on a lot of fun being stuck in a boring small town.

My elementary school Sangre Ridge. I loved it. It was an open floor plan, we had no structural walls separating classes, just partitions. It sounds strange but it was the best place to go to school. My favorite teacher was Mrs. McPhee, she was the first teacher to really convince me that I was smart. I love her for that.

This is a picture of my last school, the Paul Miller Journalism school at OSU. I still work at the same job I was recommended for by my public relations professor Brooks Garner. I love that. So thankful!

Soccer State Championship Game

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 19 May 2014 19:27:00 +0000

Last Friday our Bulldogs played for the soccer state championship in Norman at the OU soccer complex. To say it was nerve-wracking and exciting would be an understatement. Last week was a complete roller coaster of emotions.

It all started when we played NW Classen in Oklahoma City last Tuesday. It was the third round of the playoffs. It was such an exciting game and we pulled off a 2-1 win. The boys went ballistic with joy, even walking towards our bleachers full of fans and giving us a round of applause. That might have been my favorite moment after the win. Coach Campbell wanted to make sure the boys thanked the fans for all of the love and support they've received throughout the season.

Fast forward to the end of the week. Our town was so excited. We hadn't had a state championship in 10 years. All the businesses had signs up wishing the team good luck. It was incredible. We planned a send-off for the boys and they didn't know about it.

I don't know if there's anything more exciting than seeing your team being led through town by the police with sirens. So cool to watch!

We left around 3pm for the 7:30 game in Norman so we could stop and eat. We ended up running into traffic so we met our friends at Taco Bell for a quick bite. I was so nervous, I could hardly eat.

We arrived at 6:30 for the game and were so impressed with the OU soccer stadium. Biggest soccer complex I've ever seen.

The game started and two minutes in I knew our boys were scared and playing like it. I didn't even recognize some of the boys, they playing so nervous. The other team was phenomenal. We were in trouble from the first goal four minutes into the game. We ended up losing 6-1 but we were so proud of our team. What an honor to even make it there!

Soccer state semi-finals!

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Tue, 13 May 2014 18:52:00 +0000

We're traveling to Oklahoma City tonight for the state semi-finals in soccer. We play Northwest Classen at the Putnam City West stadium.

Our family's so excited that we're taking nine people with us. We have to support our Bulldogs in their bid for the state championship. I'm so proud of these boys. They've fought hard and stuck it out to get to number 3 in the state of Oklahoma in classs 5A. That's no small feat.

Tyler is out with a knee injury. The orthopedic doctor thinks he has a torn meniscus. We go for the MRI next week. I'm just happy that Tyler has had the opportunity to be a part of such a great team!!! I've enjoyed every second watching these boys play!

The boys after the Oologah Tournament - we won!

Tyler running after the ball

These boys have worked so hard! They deserve all the success in the world!

Coach Campbell giving words of advice

Great boys and even better friends

Six months later.....

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 17:58:00 +0000

I went for my first Rheumatologist appointment last week. I've been on Plaquenil, my Lupus medicine for about six months now.

I have to say, I feel better right now than I have in the past six years. For the first time, I don't wake up and have a cold sweat, flu-type feeling. I never realized how often I felt that way until it went away.

The doctor said I'm doing really well. I lost a pound from my last doctors appointment at the urgent care. I guess they even have my urgent care appointments in the computer, which is convenient. I told him that I constantly feel swollen or inflammed. My sock line shows if I ever wear any kind of socks and that tells me I definitely am swelling. Not...a....good...look.

The doctor did tell me that he would like to increase my Plaquenil, which I thought was odd since I'm doing really well. He told me that what I think is doing well might actually just be called functioning. I'm so used to not feeling well that I just am now able to function day to day and think that's terrific. He said once I get used to the medicine doubled, I could actually feel great.

I can't imagine feeling great....I would love it.

I'm now going to take Vitamin D3, 2,000mg a day, which is the sunshine vitamin and a prenatal vitamin. The Plaquenil is changing the condition or texture of my hair. I have super fine hair but a ton of it. It feels finer and like it's thinning considerably. Do not put it past me to go buy a Kim Zolciak wig. I would totally rock the blonde Real Housewives of Atlanta look!

The other big suggestion is....he wants me to follow the Eat to Live Diet by Dr. Joel Furhman. He said that's the best lifestyle change for autoimmune disease sufferers. Apparently, the mostly vegan lifestyle reduces inflammation in Lupus sufferers.

How on earth am I going to do that with two teenage boys and a husband that only eats meat and potatoes????? Talk about a challenge! I will say that they are very good about only trying to go places that have good, healthy food when I watch my weight. I am thankful for that.

Now to just get my hubby on board this diet.....it would be amazing for him too!

On the kid front, Tyler is busy with high school Varsity soccer and Varsity track. He plays mid in soccer and goes in on the games where we are winning. If it's close, he doesn't get to play as often, but that's fine with me. I'm so proud he's going in and he's a Freshman! In Track, he's pole vaulting with his friend Hunter. Tyler's been able to clear 9 foot so he's on his way. He just wants to try to get better so he can get a letter on his Letterman jacket for Track also.

Hunter's in Track right now and it's been fun for him. He doesn't like to run so he's just pole vaulting. He hasn't qualified to go to a Track meet yet. They only take three kids so it makes it hard when you haven't made it to the three best yet. Hunter's up to clearing six foot though. I think with a little practice, he's going to be great!

Tyler told us the other day he isn't playing football next year.

That's a big negative. Not....going....to....happen.

That kid loves football. I don't know who's gotten it into his head that he shouldn't play football but they are ticking me off. He will regret it so much if he doesn't. I guess time will tell.

On the work front, I'm working again at the same company I've already worked twice. I've always been the Business Development Coordinator and they brought me back as a Consultant. I like it because I'm working with all my best friends. Fun times.

Spring sports

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:56:00 +0000

Tyler and Hunter have both been busy with sports, of course. Hunter been working on pole vaulting in Track this Spring. He hasn't had much of a chance to really pole vault because they don't do that everyday in morning practice. I hate that for him. He's got good form, he just needs to keep working on propelling himself up and over the pole.

He got out in the first round at his first track meet at the starting height. He was disappointed but I wasn't considering that's how his brother started out when he first tried to pole vault.

Tyler also decided just yesterday to join Track again this Spring and pole vault. He hadn't started out the Track season with the Track team but on a whim the other night said he was going to ask Coach Miller if he could. I think he might be doing it just to join his best friend, also named Hunter, at all the track meets. That way they get to pole vault in the morning, then have the rest of the track meet day to just hang out and watch all the races.

I just talked to Tyler and the track meet today didn't go that well. He and Hunter both got out at the starting height. We are having forty mile an hour winds so that might be a slight factor in their unsuccessful day.

Tyler had a soccer game on Monday night against the town that the boys Dad lives in. It was a very rough game with a lot of mouthing and shoving. Two of our boys got yellow cards and both teams almost got into it at the end of the game. One of the other teams players actually came over to the stands and was yelling an obscenity at a Grandma on our team. It was crazy. I hate confrontation so it completely freaked me out. Soccer can be a crazy game with crazy players and fans. We suffered our first loss that game so our boys were mad anyway. Hopefully, we'll take some lessons from our loss and go on to win big the rest of the season.

Pork Carnitas

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 01:16:00 +0000

Monday I put a pork butt in the crockpot with a Pot Roast seasoning packet, I believe it was McCormick. I added about a cup of beef broth and cooked the roast all day on low in the crockpot.

It was phenomenal. So tender and yummy. We ate it with buttered white rice and green beans. Very simple dinner but so tasty.

Tonight I decided we would eat the rest of the pork roast as pork carnitas. I simply put the shredded pork in a small skillet and let it crisp and develop a crust on the bottom before stirring it. The crust on the pork made all the difference in the world. I added taco seasoning to the pork for a spiced up flavor. We ate them in flour tortillas. I love anything Mexican!

I cooked a box of Mexican style Rice-a-Roni to serve with the carnitas.

We ate the carnitas plain with the tortillas but in the past, I've served them with all the taco fixings-lettuce, cheese, guacamole, salsa, chopped onions,diced tomatoes.

My favorite salsa actually comes in a can in the Mexican food aisle. It is the brightest, freshest flavor of any salsa I've tried. You will love it!

A triumph

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:40:00 +0000

Last night the hubs and I decided to take Allie the Boxer on a walk. We headed to the nature trail and told Jim that I'd probably not be able to walk very far since I hadn't done any exercise since last summer. For the past two years, when I'd walk, I'd get a horrible aching pain in my rib cage and have to spend the rest of the walk holding my sides and my back. I just thought I was fat and feeling the effects and wouldn’t think another thing about it. Well…last night was the first night in a very long time that the feeling of pain didn’t hit me right after beginning my walk. It was a realization I had about three quarters of the way. I didn’t have that pesky pain feeling. I couldn’t believe it. The pain must have been from my Connective Tissue Disease all this time. I don’t know if anyone that doesn’t have Lupus will ever understand what I triumph that walk was for me. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like quitting. I could keep walking without having to hold my ribs. It was the best feeling in the world. Slowly by surely, I’m thinking of more and more symptoms or pains I’ve suffered from in the last three years that were probably Lupus. All the times I thought I was really out of shape or just overweight, I felt bad because I was actually sick. In a twisted sort of way, that’s such a relief. Now, at least, I can take one pill everyday and all of my pains go away. All the times I thought I was going crazy because I never felt good are slowly being explained and I love it. Thank God for Rheumatologists!

Our soccer team is #4 in the state

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Class 5A Soccer (Boys) Week 2 Rankings as of 3/17/2014 Rank School (#1 Rankings) W-L Points 1 EAST CENTRAL (5) 5-0 121 2 HERITAGE HALL (4) 2-0 110 3 NORTHWEST CLASSEN 4-2 86 4 SKIATOOK 4-0 70 5 CLAREMORE 2-0 62 6 CASCIA HALL 4-2 56 7 PIEDMONT 3-0 53 8 COWETA 3-2 52 9 DEL CITY 2-1 44 9 MEMORIAL 2-2 44 11 PRYOR 2-1 42 12 DEER CREEK (EDMOND) 1-3 33 13 WESTERN HEIGHTS0-0 31 14 EDISON PREP 1-2 27 15 EISENHOWER 1-0 21

We won the Oologah tournament this past weekend and the boys were so pumped about it!

I copied the listing of rankings on the OSSAA website and we are number 4 in the state! That is unbelievable! We are so proud of our Bulldog soccer team! They are doing terrific! Tyler's on the team with his two best friends, which makes it even more exciting. They are the only three Freshmen on the team. Our soccer schedule really kicks into gear soon so we will a busy soccer family. I don't mind, I love watching soccer. We are on our tenth year of soccer so it's all we've ever known practically.

Front Page News

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 16:40:00 +0000

Look who made the front page of our little newspaper?!

We had our preseason soccer tournament last weekend. It was gorgeous soccer weather and we won all four games, making us the Skiatook Preseason Tournament Champions!

Tyler played in all of the games after the first couple of minutes, which thrilled me to death seeing as he's a Freshman!

He even made two goals in the last game. One only counted because the first one the refs called a handball, which was a dumb call but that's ok.

I was so proud of the team! They played terrific!

Winter can go away now!

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 19:12:00 +0000

I'm seriously tired of Winter. As in, it can go away now. It started snowing yesterday morning and has snowed off and on for the past 24 hours. I missed work Monday and Tuesday, which was fine with me because I was able to spend time with the boys and get laundry done. By the way, does laundry ever get done? I wonder how OCD women feel about laundry. Do they go crazy because it'll never be done? As soon as they put up the final folded clothes, the kids have the clothes they're wearing in the dirty clothes hamper. It's a never-ending cycle. Do they literally go nuts trying to finish it all? Thank God my hubby is sweet and doesn't put any pressure on me to keep the house together and the laundry done. I do enough of that to myself. Back to the winter....I hate it and I need sun. I need sunshine, happy people, flip-flops, sandals, cute t-shirts. I need to see my cute little guys with sun on their faces because they look adorable with a little tan. I need to feel like my leg aren't glowing and actually look a slight brown color. It's especially hard in the winter because my Mom has a hard time walking on ice and snow since she struggles anyway with walking. I can't take her to the doctor when the weather's bad because it's too hard on her. I can't wait 'til Spring solely for that reason. I'm ready for Soccer season to start and to be able to sit in the stands outside. That's much better than walking fast into a basketball auditorium when it's 18 degrees outside. This has got to be one of the worst winters we've had besides the year we had a blizzard. That was the worst officially. I think I become some sort of hermit when it's wintertime. I don't want to go out in any way. I don't want to go grocery shopping, shopping in general, or out to eat, and that's pretty bad for me. At least we only have about a month and a half. Hopefully.

Menu Planning Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:00:00 +0000

This week is an easy one because I actually took the time to plan out meals and go grocery shopping at Aldi. Here's our meal plan for the week:
Monday - Sauerkraut and Bratwurst (Sauerkraut is good for inflammation in the body)
Tuesday - Beef Stew, cornbread
Wednesday - German Smoked Sausage Dish - (smoked sausage, turnips, potatoes, onions, carrots in a stew) I know that's two stew dishes in a row but it's -5 degree windchill so it's a good thing ***I cook for my husband's Masonic Lodge on Wednesdays for their meeting (25 people) so we just get a few portions out of the crockpot that I'm cooking in and eat what they eat
Thursday- Pork Chop Apple Casserole, roasted broccoli, wild rice (pork chops, apples, and honey bar-b-que sauce baked together)
Friday - Salmon patties, pea salad, hushpuppies
Saturday - Out to eat. The kids will be with their Dad so Jim and I go eat somewhere - date night!
Sunday - Beef Stroganoff, green beans

I found that if I look at the cooks.com website when menu planning, it helps a great deal in reminding me of dishes I'd forgotten about that we've liked in the past. When I meal plan, I feel so much more organized.

Sometimes, we don't end of eating what I've planned because somethings come up but it sure helps to have an idea for the week.

Grocery Trip Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Hautemama) — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 17:08:00 +0000

Let me start this post off by saying that I can't believe I never went to Aldi to do my grocery shopping before last year. Believe it or not, my ex-husband told me about the store a long time ago, as in, 7 or 8 years ago. I guess I should have listened. I have a certain method for grocery shopping when we (I dragged my hubby along) go on our big trips to Aldi. We usually go on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon, hoping it's not too terribly busy. The reason I despise Super Wal-Mart is the crowds of crazy, pajama wearing, no teeth having people. Seriously, it irks me to no end that people can't at least put on sweatpants to go grocery shopping. I live in a small town where most likely you will run into someone you know and people still have on pajamas. Gag. This is also the reason I go to the next town to shop. I really don't want to be distracted running into the neighbors, teachers from school and have to stand and talk for 2 hours while needing to think about my shopping trip. Call me snobby but that's the honest truth. I have a hard enough time concentrating these days, I can't have someone breaking the concentration. Ha! I spend approximately two hours before my shopping trip listing out meals for the upcoming two weeks.