Tea Party Exclusive!

I realized this morning that I never regaled you all with tales of the Tea Party that I put together and hosted. Getting prepared for it was a little tough, what with hubby being out until Friday morning and my youngest being under the weather. I knew that on Monday I needed to start baking and preparing food for Friday afternoon. I may be the Queen of Procrastination in most areas, but when it comes to planning and executing events, I am ON TOP of things!
Monday, however, my plans were slightly skewed by the fact that the MIL was still here until that evening. I had envisioned in my mind, (silly me...) that she would want to hang out with the boys, pack her things, have a nice leisurely lunch and then in the late-afternoon, head out to the airport. Not so! I had explained in great detail what my week would entail. All the cooking, the preparations, the assembling of items. I had listed what I had planned on baking each day. That however did not make the slightest bit of difference. Instead we "toured" our fair city one last time. I am not joking you. This was not her first time, or even her second time here. We had been out and about ALL weekend long, since Friday. So Monday, while I was trying to work on a recipe for cheese savories, I could tell she was JUST itching to get moving. Now my theory on this is that because MIL is retired, and she used to spend her time teaching Content Mastery to the labeled "problem" children, she now has A LOT more energy. She is not teaching, or trying to deal with temper tantrums, she is traveling, and gardening, and dragging me all over town!
So after several shops, Target, WalMart, and 2 malls, I finally got her to the airport and the boys and I headed home. I spent much of the evening working on more food. The rest of the week was much the same. MOPS on Tuesday, which made it more difficult to get stuff done. But I managed thanks to Gods help, and a friend of mine coming over on Thursday to help me out. I had to scrap the Melting Moments because, 1. they just didn't taste right, and 2. They literally disinegrated in my hand when I would pick them up. I couldn't imagine what would happen if I tried to fill them with chocolate filling and smoosh them together! So I substituted in Chocolate and Vanilla Gooey Butter Cookies! YUM!
Now in light of my new Crazy Pregnant Brain, I forgot my camera! I will have to get some of the pics from the family. But everything looked GREAT! I used different tea cups and saucers for each of the girls, but had matching dessert plates and matching flatware. Then lots of silver trays with doileys and a tiered dessert tray with goodies on it! For favors I had found little tiny tea cup and saucers that I put little bottles of nailpolish and lipgloss in. And then American Girl Trading Cards! I also had sugar cubes with little blue flowers on them. Too SWEET!
The food was a hit, I was so happy with the reactions from everyone! The girls were cute, very polite and all dressed up in their best American Girl finery! I did a lesson on proper tea ettiquette. How to properly serve eachother tea and little cakes.
I am glad it is done, and I honestly couldn't have picked a better family to do it for. I am going to break down the cost of everything it took to bake everything, calculate the time I spent on it altogether, estimate rental costs for all my Tea items, and come up with a good package price for my website and business! I would love for this to be something I did regularly! I had a lot of fun!

Postive Contradiction?

My 3 yr old is one of the most polite kids I know. And I don't just say that because he is mine. He thanks you for everything, kisses, hugs, his juice, food... you name it he is thankful for it. When he was sick, I think he went into thankful overdrive. So sweet, he would throw up, and then thank you for cleaning him up, or changing out the towel he was sitting on!
He has also never said Yeah. Always yes. But heres what makes me have to cover my mouth and laugh to myself. I asked him yesterday if he wanted a cookie. And he looked me straight in the face and said, "Yes, Mommy, I DON'T." I'm sorry, What???
Not, No thanks, or No, Mommy. But Yes, I don't want a cookie. I can ask him if he is ready to go, and I get Yes Mommy, I'm not!
When he starts Preschool in the Fall, I will know immediately if his teacher is TRULY paying attention to him! It would be so easy to just stop listening after hearing the word Yes. I know he is contradicting himself, and in the name of all that is grammatically holy, I should correct him, but it is just TOO DARN FUNNY!!

WFMW

When my kids get sick, they are not huge fans of the Pedialite. They hate the way it tastes, and who can blame them? Its like drinking watered down cough syrup! I don't really like to give them Gatorade because it has a lot of sugar in it. So we give them something called Recharge! You can only find it at places like Whole Foods, Wild Oats, or Native Sun. But it tastes pretty good, comes in three flavors, grape, orange, and fruit punch. The boys seem to like it and it tends to stay down longer. When we had the Rotovirus last year, I gave them this and it really seemed to help the "getting over it" process! It can be a pain to find a store who carries it, but if it keeps them hydrated and get better sooner, its worth it, and, well, that works for me!!

Update On The Sickies

I think the whole Flu bug hit last Wednesday, my little guy was hit pretty hard, this stuff is NASTY!! Then Friday, after I got home from my Tea Party, which was a HUGE success, my 3 yr old promptly threw up in my lap. He has been sick since, and while he has ceased the vomiting, he is still a limp noodle! So tired, asking to go to bed early, and eating next to nothing. Yesterday, my DH was next, no throwing up, just drained and tired. It sucks the life right out of you. I started feeling listless around noon yesterday, went in to check on hubby and laid down with him for a minute. I promptly fell asleep. And I have such a great guy, he got up and went out to take care of the boys. Which was so wonderful. I woke up achy and nauseous and had no energy. I am still pretty much there today, but DH had to go into work. God is giving me the strength to get through the day until he comes home. I will probably not be posting a MP this week since we will be recovering and only eating what we can all handle! Hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for all your prayers, it really helped, I am sure!

Quick Prayer Request

Hey Everyone, I wanted to ask for some prayer for my littlest guy. He has been sick and miserable all day long. Seems like a little tummy bug, but I can't get him to keep any thing down, even Tylenol. He won't get in a cool bath either. He has a temp, and I would like to get it down, but I feel like I am out of options. Just sleepy and listless. He has had a little tiny bit of juice mixed with water about 15 minutes ago, and is resting again. Please pray he can get past this and start feeling better!
Thanks Guys!

WOO HOO! Its WFMW!

Its time for another WFMW, and a day when I should be doing all kinds of things instead of sitting here and reading everyones entries on what works for them! What works for me is nothing new, but I thought I would share it with all of you! When I was in labor with my first son, I was in a birthing center surrounded by 5 midwives. For whatever reason, the only thing that made my labor bearable, besides the lovely warm water, was a hard, pokey massage ball type thing that my hubby was using to massage my lower back. He was pushing really hard, so hard that he had imprints in his hand and had to keep stopping because his hand would hurt. One of my midwives brought in two small tubes, both held Arnica. One was a gel, the other an oral little tablet. She had my hubby rub it on my lower back and I later took a tablet or two. I NEVER bruised. Ever. It was not even sore the next day! I should have had a GI-NORMOUS bruise on my lower back. But the Arnica prevented it! So now when my boys fall and get bonks or bumps in various places, we rub a little Arnica on the boo boo and either the bruising is very minimal or non-existent! And that DEFINTELY works for me!!
You can pick this up at any health food store, btw!!

MPM late again....

I just can't seem to get caught up lately, I think being sick slowed me down, and then last week was spent trying to get better, and clean furiously for the MIL visit that was this past weekend. That went surprisingly well, my hubby got to come in to port for two days of it, which was WONDERFUL! And I feel like MIL actually spent some time getting to know me (its been almost 6 years now, I guess it was time...) and maybe liking me better. I really called it on last weeks MP, we ate out for every meal this weekend and yesterday except for breakfast! But hey, I didn't have to cook, and MIL treated, so I am NOT complaining! This week will be easy-peasy as Charlie and Lola say, since I am in the kitchen all day long preparing for the Tea Party I am planning Friday.
Monday: dinner at Panera
Tuesday: Boys wanted cereal and raisins, so I had cereal too!
Wednesday: Pizza Pancakes, never got a chance to make these a couple of weeks back
Thursday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup (this is becoming a staple around here!)
Friday:Crockpot Saucy Meatballs, and Spaghetti (hubby home with boys)
Saturday:Probably out for dinner

Just in case anyone is interested, here is my menu plan for the Tea Party on Friday

Chicken Salad Croissants
PB&J Sandwiches cut with teapot shaped cookie cutter
Blueberry Tea Bread with a lemon cream cheese spread

Fruit Tray with Dip

Sweets:
Melting Moments
Spice Cookies
Brandy Snaps
Orange Cheesecake Dreams
Caramel Apple Bars

Savories:
Mexican Cheese Savories
Cheese Cookies

and a French Vanilla Cake in the shape of a Tea Pot with Fresh Strawberries in the middle! Of course I am serving a variety of fruity teas and a cinnamon one. I plan on taking a TON of pics to post here, as well as on my website. Stay tuned!

New Update on My Dad

For those of you who are keeping track, my dad finally went in yesterday to get checked up on the mystery spot they had seen in the OTHER leg. His appt was supposed to be at 3pm, but they had called and wanted him in at 9am. Which in my mind, would be sending up red flags all over the place. He was there most of the day, getting tests and more x-rays. The final diagnosis is that he has a tumor in his thigh bone. It is now causing him pain to put weight on it, and because of this, they are putting him on restricted movement at home for the next two weeks for fear he will break his leg. The next course of action, and I am assuming this will be in the next two weeks, they will biopsy the tumor to discern whether it is malignant or benign. Whichever it is, it will be removed. Chemo will be an option should it be worse case scenario. After the removal, and whatever the treatment following, they will insert a metal rod in his leg for structural integrity.
My mom is "handling" this better than I think she is letting on. I am not freaking out yet, and was surprisingly calm while on the phone. We are of course hoping it will be benign, although I know God can remove it altogether! Please add my dad to your prayer lists! This would mean so much to me and my mom I am sure. This will not affect their finances in the regular sense, but should my dad be forced to retire, my mom will lose her health insurance. Which she needs due to several health issues. Her job does not let their employees work enough to qualify for health insurance.
Thanks Everyone!

WFMW First time!

I am sure this is incredibly cheesy of me, but I FINALLY have something for WFMW! And when I realized I did, I was so excited to play along. My hubby wanted me to wait until next week since it is already 10pm here, but OH WELL!! You can check out more ideas at Shannons place.

Since I have become the coupon clipping Queen in my house, I also like to save the coupons for some of the places we like to eat out at every now and then. Not that we only eat at places that take coupons, but hey, I like to save money where we can in our seemingly never-ending journey out of debt. However, I am incredibly absentminded (I call it Mom-brain!) and without fail, never bring them with me. And usually when we do eat out, its very spur of the moment. So Monday, on our way to grocery shop, we had been running errands most of the day. And yes, I was clipping coupons in the car while my dh was driving. Maybe not the brightest idea, but I needed it done. I was getting ready to cut up the Quizno's coupons, and there were so many of them I didn't really feel like it. I was sitting there trying to think how to fold it to stick it in my coupon organizer, when my HUBBY, yes thats right everyone, my hubby had a BRILLIANT idea! He suggested that I get a folder, gather all the restaurant coupons from the house and keep them in the folder in the car! Genius! Now all my restaurant coupons are neatly stashed in a bright stripey folder, within easy access for any craving my little heart desires! And that my friends, Works For ME!!!

Menu Plan Monday, I know I am Late!!

Ok, so I know it is Tuesday and I am just now getting around to this. My weekend was so crazy, I got really sick Thursday, spent Friday in the hospital because I was very dehydrated, then recuped on the weekend. I am finally catching up now. So here is a menu plan of sorts for this week!
Monday: Sandwiches
Tuesday: Yankee Pot Roast in the Crockpot
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: grilled cheese and tomato soup (hubby goes back out with boat)
Friday: No clue! MIL comes in this morning so whatever, probably eat out!

So there you have it! DH was supposed to go out this past Friday afternoon, but because I was in the hospital, he got to stay behind! Small blessings. So this week has been great, he goes in to the base, works for an hour and then comes home! The Grocery Game is going amazingly well, I saved more than I spent this week! I have reached my stockpile quota on a couple of items already, and our cupboards have never been so full! And on half as much as we used to spend.
I have been working VERY hard on preparing for the Tea Party I am hosting next weekend, I will post pics afterwards, but you have to wait two weeks!
My next issue of my EZine promises to be great, things are coming together nicely, and I have found I really enjoy finding topics and researching. So there is my "in a nutshell" update on us, I have to call Target Media Relations to get an interview about for an article!!

Calling ALL DIY Brides!

Alright, people, I rarely mix my business up here on the blogosphere, but I am looking for stories of DIY Brides. Either a few years ago, or in the process of planning your wedding and "Doing it yourself"! I am working on my second issue of my EZine, the focus of April being DIY making it fun, modern and funky. How to stay within your budget, knowing when to splurge and when to cut corners. This doesn't necessarily have to be wedding related, if you plan frequent events in your house, parties, birthday or otherwise, I would love to hear your tips for those as well. Do you have a FAVORITE recipe you use at parties, appetizers or otherwise, I would love to include some recipes as well! Leave me a comment or send me an email and we will go from there!!
TIA

Tastes Like Chicken....

Kind of a catch phrase, and usually means that while you are not sure what it is you are eating, its still pretty good. This however, does not apply to MILK. I know what you are all thinking right now, she is pregnant, and everyone knows that pregnant women have strange tastes and all that. Not the case!
Last night, while dh and I were watching Alias, (we are now halfway through season 4, thank you very much!) I decided that I wanted a Thin Mint with a little milk. So I went in the kitchen, got a clean glass out of the dishwasher and poured the milk. I took a drink, and EEEWWWW it tasted like CHICKEN! My first inclination was to make hubby taste it. You know that phenomenom of how when something smells or tastes bad, your obviously need a second opinion, and who ever is closest to you then has to smell and taste the nasty-ness as well! Damon took a sip, and wrinkled up his face. HA! I was right! Now why on earth does our milk taste like chicken you ask? I have no clue! The expiration date is still good for at least another week, and no there was no thawing chicken in my fridge! What is the deal? We picked it up grocery shopping on Monday, and while I had not drank a glass since we had gotten it, I had eaten a couple of bowls of Cocoa Krispies and had not noticed a chocolatey chicken taste.
What was the last thing you ate that tasted like something it shouldn't?

More Grocery Game Success!

I had promised to talk a little more about the Grocery Game after I had done it for a couple of weeks. Yesterday was my second round with the game. I had a pretty good idea from the week before so I knew what I was looking for, and what I was doing! We had intended to do the grocery shopping Sunday, but the day got away from us, hee hee hee, in other words we found things to do that we enjoy a LOT more than grocery shopping. So when I suggested that we pick up a paper and go to the grocery store, Damon said lets just do it Monday. Which is fine, they post the list Sunday through Tuesday. So Monday I mentally went through the fridge, freezer, and cupboards, made my menu plan and then went to the website. I got through it much quicker than last week. I scanned the blues and greens, determined that while FREE dogfood is a great deal, we don't have a dog, and I probably didn't need to stockpile it! For the three stores I get info from, I made up my list of things we use, would need to stockpile, and that which we really needed. Ie. milk, bisquick, and perishables like fruits and veggies. Then I went through my freshly clipped coupons,which does not smell like freshly clipped grass, and pulled the ones that coincided with the sales at the stores. Then once Damon got home, we ate dinner. Because as we all know, shopping on an empty stomach is a big NO NO! We still did 3 stores this week, but they were all within like a couple of minutes of eachother. Walgreens had 2 bottles of laundry detergent (tide or gain) for $11. As well as Dawn dishsoap for .99 a piece, which I paired with a coupon. I paid a little over $13 and saved over $7! Then we went to Winn Dixie which was across the street. I saved another $22 here and got a lot of BOGO's. This week we bought just as much stuff as last week and spent less. In the past two weeks, with the help of the Grocery Game, and learning to clip coupons as well as when to use them, I have saved well over $100. Our stockpile is growing, and I think I will have it well in place before the usual 12 weeks. So there you have it folks! Week 2 and it is definitely saving us a great deal of money! If you have any questions about it, or about joining, please leave a comment and I will email you back! Seriously, I can't think of a good reason to not join this program. I have already more than paid for my monthly membership, which I won't even pay fully for until March 17th when my trial period ends. Who doesn't like to save money!?!?!

Hot Topic

I may get myself in trouble for this one. Then again I may not! I want to start out by saying to those of you who may not know me, I believe the Bible is the written infallible word of God. I grew up in a Foursquare church, that I loved. I believe the correct term is Non-Denominational. Basically this means we don't have a lot of the politics and legalisms that can accompany some denominated churches. I am not saying in any way shape or form that all denominated churches are political and legalistic. I have been to some great ones. I have however learned since moving to the South, why I am not a Southern Baptist. And I will once again state, that I know not all SB churches teach the same way. This is simply what I have encountered recently.
This year is the first time I have attended MOPS. I enjoy it, the boys really enjoy it too. It is in a nice church in our downtown area, which oddly enough my son has dubbed China. He gets very excited when I tell him we are going to his class in "China". Because if I try and call it what it is, he just ignores me!
Anyway, usually I just sit and listen to the little teaching, and glean out that which is useful to me. I believe that God has created all of us differently, thus our marriages and husbands are not going to be cookie cutter either. My hubby is a different breed. I have been so blessed with a hubby that loves and cares about me, comes home from work and WANTS to help me around the house. He loves to clean, which is a military thing I am convinced. What I am trying to say is, he is not your ordinary husband, and we don't have your ordinary marriage. We rarely argue, not to say we don't disagree, we do. But we work it out. Always. I love him and I would never want to say anything that would hurt him. Even in the heat of anger. I used to handle my anger by being quiet. I didn't like to be bugged,I just wanted to be left alone and then I would get over it and move on. Ten minutes, tops! But Damon knows that we need to talk about things, and even though its hard for me, I do now. Anyway, I have said all that to say this. I have a hard time being told that a marriage is the husband working during the day while I am Miss Suzy Homemaker, taking care of the household, children and then when the husband comes home I take care of him too. That I should not expect him to help me, but be grateful if he does. And for the things he forgets or doesn't do, I do it for Jesus. I am submissive to my husband, don't get me wrong. I just was not made to be like that. I enjoy the way our family works. And I believe that God knew that when He brought Damon and I together. I am not a Stepford Wife. To be told to just let him do his thing and provide him with a neat and tidy and organized home all the time, every day just doesn't feel right to me. Women are created to be the helpmeet. I understand that. However, we are a team and we have to work together. Doesn't that seem to make more sense?
I know there are some families that this works for, and the wives are happy and the husbands are happy. I say good for you. But for our little family, our method works for us. And I truly believe that God put us together and likes the way our family works. We love eachother, we help eachother out, my hubby understands how much I do especially with him gone so much with his ship. And when he comes home, he takes over so I get a break. Our household is taken care of, I do quite a bit while dh is at work. I also do our finances and pay the bills. I know I went off on a tangent there. If it is rambly, thats because it is fresh in my mind. I kept my mouth shut for most of MOPS. No need for foot in mouth syndrome there!
The moral of my rant is we are all created different, unique in Gods eyes, and what works for one person, may not work for another. As long as we are listening to Gods word and for His still small voice, I would say we are on the right path.

Menu Plan Monday

I can't believe how fast last week went by. I was crazy busy as most of you know. We only got to about Thursday with our menu plan. So some of that will carry over. I am hoping this week will be a lot slower paced so I can get some rest. The Chicken and Dumpling Crockpot recipe was a big hit, so we are repeating it this week. I think I want to give the Pizza Pancakes Laura posted a try! So here is our Menu Plan for this week!

Monday: Chicken Pesto Pasta and Salad
Tuesday: Duty Day for Damon, so probably sandwiches or something easy
Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings in Crockpot
Thursday: Tasty Chicken Crockpot
Friday: Pizza Pancakes

This will also be our second week doing the Grocery Game. I have quite a lot left from last week, so most of what we get this week will be to add to our stockpile system.
I will post later about my new client from this weekend! Very interesting...
Have a great week!