31 Days: When Recipes Go Wrong

A disaster

Four-cheese lasagna... it sounds good doesn't it? Melted cheeses with more cheese on top, layered in between spices and noodles. Yes, it sounded good to us too.

Last week when I was planning my dinner menu for October I came across this yummy sounding lasagna. I asked Daniel to tell me what he thought and he said he'd love for me to make it and us to try. So Monday after I dropped Nyla off at KDO and Naomi was taking her afternoon nap I set out to make the lasagna for the following night. The aroma's that were coming from my kitchen were AMAZING! The fresh cheeses, melted and spread all over the lasagna looked so good. And my kitchen smelled great all day which was an added bonus.

Fast-forward to Tuesday. The lasagna is cooked and resting for 15 minutes before we slice into it. Then the moment we've all been waiting for... I cut into it and the gooey cheeses ooze all over the plate and the smell is even more wonderful. Then Daniel takes a bite. And the look on his face is not one of pleasure. Uh oh! I take a bite and probably have the same exact expression. Blech! What in the world? There's a cheese that seems off. I immediately identify the culprit as the gorgonzola. I've had it in the past and wasn't a fan. The flavor is a bit too strong for me. I look to my right and Daniel to his left and Nyla is gobbling it up. What? The picky toddler who won't eat chicken eats this??? So we put on a happy face and start talking about what to do. Daniel suggests marinara sauce to help cut the strong flavor. It actually does help but we still don't finish it and both have a bowl of cereal. And yes, Nyla keeps eating it and Naomi had some bites too.

That's my adventure in the kitchen this week. While I'd say 85% of the time my recipes turn out and are very good there are a few recipes that I throw out immediately. Hey, it happens!

Are there any recipes that you were excited about that disappointed you?

31 Days: My Planner and Staying Organized

My 2012 planner

I'm a busy housewife and mother to two girls, two and under. We live a simple life at home but we're also busy with day-to-day activities, doctors visits, errands, church, seeing our family, Kid's Day Out two days a week for our oldest, Daniel back in school one day a week and everything in between. You know what I'm talking about! While I feel like we live a fairly simple life I still feel the need to be organized. I'm an organized person anyways so getting more organized is always on my mind.

At the end of last year I started keeping better tabs on our schedule and how I wanted to keep us organized. I found a very large wall calendar (monthly only) that can fit all our names and our menu into rows and all the days in columns. I loved this thing. I thought that having two little ones would mean I wouldn't really use it, I was wrong. Between the doctor's appointments, start and finishing medicine, Kid's Day Out days and themes and all the other usual suspects, I wrote on the calendar like a mad woman. And I loved it. But by July and August, I didn't love it so much anymore. I began leaning more on my "purse" planner.

My planner began to play a bigger role in how I did things in August. I read Rachel's post on her "Simple Day Planner" and knew I could lean more on my planner as well. And I knew I wanted to be able to carry around my information and be able to write things down when people asked me about it, otherwise I'd forget. And because I'm a big list maker (you used to be able to find multiple lists going in our home) this helped me put all my lists in one place. I was able to accomplish my tasks better and not having more wasted paper. Rachel's blog post helped me realize I'm a young mother with two young girls and I can't take care of them and 15 other things that I "think" I need to get done each day. It's not possible.

I began implementing Rachel's "pick six" in my daily life and what a wake up call it was! Now that we're in October I can really say I do six "big" things each day. Or try to. I don't beat myself up (like I used to) if one or three things on my list doesn't get done. My top priorities during the day are making sure my girls are fed and cared for and that dinner is ready for my man not long after he gets home from work. I try not to worry about much else.

So, what's my planner like?
-Dimensions: 6x8 inches (approximately)- it fits well into a few of my purses
-It has monthly and weekly spaces but I don't even use the monthly calendar.
-It has large spaces for writing my six to-do's as well as appointments for us.
-I water my indoor plants every Monday and yes I have to write it down on every Monday, otherwise I forget.
-Our dinner menu is up next to the date, written in a bright color (the picture above shows pink).
-I'll occasionally add a post-it note with a Bible verse or other important to-do's for the week. But I've found that if I have a constant post-it note it doesn't have any affect on me after a couple weeks.

I've decided for 2013 I want a planner that has a sidebar for my dinner menu, separate from my everyday tasks. I want a to-do list separate from each day so that in each day I can write in my appointments and the girls appointments, etc. Right now it's all together and while I can understand it I'd like it to be more organized. See, I have a problem. :)

How do you stay organized?

31 Days: Date Night

Date night's are pretty rare for us these days. We do spend time alone together, but actually going out? No, that doesn't happen very often. We're a young couple with two young girls so money is pretty tight.  Between all the well and sick appointments, a couple of surgeries, formula, medicine and everything in between there's just not much wiggle room for going out. Thankfully, I like to cook. No, sorry, I LOVE to cook and I'll try my hand at most anything to help us keep eating at home. But that's another post. :)

Last night we had the rare opportunity to go out. ALONE. My MIL stayed and watched the girls as we headed out. Last week my mom gave me a gift card and we just had to use it in under a week. Yep, that's how we do it here. So, off we went to one of our favorite places, Olive Garden. I have no idea why we like it so much but that's where we end up a lot of the time. I love the never ending soup, salad and breadsticks. I always say I'm going to get something else but nothing is as good as that. Plus, I keep looking at the $12.50 chicken dishes and know I can get 6-7 pounds of fresh chicken breasts for $12.50. My mind is constantly working on our grocery budget, I suppose. 

My man friend

So, off we went, by ourselves. Our night was full of adult conversation from where we'd like to be in a couple years to church and back to us. Date nights are so important. I'd say we try to go out alone every 4-6 weeks. That's all we can do so we look forward to that time together. We want to keep our marriage strong and have our kids pay attention to us and not the other way around. And date nights are a way to show them that we need time to ourselves and have lives outside of them. (For more information on this see John Rosemond's, Parenting by the Book). 

A few months ago I wrote a post titled, The Love Jar. We haven't been pulling from it like we should but I know it's always there for us to pick back up. I like The Love Jar because it's helped make me aware of what I wasn't doing for my husband. He's a "words of affirmation" guy and he likes notes in his bag or lunch. I hadn't written a note in a long time and this was one of the first things he wrote for me to do. I knew it was important yet I hadn't done it. It just made me aware. 

The yummy soup I had, chicken potato florentine. It was yummy!

31 Days in 2012

I'm joining the Nester and hundreds of other bloggers for a 31-day writing challenge for October. My theme for the month will be "31 Days of the Gafford Life." Basically, I'll be writing about what happens in our lives for the month of October. I've been looking at our calendar and we're actually busy for the month so I won't bore you with "we sat at home today... again." :)

What you'll find this month are date nights and focusing on our marriage (even with 2 little ones running us around), recipes, menu planning tips, what we do during the day, family outings, our church and what we do there, transitioning our oldest from a crib to a "big" girl bed, our journey into taking better care of ourselves and having o and so much more. We live a simple life and enjoy being at home most of the time. So, come spend the next 31 days in the lives of the Gafford's!

I hope you'll come back each day to see how we do life together as a family!

For more information visit the Nester on writing everyday in October. Join the challenge too!


I'll link up each post to this one. Enjoy!

Day 1: Introduction (this post)
Day 2: Date Night
Day 3: My Planner and Staying Organized
Day 4: When Recipes Go Wrong
Day 5: Moving to a "Big Girl" Bed
Day 6: Cookies for a Bridal Luncheon
Day 7: My Day-to-Day
Day 8: Menu Plan Monday
Day 9: Naomi's Surgery
Day 10: New Appliances (Before & after pictures)
Day 11: Fun at the Park
Day 12: Race (Five-Minute Friday)
Day 13: The Schedule Balancing Act
Day 14: My Running Journey
Day 15: Minimizing & Organizing
Day 16: Giggle Monsters
Day 17: Spaghetti Night
Day 18: Pillows & Poker Chips
Day 19: When Menu Planning
Day 20: Reading Books
Day 21: Hosting a Baby Shower
Day 22: Getting Ready for the Week
Day 23: Planning a Lunch Menu
Day 24: Dear Girls
Day 25: A Few of our Favorite Things
Day 26: Voice (Five-Minute Friday)
Day 27: no post
Day 28: 2 Days of Rest
Day 29: Fall Festival (with pictures)
Day 30: Kids and Chores
Day 31: Wrap-Up for 31 Days 2012

Five Minute Friday: Grasp

Grasp.

Grasp onto what I have. That's been the goal of this year. Contentment has been a big thing for me. Or rather finding more of it. I feel like I'm a fairly content person. I have a wonderful husband who loves me to the moon and back. I have two beautiful and healthy little girls. I have a loving family that surrounds us. I know and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I have a home with 3 bedrooms a nice kitchen and den and everything in between. I haven't quite grasped onto all these wonderful things though.

I look around, as most probably do, and see that I could have so much more. But I know deep down it wouldn't make me happy. Would a fourth bedroom be nice? I would say "yes" to that. But then that's an extra room to clean and that would probably come with another bathroom to clean, etc.

Grasp onto what I have. Grasp it. Be happy with it. I live a wonderful life with loving people all around me. People of character. People who love Jesus. Grasp them. Don't let them go. Build a life with them. Love them. Live out life with them. Make them my community. Love Jesus. Love people. Be content with the many many many blessings God has given me. I have definitely have a lot to be thankful for in my life.

This post is linked to Five-Minute Friday. Click here to see this week's link-up party and join the fun!

The Settlers of Catan [Board Game Review]



Picture courtesy user pigeoncamera on BGG

In a continuing effort to draw you, the reader, away from Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, and the other "usual suspects" of games, I now present to you the game that has done that very thing for many people around the world - The Settlers of Catan. This game was released in 1995 in Germany but became immensely popular around the world. It was the first "Euro" game that I played. Since then, well, as Ginny can attest to, I have assembled a nice collection of games. But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to tell you why this game is one you should consider purchasing.

The Settlers of Catan is a game for 3 or 4 players in which you gather resources and build settlements, roads, and cities in an effort to be the dominant force on the island of Catan. Playing time should run no more than 90 minutes. As with my look at Ticket to Ride, I won't bore you with the complete rules description but instead will focus on the overview and why this game is one you should look at.

Picture of resources courtesy user pigeoncamera on BGG

There are three steps to your turn: 1) Roll the dice and pass out resources corresponding to the hex of the number rolled; 2) Trade - or at least offer to trade - resources with another player or players; and 3) If possible and if you want, build an improvement by paying the cost for it (i.e. one road requires one wood and one brick resource). Then it is the next player's turn. This continues until one player reached 10 victory points. You'll want to refer to the rules for more details on the scoring system and other ways to achieve 10 victory points. There are also special conditions when a "7" is rolled, but again, for the purpose of this review, those details have been omitted.

My Thoughts:
So what do I think of Settlers of Catan? I enjoy it. It's a game that does not require much brain-burning and can be enjoyed by people of all "levels" of board gaming. The one caveat that I have, as do others, is that the method of acquiring resources revolves around rolling dice, and if the dice are unkind, you could theoretically receive no resources for several rolls. You can mitigate this if you build your settlements across several numbers, but be aware that the luck of the dice can play a big part in the game. For some people, this makes the game not enjoyable and even unplayable (these are people who are die-hard strategy game players). This is not the case for me. I know going in that the dice play a role (pun 100% intended) in determining resources, and I am ok with that. It adds to the elements of where to place your settlements and trading resources with the other players. I have the game rated as a 7 out of 10. If you're looking to draw a few more players deeper into the world of strategy board games, The Settlers of Catan is an excellent choice. (It is available at Target and other stores.)

-D

Menu Plan-September 24

September 24-30

Hey y'all! It's been awhile since I've posted my menu plan on our blog. I've continued on with menu planning and sticking to it but I also started something new with our menu.

I was inspired by Rachel's simplifying series and loved her thoughts on meal planning. I loved the idea about planning one week of meals and repeating that same menu the following week. What a concept! And I wish I would've thought about it. I also struggle with coming up with awesome meal plans each week. I mean I love planning but some months the task is daunting and I have a hard time coming up with meals. Even though we eat a lot of the same meals I try and be fun and plan new things but I get bogged down in that. Easier and familiar are better!

It's been a couple weeks since I've started planning our dinners like this and I love it! It's easier to plan our meals and surprisingly we don't mind eating the same things two weeks in a row. And I've found that our grocery budget is staying in check and somewhat lower. And that's something I didn't expect to come along with this new menu planning adventure.

Well, enough about that.  Let's see what we're eating for the second week in a row.

Monday- America's Test Kitchen Taco's (these are really great!)

Tuesday- was going to be penne alla vodka but since I forgot I used all the heavy cream I have no idea what I'll be making. oops!

Wednesday- pulled chicken sandwiches and veggie chips

Thursday- jambalaya

Friday- bbq chicken pizza

Saturday- leftovers or sandwiches

Sunday-leftovers or sandwiches

Are you looking for easier breakfast planning too? I wrote a blog about that not long ago. Check it out here! An update on that... we're still doing it! I love looking on the fridge and knowing what we're eating each morning without thinking about it too much.

This post is linked to:
Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday
Stone Gable's On the Menu Monday