Soup.

I am still on my quest to find easy meals for when school starts. I came across this one the other day. Sounds pretty good. Definitely looks easy! I think I'll add it to the mix and see how it goes. How bad can it be, right?!

Beef Tortellini Soup
1 lb. beef stew meat, browned
1-2 large carrots, cut
1 large onion, diced
1-2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons sugar
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 10.5 cans beef consomme/broth
1 tsp. basil leaves
2 cups cheese filled tortellini

season to taste

Make It!
In the slow cooker, add beef, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, sugar, tomatoes, consomme, and seasonings.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. About 25 minutes before serving, add basil, and tortellini. Increase the temperature to high to boil the pasta.

You could double the recipe and freeze for a later date.

Organize My Time.

I really need to learn how to organize my time better. I had all these great plans and ideas for my 2 1/2 week break from school and you know what I accomplished? Very little! I had plans to organize closets. I had plans to read three books. I had plans to scrapbook a few pages in Addison's album with the hope of finally completing her first year. I had plans to get into a new workout schedule. I had plans to make a few meal starters to keep in the freezer for when next quarter started. I also had plans to catch up on all the shows I DVR'd. And do you know what I got done on that list??? I organized one closet, read one book and watched two DVR'd shows. That was it. One book, one closet and two DVR'd shows. What did I do with the rest of my time??? I couldn't even tell you.

But that seems to be the story of my life. All these plans, dreams and ideas that I so rarely follow through on for one reason or another. Sometimes it's finances. Sometimes it's poor planning. Sometimes it's simply because the day didn't allow for such things. I don't know if I need more structure? More discipline? Fewer distractions? But something needs to change so I can get more done in my day. The question is "what?"

It isn't like I sit around watching TV all day. Nor am I just sitting around doing nothing. But neither am I spending the day shopping. I guess when I think about it so much of my day is spent chasing Addison. If I put her down for a nap I can easily spend twenty minutes running up and down the stairs just trying to get her settled in. I can spend another 20-30 minutes at various times throughout the day helping her do things like getting her dolls dressed or putting puzzles together. The Y takes up a good chunk of my day I guess. Twenty minutes there, 60 minutes working out and another 20 minutes home~ that takes up two hours right there. But still, two hours is nothing in a day. Add all of it together and I should still have plenty of time left for both chores and fun. But I don't.

I think maybe what I need to do is figure out how to better utilize what time is not being used up by Addison or the Y. I mean we're up at 5:30 around here and I don't go to bed until 10:30 or later most nights so even with two hours being used up for the Y and all my chasing after Addison I should have plenty of time for other things like baking a batch of cookies or taking 20 minutes to read or scrapbook. Or even clean my house. (our house has never been so dirty and unkempt and it's driving me nuts) What I don't know is how to better utilize my time!

I think that will be my focus this week. Trying to make the most of the handful of days I have left before next quarter starts. Then maybe, just maybe I'll get a few things accomplished. And maybe, just maybe, I'll even learn a thing or two in the process!

Cub Scouts.

It's official. Noah is a Tiger Cub Scout. So far he's been loving it. How can he not when they make such cool things like rope?! But yesterday was the best day of Cub Scouts by far. Because yesterday we took Noah to the Scout shop to get his Tiger Cub Guide, his shirt, his scarf and his scarf clip. You would've thought Christmas came early for as excited as he was!

But as great as getting those items was, nothing compared to the wonderful treasures that this store held. They had wooden mallets. They had science experiments. They had awesome flashlights. They had useful items like pocket knives. And they had lots and lots of fun camping gear. In other words, they had all sorts of things that boys love. But the best thing that they had was an archery set. The very activity that convinced Noah to sign up for Cub Scouts.

We felt horrible that we weren't buying that coveted bow and arrow but he and Marty will be spending next Saturday doing archery and shooting BB guns as they attend their first Cub Scout Fall Harvest. If Noah truly does like archery as much as he thinks he will he'll probably find that archery set under the Christmas tree. But until then I can hardly wait to see what other cool things they'll make, do and see this year!

Food Nanny.

I know I am not much into cooking these days. I just don't have the time right now between school, the kids' activities, Marty's schedule and life in general. But yesterday I was watching a couple of Food Nanny shows (love that show!) that I had DVR'd and actually got inspired to cook. Read this recipe:

Pot Roast
1 roast
carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
3 tbs cider vinegar
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg onion soup mix

Make It!
Place roast in crock pot. Whisk together brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix and pour over roast. Add carrots and potatoes and cook on high for 6 hours.

Doesn't it just sound good? Not to mention easy peasy. I am looking forward to make this when school starts back up again!!

Cookies.

My friend Kari made these about a month ago and loved them. So I asked for the recipe. Since the only way I can seem to keep track of recipes these days is on my blog, I thought I'd post it. Hopefully she doesn't mind! So, now all I need is a yellow cake mix........

Snickerdoodles

3 tbsp sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 yellow cake mix

2 eggs

¼ cup vegetable oil

Make It!

Preheat oven to 375, grease cookie sheets. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Combine cake mix, eggs and oil. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Flatten balls with bottom of a glass. Bake 8-9 minutes

Happy?

What a great concept! A poster like this would serve as a great visual reminder of how ultimately we're responsible for our happiness. Not someone else. Not some thing. Just us and the choices we make on a daily basis. I'm thinking I should print this out in a poster size and hang it in a prominent place in our house!

Love Note.

Just a note from Noah that totally made my day.

Occurred To Me.

The other night as I was telling Marty about how much I am looking forward to my break from school it occurred to me that the sooner I get my assignments done that week, the more school- break days I get.

The following weeks assignments are posted Friday morning. So, if I plow through next week and get next week's work done by Thursday, then Friday I can start my last week's work. As soon as I'm done, I'm done and I am on break!

So my goal is to be done by Wednesday of that last week and get two extra days.......