I've been tagged!

First of all I have to say that what I have read of you other girls in response to these questions is making me feel old. 10 years ago, I had already been married for 8 years and you all were still in college finding your mates!

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Wow… it is hard to imagine life that long ago. That was three life times ago – the life times of three of my children. At that time I only had only one child. Cheyenne was 2 and spoiled rotten. We had adopted her as a newborn after being married for 6 years and were loving being parents. We were just getting started on our adoption papers to adopt another baby. I was working as a Registered Nurse in the Home Health field on top of being a housewife and mom. I am so glad that I don’t still have the juggle of working outside of the home.

What was I doing 5 years ago?
Enjoying every minute of my final baby. Savannah was just 7 months old and I knew she was my last child. With every other of my children I returned to work, but this time I decided to stay home and have been here ever since. Carson was 3 and Morgan was 4 so life was pretty crazy with all of them under foot. Cheyenne was 7 then and there was a lot less drama related to her then compared to now.

What was I doing 1 year ago?
Driving to preschool and turning around in what felt like 5 minutes to pick up my preschooler. Now I just walk Savannah to the bus and she comes home with the rest of the kids. Other than that my life a year ago really wasn’t too much different than my life now. Hmmm what does that mean? Actually I really do like my predictable life and our routines.

What was I doing yesterday?
Returned odds and ends to neighbors and friends – you know all the stuff that piles up that isn’t yours and needs to go back where it came from.
Went to Albertson’s and stocked up on the soup and ran other errands
Did some cleaning
Went to lunch - twice. Once with Clayne and once with the girls. That is why I only had a soda girlfriends!
Helped kids with homework
Visited with my neighbor
Made dinner
Went to the ward book club
Gee, when I put it all down like this it doesn’t sound like much – but I was busy!

Five places I’d rather be.
I could do a week in Maui again
A weekend trip with girl friends (love those women’s conferences in Provo)
In bed sleeping soundly – a good night’s sleep is priceless
I’ve never had a massage but think I’d enjoy one
A get away with just my hubby

Five treats I love.
Bit O Honey candy
Rocky Road ice cream or just about any flavor
Fresh warm cookies
Chili’s Hot Lava chocolate cake
Pizza (the added benefit is that I don’t have to make dinner)

What I would do with a million dollars.
Pay my tithing Ü Pay off my house and buy two new vehicles. Do some traveling. Put aside enough for our retirement and the kid’s education/mission funds and then donate a bunch to the church. I really don’t know what I’d do with the money so I’d have to meet with my financial planner. (How sensible of me)

5 favorite TV shows.
Wish I could watch TV, but don’t get to very much. Once in a while I catch Oprah or sometimes I watch a little HGTV. If we go back to when I did watch TV I would have to say one of my all time favs is Everybody Loves Raymond.

My most memorable things right now.
The kids bursting through the door after school – happy to see me and share their day. The quiet hours I have while they are gone at school to get things done so that I am more available to them when they are home with me. Having “enough” – enough time to do the things I really “need” to do, enough money to get the things we really “need” and an occasional “want” too, having enough love and joy to feel happy in the life I am living.

5 people I am tagging.
Joanna, Wendy, Teresa… ummmm the rest of my blogging friends have already been tagged. Anyone who reads this feel free to join in.

Casseroles & Dishes Using Cream Soups

Inspired by the soup sale at Albertson's this week, I had been considering a post to share some of my recipes that I make using cream soups. Christine even specifically requested it and I hate to disappoint. Now first let me make the disclaimer that no recipe using a cream based soup can really be that healthy for you... so don't be letting all the fat grams or calories be buggin you when you look at these recipes. These are considered "comfort foods" and in the cold winter seasons, we tend to eat more of these kinds of foods. I just try not to make more than one "comfort meal" a week and keep my serving size moderate. You'll have to decide what to do about this for yourselves.

Now my request to you.... if you try one of these and like it, let me know. If you don't like it, please be so kind as to not let me know about it Ü Another request... if you have a great recipe using cream soups, please share. Thanks.

Chicken with Peas and Potatoes

4 Chicken Breasts
2 Tblsp Olive Oil
1 ½ Cups Chicken Broth
1 Small Onion
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Cup Peas
4 Large Potatoes, Cubed And Peeled

Place oil in bottom of skillet. Cook chicken on medium, browning both sides. Add broth and cubed potatoes. Simmer 25 minutes on medium to low heat until chicken is cooked through. Add cream of mushroom soup. Just spoon in, all over the chicken. Simmer another 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Add peas 3 minutes before serving. Season to taste.

Pork Chop and Potato Scallop

4 Pork Loin Chops, boneless
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
½ Cup Sour Cream
¼ Cup Water
2 Tblsp Parsley
4 Cups Potato, Peeled, thinly sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown pork chops in a skillet. Blend soup, sour cream, water and parsley. In 2 quart casserole dish alternate a layer of potatoes - sprinkled with salt and pepper, with sauce mixture. Top with pork chops and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour 45 minutes.


Chicken Noodle Casserole

4 Chicken Breast, skinless, boneless
6 Ounce Egg Noodles
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup Sour Cream
Salt & Pepper
1 Cup Crumbled buttery round crackers
1/3 Cup Butter

Poach chicken in a large pot of simmering water. Cook until no longer pink in center, about 12 min. Remove from pot and set aside. Bring chicken cooking water to a boil and cook pasta in it. Drain. Cut chicken into small pieces, and mix with noodles. In a separate bowl, mix together mushroom soup, chicken soup, and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Gently stir together cream soup mixture with the chicken mixture. Place in a 2 quart baking dish. Melt butter in a small saucepan, and remove from heat. Stir in crumbled crackers. Top casserole with the buttery crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until heated through and browned on top. Note: A can of cooked chicken may be used in place of the chicken breasts.

Hot Chicken Salad Casserole

2 ½ C. Cooked Chicken
2 ½ C. Cooked Rice
2 ½ C. Diced Celery
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 T. Chopped Onion
1 C. Mayonnaise
1 Can Sliced Water Chestnuts
2 T. Lemon Juice
2 Cups chow mein noodles

Combine ingredients and put in a greased 9x13” pan. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. (1 hour if chilled in fridge.) Top with chow mein noodles or cracker crumbs.

Cheesy Chicken

1 Cube Margarine
1 Can Evaporated Milk
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
½ C. Flour
1 ½ C. Grated Cheese
1 tsp. Salt
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Place chicken in cake pan. Season with season salt or other desired spices. Cook for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Flip chicken over and season other side. Cook for an additional 15 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 325 degrees. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over chicken. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Serve with rice.

Grocery Deals

A great week to stock up on those cream soups for winter casseroles. Keep in mind that I only select items to highlight that I feel are an exceptional value or that I think you or I may desire to buy for our families. Check the ads for more items.

To my friend, Christine, sorry no great deals on Coke for your vending machine. Albertson's had 12 packs 3/$12 (not so great) and Fred Meyer had only Pepsi products on their ad 12 packs are 5/$12 with in ad coupon.

Albertsons

20/$10
Campbell's cream of mushroom soup
Campbell's cream of chicken soup
Spaghettios
Yoplait yogurgt

10/$10
Campbell's chunky soups
Prego spaghetti sauce

88 cents/lb. Cook's shank portion ham

Smiths

99 cents doz. large eggs

$2.79 gal. milk

$1.44/lb. fresh pork ribs
$1.88 Cheetos or Fritos

This one's for the laundry

Most anyone who knows me, knows that Mondays are dedicated to doing laundry - and lots of it! I start as soon as I get home from the gym at 7 am and keep it going all day. Sounds fun huh? Well at least it makes my Mondays productive with not much thought. I came across a great little essay written by Trish Berg here is a little excerpt:

"I am sure that my children are not bothered in the least to wear the same PJ's afew nights in a row. What they would be bothered by is a mom who is tired and stressed out.

What my children need is a mom who is joyful, dirty laundry in the hamper or not. A mom who finds joy in her daily chores. In fact, that is what God calls us to be: joyful. "And I commend enjoyment, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat, and drink, and enjoy himself, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of life which God gives him under the sun,." Ecclesiastes 8:15

Each day is a blessing, and as moms, we must find the joy in our mothering; including laundry.

Twenty years from now, your grown children will not remember when you did the laundry. What they will remember is living in a joyful home, full of peace and love, for each other and for Christ."

Here is the link if you would like to read the entire essay. It is just a page and a half and a great reminder to us moms. http://www.trishberg.com/Adobe/Articles/LaundryLunacy.pdf

Have a great day and enjoy that laundry Ü

technical business

Who knew you would have to be technical to blog lol. If you want to watch the Brian Regan clip and don't want my music to bug you while you do, just scroll down on the left of my blog and stop the music while you watch the comedy clip. Enjoy!

brian regan foods and labels

Clayne and I were laughing so hard we had tears rolling down our faces. Bet this makes you laugh too. There are more Brian Regan clips at You Tube. The poptart one and the doctor one are very funny too. Enjoy!

What to do with those tomatoes

Here is a task before those tomatoes freeze on the vine. We have actually done this before and it really works. This is on the "to do" list for the weekend.

1. Pick all of your tomatoes - even the green ones.


2. You can put the orange ones in the window to finish ripening like you normally do.


3. Wrap each green tomato individually with newspaper and place in a box.


4. Put the box in your basement in a cool, dark room.


5. Check them from time to time and they will ripen slowly.

One year we actually were able to still eat tomatoes from our own garden at Thanksgiving.

Wall Hanging

Remember earlier this week when I told you I had done some Christmas shopping at Deseret Book? Here is a picture of the cute wall hangings I bought.

Fall Changes

It will be the first day of Autumn on Sunday. There are definately some good things about fall. Here are just a few random ones.

1. I know that the yard work is coming to an end.


2. The holiday season is coming - hectic as it can be, I love it!


3. A new menu of comfort foods. I love cooking hearty stews in the colder seasons.


4. Changing out some of the house decor.

Here is a picture of my "fall" bedding set. It is my fav but Clayne said it looked too warm for the summer and we switched it out. So we have "his" bedding choice on for spring and summer and I get "my" bedding choice for fall and winter. I've been waiting for the change of seasons to switch it out but didn't make it til SundayÜ Doesn't it look cozy?

This Week's Grocery Deals

This is a good week if you need cereal Ü

Albertsons
The following are 10/$10 (need to buy 10/$15 and then get instant $5 rebate)

Quaker cereals (life, cap'n crunch)
Quaker instant oatmeal and old fashioned oats
Quaker breakfast and muffin bars, breakfast cookies
Quaker granola bars and bites
Nabisco cheese nips
Nabisco handi-snacks (cheese and cracker kits)
Nabisco Snak Saks (bags of mini oreos, mini chips ahoy, etc.)
Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrups

Grapes 97 cents/lb
Round rump roast or chuck roast 1.99/lb

THESE NEXT DEALS ARE JUST THURS,FRI,SAT at Albertsons
Extra lean ground beef 1.88/lb
boneless pork sirloin chops 1.88/lb

Smiths
8/$8 Post cereals (honey bunches of oats, honeycomb, raisin bran, golden crisp, cocoa or fruity pebbles, frosted or honey nut shredded wheat) Need to buy 8 to get this price

Kellogs pop tarts 10/$10
Rump roast 1.99/lb
Chicken drumsticks or thighs 79 cents/lb
Colgate Toothpaste 10/$10
Milk 2.79/gal
10/$10 Duncan hines brownies

Pick up an ad at the store when you go in to get these deals so you can see if there is anything else that interests you. Happy shopping!

Five for Today

1. Productive Monday - I forced myself to be very productive yesterday. I went to the home show last week and got really behind in my own home by doing so. There were a couple of the homes that I really liked, but some of them were just over the top. It was good that this year, I was able to come home and be happy with my own home Ü Anyway... I did 6 big loads of laundry and some house work. It is kind of fun (if you can call house work fun) to do a "home blessing hour." This is an idea that I got off of http://www.flylady.net/ The idea is that you make a list of 6 house cleaning tasks that each take 10 minutes, then you quickly get them done. I try to pick the 6 items that make the biggest visual impact after the weekend. In addition to my domestic duties in the home, I made a quick run to the grocery store and put in my 30 minutes helping with centers in Savannah's kindergarten class. Oh and then I got on to http://www.winkflash.com/ and ordered some pictures. They have a deal going right now for 6 cent prints.

2. Christmas shopping - Yep... gotta start thinking about it again. I was excited to come upon one of my family's favorites at the grocery store yesterday. I know that I told you I'd share all my good grocery deals, but this one I am keeping to myself. I bought 3 cases of this great deal. There were 24 in a case and they were 25 cents each, making the case $6. Whahoo! My neighbor/family friend gifts are purchased. You will just have to wait until the season is upon us and then we'll see if I remember to post what I gave my neighbors. Now all of you who are my neighbors will know how "thrifty" I am Ü Today I went to Deseret Book and got some really cute wall hangings to give as family gifts. I know there is a chance my SIL will check my blog and see this, but oh well. The rest of her family gift will be a surprise. I was hoping they'd have these on their web site, but the image is not available. You'll have to take my word that they are soooo cute and better still they are on sale for less than $9 each. Maybe later this week I'll take a picture and post it.

3. A bit of gratitude - I must say that I am so thankful to be able to be a stay at home mother. I love being here when they come home from school. I love having time to do my housework and even a bit of my hobbies. I remember the days when I worked - what I don't remember is how I managed to do it. I am especially grateful for the quiet time that I get each school day for 3 hours. It took a long time to get them all in school and I must say it is worth the wait. I decided to try a temple session while Savannah was at kindergarten today. I wasn't sure that I could get home before the bus brought the darlings home, but I did. I am now planning to attend the temple each Thurs at the 1:00 session. I know that there will be times when I won't be able to make it, but I'm going to try to do most Thursdays. I am not posting this to boast... I am posting this to let you know that I really do need to go to the temple more for self improvement and I also post this to invite any of you who live locally to join me. I'll admit that one of my motivations in increasing my temple attendance is to show Clayne that I really do need to be able to stay home because if I worked I wouldn't have time to do my temple work as well Ü Not that he is thinking of sending me back to work - but I'm gonna make sure he doesn't think of it.

4. There was quite a buzz on my posting for my yummy chocolate chip cookies and also some requests for the yummy gingersnaps. Not only do these taste fabulous, but they make your home smell so "fall."

Gingersnaps

4 Cups Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cloves
2 tsp Soda
1 ½ tsp Salt
¾ Cup Shortening
¾ Cup Margarine
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
¼ Cup Molasses

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream shortening, margarine and sugar. Add eggs and molasses. Beat well. Stir in dry ingredients. Roll into walnut size balls then roll in granulated sugar to coat. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 4 ½ dozen.

5. Almost Wednesday - Are you getting excited? Are you anticipating the great deals? Ready to grocery shop? Be sure to check on Wednesday when I'll share what I find noteworthy in the grocery ads.

Baking Cookies

Just taking it easy this Sunday afternoon and making some cookies for family night that we'll have later. We like doing FHE on Sunday's instead of Monday Nights. It just works for us. Thought I'd share the recipe for our yummy cookies too. Many of you who share our last name already have this one, but for those who don't... ENJOY!


Bodily’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 ½ Cup Brown Sugar
1 ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Cups Shortening
4 Eggs
2 Tsp. Vanilla
2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Salt
5 Cups Flour
1 Cup Chocolate Chips - mini
1 Cup Mini M&M's

Beat sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Add baking soda, salt and half of the flour; mix well. Stir in remainder of flour and chocolate chips/M & M's. Roll into balls the size of walnuts, place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes or until light brown. Makes 6 dozen.


I was reading the Sunday paper and came across an article about a mom who blogs who's name is Dawn. My friend Jen had sent me an email a while back about how this lady sold some Pokemon cards on Ebay for a good sum of money. Anyway... this lady is now being offered book deals, being asked to write a TV series for Nickelodeon, and even a movie screenplay. Who knows what she'll actually end up doing, but it all started from her blogging and ability to write in humorous ways about family life. I went to her site today just to look it over and will probably visit there once in a while for a laugh. Here is the link http://www.mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/


And as promised... (grocery deals) as I was reading the paper I saw that Fred Meyer has petite sirloin in thier ad for $2.99/lb this week. I think I'll try to color all text related to grocery deals in RED. Hope that helps.

School Days

I know that it is old news that the kids are in school but for the sake of family... I haven't shared pictures of the kids lately. Here are the pictures I took on their first day of school. I like the quiet of an empty house for a few hours each day.

Just getting started

Well, here goes nothing - or maybe it is everything Ü

I don't promise to be the most entertaining blog online nor the most informative - that is someone else's domain already. What I am hoping to do with my little blog is to post at least weekly to share with my family and friends what is going on in our family, what is on my mind, and what is important to me - most likely all of this will be sprinkled with some random Tiffany Thoughts too.

One of the things I like to do is find a good deal. I have made it a routine to check the local grocery ads each week and when I find a good price on an item that my family uses - for example Campbell's Chunky Soups are on sale right now at Smiths 15/$10 as well as Kleenex and Prego Spaghetti Sauce- as I was saying when I find a deal I have many friends that I call to tell them the good news. I am going to save myself the phone calls and hold my friends responsible to check my blog on Wednesday's to find out what I know. If I come across other deals on different days... I may even blog more often. Don't get the wrong idea though... I will be sharing much more than my grocery deals. Much of what I "Show and Tell" here will evolve as I become more knowing about how to do all this blogging. I am kind of a computer dummy. Anyway... Have patience with me and thanks for reading my first babble.