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Sunday, July 22, 2012

Costco Shop (7-22-12)

Okay so today was shopping day. We went to my most favorite store in the whole world...Costco! So I did my weekly shop and this is what we got:

Activia Yogurt (24ct) $9.89
2% Milk $5.19
Chinet plates $16.79
Organic Carrots (10lbs) $4.49
Watermelons (2 mini) $5.79
Baguettes (6ct.) $4.99
Bananas (3lbs) $1.39
Organic red grapes (4lbs) $6.79
Drumsticks ice cream (16ct) $8.99
Tortilla chips (3lbs) $3.59
2pk keep cool bags $10.99
Eggs (24ct) $2.79
Butter (4lbs) $7.39
Tollhouse semi-sweet choc chips $10.79
Sharp Cheddar (2lbs) $4.99
Clorox Wipes (4ct) $10.29
Organic Blueberries (2lbs) $7.99
Rotisserie Chicken $4.99
Marinara (4 jars) $6.29
Low Sodium Bacon (4lbs) $10.59
Starbucks Coffee (2lbs) $12.49
Romaine Lettuce (6ct) $ 2.99
White Nectarines (9ct) $8.99

Grand Total $172.83

I'm hoping that this shopping trip will last me longer than a week maybe two...???
We shall see...


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cloth Diapering

So today I ordered some cloth diapers online. I'm super excited to try them out because in the long run we'll be saving a heck of a lot of money...SCORE!!! Also, I won't ever need to run out for diapers because these are reusable and just need to be washed :-)

I've already had Jaden in cloth diapers but his newborn ones were pretty much too small at birth (he was 11.8lbs). So that only left me a very minimal amount to use and washing 3 diapers seemed like a waste of water. So this morning I ordered some one size ones. I bought some Bum Genius 4.0 and some Fuzzi Bunz pockets. They were both on sale for buy 5 get one free. So yay for me! Got 2 free diapers :-) Also, bought some cloth diaper safe diaper rash cream. Going to try Grandma El's and CJ's Butt Butter. Hope they work! Both of my kiddos have sensitive tushes and I don't want any rashes.

I'll be sure to to do updates and reviews for those who are interested or curious about cloth diapering. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Meal Plan 7-15-12 thru 7-22-12

MEAL PLAN
Italian Meatloaf with veggies and rice
Baked Spaghetti with salad and bread
Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp and Broccoli
Homemade Pizza with veggies
Chicken Salads with homemade dinner rolls

These dinner rolls are half white half whole wheat
This is my menu plan this week. The other 2 days we will be having leftovers so that we're not wasting any food. Follow my blog to stay posted on what I'll be making next week :-)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Making Whole Wheat Pita Pockets

  So today I decided to make some homemade pita pockets to stuff with a chicken salad. It was way too hot to want anything hearty. So I pulled out the KitchenAid mixer and set out to make pita heaven with my daughters help, of course. Here is the recipe...

Makes:
8 pita pockets

1 1/4 cup warm water (110-115℉)
1 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 tsp. rapid rise yeast (bread machine yeast)

Directions:
1. Put the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the gluten and 1 cup of flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add more flour if necessary during kneading).

If using a bread machine dump ingredients in pan, in the order listed, and use dough cycle. Skip ahead to step 3 if using the bread machine.

2. Put dough into bowl, lightly oil the top and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until the dough has almost doubled in size (about an hour).

3. Punch dough down and put on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a 6 or 7 inch circle.

4. As you roll the rounds place on a lightly floured countertop or table and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for 25-35 minuets, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though)

5. Preheat oven to 500℉. Place two rounds, side by side, onto a wire rack (metal ones used for cooling things). Place rack in middle of oven. Bake for 4-5 minuets, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable).

6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.

7. Cut pita breads in half or split the top edge. Fill as desired.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Helping Hands

  I don't know if anyone else has this problem but I often find it hard to except help from others. I'm not sure why, but I just can't ever seem to bring myself to ask. I think I might be trying to live up to the "Super Mom" stereotype. The truth is I do need help!

  I consider myself one lucky woman to have so many people who are willing to aide me in my time of need. For instance, my B.F.F., is always willing to drive down to my house to help my sorry butt out when I need her. Yet, I only seem to ask her to come help when I have to go somewhere and don't want to take children with me. When I'm home and she's here I still try to do too many things at once and don't ask for help even though it's obvious that I need it. So she follows me around asking if I need anything and my answer is "No, I'm good, but thanks though!" How dumb is that?!

  Yesterday was the 4th of July and both B.F.F. and my M.I.L. were here. So I had tons of hands to help if I needed it and I still had a hard time asking when I knew that both were ready and willing. Finally, last night, I gave in and let the B.F.F. hold the little guy while I went to use the restroom. I followed that up by letting my M.I.L. take him while I went outside to enjoy the fireworks with the rest of the family. It was so nice to enjoy the rest of the family for awhile :-) After that I followed it up by letting my M.I.L. put my daughter to bed.

  It feels so nice to let the reigns go for awhile. I need to stop and realize that mothers are just regular people too. We need help and can't function on little sleep forever! Sometimes we need to let others give us a helping hand. It doesn't make us less of a good mother but makes us better! Sometimes we all just need a few seconds to ourselves to reorganize our thoughts and to dos. I can say that I felt a lot more relaxed going to bed last night and it made getting up every 2hrs not so bad ;-) Do you have the same problem?


~Jazmin

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Spousal Support

  Okay okay, I know what you're thinking.  Are you getting divorced? The answer is a big NO! What I'm talking about is your spouse supporting you in parenting and all that comes with it.

  I definitely thank my lucky stars that I have such an awesome and supportive husband! While we don't always agree on everything we do try put up an all for one mentality. Meaning around the kids they know that if Mom or Dad give a specific answer then the other will give the same answer. That way there's no confusion on anything. No trying to put one over on either of us...At least that's the idea!

  Also, it's so nice having a husband that's willing to change diapers, feed the little ones, get up with me in the middle of the night, make dinner, help with other household chores, ect... While, I don't always give him credit, I do realize that he is amazing.  I'm just so thankful to have such a wonderful man as my husband :-)