Zucchini Pancakes

Back in Little Miss' picky eating days, I had to sneak in the veggies.  She's so much better after years of serving the same things on her plate, but I have a new issue.  Chubby Cheekers has found his independence.

The baby only wants to feed himself.  Since he isn't even a year (I'm holding on to these last weeks), I can't just hand him a spoon.  Well I guess I could, but the mess!  Oh the mess he would make.  Nevertheless, I have to feed the kid something, and sometimes I don't feel like waging a war over how he's being fed.

For some reason, I just can't fork over a pancake to him without something in it like a fruit or veggie.  He has to have them.  I can only make so many apple cinnamon pancakes before you wonder what else is out there I can shove into a pancake.  Ah, YES!  Zucchini.  Not enough flavor to change the taste, but oh the nutrition.

Without further hesitation, I reintroduce the Zucchini Pancake.  Best wishes on getting those veggies in!  Here is my motto on kids and veggies...Don't give up, get sneaky!  Thankfully Chubby Cheekers is not picky on what he eats.  He's just picky on how he eats.  My little stinker.

F.I.T. Boot Camp: Evening Classes

I am not a morning person.

5am???  That's the butt crack of dawn!

I can't get ready for work in time.

My body doesn't do THAT that early in the morning.

Guess what???  If you used one of these excuses towards boot camp, you can't anymore.  F.I.T. (Fun Intense Training) Boot Camp now offers EVENING CLASSES!!!

Just as the poster says, classes are T/Th nights from 7:45-8:30.  These classes are for men and women, and are already filling up fast. Call Erica today to reserve your spot (918.361.5255).  This isn't just something you do once you are in shape.  This GETS you in shape.  It is hands down the best workout program I have been apart of, and I've done a lot...yoga, body pump, zumba, Turbo Kick, Cardio Blast, etc.  This workout regime pushes me to be my best, and who doesn't want that?  The added bonus...Erica.  A person who will motivate you in an encouraging way. 

The Babes

Somehow I found myself flipping through pics last night.  How easily I forget that just a few short years ago Little Man, Little Miss, and Chunkey Monkey were just little babes.  Now they're big guys.  I think I may blink and Chubby Cheekers and Mr. Fluffypants will be big guys too.  Say it ain't so.  Say it ain't so.

 {Little Man 11 months}

 {Little Miss 11 months}

{Little Man: 2.5 years, Little Miss and Chunkey Monkey: 9.5 months}

All of these pics seem like 'yesterday'.  I just blinked and they grew.  Slow down Time.  Slow down.

And for comparative purposes, check out my little lions...

2012:  Chubby Cheekers as a lion 

2007:  Little Man as a lion 

I see a tinge of a resemblance.  If someone could explain to me how in the world Steven and I, who are polar opposites in the looks department, could produce children who look so similar.  It's a mystery.

Menu Monday

We are at the end of our first month of cash only.  My $450 monthly budget for grocery, household, and baby needs came in under budget by $2.14.  I was sweatin' it.  I had my calculator out figuring out how far I could stretch the money I had leftover.  I shopped my pantry like crazy.  I thanked the Good Lord for the good produce sales.  I searched for recipes that contained the produce that was on sale.  This leaves us with three new recipes on this week's menu.  YIKES!  I hope they are good, or my family may kick me out.

Monday-Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad, Fresh Fruit Salad
Tuesday-Quinoa Fajitas and Corn Saute
Wednesday-Key West Grilled Chicken, Green Beans, Cheesy Biscuits
Thursday-Buffalo Wing Soup, Crusty Bread, Salad
Friday-BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Potato Crispers, Fresh Veggies and Dip
Saturday-Sweet and Sour Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, Asian Noodles
Sunday-Dinner @ Mom's

Rhea Lana of South Tulsa~Getting the Good Stuff

Rhea Lana South Tulsa

February 10th-16th

Last week I shared with you how you can increase your income with just a few hours of work.  It's my secret 'Get Rich Quick' scheme...only it's not a scheme. It's totally legit.

If you aren't interested in turning profit, maybe you are the professional shopper. Well, guess what?  I'm talking to the Professional Shopper today.

If you have ever shopped a consignment sale, you know the key to getting the best items at the lowest prices is by shopping early.  Technically, the sale opens to the public on Sunday, February 10th @ 1:00pm.  However, you can get in earlier if I share a wee little secret with you. Do you want to know?  I can only tell you if you promise to keep it a secret.  I don't want someone else stealing that dirt cheap Arctic Cat out from under my feet.  Okay, here it goes...

You can shop as early as Saturday, February 9th @ 5:00pm, IF you can spare four hours...ONLY FOUR HOURS...of your time.

Now...SHHHHH!...this is our little secret.  That little secret listed above will allow you to shop just hours after the last group of consignors drop off their stuff.  That means you get your hands on the BEST goods first. You won't miss out.

Now here's how you go about volunteering...

Go HERE to register for an assigned time slot anytime during the sale.  Then you show up for your shift.  The best part about this is you get time away to be around some great ladies, making new friends, all while earning yourself some good deals.  This sounds more like a mini vacation rather than a volunteering job, right?

Now, I have another little secret.  I know.  I'm full of them today.  Are you ready for it?

You can also have your consignor fee ($8.00) waived.*

What the what???  Yep.  You can have your consignor fee waived.  All you have to do is sign up to volunteer a SPECIAL SHIFT below...

Consignor Fee Waiving Shift

• Any Check-In Shift on Friday, February 8th
• Any Check-In Shift on Saturday, February 9th
• Any Sort Shift on Saturday, February 16th
• Any Sort Shift on Sunday, February 17th

*In addition to your fee being waived, you will STILL receive the Early Worker's Pass to shop early...BONUS!!!

Now Ladies, get on it.  Go sign up to volunteer!  

Next week, I'll be sharing a bit more info and there may or may not be a GIVEAWAY.  A giveaway involving cash.  I don't know.  Maybe this is just crazy talk ;)

The Milk Twins

Chubby Cheekers is quickly approaching the one year mark.

My wittle bitty baby is turning one next month.  Whaaaaaaa!

When Little Man turned one, I began to think about how to go about weaning him.  Did I just stop?  Did I let him nurse less and less?  Would he feel abandoned?  Scarred?  Have detachment issues?  Seriously.  This all crossed my mind.  I was a total mess.  After much reading, and reading, and more reading, I decided to gradually wean him.  Cut out feedings here and there until he decided one night that he didn't want the milk twins anymore.  He was 14 months old.

Nine months later, Little Miss arrived.  Yep.  Not planned. I distinctly remember telling Steven, "I don't think my birth control is working yet?"  His famous last words, "It will be fine."

It was fine, in fact. I got me a baby girl.  She was beautiful and I nursed her until she was 15 months old.

When you add up the time I was preggo and nursing, it ends up being a little shy of 4 continuous years where  a baby was physically dependable on my body.  There were a lot of sacrifices made over those 4 years.

Sometimes I longed to just go somewhere, anywhere, and not worry about what time I needed to be home.  It got a little frustrating to be out somewhere past the three hour mark and my boobs start burning because they were ready to feed a baby.  Carrying my pump back and forth to work everyday milking myself was also great fun.  Good times.  Countless times I would be pumping and making phone calls to parents (only once was I busted...Uh...Mrs. Torres...are you...are you...pumping?).  Yep, that was embarrassing. but I survived.

I tell you all this because I truly believe there is a payoff for everything.  Despite the sacrifices of being a breastfeeding mom, I have one (actually two) big payoff.  BOOBIES!!!

Just the other day I was sharing with one of my mommy friends that I intended to nurse Chubby Cheekers until he was 18 months.  Her response, "Oh Amanda, that is so great.  I wish I could have held on that long.  Breast milk is so beneficial for babies." 

Can I be real honest here?  Breast is best, but that's not why I'm doing it.  I'm fine with weaning babies at 14-15 months if they are ready.  I've done it twice before and I have some fairly well adjusted kids (they have their moments). I going longer this time because summer is around the corner.  I fully intend to have my nursing boobies holding up my swimsuit!  Just one last summer of my life where something is holding up my top.  It's going to be great!!!  Is this totally selfish?  Yes.  Yes, it is.  Do I care?  No.  No, I don't.  So if you see me at the pool this summer, be sure to get one last good look at the Milk Twins.  It will be their last summer with us :(

Now, I tried to find a picture appropriate for this blog post and this was as good as it gets...

Happy Hump Day Everyone!!!

The Boredom Has Set In

I have watched WAY too much TV, checked out WAY too much Facebook, and sitting around doing WAY too much of nothing.  I don't do sick too well.  At first I thought this rest stuff would be awesome.  No grocery shopping, no laundry, no cleaning, just sitting...doing nothing.  It was awesome for about 2 hours.  Then I got antsy.

I absolutely love to read, but I only check out books from the library.  Since I wasn't planning this whole flu thing, I didn't check one out last week.  Silly me.  Next time, I'll be sure to plan.  Luckily, I had two Dave Ramsey books on hand, Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace University.  I was already halfway through Total Money Makeover so I finished that up and began Financial Peace University.

First off, I love both of them.  I love the message they convey.  I love the whole use every dollar every month.  I love the 'Tell Your Money Where To Go' attitude.  I love making a new budget each month to fit what happens in that month.  I love it all.

Steven and I have never been bad with our money, but we definitely live on a very limited income since we opted for me to stay home with the kids.  We don't have debt outside of our mortgage.  So why FPU (Financial Peace University)?  Frankly, we wanted to be more intentional about where our money goes.  More disciplined.  So far, we are almost one month down and this is definitely a new way of life for us.  It gives us so much more control and PEACE.  Shut the front door, right?

Since beginning this new lifestyle, I've had multiple questions and comments about what we're doing.  I think it's great to see so many people curious about changing the way they handle money, and how many of my friends are ALREADY doing this.  It's awesome.  Simply awesome.

What's not awesome are the statistics in this book.  I get so heartbroken at what people around me are going through with their finances.  Take this excerpt...

Now, if you live in a middle-income neighborhood, out of your 100 closest neighbors there is at least one house empty from foreclosure, plus one foreclosure under way, and four to seven of your neighbors are more than three months behind on their house payment.

~Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace Revisited

Good grief!  This is terrible...and real.  What really rocks me to the core is when I reference this with comments made by others.  

I could never do the whole cash thing.  I don't want to be that restricted.

If I want to go out to eat and not cook dinner, then that's what I want to do.  I don't want to wait on the cash to be there.

But what do you do if there's a really good sale?  How can you pass that deal up?  It will cost you more later?

So is our needs to have stuff more important then our needs to live within our means.  Are we really willing to put our homes in jeopardy because we want the stuff?  Crash our future finances for a great meal at the restaurant everyone has been talking about?  Maybe the people who own these comments really know they can afford to do all their 'wants'.  We can't.  This is why we opted for a more disciplined approach to our money.  Does it totally suck to decline invitations because we don't have the cash in the designated envelope?  Yep, but it doesn't suck to know what we are working towards just got a little more attainable.