We are currently getting ready for a PCS move.  I will unfortunately be out of contact until after the move, as there is a lot to do in very little time:)

Thank you,

Shannon

Laugh Out Loud Wednesday

You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it. -Bill Cosby







Photo Credit: Dave Morris




You have to love nature. Almost reminds me of feeling out of place as the tallest until freshman year in high school. Ah, junior high dances where not much fun the boys were too short.

Okay, today I am going to pick your brain and ask you to *gasp* share a funny story. Life is always much funnier than the funniest joke. So, what memory makes you laugh every time you talk about it? Is it from when you were a kid? Is it about your kids? Please, share your stories in the comments:)

My oldest daughter DeeAnne was born an actress and drama queen. Great combination, I know, she is so full of life and emotion. Because of that little acting gene she is a great liar, always has been. At 18 months old, she faked being really upset when her grandfather was watching her. She stood knees bent crying, he tried to talk to her, sing to her, give her candy, and finally after an hour she looked at him and laughed. She must have been thinking mommy wouldn't have fallen for it. Well, over time she perfected her acting. One day, when she was five, I came home from work and she said, "Mommy you aren't going to be happy." My first thought was, we took down the bunk beds so there is no way she colored on the ceiling again, is there? Well, after my husband left for work she sat me down at the table all serious. I had to ask her, "DeeAnne, what is wrong?" She replied, "Nothing mommy, but daddy bought an expensive paintball gun today. We went to the painball store and he found a paintball gun he really liked." Of course I had to ask, "How do you know he bought it?" DeeAnne looked up with her sweet eyes and said, "Mommy, dad told the guy he would pay him two hundred dollars every week for the next two months." (Now I knew that my husband had wanted a paintball gun that cost about $1600.) I asked her, "Are you sure that is what you heard? Maybe daddy was just talking to him about it." She replied, "NO! He bought it, hid it, and said to not tell you about it." Well, after having a talk with my husband, and searching the house DeeAnne came up to me and said, "Mommy, I want to be on TV. Even you believe me when I lie." She turns ten on Sunday, I can't wait for the teenage years.

Kitchen Time Saver

Photo Credit: Robert Van Der Steeg

Whether or not you enjoy cooking meal preparation can take up a huge amount of your time. However, it does not have to; and I am not talking about eating out;) However ever tempting it might be.

The biggest time saver is meal planning. Okay calm down, you must be thinking it is painful and takes up way to much time. Seriously, it does not take a lot of time, especially if you regularly eat certain meals. So, grab a pen and paper, or cheat like me and open up Google Calender or Cozi:) First you have to decide how far out you wan to plan. I personally plan for one week, mainly because the produce around here isn't that great. Just do what works for you, no, you cannot just plan for one night, that defeats the point in saving time.

I start with breakfast; you may start with dinner, what ever works for you. Then I do lunches (planning for dinner leftovers to be used up). Finally for dinners, I like them to do double duty, not just left over lunches. Example: On Sunday I will make a chicken in the crockpot, we will have that with potatoes and green beans on the first night. The second night I will shred the left over chicken and make fried rice. Now, you can stretch that poor chicken to a third night by making a stock of the bones. The point is, make your job easier, after all I only had to fully cook that chicken the first day (actually the crockpot cooks it so hands free!).

After you have decided on your meals, check the pantry and the fridge, then make a shopping list because you are only shopping once for your chosen time frame. This one shopping trip saves so much time, because each day you have to drive to the store and wait in line is waisted time. You can of course get creative by labeling what goes with what meal (if it takes more time then it saves then don't). At this point, I post the meals for the week on the fridge. Sometimes, I get lucky and my husband has a light bulb go off and says, "I can make dinner tonight, I know how to make pasta!" Oh, how I love those days:)

The crockpot and pressure cooker are also my go to time savers. The crockpot is the stand by, especially when it is going to be a busy day. It is so simple to use, just add your ingredients set it to time and temp. While it does the cooking, you can do what needs to be done. The pressure cooker on the other hand cooks incredibly fast and tender meats. If I want to shred a roast for sandwiches then into the pressure cooker it goes. I am lucky enough to have an electirc pressure cooker with a locking lid. This translates into put the meat and liquid in, lock the lid, set the pressure and time, then walk away. Needless to say, the tools we have in our kitchen can save us quite a bit of time if we use them instead of letting them collect dust.

What are your kitchen time saving tips? Do you have any great time saving recipes? If you do please share them:)