$15 Credit for Melissa & Doug Toys

November 30, 2011 By 2 Comments

I just scored this great deal from One Kings Lane.  They give a $15 credit just for signing up and I have been looking through their daily deals for a good buy, then I discovered their toy section with very affordable items.  I love Melissa & Doug toys and puzzles so I was happy to see them on the list.  I got 3 toys for $26.95 and that includes shipping.  That’s about $9 per item which isn’t bad and these will be great Christmas gifts for Landis and the twins.  The toys are under The Wish List and the items in that category are only on sale through today.  They have lots of decorative items which can be higher priced, but they also have a Gifts under $50 section.  (You have to have a $30 subtotal to use the credit.)  Check it out here.

**Update:  It seems like the Wish List section with the toys are no longer available.  I’m sorry for any confusion.  However, today’s sale has LOTS of great kitchen items from $6 and up.  Now through Saturday.**

Melissa & Doug Geometric Stacker
Quantity: 1
Return Policy: Final Sale (Learn more)
$11.00

Scheduled to Ship

Dec 19 – Dec 22
Melissa & Doug Stacking train
Quantity: 1
Return Policy: Final Sale (Learn more)
$11.00

Scheduled to Ship

Dec 19 – Dec 22
Melissa & Doug Alphabet Sound Puzzle
Quantity: 1
Return Policy: Final Sale (Learn more)
$13.00

Scheduled to Ship

Dec 19 – Dec 22

Subtotal
$35.00
Shipping
$6.95
Estimated Tax
$0.00
Discount
-$15.00
TOTAL
$26.95

Bill To:

This post linked up at Women living well.

Thoughts on My New Cooking Plan

November 29, 2011 By 20 Comments
Chicken, Tomato, Leek sprouts & Basil Mayonaise Sandwich
VS.
My Christmas dinner plate

     I have been implementing my new cooking plan for a week now and truly, I love it.  I want to share more about how it’s worked for our family and some things I’ve had to think through.  Basically, here’s the plan.  We are eating smaller, simpler lunch meals at dinnertime and heavier, more complex dinner meals at lunchtime.  There are three significant things I was evaluating when I decided to start this plan.

  1. The work load at different parts of the day
  2. My energy level at different part of the day
  3. My family’s activity level and needs at different parts of the day.
Here’s where I was before in having a traditional meal plan:
Lunchtime
Workload – Low
Energy level – High
Family’s activity & needs – Low

Dinnertime
Workload – High
Energy level – Low
Family’s activity & needs - Low

     I was trying to get the most done when I had the least energy and my family needed me the most.  I was rushed and overloaded with the cooking and cleaning when my kids were whiny and needy and my husband walks in the door to download his day.  Then I was exhausted and barely making it through the kitchen clean up at the end of the night because I was just so tired.  So, I switched it up and now I’m doing the big cooking and cleaning mid-day when I have more energy and motivation and my family is pretty content and I’m doing minimal food prep and clean up in the evenings to be more available to my family and just to rest more.  

     Dee and I talked through this and he was so willing to try it.  Now he loves it too!  Here are a few things we’ve thought about in the last week.
  • Since we are having a big meal during the day when he is at work, I pack a dinner-sized portion for him for the next day.  
  • We still sit down together at the table in the evenings.  We’re just eating sandwiches or pizza pockets or something.
  • We can always switch it if we’re eating dinner at someone’s house or I am packing the kids’ lunch to be out for the day (which rarely happens!  We are usually out in the mornings and home by lunch.)
  • If we are having guests over, it actually works better to invite them over for dessert.  I don’t stress about having a gourmet meal, dessert is more frugal to share :) , and it’s a calmer time of evening when I can enjoy being hospitable.
  • It’s so much healthier to eat this way.  We’ve both noticed how we are more satisfied through the day and night eating a larger meal at mid-day.  Isn’t this how they eat in parts of Europe?
Would this type of plan benefit you?  What would be most challenging in it?  Anyone else ever try this?  

Menu Plan Monday, 11/11/2011

November 28, 2011 By 3 Comments

Stacey and I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Matt and I hosted our annual Thanksgiving lunch at our apartment on Saturday.  This year we had our biggest group ever with 20 adults and 11 little ones!  I must also say that it was the first year having ever cooking a really moist turkey!  Yay!!!  The inspiration for this year’s turkey prep came from here.

Do you want to see the 13 pound turkey in our oven?  Probably looks a bit different than yours, but it’s as good as we can do here in The Land of the Wok.

It touches the sides of the oven just to get it to fit!
The food, but there was more waiting in the kitchen when those dishes ran empty.
If you didn’t get to check in over the holiday weekend, you can read the posts you missed here and here.

With so many people we unfortunately didn’t have enough leftovers to eat them all week long.  They actually weren’t even enough for a whole meal for our family!  It’s meal planning as usual here this week.  My meal plan looks quite different from Stacey’s.  Not only do we eat very little variety for breakfast, my kids are in Chinese preschool for lunch on Monday through Friday.

Breakfasts this Week:
Monday-Friday: Granola or Eggs and Toast
Saturday: Eggs, bacon/sausage, and Biscuits
Sunday: Waffles and fruit

Lunch:
Monday through Friday: Whatever is in the fridge!  (Kids eat at school, and Matt eats at work so it’s just me.)
Saturday: Leftovers or sandwiches
Sunday: Eat out

Dinners this Week:
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Chinese Home Delivery
Wednesday: Baked Ziti, Salad, Homemade Bread
Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner — Banana & Chocolate Chip pancakes (Matt will be out of town for the night, so the kids and I usually do Breakfast for Dinner while he’s gone.  It’s quick and they love it which means we get through meal time quickly and get everything cleaned up together.)
Friday: Homemade Pizza with salad and veggie sticks (pizza recipes coming later in the week!)
Saturday: Crockpot BBQ Meatloaf (from the freezer), baked potatoes, homemade applesauce (from the freezer), green beans, Buttery Rolls
Sunday: Shrimp Scampi over pasta, veggie sticks, apple sauce

What are you eating this week?
Check out more at www.orgjunkie.com

My Morning Coffee

November 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

I have not always been a coffee drinker.  I blame it on my husband.  It was good, and I drank it sometimes.  Then we got our Bialetti.  Now, I feel like my morning is incomplete without a cup of something.

I usually make my coffee one of two ways, depending on the weather.  The temps are starting to come down low enough to wear long sleeves sometimes, so I’m drinking the hot stuff now.  If I don’t start now, I’ll only get a couple months of the hot stuff before temps start going up again!

First, I brew a pot of espresso in my Bialetti 3-cup Moka Express.  I use 1/4 cup each of espresso and milk.  I warm the milk in the microwave and then froth away.  Add a couple of small spoons of sugar, a couple drops of Caramel coffee syrup (this came from Target), and stir.  Yum!  To show you how much of a coffee connoisseur I am NOT, what would you call this, a Caramel Latte???  Don’t laugh! :-) And, wow, I was really proud of myself for getting everything together that I needed for the picture until I realized I forgot the frother and the milk!

Matt loves to have a cold drink in the morning.  We used to make Frappuccinos in the blender on hot summer mornings, but neither of us loved the slushiness of it.  We’d both drink the coffee part and inevitably leave some slush when we were done.  So along came our new cold drink.  Since we have a 3 cup Bialetti, my hot morning coffee always has about 2/3 of a pot left.  We put that in a separate container and refrigerate it.  Again, we use about 1/4 cup of cold espresso and 1/4 cup of cold milk (yes, I know I left it out of the picture again).  Matt likes to make it even more rich by using 1/4 cup of cream instead of milk.  We use a small spoon of sugar and a big squirt of Hershey’s Caramel Syrup.  Stir well, add an ice cube or two, and enjoy!  Matt got the idea for these after drinking a Starbucks DoubleShot in the U.S. this past summer.

How do you like your morning coffee?  I’d love to try something new if anyone has a suggestion!

Pleasant & Frugal Places to Eat with Kids

November 25, 2011 By 5 Comments

 

If you’re getting tired of turkey and want to get out with the family this weekend, here are a few places my husband and I frequent with our 4 little ones that are friendly to our family and our budget.

IKEA

Ikea

  • Affordable meals and a great place to shop
  • Kids eat free here on Tuesday nights, includes 2 hot items & a drink
  • Restaurant is awesome with bibs, highchairs, kids’ plasticware, and a kids’ sitting area with TV
  • Family bathrooms are amazing!  I know that’s silly to brag on their bathrooms, but have you ever been?  The family bathrooms have a small table with toys, diaper changing area, toddler seat with buckle, and free diapers!

 

Denny's

Denny’s

  • Sit down restaurant with waitstaff and everything
  • Super clean & staff were very friendly & patient with my kids
  • Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – kids eat free, 2 per adult entree purchased.
  • This ended up being about $25 for our family of 6 to eat out!

 
 
 

CiCi's

Cici

  • Super kid friendly
  • Kids under 3 eat free everyday & kids over 3 eat for $2.99 (We only pay for one of our kids!)
  • Total for us to eat here with adult drinks is under $20.

 
 
 

  • Yes, this is fast food, but it is the best tasting, highest quality and most affordable around (in NC anyway) if you’re going to do fast food.
  • Combos includes sandwich & 2 sides & a drink for $4.29!
  • Sides include fries, hush puppies, onion rings, corndog, or chicken nuggets so you can combine meals for family members.
  • Chicken nuggets are all white meat.
  • Our family eats there for right around $16.

 

What would you add to the list?

Photo attribution
Photo attribution
Photo attribution

Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

From Stacey…
Hoping for a day of rest and thankfulness for all of you today whatever you do and whatever you eat.  We are heading out soon to eat the big meal with my extended family.  Dee indulged my whim yesterday to rearrange furniture in the kids’ bedrooms and the living room and put up the Christmas tree.  (He’s a trooper!)  In the midst of all that, we discovered that our extra freezer had been propped open.  Thankfully I had been putting most of my freezer cooking meals in my small freezer in the kitchen so we didn’t lose much.  We had a huge turkey in there that we were saving to cook later since we didn’t need it for today.  So Dee ended up smoking it all day, then he cut it all up and put it in the freezer.  Hopefully this time, we can keep the freezer door closed.  Isn’t it a beauty?

From Michelle…
I hope this Thanksgiving is an enjoyable one with your families.  Come back tomorrow to read about some of our favorite places to eat with our little ones!  Since China doesn’t give it’s employees a break for American Thanksgiving, my family will be celebrating with friends on Saturday.  I still haven’t decided how I’m cooking my turkey this year (besides in the oven).  I’d love to hear from you if you have a favorite way to prep and cook your turkey!

 

Meal Planning Membership

November 23, 2011 By 4 Comments
Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat
I have been using Plan to Eat‘s service for my weekly meal planning for about 8 months now and I absolutely love it!  I like programs and lists, services that make things more efficient, and anything that I can use seamlessly with my technology.  I have looked through several different meal planning sites and there were so many advantages and extra features to Plan to Eat which is why I subscribed to this one though it has a fee and other services are free.  Here’s what I love:
  • You can add your own recipes, not just choose from a list.  This can take some time at first, but there are a few features that make this easy. (There is also a list of recipes to choose from if you want to browse there.)
  • When a recipe is planned, the ingredients are automatically added to a shopping list.
  • *Best part that I couldn’t find anywhere else*  There is also a Pantry Inventory feature, where you can take things from the shopping list to your pantry.  When an ingredient is in your pantry, it won’t be added to your shopping list.  When you check off an item while shopping, that item is automatically put into your pantry.  I LOVE THIS!  The pantry and the shopping lists are completely able to be edited.
  • You can categorize items in your shopping list by aisle and store.  So if you shop different stores, you can see a different list for each store.  Beautiful!
  • You can save a meal plan and load it again later.  For example, if certain meals are repeats in your home, you can load a meal plan and edit from there.  With this I am aiming to save 4-6 different weekly meal plans and rotate them.  That really makes planning easy!
  • You can load your meal plan into your calendar (Google, ICal, etc.).  That way your planned recipes are easily viewable in your daily schedule.
  • The mobile site is clean and efficient and easy to use with your shopping list and daily meal plan.  I use my smartphone in the grocery store and click off the items as I pick them up. (For your paper lovers out there, shopping lists and meal plans are printable as well.)
  • There’s a 30 day, free, trial membership with no commitment just to try it out.  This is what got me hooked.
This membership is $39/year, which I think is really affordable and worth it (and what I paid).  Click here to check out Plan to Eat, and I highly encourage you to start a free trial.
Here’s a picture of my current schedule of meals:
And my Shopping List with Pantry Inventory:
Go check it out!  Plan to Eat!
Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

A Few of My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

November 22, 2011 By 2 Comments

In 2008 we headed back to the U.S. for a few weeks to spend Christmas with our families.  It was the first time in a few years and everyone wanted to know what types of gifts we wanted.  I could choose anything I wanted (within reason, of course) from the entire Land of Plenty!  At the time we had just had our second child and my time in the kitchen was becoming greater and more important.  I had a family to feed!  That Christmas I think everything I asked for was for my kitchen.  With the holidays and Black Friday fast approaching, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites from that Christmas.

Most mornings the smell of fresh Espresso is brewing in our Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker.  We have the 3 cup model, but it’s also available in 1 cup, 6 cup, 9 cup, and 12 cup models.  Come back on Saturday and I’ll share 2 of our favorite coffee recipes!

We couldn’t have our Bialetti without something for making froth, so we got an Aerolatte Milk Frother as well.

Up until that Christmas I had been using measuring cups and spoons from the Dollar Store.  Not only were they somewhat inaccurate and made of cheap plastic, but there definitely weren’t enough of them and I could never get them completely clean.  I didn’t want to use my 1/3 cup twice so that I could measure out 2/3 cup.  I looked for something accurate, durable, and that had enough cups and spoons.  I found this 7 piece set of MIU Stainless Steel Measuring Cups that I absolutely love!

And this 5 piece set of MIU Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons.
And, well, since a true chef needs to make sure they truly are measuring everything accurately, I got even more measuring cups!  This 3 piece set of iSi Basics Flex-It Measuring Cups are awesome!  I can measure from large amounts or small, but I especially love the flexibility of them.  Anytime we are making muffins, waffles, or pancakes, I use the 4 cup measure cup to pour the right amount every time… Well, almost every time.
These are just a few of my favorite kitchen items.  The above links are through Amazon which offers a 4-for-3 promotion on many of their kitchen items.
 What are some of your favorite kitchen gadgets?  Is there anything on your Christmas list this year for your kitchen?

Introducing Michelle

November 22, 2011 By 4 Comments

I am so excited to be joining Stacey here at Getting Through the Day! I am Michelle and first met Stacey 16 years ago. Did I really just say that? Sixteen YEARS. I was only 18 when we first met, so I’ve actually known her almost half of my life. Wow, I suddenly feel old! Unfortunately, I don’t get to see Stacey very often as I live in China. Yes, China! When I first came to China 12 years ago I met my wonderful husband, and we were later married. We both knew we wanted to come back at some point, so in 2004 we came back and have lived and worked here ever since. Our youngest, Vera, was born here. Two years and 8 months later, little bro Kai came along. We had hoped at some point to continue adding to our family through adoption, but the opportunity came about sooner rather than later. When Kai was 19 months old, along came Eden and Tobey. So now, I am mommy to 4 wonderful kids who are very close together in age. I’ve learned a ton about being wife and mommy to my family, but I still have so far to go. As Stacey has written posts over the last couple of months, a desire has grown in my heart to be a part of these posts. We have so much in common and yet so many differences that I hope blogging together will make this a wonderful place where women can come together to share and learn from one another. I’m excited to share some of the tips I’ve learned that have helped me parent multiple young children, to share some of my favorite recipes and to try out new ones, to share my heart for adoption, and much more. Thanks, Stacey, for letting me be a part of Getting Through the Day!  If you have any suggestions about things you would like us to write about in future posts, please leave us a comment and let us know!

My little munchkins: Eden (5), Tobey (4), Kai (3), and Vera (6)

Menu Plan Monday 11/21 & Announcement

November 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thanksgiving

**Don’t miss the announcement at the end of this post!**
I am extra thankful for a full freezer on weeks like this where I don’t want to do a lot of extra cooking before Thanksgiving.  Maybe I can get my house clean!
If you’re wondering why we’re eating bigger meals at lunchtime, read more on my New Cooking Plan here.
More on my Freezer Cooking Plan here.
Monday
Breakfast: waffles (from the freezer), fruit
Lunch: Southwest Rollups (from the freezer), broccoli
Dinner: Mac & Cheese with Beef (from the freezer), green beans
Tuesday
Breakfast: cereal, fruit
Lunch:  pancakes (*Breakfast freezer meal), frittata
Dinner:  Pizza pockets (*Dinner freezer meal), grapes

Wednesday
Breakfast:  cereal, fruit
Lunch: Twice Baked Taco Potatoes (from the freezer), peas
Dinner:  Mac & Cheese with Beef, green beans (That dish feeds us twice!)

Thursday
Breakfast:  pumpkin muffins (from the freezer), fruit
Lunch:   Thanksgiving feast – I’m bringing lima beans and a dessert
Dinner:  snacks for the kids if anybody wants to eat
Friday-Sunday
Leftovers and meals with my family
Check out orgjunkie.com for more meal plans!
I am super excited to announce that Getting Through the Day is adding an author!  My friend, Michelle, will be joining me here to share with you how she gets through the day with her family.  She also has 4 kids close in age, is very organizationally minded, and has a lot to share.  I have known Michelle for a long time and we’ve been having some great conversations about desires and goals for Getting Through the Day.  We’ve got a lot planned coming your way so come back tomorrow to read more about her.
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