How I Get it Done

Homemaking skills do not come naturally to me. I was not born organized. Cleaning schedules are not pre-programmed in my brain. When I look at the mess, dirt and clutter, I get overwhelmed and don't know where to start.

So here is my secret to getting the house in line: Motivated Moms, a downloadable schedule that tells you what to do every day. As long as I just do what I'm told, things run smoothly and the house stays nice. When left to my own devices, the wheels come off.

On the left of the page for each date, there is a Daily Chores checklist and below that a place for the day's menu. On the right side is a list of miscellaneous chores; things like clean toilets, vacuum first floor, clean porch light. Below that is a place for you to write appointments and notes.

I don't always have time to do every chore each day. But who says I should have to do it all anyway? It's easy to delegate these chores to the kids. Sometimes if I know a day is busy, I do the extra chores the day before. I try not to mess with it too much, though. Keep it simple. Do what I'm told. Enjoy my clean house.

If you want one, too, click here to visit Motivated Moms. You just download it and print it. They have different styles. Some have daily Bible readings, some don't. Some are bigger, some are smaller. For $8.00, that is just a little more than 2 cents a day.

Two New Blogs You Should Visit

Back when I transplanted to Virginia from California, I started blogging because I missed my neighbors. They were some pretty awesome, talented ladies. And now two of them have blogs! Woohooo.

I used to live across the street from My Own Personal Martha Stewart (except Kristy's a whole lot sweeter and hasn't been to prison). She is good at everything, but especially cooking. She even used to make dinner for ME and bring it across the street because our husbands were both out of town. And her house is gorgeous, on a budget. Any time I needed help with something like paint color or sewing, I just walked across the street. Yes, I cried when I moved.

Kristy's family is putting a pool in their backyard, and she decided to blog about it. Fortunately for us, she's throwing some other things in the blog, too. Like this coconut scone recipe. All my best recipes come from Kristy. She's amazing in the kitchen. If you just stopped by her house unannounced with 20 friends, she would whip up a tasty lunch on the fly without breaking a sweat. She and her husband have 3 really cool kids. And she's got them cooking, too. This photo's from a blog post about cooking with kids.

Her blog is called Mi Casa - San Diego. Stop by and say "hi".

My other neighbor, Wendy, just moved to Virginia. This woman has some serious decorating talent. I would love to just walk through her house and study EVERY SINGLE THING she has done to it. It looks like a million bucks, but don't think she spent that much. Her budget would inspire you.
Here's a shot from her apartment she and her family just moved into.

Here's a picture from a post she did on updating tired furniture with black paint.

I could be wrong, but I believe this is a cheap furniture store table that she picked up and then stained. It's gorgeous!
Would I ever think to hang a chandelier in a corner that low? Of course not, but she did and it looks great. Her blog is called Simply Brookes.

Ana Caban and Pilates

Back in the summertime, I got a gift in the mail from a really cool chick. I'm such a loser, it took me this long to post a "thank you."

Have you ever heard of Ana Caban? She is a pilates instructor, and I bought a couple of her pilates dvds a few years back. More on that later. Anyway, she has a website called La Buena Life and she does great givaways. I won the giveaway for a Blush Topless Undershirt!

Do you ever put on a shirt that is just a teeny bit too short, and it does this? I'm sorry, friends, but after being pregnant with an almost-11-pound baby, no amount of pilates in the world will make my stomach presentable. So I CAN'T STAND IT when my shirt pops up.

Ana sent me this cool thingie that isn't a shirt, it's just a tube that goes under your shirt at your waist and it looks like you have another shirt on that is longer. It is sooooo soft and now I don't worry about my stomach popping out. You can wear them if you're pregnant, too.

Here's another picture, from their website. It feels good to wear it.

Look at this cute card I got with my gift, and a handwritten note too. How nice!

Now, about the pilates ... I started with the beginning pilates dvd when I had plantar fasciitis so bad that I preferred to walk with crutches (yes, this is true). I just couldn't believe the muscles that started popping out after doing this workout for just a couple weeks. Zero impact on your feet and legs. And let me tell you, strengthening your core is something that is highly underrated. It makes you look great, you have better posture, it helps you to be better at other types of exercise at every level, it helps you with injuries, and I'm sure the list is longer. I highly recommend it.

Thanks, Ana Caban! You Rock!!

I'm Body for Life'n

I'm doing this again. Have you heard of Body for Life? I love it. It's all about exercising and eating a well-balanced diet. No fads or gimmicks. They have a contest every 3 months, too, and you can see the before and after pictures. Some are really amazing. You would be SHOCKED at what you can do in 3 months without starving yourself or going overboard with the exercising. I did the challenge last year, and ended up keeping the good habits I learned and not really gaining the weight back. I have lost muscle though, and I'm really enjoying lifting weights again. Women are so intimidated to do weights, but go on in the weight room girl and just do it. You belong there just as much as the guys. It's fun to see the muscle definition show up (pretty quickly).

Take the "before" picture, too. I highly recommend this. After a few weeks take another picture and you will be shocked. I still look at my before and after pictures from last year. It is so amazing.

Here's a cool blogger who talks about her Body for Life experience. She also explained Body for Life as a guest blogger here.

Anyone game for joining me?

I'll try to post my diet and exercise schedule (to keep myself honest). Here's what I did yesterday:

30 minutes cardio (on a machine at the gym)
Breakfast: Coffee, Oatmeal with protein powder
Mid-morning: Protein shake and banana right before workout
Lunch: Light sodium turkey (from deli section - it has much less sodium than the pre-packaged junk) on 2 pieces whole wheat bread, tomato slices and mustard.
Afternoon: Protein shake
Dinner: (It was a crazy night so we did breakfast again): 2 egg yolks and 3 egg whites scrambled with fresh spinach and 1 Tb. salsa, 1 piece of whole grain toast with light Smart Balance and sugar free jam (GET RID OF THE SUGAR, PEOPLE. IT'S SOOOO BAD FOR YOU), 1/2 grapefruit, 2 pieces turkey bacon.
Lots of water (about 65 ounces)
Two cups green tea

Hope you had a Wonderful Holiday!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday, friends.

Here are some pictures from mine . . .

My cheapie Target penguin ornaments and dollar store ribbon looked just right on the white tree.

It's my favorite tree now.

Yes, I have more than one.

I'm not going to confess how many there are.

My brother and sister-in-law who live in Germany brought me these German decorations (and some others).

This guy smokes incense. Apparently, Germans are REALLY into Christmas. Like, even more than beer and fabulous cars.

I put cookie cutter ornaments on the kitchen garland.

I painted a lantern I wasn't using.

This is another cheapie ornament I got from Michaels. I got the last one. 3 separate women stopped me in the store to ask where they could get one.

Time to pack it all up!

Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes Recipe** Update

Today I'm giving you my recipe for the pancakes I make for my kiddos every morning. It's a bit of a combination of the Pancakes recipe in Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, and the Better Pancakes recipe in Rachael Ray's Yum-O!, the Family Cookbook (my awesome mil gave me this one for X-Mas ... thanks Betty!).

I thought Deceptively Delicious missed an opportunity with the Pancakes recipe to slip more protein in the pancakes by using a pancake mix that requires eggs. Yum-O's recipe beefed up the protein, but didn't add the sweet potato. I'm doing both.

By the way, sweet potatoes are just one of the best foods you can have in your diet. They ROCK. I eat them with dinner instead of white potatoes. You can read a good little article on them here. One of the reasons I like them in the kids' breakfast is because they don't spike up your blood sugar and are a good steady source of energy.

I'm always running late, so I like to whip up the batter at night and throw it in the fridge (this recipe makes enough for 2 days for my kids, so I just cook what I need and throw the bowl back in the fridge for the next morning). You can also cook the pancakes ahead of time and put them in the fridge or freezer.

Here's what you need:

2 cups Aunt Jemima pancake mix (make sure you get the kind that requires eggs)**Update: I've slowly been mixing in the Aunt Jemima Whole Wheat Blend pancake mix. No one has noticed. Right now I'm using 1/2 cup Whole Wheat mix and 1 1/2 cup regular. Each week I'm adding another 1/4 cup. The cinnamon in the recipe hides the whole wheat and the sweet potato**

1 cup Milk

3 Eggs

1 or 2 4oz. jars of Sweet Potato baby food (I use two jars or one big jar, and Yes, I'm cheating and it's just as good!)

1 tsp Cinnamon

Smart Balance Light Spread (This brand is one of the healthier spreads)

Here's what you do:

In a large mixing bowl, mix together pancake mix, milk, eggs, 1 or 2 jars of baby food (you might want to start with 1 jar if your kids are picky like mine, and then try more next time) and cinnamon. Mix until combined, and add more milk to get to consistency you like. Put a little bit of spread on hot pan, pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook until little bubbles start to form on tops and then flip. Cook until light golden brown.

I like to give my kids a little bowl with the amount of syrup I want them to use, instead of letting them drench the pancakes in syrup. Dipping and not drenching. It's easier to keep it under control that way. I'm not a big fan of syrup. I just saw a recipe in Southern Living for honey-butter syrup ... You mix 1/3 cup butter with 1/2 cup honey (I used Healthy Balance Regular Spread and honey). It's not that low fat or low sugar, but it's real food and so much better than fake health food (ex. Hungry Jack Lite syrup which has High Fructose Corn Syrup as the first ingredient!! That stuff is SOOOO bad for you).
I've been Healthy Girl lately, so this is what I fixed up for me.
Good food isn't so bad. I like to have 2 egg yolks and 3 egg whites, scrambled. Just to the right of these beautiful eggs is a cute teenager looking at me like I'm a freak because I'm photographing breakfast.
I throw some spinach in my eggs while they are cooking. Chopped mushrooms are good too. Easy on the salt. If you need more flavor add a little bit of salsa when you're done cooking them. In addition to the eggs, I like to have either a bowl of oatmeal (banana is an AWESOME sweetener) or 2 pieces of whole grain toast with Smart Balance Light and sugar free jam.
Oops, this probably isn't on the healthy list. It's low sugar though. ;-)

My New Flip

I got fed up with my old video recorder. I was trying to record the Girl's first high school drama production and the disk in the recorder wouldn't format. No video. Grrrrrr.

So I went to Tarjaaay and bought a Flip. It's so easy to use ... I love it. I felt bad about spending the money at first, but I really haven't taken videos of my kids for years because I couldn't figure out how to format the stupid CDs. That's stupid. Now I just wish I had bought an HD Flip. Oh well. I still love it.

Bye Bye stupid CDs. Bye Bye transferring videos. (And since I never really figured out how to transfer videos ... ) Bye Bye box of little CDs, big tapes, little tapes - videos of my kids that I can't watch because I don't know what the heck to do with them.

I just plugged my Flip right into the computer. The computer downloaded the videos to my pictures directory. Done. Burn it to a cd for my family. Done. OMGoodness, I'm almost high on how easy that is. No more video stress. Get one people.

So, for your viewing pleasure, my first video of our beautiful morning surprise.

Have a happy day, friends, and wish us lots and lots of snow. Maybe we'll get a great Christmas card out of it!