Menu Planning!

I used to do menu planning and loved it! So I'm not sure why I quit, but now I'm back on the bandwagon! Saturday is my current scheduled shopping day...I'd like to switch it to Wednesday to catch Piggly Wiggly's Wednesday Specials, but somehow Saturday seems to suit better at the present! (Since I'm working in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I want to CrockPot cook those days. I usually end up working a little bit from home the other days. This is my first week trying it. My Crockpot and I hardly know each other, but I aim to become friends!) By the way, I love the Pig app! After checking the weekly sales, I plan out a week's worth of menus on my huge FlyLady calendar that hangs on the inside of the pantry door. Then I make a giant list on my Wunderlist app, and away to town we go! Other than Saturday and Sunday, I only plan supper meals; Danl either takes sandwiches or eats out for lunch. I try not to cook more than what we will eat, because Danl does not appreciate my heated up leftovers! I did not inherit my mother's skill of reheating food. It's an art! So I eat the leftovers if there are any, for my lunches. For breakfast, since we both turn up our noses at most cereals, we (try to) keep the following on hand as staples:

Bacon

Conecuh

 Flaky Layers Canned Biscuits 

(did you know you can freeze the ones you don't bake? We bake four in the toaster oven and freeze the other four for another morning!)

 Brown Eggs 

Grits

Hashbrown Patties

Pillsbury Orange Danish Rolls (Sunday morning special!)

Saturday

Lunch: Grilled Hamburgers 

Pringles

Supper: Crawfish Etouffee (Love Tony Chachere's mix!)

Broccoli

Sunday

Lunch: Tacos, Beans, Rice, Chips 'n Salsa, Ice Cream Cones (Smith gathering @ Sheldon's!)

Supper: Grilled Chicken

Garlic Bread

Parmesan Roasted Carrots 

(new recipe from Pinterest, but I grilled them instead of baking them.)

Homemade Peach Ice Cream in the Donvier

We don't always cook a "real meal" on Sunday evenings, but sometimes we are "real hungry," so I plan one just in case! Tonight was one of those real hungry nights...

Monday

Grilled London Broil 

(eat rare, shaved thin w/ horseradish!)

PW's Crash Hot Potatoes w/ Homemade Ranch Dressing

Cheese Green Beans

Taco Tuesday

Navajo Tacos (put meat with chili seasoning in CrockPot)

Top of the Mountain Peach Jello 

(use Mt. Dew instead of cold water, add sliced peaches)

Wednesday

Vension Steak Lo Mein

Pot Stickers & Spring Rolls (both from Dollar Tree!)

Thursday

Country-style Ribs with Conecuh & Carrots (in CrockPot)

Microwave-baked Potatoes

Fish Friday

Fried Flounder

Cheese Grits

Deviled Eggs

Claussen Pickles

Fresh Fruit of the Week

Peaches

Granny Smith & Gala Apples

Bananas

Dessert of the Week 

(Make whenever it suits or strikes!)

Reese's Ice Cream Cake

Daniel saw this dessert somewhere online and said he thought it looked amazing! And it's amazing if he thinks a dessert looks amazing! So I added the ingredients to my list! Normally I would never have the stuff on hand to make something like this; it uses ice cream sandwiches, creamy peanut butter, Reese cups, chocolate & caramel sauces, and Coolwhip. But now I'm prepared! And that, my friends, is the beauty and fun of menu-planning! 

I end up swapping meals around somewhat and changing up the side dishes, but at least I have a plan to change instead of trying to make one at 5:45! 

If any of y'all plan your plates, I'd love to mooch off your meal planning for new ideas! Leave them in the comments or email me! 

-Thankful Thursday-

I feel THANKFUL 

for...

This blog! 

Even though I sadly neglect it, it's like an online diary of our life, and I love reading bygone posts.

Fresh peaches! 

Just ate one with a dollop of brand name Cool Whip (worth the extra $ veruse Great Value or any other brand in my humble opinion!) and the last spoonful of Bluebell Old-fashioned Vanilla.

Faircloth Land Services! 

Daniel is thoroughly enjoying putting his all into forestry mowing, harley raking, and whatever else that can be done with a skid steer!

Our baby!

She turned 5 months on August 20! So hard to believe! Soon she'll be driving a car!! Instead of just driving us crazily more in love every day! Her thankful list would read like this!

DADDY

MAMA

DIESEL

LEROY

MY HOUSE

MY WALKER 

(one of her favorite things is to scoot right up to the dog gate and screech and jabber at her dogs until they are almost exasperated with her lol!)

MY ROUTINES

MILK

BUTTERNUT SQUASH

PEACHES

BATHTIME

SOPHIE

PINK LOVEY BLANKET

CUPCAKE TOY

DONUT TOY

My job!

It doesn't get much better than working for your own dad! (Other than teaching! Nothing can top that!)

Menu Planning!

I'm still learning how to FLY (FlyLady system) and menu planning is an important part of a peaceful day! Tonight was Venison Meatballs with Brown Gravy over Rice with a side of Cheese Green Beans.

Good ole eBay!

Love the baby clothes that finally arrived from China today! Got this cloud set in two more bigger sizes since she has outgrown her first set! 

My bed!

I'm hoping to sleep off the "congestive head failure" (sore throat & headache) I've experienced today! 

Goodnight, y'all! 

#happysaturday

I know this is Sunday, well almost Monday actually at 11:59 pm, but I wrote this list in my head on Saturday, and I still want to share it!

1. Going to Market in the Park with Danielle...

(And later savoring the cinnamon rolls I purchased from Aunt Rose; gooey caramel pecan are thee best!)

2. Shopping WeCare with my sisters...

 Scored some apparently unworn BabyGap moccasins ($1.99) for Danielle and  classy black Yellowbox flip flops ($2.99) for me! 

3. Visiting Grandpa Smith at the nursing home...

4. Eating a corn dog, fries, and chocolate/vanilla swirled cup of ice cream from Dean's Grill...

(Thanks for the Food Certificate, Mr. Hiebert!) The gal at the window gave me a medium cup of ice cream instead of the small that I had the balance for! And a medium at this Southern food shop is a whopping 16 oz cup! I gave it my all and conquered!

5. Chatting with friends and neighbors at our hometown Piggly Wiggly...

especially made my day to say hey to one of my favorite Walmart employees there! Maybe we both share a love/hate relationship with Walmart!

6. Watching Danl operate his new machinery...

 He is so talented!

7. Taking a family walk on Garrett Road...

We all love the "new-to-us" jogging stroller!

8. Skipping cooking and dishes for an evening!

9. Ordering my childhood favorite menu items at Taco Bell...

(hard taco, soft taco, pintos 'n cheese!)

10. Hearing our baby "sing!" 

She loves to coo along to all her favorite little songs!

A Girl's Gotta Have a Purse!

Danielle acquired her first purse today!
And like a true girl, she loves it! (If clutching it solidly and slobbering on it profusely counts as adoration! I think it does!) I had spied this mini marvel several weeks ago at T.J.Maxx and had fallen in love! I could just picture Danielle playing happily with this little purse and even taking it to Sunday School with her little offering coins in it years down the road... Even though I left it in the store, it stayed in my mind! So today, I ogled the aisles to see if any of the tiny totes remained, and found only 3 of them marked down in the clearance section! If that's not a sure sign to purchase, I'm not a shopaholic! Cute as it is, Ralph Lauren didn't design this as a baby purse; it's actually a "Mini Tote Bag Charm." A purse upon a purse?! Seems a bit silly to me, but it would be a great place to keep your keys! Maybe when Danielle is all grown up, she can attach her first purse to her current one! But for now, a bitty baby with a bitty bag just makes this mama smile. :)

Hello Again!

"Hello again!"

"Hello!"

"Do you like my hat?"

"I do. What a hat! 

I like it! 

I like that motherhood hat!" 

And here I am again, wearing a hat I have never before worn! And I like it! And I like the book Go, Dog. Go! in case you hadn't noticed! This won't be a long post since I haven't time for such anymore! But Danielle is happily entertaining herself on her play mat and things like showers, and dishes, and straightening up, and getting birth announcements ready for the mail can wait while I record our life in order that we may reflect upon it later in our golden years! I did update the title description and the  "About Us" portion of the blog. So that's a start! And unless I want to sit on a bench all by myself tonight at church, I should rouse myself and shower since the little princess decided to grab a catnap! We stayed home this morning and listened to two weddings and have been in a rather lazy gear all day...but now,
"Go, Mama. Go!"

Thankful Thursday

1. I am thankful for this baby girl that currently has severe hiccups! And I'm thankful that I have had a healthy, relatively easy (I think! What do I compare to?!) pregnancy. Tomorrow makes 39 weeks, so any day now could be Baby Faircloth's birthday!

2.  I am ever so thankful that Daniel is finally feeling almost back to his normal self after fighting bronchial infection and mono at the same time! I have never seen him so sick, or so willing to go to the doctor/hospital and I hope and pray to never again.

3. I am thankful for my sister-in-law Alisha! All the wonderful help she rendered with her brilliant organizational skills got me "un-stuck" so to speak, and able to finish up various pre-baby projects! Thanks to her, I feel (mostly) calm and ready for this new phase in life. (I think.)

4. I am thankful for our dear family and friends. They have helped us through thick and thin and we could not make without all the love and support! 

5. I am thankful for baskets from Dollar Tree.

6. I am thankful for drugstore.com, fatwallet.com, and shoprunner 2-day free shipping! I love this day and age. Even though the UPS and Fedex guys probably do not. 

7. I am thankful that Grandpa Schneider "woke up" and I could talk with him again. He's such a dear grandpa and it's so hard to see him so uncomfortable and so frustrated. 

8. I am thankful for the new prison dog beds from Jeffers! Diesel and Leroy appear to be thankful also! And I'm thankful for my little sis who is "in the know" about all things pet-related. Let's hope these beds last longer than crib mattresses from the thrift store.

9. I am thankful that Daniel likes to cook! He has been making these awesome, rosemary, thyme, garlic, olive oil, seared chuck eye steaks in the cast iron skillet. Mouth-wateringly delicious!

10. I am thankful for the assurance of Isaiah 43:2. 

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." 

11. One more thankful! I was going to stop at 10, but I'm thankful that it's still Thursday and I can quickly post this before it's Friday, because Thankful Thursday just sounds so much bet.......(and then my computer died and I was too tired to go get the charging cord and just gave up and went to bed. and now it's Friday!)

12. A dozen seems more complete! And makes me think of donuts! I am thankful for HotLightApp and that Krispy Kreme is only 4 minutes away from Dr. Doyle's office. 

Sunday Mornings...

OK, I'll confess right away! Sometimes I'm not writing sermon notes in my church notebook; I'm writing five sense poems like the one below! But one must take advantage of inspiration when it strikes, lest it leave! Right?! :) 

~ SUNDAY MORNINGS ~

Sunday mornings are soft, settled, peaceful...

No phones ringing or dinging, 

No agendas pressing, no to-do lists looming;

Just the privilege of sitting for longer than 15 minutes!

Sunday mornings look spiffy, clean, respectful.

Slicked-down hair crispy with hairspray...

Attentive faces turned toward the speaker.

Sleepy children snoozing on warm laps and bony shoulders.

Sunday mornings sound like old-fashioned gospel singing.

Hymns with meaning soothing the soul...

The Word falling gently down, hopefully landing on soft ground.

Powerful prayers pleading for our infirmities; stomachs rumbling soft and low, ready for roast!

Sunday mornings smell like perfume 

Mingling, clashing, blending - 

Uniting in a single aroma of women who want to be beautiful inside and out.

Faint hints of hearty breakfasts or the browned pot roast cling about.

Sunday mornings taste like mints,

Fresh and revitalizing.

 Hall's cherry cough drops, strong and soothing

Any disturbance must be muffled.

Sunday mornings feel so right, so solid.

"God, thank you for blessing me, 

For inspiring me to walk with You.

Thank you for giving me these priceless Sunday mornings."

SMF 

02.21.16