But First, We Have Coffee » Organization

Motivated Moms Scheduler

Ruth — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:29:17 +0000

Now is the time to get your Motivated Moms schedule Ebook. Yes, the end of the year is here and time to get thinking about new calendars and new schedulers.

Last year, someone mentioned it to me, so I bought the half schedule to check it out, myself. I love the simplicity and thoroughness. It’s a keeper!

If you are interested, Click here to view more details. There are samples at the bottom of the page. You can even get one that includes a daily Bible reading.

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Motivated Moms Scheduler

Hunting Camp Menu

Ruth — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:48:53 +0000

We are getting ready to send off our hunters. Here is the menu I have come up with:

Breakfast
Choice of the following:
Egg Muffin (English muffin, cheese, sausage, egg)
Egg casserole (shredded potato, bacon, egg, cheese)
Yogurt with granola

Lunch
Choice of the following:
Cup O Noodles
Meat sandwich
Cheese sticks and/or carrot sticks

Dinner
1. Steaks and scalloped potatoes
2. Stew and biscuits
3. Hot dogs and chips
4. Hamburgers
5. Deer backstraps and cubed potatoes

Snacks
Marshmallows
Cookies
Muffins
Cocoa
“Emergency rations” (candy)

We will prepare most of the items ahead of time so they can simply be heated. The exceptions would be steaks and backstraps.

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Hunting Camp Menu

This Week’s Meal Plan

Ruth — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:27:35 +0000

Here is this weeks’ meal. Do you know what you are going to feed your family this week?

Sunday – Swedish Meatballs (We ended up making a switch)
Monday – Herbed rice
Tuesday – Spaghetti
Wednesday – Pancakes
Thursday – Toasted cheese sandwiches or leftovers
Friday – Beef Soup & homemade bread (We ended up not having this last week)
Saturday – Meatloaf

Notes for the week:

Take the ham out of the freezer on Friday for Sunday’s meal (next weeks’ menu)

Have a great day as you serve your family!

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This Week’s Meal Plan

This Week’s Dinner Menu

Ruth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:49:26 +0000

Here is this weeks’ meal. I actually had planned this meal as week three of my planning schedule. All the shopping has been done for this meal, except I think we’ll have to pick up more lettuce. The taco dinner used more than I had anticipated.

Sunday – Tacos
Monday – Leftovers
Tuesday – Turkey Soup
Wednesday – Hamburgers with homemade buns
Thursday – Meatloaf
Friday – Beef Soup & homemade bread
Saturday – Swedish meatballs over noodles

Notes for the week:

Take out hamburger on Tuesday. Make sure to bring out enough to form meatballs for Saturday’s meal.

Have a great day as you serve your family!

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This Week’s Dinner Menu

This Week’s Dinner Menu

Ruth — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:10:57 +0000

Today – Deer “fingers” (I bet you didn’t know deer have fingers)
Monday – Tamale Pie
Tuesday – Steak quesadillas
Wednesday – Turkey broccoli casserole
Thursday – Stroganoff
Friday – Chili and cornbread
Saturday – Turkey dinner

Notes for the week:

Take turkey out of the freezer Sunday
Cook turkey Tuesday
Divide turkey Wednesday into meals.

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This Week’s Dinner Menu

How To Live On Beans and Rice For a Week, almost

Ruth — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:58:38 +0000

Soak pinto beans overnight, drain, put in fresh water and cook all day. Make lots for leftovers, but use a big pot and watch that water!

In the evening, drain and set a few cups aside for one meal.

Add a can of tomato something, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and lots of salt to make chili. You can also add hamburger if you want to. We serve with chopped onion and shredded cheese. We have also enjoyed it in bread bowls that we made.

The next day, take the leftovers and smash them. If they are too juicy, run them through the food processor (the blade) and make refried beans to have as nachos with more cheese, onion, lettuce, sour cream.

The next night, have homemade pizza with sauce, any kind of cheese, and anything you can find to put on it, even if it’s just hamburger…or just cheese!

The next night, take the remainder of the smashed, seasoned beans and have burritos.

The next day, take out the beans that were set aside and add something tomatoey (my own word), but don’t make it runny, lots of salt, cumin and make some hush puppies or corn bread. Serve the beans over.

The following day, make up some macaroni. Throw all the leftover beans in with the drained macaroni then add cheese. If it needs thinning, ad a bit of water or tomato something. Wha la! Chilimac! To stretch it, make a bisquick topping and spread it over the whole thing.

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How To Live On Beans and Rice For a Week, almost

Use For Junk Mail Envelopes

Ruth — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:47:41 +0000

Reuse the back of junk mail envelopes and the envelopes you remove bills from. I use the backs of them for my note paper to makes lists: Grocery lists, to do lists, or jot down things I need to remember. I never buy cute/fancy note pads, although I have been known to receive a few as gifts.

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Use For Junk Mail Envelopes

The “P” Word

Mom — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:35:14 +0000

The “P” word! And you are wondering… oh no, is she going to start talk politics? Is it going to be more talk about Sarah Palin? Nahhh! I want to talk to you about price books. Yup… price books. What? You don’t know what a price book is? Get yourself a fresh cup of java and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s not too difficult, but I always like a good excuse to enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend.

A price book is a notebook of sorts, in which you write down each item you purchase and at what store. I also like to write down the cost per ounce so I can compare easily. You can categorize the book by store, product, or categories, such as cleaning items, canned foods, etc.

Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced Da cision), author of the Tightwad Gazette, gave me this idea and it has worked well.

The idea behind the price book is that you can accumulate the cost for each of your most common items, thus determining where the best prices can be found. When something is on sale, you will know if it really is a good deal. You eventually get a sense of what is good and what is not. I have used it to create goals for how much I spend on meals. My goals might be $3 for each breakfast and $3 for each lunch and $9 for each dinner. Your mileage may vary. At least with a price sheet, you will know where your money is going.

Another aspect of using this price book is that you can see seasonal trends for items. Produce are not the only items that fluctuate in price for the season. Turkey, ham, potatoes are just a few items that fluctuate according to the season or time of year. You will learn when the best time is to purchase these items. Stock up! Plan ahead!

I have provided this price book for you in a .pdf format for your own use. If you prefer it in Excel, which can also be opened in Open Office, click here. Feel free to print, copy, distribute. I simply as that you not remove the copyright information and website at the bottom of the page.

Other reading on the topic can be found at the following:

Wait, I’m not quite done, yet. There’s another part of this picture. I have found a great little free program, which installs quite easily, wherein I can take all my data and set it up on the computer. The program can is simply called Shopping List and can be found here.

The program is optional. It depends on what you would like to do and if you prefer to use the paper notebook solely. I like lists. I like options. I know that if something happened to my notebook, I have a back up.

This program allows you to put in all your grocery items by categories. I will add an item so that it will say, for example:
Eggs Albertson’s 5doz. $8.19
Eggs Costco 5doz. $7.79
Eggs Walmart 5doz. $8.22

In this way, I can compare at a glance and make my shopping trip according to where I can get the best prices.

After I have all my information in, I can drag the items I need to shop for into the right hand area, as you can see in the image. This is my master grocery list. When it prints, it will list everything, including prices and the locations to shop (as I just described), as well as the prices by category. Plus, it will calculate the total at the bottom, so I know what to expect to pay when I go out.

Happy planning and shopping!

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The “P” Word

On Today’s Agenda

Mom — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:09:46 +0000

The agenda today consists of … and not in any particular order:

Coffee
CTBHH chat
Watering the yard
Quiet time
Wish my twins Happy Birthday!
Finish getting our network hooked up to use SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse)
Finish our MOTH schedule before school starts next week
Attend a maquillage party, hosted by two of my daughters, Bethy and Anne
Laundry

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On Today’s Agenda

Motivated Moms Planner

Mom — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:47:13 +0000

I admit it. I’m a list-maker. I like to make lists of what’s for dinner, l what I need to do today, what I need to pick up at the store, what I want to do in the future. You name it, I list it ~grin~

I wanted to share with you about Motivated Moms planners. I have heard of these before, but had not purchased it. I know… I’m cheap. $8 for a planner seemed like a lot. Ha! It really isn’t, though, at least not for this planner. AND…. it’s half off because the year is half over! So, if you are interested in taking a peek at her other items, this may be the time to give them a spin. Then you’ll know if you want to go back and spend the extra $4 later.

She has check off boxes for daily and weekly tasks. They rotate week to week. These are a great starter kit for anyone wanting to jump start their daily schedule.

Some items she has are:

Full Size Planner
Half Size PlannerFull Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule (I wish I had tried this one out)
Half Size Planner
Half Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule

Let me know if you end up purchasing one of these that I don’t have. I’d like to know what you think… or if you already have one that I don’t have, would love to hear.

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Motivated Moms Planner