Happy Homemaker Monday 7/27/15

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Hot, Hot, Hot, cooler with rain chance, then Hot Hot Hot!

Things that make me happy:
Having meals ready to put in the crockpot to have ready to eat at 5:00

Menu for this week:
Not sure what order we will have them, but you can see what I have planned for the next 2 weeks HERE

What's on my TV today:
Haven't been watching anything lately


Looking around the house:

Other than the few spots I need to clean because there were people over all weekend and  we were gone on Sunday, but it's not too bad right now.

On my To Do List:

Finish grocery shopping and make ahead some meals.

New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
I have a lot of new ones I will be trying.  I will share them if we like them.

In the craft basket:
I'm still working on the afghan for my sister.  I've also been making some more potholders to sell and give away (the peace sign one is for my sister), and I volunteered to make a rich textures tote for a fellow yarn club member. This one is out of cotton yarn.  It will be fun to see the difference when I get it done.

Looking forward to this week:
I'm not sure.  Friday nights are fun at the castle.  It's Game Night with the "Young Adults".  Also Saturday is starting to be exciting, we have a growing group of MTG players coming for Saturday Night Magic, now that we are set up with "Wizards of the Coast".

Tips and Tricks:
Planning ahead for the weeks menu saves money.  Eating out and shopping nightly both get expensive.

Currently Reading

Almost finished with "The Fiddler" by Beverly Lewis *affiliate link*


No words needed (favorite photo or picture):

Fuzzy took a selfie.......:-)

Lesson learned the past few days:

You can't please everyone no matter how hard you try or how nice you are.

On my mind:

Slow Cooker dishes....must.find.more.  Pinterest is my friend for finding good ones.

Linking up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Menu for 2 weeks

I have to try and make some changes, and stick with them.  This going to the store nearly every day and not having a plan isn't working, it makes is want to eat out more.  Starting with 2 week plan of make abead things for the crockpot, which I can use when the AC is on, without tripping the breaker.  SO here goes, in no particular order, starting last night with the crockpot chicken tacos/burritos:


Root Beer BBQ Drumsticks  Mashed potatoes with butter, green beans

Crockpot Chicken Tacos/Burritos (lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, cheese)

Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks corn, bread & butter

Honey Garlic Chicken mashed potatoes and butter, green beans

Crockpot Beef and Gravy mashed potatoes and corn, bread & butter

Roast, Corn on the cob (crockpot, and I will do mine a bit different than the recipe it's for time reference), mashed potatoes and homemade gravy



Homemade Pizza (making and pre-cooking the crust ahead of time trying this recipe.  Trying this sauce recipe also)

Cincinnati Chili  spaghetti

Crockpot Ravioli  ???

Hamburgers and Fries

Slow Cooker Philly Cheesesteak

Roast, Corn on the cob (crockpot, and I will do mine a bit different than the recipe it's for time reference), mashed potatoes and homemade gravy

I still need to go get some things from the store as they were out of some things when I went the other day.  Looks like Sunday is going to be prep day, but only after church and going to do laundry.

Midweek Check Up

Monday I posted some To Do's. Here's my mid-week update.

Make Incense   getting ready to put it out to sell. 

Package Smells To GO!

Clean bathroom at the shop

check out grocery ads online and make a list/menu. Ads came out today.  One store, my favorite one, is having a 3 day sale Friday, Saturday & Sunday.  Good Deals on some things we would eat.  I may get a few things to tide us over until Sunday and do some more shopping then.

wash dishes. Did this last night but there are still a few to wash

put clean dishes away. Did this last night so I have more to put away since I washed some

work on the afghan for my sister

work on my latest crochet project.   Finished and working on 2nd side of Tunisian potholder.

Maybe go to the gym tonight. Went Monday. Did some moving things around on Tuesday. Hoping to go tonight. I really like the recumbent bike. 

HHM 7-13-15

Hello!  Hello!  Hello!  Glad you stopped by.  It's Monday again.  It's hot outside!, and did you know that this day, 2 years ago was a Friday the 13th?  I LOVE Friday the 13th's.  Monday the 13th hasn't been too bad so far. ;-)

The weather in my neck of the woods:

Can we say sizzle, sizzle, sizzle? Heat index will be well over 100 this week. As long as the humidity stays down though I think it won't be too bad.  I hope anyway.

Rich Textures Tote

Its finished!  This is the week 1 project for the Yarnspirations summer beach bag stitch along.  I used acrylic yarn and had to barter for more because I didn't have enough. I love how it turned out. It was quite easy to make.  Links to this project can be found on yesterday's HHM post. Now off to work on the next hooked project.

Before I post this, let me show you what we had for supper tonight.....Steak Fajita Queadillas.  MMMmmm they were good.

HHM 7/6/2015

Hello!  Hello!  Hello!  Glad you stopped by.  As soon as hubby gets back I'm going to go turn the espresso machine on.  I finally got some milk.  I've been wanting a cold latte (not iced, I just don't steam the milk) for about a week now.  Hang around, I'll get you one too.  While you're waiting, how about reading my Happy Homemaker Monday post for this week.

The weather in my neck of the woods:
We have a cold front moving in this afternoon.  Cold front is welcome, but the rain it's bringing, is supposed to also bring flooding.  Rain is good, but not so much that it floods.  I'm thankful for it all though.

Current WIP

For some reason I decided to make one of the Crochet Crowds Summer Beach Bag crochet along bags. I don't know what possessed me to do so. I chose the Rich Textures Tote and expected to have to watch the tutorial video step by step. I've watched it once for "bobble stitch" clarification. I've even been following the diagram instead of the written pattern. It makes more sense this time. I started it Yesterday afternoon and will probably have it finished tonight or tomorrow. I'll share the finished  bag once I'm done. I'm over half way now. Its super easy! Here is an inside out photo so far:

Can't wait to get it done.