Life update: Condo

     So guess what we finally got to see last night? Our condo!!!! Yeah!!!! So excited! So I decided to post some pictures so that you can see what it looks like. Mind you these pictures don't look very great because of the lighting. It was dark outside. We are going to go back to the condo in a little bit to look at it in the daylight. 

I think Graham was pretty excited to be there! Graham is standing in the dining room, the kitchen is to the right and the door on the left goes to our balcony, with a view of the pool!

Then here is our tiny but pretty kitchen. We may actually keep that wall color. And look at the track lights on the ceiling! Aren't they awesome! Love them!

Then of course there is the other side of the kitchen. It is a nice frig that is pretty new. Then, cue the doomed music, dun dun dun, an electric stove. This is my new challenge! We will see how it goes, I guess! 

Here is the view of our living room from our dining room. It's nice and big with a big closet by the door. I am so excited about closet space!

Here is a closer up view of the entrance. Then on the left you see the little hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom.

Here is the guest bedroom. Apparently i forgot to take a picture of it! But it is basically the same as this one but a little bigger and flipped the other way.

Then here is our bathroom from the hallway.

And the bathroom closet and shower. The closet is really deep which is awesome!

Then standing in hallway out of the bathroom here is the living room again,

along with the seller and the Cracker!

     We are so excited to be able to get in there and really make this our first home together! We can't move in yet but the seller said we can take nails out, spackle and paint. Yeah!!!!

So what do you think? Do you like it? I can't wait to show you our progress as this journey continues, keep checking back for more updates!

Tip of the Day: Running Errands

     Sometimes you feel like there are too many places that you need to run and not nearly enough time to do it all right? Well the best thing you can do is group all of your errands together and run them all at one time. 
     You may need to go to the bank, get groceries, run to the post office, fill the car with gas, wash the car, pick up meds at the pharmacy and the list goes on and on. Some of these you may need to take care of once a month, others once or twice a week.
     But why not make a list of your errands and set a specific time to run them all? This way it will not only save you gas by making an efficient route to accomplish them all but it will save your valuable time as well. 
     For myself, I have really benefited by doing this because I can run all of my errands on Monday morning and then forget about them for the rest of the week! Try it out and tell me what you think. Then you can Organize RunYourErrandsForReal!

Recipe: White Chili

     Today fall has definitely shown its cold and windy face. I was so glad that I had soup planned for tonight. I made white chili, my mom's recipe (thanks again mom!). You'll remember that I had made the chicken for this last week but due to some circumstances I couldn't make it. But today was the perfect soup day so I didn't mind! 

Here is the recipe for it! 

2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 onion chopped

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

2 cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 can chicken broth or 16 frozen homemade chicken broth cubes

2 cans chopped green chiles

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp oregano

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup sour cream

½ cup heavy whipping cream

Saute first 3. Add ingredients through cayenne. Cook 30 minutes. Take off heat and add sour cream and whipping cream.

I mean, can this be any easier? This also makes for great leftovers because the flavors really marry. So go ahead, put this on your meal plan for next week, you won't regret it!  

Food Prep For the Week of Oct 1, 2012

     Ok, so I know that was Monday but things have been crazy around here to say the least! I'm trying to pack, I've been sick, we haven't been able to see the condo yet and the list goes on. But I wanted to fill you in on my prep for this weeks food. This week was pretty simple because I have planned quick easy food using stuff I already had so there was less to move. So two weeks ago I got out of the grocery store with less than 40 dollars of groceries and I thought that I had done well but this week was even better! I only spent a little more than 20 dollars for the whole week!!! Awesome!
     For this week there wasn't really much prep that I could do but I wanted to share with you what I did for the burgers that we will be having this weekend. I didn't want the ground beef sitting in the frig all week so I went ahead and froze it but before I did that I decided put it in the freezer, I would go ahead and season the meat and make it into patties.I made three because graham will want 2 and I will want one. And that is actually how many buns we have left in the freezer so it works out great!

So I just used salt, garlic pepper, Italian seasoning and sweet and zesty BBQ.

Then I mixed it up and formed it into 3 patties. Then I went ahead and wrapped them individually using the wrapping that they came in. Now when I take them out of the freezer I don't have to worry about them sticking together. They will also thaw faster since they are smaller. 

Do this and you will be ready to MakeBurgersForReal!

Freebies: Garnier Fructis and Lipton

     Yesterday I got 2 more freebies! I love going to the mail and finding free stuff! When I was little a family friend would always send me shoes in the mailbox. They sent me so many shoes that I thought that shoes can from the mailbox! I wish they still did!!!

So, yesterday I received two freebies in the mail! 

And inside this is what there was...

     It is a sample of Garnier Fructis Fall Fight Shampoo and Conditioner. It also came with a coupon for $1.00 off any Garnier Fructis product. Then I got a sample of Lipton Iced Green Tea Mix. It is from their tea and honey product line. It is mango pineapple flavor. Can't wait to try them! Would you like to see me do reviews of samples that I get or products that I use? Leave me your comments below and let me know!

Tip of the Day: Labeling Cords and Chargers

     Today we live in the age of technology. For every gizmo and gadget we have two or three cords. We have a charger for the house, a charger for the car, headphones and a cord to hook up to our computer. None of them seem to be the same as another either.
     So how can you organize the chaos? Label, label, label!!!
     I have seen many labeling techniques when it comes to cords. I have seen people write a label on bread bag ties using a permanent marker. I have also seen labels from a label maker wrapped around them. This is some that I have yet to do but need to!
     Don't forget to label the cords for your computer or entertainment center as well. This way when you go to the power strip you can easily unplug the exact cord that you want. If all the cords are labeled this also makes it easy to move your computer or entertainment center to a different location. Do this and you'll be OrganizedForReal!

Tip of The Day: Weekly Meal Plan

    Is the term "weekly meal plan" an inspiration or does it make you cring? I'll admit, at first,I thought it would be a daunting task but now I don't know how I lived without it! I found myself in the rut of not knowing what to cook so it was just easier to go out or order in. But I noticed that I was not feeling very good because I was not eating well and I wanted to have better meals for my husband. So I decided I would try making a meal plan for the week and see how it worked and like I said, now I don't know how I did without it.
     The first week was the hardest, I didn't know what I wanted to make. So I decided to start a list of meals that I make. I also looked though some cookbooks and online to find new recipes I wanted to try. Here is what week one looked like...

Monday-

Lunch- Stromboli

Supper- Chinese

Tuesday-

Lunch- Red Beans and Rice

Supper- Turkey and Ham Wraps

Queso and Chips

Wednesday-

Lunch- Red Beans and Rice

Supper- Capresse chicken and pasta

Thursday-

Lunch- Leftover Capresse Chicken and pasta

Supper- Vernicelli with sausage and spinach

Friday-

Lunch- Leftover vernicelli with sausage and spinach

Supper- Cedar Rapids

Saturday-

Lunch- With Nieces Out

Supper- Make with Nieces

Sunday-

Lunch- Eat out

Supper- Leftovers

     For the lunches I only have to figure out what I would eat as my husband has to eat out for lunch. I normally eat leftovers, which I love for lunch. Then for supper I looked at my days activities to see how much time and energy I would have to cook. On days where I am gone until 5, I want something that will either be ready when I get home or take very little effort to prepare. 

     I also have to figure in meals to use leftovers. If there are more leftovers beyond this. I freeze them and plan them into next weeks meal plan. I also make sure I include when we will be eating out on the meal plan. 

     When I am making the meal plan, I try to make sure that I plan for a wide variety of foods. I make sure that I don't have the same meat too many times in one week or too many pasta or rice dishes etc.
     When I am trying to think of meals to make, I rally try to look at what I will have a partial package of and try to use it in another meal. For instance, I made a beef roast one night and then used the leftover beef in beef stroganoff the next night. I also froze the beef broth for later use. This way I make sure that I don't have wasted food and thus wasted money.
     As you have noticed, now I am going to post my new meal plan every Sunday or Monday. Monday Meal Plan- genius!
     Because I have my weekly meal plan and use my Master Grocery List I can get groceries once a week on my errand day! This way I can be OrganizedForReal!!!