MMQB

I was a bit busy yesterday taking both kids to the doctor so my MMQB recap is a day delayed.
We have one with bronchitis and one with a severe viral cold. Time to medicate!

The Fine Fifteen
8. Cincinnati (6-2). OK, OK, Bengals fans. I give up. I acknowledge your greatness. Well, at least your very-goodness. The thing that impressed me watching Cincinnati's relatively easy victory: 44 total yards by the Ravens in the first half and just 215 in four quarters. "Not the same old Bengals,'' Chad Ochocinco told me after the game. Apparently not.

Ten Things I Think I Think
5. I think Marvin Lewis is going to get serious coach-of-the-year consideration from me. I remember seeing him in HBO's "Hard Knocks'' show rail at his team after a preseason loss to St. Louis, lost when the ninth-stringers were on the field. And I thought: This guy's making it very uncomfortable for his team to lose. And the Bengals have gone out and played like that.
8. I think the Cincinnati corners, Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph, were the league's unsung heroes Sunday. Not saying the Ravens have Swann and Stallworth on the flanks, but Joe Flacco looked unsure in the pocket all day, and it's because Hall and Joseph pestered the Raven receivers all day.
9. I think the league won't do anything about Chad Ochocinco's little money gag, where he took out a dollar bill and waved it at an official during a disputed call. "You know, like, here's a dollar, change the call,'' the Ocho told me. "Just kidding. Just having fun.'' Wasn't sure the league would see it that way, and though I think league officials will look at the replay in New York today, I hear they won't be inclined to fine Ochocinco. Harmless fun. Well, I didn't think it was fun, but I'm old and boring.

Namaste.

Scrapbooking Success!

I didn't have a lot of time this weekend to Scrapbook and even less energy since I haven't been feeling well for the last week or so. Luckily, I had some "prep" work that I'd done here and there. . .
Guess what? Yep, I rocked!

I think I got about 20 pages done in about 3 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday!
I still have journaling to put on the pages, but the basic layout is done. It will also make for a lot less "stuff" to take with me to a scrapping day if I just need to take layouts and markers.

I think my next "prep" project is to organize layout designs by the number of pictures that are included on them. I know that sounds a little OCD, but I spent most of my time searching my piles of layouts (pulled from magazines) for the layouts that fit the number of pictures I had printed.
I also need to update/redo my stamp pages. I keep forgetting what stamps I have and keep going through the piles over and over again.

I'll let you know how that goes. . .In about a year or two, when I finally get it done!

Did I mention that I got about 20 pages done this weekend? :)

Namaste.

Frugal Links

It is on my "To Do" list to update my blog roll. . .
But to be honest, it isn't a priority right now.
Until then, I'll share a list of sites that I frequent daily.
Some I may have shared before, but a few I just found this week. :)

Want to know what coupons are going to be in the newspaper this Sunday?
Taylortown Coupon Preview

Want to print internet coupons or be told about "what to buy" or "freebies"?
Most blogs, I have found, are just repeats of the others. Here are a few that I found to have stuff that no one else knew about or did a bit more "leg work" for the readers.
Little Miss Knowitall
Stretching A Buck
Moms Need To Know
Deal Seeking Mom
It's Hip To Save

Want to get stuff for next to nothing by stacking e-coupons with regular coupons?
CellFire for Kroger
P&G E-saver for Kroger
Shortcuts for Kroger
Mealbox for Meijer (in the meal!box area on the right, click on the specials tab for the coupons)

Namaste.

Random Stuff About Me

I swiped this one from Carmen, but I added a fourth section. :)

THINGS I CAN'T STOP BUYING ALTHOUGH I DON'T NEED ANY MORE:
Scrapbooking Paper
Scrapbooking Markers
Icing - MBB likes the Betty Crocker Whipped Butter Cream and when it's on sale, I buy tons even though we already have tons!

THINGS I HAVE TOO MUCH OF BUT CAN'T GET RID OF:
Gray hair - My magician, I mean beautician, sees me more than some of my family
Laundry - I clean out the hampers and they are full again before I get the clean clothes put away
Exhaustion - I'm exhausted even when I get a good night's sleep and can't sleep anymore
Single Socks - For when I do, the mate appears. It's a curse (Stole this one from Carmen)...
Clutter - Mainly of the "filing" kind in the Den

THINGS I JUST CAN'T DO NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY:
Stop cringing when I hear teeth scraping on silverware
Get Yeager-bomb to stop mewing at our door at 5:00am every morning
Figure out how to make the sweets I crave so that they don't destroy my waist line
Understand why Christmas Decorations get displayed in stores before Halloween and Thanksgiving Decorations
Maintain a "maintain" diet
Volleyball Bumping - even Wii Active Sport yells at me!
Give up caffeine - Diet Cherry Pepsi continues to be my favorite and to be honest, I don't wanna give it up!

THINGS I HAVE IMPROVED AT BUT AM STILL WORKING ON:
Couponing!
Cooking a few healthy meals that the entire family will eat - Harder than you think!
Driving the speed limit - HATE IT!
Getting back in an exercise routine!
Trying to be more positive. . .

Namaste.

Keeper

I received this recipe from one of my co-workers.
Based on feedback, I changed it up a bit for my family and it has been deemed a "keeper".

Mexican Enchiladas
2-4 Chicken Breasts (shredded)
1lb Lean Ground Beef w/ taco seasoning
3 cans Enchilada Sauce (mild)
1 stick butter
3 cups Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Fat Free/Low Fat Cheese

In a 9x12 casserole container, layer the bottom with half ground beef and half shredded chicken.
Crumble chips on top of meat, drizzle with butter.
Pour enchilada sauce and add any "extras" (we put black olives on MaBell's part).
Cook for 20 minutes at 350.
Add cheese (I put the fat free/low fat cheese on my part).
Bake for an additional 10 minutes.


I am still looking for a healthier substitute for the stick of butter, but other than that - I think this one is pretty good the way it is!

Namaste.

Patio

I was waiting until MBB removed the framing to get a picture.
We moved the trash cans to the other side of the house. . .
Notice the wind blowing over the trash can as I was taking the picture!

We have some touch up to do and a lot of furniture / decorations to move / buy. . .
But we are very happy to not have a huge step into the house now!
Namaste.

OB's 2nd Fashion Piece

OB has been sporting some new fashion accessories lately. . .
The first one already made its debut on the blog previously.

Now, we have graduated on to a second fashion accessory.
This one will be with us for awhile. He has to wear it in his shoe whenever he is out of the house for four weeks. After that, he will have to wear it during physical activity such as sports, exercising and horsing around.

Meet the sleeve!
Namaste.

Success!

See this?

In case you can't. . .there are:
> Two bottles of Welch's Juice
> Two bottles of Sunny D Smoothies
> Three bags of Steamfresh Birdseye Veggies w/ light sauce
> Two boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes
> Three boxes of Special K bars
> One box of Jose Ole Mini Tacos
> Seven bags of Chex Mix
Total priced value: $56.20

How much did I pay?

Drum roll please. . .
$10.90


Gotta love Krogers!
Even more - I love that I'm getting the hang of combining sales, paper coupons and e-coupons.

Namaste.

November - Can I Do It?

I have been horrible about blogging lately, so I am going to join Carmen on her quest. . .
Hey, get off of the floor - no reason to laugh that hard!

Yes, I am going to try to blog every day in the month of November (starting the 2nd through Dec 1st since I didn't know about it yesterday).
AND. . .I'm going to try to make them more than one liners.
Starting tomorrow. :P

Namaste.

Guest Poster

MaBell told me that I had to blog about this. I started to and then decided that she could tell the story much better than I. So, this post is from our guest poster - MaBell. . .

So you know when you have those "0h $%#@" moments? Well tonight, one of these moments happened to me.
I decided to through ALL OF MY WHITES in with blue jeans (genius). The lil voice in my head said "MaBell don't do it". Too late lil voice, the white hoodie is spotted black from the ink pen you use in English.
Now maybe I will start listening to SassyMarie when she tells me not to mix whites and colours while doing laundry. :( Can you say Bummer?


Imagine - I was standing in the kitchen and in walks MaBell. . .
"You know how you always tell me. . ."
"Guess that I'll start listening. . ."

Namaste.