Week 49: 52 Bags in 52 Weeks
Our quest to de-clutter our lives continues, one week (and one bag) at a time. You can do the same!
Week 49:
Jill’s Mom was here yesterday and she took home two Rubbermaid bins filled with the entire Precious Moments “Sugar Town Winter Village”.
She said Jill can have it back some day if she wants it, but we would need a much bigger house and WAY older children to attempt that!
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Next week: any suggestions?
Week 48: 52 Bags in 52 Weeks
Our quest to de-clutter our lives continues, one week (and one bag) at a time. You can do the same!
Week 48 (written by Jill):
This year, I’ve been so on top of boxing up Vivian’s clothes the minute they don’t fit her, but Roydon has so much more drawer space than her — I don’t tackle it enough, so I did it this week.
I filled two bags of clothes that ranged in sizes from 18mo – 4T. They’ll become hand-me-downs!
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Next week: … back to the crawlspace for Jill’s Precious Moments collection/tubs that haven’t seen daylight in years!
Did you miss my special in-studio guest yesterday?
With lots of snacks and a portable DVD player in hand, I had two special guests in the studio late yesterday (due to Jill’s Breaking Dawn premiere.
Even when brief, Roy is still brilliant:
Best Father’s Day cards!
Jill’s card still has me laughing …
It said I could have something I would never usually get, but only for 24 hours:
“You get to be right!”
What about you? Favorite cards you gave or received? Share with us!
Ride Home Recipes: Southwest Lasagna
A new year means trying new recipes, and the Southwest Lasagna was a HIT over the weekend!
Ingredients
4 whole wheat tortillas
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 lb. of ground beef or turkey
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 packet of taco mix
1 can of corn (drained very well)
1 can of tomatoes (drained very well)
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 can of chopped chilis
8 oz of cheddar cheese, or the Mexican blend
Handful of chopped olives for the top
Instructions
In a frying pan, brown the ground beef. When close to fully-brown, add the chopped green pepper and onion. Then follow instructions on the taco mix packet (to add). Drain the grease and transfer to a large bowl.
Next, add the corn, chilis, tomatoes and chopped cilantro to the bowl and mix well with the ground beef mixture. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Use cooking spray or butter to grease the sides of a 1.5 quart casserole dish. Pour enchilada sauce into a bowl. Cut the tortillas into strips, about 1 1/2 inches side. Dip in the enchilada sauce and cover the bottom of the pan.
Add a layer of the ground beef and then cover with cheese. Cover the mixture with layers of tortilla strips, dipped in enchilada sauce. Repeat this step until the pan is full.
The last layer should be tortilla strips, cheese and olives (if you would like to add them).
Cook in oven for 30 minutes. The dish is done when the cheese is melted and lasagna bubbling.
Serve immediately.
Makes 8 servings.
More snow means we need a good crockpot meal!
Jill fired up the Chicken Pot Pie crockpot recipe again yesterday, before I left for downtown … the smells are amazing!
Ingredients
3 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey
3 cups cubed peeled potatoes
2 cans (14 1/2 oz each) chicken broth
1 package (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 bay leaf
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust
In Crockpot Slow Cooker, combine chicken, potatoes, chicken broth, mixed vegetables, onion, celery, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt and bay leaf. Cover; cook on Low 8 to 10 hours or on High 4 to 6 hours. Remove bay leaf.
Preheat oven to 400F. In small bowl, mix milk and flour. Gradually stir flour mixture into Crockpot. Stir in remaining 1 teaspoon pepper, poultry seasoning and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. If using a removable Crockpot, carefully place 9-inch pie crust over vegetable-meat mixture. Place removable crock inside preheated oven; do not cover. Bake 15 minutes or until crust is browned.
For a non-removable Crockpot, spoon vegetable-meat mixture into 13 x 9-inch casserole dish. Roll out pie crust and carefully place on top of vegetable-meat mixture. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until pie crust is brown.
Serve immediately.
Makes 8 servings.
Week 5: 52 bags in 52 weeks
Another week, and our resolution to de-clutter our lives is becoming a passion! (through donations to Goodwill, family / baby hand-me-downs, women & children shelters, and ultimately, the trash)
Week 5: This week we tackled the guest room closet. Most of the stuff from this closet was put in that room when we moved into this house years ago.
So far, we’ve taken a box of Jill’s clothes & a bag full of Drew’s t-shirts (yes, more of them!) to Goodwill. Also, the old shower curtain and matching shower rings from the upstairs bathroom went as well. I’m not sure if it counts since we replaced them with new stuff, but I think it does.
Drew still has to tackle all the stuff on hangers and we both need to deal with all the junk in boxes, on the floor.
Looks like this closet is a 2-week process!
Best surprise of the week?
Just before lunchtime today, Jill returned from a quick trip to the city…
Yuuuuummmm … cupcakes from one of our favorite bakeries!
What was YOUR best surprise recently? Share above.
A Bears loss put in perspective
Even with my two favorite women donning their Bears gear, the guys couldn’t pull out a win …
But this morning, Vivian confirmed her first real word, so it’s all good at our house (and there’s always next year)!
Her word? ”Uh-oh!” Remember your kids’ first words? Share above!
My favorite Christmas gift!
Is there one gift at your house that you’re really loving a few weeks after Christmas?
For me, it’s the new “texting” gloves – have you heard of them?
What about you – your favorite gift so far? Share your comments above!
On the show this week:
On My Mind...
- @dealestate that home sale you just tweeted, was purchased with $1.2million CASH? Seriously?
- @TrishBiondo I had a dream you were live tweeting #SB46 last night. Then again, I had 1200 tweets pop in between 7-10:30p (!), so maybe not
- Most people drink beer on Super Bowl Sunday. Jill just wants a chocolate malt #thatisheraddiction #beerme #cheerstoyou