WW: A Little salon time with my girly girl

Princess came up to me with a bottle of nail polish that she had been given by a friend. It is practically clear (just a hint of pink) and has little heart shaped confetti in it. She asked me if we could "please paint the nails on my feet" and how could I say no? We had a little "salon time" and I did my best to make sure I got a little heart on each of her big toes as she requested. I am so glad the Lord saw fit to give me a little girl. Don't get me wrong, I love my three boys, but none of them are knocking the others down to paint toenails and fix hair with Mom. And hey, that's OK too!

Monday Meanderings: October 15-21

Once again I've managed to go through another week without getting into any real schedule and routine for the week. I hate living from "fire" to "fire". I mean, I don't mind the variety of the days but what I hate is after I've put out the fire, and the emergency situation is taken care of, I am still facing mounds of laundry, a messy house and everything else that needed to be done but got ignored.

Thanks to Tiany's idea to post our goals and plans for the week I can start fresh this week. Here are my goals which I hope are reachable this time.

Bible Study/Devotional plan: Sticking with the same reading plan. Now on week 42. Still haven't done the catch up reading but I'm not going to beat myself up.
Must Do:
1. Financial-- File expense reports for at least two months, Fill out, copy and mail health insurance claim forms
2. School -- turn in forms to teachers to show deposit into the kids' co-op accounts,
Return library books and limit myself to only one new book, which cannot be started until Must Do #1 is completed
5. FUN- Buy peperoni for homemade pizza to share with friends this Friday night. Get out autumn decorations and decorate the living room with fall beauty.

Zone: Do Flylady´s challenges for the BATHROOM this week and consistently spend time decluttering the boxes of stuff being stored in the extra bathroom.

Train Them Up: Focus on several quick pick-ups throughout the day. This is the same as last week because we need some "extra help" on this.


Menu Planning:

Monday
Breakfast- cold cereal
School Snack- croissant and cheese wedge
Mid-day meal- Soft tacos and quesadillas
Evening meal- sandwiches with cold cuts and cheese

Tuesday
Breakfast- coffee cake
School Snack- peanut butter crackers
Mid-day meal- lasagna, tossed salad, fresh spanish bread
Evening meal- turkey soup

Wednesday
Breakfast- oatmeal
School Snack- banana, salami and cheese sandwich
Mid-day meal- swiss steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, corn
Evening meal- omelettes

Thursday
Breakfast- cold cereal
School Snack- croissant sandwich for Princess, fruit for boys
Mid-day meal- black beans and rice with chorizo
Evening meal- grilled cheese sandwiches

Friday
Breakfast- scrambled eggs
School Snack- tortilla rollups
Mid-day meal- leftovers
Evening meal- homemade pizza

Saturday
Breakfast: French toast
Lunch/dinner: hotdogs, macaroni and cheese
Sunday spaghetti and meat sauce, fresh bread
Don´t forget to head on over to Laura´s for more menu plans.

Another giveaway

I've been reading a bunch of fiction lately. Also been thinking I should do something better with my time. Sounds like this giveaway would be right up my alley.

See what Crystal is giving away.

Online Math "flashcards"

My boys really need some drilling to improve their speed and accuracy when doing basic addition, subtraction and multiplication facts. But flashcards are so boring, providing we could find where I have the card decks stashed away. Enter this website. They have several games but the ones we are using right now are the Two Minute Warning games. You have 2 minutes to solve as many addition, subtraction or multiplication facts as you can. At the end it will tell you the total number right and wrong. We are charting their scores and the goal is to try and get the number of correct answers to increase. Before they can play other things on the computer they need to do 1, 2, or 3 two minute drills. My 2nd grader is averaging in the teens right now, the 5th grader in the 20's, and the 7th grader hit 30 or 40 the other night. They don't complain about doing it because it is only 2 minutes and it is fun to mess with the number pad on the keyboard.
Improving their math skills "painlessly" ... that works for me!
Head on over to Shannon's for more Works for Me Wednesday tips.

Wordless Wednesday: Picasso goes to preschool

Since coloring graduated to Junior High last week, I figure turn about was fair play in showing you the latest masterpiece from little Princess. (4) Her class is learning the names of several famous paintings in preparation for the field trip they plan to take in January to the Reina Sofia art museum in Madrid. They are focussing on Picasso and after reading the list of titles that the teacher sent home, I'm sure I would not be able to name all of them unless it was matching or multiple choice. Princess was so thrilled to actually PAINT in class this picture based on one of Picasso's paintings. She continually referred to it BY NAME. "Mommy, see my Niña con paloma?" (that means girl with dove) Do you like the colors on my Niña con paloma? Can I carry the Niña con paloma? I want to show Daddy my Niña con paloma. etc etc etc.

Monday Meanderings: October 8-14

I had great plans last week but only a few actually materialized. With three trips to the doctor and school meetings, etc. I think I blogged less this week than I have in a long time. We´ll try again this week and see how we do. Go visit Tiany to see what other´s are planning this week.

Bible Study/Devotional plan: This week I will just keep it simple and set the goal of actually accomplishing each daily reading on it's scheduled day. I'm using this plan and am on week 41 right now. Didn´t get any catch up reading done last week. Will try again this week.
Must Do: Many must do´s are carried over from last week.
1. Financial-- pay rent, find receipts for filing expense reports, contact doctor in the states regarding medical billing
2. Grocery Shop -- again try to keep the list as small as possible
3. PRAY (We are entering a two week span of time in which several decisions will be made by others that will decide, in part, the location of our future ministry)
4. School -- find papers and book that need to be turned in to the teachers, get 3 photos of Princess for her preschool class, attend 2 teacher conferences.
5. FUN- plan something fun for the family on Friday, which is a national holiday here so that means we ALL have the day off.

Zone: Do Flylady´s challenges for the KITCHEN this week and continue the attack on the bedroom and laundry.

Train Them Up: Focus on several quick pick-ups throughout the day.


Menu Planning:

Monday
Breakfast- cold cereal
School Snack- cherry tomatoes and yogurt drink
Mid-day meal- sandwiches with cold cuts and cheese
Evening meal- quiche, asparagus, cheesy macaroni

Tuesday
Breakfast- Oatmeal
School Snack- Bocadillo, croissant with nocilla (chocolate hazelnut spread)
Mid-day meal- cream of zuchini soup
Evening meal- BLT sandwiches

Wednesday
Breakfast- homemade egg "mcmuffins"
School Snack- apple slices, banana bread
Mid-day meal- landlubber´s paella
Evening meal- tuna croissants

Thursday
Breakfast- cold cereal
School Snack- croissant sandwich for Princess, apple slices
Mid-day meal- raw veggies and cheese cubes, crackers
Evening meal- pork chops and scalloped potatoes, squash

Friday
Breakfast- waffles
School Snack- NO SCHOOL -- NATIONAL HOLIDAY
Mid-day meal- Chili and cornbread (Another variation of¨"beans, bread and water")
Evening meal- snacks or pizza

Saturday no plan yet-- we´ll move Friday´s meal to Saturday if we decide to go on a picnic or sightseeing for Friday´s holiday.
Sunday Broasted chicken dinner
Don´t forget to head on over to Laura´s for more menu plans.

Beans, bread and water: The Recipes

The Beans, bread and water meal was a big hit as usual. We all love the rolls -- a bit too much.


Baked beans for Baked Bean Haters

1 lb. ground beef,
3 or 4 bacon slices chopped,
1 chopped onion,
2 1 lb cans pork and beans,
1/2 cup molasses (Here in Spain I find this at Mercadona and it is called miel de cana)
1/2 cup catsup,
1/2 tsp dry mustard (or substitute aprox 1 tsp regular mustard),
dash of salt,
dash of worcestershire sauce.

Saute bacon and onion. Brown ground beef and drain. Add the rest of the ingredients and pour into casserole dish.
Bake at 375 F (aprox 170 C) for 1/2 hour.

Oatmeal dinner rolls

2 cups water
1 cup quick cooking oats
3 Tablespoons butter
2 (1/4 oz) envelopes active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 cups flour
1 ¾ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in saucepan. Stir in the oats and butter. Boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool to 110 degrees. Stir together yeast, ½ cup warm water, and 1 tsp. sugar in a 2 cup measuring cup. Let stand 5 minutes to proof the yeast.
Beat oat mixture, yeast mixture, flour, salt and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (aprox. 5 minutes). Place in a well greased bowl turning to grease top Cover and let rise in a warm place free form drafts aprox 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch down the dough, divide in half and shape each portion into 16 balls. Place evenly into 2 lightly greased 9 inch round cake pans. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Yield 32 rolls.

Homemade Lemonade

1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar

Mix the juice and sugar in a 2 quart pitcher. Add cold water to fill pitcher. Stir well until sugar is dissolved.