Word of the Year for 2012

I've red on many other blogs where people choose a "word of the year" as their focus, rather than making individual resolutions. While I definitely have things that I'd like to accomplish this year (learning to use my sewing machine and learning to can fruits and veggies are two big ones), I really like the idea of one word guiding my goals this year.

The word I've chosen for 2012 is:
BALANCE.
As any parent can tell you, there's nothing quite like having a child to through you off balance. The comfortable routine we had with Abby was flipped on its head with Zach's arrival, and it is taking some time to settle into a new normal around here.

There are a lot of things that I feel need some balancing around here. I don't feel that I'm spending enough time strengthening my relationship with God. Some days, I feel like He is such a part of my day and is very present to me amidst my everyday activities, and other days, I feel like the only dialogue I have with Him is when I'm saying something along the lines of "Dear Lord, please let me make it through this day..." I know that I'm not taking good care of myself physically; between not sleeping enough, not eating well, and not exercising nearly as much as I should, I know that my body is not being well cared for. I also know that if I don't take care of myself, I will not be able to take care of the other people who depend on me. I'm still trying to figure out how to handle everything around the house that needs to be done. Oftentimes, Carey will come home from work to a sink filled with dirty dishes, clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away, and toys covering every available surface in the living room. I feel awful that he works hard all day and comes home to still more work to do, but I'm still trying to figure out how to complete housework during the day (especially when both kids decide to rest/nap at different time). I don't want to take time away from my children, but I also know that there are some things that need to get done (say, putting dinner in the oven), and it's not a horrible thing for the kids to learn how to occupy themselves for a bit while mommy takes care of certain tasks around the house. I'm also working to manage the time I spend on the computer and the time that I put into this blog. I LOVE to blog, and I find it relaxing and therapeutic to write about what's going on with my family and with me. But I also know that blogging can't be a priority when there are other, more important, tasks that required my attention.

So, this year will be about balance. Balancing care of myself with the care of my children and my husband. Balancing my time on the computer with my face-to-face time. Finding the right balance around my home to allow me to spend the most time possible engaged with my children as a stay-at-home mother while also taking care of my home as a homemaker. And most of all, using this new-found balance to ensure that the Lord is getting my time and attention so that I can grow with Him and He can grow in me.

I look forward to keeping you informed of my victories and my challenges as I strive for balance in 2012. I know that my life will never be perfect, but I do know that it can be better, and I'm anxious to see how I will grow as my quest for balance progresses.

Goodbye Junk Challenge!

As you may (or may not) remember, one of my New Year's resolutions was to become more organized. Happily, while browsing Twitter, I crossed paths with Shell, who blogs at Percolating Practice. Shell had the wonderful idea to say goodbye to all the junk in her house, a little bit at a time. The thought was to tackle the junk in your house in small pieces, rather than wait until it overwhelms you. Find one thing per day and decide what to do with it: find it a permanent place in your home, donate it, or throw it away. Great! Just what I needed! A plan and a group of folks to hold me accountable.

I'm not always able to do the "one thing a day," so I'll often try to perform a bigger purge on the weekend instead. This is my first check-in post, but it actually covers about three weeks.

Big Garage Clean-Up

Carey and I sorted through our stuff, organized the bins of baby clothes into an easier-to-access order, and made a huge pile of stuff to donate. The donation pile included some children's toys that were duplicates of toys that Abby already has, as well as some light fixtures and window shades that we had replaced, but which were still in good condition. Carey took small loads to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop in our town, and on the Friday before Labor Day, the Salvation Army came to our house to pick up a working, but old, refrigerator. (Our house was originally set up as mother-daughter apartments, so we had a full kitchen upstairs and another full kitchen downstairs. I'd like to turn the downstairs kitchen area in to Abby's playroom, so we decided to donate the old fridge, which had been sitting in our garage since we moved into the house in June 2008.) We still have a few more things that we're going to try to sell (including some baby items), but if they don't sell, I'd be happy to donate those to Salvation Army, too.

Linen Closet Clean-Up

As I mentioned above, I'm hoping to turn our downstairs kitchen into Abby's playroom. While this will free up space in our living room and family room (by consolidating all of Abby's toys into one place), we will be losing quite a bit of storage space. Right now, I'm using the kitchen cabinets to store everything from extra pantry items to Christmas decorations to tools. Knowing that I'll be losing this storage space has encouraged me to make sure that I'm using the space I do have to its best advantage. Case in point: my linen closet. Stuff was fairly easy to find, but it was very spread out and I often forgot what exactly I had in there. So, I pulled everything off the shelves and created three piles: find a new place for it (far right pile), throw it away (center pile), and donate it (far left pile). Most of the items in the "throw away" pile were there because they had expired. Most of the items in our "donate" pile were candle holders and travel-sized toiletries. (Our church actually collects travel-sized toiletries to give away to the homeless in our area, so we know they'll be put to good use.) What does my linen closet look like now?

Plenty to room to store extra Kleenexes and toilet paper, which are two things that take up a lot of cabinet space downstairs.

Return of Deposit Bottles

In New York State, all carbonated beverages, whether in cans or bottles, have a 5 cent deposit charged on each container. The hope is that consumers will save and return the bottles for recycling, in order to get their money back. Recently, NYS added a deposit to plastic water bottles. Well, I'm more of a Brita pitcher gal myself, but Carey's mom has several co-workers who asked her if she wanted bottles for deposit. Mama (my mother-in-law) doesn't have the time to return these to the store, but she told Carey and I that she'd bring them over to our house if we would deposit them. Why not? It's free money, right? Well, after going through the gigantic garbage bags of bottles and cans that we had on our back porch, Carey returned them to a whopping $9.45! That's right - in one shot, Carey returned almost 200 bottles and cans for deposit. Our deck is looking much neater, too!

Selling Textbooks on Half.com

This was something that I'd done right after Carey and I got married, but I hadn't posted anything in a few years. Half.com is the part of eBay that deals with books, textbooks, DVDs, etc. You can post your old items and, for a small commission, Half.com handles the selling of those items. You're required to submit a description of your item and the seller is responsible for actually mailing the packages to the buyer, but any sales that I make are deposited in my checking account automatically twice per month. I sorted through my bookshelves (in our office upstairs and the family room downstairs) and came up with about 35 books that I wanted to get rid of. Many of them were books that I'd been required to read for graduate school, I was hoping that someone else might need them! Since I posted my books about 10 days ago, I've sold 12 books for a total of $99.67. Shipping cost me approximately 3.25 per book, and I spent about $15 at Staples for mailing supplies for 24 books. So, as of today, I'm up about $50, which is going toward a new camera fund that my husband and I have started. I also had two additional sales today, so I expect to see about $12 go into my pocket.

So, that's the "junk" that I've dealt with over the past few weeks. Interested in joining in the challenge? It's not too late - just hop over to Shell's website for details and helpful tips. (Also, if you're on Twitter, search for the #GoodByeJunk hashtag - lots of people post successes and suggestions on Twitter.) On tap for this week/weekend - the office. (Insert ominous noise here...)

Can I Be "Complaint Free"?

There has been something weighing heavily on my mind lately. I realized that I've become a complainer. I flatter myself that I'm not like this all the time, but I have to wonder if I'm looking at myself through rose-colored glasses, and maybe I don't turn my complaining on and off like I think I do. I complain at work, and then I'll relay those complaints for Carey, my sister, my parents - basically, whoever will listen. I'll get upset about something with Carey, and I'll share those feelings with family, co-workers, friends - once again, whoever will listen.

This week, I realized how this attitude affects my life, and it was my trash can that taught me an important message. On Saturday, I was doing some baking that involved eggs. I threw the empty shells into the garbage can and didn't give it a second thought. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I noticed that, when I opened the garbage can to throw something out, it kinda stunk. But, it wasn't too bad and the odor seemed to be under control so long as the lid was closed. That afternoon, I did some more baking and Carey grilled some chicken. Needless to say, by the end of the day, the garbage can stunk pretty bad, whether the lid was opened or closed. On Monday morning, I noticed that the corner of the kitchen where the garbage can is was not very pretty smelling, and by the time I got home from work on Monday night, I could smell the garbage right when I walked in the kitchen. Thankfully, Carey takes out the trash on Monday night. The odor started disappearing immediately after he removed the offending (and offensive) bag, and a quick spray of the trash can with Lysol completely relieved us of our disgusting garbage can smell.

What does this have to do with my "complaining problem"? Everything. My complaints leave a bad smell in my life. At first, it's not very noticeable. But eventually, the odor starts to spread until you can smell it everywhere. And it's not something that you can get rid of easily - you have to remove the offensive items and do a thorough scrubbing before you can get rid of the "stink."

Well, I've decided that I need to get rid of my "stink." I don't want the fact that I complain about things that happen at work to affect my life at home. I don't want the fact that my relationships with family and friends sometimes encounter difficulties to affect the way I spend my hours at work. I can't turn my complaining on and off like a switch, so I need to remove the switch so complaining just isn't an option.

You may remember from this post that I gave up complaining for Lent. It was definitely hard, and I stumbled, but I was able to do an "okay" job with this resolution. But, as soon as Easter had passed, I'm afraid that I fell into the familiar trap of "venting" (which is, after all, just a really nice way to say that you're complaining). This time, I'm not planning to change for 40 days, I'm planning to change for good.

Is this going to be easy? No way. So, I looked for help. Enter Will Bowen and A Complaint Free World. I visited the website, I'm reading the book, and I'm taking the 21-day challenge to remove complaining, criticizing, and gossiping from my life.

The premise of the program, which is spelled out in Bowen's book, is that it takes 21 days to change a habit. If you want to make exercise a part of your life, doing so for 21 straight days will form a "habit" and exercise will become part of your life. If you want to cut out alcohol, abstain from drinking for 21 days and you'll find that you just don't have the desire for alcohol, thereby dropping the habit. This program states that refraining from complaining, criticizing, and gossiping for 21 days will cut that bad habit out of your life. Bowen states that for most people, it will take between 4 and 8 months to actually go for 21 days without complaining. He suggests wearing a bracelet (or using some other reminder) that you can move every time you complain. My copy of A Complaint Free World and my purple reminder bracelet are on their way, so in the meantime I'm using another bracelet to keep track of my slips.

So, today was Day 1. I've already switched my bracelet about 8 times. Sometimes it was because I complained. Once it was because I laughed when someone else made a comment about a person not in the room (which is as good as gossiping). Twice it was because I made sarcastic comments about emails that had arrived in my inbox. This is hard. (Oh wait, was that a complaint??? Switch number 9...) But I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it because I want to be happy. I want to have the "odor" that pervades from me to be sweet smelling, not disgusting. I want my daughter to grow up in a home where her mother is a constant source of joy and kind words. I want my husband to come home to smiles and funny stories. So, I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm prepared for it to take a while, and I'm prepared for it to be difficult. But I'll be checking in on the blog from time to time, so I hope that you'll all help keep me honest and encourage me in this new venture.

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The eleventh update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: this weekend I plan to print out some more of my March photos and update my Project Life kit. More pictures next week! :-)
  
• Book Clubs: On hold while I work on finishing the Bible.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I got some cute photos from Abby's first week as a Cherry, so check them out!
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 78! I have finished the Gospels and have moved on to Acts of the Apostles. Yay!
  
• Grocery Budget: The Ng family price book has been created and is in use! The purpose of the price book is to track what stores have the lowest prices for specific items, and when these lowest prices are offered. So, the book won't be of much help right away, but after a few months (and especially after one full year), it will be a valuable tool to help us track when and where to buy the items we need the most.
• Organization: We have been keeping up with our daily household chores. Our first big test: Carey's family is coming over to our house tomorrow to celebrate our niece's 6th birthday. Since we've kept up with our schedule, the only things we should have to do before then are clean the kitchen and bathrooms (tonight) and vacuum the carpets and mop the floors (Saturday). I'll let you all know how it goes next week!

So, that's what week #12 of 2010 looked like. How are you doing with your resolutions? However you're doing, I hope your year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday (A Few Days Late...)

(Better late than never, right?)

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The tenth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Pictures of my Project Life kit! Voila!
  
  
  The beautiful cover
  
  
  
  My first page. I wanted each spread in my book to cover Sunday - Saturday, so I have a mini-layout for January 1st & 2nd. I took one of the papers that was included with the kit to create a make-shift page filler on the opposite page. (And I have to admit, I was quite proud of my craftiness! I showed Carey, who didn't seem too impressed, though... :-p)
  
  Another page layout
  
  Another page layout
  
  I am having such a great time working on this kit. As a wanna-be crafty person, this is such a great way for me to ease into putting our life on paper. It's easy, fun, and I'm already enjoying looking back on the first two months of our year.
  
• Book Clubs: On hold while I work on finishing the Bible.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I am a few days behind, but I hope to get last week's photos up today.
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 75! I am in the New Testament! Hooray! Today I will be finishing Luke and moving on to the Gospel of John. I've finished Matthew and Mark, and it has been interesting to compare the different ways that each writer approached the life of Jesus. I'm looking forward to finishing Luke and John and spending some quality time reflecting on their individual presentations of the story of Christ.
  
• Grocery Budget: I am in the process of creating my Price Book, an idea that I'm borrowing from Lauren, a.k.a. Mama, at Mama's Laundry Talk. It will help us track the best times/places to buy the items that we buy frequently (can you say diapers?). I've ordered my supplies and should have it put together and in use by the upcoming weekend. I've set aside my receipts from this past weekend's shopping outings, so I'm itching to begin my entries!
• Organization: This is a new addition to the resolution list. As I said in my post from last week, I'm resolved to organize my home and my life as much as possible. Carey and I agreed on our cleaning/tasks schedule, which we implemented on Sunday night. I washed windows and mirrors while watching ESPN break down the NCAA Tournament bracket. (On a side note: GO SU!!!) Last night, I dusted while watching 24. I'm still working on how we're going to track our household chores and fridge/freezer/pantry inventory, but I'm pretty sure that I've developed a workable system, so I look forward to implementing it this week.

So, that's what week #11 of 2010 looked like. How are you doing with your resolutions? However you're doing, I hope your year continues to be blessed!

My Newest Thing: Organization

So, anyone who knows me probably knows that I'm a pretty organized person. As anyone who knows me really well could attest: I'm probably borderline OCD when it comes to organization. I loosened up a little when I got married and realized that I'd rather have Carey help out with chores, even if they weren't done "my way," rather than do everything myself while Carey relaxed on the couch. (Thankfully, my hubby is wonderful. He is always willing to help out and has learned to do almost every house-related chore very well. Two exceptions: loading the dishwasher and cleaning toilets. These remain in the realm of "Kristen will continue to do these tasks, but thank you for offering, wonderful husband-of-mine.") The OCD organization loosened up even more once we had Abigail. At first, I was just too tired to worry about keeping things neat and organized. Then, once Abby started sleeping through the night and I left the world of the walking zombies and returned to "real life," I just didn't have the same desire to spend hours cleaning and organizing. After all, when you have this face around, who wants to sort through your kitchen cabinets???


Well, over the past few days and weeks, I have found myself with a deep desire to get myself back on track. I would still rather spend my time with Abby and Carey, but now that Abby goes to bed at 8:00 and Carey is often doing work for the office at nights, I find myself sitting in the living room, wondering what task I should start on next. I'm big on lists, so I find myself writing down everything I'd like to do around the house, from completely doable tasks, like washing the windows and ironing laundry, to the pie-in-the-sky, if-we-ever-have-enough-money-I'd-love-to-do-this kind of tasks, like having new siding put on the house and replacing the cabinets and counter-top in my kitchen.

I realized that there are lots of things that I can do now to get myself on track with these goals, both the short term, completely attainable goals AND the long-term, not-so-easy to attain goals. I need to get organized and I need to get my house in order. Why? Seeing that I am a huge list person, let me list some of my reasons:

• If I take the time to organize my home a little every day, like cleaning up messes as they happen and sorting through mail as it arrives, the small jobs won't pile up into big ones. Case in point: Carey and I are big "shredder" people. Being married to someone who used to work in Identify Theft Investigations at the Manhattan District Attorney's office means that our home is more conscious than most regarding personal information and making sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. While we are big people on shredding in theory, I'm afraid that we weren't real big on shredding in practice: we literally have two boxes filled with stuff that needs to be shredded. Now, if we had just stayed current with our shredding, we might have to spend 15 minutes per week, shredding and then emptying our shredder. Job done, case closed, identity safe-guarded. Instead, we might be caught up on our shredding by the time Abigail enters kindergarten.
• If I keep my home organized, I will know exactly what I have - I won't waste food by letting it spoil or buy more toilet paper, thinking that we'd run out, when we actually had six more rolls in the downstairs cupboards. Really, this is just smart stewardship. God has blessed us with the income required to buy what we need (and some of what we want) to live, so it is my job to be responsible with those gifts and utilize them to the best of my ability. Throwing out half a bag of grapes because I'd forgotten we had them and they became moldy is not a good use of our funds.
• When I tackle jobs as they arise or schedule tasks like cleaning and grocery shopping throughout the week, rather than leaving everything for the weekend, I get to spend more time, and more quality time, with two of the people who mean the most to me in the whole world. On Saturday afternoon, I love that I can spend time giving Abby piggyback rides or taking her to our local park, all without worrying that I have to finish the laundry, clean the bathroom, change the sheets on our bed, defrost the meat for tomorrow night's dinner, etc. (You get the idea.) Abby and Carey deserve my whole attention. I know this isn't always possible (my mind tends to run on its own sometimes, no matter how much I try to reign it in), but I can at least remove as many distractions as possible to give my over-active brain less to think about.
• Carey and I would like to have more kids. We're hoping it will happen soon, but we know that we're on God's time, not ours, so we're waiting patiently. But, if we are eventually blessed with more little Ngs running around the house, won't we be better off if I take the time now to get my house (and my family and myself) in order, rather than trying to do it with a newborn around? (Just to be clear: I am not pregnant yet. Let's not get that rumor started...)
  
• And frankly, it just feels nice when you're organized. When you can find the prescription information for your daughter's vitamins without spending 35 minutes sorting through paperwork in the office, it feels good. When you realize that you don't need to buy kidney beans for that chili you want to make because you picked up a can two weeks ago when they were on sale, it feels good. When you can spend all afternoon playing with the cutest little munchkin in the world without worrying about the remaining chores on your "To Do" list, it feels good. When you don't have to spend four hours speed-cleaning and acting like a crazy person to make sure your house is in order before company arrives, it feels good. I want my home to make me feel good. I already have pictures of my beautiful daughter, my handsome husband, and the rest of my amazing family on the walls in my home, and that makes me feel comfortable and loved and like I'm home. How much more at ease will I feel when I know that there is a place for everything and everything in its place?

So, what is my plan? Well, it's still in the early stages. But, briefly, here it is:

• Plan out specific household tasks to be done each night, rather than saving all cleaning for the weekend. (Example: Monday: dust; Tuesday: shredding; Wednesday: mop the floors; etc.) It's going to be challenging to motivate ourselves to work around the house after working all day and taking care of Abby at night, but it will be worth it. These chores will not be onerous - maybe 20-30 minutes max, so they're definitely doable in the time between when Abby goes to bed and the time that we go to bed. Plus, some of them can be completed while doing something else. (We usually watch "24" together on Monday nights. If Carey and I each grab a microfiber cloth, we can dust our living room and dining room while watching the show, and hit the other rooms during commercials.) I honestly believe that, if we can get ourselves on this schedule and really stick to it for a few weeks, we'll get into the habit and it will become a non-issue. (Plus, I think a few weekends of having very little housework to do and lots of time to spend with Abby and Carey will be all the motivation that I need!)
• Do a better job planning out our meals and shopping accordingly. We receive our grocery stores' sale ads on Thursday, so I have Friday and Saturday morning to compare prices and plan our food shopping. (We usually go shopping on Saturday afternoon - the grocery stores in our area begin their sales on Friday.) In conjunction with better planning (in terms of shopping and cooking), I also plan to work out some kind of system of better record-keeping in terms of what we have in our kitchen (fridge, freezer, and pantry). We're forever finding stuff that we forgot we had, and that really bothers me.
• I'm also going to become the coupon-clipping maven that I know I was meant to be. Right now, I would consider myself a coupon amateur. I clip what we find in the Sunday papers, and I subscribe to a few online coupon services. But I need to be more proactive about finding coupons for items that we use often and adjusting our expectations, menus, etc. to better fit with what we can find on sale. This also includes being a bit more frugal when it comes to Abigail. While we use Target diapers (which we find are inexpensive and reliable), I will purchase snacks, juice, etc. for Abigail without paying attention to price. There are enough coupons for baby items out there that I should have no problem finding all sorts of yummy things for my munchkin without spending a fortune. (Thankfully, while Abby still does love her Earth's Best Organic Smiley Snacks (they are delicious and they have Elmo AND Abby Cadabby on the box), she is also becoming more interested in the snacks that Carey and I eat, like pretzels and crackers, and will often eat these instead of "toddler-specific" snacks.) We remain big proponents of 100% juice only (which we still water down for Abby) and we've found that Abby loves the Gerber Harvest Juice Apple Carrot Blend, which is 100% juice and contains fruit and veggie juices. (Considering that Abigail has some days when she just refuses to even touch her vegetables, at least we know that she is getting some carroty goodness with this juice.) So, I'll make a point of looking for coupons and sales on these two items, as well as any other food items that Abby enjoys.

As I said, right now, I'm organizing my organizational plan (ha ha, didn't I tell you I was OCD???). I hope to have everything mapped out within the next week, so I can review it with Carey, tweak it as necessary, and then begin implementing it. Since I am a person who needs deadlines, I plan to have this new organizational system in place by April 1st. I'll post occasional updates on our progress, as well as what works and what doesn't. Until then, pardon me while I get my act together!

Follow-Up Friday

Here I sit, hanging my head in shame. It has been three weeks since my last Follow-Up Friday post. Yikes...

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The ninth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Darn it! I keep forgetting to take pictures of my scrapbook! Anyway, I printed out the rest of my February pictures at Walgreen's last week and will be putting them into my scrapbook this weekend. Pictures next week - I promise!
  
• Book Clubs: I came to an important realization over the last few weeks: I was trying to do too much. I needed to make a choice, and I decided that my priority right now, in terms of reading, is my Bible. So, instead of feeling guilty that I haven't logged into Bloom in a while or am behind in my Simple Mom Book Club reading, I decided to concentrate on finishing my Bible and I'll pick up everything else once I'm done finishing His Word.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I wasn't as good this week about taking photos, so I'm not completely happy with some of my pictures, but I did manage to get a few good ones, including this one from Walgreen's last Sunday.
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 64! I'm over two-thirds done! Wow! I must admit: I found this week very challenging. As I mentioned on Twitter, Ezekiel was kicking my butt. I think that I hit the wall, and it just happened to be while reading that book of the Bible. But, with words of encouragement from some of the other readers on Twitter, I was able to plow through and move on to Daniel and, starting this morning, Hosea.
  
• Grocery Budget: We're doing pretty well with our grocery shopping. Carey is a sucker for a good sale on meat, so I find that no matter how much meat we consume, my freezer never seems to get any emptier... But, we're also learning ways to make good use of what we have. Case in point: turkey breast. Carey did an awesome herb rub and cooked a turkey breast last week. We ate some of the meat for dinner a few nights last week (Abby LOVES turkey), but then we put it to some other uses as well.
  
  My mom makes an awesome casserole-type dish with turkey and stuffing. Very simple: stuffing on the bottom, layer turkey over it, and cover it with some gravy. Heat and serve, or freeze for later. While I love this dish, the turkey tends to get kinda dry, even with extra gravy on top. So, I added a little twist to it: mashed potatoes. I put my stuffing on the bottom, layer sliced turkey breast on top of it, slather it with gravy (we Ngs are definitely fans of gravy!), and then put a nice think layer of mashed potatoes on top. (My secret: I use my hand-mixer to get the mashed potatoes super smooth. While normally I am a girl who likes some lumps in her taters, for this dish I find that the smooth texture of "whipped" potatoes is much better than lumpy potatoes.)
  
  We had enough turkey to make two casseroles, which are now foil-covered and in the freezer for when we need a quick meal. I usually thaw the dishes in the fridge for about 48 hours before putting them in the oven - the small Corningware dishes that I used this time will probably need 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees to heat all the way through. I re-heat them covered for the first 30-40 minutes, then remove the cover and the foil, put a few pats of butter on top, and stick it back in the over for another 10 minutes or so. This ensures that the potatoes don't dry out. And, well, frankly, while the Ngs are big fans of gravy, we're even bigger fans of butter. (I do try to use a heart healthy spread, just to make myself feel a little bit better...) When the dish is heated through, remove from the oven, spoon out, drizzle (or drown) with additional turkey gravy, and enjoy!
  
  
  
  So, we've enjoyed turkey and now have turkey - stuffing - potato casseroles in the freezer for later. What to do with the turkey carcass? Make soup! We are big fans of making your own broth. While you can find all sorts of recipes on the Internet for making your own poultry stock, we just wing it. We just put the carcass into a pot with water, salt and pepper, and whatever fresh (or dried) herbs we have on hand. Then, turn on the heat and let it simmer. For a few hours, at least. (Since Carey and I both work, we usually do our soup making on the weekends, when we can let it sit in the pot for 6-8 hours.) We test the broth occasionally and add additional seasoning as necessary. After about 6 hours, you'll notice that meat will be coming off the bone. At this point, we strain the broth and pick all the meat off the bones. Once we've cleaned off the bones, we put the meat back into the broth, add whatever we want (usually carrots and pasta) and let the add-ins cook through. Then, you have delicious, homemade soup. We put some in the fridge for the week, and then we freeze some for later. (Space-Saving Tip: freeze soup in a freezer bag on a cookie sheet. Once the bag is frozen through, remove the cookie sheet and you have a flat bag of delicious soup that takes up minimal space and can be stacked in your freezer.)
  
  (For some reason, the soup looks really oily in this picture - it didn't look so bad in person... You can always skim off the oil before you store it, but we usually leave it alone and recheck it when we re-heat it.)
  

So, this was Week #9 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The sixth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: All sorts of progress on my Project Life kit this week, and I'm so excited about that! Last Friday I challenged myself to participate in Project Life Tuesday over on The Mom Creative. Tuesday's post was a re-cap of last week's photos. I also got a lot of work done on my journaling cards - I'm up to January 31st. Walgreen's is offering a few great deals this weekend, so I'll be printing out my photos from January 1st - February 11th and plan to get them into my scrapbook as soon as possible after they arrive.
  
• Book Clubs: Discussions continued with both online book clubs, but they continued without Kristen... :-( This week's challenge to myself: log on to both Bloom and the Simple Mom book club to participate in the discussion. Hopefully, I'll have good progress to report next week!
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. (The photo from February 9th is one of my favorites from 2010 thus far.)
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: This week has been amazing - I'm on schedule with the Challenge, and the past few days have involved reading from Psalms. To sit down and really reflect upon the words in Psalms has been a blessing. As I mentioned on Twitter earlier this week, I find myself speechless in the face of such beauty, humility and wisdom. Sunday will be Day 45, which marks the halfway point of the Challenge.
  
• Grocery Budget: Last week's shopping trip was very small because we'd stocked up on everything we needed the week before. Carey did go out to pick up some bananas (or, as Abby calls them, buh-nuhs), yogurt (there was a super sale on La Yogurt), and some ice cream (because he's a great husband who wants me to be happy!). He spent less than $20, so we're still below $80 on this month's grocery budget. We'll have to be careful over the next two weeks - we have about $40 left for the month - but we should be okay with some planning and using what we have.
  

So, this was Week #6 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The fifth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Good grief. Still no real progress on my Project Life kit. The best laid plans... I was all set to work on it this week, but I was laid low by some bad eggs. While I'm finally getting my appetite back, I'm still lagging in the energy department. So, this weekend is going to be the weekend! Jessica, author of one of my favorite blogs, The Mom Creative, hosts a weekly Project Life Tuesday, where people post their photos from the week and the captions they plan to use in the Project Life kits. Since I apparently need more motivation, I will be participating in Project Life Tuesday this week!
• Book Clubs: Discussions continued with both online book clubs, but I didn't have the energy to log on this week. I'll be popping in this weekend.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily. I still find myself taking LOTS of pictures of Abby. (But seriously, with a face like this, who wouldn't?)
  I'm going to make more of an effort to not only take pictures of things besides Abby, but to find inspiration in those things. In the meantime, don't forget to stop by 365 Days of Ng!
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: Still going strong. A full day ahead in my reading - finished the Book of Job this morning, which I've been working on since yesterday. It definitely makes you pause to reflect on your own sufferings and how you interact with God throughout those tribulations.
  
• Grocery Budget: As I mentioned last week, January marked the end of the Eat From The Pantry Challenge. Overall, Carey and I did really well. Last week, in an effort to restock our pantry/kitchen a bit, we decided to really go for it at Pathmark. We spent $59.43 on beef roast, chicken, ground beef, fruits and veggies, cereal, bread and stocking up on some of Abby's favorites: chicken nuggets and fish sticks. So, while in one trip we spent almost half of our February grocery budget (total budget for the month: $120), we saved almost $70! It was an expensive shopping trip, but we filled the fridge and freezer with lots of great stuff and will actually have very little shopping that we need to do this week.
  

So, this was Week #5 of 2010. A bit of a slow-down in the resolutions department, but I'm looking forward to picking up steam again next week. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The fourth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Yikes! No real progress on my Project Life kit. :-( This is my project for the weekend: I'd like to fiddle around with some pictures and get started on my journaling cards. Keep me honest people! Stop by next week to see what I've gotten done!
  
• Book Clubs: Discussions galore! I popped into the forums at SimpleMom.net. The other folks in the book club have given me some great ideas for being proactive and making deposits into the Emotional Bank Accounts of my family members. (No idea what I'm talking about? Read the book! I finished Chapter 1: Be Proactive this week, and the ideas and tools for really improving your family dynamic are great!) The discussion of Same Kind of Different as Me on Bloom also began this week. I've stopped by the Ning community (the forums that the club uses for discussion), but I want to watch the videos posted on the blog before I start commenting myself. Another goal for this weekend!
  
• Project 365: I continue to keep up with my picture-a-day goal. I'm doing better with taking pictures of things other than Abby (although I'm getting lots of good munchkin pictures, too!). Stop by 365 Days of Ng to see what things, ordinary and extraordinary, are taking my breath away.
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: Despite the fact that today is January 29th, I am a full two days ahead in my reading. Know what that means? I am more than one-third of the way through the Bible! What an amazing experience this has been. I look forward to my daily readings, spending time with the Lord and trying to discern what He is telling me through His Word. (A task, which, I must admit, is more difficult with some passages than others...) The SOAP reflections that Amy posts on her blog, Mom's Toolbox, are a great way to reflect on a verse/passage, and I often find myself scrolling down to re-read past SOAP reflections. I am so thankful for this challenge!
  
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: This was technically the last week of this challenge. (After all, you can only eat from the pantry for so long - then you need to restock the pantry!) The challenge then transforms into a budgeting challenge. I'm on-board for that one, too! Last week, Carey and I stopped by Pathmark to pick up some groceries. How did we do?
  
  
  Total bill: $26.60 - over by $1.60... But, we got a lot of great stuff, including some items to re-stock our pantry (cereal, pasta sauce), so we were still pretty happy. Going forward, we're going to give ourselves a monthly food budget of $120. That way, if there's a great sale on a staple item (e.g. ground beef, rice), we won't feel guilty if we spend more than $25. We'll just have to watch spending the following week(s) to stay within budget.
  

So, this was Week #4 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The third update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: more concrete progress on my Project Life kit - I finalized the layout of my binder! I literally sat on the floor of our living room while Abby took a nap last weekend and laid out all the cards, then color-coordinated the week cards with the journaling cards and inserted the cards into the pages. Also, my Paint Shop Pro software arrived on Wednesday! I've had to work late every night this week, so I haven't had the chance to play around with the software yet. But, I plan to get on the computer this weekend and learn some of the features of the program (and maybe even fiddle around with a few pictures!).
  
• Book Clubs: The discussion of Same Kind of Different as Me begins on Bloom next week! Hooray! Discussion of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families will also begin next week, on January 28th. I have been battling some sinus issues the past two weeks, so my desire to read when I get home has been very small. However, I will finish up the introduction this weekend!
  
• Project 365: I have kept up with my picture-a-day goal. (I'm not always getting the pictures up on the blog right away, but they are on the camera and will be uploaded!
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: I continue to stay up-to-date with my daily readings. The weekends often see me falling slightly behind, but I have plenty of time during the week to get caught up, so I usually go into the weekend anywhere between a half day and a day and a half ahead. I said it last week, but I'll say it again: I am really enjoying this challenge! I am learning so much from reading His Word, and I am trying hard each day to figure out how the readings are speaking to me. And, I love being able to check off those boxes as I finish each day's reading!
  
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: As I mentioned last week, Carey and I decided to forgo grocery shopping and, instead, donated $25 to the Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti. Wonderful update: Pearson, the parent company of my employer, started their own fundraiser for Haiti. In addition to matching dollar-for-dollar any donations that came through their website, they also agreed to match any donations that had already been made by Pearson employees through other relief organizations. They matched our $25, and I felt great that Carey and mine's small donations was increased by Pearson. The Ngs continue to pray for the safety and comfort of all those people devastated by this tragedy, and we thank God for the people who have been so generous with their time, talents, and treasure to assist the victims.
  
  We return to grocery shopping this weekend. Our sale circulars arrived yesterday, and Carey and I will sit down to plan out next week's menu tonight. We're hoping to stay below $20 this week!
  

So, this was Week #3 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The second update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: some concrete progress on my Project Life kit! I watched an awesome video that Becky posted on her blog. The video tutorial was done by Tammy, an amazing scrapbooking coach with lots of great ideas. Her tutorial shows that, while each person who ordered the Project Life kit received the same set of materials to work with, it is still completely possible for individual personalities to show through. I put my binder together and fiddled around with some layouts/color combinations. Second, thanks to Bargain Briana, I was able to score Coral's Paint Shop Pro for just $29.99 on Amazon.com! This is an older version of the software, but it had everything that I would need to edit my photos and it was 70% off! So, I decided to wait to print my photos until I have my new software and am able to edit my pictures. My software isn't scheduled to ship until next week, so it will probably be February before I put together a complete layout with photos and journaling cards. But, I plan to choose my photos and start on my journaling cards while I wait. (HUGE thanks to Carey, who agreed to let me purchase this software as a very, very early birthday present. I'm blessed to have a husband who understands my enthusiasm and is willing to help out in whatever ways he can!)
  
• Book Clubs: I am (not always so patiently) waiting for the discussion of Same Kind of Different as Me to begin on Bloom. The discussion officially begins on January 24th, but I often find myself logging into our Ning community to see what the other wonderful ladies in the book club are talking about. I've also started the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families - I've read the personal message, forward and most of the introduction, which will be discussed on January 28th at SimpleMom.net. I look forward to finishing the introduction and getting started on the first "habit" this weekend.
  
• Project 365: I have kept up with my picture-a-day goal so far, with one hiccup due to Abby's illness. It's still pretty easy to find interesting things to take pictures of - after all, I've got some very cute 16 month old subject matter at home. :-) But, I do want to give myself the goal of taking at least one non-Abby picture every day as well. I want to be sure that 365 Days of Ng (and, in turn, my Project Life scrapbook) showcase as much of our lives as possible. And, while Abby is absolutely a huge part of our lives, I don't want to forgot the other parts that make us who we are.
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: I am now completely caught up with my readings, even though I got behind after Abby's illness last weekend. (In fact, I'm a day and a half ahead!) God continues to open my eyes to the glory of His Word, and I am so thankful that I am able to spend time with Him each day. I would like to challenge myself to make better use of the other resources that are available to help me during my journey. I pray for God's guidance to help me recognize and utilize the tools that He has made available for my growth and learning.
  
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: Carey and I finally got on the ball with this resolution. While we still haven't completed a thorough inventory of our cupboards (gasp!), we did take a look at what we had in the pantry before we went grocery shopping last Saturday. Prior to undertaking the challenge, Carey tried to keep our weekly grocery bill to between $30 and $40, so we decided to challenge ourselves: $20 a week. Gulp. How did we do? A trip to Waldbaum's cost us $20.52, and we got all of this:
  
  (Note: the rice cakes were returned (not on sale, like I thought they were) and exchanged for two containers of ricotta cheese, which were then used to create two pans of lasagna, one for immediate consumption and one for the freezer. Probably a much better use of $3 than a bag of rice cakes...)
  
  We sorta cheated, though. Target had a great sale on whole wheat pasta (which is normally super expensive), so we picked up 5 boxes for $3.85. So, we managed to keep the total bill under $25, which wasn't too bad for our first time. We have decided to forgo grocery shopping this week and, instead, donated $25 to the Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti. We'll probably have to pick up a quart of milk for Abigail, but Carey and I realized that we have so much food in the house, and we'll gladly scrimp a little bit this week to know that we were able to help in some way, in addition to our prayers. (Not to worry: Abigail will be well-fed, despite our skipping a grocery shopping trip. The Ngs are nothing if not stock-pilers, so the little munchkin will have plenty of fresh, healthy, delicious yummies to eat. Including some of that broccoli in the photo above!)

So, this was Week #2 of 2010. I'm still very excited about the changes I have decided to make and the challenges that I have placed before myself. God is so good, showing me that, with His help, I can accomplish the goals that I have set for myself and see positive change in my life.

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all the resolutions that I posted about here, here, and here. The first update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: my Project Life kit arrived yesterday! Can you tell I'm excited???
  
  I plan to browse Becky's site a bit more, to get some tips and ideas, before I attempt my first layout. I'm actually thinking that I might leave the title page for a bit later on, when I've had a bit more practice. I'm thinking my first page will be a layout of the Ng family holiday celebration, which was held at our house on January 2nd.
• Book Clubs: I have finished the first book for 2010 for Bloom. Same Kind of Different as Me was AMAZING. It was such an incredible story, not only of how one or two people can make a huge difference, but also how God puts the right people into our lives at the right times. I highly recommend this book! Next on my reading list is the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, which is currently on my nightstand. I plan to get started on that book this weekend.
• Project 365: I have kept up with my picture-a-day goal so far. And it's actually been fairly easy: I have the camera in my purse, so I'm always ready to snap a photo. If you haven't stopped by, please check out 365 Days of Ng!
• The Bible in 90 Days: I am almost caught up on my reading. I didn't actually get started with the challenge until January 4th, so I've done a few double-up days to get myself back on the same schedule as everyone else. I'm almost done with Exodus, and the first 14 chapters of Leviticus are on the schedule for tonight's train ride home. I will then be caught up - yay! Even just these last four days have been an amazing experience - beginning my day with the Word of God on my commute into the city and reflecting on that Word through the tools available on The Bible in 90 Days website and the SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) reflections on Amy's blog. I won't lie: some sections of Exodus tested my ability to concentrate - how many times do I need to read about what fabrics should be used for the vestments worn by priests? However, there are surprising sections, too - did you know that, in Exodus, God commanded the priests to wear underwear? (Chapter 28, Verse 42 - go ahead, see for yourself!) I am thankful that God brought this opportunity to my attention, and I look forward to walking closer to Him as I reflect on His Word over the next 3 months.
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: uh oh... This is the "slacked upon" resolution so far this year. I have yet to inventory my pantry, fridge, and freezer, so I am still in the dark about what treasures are there. However, Carey and I have yet to make our weekly shopping trip, so I still have some time! We've both perused the weekly store ads and have some items in mind - chicken drumsticks for $.69/lb and Bartlett pears for $.69/lb are just two of the deals that are on our grocery list this week. I plan to redeem myself tonight, though - while the laundry is being done, I will be stacking, sorting, and organizing our kitchen. I'm already itching to get started!

I was discussing my resolutions with Carey last night, and I have to say that I am excited and focused. I am very happy with the tasks that I have set before me and am glad to see that I am making progress. I truly believe that these resolutions will help me to strengthen my relationship with God and become a better wife, mother, and household manager. Hooray for positive change! :-)

Eat From the Pantry Challenge!

So, who isn't looking to save money? Who isn't looking to feed their family healthy meals on a tighter budget? While browsing the blogosphere, I stumbled across the Eat From the Pantry Challenge. I am all over this like a cheap suit. I cringe every time Carey and I have to throw away food because it's spoiled or expired. I can't stand the fact that I don't know everything that is lurking inside my cupboards. And, luckily for the purposes of this challenge, I love preparing food ahead of time and freezing it for use later, and I don't mind eating leftovers.

So, while the Ngs are getting started a few days late, we will be challenging ourselves to make use of what we have and spend responsibly for everything else. Interested in joining in, too? Stop by MoneySavingMom.com or LifeasMom.com for details and ideas. And now, a very important decision: what's for dinner? :-)

Another Resolution...

Now that I've listed my resolutions for 2010, I keep thinking of other things that I should add to the list. While I won't bore you with my ever-expanding list, I am excited to tell you about an awesome opportunity that I heard about through Mom's Toolbox: Tools for Moms Growing in Christ. Amy is encouraging her readers to join her in reading through the Bible in 90 days. I'll be following the schedule set up by the website The Bible in 90 Days. I'm a few days behind, but I hope to get caught up by the weekend.

I am super excited about this opportunity. One of my unwritten resolutions was to actively search for the ways that God plans to guide me in the new year, so when I happened across this project, I could feel Him speaking to me. I fervently pray that joining Amy and her other readers on this journey will help me better know my God and will strengthen my relationship with Him.

(Want to come along for the journey? Visit Amy's blog post to learn more!)