Jason was at a golf tournament with a buddy today, both kids were at school, and I went on a grocery shopping bonanza!  When you go to 4 different stores, it is a bonanza.  Now BEFORE you call me crazy…one store is about 2.5 miles from my house, the others are within a mile, and right next to each other.  And while, it may still seem a bit extreme, I was able to cover all our meals, some extras to make for the freezer, and a few baking supplies for the week, and some cleaning supplies/household goods,  (actually some things will last much longer) for the week for $80!  Woohoo!!! 

I got it all done, and put away, and some straightening done around the house before I picked up Brady from school.  AND-this was his 2nd day in a row of staying ‘clean and dry’ at school.  We beelined to Target for an inexpensive reward to celebrate!  Maybe the ‘regression’ period is ending. 

The weather is awesome here.  It is just crushing to me that the chiropractor said ‘no running’ otherwise I’d be hitting the street tomorrow morning.  We’ll definately be outside doing something though.  Maybe Jason will be up for pulling the Christmas stuff out of the attic.  I am SO ready!

Do you like Black Friday?  Do you KNOW what Black Friday is? 

If you do…then this website is for you!  I registered with my email address this year and last year too.  They email you when any black Friday ad becomes available so you can start ‘planning’ what stores you want to hit up that morning.  I actually heard there are some stores opening at 3am this year!  CRAZY…ok-ok-I’m one of the crazy ones too.  If I can save me some mulah you know I’ll be there.  I’ll even be sporting my ‘Jesus loves Black Friday t-shirt’ in honor of the occasion! 

Boy was I pooped last night!  Had a great C3 Childrens Ministry meeting.  I love when we’re able to touch base and hear about how things are going and what we can improve on in this ministry area.  I feel very fortunate to be a part of this ministry!  I slept hard after the day I had though.  It felt good to wake up after getting a good nights sleep.

We’ve had some sickness working its way through our house.  Mostly Jason has been affected; the kids have had just a few random coughs or sneezes.  I can not-so-fondly remember how things were this time last year, and I feel very thankful for the good health we have had so far this fall!

I’m heading to the chiropractor today.  I’m a little nervous; I always feel that way before heading to a new doctor, and the fact that THIS doctor is going to be cracking my spine, just magnifies this for me.  HOWEVER, the fact that I can’t even run half a mile without my back hurting is all the motivation I need.  Well-that and the fact that I’ve cleared the house of all IB Profen, and my stomach is starting to talk back about it!    Hopefully this doctor will help provide some relief. 

I recognize its been awhile since pictures have been posted; that is on my to-do list for today.  I’m also in the process of trying to transfer my blog over to a new one…I’ll post here when that happens; I’m having some ‘technological’ difficulties so we’ll see how it goes.

My plans for tonight included getting a jump start on the laundry mountain that has been growing this week in my closet; however, Jason is not feeling up to speed, so plans changed a little.  The kids and I spent some time in the backyard~LOVE Central Florida weather right now~then they helped me try out a new banana bread recipe.  It’s one main recipe with a few ‘extra’ ingredients I threw in.  Let’s just say I need someone to hide it from me, so I don’t devour it all tonight!  Just in case you ever have some bananas that are too brown to eat….

½ butter (yes I used the REAL stuff)

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

4 bananas mashed

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

*3 tbsp brown sugar

*1 tbsp water

-Cream the sugar and butter with a mixer. Add the vanilla, eggs, and bananas and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour into a 9×5, greased loaf pan. Bake 50min-1 hour at 350 degrees. About 15 minutes before its done (the loaf will be full size, and almost ‘set), mix the brown sugar and water, and brush onto the top. Return to over and finish cooking.

It is delicious!  It is so moist, but the top is a little crunchy and sugary!  You will LOVE it!  I am not a baker, so if I can make this and have it turn out great-you definately can too!   I took a picture to post, but I’m feeling like a good book, and another slice of banana bread are too good to pass up right now! 

I just got an email, the Kodak Gallery Million Gift Giveaway has reset.  If you register with your email address, you will get a code (I got $15 off) sent to your email address, and you’ll have up to Nov. 17th to order an item, or even prints.  Check out my post here for more info!  Don’t forget to register at Ebates first, and click through their site so you can get money back!  If you register through the link I provided you’ll automatically get $5 deposited into your account for registering! 

I wanted to mention one more ‘opportunity’ this week that is available.  This is something I have been apart of for about 2 years, and I have benefited greatly.  Its called BzzAgent.  You don’t give out anything personal except for your address, which they need because they send you FREE things to try out, spread the word about to your friends, and then report back with feedback.

I don’t usually do too much reporting back; the more you do, the more points you earn, and the higher up you get on the list to qualify to try things out.  The top things I have gotten are free Boston Market, free Chilis burgers, MAC cosmetics and a FREE Sonicare Electric Toothbrush.  Its over $140 in the store, and I got it completely free.  Its just a fun program to be a part of…you might want to check it out!

Not much to report on today.  My back and headaches are bad enough, that I’m finally giving in and going to the doctor.  I have to wait until Monday for an appointment.  Our car and computer seem to be functioning up to full speed; although it appears the front brake roters (sp?) are warped, and need to be repaired/replaced.  Not a biggie~we’ll hopefully have that taken care of this weekend.

Jason managed to remain employed during another stage of  restructuring at his company.  PRAISE GOD!!!  Kelsea is managing to roll out 100% on her A.R. tests at school, and can not get her hands on enough books.  Brady…is well…Brady!  We’re still working on the whole ‘regression’ thing with potty training.  Bribery and consequences don’t seem to have much affect.  They are playing in the yard with daddy right now…which is just about the perfect ending to our week!

Kodak Gallery is having a special giveaway!  A million free gifts as part of their ‘Million Thanks Giveaway.’  All you have to do is register here and you will get emailed a special gift.  Looks like they have $15 off any purchase, and then a % off one as well.  I got a mousepad with 5 pictures on it, for just over $2 shipped, and it is VERY good quality, and arrived in just a few days!  They also have really nice looking ornaments too, that would be close to free with a $15 off coupon code.  Don’t forget to go through ebates too, and get a little back from your purchase.  You can read more about ebates on my post here.

This would make a GREAT personalized Christmas gift for someone…but the quanitities are limited, so you need to act fast if you want to participate.  You don’t have to order your gift right away, you have a few days before the code will expire!

Enjoy!

Well, I began today thinking this was going to be one of those, get the laundry in the washer, while the oven bakes the coffee cake, while I respond to emails, and work on C3 Childrens Ministry stuff, then fold, and add more laundry, while I iron and keep Brady busy with puzzles, and crafts, etc., kind of days!  It has not quite turned out that way.   Sometimes the best made plans….

Well~I got a call from the Elementary School this morning, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw the caller ID.  I am still waiting for that FIRST, very exciting call to come substitute teach!  Anyway, my heart skipped a beat again, when I heard the caller identify herself as the school nurse.  She had a very emotional Kelsea in the clinic, complaining of a pain in her stomach.  Brady and I jetted over; good thing my plan was to be at home today!  Now, a few hours later, she is much better.  Nothing ever came of it, a little pepto bismal, and some cartoons later, and I’m struggling to make sure she knows coming home sick, is not fun and games! 

So…with VERY little crossed off my list for today, I decided to go ahead and start ‘beefing’ up my list for tomorrow/next week.  I’m going to have a cooking/baking day.  Have you heard of this before?  I have done something similar once or twice, but this time I’m going to have my ducks more in a row.  Basically you pick some freezer friendly foods/baked goods, purchase bulk ingredients, and make large quantities to stock your freezer.  IF you plan right, you should be able to spend one day (probably 6-7 hours) preparing/cooking, and have most if not all your main meals taken care of for the WHOLE month!  Yippee~I can work real hard for a day or two, in order to have quick but delicious meals to grab during the month.  I am trying to be a good steward of our resources (see this post), and on those ‘rush around town-to tired to cook’ days, I end up grabbing a $5 rotisserie chicken, or even (YIKES!) fast food; which ends up costing me more for the meal than I would spend if I made something.  Anyway-this is being planned for next week sometime, I’ll let you know the results!

Well, I have some pumpkin muffins just about ready to come out of the oven, and the smell in my house is DELISH!  I decided to go all Martha Stewart and actually made the pumpkin puree for the recipe from a PUMPKIN!  Get a load of me…making pumpkin muffins with a pumpkin!  I’m feeling pretty proud, and hungry I must say!

This is our week to get back on track…we were without the computer for almost a week.  (*FYI-don’t let your virus software expire; we won’t ever again!)  On our way to the Geek Squad for some assistance, we were rear-ended.  SO-on top of not having a computer for a week, I’m navigating all that comes with being in a car accident.  The rental, the insurance mumbo-jumbo, aches and pains, etc.  I have put off going to the doctor, and actually think I’m going to break down and go, my back is just aching daily, and the headaches are killers.  Brady was fine, although he has some ‘car anxiety’.  The first day, he would yell out from the back, “watch out mom, we’re going to crash”; and get all nervous on me.  (We were hit hard enough, that we hit the car in front of us, so I think that’s all he realizes)  Yesterday in the car, a rock hit our windshield, and he panicked.  I feel so bad for him…

Trick or treating was a blast…2 hours later and quite a few bites of candy, Brady was lassoing in the trees saying they were monsters, and that Batman (his character), was going to get em.’  Hysterical.  Go figure I made a dentist appointment for both kids today too…note to self…DON’T make dentist appointments 3 days after Halloween; at least wait until the candy is gone then the dentist can fix those little mouths right up! 

Pictures coming soon…