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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

I made this for dinner a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share!  It was the perfect way to ring in the fall season (even though it’s still around 100 degrees here).  I smelled the wonderful meat cooking all day long.  It was mouth-watering.  I love this recipe because it is SO easy and SO delicious.  Warm and hearty, and my whole family loves it.  So here ya go:
Crockpot Beef Stroganoff
1½ lbs Stew Meat
2 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup (10oz)
1 Package Onion Soup Mix
1 Container Sour Cream (16oz)
Mix all ingredients (except for meat) in a large bowl.  Put meat in crockpot (I almost always put it in frozen) and pour mixture on top.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours.  Serve over noodles.  I love egg noodles and usually cook some sort of veggie on the side. Enjoy!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Fall Centerpiece

Eeeeeh! I LOVE Fall. Like, really, really, really, really love fall. Did I mention I love fall? What’s not to love? I grew up watching the leaves turn all shades then falling on the ground and crunching under my feet as I would walk to and from school. I would help my Dad rake the leaves on our lawn and make pathways to drive my electric toy jeep through.



Okay, no leaves in the pic, but you get the idea. :)
I love eating chili and warm soups. Baking pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes and anything else pumpkin related. I love taking my kids to local farms and looking at pumpkin patches and petting animals. I love the crisp cool air (as cool as it can get here in Phoenix).
Aside from all that wonderfulness I just mentioned there are two more things I absolutely love about fall:
1.)    HALLOWEEN
I have a slight obsession with Halloween. It’s SO FUN! The candy! The costumes! The scary movies! I met my hubby on Halloween and my first baby was due on Halloween. Not just a coincidence. ;)

2.)   IMPENDING CHRISTMAS
I heart Christmas. So much. Slightly more than Halloween.  I think one of the reasons I may love the fall so much is because of the anticipation of Christmas right around the corner.  So…I’m not a summer girl, can ya tell?

Anyhoo…I couldn’t help myself. I was at Hobby Lobby last Friday and I got inspired.  I bought a few things and used some that I had and made this centerpiece for my kitchen table:





Isn’t it perty??? I love the sparkly pumpkins and sparkly acorns-who am I kidding I just love sparkle! The green gourds add just the right amount of green and who doesn’t love a good red apple?
I LOVE this candle holder.  I change out the candles and décor in it from season to season. For example I have beautiful sparkly fruit I put in it at Christmas time. I’m looking for beautiful white candles to put with the sparkly fruit but haven’t found just the right ones yet.  This piece of décor is also low enough that we can still see each other’s faces when sitting at the table-I don’t even have to move it!

Other than that I put one small fall décor on my front door. I couldn’t help myself, I just couldn’t! Way too excited even though it was only September 9th. But hey, last year I had ALL my fall décor out September 1st. But that’s because I was due to have a baby and wanted to be sure it got put out or I would have not survived the fall season. Okay a little dramatic. It just makes me so happy to see pumpkins, acorns and gourds-oh my!
What’s your favorite piece of fall décor?

De-cluttering the Counter

My kitchen counter has been the bane of my existence recently.  The mass amounts of papers pile and pile and pile right up.  You know what they are; birthday party invitations, papers that need to be signed and returned to school, outgoing mail, incoming mail, coupon inserts, birthday cards, coupons-AGH!  I’m starting to feel anxiety just typing all that. :)  Well life got crazy. Like reeeeaaaalllly crazy.  As it does from time to time.  Things just got thrown…wherever.  Not only did my counter get piled up, but my pantry, and my office, and…I just couldn’t take it anymore!!!!  One night I kind of had a break down.  Just a small one, didn’t even cry (I don’t think).  Enter wonderful husband.  He said, “We will work on it together”.  And we did.  We spent half a Saturday and got. things. organized.  Hallelujah.  Well at least the counter and the pantry organized. 

One of the changes made (I actually made this change a long time ago but want to share it anyway because I love, love, love it) is that I no longer have a small planner for my calendar.  I used to leave it out on the counter, “where I could always see it”. Ha!  It just got piled on by all the aforementioned crap of papers.  So every time someone would call and say, “would you like to so-and-so on such-and-such date?”  I would scramble to find my stupid calendar. “Um, yeah. That sounds great. Just give me one second…to find my, uh, calendar here…Yes! Okay I am free that day.” 

Well I got tired of that. So I got a BIG wall calendar and hung it in my pantry.  I hung it with a fine point sharpie marker that clips right on and NEVER LEAVES THE CALENDAR. Never people. Really.  Just try to move my calendar pen.  Really try.  ;)  Goodbye tiny calendar that I could never find and never had enough room to write all the activities on.  Hello big, beautiful calendar I can always see and have plenty of room to write all my activities. 
 


One of things I do with my calendar at the beginning of each new year is sit down for about an hour and write everyone’s birthday that I want to remember.  This includes all my family and my bestie’s.   If you’re on my calendar, you’ll know you’re one of my besties. :)  Anyhoo, I also write a reminder on the Monday before their birthday to buy them a birthday card. Why Monday might you ask?  Well, Monday is the day I do my grocery shopping.  So I know, (mostly) I will be going to the store that day and can pick up a card.  Oh how I LOVE grocery store Monday’s. They make my life, week and home oh so peaceful. (A blog post on that soon to come).

Another change we made was this hook:


My hubby hung up this hook for my son’s backpack and lunch box. I have taught my son when he gets home from school (after taking off shoes outside and emptying sand, wiping feet with a wipe and washing hands) to take the ice pack out of his lunchbox, put it in the freezer. Take his water bottle out of his backpack and put it on the counter. Then…HANG UP THE LUNCHBOX AND BACKPACK. In the pantry. On the hook. Out of my sight. Two less things to trip over, pick up and put away. Thank you beautiful, white, curvy hook that husband hung right at my little son’s level so it’s nice and easy for him. :)

One more thing we did under my lovely calendar, is put a hanging file box that my husband spotted at Target and suggested we get. (Oh how I love that man).  In it I keep “my notebook”. (Probably another blog post to come on “my notebook” someday. I think I would die without “my notebook.” It truly keeps me organized).  Whatever book I’m reading (still working on finding the time to read more). The Book of Mormon, so we can easily grab and read it as a family (still working on that too). And any other important papers that used to be on the counter.  The idea was to get this “stuff” off the counter. And it worked!!  Oh the peace I feel when I walk by and actually see my counter now.


I still need to file some of  the papers that got moved from the counter to the office. I’m working on that. It’s a work in progress.  I’m just so happy to know that everything has a place-and it’s not the kitchen counter anymore!!!  And you know what I think I’m gonna do with the newfound space on my kitchen counter???  Thanks to the brilliant suggestion of my good friend Jenny, I’m going to put a digital photo frame there.  There, where the pile of crap used to be will be a frame that rotates pictures of my children and other loved ones.  Isn’t that much better?  Ah, one small step to creating a home in order completed.  Many, many, many more to go. :)

Before and after pics: