Memorial Day doings

For two and a half weeks during the month of June, B will be on his own in Augusta while i enjoy family and friends in Merida. This means that he gets to be a bachelor, which mostly consists of newspapers piling up, house getting dirty, clothes never getting folded or put away, and eating sandwiches every night for supper.

But sandwiches get really old, really fast (just like they did last summer). Last year B eventually gave up on sandwiches and ended up at Wendy's more often than i would have liked him to.

So this time around i decided to help him with some variety. So during my day off yesterday i spent a few minutes in the kitchen assembling some simple burritos. I assembled four at a time, rolled them and wrapped them in tin foil. I did this x4, then put them in a large ziplock bag and stuck them in the freezer.

So when he is in need of some variety during dinner time, all he needs to do is stick them in the microwave (w/out the tinfoil :p) and vuala! Dinner is ready!


I also baked some cookies to take to school for the teachers as thank yous for my shower from last week.

Spanish night

Last night we invited some friends from church who are from Puerto Rico to share a meal with us. I made chicken escabeche with beans and rice -- yum yum! The Acevedo family brought a very good flan for dessert and some "tostones."

I had been wanting to have these families over for a while, but things kept getting in the way. But with my trip to Mexico, and Sam's soon move to Alabama, i had to get this together before it got too late.

Our guests were the Acevedo family with their two children and both their mothers, and Sam. Check out the girl in the middle - Maria Isabel - she will be our girl's babysitter :p We will need as much Spanish in our house as we can get.


With so many people to fit around the table, we had to get creative and bring our breakfast table to place next to our dinning room table.


All in all, it was a fun evening. We spoke Spanish for most of the evening and B's head did not hurt after 3 hours of it. It amazes me how well my husband speaks Spanish, and even after not using it for almost one year, he can still jump back at it with no problem.

Byron's barber

Back in 2003, when B and i began dating, one of the things he wanted me to learn to do for him is cut his hair. Eight years and countless haircuts later, i still don't feel that i do that great a job at it. But he is a faithful man, even when it comes to his barber :p

Ford Focus vs. Tahoe

A third way in which B and i have "gone green" over the past year is by driving my little Ford Focus instead of his Tahoe when going places together. Ideally, i would have B drive a high mileage car as well instead of his Tahoe, but he loves his car and i don't see him giving it up anytime soon.

I must confess that this decision to drive my car instead of his came as a way to trim our monthly costs, not because we wanted to go green. We were looking at our budget and realized we needed to lower our expenses. Switching cars seemed like the fastest and easiest way to do this.

By making this switch, B and i save an average of $60 per month.

Meal plan for an insane week

I have been extremely busy these past few days, in addition to being very sick. I will be coming up to my second week of intense coughing and sneezing.

But it has been also been a great week for so many reasons. I had my first baby shower, got a box of maternity clothes, had the 8th grade social dance (which made it into a long day, but it was fun, none the less), and finally, i got the test scores back from my algebra class and the scores were amazing - with four perfect scores, 14 A's and no F's! What a great way to end the school year!

But this will also be a very crazy week. I'll be wrapping up the school year, packing and putting into storage all of my school materials, and packing for our trip to Mexico. So our menu will be quite insane.

Saturday:
Lunch: leftover chicken noodle soup
Dinner: Egg sandwiches

Sunday:
Lunch: out with family
Dinner: Spanish night -- we are having 2 Spanish speaking families over for dinner and i'll be serving chicken escabeche.

Monday:
Lunch: leftover escabeche
Dinner: dinner with the Morrises

Tuesday:
Lunch: out with teachers
Dinner: dinner with friends

Wednesday:
Lunch: doctor's appt, so i'll probably just grab something on my way there since it's also graduation day that morning at school.
Dinner: Spaghetti with salad and garlic bread

Thursday:
Lunch: out with teachers -- last day students report to class!
Dinner: Spaghetti with salad and garlic bread

Friday:
Lunch: PTO lunch at school -- teacher work day and last day i show up at school... for a very long time :)
Dinner: Egg sandwiches

Maternity clothes

When i found out i was pregnant back in December, one of the aspects that made me nervous was maternity clothes. I don't like to shop, i don't know how to shop, and when i do shop, half the time i feel guilty for doing so.

So i decided that time would determine what to do in regards to this.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that maternity clothes swapping was a very common thing to do. Out of nowhere, people from church would hand me a grocery bag here and there with some maternity clothes. Some of it would work, some of it wouldn't.

I eventually broke down and ended up buying some much needed maternity shorts for our trip to Disney and then 2 tops for me to wear to school (the normal ones i was wearing began to look mighty ridiculous after a while).

But today i hit jackpot! One of the younger teachers at school who has two little children handed me a box of her maternity clothes.


I began looking through it once i got home, and needless to say, if i were to wear every single item in that box, i would have a new outfit to wear every day until my due date :p

I went through them and first sorted them out through fits and does not fit. Then i even had the luxury of selecting from those that fit me those that i liked and did not like. So by the end of it, this is what i ended up with:


Thank you Allison for your generosity! Can't wait to begin to wear them.

LBC Middle School baby shower

The faculty and staff at LBC Middle School threw me a baby shower today after school.

Words cannot describe how touched and moved i was by their generosity. They are all a hard working bunch who always come together in times of both joy and sorrow.

Thank you LBC family for the love and kindness you showed me today.

Gift table

Two of my teacher friends Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Giffin

Check out the diaper cake the 6th grade team gave me :)

At home looking over the gifts more carefully.

Using a recycling bin

The second way the Morrises take care of planet Earth is by using a recycling bin to throw plastic, paper, and cans away.

Just like hanging clothes, there is a selfish factor involved in recycling. Most of the things that need to be recycled are big, bulky items that take a lot of space in our trash can. Items such as milk jugs, cereal boxes, newspaper, breakfast juice containers, etc. So because we have a separate container for these items, our regular trash can does not fill up as fast as it would if we didn't recycle. Hence, we don't use as many trash bags (money saver), we don't have to deal with that chore as frequently, etc. (Don't worry, we are not pigs, we DO changer our trash often enough).

Hanging clothes to dry

I am not en eco-nut, I am not an Al Gore fan, I don't believe that we will drown in water b/c of the melting of the poles, and I don't go around nagging people about recycling.

But i am a steward of this world, and i do believe that it's my job and responsibility to take care of it.

So in recent months B and i have (unintentionally) agreed to make some smart changes to help planet Earth.

A list of these things are:
- Hanging some clothes to dry outside
- Using a recycling bin for paper, plastic and cans.
- Driving my little Ford Focus instead of his Tahoe when going places together.
- Using reusable bags when grocery shopping.
- Leaving the house slightly colder over the winter and slightly warmer over the summer.

So, what do we hang and what don't we hang to dry? We only hang things that take longer to dry in the drier. For example, towels, cloths, and jeans. I choose not to hang the rest of things b/c it's not time efficient. Hanging every single sock and underwear would take an awful long time to do and would eventually discourage me.

The nice thing is that there is some reward in doing this (aside from the clear conscience). I've read that it costs about 50 cents to use the dryer for 45 minutes. If i hang one load per week for 2/3 of the year, that is 33 times a year, i am essentially "saving" $16.50 per year. Not much, but enough to go out on a few ice cream or coffee dates :)

Pizza night with Shannon

B and i are very thankful for the great community we have here in Augusta. We have a great group young married couples who we call friends and feel very much ourselves with.

One of those special couples are Chris and Shannon. Chris is currently serving our country in South Korea for 15 months and his lovely wife is in Augusta patiently waiting for him and being a great friend to everyone in the meantime.

Shannon has also become my yard sale companion and this morning introduced me to Augusta's farmer's market. Needless to say, will never be able to buy produce at a grocery store again after my experience there this morning. They had the most amazing melon!

So after our very successful pizza night last week, we decided to invite Shannon to enjoy the yummy meal. Pizzas turned out great (B claims they were the best pizzas he'd ever have) and our conversation and time together around the table was very pleasing and enjoyable.

Getting the pizzas prepped. This is my prego belly at 25 weeks. My bellybutton is really starting to stick out and i'd have to say that so far this is the weirdest thing about pregnancy (believe it or not).

Ready to go into the oven!

Out of the oven and ready to be enjoyed!

And of course, dessert.

The mom in me.

Exactly one month ago our Sunday School had a picnic to celebrate Easter and enjoy an egg hunt with the kids. It amazes me how many young couples and how many children are in our church community.

During that picnic i was able to hold for quite a while little Baby Price. He is such a doll and love to hold him. The first time i got to hold him was at a baby shower. After a good 30 minutes of me holding him, he began to cry and cry. Completely oblivious to the situation, i just let him cry for as long as he wanted. His mama eventually realized what was going on and told another young mother: "we are going to have to teach Lauren a few things about motherhood." She eventually showed me how to soothe him back into to calmness.

Since then i've been wondering what kind of mother i will become. Here are a list of things that i notice of myself when i am with an infant:

- I have no problem letting the baby cry. I am not going to claim to be completely calm when this takes place, but i just assume that that's what babies do -- cry! We'll see how this plays out once MY little girl begins to cry.
- My arms get really tired of holding them. After a while of enjoying them i just want put them down and run off and do my own thing.
- I love to eat, and most importantly, i love being the FIRST to eat. Having an infant, or a child for that matter, will prevent me from this luxury. I wonder when my next full and relaxed meal will take place once our little girl comes.

Menu Plan

I have always planned all of my meals a week in advance, what i haven't always done until recently is have an exact meal plan. Having an exact meal plan has almost revolutionized the way i approach meals.

Here are a few things i have noticed happening since doing specific meal plans (and by specific, i mean having a certain meal assigned to lunch and dinner each day):

- I can never keep up with it. For example, i was supposed to have had quiche this past week for lunch, and i am yet to make it. Unexpected things come up or i decide last minute that i don't feel like having it.
- We go out to eat much less. B and i don't go out to eat much to begin with compared to many people, but on a normal week we'll go out for a hamburger or something simple about once or twice a week. But during this past month that i have been meal planning, it has become maybe once a week or zero times a week.
- Knowing what's ahead in the menu allows me to multitask in the kitchen. For example, this week i plan on making egg McMuffins, pizza AND the quiche i never made last week. Instead of getting the frying pan dirty three different times (and hence wash it on three different occasions) i will cook all of the bacon all at once AND the sausage for the pizza that i will use for all three different meals. One pan, three different meals, all at the same time.
- My fridge becomes much more crowded. Because i am multitasking in the kitchen, i have to store everything in the fridge. The good news is that it's all food that i know will be out of there in less than a week.

So here is this week's meal --

Friday
Lunch: PBJ with sliced watermelon
Dinner: Taco salad

Saturday:
Lunch: Egg McMuffins with fruit
Dinner: Homemade pizzas with Shannon :)

Sunday:
Lunch: out with family
Dinner: Egg McMuffins

Monday:
Lunch: quiche
Dinner: Veggie chicken soup with corn bread muffins

Tuesday:
Repeat Monday

Wednesday:
Lunch: Quiche
Dinner: Chicken, corn and black bean casserole.

Cards

I am about to reveal something about myself that should be kept as a secret forever --

I buy my cards at the Dollar Tree for 50 cents each.

It's done, i've said it, the cat is out of the bag and i hope you don't think less of me for doing so.

The reason why i say this is b/c this has become a great money saver for us. When we first moved to the States almost 2 years ago i was quickly burdened by this "card culture" that i had never been exposed to in my life. (A little culture teaching moment: cards are extremely uncommon and barely used in Mexico. Just trying to find a thank you card is next to impossible.)

So, every time we had a birthday or an event or something, i would find myself spending about $2-$3 per card. An eureka moment came to me when 1. i discovered the Dollar Tree, and 2. i saw that they sold GREAT cards for much much much less.

So this is my strategy --

- I make a list of birthdays or events (such as mother's day, father's day, Easter, etc) that will be taking place in the next 3 - 4 months during which i will be needing a card.
- I make ONE trip to the Dollar Tree and buy all of them at once.

This ends up giving me a good 80% savings on something i was planning on doing anyway.

Cravings

Many people ask me what are my pregnancy cravings. I never know how to answer that questions b/c i am a person who craves everything and all the time, regardless of whether i am pregnant or not. I enjoy food, especially bread, chips, cheese, chocolate, and french fries.

But i have started to notice a pattern during the last few weeks when i grocery shop -- i buy a lot of fruit! A lot more than normal and i usually run out of it half way through the week.

So the answer to your question -- fruit! I long and crave fruit. In particular strawberries, mango, pineapple, and bananas. This is of course in addition to my regular cravings :)

Veggie Quesadillas

I love these! This was a meal my mom made for us growing up. They are easy, yummy, and frugal. I will do my best at putting measurements, but do realize that this is a Mexican dish and therefore measurements are very vague. Feel free to modify.

Veggie Quesadillas (a.k.a. Tacos de Chile Poblano y Queso)

- 2 chile poblanos - broil them for about 5 minutes on each side until dark and crisp. Place them in a plastic bag, close bag and let cool. Then peel the skin off, remove seeds and slice in strips.
- 1 1/2 cups of corn
- Half an onion, sliced in strips
- 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup of cheese (use any Mexican blend cheese or favorite)
- 6 Tortillas

Melt butter in pan. Add onions and let fry for a few minutes. Add corn, peppers and salt and pepper.



When nice and warm and mixed well together, turn off heat and sprinkle cheese on top.


Let melt. Serve on tortillas and roll up. Enjoy!

Rebecca's graduation

The 5th and last of the Morrises has graduated. Congratulations to Rebecca and congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Morris who have raised and put all 5 children through college. What an exciting moment!



I can't help but to share a fun and exciting experience for me this weekend. One of Rebecca's roommates is the daughter of the governor of Tennessee. So of course he was there, along with his wife and four bodyguards. This was such a cool experience for me i had to resist the urge of taking a pic of them :p What i did not resist was talking to them.

Pizza night

After about 4 -5 attempts to find the perfect pizza dough recipe and mechanism, i can now say i have nailed it. With the help of my new KitchenAid, the dough turned out great, and best of all, it was done very cleanly. Pizza night may need to become a weekly special at the Morris home. Byron was already asking today when we can make them again -- "soon Honey, very soon. Next week :)"



We even had enough for leftovers.

Baby stuff

Byron came back from Bible study tonight with the following items:

1. A bouncy chair (you can tell i'm new at this... i am not sure what the official name for it is) -


2. And an infant car seat with a stroller that attaches to it -


Our friends Nate and Julia have an almost 1 year old daughter who no longer uses these items. I am so happy we get to borrow them b/c it means we don't have to store them somewhere when our little girl grows out of them. We will still need to get an "older infant" car seat, though, which we are registered for :p

All i can say is YAY! Thank you guys :)

Meal Plan

It's only Wednesday and i am unusually dead tired from the week already. Even though i am still in my 2nd trimester, i think i am am starting to feel some changes in my body that indicate that 3rd trimester is just around the corner.

Yesterday, for example, i came home from school and took a 1 hour nap. This is major, b/c if you know me at all you know that i NEVER take naps *sigh*

But lets get down to business. Meal plan for this week is as follows:

Wednesday:
Lunch: I was supposed to have some leftover food that i stole from my in-laws last night, but i forgot it at home. Ended up buying a sub from subway :p
Dinner: Sloppy Joes with coleslaw and potato wedges.

Thursday:
Lunch: Hopefully i will not forget my lunch this time -- leftover food i stole from in-laws.
Dinner: HOMEMADE PIZZA! This will be the first thing i use my kitchen aide for - to make the pizza dough. Pictures to come.

Friday:
Lunch: Leftover pizza from Thursday night.
Dinner: Out?? It's Re's college graduation.

Saturday:
Lunch: Out.
Dinner: Egg salad sandwiches on homemade wheat bread, also made by using my new kitchen aide :)

Sunday:
Lunch: Out with family after church.
Dinner: Church event.

Monday:
Lunch: Quiche
Dinner: Egg salad sandwiches.

Tuesday:
Lunch: Quiche
Dinner: Taco salad

Wednesday:
Repeat Tuesday

My first mother's day

Stage: We are at Moe's having lunch after church on Mother's Day. Both of Byron's parents are there, along with Joseph and Nana.

Scene 1: Byron walks into Moe's carrying a giant (and very heavy) wrapped box.

Scene 2: Puzzled at what it may be, i open one side of it. I see what it is and cannot believe my eyes! Without thinking i exclaim to Byron: "You did NOT?!"

Scene 3: I fight my tears, look at Byron's big smile and continue to open my mother's day gift.

Scene 4: It's a Kitchen Aide mixer! My dream gift! The gift i told Byron i would one day like to get -- maybe on our 10th year anniversary, maybe once we have a couple of kids, maybe... maybe one day.
Scene 5: He shares the story of why he decided to make my first mother's day memorable by giving me such a special gift.

Thank you Honey <3

The crib

Our little girl is going to get to use the same crib her Memma used when she was a little girl and the same crib her daddy used when he would spend the night at his Grandmother's house. The crib our little girl is going to get to use is about 60 years old and has been passed down to us by B's grandmother.

The catch? It has 4 coats of paint!

Even though my sister-in-law has offered us the crib she used with her children, i would really like to use this particular crib. So my loving husband has agreed to spend countless hours (and a little more money than i had hoped for) to get this crib to look exactly like i want (natural wood color).

B began to work on it this past Saturday. After about 4 hours of intense work, this is how far he had gotten:

As you can tell, not very far. B then went to Lowe's a SECOND time, got some stronger stuff, and was able to get this far:

I am thankful for my husband who is more than willing to do this silly project that my heart so much desires. I know our little girl will love it :)

Happy mother's day!

Looking back to the past 26 years of my life, i realize that so much of who i am and who i have become is thanks to my mother. She has been a great mother who did a great job raising both my sister and i.

So in honor of mother's day, i decided to take a walk down memory's lane and make a list of lessons my mom has taught me through the years, whether they were intentional or unintentional.

- My mother always taught me to be a servant at other people's home. Don't ask your host HOW you can help, but instead just BEGIN to help. Wash the dishes, fold the clothes, set the table, clear the table, etc.
- She always made sure we said thank you, no matter how small or simple the gesture. Basically, don't ever take anything for granted. A car ride, a simple note from someone, a gift, etc. - always say thank you.
- She taught me to be kind to others, even when it becomes an inconvenience. This is really something that stands out in my life. Even though my parents were divorced when i was young, my mother always made sure we had a gift for my father for father's day, his birthday and Christmas. This was also true for my dad - he always gave us money to go take my mom out on special occasions or buy her gifts.
- She taught me to be a smart shopper. Whether it was on groceries, school supplies, clothes, or even braces, she always made sure she got the best deal.
- She taught me to love education. To both love being an educator and to be educated.
- She taught me to love to cook. Even though my mother is as Anglo as they come, she can cook the best Mexican and Lebanese food. She loves learning new recipes.
- She taught me to love reading. I remember at one point growing up she made us "buy" TV minutes - for every minute we read, we could watch 2 minutes of TV.
- She taught me to enjoy the simple things in life. If you've ever seen my mom eat a good corn on the cob, or any good meal, you can see her close her eyes and just say: "mmmmm...."
- And last, but not least, she taught me to love Saint Bernards. Oh my, did she make me love Saint Bernards! I could never own any dog unless it was a Saint - enough said!

If you have grown up with me and gotten to know my mom through the years, please leave a comment with any other things that comes to your mind when you think of her :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Baby clothes

After my post on yard sales, my college friend Shelby (who has an almost one year old girl) suggested that i keep an eye out for baby clothes at garage sales. Yes, i'll be getting a lot of baby clothes at showers and what not, but my girl will grow out of them really fast and it's nice to have the next size up clothes handy for when i need them.

So with that in mind, my friend Shannon and i went out "yard saleing" today and hit a couple of good sales. There was one sale in particular that was "jackpot" in regards to baby girl clothes. They had an awesome variety, and many outfits still had tags.

So at the end of the day, this is what i ended up with:

This swimming suite will probably be too small by the time our little girl has her first swim, but it was SO cute and only 25 cents. I couldn't leave without it :p

B was so funny when he saw it. He jokingly inspected it to make sure it covered everything that needed to be covered.

Best of all -- all of these items, plus one that is not pictured, ended up ringing up to a total of $5!!

Easy Chicken

Our friends Doug and Amy just had a baby. I signed up to take them a meal yesterday and i chose to take "Easy Chicken." This is a tasty, easy and frugal meal that will feed a number of people at once. And best of all, you probably already have all of the ingredients you'll need for it in your kitchen!

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup of margarine
- 1 cup of diced onion (more or less, depending on how much or how little you like onions)
- 1/4 cup of flour
- 2 cups of chicken broth
- 1 cup of milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups of diced cooked chicken (i use one whole small chicken)
- Rice or pasta to serve over.

Procedure:
Saute onion in margarine. Stir in flour and cook until thick. Add chicken broth, milk, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until fairly thick. Add chicken. Serve over rice or pasta.

A middle school moment

I am wearing a (slightly tight) green maternity, long sleeved, blouse at school today.

In the middle of my lesson, a student politely raises his had.

Me: "Yes, student?"

Student: "Mrs. Morris, i don't mean to be rude, but that shirt makes you look like Kermit the Frog."

Me: *sigh*