Sledding!!!!

I took Brighton out sledding today. It was great! I didn't know if he'd be scared going down the hill or not. I went down with him on my lap the first couple times and then I pushed him back up the hill half way and let him go down by himself and he jsut laughed and laughed. I wish I had more energy to keep pushing him up more than 5 times though because he was sad to leave.

yummy dinner

When I told Mitchel we were having mac and cheese with broccli, cauliflour, and carrots; he said "I can't do mac and cheese with veggies in it. it's gross." So I told him he could pick them out if he wanted.
I actually ended up picking out some of the broccoli because the package had way more broccoli that anything else. I would also reccommend making sure the flour is all the way mixed before dumping it into the pot.
Otherwise this was a great meal and Brighton loved eating the broccoli!






1 package (32 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
6 ounces small pasta shells
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot blend
1-1/2 cups low-fat milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil over high heat. Add pasta. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add vegetables. Cook until pasta and vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes more.

2. Combine milk and flour in a resealable container; shake well to combine. Stir in to pasta mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Gradually add the cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

home made cleaning products

So I recently made home made laundry soap and I love it! It workd really well! My cloths smell great and feel good too. I do have to run the cloth diapers through twice sometimes though but other wise I'm really satisfied. Sometimes I go around the house looking for clothes to wash just so I can use it.

So I'm going to try to make more home made cleaning products and let you know how they work. It kind of goes along with my new years resolution and blog resolution to live greener and on a budget. The laundry soap will definatly save us money!

I also made some cloth wipes last night and wipe solution. I haven'ts used them yet so I'll save that for the next blog.

I was thinking about cleaning with something besides like bleach or a commercial cleaning product and in my mind i think that they won't work as well, but i've done some research and we don't have to spend 3 dollars of spray bleach. I can use vinegar and lemon juice and it does the same thing. Disinfects and cleans. And it smells better than bleach and I don't have to worry if Brighton licks it. It may still be harm full if he drinks it, but not as harmful as bleach. And this coming from the girl who couldn't live with out clorox wipes. Maybe I could make clorox wipes like I do cloth baby wipes!

Hmm...i'm excited about this!

mini vent

Do people actually know things or do they just say random things on a subject because they think they know.
For example: I made a comment on facebook that I was making cloth wipes to save some money, and someone commented back that I probably wouldnt be saving money because of all the laundry i'd be doing.

Hmm...how would two or three wipes going to make my laundry more? Hmmm.

I do cloth diaper my son and I love it. Now that I'm unemployed I do it full time. I finally ran out of disposable diapers so I pretty much have no choice. I do need to get a few more diapers because I'm constantly washing them (tax money comes in handy!) and now I'm making my own wipse so I don't have to buy wipes anymore. I know it's only like 5 dollars every few weeks but still and this way I won't have to separate out the wipes and the diaper and risk flushing the yucky poopy wipes down the toilet.

Anyway. Don't dog it till you try it is what I say. I'm excited to try out my cloth wipes and to possibly get some new cloth diapers in the near future. I know the healthy baby boutique has some cute ones I want to try!

romantic purses

I just checked out this awesome book from the library! It's called Creating Romantic Purses. It is so cute. They use old prom and wedding dresses and a bunch ot trim and buttons and stuff. I'm so excited to try one. I do I have a couple old prom dresses that aren't worth donating that I need to get from our Newton house.
So if anyone has any old dresses they don't want, give them to me!

As far as our Fast is going. it's going well. I love my quiet time and I love working out and the YMCA and I love what I'm eating. I feel better now that I don't eat sugar and drink soda. And now that I don't work at the clinic anymore, I don't have that temptation to over eat.


Brighton is doing great. He's getting really big! I can't believe it. He looks like a little boy now instead of a baby. But he's always my little baby b.

lost and found

So I lost my job this past week. It was kind of a mutual thing. There was an incident that lead to my boss asking me if this is really where I wanted to be and I said no so she let me go. But, I can claim unemployment so I am. I was approved already!

I'm really glad I'm not working there anymore. It was such a negative place. Everyone was always complaining and whining about something. I felt like I was just there for no reason. I was making money, yeah, but I was turning around and giving it to someone else to watch my kid. I really just needed to get out of there, and this was the best way.

I really feel so much better already. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. my head feels clearer. I've really been praying alot about what to do next and for now I'm going to enjoy being home with Brigton and continue to look for a part time job. I really don't think I have it in me to work full time again. Mitchel seems to be fine with this option as well. He knows how stressed i've been and how much it killed me to but Brighton in daycare for all this time.

So now I have so much time to do what I want to do. I've already started on one purse for a friend and I've got so many more ideas for future projects.
My goal is to have enough product to sell at a craft fair by 2011. Yay! We'll see how that goes. My primary priority is Brighton and taking care of him.

I'm also excited to start reading my Bible more. I always made excuses why i couldn't but now I actually want to. I feel like my relationship with God is on the mend.

I'm excited to see what this new year brings. Pray for me!

modified

Mitchel and I decided to modify the Daniel fast. We weren't sure (or I wasn't) if I could keep up with the cooking. Our first few meals took alot of time preparing and chopping and cooking. And with both of us working full time, it just wouldn't have worked. I would have had to miss out on family time and totally ignore my little man. So we decided to keep with the more simple recipes and keep with our more concervative recipes that we eat all the time. We are going to try to keep out the sugars, white flour, and white rice. No more soda, candy, chips and the like. We are going to use the cloth diapers unless Brighton's heading to daycare. And we are going to buy used when we can (even though i just bought new pants, but they were way on sale...). And we are going to be reading our bible more. I've already gotten through most of Daniel. I thought I'd start there because we were doing the Daniel fast. Starting in Daniel was better than starting in Genesis...lol. You can get burnt out in Genesis soemtimes. But Daniel was great. And I really want to get through Isaiah. I've never read through the whole Bible, but I've listened to it on my ipod all the way through.

Anyway. I'm not doing so well on blogging, but we were spending time together over the long weekends. We are also trying to spend more time together as a family now that Mitchel is done with school. It's been great so far!

update

We decided to start to fast tonight since we didn't get a chance to go shopping until like 10 this morning. We had no food anyway and then we had a birthday party to go to at 1 and had some pizza and cupcakes there. But now we hae food and we have no other obligations in the near future. I'm excited to cook some of these foods they look yummy!