Real Life Solutions

 

I love getting my “tackle it” list onto by blog. There is something about writing it all down that really inspires to to get it all done.

Here is what I need to tackle today and during the entire week:

1. Continue on my mission to add at least 1 article a day to my Real Life Solutions site.

2. Connect with my VA and pass along some tasks for completion during this month.

3 . Keep working to get a sponsor for the Parenting My Teen Podcast and I am also on the lookout for a great guest.

4. Hit the Grocery store during lunch time – I find that Tuesdays are really great days for shopping – the stores are just about empty.

So, do you care to share what you have already tackled and/or still need to tackle today?

Menu Plan Monday ~ June 16th

Nothing fancy this week for us here:

Tonight:  Spaghetti

Tuesday: Baked Chicken, Scalloped potatoes, salad

Wednesday: Left Over Spaghetti, salad

Thursday:  Tacos

Friday: Pizza night

My weekly meal plans are needed to ensure that things run a bit smoother in the late afternoons when its time to get dinner on teh table for this busy family. It takes all of the guess work and most of the “fuss” out of cooking.

Stop by to read my article on Meal Planning if you are looking to take the “fuss” out of your mealtimes.

 Let us know what you have going on in your kitchen this week

Isaac my 8yo is a true gamer and loves hisWii.

During my nap he must have been interrupted by his sister and her friends because look at what I saw on the floor propped up against his door that was cracked.

 

 

Time sure does fly!! I remember holding this baby in my arms not knowing what the future would old for us.

As she entered school I had an inkling that she was going to be just like me during her teen years…. LOL (Boy was I right and boy was  I nervous).  The lovely young lady to the left has kept me on my toes for the past 17 years and I am a much better Mother, Woman, Friend and Supporter because of it. 

Isreal Is in her Jr. year of  High School with her eyes set on getting a full paid academic scholarship into college.  She’s maintained a 3.4 or higher through the 9th, 10th and 11th grade and participates in many sport.  One of her favorite activities however is the church and praising the Lord for all that he has given to her. She is a youth usher, sings in the choir and dances in the church dance group.

Isreal is a Rock and Roll lover, a self proclaimed pacifist (following the principles of nonviolance).  Isreal Jean turned 17 today and she is on top of the world as I am too. What a lovely young lady the lord led her to be!!

It’s getting “hot like fire” (as Isaac says) and the one thing that I don’t like to do when it is steamy hot outside is slave over a stove preparing meals.

 Well leave it to my pal Carrie Lauth to come up with a fabulous post about Summer Cooking Tips.  As you know I love great idea’s that are both practical and fun and Carrie hit the nail on the head with her tips.   Be sure to visit her site to see just what I mean.

BTW while I was reading her post my 8yo son was looking over my shoulder as always  and when he saw a picture of one of Carries awesome idea’s he said “Ohhhhh, Mommy you have to make Me and Isreal some of those”.  LOL Thanks Carrie

Meal planning and bulk cooking are both wonderful techniques you can utilize and modify to fit your families needs. The idea behind this is simple. The principle is that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of time and then preserve them by either freezing or fridgerating them. Also, meal planning you can cook one large meal and get 2-3 other meals out of it! The key here is to make every meal you cook count! When you are going to prepare a family favorite, double, triple, even quadruple the recipe if it will keep in the freezer. Sound wonderful doesn’t it? Why not give yourself a much-needed break — cook ahead today so you can relax tomorrow!

The first step in meal planning is always the most challenging. To make it less challenging I suggest that you grab the following supplies: Pen, paper, your personal recipe collection or your favorite cookbook and a comfortable chair. Start by writing down a list of your favorite meals and plan on preparing a grocery list that will coincide with your list. Now, since we are talking bulk cooking here – if you normally would serve up one pot of spaghetti – plan to serve 2 (that would mean that you will have to double the recipe – so be sure to alter your shopping list accordingly) – It will take the same amount of time to cook – just a little extra planning is needed.
Next you can use a blank calendar and simply write the meals down on the day you will serve them. I personally post my meal plan up on my refrigerator for the entire house to see. This also helps to prompt me for the next day of meals that will be served.

The most important tool in meal planning and bulk cooking is your freezer. If you have a small freezer, don’t fret; you can fit many meals in that small freezer space – it will just call for a little more creativity on your part. With the use of freezer bags, that you can stack flat and the use of some freezer proof containers you will be surprised at how many meals your freezer can hold.

Here are a few essential and widely used meal planning techniques and tips:

Multi-recipes ~ Using this strategy requires you to cook many main course meals in one day. For instance, on a Sunday morning you could prepare a roast in your Crock pot, some spaghetti on top of the stove, a baked Chicken in the oven and perhaps a nice salad. You also could quarter and boil some potatoes, cook some rice and some veggies (either fresh or canned). What you now have is 5 different meals that you can use throughout the entire week. You can eat one of the meals that very evening and you could Freeze or refrigerate the rest. This technique works very well for some people and it provides a wide variety of dishes that you can use. I personally use this technique from time to time. I usually do my multi-recipe cooking on a Sunday and it can take up to 5 hrs to complete but what you are left with is 2 weeks worth of food that you can enjoy. And notice that the meals that I use in my Multi-recipe list are easy to prepare.

One Cook Wonder ~ With this strategy you would cook one main course recipe that can be used for different meals. For Instance, let’s say you just baked a large turkey. You could slice some of the turkey off and serve the breast with gravy, dice some of the turkey and prepare a turkey gumbo and use the rest for either a soup or turkey salad. Mind you, you do not have to prepare all of those meals on one day. After the Turkey has been cooked and cooled, you can freeze and refrigerate the turkey that you cut off the carcass and prepare your other Turkey related meals at a different time.

Quick and Easy meals ~ Be sure to incorporate those quick and easy meals into your planning process. If your family loves Sloppy Joes – cook up the sloppy joe meat in bulk and freeze it – then all you need to do is defrost the meat, grab some buns and viola. What about Hamburger Helper? Why not cook 2-3 boxes of it, separate it into 3 separate large containers and freeze them. That idea alone allows you to prepare 3 meals in just 30-minutes.

Designate a meal for a particular night ~ Every Friday night in my house is either Pizza or burger night. The idea here is to choose any night of the week and just designate a meal to go with that night. I always make sure that I have plenty of Frozen Pizza’s with a variety of toppings on hand in my freezer. The same goes for those

Turkey burger patties (my family doesn’t eat much ground beef). The idea behind this process is that you now have one night’s meal already planned. You can also stock up on that meal when the products are on sale. If you see Frozen pizza’s being sold in bulk, grab them up!Love your leftovers ~ This is one of my favorite parts of meal planning as it allows you to use your imagination. At least every other week or so be sure to go through your refrigerator and take inventory of what you have in there. When you combine 2-3 leftovers, you may find that you have a meal right there. You can use left over pasta from spaghetti to prepare a pasta salad, leftover spaghetti sauce and just a few pieces of chicken can be a wonderful dish to top with cheese and place in the oven. Again, with a little imagination – you can make your leftovers work for you!Use the sales paper ~ everyone loves a good sale and I use the sales paper to help me in my meal planning. When I see our Family favorites on sale – instead of buying one, I will purchase 3-4 of the same items and simply come home and prepare the meals or freeze the food that I purchased. My family and I love Chicken. When I spot whole chickens on sale I’ve been known to purchase up to 5-6 at a time. Keep in mind that I have a family of 6 and in my family of six; there are 3 teenagers (and you know how much they can consume). By shopping like this, I actually save hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year in food alone!

Helpful supplies

Labels/freezer bags/Freezer-proof containers: Be sure that you have all of your freezing and refrigerating needs on hand. When storing food in freezer safe containers be sure to place a label on the container with the name of the meal and the date the meal was prepared.

Crockpot: This handy appliance is my best friend in the kitchen. When using a crockpot you literally prepare the meal, place it in the crockpot, Set it & Forget it. It is a hands free cooking experience. I cook whole chickens in my crock pot and then slice the chicken up to freeze and use for sandwiches, enchilada’s, chicken salads, chicken soup, chicken stew.. as you can see – the possibilities are endless.

As you can see, meal planning is a money, sanity and time saver – what else could a busy mom ask for?

Now, let’s get Cookin’!  Stop on by of Real Life Solutions, a Family Resource site that is filled with free information.

Some women have the worst time trying to figure out what gift to give their husband for Father’s Day each year. Begin now to think about Father’s Day gift ideas for your husband, and you’ll be better prepared when the day arrives.

Before you head out to the store, take some time to listen to what your husband is saying. He may be leaving you subtle (or maybe not so subtle) hints about what he’d like to get as a gift. Has he been mentioning a particular piece of sports equipment? Maybe that would be the perfect gift for him.

Of course, not all men are sports enthusiasts. They may like watching a game every now and then, but they would perhaps rather be actually doing something. Pay attention to his hobbies. If he loves to work with wood, a new woodworking tool might be just the ticket. Don’t worry if you don’t know which tool to get him. Purchase a gift card to his favorite home improvement store. You can allow him to pick out the item that he’d like to have most.

Is your husband a hunter or a fisherman? Take him to the closest sporting goods store. He may be searching for the perfect lure or tackle. Allow him to pick out what he needs to fill his tackle box. By doing so, you may make his Father’s Day.

Does your husband enjoy reading? Check to see if he’s purchased a particular series of books or books about a certain topic. If there is a series he’s been reading, do some investigating and see if there’s a new book in the series that has recently been published. Take this opportunity to get that book so he doesn’t have to go looking for it.

Another possibility, if you have a gaming console, would be to purchase him the newest game that he’s been drooling over. To make the gift even better, take some time to play the game with him, even if it’s not something you’re interested in. He’ll love the fact that you would choose to spend that time doing something he enjoys.

Finally, you could take the initiative to get a babysitter for the children so you and he can go out on the town. Take him to his favorite restaurant and perhaps that new action movie he’s wanted to see. Sure, it may not be the movie you would choose, but you’ll have a good excuse to hold on tight during the scary parts.

After dinner and movie, remember that the most important thing is that you’ve taken the time to think about him, what he likes, and chosen to spend the time with him. That’s really what you need to think about when deciding upon Father’s Day gift ideas for your husband. What would he really like? Then take the time to fulfill that desire.

You won’t find any junk here!!

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The hawaiian airlines are popular because of the name hawaii, which sells their airline tickets more than that of spirit airline or even the northwest airlines. The indian airlines experience a similar case with northwest airline.

I was visiting a friends blog here and while reading it I learned that her son’s name means “Firery One”. Well, I’ve known this person (cyberly) for 9years and NEVER knew the meaning of her son’s name yet, the friend uses fireyone as a username on the online forums we post together one.

After finding out the meaning to her son’s name and reading how her son truly lives up to his “fiery” meaning I decided to post about the meanings of my 3 childrens name.

!st up is my oldest (20)
Shayna
Meaning: Beautiful
Gender: Female
Origin: Hebrew

She happens to be beautiful both inside and out!

Next we have: my 16yo
Isreal (she is a female) (here is the meaning for IsrAel)
Meaning: Prince Of God
Gender: Male
Origin: Hebrew

Well, she is truly of GOD! She has been involved in church her FULL life, sings in the choir, dances in the church dance troop, participates in the Youth Programs AND is an usher.  She spents aproximately 10hr a week in church!

Last but not least is my 8yo:
Isaac
Meaning: He Will Laugh
Gender: Male
Origin: Hebrew

WOW did they get this right. Isaac is my “jokester” he has a wonderful sense of humor, is usually the live of any party and is the best “cheerer-upper” that I know!

How fitting that all of my childrens have strong ties to the meanings of their names.

I used the tool here to quickly search the meanings of the names. I would love to see comments with the meanings of the names of yourself and/or your loved one.

Oh and before I go. I have a unique name Aurelia (pronounced Ah-real-lee-ya) and that is Latin for Golden

Also we are African American yet I was Brought up in a Jewish Household until the age of 13 and ALL of my children have Hebrew names.