New Year's Resolution - a few days early

I vow to write more blog posts in 2012. 

There are so many wonderful bloggers out there, it's hard for me to keep up! I don't always have a lot to say, but I do feel the need to document my life every now and again. So with that in mind, I plan to do one post a week (at least). Starting now.

January first 2012 is going to be a good year for me. I can feel it. I will make it a good year. There's a man who works at my local post office, and instead of saying "Have a good day!" after my transaction is complete, he always says, "Make it a good day!" - and for a long time, I just thought that was plain weird. However, I'm starting to see the truth in those words. I really have the ability to choose my destiny - I *can* make it a good day. And, I can also make it a good year....so I shall. 

I am starting off with a BANG! I'll be doing a one-day juice cleanse on Jan 1 and spending a full day dedicated to creating a one-year plan for myself, my family (ie, our budget) and my Etsy shop. As they say, I'll either go big or go home, in terms of my shop. So....that's my plan, and things will just go from there.

Remember, Soup Swap is coming up toward the end of January! We have a lot to look forward to...but in the meantime, I'm hanging out with my sister for the rest of this week, soaking up the winter rays in sunny California!

Until next time.

Long Time, No See!

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. Is anyone out there still checking in? Stat counter tells me that I get a few hit every week, so I know someone is reading. Or, at least looking to see if I've written anything.

I'm going to try and post something weekly. I've said that before, I know. It's important to me to keep blogging, but sometimes real life gets in the way - and in my case, it's a full time job that wakes me at 5:30am Monday thru Friday and doesn't get me home until close to 6pm in the evenings. Not much time leftover for thinking up blog posts when there's dinner to be made and laundry to wash (and family to be snuggled!). But, that being said...I'm going to give it a shot.

New things in my life are that the house selling plan is on hold for another year. Really, it's a good thing because it will give me/us time to declutter and organize for some real good staging. I want to sell this house, move to a location where I can have backyard chickens, and not live within the confines of a "community" of rules and regulations.

Another thing that's new is my Etsy shop. Yay! I love Etsy, and I'm sure everyone by now has heard of it and probably purchased something at least once. Due to my love of baking and cupcakes and cake decorating, and the fact that I'm not as artistic as I like to believe, I opened a shop to sell cake decorating and baking supplies "to help you bake a masterpiece". Fun, eh?? Yea, I'm enjoying it. Having an etsy shop doesn't make a lot of money, and it also doesn't take a lot of my time - so hopefully I can build it up a little, gradually, and have a little "fun money" from it. Want to see me shop? www.etsy.com/shop/simplyclaudine and if that doesn't work, go to etsy.com and type in my shop's name "SimplyClaudine".

And the last new thing that I can think of is that we're getting a KITTEN! More on that to come....

Thanks for hanging in there, and I'll try to be back soon. I made pickled green beans today - and pickled pickles and pickled peppers. So I'll need to tell you all about it.  :)

Get Ready...Soup Swap 2011!

The Fifth National Soup Swap Day is January 22, 2011.

Can you believe it's already here?? This will be my 4th annual swap, and I am very much looking forward to it...not only for the company of friends, but to stock my freezer with delicious homemade goodness. Check out my post from last January to read more about soup swap, and maybe plan an event of your own! Stay tuned for more information....

Shutterfly’s Holiday Card Promotion

Look at that cutie pie! The card above was the first holiday card we made as a family. You know how important that *first* card is - you want to show off the baby to everyone! So I tried a couple different card-making-websites and decided that Shutterfly had the best design at the best price. Since then, we've used Shutterfly for TONS of projects, like photo books, and also just for simply sharing photo albums and printing pictures.

I can't wait to get started on my 2010 cards! We usually go with a simple look, nothing religious, mostly just a wintery type of feel. I was thinking this year we may do a "happy new year" card and kinda shake things up a bit. My little sister got married this year and we have a boatload of great pictures of our daughter dressed up as a "flower maid", so we might use a photo from that event - or maybe her school picture (after we see whether or not it's acceptable to show off!).

Whatever photo you choose to make your cards, you know there will be a ton of options from Shutterfly for backgrounds and types of cards. Have fun with it!

If you want to browse around, here are a few links for Shutterfly:

holiday cards www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

new years cards www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/new-years-cards

canvas wall art (very cool!) www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art

And if you're a blogger like me....guess what?!?! You can try to earn 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. After all, good quality cards are certainly worth paying for...but getting some free is even better! If you blog, go sign up at www.http://bit.ly/sfly2010 and you can earn some too. So yea, I'm writing this post to try and earn some free cards...but I wouldn't be doing this for crappy free cards. I know that Shutterfly makes a great quality card, and I'll definately order more stuff while I'm there. I'm thinking photo canvas...

Happy Card Making!

Slacker

Yea, I'm a blog slacker. Life just gets in the way of my blogging ability. I think they days are getting shorter too.

But fear not....I'm going to start making a plan to submit a blog post every weekend. And I have a ton of stuff to tell you about, from my newest hobbies (crafting for the holidays, a small fabric addition I've recently developed, and attempting to make cake pops) to new products that I love and stories about things my hilarious daughter says.

So if you're still checking my blog, thank you! I haven't forgotten about it. I'm still here, surviving my new life as a working-out-of-the-home mom who's trying to "do it all"... with the help of a cleaning lady a few hours a month. (Lifesaver! That woman is a lifesaver. And I'm skipping my eyebrow/bikini waxes to afford it....worth every penny.)

Anyway, stick with me and check back early in the week for more fun stuff.

:)

Freezer Cooking Revisited

I got a full time job!!
ACK!

In preparation for returning to work full time, I'm trying to plan out how I'mn going to continue to do all the "at home" stuff that I currently do, like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. I'm certain I won't be able to do it *all*, but hopefully we can figure out a way for things to run relatively smoothly. And one of those things involves freezer cooking. I am pretty sure that is going to make a big difference between coming home and eating dinner vs coming home and having a panic attack because it's 6:30pm and there's no plan for dinner.

I love my husband, don't get me wrong...but left to his own devices, I suspect he and the child would end up eating cold cereal and soymilk for dinner every night.

So, freezer meals to the rescue! I've experimented a bit before with freezer cooking, really just doing a few big batches of chicken meals and ground beef meals, maybe 2 of each of 4 different kinds (8 or so meals at once). But the problem has been that once I make a few meals, I end up not liking them very much so they hang out in the freezer for several months. The key to avoiding waste, is to only make meals I know my family likes and will eat.

I'm currently making a list of said items and will then devise a way to bulk cook & freeze them for easy preparation on hectic weeknights. Voila! Freezer cooking returns. :)

For the sake of me not forgetting, here are a few ideas:
ground beef red chili
taco meat (tacos, burritos, taco soup)
meatloaf
sloppy joe pockets
fried rice with meat
perogies & red sauce
white chicken chili

Actually, now that I am thinking about the food we like, I realize that not only do we need the convenience of pre or half cooked meals (a la freezer cooking) but also just simply having a meal PLAN is important. Some of our favorites, like chef salad, can't be frozen...but knowing that I want to have that one week means I have to be prepared to have all the ingredients on-hand. So after doing a bulk cooking session, it's important to make a meal plan. I like to do mine in 2 week increments. Any further than that and my brain can't handle it.

Here I go!

40 is the new 30....really!?!

Today, I am 39.

This means I have one year to really get it together, because I am a far cry from the woman I was in 2001 - the year I turned 30. I mean, in some ways, (many ways) my life is SO much better now. I'm happily married and have a beautiful, smart, loving daughter, a nice house, a nice life really. But personally, physically and mentally, something doesn't seem quite right.

My weight is not where it was when I was 30. I *could* blame it on having a baby, but that's really just a lame excuse for not paying attention to myself. And I could also blame it on not having enough time to work out, but again, lame excuse.

So September 6, 2010 marks a new chapter in my life. A year-long adventure to be my personal best, whatever that means. I want to get my 30 year old body back...no, I want better than my 30 year old body! I want to be healthy, inside and out. Body and mind.

I can do it. Wanna join me on this journey?