mamas-bloggin

Peace

mamalotsoftots — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:48:59 +0000

It’s something I struggle with defining. What is peace? What do I want peace to be? Because the two differ greatly I think. I was happily Pinterest-ing (as mamalotsoftots) when I stumbled upon this beautiful quote:

Source: imgfave.com via Jenny on Pinterest

beautiful isn’t it? That’s what ‘peace’ really is. It’s not in what’s happening around you, whether the tots volumes have risen to dangerously high decibles again or every person in the house has a question or needs to tell mama something. It’s being in the midst of that and feeling calm inside you.

Positively mindful

mamalotsoftots — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:50:39 +0000

First off I’d like to say

thank you<\h3>!!! To mr. Fantastic for helping me get things set up so I can blog from my phone. It’s so helpful! I can post at lunch, or break. No more waiting tip I get home & completely forget what I wanted to blog about. <\p>

on my mind this afternoon though, is this quote I seen on some “positivity” page.

<\P>
It’s something I’ve been struggling with for the past few years. I want to be positive but when life knocks me down, I have a hard time getting back up. I want to just close up into my shell & let the world trample me over. Trying to remember to not let it sink into my mindset. To keep thinking positively and grateful.

Via mobile

mamalotsoftots — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:27:48 +0000

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but there is a new mobile version of this blog. go check it out if ya like

No I’m not lucky, I’m blessed

mamalotsoftots — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:14:47 +0000

Every so often something comes along in your life that knocks your socks off and you know you’ll never be the same.

then other times small mundane seeming situations hit you. Mundane meaning not overly significant, not life changing. They come to remind you what joy really is. When life is swallowing you up whole, something small, lovely happens.

today I had a whole morning of that. I came downstairs this morning from getting ready for work and my daughter The Pea was making my lunch for me.

I was so thrilled! I didn’t tell her I’d already had lunch ready in the fridge. I’d rather eat hers. Then she told me she’d written me a note on my napkin (something mr. Fantastic does frequently)

I look over to see The Princess, she’s making breakfast.

I start to feel all warm and fuzzy. They know mamas had a rough couple of weeks & they’re doing what they can to help out. We turn on Kids Bop on pandora & dance around working together to get our day started on a positive note.<\p>

later after the older tots have left, it’s just Tank and I. Cha cha slide comes on. I’m doing dishes before leaving for work and he’s been quiet for awhile, so I turn around to see him dancing. I grinned so big!! He stopped and looked embarrassed, I said “Don’t stop!” and I did the dance with him. It was a great start to our day. And a not so big things that happened, but they are the everyday simple joys that keep us going, I think. I know that I’m thankful for them — and honestly, they mean more to me than the big stuff anyways. So yeah, I *am* lucky!! But even more than lucky, I consider myself blessed. So whatever this life throws my way, we’re going to be complete & well no matter what comes at us!!

Speed

mamalotsoftots — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:36:55 +0000

I love that my tots love this card game as much as I do!

speed with our pinkie cards

menu plan monday

mamalotsoftots — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:20:50 +0000

menu plan done early!

homesteading?

mamalotsoftots — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:03:21 +0000

Last night Mr. Fantastic and I didn’t even turn on the XBox. No pirates! We love to play that game but we had more intriguing stuff on our minds. He’d picked up this amazing book from the library called “Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century“This is an incredibly interesting book. We spent the entire evening looking at it. “Ahha!-ing” over the authors ingenuity.

The rising cost of meat & my love of making things from ‘scratch’ are leading us to thinking “what if we had a small farm?” Now there are many MANY steps to take before this ever occurs (namely we might need to own some property!) But it’s awesome to think together what would be most helpful and how many of this? Where would the garden go? Can we keep ducks? What would be their purpose? How will we have time for all of this? The answer, of course, is in baby steps. Starting small, making sure we’d be able to handle. it. I don’t know, maybe it’s crazy! But what about the cost of living these days i s n ‘ t crazy? Really?

amazing garden!

Can I milk a goat or cow? I know how, but do I want to? I’d love to keep bees, but I’m terrified of them. How about nixing the electric bill with a wind turbine?

wind power

All good questions. Nice to think & dream about. And plan for. Have a great day everyone!

Menu plans & grocery shopping

mamalotsoftots — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:28:40 +0000

On The List

2 flours
1 cheese stick
2 rolled oats
1 coffee
1 creamer
1applesauce
2 packs pork chops
1 large pack hamburger
1 32 oz yogurt
2 Rotel
2 whipped cream cheese
1 cottage cheese
2 juices
1 milk
2 jumbo flake biscuits
2 whole grain spaghettis
2 cans evap milk
1 minced garlic
1 honey
1 cinnamon bagel
1 whole grain mini bagels
1 tortilla chips bag
2 english muffins
2 cheddar cheese bags
2 boxes soft pretzels
2 boxes triscuits (store brand)
2 dozen eggs
2 cheese dippers
2 packs bacon
2 packs tortillas
1 velveeta
2 tubs pretzel rods (1 reg 1 whole wheat)

All for $107!!

Today was about restocking the pantry snack wise & some staples (along with a couple ‘guilty pleasures’). The past few trips have been all about the necessities. So what’s on the menu this week, you ask? Who cares about the grocery list?! Okay. Okay, already. This week is going to revolve around using up some of those frozen assets in the freezer.

On The Menu

So you see, I’m going to feed this family of SIX from my grocery budget of $100 this week! Woo! Soon, I’ll have the February menu done and it’s going to look very different from my normal menu’s!

The new menu will include: Breakfast, Lunch/Snack, and Dinner. Not just dinner. Cracking down on sugar intake & finding out it’s not REALLY that much harder to make stuff from ‘scratch’ as it is to buy the pre-mades. It’s made life much cheaper and healthier! We know what’s going into our waffles & pancakes. As well as brownies & cake mixes. Very handy. Indeed!

If you have an Aldi grocery store around. It does pay to check it out. They’re prices have risen since they first joined us here (but who’s prices HAVEN’T). Staples still can’t be beat price wise! And they have your basic meats that are also very economical. Not rock bottom ‘cheap’ but cheaper than almost all other retailers.

Take some time to plan, it will save you so much more time in the future. So many decisions lifted off the worn out woman when “what’s to eat?” isn’t one of them!

Arghh

mamalotsoftots — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:40:47 +0000

It’s time for the Thursday night pirate wars with mr fantastic!! Happy Thursday!

Wednesday

mamalotsoftots — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:38:43 +0000

Wednesday. Smack dab in the middle of everything. Today, seeming so overrun with movement, and voices, and things that bring tension, I thought it’d be nice to just have a post where you just see