Aaah, A Clean House (mostly)

I finally cleaned up in places that haven't been cleaned in a while and put things away that I've just been ignoring. I'm so lazy. No, I'm somewhat lazy and the rest of the reason for me not doing as much is because I'm 5 months pregnant trying to take care of an adventurous 10 1/2 month old. Luke has learned to crawl out of the front room. He'll follow me from room to room now. It's really cute except for when I am only leaving the room for a minute. Whats really funny is when he'll start following me and then stop because he sees something more interesting along the way. I love Luke! He is so great.

It's amazing how much more calm I feel now that most of my house is clean. I didn't even realize the clutter/mess was having an effect on me. My kitchen, dining, and living room all look great and I feel pretty great too! As for our bedroom and computer room .. well, those are another story. But the doors are shut and I'm too pooped to worry about them. It's sad that it took a reason like the play group coming over today to get me to clean. I should be cleaning a little each day so I don't have to do a ton whenever we have people over. I've just been so tired lately. I been taking a nap when Luke naps in the mornings and as soon as my head hits the pillow I'm asleep.

I bought a white-board to help me schedule my cleaning for each week. And to assign Jason some "chores" too so he can help out. The main thing he'll be responsible for is taking care of the lawn. I'd love to do it but the lawn mower usually wakes Luke and I don't know what to do with Luke outside if I were mowing the lawn or doing something else to take care of our yard.

It's still pretty warm here. We're told it won't be so humid for the next few days but it's not cooling down any. Bummer. Does it even cool down for winter in TX?

Jason just started a new phase in training. It's the Operations section. There's 3 parts to it. Operations A, B, and C. Each part is about 2 weeks long or so. For this first section he can bring his material home to study but for the remaining sessions everything is classified and he'll have to stay on base to study. He goes into a vault every day for class. Only certain people are allowed in there and they all have a special security clearance to enter. He said the vault has big huge black doors and it's completely sealed off from the rest of the building. He also told me that everything he learns in class that is classified cannot be spoken about for 75 years! Obviously thats only with people who don't have the security clearance, like me!

So, we've realized that we need to make a better budget. One of my main goals is to keep our grocery shopping costs down. I haven't been making menu's for dinners and that is my main problem. I tend to look in the fridge/freezer or cupboards and think "there's nothing here to make dinner with!" And I haven't been buying with meals in mind. So, here's another goal: to make a list of all the dinners we love and make a menu for one month. I know we have enough food I just need to utilize it. We even have a ton of food storage that we bought just before we moved out here that I can dig into! Oooh, I just remembered we have mashed potatoes in there, YUM! And as far as snacks go, we've got a pop-corn popper and plenty of kernels. Plus craxkers with cheese....another yum! I just need to use my noggin and plan better.

Something I want to ask anyone who's reading this: Do you buy Kirkland (Costco) brand bagged frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts? I noticed tonight that it says on the bag "No thawing required. Place right on the grill, stove-top or in the oven". I don't understand that. Why don't I need to thaw it? I tried it tonight (not thawing it) and it just seems to be taking longer to cook than the recipe said. Is that all? I'll just have to add an extra 30 minutes to my cooking time if I don't want to thaw the chicken?

Dinner is almost ready. Tonight I'm making something new, Swiss Chicken Supreme. Hope it's delicious!