A Lot Can Change in 2 1/2 Years, Huh?

I always have good intentions when I start something like this.  And then I get three posts in and stop!!  Last time I wrote, I was the mom to a 1 1/2-year-old toddler who was just walking and barely saying a few words! And she was bald as a cue ball. We were renting our home and barely rubbing two pennies together.

As I pick this back up, my little girl is is going to be 4 in a month and a half, she's got hair down to the middle of her back, she'll talk your ear off 24 hours a day if I let her, and not only is she walking, she's running, jumping and dancing in her dance class every Monday and tearing it up at Preschool.  She's smart, funny, beautiful and talented - all rolled into one.  Extremely proud mama, here.

While we may have those two pennies to rub together now...it's not much more than two.  Haha.  But we do now own our own home.  We moved a half an hour away from where we were, added to our commutes, a lot of work needs to be done to our house - but it's ours, we love it.  It's home.  I'm so happy. Finally...that temporary-ness (is that a word? lol) is over.  Moving from place to place - over. Permanence.  It feels so good.

I have a host of things I want to improve in our lives...hoping to lay it out here for some accountability, honestly.

First, we REALLY need to save money.  We have hopes of starting our own business here soon.  It's an expediting business, so all it is to begin with is a down payment on a vehicle.  But it can't take everything we have to do it, you feel me? :)  But I tell ya, this summer right after we bought our house?  I spent money like we were rich or something.  No idea what happened, but I went through a phase of ridiculous money spending and haven't saved a dime all summer.

Steps to doing this?  Budge, budget, budget.  I need to put together a budget and actually stick to it.  I have a real problem doing this.  I NEVER have been able to stick to a budget!!

Next improvement? Well, let's put it this way.  I can't blame this 70 extra pounds I'm carrying around on my kid anymore! haha!  I keep trying to get back on a plan to do this successfully and I keep failing, giving up.  I mean, I know how to do it.  I've previously lost 100lbs before! It's just getting back to it. Ugh.

I want to get back to having hobbies, interests, friends etc. I've been so wrapped up in myself that I've let so much go.  Time to get back to me!!

So here I am, I'm back.  I want to do this.  Post whatever, whenever.  Post one word.  Just do it.  I'm gonna start here! Hi all!!

If you're still reading this after that long rambling of the mind, thank you.  And please leave me a note to say Hi!! :)

Oh, and here's me and the girl.

I love my slow cooker.

So, today I stayed home from work with my fevering 1-year-old.  After all day of her crying and getting medicated and watching her every move...my guess at what's wrong?  Poor thing is doing some massive teething.  It's kickin' her butt.  Talk about stressful, and I'm totally exhausted.  So did I feel like making an elaborate, time-consuming dinner?  H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks No!
  
But I'm not one to pull a box out of the freezer and throw in the oven and wa-la! Dinner!  Nope.  Nor am I one to pick up the phone and .... knock-knock-knock Jimmy Johns!  Okay, SOMETIMES I am.
Anyhoo, I knew tonight was going to be a lazy kind of night.  So that means....Crock Pot!
About 7:30 this morning I threw a frozen pork loin roast in the slow cooker, poured some chicken broth and some seasoning in with it, turned it on low and forgot about it.

Later, about 5:30, I boiled a couple cups of water (threw in some seasonings) and added some white rice and let that simmer for 20 minutes.  While the rice was cookin', I chopped up some lettuce, cucumbers, green onion and turkey pepperoni and tossed it all together for a side salad. 

Slow Cooked pork loin, garlic butter rice and salad (lettuce, cucumber, green onion, strawberries, blue cheese and sunflower seeds with Ken's Lite Pomegranate Vinaigrette)

Super easy, super quick, super yummy!

Have eaten pork this way since I was little...with applesauce!  YUM!

Tip Today: Homemade Body Wash!!

So I've been actively trying to fit some different things into my schedule...more than laundry, kid and work.  :)  I recently jumped on the Pinterest wagon, and I. Love. It.  I am not creative enough to come up with much on my own, so what a great place to find ideas!


Here's something I did yesterday that I found on Pinterest.  We use body wash in this house; lots of it.  At nearly 7 bucks a pop, it can get expensive!  So when I came across the pin on how to make your own body wash - and saw how easy it was - I said "Whaaaaaat? I MUST try!"


All you need is 3 Dove bath bars, 6 cups of water, a grater or food processor, a stock pot and a little time.


Grate the bars of soap.  I started to use my grater...said to myself "oh my GAWD, forget this.  This will take WAY too long!"  (Have I mentioned that I am EXTREMELY impatient?)  So out of the cupboard came my food processor and I had 3 bars of grated Dove soap in a matter of a minute or two.

What the girl was doing during the body-wash makin'.

Place the soap and 6 cups of water into the stock pot and turn to medium heat.  Allow to heat until all of the soap is dissolved.  Once it is dissolved, allow to cool for several hours.  It will thicken as it cools.  By the following morning, the soap/water mixture was perfect consistency!

My kitchen smelled awesome!

I put mine in a conditioner bottle with a pump top and the rest in a jar to be used later.  I got about 3 times the body wash I normally get for the same price.  Score!

An old conditioner bottle and an old pickle jar.  I can improvise.  :)

**It doesn't get as lathering bubbly as most washes, so that is something to get used to.  But it DOES make you feel clean and fresh as a body wash should.


 One Good Thing by Jillee from Pinterest

Well, Hi There.

Hi!  First blog post here.  I've started blogs before only to stop writing in them almost immediately.  But the problem was, they were always themed.  Cooking Healthy, Cooking Quick, Living Frugally, etc etc...Sometimes I just don't stick to things, you know?  I'm an Aries, I like to start things.  Just not finish them.  :)


So, why am I starting another one, you may ask?  This one will have no theme.  No rhyme or reason.  I'm gonna post whatever I feel like posting, whenever I feel like posting.  Sound good?  Does to me.  :)


Well, the child is screaming in her crib.  So it looks like I'm not finishing this post.  Ha!  See what I mean?


To be continued...as always...  ;)