MMM Simple and good lunch

I tried something new about 9 years ago and now I am a fan. There are many different ways you can make this but I like the simplest version because there is little time, effort and waste.

One of my largest pet peeves is recipes that require only a small amount of something but the stores only sell in in larger amounts so you have to store it or toss it.

So anyway, this is a turkey, lettuce and cream cheese wrap.

I use strawberry cream cheese for a fruity flavor but you could use plain or a different flavored cream cheese.

Another variation is during the holidays to use plain cream cheese and cranberry sauce. Thinly sliced from the can or use whole cranberry sauce.

Simply spread the desired amount of cream cheese on tortillas

Add your lettuce. I prefer green leaf lettuce but you could use iceberg or romaine



Then add turkey. the more you add, then less it will roll and it'll be more of a taco



Roll it

This is what it looks like on the inside. I like mine smooshed a little

Its yummy yummy yummy

Oh and did i mention, my kids like it too. Less lettuce for my son, but they like the strawberry flavor with it.

Driving 101

I was driving to the store today and pulled out onto the main road and although it was not a drastic move or one of those Mario Andretti type maneuvers to get in front of someone, I had a little flashback in time to when I was learning how to drive.
(Somewhere in the distance I hear the laughter of my parents)

So a few moments from my past popped into my mind, and of course I feel it is my duty to share it with you. (Insert wavy lines and flashbacky music here)

Moment 1-
I was in Driver's Ed class in High School and it was my day to go out driving the Driver's Ed car. You know the cool bad ass 4 door blue sedan that was most likely a Plymouth or Pontiac, with a brake pedal on the passenger side for the teacher to use "just in case".
So I'm doing good, staying in my lane, using my mirrors correctly, kept getting told to watch my speed, I even got kudos for changing lanes and not hitting any of those "turtles". Then we come to a stop and I am waiting for an opening to turn right and I see it. So I gun it and all of a sudden the car stops after an inch and I look at the teacher and he's holding down the brake. I said what I still say to this day, "I totally coulda made that." And while the 2 other students in the back are laughing, my teacher said "yeah I don't think so."

Moment 2-
Riding around with my mom all those years in the passenger seat and hearing her yell "ARSEHOLE" to the other drivers. Those few moments when she would have to break suddenly and her arm flies out in front of me. You know, the "mombelt". The arm they think will save you from flying out of your buckled seat belt through the windshield to your horrific demise. I always asked "Why do you do that?" She always said she couldn't help it and I'd understand when I had kids. I always the smart ass would reply with "Um if we get into an accident I'd much more prefer you kept both hands on the wheel duh"

Moving forward a few years, I am moved away from home and living with my fiance (hee hee such a funny word) and I am driving to work when all of a sudden the jackhole in front of me decides to stop suddenly. Thus causing me to stop suddenly and the purse in my passenger seat flies forward slamming into the dash with such force I actually check for dents later. Then it drops to the floor only after it flips upside down and pours everything out onto the floor as well. And I'm thinking "Dang that mom arm would come in handy hahahaha"

Moment 3-
I am a mom of 2 now. My kids are buckled safely in their carseats in the seat behind me. Latch system in place. Those pups are moving if Hercules himself yanks on them. We are driving down the road when all of a sudden the ARSEHOLE in front of me decides he needs to stop right then and there. So I brake and my right arm flies out to the side of me as if I were holding someone back. Even though there was nothing in the passenger seat, it happened and I understood. The mom arm. I has it now ;)

Paint Chips REALLY!

Ok so I have to address this new rage of crafting using these paint sample cards from the home improvement sections.

You know the ones I mean.

The garlands made from punching shapes from the cards,

and the pictures and chandeliers made from them as well. 

I have a big issue with this because it is just more waste.

I can understand if you have a couple of these paint chips left over from trying to decide what shade of pink to paint a room or perhaps you want to convince your husband to repaint the boudoir so you bring home 3 or 4 choices to show him. But going to the store and snatching up like 50 cards just so you can make some craft is beyond me. I feel bad taking 5 let alone grabbing the whole dang pile.

Isn't it bad enough the over growing waste and the so few trees we have left that people are purposefully making it so we have to cut down more trees to produce more paint chips.

I dunno, perhaps it's just me pms'ing so I'm feeling more earth friendly or something, but I just had to vent. I am normally the first to encourage new methods for crafting or upcycling, but I just don't get this one. Sorry if you don't agree, you don't have to. Feel free to blog about it ;)

(This one I like)

Kids artwork (A.K.A precious gold)

So in lieu of a comment, or perhaps more of a cry for help, from Lielanie, I have decided to share my ingenious method to my madness. And by madness, I mean that ever growing and over flowing pile of precious artwork that our kids give us.
I know we know how to deal with certain pieces of art like Christmas paintings, or those first scribbles that they make when they first learn how to hold a crayon. I'm talking about those 5 pictures of our family that your darling daughter just mass produced at the kitchen table in 5 minutes, however she feels each one is special, different, and worth holding onto forever. Or the 100th coloring page this week (and its only Tuesday) that your son has brought home from Kindergarten because he colored it especially for you.

O.k. moms (and dads?) here's just what I do. I would never say one method works for everyone. It all depends on how your child is and how your child understands. And a little bit on how well you can sell it. ;)

I keep a little bin on top of my refrigerator and when the kids give me something "less than special" we talk about for a little bit. Things like how I like their use of color, what's this little smudge over here?. what made them think of drawing it, etc. Questions to get a feel of how special they feel it is.

♥ This one my daughter wrote about why she loves me ♥

 The special at the moment pictures, or seasonal pictures get magneted to the door or fridge until it is time for it to move to the bin. (When the next masterpiece is to be displayed)

♥ My son drew me in a very colorful outfit. And with blue hair I might add ♥

♥ I love these large plastic paperclip magnets from the dollar store because
they are clear so I don't cover up any of the art ♥

Then when I have ascertained that it isn't a Mona Lisa-esque portrait, I tell them "I'm going to put it in the art bin so I can put it in a book later so when you are older we can look at it and see how much better you've gotten over the years." Hook line and sinker. Then I place it in the bin and out of sight, out of mind. 

☺ Out of sight, out of mind ☺

Here's the genius and hard part. Come Sunday night after I put the kids to bed, I go through the bin and figure out which ones to "unload" and which ones I really will keep for a binder for them to look at later. Then, because recycle bin pickup on Monday morning, I gently place the unnecessary works into the recycle bin and cart the bin to the curb. It gets picked up in the morning before they even go to the bus. All is well in the world.

New Year's Resolution

I had been thinking about this for a few days now. It is not something I actually take lightly. I never resolve to lose weight because I am not feeling ready to give up the good yummy foods I enjoy eating. Plus It's not that I eat a lot, it's just that I only eat about once a day and I don't eat the healthiest foods. Plus I'd have to give up my regular MT Dew and there isn't a force on earth that could make me want to do that.

So I think logically about what I need to do or achieve, and I think about if these things are attainable goals. Therefore my resolution for 2012 is to re-organize. It was going to be simple and small scale however I woke up this morning with an overwhelming urge to purge.

I want to have more space for my creating. See how I use the term creating instead of crafting. That is because I want to get back into building. I'm tired of not being able to have certain things because I cannot find them, afford them, or because these cruddy walls cannot hold them. So I will build or make what I need. I love using power tools and hammers and nails. It fills a void in me.

I have downloaded a wonderful organizing tool from My Simpler Life that I plan to also use in my re-structuring process. It is a monthly calender with different projects to do each day. Although I am planning a complete overhaul, I feel it will help me stay on track, and hopefully motivated. I love calendars and planners and having my to do's in front of me.

Link for the de-clutter calendar here: http://www.mysimplerlife.com/decluttercalendar.htm

This picture here shows something I had done when Kameron was a baby because I was definitely in need of organizing back then. This was a simple way for me to get my shopping done in one trip so I didn't have to lug around a baby all the time to and from the store for things I forgot. I simply went to each "station" in my house (i.e. fridge, cupboards, bathroom, etc) and wrote down what we have on a normally daily/weekly basis.



P.S. I see I spelled breakfast as breekfast



Then I categorized them into sections. For example health and beauty, beverages, meats, baby needs, etc. )I also went onto Safeway's online shopping link and used their shopping lists that are broken into sections for reference/suggestions)

It may seem like a long drawn out process, but really it only took about an hour. Then however pretty you want to make it is up to you based on how long you want to take to do that.

I don't know why this one is highlighted, but what I would do before I went grocery shopping is I would open this list and go down looking to see if I needed to get more or if I had enough to last for at least another week or until I planned to go shop again.

I probably got this idea from my work where we used this kind of lists for ordering our inventory. You have to have an idea of how much you use in the first place to know if you will have enough to carry you for a week or 2. But we are pretty good at that right ladies.

But that is how I created my shopping lists and we pretty much always had what we needed. Other things like flour and special seasonings were written down as we ran out of them, or purchased if I knew I was going to be making a particular meal that week and only had the product for the meal and not everyday. Like kale for my Olive Garden soup, or chicken bullion for my friend chicken.

I am super excited to have found this list last night because I had been thinking about making it again since I've fallen off the organized wagon along time ago. Let's face it when your idea of staying organized is to keep everything piled up on your printer until you need to use it, then you need help!

I look forward to sharing my progress with you. What are your New Year's Resolutions you are looking forward to working on?