Making affordable meals and a recipe you can use for the Superbowl.

Now, more than ever, finding a way to make meals affordable is important. Just last week I took 6 pounds of hamburger from the freezer. We purchased a beef and paid $2.29 per pound. Then with other supplies totalling just over $4, I made 2 meatloaves and 58 meatballs. In total there was approximately 20 servings made for the $18.00 including sauces for the meatballs. That makes it $.90/serving. Add some rice and a salad or veggies and you have a nice meal for over $1 per person. I will be honest and tell you that I make my own cream of mushroom soup that I used for one of the sauces and it saves us a lot.

The recipe that we use is like no other. I have tried meatloaf seasonings pre-made in the store and oh my, I can't stomach the stuff. This recipe, however, works for both meatballs and meatloaf and we can't get enough. These meatballs in the homemade BBQ sauce are excellent for Superbowl Sunday or a potluck. When they are finished cooking you can throw them in a crockpot to keep them warm and head out to the party or potluck. Thank you Aunt Cheryle. With her permission, here is the recupe for the meatballs and one of the sauces we use.

I double this recipe and make meatloaf with it as well:

3lb lean hamburger 12oz. evaporated milk
1 cup oatmeal 1 cup smashed crackers
2 eggs 1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp garlic 1 tsp salt
2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Make into golf size balls (our kids are great at this). We freeze them on freezer paper and then package them up with our foodsaver.

When you take the meatballs out, place them in pan. Cook in oven heated to 350 degrees with sauce for 30 minutes if thawed, 45-60 minutes if frozen. The cooking times are close to the same if you make meatloaves out of it.

BBQ Sauce
2 cups ketchup 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup finely chopped onion

Stir all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.

Enjoy!

Corralling the chaos. Aka cleaning the kid's rooms.

Naive people that we are, Steve and I decided that we would try something to get a handle on the rooms that our children live in. On Saturday we had them bring everything from their rooms down to the living and dining rooms. I mean everything. Toys, belongings, clothing and bedding. There were only bedframes and mattresses left in each room. They were each given a blanket to put their own things on and it was not a pretty sight. There was not an inch of clear floor space . Our point was that we wanted the kids to see what all of their items looked like in one place. It makes it much easier to part with things once you see how much space they take up. Els was very accurate when sitting amidst her mountain of possessions she said, "This is just embarrassing."

We have a boys room and a girls room. We do have one extra bedroom and someday it may get occupied but for now this works well.

We are all very pleased with the results. The girls each have a large basket that slides under the beds for things they do not want on their shelf on the bookshelf. They also each get one bin on the bottom of the bookshelf for things they use often.

Steve added a shorter closet rod in the girls closet so now each girl has a section. There are less clothes in the dressers and we actually were able to take one out of their room. They each have a treasure box that sits on the top shelf in the closet and these boxes are reserved for very special items that they do not need access to daily. Here they keep special letters and momentos.

I am still working on the walls but this feels very clean and managable. There you can see two of the baskets under Lil's bed. Man, that view looks bare. Isn't it nice?

This is the sitting/reading/dressing area in their room. Each girl has a place to hang her robe. We would like to add a rug and a few throw pillows here so they can read or play here. (Steve also painted this wall with a nice toasted wheat color to cover an unfortunate marker incident.)

The two boys have a smaller L-shape room. They really like how it layed out now also. Bub has a place for his trophies and football memorabilia and you can see their laundry basket. Their bedding was still in the dryer at press time.

We moved in a bookshelf my dad made and purchased some bins. Lij has bins now for his animals, blocks and cars. There is space for their own books and instruments. Bub also likes having a safe spot for his boom box.

Most of the clothing is hung in the boys room also. They each have a storage box for the floor of the closet for toys and belongings as well as their treasure boxes on the top shelf of their closet. They share the one dresser for underclothes and pajamas and there is a lower shelf in the closet for shoes. Under the bed the garbage and fire trucks roll in nicely and Bub has a basket under there for storage as well. He even said this afternoon, "Well, our hardwork paid off." I would agree. The whole house feels lighter.

Unfortunately, during the great clean sweep, our washer gave out. We are under warranty but the repair man can't come until Wednesday. So now we are heading out to Nana's to wash clothes and have dinner. Now that their rooms are so nice I do not want to lose ground. Can you blame me?

The tightrope of life.

The balancing act of being parent is no small task. Now I know there are some pretty tough jobs out there. Air traffic controller I am not, but that doesn't diminish the responsibilities that are required of a parent, male or female. For me, an important piece to my balancing act is giving my brain time to rest.

After busy mornings schooling, we recently had to change the way we do quiet time around here. We have five children and 1pm - 3pm has always been our downtime. However, in the last few years we have gone from 5 children 6 and under to 5 children between the ages of 4 and 10. That really changes things as several of them have graduated from naps.

This last week we had a family meeting of sorts. Some of the older ones have a habit of entering the napping territory and forgetting their consideration somewhere along the way. Also, this time has become a time of "Mom, can I's" leaving me feeling like an activity director all day long.

We sat the older three children down and told them that we realize that they are no longer nappers but that does not mean that quiet time is not needed. We explained to them that while they are not responsible for the way mommy feels and behaves, they can have a significant impact either way. I shared for a bit about my personal choice to stay home with them and that our time is very valuable and short with them. I wanted to stress that is important for them to learn how to entertain themselves for periods of time and how healthy that is. It was really important to me to make sure that the kids understand that this is not "me time" which can have a self centered focus. This is a time for all of us to recharge, practicing consideration for others as well as the pursuit of individual interests.

So this is now how quiet time works in our home. Everyday at 1pm the two youngest are read a story and sent to bed. During the story time the older three are to get any activities they would like to work on. They may not go upstairs to get anything after the youngers are resting. They will read on their own for 30 minutes and then they have 90 minutes of free time. 30 minutes of that may be spent on media such as the Wii, a TV show or computer time.

I have really been enjoying our quiet times lately. You will often times find me sitting on the couch reading a book, working in the kitchen, getting to some projects or resting. At the same time the older kids are working on things that aren't very friendly to younger kids such as big lego projects or painting projects. It's very nice and I am feeling not as weary when 3pm comes like I used to.

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by BOCA.”

Necessary Evils.

We went back to the eye specialist for a check-up. The outcome was that while she has made progress with her lazy eye, they believe that it is now as good as it will get. The next step is to patch her and see how that goes. 7 days a week for 2 hours each day she gets wear this cute and hip patch. She isn't a big fan but she knows that it's going ot help her eye. If we know anything about this girl, it's that if she can see the logic in something then she is on board. She wears it everyday after nap/rest time and it seems to be working out really well. She is rested but not trying to school while wearing it. We have also been getting a little math in very sneakily too. For the first few days she was asking about every 30 minutes how much longer she has. She now knows that each day she a pie with 4 parts. When she asks we tell her how many parts she has done and how many there are to go. Isn't that a great way to expose her to fractions?

We also have the option of skipping the patch and give her blurring eye drops for her good eye 2 days per week. We haven't tried that yet. We are going to do the patch for a couple weeks and then try the drops. We told her she can try each and then decide which one is easier for her to handle.

I am really proud of the way she is handling it. She has been a trooper through it all.

Lifting my spirits.

I have been feeling a little blue lately. I think I have a bit of cabin fever. We usually take a trip during the Christmas season even if it's only for a few days. This year we decided to stay home and work on projects as we are planning a larger trip this summer. It seems that my body and mental state are used to taking that trip. It felt really good to get the things accomplished that we did but it seems that I gain a lot of perspective when we go away for a few days.

Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day though cold. Really cold. But after our naps Steve went outside and decided that it would be a great evening to burn a pile of things that we have been waiting to burn in the firepit. We all bundled up and headed out.

Doesn't that look inviting? It really was. We were in and out making dinner and different kids got to spend one on one time with Dad by the fire. It was toasty by the fire but quite a bit less toasty a few feet away. But it didn't matter. It was just nice to get outside and enjoy some time together.

Of course, no first outside fire of the year would be complete without roasting marshmellows. We broke out a bag and everyone had a couple before retreating to the warm house. We had fun and my spirits were lifted.

Feeling a little down today.

Nothing tragic is going on but just having a down morning. I didn't have a great start to my morning and then things sort of progressivly went down hill. I thought maybe a picture from the last college football game we went to would cheer me up. So here it is.

It was a fantastic game and I had a really great time with the kids and Steve. The picture brings back the memories instantly. This was the sky just as the game was ending. I had to snap a picture. Only 8 more months until next season!

(I realize that football isn't everything, it's just a really fun way our family spends time together.)

A husband who rocks and a winner!

Wintertime is always time for indoor projects for us and this winter is not exception. Steve had the week off after Christmas and he set to work. He painted the family room and the downstairs laundry/bathroom.

Then to ice the cake he built me a folding counter. We have yet to pick a surface for the top but it is getting lots of use already.

He also put in a closet rod so I can hang up certain items as soon as they come out of the dryer. Beautiful. Just beautiful. This counter is saving mine and the kids' backs while we fold and everything stays in neat little piles until they are put away.

He also put an in the wall ironing board for me which made me smile for days. No more taking the rickety ironing board out. Plus it has a spot with metal sides that holds the hot iron when we are done so it can be put away right away. Amazing. Really it doesn't take a lot to make me happy. Organization makes me a little giddy and this project didn't let me down. I would post a picture but the front is currently off being stained to match our trim.

But on to more important business. There is the issue of a winner of the giveaway celebrating one year of this blog. We placed all of the entries into a fancy cereal bowl and pulled out a winner. Musicmommy you are it! Email me at samaddox at yahoo dot com with your address and I will send your prize to you. Congratulations!