Ash of All Trades

Today is a day to say goodbye to 2010!  The girls and I spent the day cleaning up the remaining Christmas decor and preparing for a new year.  To say that I am happy for 2010 to be over is an understatement.  This year brought with it: - My Baby turned 1! -Very long and scary hospital stay for my dad. - My First born turned 3! - 7 close deaths; six of which were to cancer and four of which occurred after Halloween. - Several new babies were born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -My sister started college in Arizona (UofA) - Justin went to Pennsylvania for the first time. - Justin & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! - We went on our 1st trip without the girls! And much much more.  This year was a mixed year some happy happy times and some very frightening times yet I can't say that it was a BAD year - if anything it was a year of growth and strength and most importantly BLESSINGS! As we close this year I feel completely blessed to live the life I live and to have the opportu

One thing I have found with lunches is that if we plan what to eat we end up with leftovers if I don't plan then we scramble (sometimes eggs)!  What I usually do now is have some go to ideas.  When I make pasta for dinner one night I make plenty of extra for a lunch or two for me and the girls!  I also make a batch of hardboiled eggs for egg salad or to eat plain.  Having beans one night make extra and keep them in the fridge they make great burritos, tacos, or go in salads etc.  Thinking ahead saves me time later - I can do the opposite to - if we want pasta for lunch but need it for dinner make extra.  Chopping things for lunch/dinner chop extra for another day!  This makes things go smoother and keeps me from cooking three meals from scratch each day.  Just a handy tip I have realized makes my life sooooo much easier.

Greetings all and I hope you had a wonderfully Merry Christmas!  We enjoyed ourselves over here with lots of decorating and traditions plus family visits and more.  Here is a bit of a recap from the last few months!  Above is our gingerbread house the girls so lovingly helped me decorate.  Chloee was in heaven organizing pieces and carefully placing them on while Caylee munched away 3 candies in her mouth per one on the house.  Mommy had to personalize it was a C for my girls! Decorating the tree was a big hit for both of the girls.  Chloee was so excited since she remembered last year and since she got her annual Hallmark Ornament to hang.  We kind of went crazy this year (okay okay we do this every year) and bought the biggest tree we could find - let's just say the girls now have a 12 inch stump to sit on not including the other 12 inches we cut off.  Tall and broad that is how we like our Christmas trees. December also brought with it the ripening (mostly) of our pumpkin

Since I just posted my October menu and will be posting my November menu in a few days I figured giving some of my meal planning tips might be a good idea!  First things first - start small (unless you are up for a challenge!).  When we first started meal planning we did it weekly and planned 2 or 3 nights; as we got the hang of planning ahead we added nights here and there until now we just sit down monthly.  Oh what a relief! Meal Planning Tips: Start with recipes you like and know how to cook, use these to simplify the start up. Plan new or difficult recipes on nights you have time to experiment. Make a list during the month of meals you would like to have or are inspired to try by the time next month comes around you will have a great head start. Similarly you can try to make a list of 20 meals (or 10 for you and 10 for your spouse) then just place them on a calendar and voila meal plan! Make planning the remained of the meals fun pull out cookbooks and magazines (if you h

Alright folks here is my October meal plan!  I know I know it is almost November but better late than never right? (and to be honest I made it way back in September I just have been fiddling with the layout of this new blog since then!) So some tricks of the trade - once a month the hubby and I sit down and meal plan for the entire month.  We put together a list of what is in out stockpile, pull out all of our cookbooks (we have a ton) and decide what sounds good!  Usually by the end of any given month we have received recipes from friends, magazines or the internet and thus have somewhat of a headstart.  We are developing an art to our meal planning which will come in another post! The point is we make it fun it is a date night of sorts.  If you are single do it with your roommate or your kids or your dog just make it fun!  Second tip - it doesn't always go according to plan.  My type A personality is still learning this but its okay if meal friends call and invite you over

Welcome to my new blog - Ash of All Trades.  This is a quick summary of what you can expect to read and experience in the upcoming days, weeks, months and hopefully years!  I love blogs, I love reading them, following them, writing them, designing them - you name it I love it!  My goal in life is to always be striving to be the best person I can for any given period of life.  Right now I want to be the best wife, mother, daughter and sister to my husband, daughters, parents, siblings and friends for where they are in their life now.  What my toddlers need right now is not what they will need in five years (probably not even what they will need in the next year or two)!  I want to do as much as I feel called to do without feeling like my head is spinning around in la-la land.  So one goal of this blog is to try and help others discover who they want to be and what they want to do for today but also for tomorrow.  We have to plan ahead my friends or the future will pounce!  (Is this