Tote and Tee

I can’t believe we are starting the 4th week of school today! (yes, we start REALLY early here!)

As I said before, I am in love with doing all things “mom” and one of those things is being a Lunch Packer.  We do keep the school menu on the fridge and every morning I announce what they are serving.  They end up picking the cafeteria, maybe once a week (usually pizza day!) and the rest of the week, I pack.

I have done a variety of things including pasta, different sandwiches, yummy bagels and a fave…Lunchables!  When I got the email from Mom Central asking if I would review the new Oscar Mayer Lunchables Lunch Combinations, I jumped on it.  We are big fans of Lunchables.  It’s easy for me to pack which gets a big thumbs up. I could pack the SAME thing in a mom made version and get no comments but that yellow Lunchables box gets them so excited, they love Lunchables!

Most days I like to pack a little this and that and I usually save the Lunchables for a day when I am in a hurry.  Just grab it and go.  Previously, I would buy the smaller Lunchables and usually have to add a drink and one more food item to the mix.  But with the new Lunch Combinations, it’s ALL in one. Like seriously takes 10 seconds to pop it in the lunch bag! Love that!

I had my 10 year old try it out, she did a little squeal when she saw it because “that’s the one with the water and the drink packet”…I guess they were the talk of the lunch table before.

(fits perfectly in the lunch bag!)

We got the Ham & American Sub Sandwich Lunch Combination.  It comes with a whole grain bread, lean ham, Kraft 2%  American cheese, Sugar Free Jello-O, Chips Ahoy! cookies (yum!), a bottle of water and Tropical Punch Kool-Aid singles.

She loved her lunch and wants me to get more! Sounds like a success to me!

Super easy peasy lunch for mom to pack + Happy kid = A+ for Lunchables!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central on behalf of Oscar Mayer Lunchables and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

I started oh, about a month ago doing a weekly dinner meal plan and boy does it help! Basically, on Sunday morning I get my newspaper, cut my coupons and write down my dinners for the week.  I am a busy mom and I was really dreading the what’s for dinner question.  Some days it would be 3pm and I would think, oh crap…what am I making?  Not anymore!

With meal planning, I only have to think once a week! Aww, saved brain cells…bonus for sure! I look through my cupboards, freezer and fridge and decide what we are going to eat. Once I have the plan down I can look and see what we will need from the store.  I shop ONCE a week on Monday mornings and I am D-O-N-E! So easy!

This week, I am only giving myself $20 for grocery money because it’s just one of those weeks…so this is all basically pulled together from stuff we have in the house now.

Here is the plan:

Sunday night: 7 pound Turkey Breast in crock pot with mashed potatoes (REAL!), stuffing, gravy and green beans

Monday night:  Turkey Tettrazini frozen corn and pineapple

Tuesday night: (Back to school night)  Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wednesday night: Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie and salad

Thursday night: Chicken Teriyaki with stir fry veggies and rice

Friday night: Tacos, black beans and rice

Saturday and Sunday…not sure yet but I do know I will have this sweet girl for the weekend… (oh, and YES, that’s a new tee for the website! Woohoo…coming this week??)

I am really enjoying this mom gig.  I am such a sap but at least once a day I realize how lucky I am to have such a great family and best of all, I get to be home everyday and be with them. This is my dream job.  Planning meals, cutting coupons, grocery shopping, cooking, packing lunches, taking my girls to school, actually getting out of the car and walking them in…every single day, picking them up…every day, helping with homework, going to PTA meetings, being a Girl Scout leader..times 2, back to school night, crafting time, reading to them, tucking them in…I love every bit of it.  (of course everything isn’t perfect, we all get grouchy, I get naggy but I am a glass half full gal and I will keep it that way!)

I took pics yesterday of some of my new tees, Abby is showing one and April has on the new tween/teen version…but I will have to show a peek of that later;)

We are in LOVE with this new craft.  I found it while blog hopping and I instantly knew it would a hit around here.  Basically you print out this paper doll (or draw your own if you are handy like that) and lay out glue, markers, scissors, fabric scraps and/or scrapbook papers.  Now design your own doll!

The printout and directions were found here on Kiddling.

My BFF Heather is in town house hunting and I have the kids for the afternoon.  They have a wide range of likes and dislikes so I just threw together a lunch buffet…kid style.  Corn Dogs, PB & J triangles, Chicken Nuggets, Pizza Rolls, Chex Mix, Applesauce and String Cheese. Yum!

I did it! Finally got this sweet room of mine in order.  I really wanted to start with a clean slate so I took everything off every shelf and out of every drawer.  Took me a week and I am done!

Sit back and I will take you on the tour:)

The view as you walk in the room…

My trinket shelves above the couch… (which is a double recliner so feel free to stop by and take a load off while I sew!)

My sewing desk… (should have closed the blinds but the recycling can matches my room so it’s all good!)

My dad built the desk.  It’s huge! I love it and if there is ever an earthquake in Arizona I will totally dive under that thing! It’s huge and sturdy…pretty sure the whole family would fit!

All kinds of goodies here…

Looks like I need to straighten up the ribbon now that I am seeing it in the picture.  And of course, I have rolls of tulle in just about every (cute) color.  That big jar (that needs some kind of cute lid cover) is full of tiny scraps.  I try to use everything!

A peek at my “A” collection.  All gifted to me by dear friends and family, I love collecting them and cherish each one:) I am planning to go all the way around the room with them.

My ironing, prep, work table.

It’s taken a couple years but I think I have it set up perfectly for whipping those tees out quickly.

This is where I spend most of time.  My computer/office/scrapbooking zone.

A close up at my goodies.  Gotta have my huge jug of Crystal Light…even crocheted a massive coaster using fabric scraps.

(The coasters are my new thing…I do them in the pickup line at school.  I have to sit there for 20 minutes and there is no phone signal there..gasp!)

(did you notice the “MOM” that Abby made out of pipe cleaners??)

I am most pleased about this area.  The colors just delight me!

And this thing…it’s a BEAST! I got it from IKEA and it holds so much.  I keep all my fabrics by color in the drawers.

When I rearranged this time, I decided to make the whole lower shelf kid stuff.

And this is so fun…ribbons, rick rack, trims….eye candy for me:)

That’s it! Thanks for peeking:)

As most of you know, I took the summer off from Tote and Tee.  Enjoyed summer with my girls but guess what…they are back in school! I am ready to get back to business but before I do that I need my work room/studio/sewing room/office/tee shirt capitol of the world…whatever you want to call it ready for me.

I am a craft-a-holic and well, a shop-a-holic too…so this momma has LOTS of crafty stuff.  Before I get back to work, I decided to do a complete overhaul of my room to make it a great place to be and for things to be really organized so I can whip those tees out and get them to you super speedy.

So far today I have covered an old bulletin board with delightful fabric (and rick rack!) and then I decided that we need some more color in here! Off to Home Depot I went and came home with a little bit of Candy Apple Red, Aqua, Berry Pink and Apple Green.  Watch out world, I have spray paint!

I started with these baskets.  The one on the left was part of a delightful gift basket of Godiva that my sweet hubby sent me.  Nice basket but that dark brown just does not please me.  The little basket is just from the $1 section at Target.

Next, these sweet hanging buckets from Ikea.  I bought them a few years ago and while they seemed like a good idea, they ended up being dead space because I put stuff in there and never used it.  Basically they were a dust pit.  I am going to give them another chance…Amy them up and see what I think.

Here is everything painted…haven’t put them all away yet because I am waiting for the paint to dry.  All these colors delight me! I am a little scared about that red basket…need to find a spot for it but I am thinking glossy (that’s all they had) red might be a little much on a sweet little basket.

I plan to put labels on the front of the buckets using black vinyl and my Cricut. (love that Cricut!)

Things I  learned…

1. Arizona has the world record for quickest spray paint drying. (esp. when it’s 115)

2. Using an old shower curtain as a drop cloth isn’t the brightest idea.  That thing is water proof and even though it’s 115 degrees…it’s not drying! I think they call it drop “cloth” for a reason! Oh well, at least I recycled it before throwing it away, right?

A day in the life of Abby usually consists of something fancy, girly, pretty and stylish.

Yesterday she asked if we could go to the mall because it’s like the best place in the world for a girl to be.

(looks like I have a shopping buddy for life!)

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