Fall Craft Week and Fall Recipe Week Coming Soon

When fall comes around, I get the urge to start crafting and breaking out the cool-weather recipes. There are so many fun and educational crafts to do for autumn. The flavors of fall call to me as well -- spices, apples, pumpkin, cranberries and more wrapped up in hot, comfort-food dishes to delight the senses. This love for the season has inspired me to introduce something fun on the blog over the next month: Fall Craft Week and Fall Recipe Week!

For each special week, from Monday through Friday, a new post is going up on the blog. It'll either be a new craft or recipe from me, or a round up from other blogs of crafts or recipes that I find interesting. All around the theme of fall, of course!

Join me here on The SAH Life Craft Week starting next Monday. The week is set to run October 5 through 9, starting off with an educational, fun decoration M2 and I made recently. I've got three other new crafts to share with you that week along with round ups of kid-friendly and mom-only crafts to get your fall creativity flowing.

Later in the month, drop by for Recipe Week running October 19 through 23. I'll start off that week with a few delicious fall breakfast recipes. Another day is going to be entrees, another desserts, one of round ups from other bloggers and one that's still being planned. A whole bunch of deliciousness to inspire your fall cooking and baking! If you're a blogger who would like to be included in the round up, fill out the submission form here.

Before and after these special weeks I have a whole host of other great posts planned for you, starting off with an autism-related post Wednesday and including the next installment of "The Fat Kid" Tells All series. If you don't already, like the blog Facebook page and follow me on Twitter to keep up-to-date with what's new on the blog and to get reminders about Fall Craft Week and Fall Recipe Week! While you're at it, follow me on Pinterest as well so you can save all the new crafts and recipes to your own boards.

As a side note, please be sure to click on the Top Mommy Blogs banner below. It helps others to find the blog and keeps me ranking in the top 10. I so appreciate your support! Remember to vote each time you read a post!

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"The Fat Kid" Tells All: The College Years (Part 3 in a Series)

This is the third installment in my "The Fat Kid" Tells All series. Be sure to catch up with Part 1: The Formative Years and Part 2: The Teen Years.

I started college at a school a few hours from home. Close enough to go home on the weekends if I wanted while still being far enough away to be on my own. Like many first-year college students, I took way too much advantage of the buffet available at the dining hall. Unlike many, I really couldn't afford to with my weight. Every meal, there was a smorgasbord of main dishes, sides and, of course, desserts to choose from. An ice cream machine and an endless soda fountain of flavors topped off the choices available to hungry students. Unwisely, I indulged in it all. I enjoyed being able to have dessert daily, something I didn't get at home, and subsisted on way too much soda than any human should.

In my dorm room I kept a stash of snacks for in between those way-too-large meals. Microwave popcorn, mac and cheese, chips, more soda, junk and more junk along with some cans of tuna and mayo to make tuna salad. Some days meals I skipped going to the dining hall and just ate the junk in my room.

Obviously, these were far from healthy or waist-line-watching meal choices that I was making. There were healthy options in the dining hall, of course, and there was no need to take advantage of everything offered. I did anyway. Many meals I ate alone because I didn't want anyone to see how much I was actually eating. Around other people, I'd eat less then retreat to my room to partake in the stash there.

I arranged my class schedule to do the least amount of walking possible. One of my biggest fears was not being able to fit in desks in the classes. Some of them were the older style, made when people were smaller in general, especially their girth. I dreaded walking into a classroom and seeing those old-style wooden chairs with the desk arm. They were always a tight fight. Sitting in them was beyond uncomfortable. I always felt like everyone was starring at me when I was crammed in one. Even newer desks were under suspect as to whether or not they'd fit my rotund, plentiful bum. Admittedly, no matter how much weight I lose, my bum is always going to be big proportionally. The same goes for my arms. It was that way even when I'd lost all the weight (that I gained back) in high school. I won the genetic lottery on those two.

My depression kicked in full-force so many days I didn't even go to class. Instead I holed up in my room on the computer and ate. My main focus was getting good grades so I spent much of my time reading textbooks and doing assignments, even though I was skipping class. The college counselors knew I was struggling to get through the depression so had set up an arrangement with my teachers where I was allowed to miss classes without it counting against me, as long as I still did the work.

I've always had a problem with emotional eating. Trying to eat away sadness, depression, stress, worry and celebrating happy times was my norm. I even hid in my room from the few friends I had made, letting the depression and my lack of self-esteem rule my life. My best friend from high school attended a college a few hours away. I'd go out to see him as often as possible and talked to him on the phone often. He understood me better than anyone. When the depression was worst, he would help me through it.


During one of these many visits, I smashed up my knee during a pillow fight. I tripped, slammed it into the metal underside of a bed, landing unceremoniously on it in an OMG-a-leg-should-never-go-that-way angle. My leg and foot didn't face forward when I was standing again for years. I looked like I was doing a permanent half ballet move or something. The doctors said there wasn't much they could do as surgery could actually make my type of injury worse. PT and years of pain it was. I still have problems with that knee, and now the other that spent years compensating for it, today.

I joined a campus religions group as well the second semester of my freshman year. That helped me to feel more connected and to make a few friends. I have great memories from trips the group took. One of the friends helped me through the low times of my depression as she battled those demons as well. Still, I wasn't happy at that college and the major I wanted to pursue (after going through 5 previous ones in one year) wasn't offered.

I decided to transfer to a new school, 5 hours from home, for junior year. Not all my credits would transfer so I started in the summer to stay on track. By this time, I'd packed on 20-plus pounds and realized what I was doing by eating so much. I made two good friends during that summer semester. I focused on losing some of the weight along with doing well in my classes. My goal was to get at least one 4.0 (all A's, the highest I could get) during my college career. The end of that summer semester, I got my first 4.0 and had ditched 10 pounds.

Ten pounds that I quickly gained again the fall semester when the two friends I'd made left school, my classes got hard and I got depressed again. This school offered Burger King as part of their meal plan. I'm loathe to admit how many times I ate there over the years I was at that school.

Continued to focus on my grades, getting 4.0's over and over. I still stayed holed up in my room often, afraid to talk to people and make friends. I worried that because of my weight, and due to my personality, they just wouldn't like me. So I didn't try. Who would want to be friends with me? Fat, ugly and horrible me. I wore clothes that weren't too tight, usually baggy, to try to hide my body. I was self conscious about everything I did, said, ate or wore.

Oddly, when it came to doing well in my classes, I had tons of self confidence.I just had none when it came to thinking the other students, or anyone, would like me. My weight always had me thinking people were starring at me. If I caught they're attention, they'd make rude comments for sure, I thought. So I hid and tried to stay under the radar, except for my grades. One of the upsides of junior year came with my knee. One day while walking, I heard a giant crack and had immense pain. I was afraid to take another step on it. When I did, I discovered that it'd actually cracked back into place. Well, as in place as it can ever been given the damage that's in there.

My senior year I had my own efficiency apartment so cooked for myself rather than having a meal plan. I didn't really use the meal plan anyway as I was too lazy to walk to the dining hall across campus. The microwavable food and unhealthy stuff in my room was my diet. With my own kitchen, I started cooking healthier meals. The portion control still wasn't great, nor was the amount of soda, sweets and chips I ate. But I think it did help me from packing on even more weight at least. I knew it wasn't good and longed to lose weight, yet did nothing about it. I was eating my feelings and avoiding much exercise because of my knee. I could have at least eaten well to try to lose though, knee or not, or done low-impact exercises that wouldn't have aggravated it.

I graduated magna cum laude, summa cum laude in my major, with a degree in journalism with a focus in public relations and concentration in English. Graduation was another time where I feared it due to my weight. The gowns, so large on everyone else, barely fit me. I worried that it would split while I was sitting down or standing up. I spent the few hours like an uncomfortable sausage in the hot gym where the ceremony took place. The scaled told me that I weighed in heavier than ever.. My sites were set on a job using my writing, editing and graphic design skills in Washington, D.C.

Coming up next: "The Fat Kid" Tells All: Work and Marriage





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"The Fat Kid" Tells All: The Teen Years (Part 2 in a Series)

This is the second part of my "The Fat Kid" Tells All series, the story of  my struggle with being over weight since childhood and my battle to lose that weight. The first part is The Formative Years and the third is The College Years. Since the last post, I'm happy to report that I've lost another 6lbs., bringing me to 100lbs. to lose to reach my goal weight.

By high school, the depression had gotten worse. Much worse. On the upside, by the spring semester of freshman year I decided it was time to take control of my weight. No longer did I want to not be able to wear the cute clothes other kids were wearing, feel like a sore thumb, be picked last in gym, not be able to even do much in gym or be embarrassed during swim class. I wasn't being bullied about my weight at school, but I didn't have many friends either. I blamed it all on my weight and thought losing it would help. Or, at least help my self esteem.
I lost every pound that I needed to and got down to a weight that was healthy for my body type. How I did it wasn't the best way, to say the least. I starved myself for about 6 months. Calories were restricted to 200 to 500 a day, tops. A bagel would sometimes be all I ate in a day. Plain, of course. Flavors had more evil calories. Perhaps just an apple. Exercise occupied much of my time. I still recall friends trying to force me to eat. Why would I want to eat, though? Why should I? Why did I need to? I was fat. I shouldn't be eating ANYTHING. All of that ran through my mind.

In my head, I was fat so didn't need to eat anything, eating would just make me fatter. Even what little I did eat was too much and embarrassing to admit to. My parents at this point didn't have much of an idea of what was going on. To this day, I don't know if they ever figured it out. When you're in high school, it's easier to claim that you ate things you didn't while at school and just aren't hungry at dinner time. Food sent to school with you can be easily dumped in a trash can or left in a locker. The teen years are past the point where parents have direct control of what their kids are eating.

Not eating isn't something I'd ever suggest anyone do. I'm lucky that once I got down to where I wanted to be, I was able to stop starving myself and that the weight didn't just come right back after I started eating normally (actual normal, not my previous "eating too much" normal). I'm never going to be a super skinny person, I don't have the bone structure or genetics for it. My weight was good for me and my body type. I did feel better about myself and loved having a better selection of clothes. I could even shop in the junior section! That made me feel ecstatic. For once, when I walked into a room I didn't feel like everyone was starring at me. Judging me and my weight.

Then the battle with depression took center stage. That's a whole other story in itself that I may address another time. For the purposes of this story, all you need to know is I started medication. This lovely medication, after a period of time, caused me to start gaining back the weight. Plus more. Even slipping back to the horrible habit that helped me lose the weight didn't help. The weight just kept coming. The doctors didn't see any issue with this. I'll never understand why the doctors didn't think that packing on weight wouldn't be bad for me, for both health and mental reasons. Any self-esteem I'd built up was dashed as the numbers on the scale climbed higher and the meds didn't even do what they were supposed to so I got even more depressed. I stopped trying to keep the weight off because I figured it was a lost cause anyway. Eventually, I got my parents and the doctor to agree to let me stop taking that medication. The damage was already done, though. When I stood on the scale, a number higher than I'd ever seen before starred me straight in the face.

In a short six months, I was at a weight higher than I'd ever been before and was even more depressed. Since I was depressed and figured I'd never be able to get the weight off again, I just ate more and gained more. That was not the way to go as in gaining more, I just got more depressed.

Being that large meant that my favorite thing, being in the marching and concert band, became interesting in the uniform department. During my weight loss, being in band worked in my favor as it meant extra exercise marching during practice on the field and during Friday night football games. Not so after I gained it all, and then some, back. Uniforms always fit me a bit tight. I worried that there wouldn't be one that would fit me at all. Having to tell the uniform people my size embarrassed me greatly. How I managed to do long parades while wearing a black wool uniform and swinging around a sousaphone, I will never know. I even jumped off high planters while wearing said sousaphone.

A year and a half at the end of high school, junior year and the first half of senior, I spent home schooling myself. My depression was so bad, going to school just wasn't an option. I packed on even more weight. Senior year I had the fun of getting a hernia repair surgery as well. The surgery made moving around difficult for months. Not that I was doing too much about my weight at this time anyway. I felt horrible about how much I weighed, but wasn't doing anything to fix it, surgery or not. By the time graduation rolled around, I was firmly in the morbidly obese range.

Coming up next: "The Fat Kid" Tells All: The College Years

 




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"The Fat Kid" Tells All: The Formative Years (Part 1 in a Series)

My weight isn't often something I talk about openly. Post-baby, I've been working really hard to lose all the baby weight and continue to lose beyond that. My goal, as of today, is to lose another 106 pounds. I want to get rid of this excess weight for so many reasons. To be healthier. To hopefully live longer. To be more comfortable, in my body and with myself. To set a good example for my kids. To be able to physically do more. To fit into clothes easier...especially ones that aren't in the women's section of the store (as, let's face it, they're often ugly, unflattering, and cost more). To save money on food because I won't be eating as much. To save money on clothes because, like I said, stuff in the women's section is far from cheap and forget finding good stuff in a thrift store above a size XL in my area.

I could simply post about my weight loss and healthy eating journey. But, instead, I'd like to start with how I got to this point. I want to be open and honest. To share what I've gone through as I've never talked about my struggle with being over weight. It's been a long one, too, dating back to first grade I'd say. Maybe even kindergarten. I'm starting this series not to make excuses for myself, or to garner sympathy, but to share with you what I've gone through. Nothing more. Nothing less.

My weight isn't something of which I'm proud. In fact, I'm quite ashamed and embarrassed by it. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying over weight people should be ashamed or embarrassed. They shouldn't. That's just how I personally feel, about myself only.) To be this open isn't something I find easy to do. Letting people read this is even harder. And thus begins my series, The "Fat Kid" Tells All.

Telling you exactly where my weight issues come from is hard. I can't recall ever having been skinny as a child. To me, I've always been fat. I'm sure as a really little kid, I probably wasn't.

I can't remember my mom ever trying to teach me good eating habits, portion control, or about eating healthy. We were the typical 1980s family. Meat, potatoes, and some veggies were put on my plate each night, with more to come if I wanted it. Milk, soda, juice, and Kool-Aid were staple drinks, with milk at dinner to build good bones. McDonald's and other fast food existed as a staple in our diets. (My mom doesn't remember this, but my sister does.) Holidays and rewards revolved around food. If you're sad? Eat. Happy? Eat. Pissed off? Pull out the ice cream. Little Debbie, Lays, Coke, Pepsi, Fruit Roll-Ups, Kool-Aid, and Pop-Tarts crammed into the upper shelves of our pantry.

My mom would yell at my sister and me not to eat it, but as kids, we just wanted the good stuff. When the doctor would say my weight would even out if I just didn't gain any more, I had no idea how to not gain. At 5, 6, 7 years old, kids just don't know how to eat healthy and maintain their weight on their own. My mom would tell me to just stop eating. That didn't really help the situation as I had no concept of what to actually do about my weight. Just not eating isn't a solution, what should I eat? How much? I wasn't buying the food or making the meals. I had no clue. Kids rely on their parents to help them and control what they eat when they're young.

By the time I was 10, the doctor told me I was just plain fat and that I had to lose. I didn't have the help, support, or knowledge at that age to be able to, so my weight just crept up more and more. Trips to the store for clothes became a nightmare. Never the fun stories of mom and daughter finding cute things to wear. Nope. Total nightmares. I got yelled at for being fat, told I had an odd shape, that I had to lose weight or no one would ever love me, laughed at, and shamed for having to go into the misses section when I wasn't even old enough to hit the junior's department. The cost of the clothes was brought up, too, as misses clothes cost more than the ones in the kids' section. I still have echoes of my mother saying, "You're so fat, if you keep gaining, we won't even be able to find anything that will fit you. You'll have to wear a tent."

One memory stands out vivid in my mind: Going to the department store to find a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding. Sounds like it'd be fun, right? Mother-daughter shopping time to pick out an outfit for a fun occasion. We were even going to be taking a trip as the wedding was far away. Yeah, no. It sucked. I can still see the misses' department with all the round racks of clothes, the odd-colored carpet, bright dressing rooms with a mirror right in front of you, hiding nothing. Hours of being told how horrible I was as I stood in front of that mirror in yet another dress that didn't fit or didn't look right. Going back out to dig through the racks to find yet another dress, or a bigger size, to try. My mother ranting the whole time, telling me how fat I was. How ugly. How nothing fit me or looked right. That I had the oddest shape she'd ever seen. How was it even possible to be shaped like I was? That my mom was so thin when she was my age. My grandmother never let her get fat and would barely even let her eat anything. My grandmother would never have put up with a kid being that fat. How could I be so fat, I needed to control it. Finally, we found an acceptable dress. Only, it wasn't. It was black and white. I was told, over and over, that black wasn't appropriate for a wedding, it was for a funeral, and that white was rude to wear as only the bride wears white. But, nothing else fit, so that was the best we could do. Oh, well! Hopefully, no one would notice and be upset.

Well, I noticed. I was upset. I felt horrible that I wasn't wearing something appropriate and was being inconsiderate to my cousin. I didn't want to be in any pictures. I felt like everyone was starring at me. The fat, inappropriate, horrible kid. I'm sure they weren't. After all, it wasn't about me. People were there to see my cousin get married, not to eye me up and down to see how much I weighed and judge whether or not my dress was up to par. I was 8 or 9 years old at the time, though. So to me, they were.

I think my mom had her own issues with weight that were put on her by her own mother. It was a cycle. Her mother had her weigh herself constantly and made her stay at a rather low weight. Food was very restricted for her growing up. Perhaps she never learned good eating habits herself and just went from one extreme to the other with food.

Always the fat kid, I had a hard time making friends. By middle school, we'd moved to a state far away from where I'd been born, where I knew no one. I was firmly in the obese category. When you're amongst kids who have known each other for years, and are the undesirable fat kids, friends are even fewer. I didn't talk much because I didn't have the self esteem to. I figured anything I said, people would hate me. Who would ever like me? That's when the bullying about my weight started as well. No one wanted to pick me in gym class, they'd call me fat and say they didn't want me on their team. They'd argue over who would be stuck with me. Even the gym teacher would make comments. Some of the kids liked to tell me I was as big as a vending machine. They'd sit there and jab at me, pretending there were buttons on my arms or legs. Demanding that their sodas, candy, and chips to come out, saying I'd stolen their money. Teachers ignored it. I sure as heck never told my parents, I was too embarrassed. Back then, bullying wasn't something people stood up against or recognized as being an issue. I had two semi-friends who I later found out weren't friends at all, one just put up with me because her mom made her.

We moved again for my last year of middle school, once again cross country. At my new school, I wasn't bullied as much about my weight, but still had trouble making friends. I threw myself into getting good grades. Getting the highest grades and being the top of my class was my goal. To be honest, I was (and still am) a bit of a geek, immersing myself in history, writing, and music. I read tons of books about anything and everything. The library was my safe haven. The stacks allowed me to hide and just disappear for hours.

Since I was so fat, I always felt like I didn't belong and wasn't as worthy as the other kids. Why would anyone want to be friends with me? I still didn't talk much. Honestly, had no idea what to say to kids so they would like me and not hate me or just ignore me. I can't say all of that is due to weight, though. A good part of that came from the depression I battled.

My weight didn't cause the depression, but it sure didn't help. When you already feel like worthless crap, unwanted, like life isn't worth living, and are the odd kid because of your mental illness, being one of if not the fattest kid just makes you stand out even more and feel even crappier.

Coming up next: "The Fat Kid" Tells All: The Teen Years

Note: I am by no means saying or meaning to infer that I have a horrible mother. She had her own issues and struggles to deal with, including the food and body image issues put on her by her own mother. The 80s were also a different time when it came to food. My mom has also changed since the time period I talked about here -- more on that is in a future post. 
 

All photos except series graphic and picture of me are credited to freedigitalphotos.net.




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What's for Dinner (and a Printable)

Here is a printable weekly dinner menu to help your planning. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

I am loving our new range. I look forward to testing it out with baking this week for St. Patrick's Day. Even more exciting, I am trying out a new product to help me do that baking. Next week a review (my first blog video) goes up along with a giveaway of the product (also our first).

Monday

Baked herb chicken thighs with carrots and green beans

Tuesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 
Corned beef with parsley buttered potatoes, white corn, and cupcakes

Wednesday

Green salad topped with leftover chicken, shredded, and French bread

Thursday

Soup and grilled cheese with green salad

Friday

Baked spiced tilapia with baked potato and corn

Saturday

Slow cooker pork roast with jasmine rice and mixed veggies

Sunday
Fettuccine Alfredo mixed with broccoli and cauliflower

What's for Dinner (and a Printable)

Here is a printable weekly dinner menu to help your planning. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

I am loving our new range. I look forward to testing it out with baking this week for St. Patrick's Day. Even more exciting, I am trying out a new product to help me do that baking. Next week a review (my first blog video) goes up along with a giveaway of the product (also our first).

Monday

Baked herb chicken thighs with carrots and green beans

Tuesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 
Corned beef with parsley buttered potatoes, white corn, and cupcakes

Wednesday

Green salad topped with leftover chicken, shredded, and French bread

Thursday

Soup and grilled cheese with green salad

Friday

Baked spiced tilapia with baked potato and corn

Saturday

Slow cooker pork roast with jasmine rice and mixed veggies

Sunday
Fettuccine Alfredo mixed with broccoli and cauliflower

What's for Dinner? and Printable

New this week is a printable weekly dinner menu. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. All you need to do is put in the dates at the top, fill in your main courses and sides for each day. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning.

Monday

Bean burritos with cheese, green salad, and jasmine rice

Tuesday

Beef roast with mixed veggies, corn bread, and garlic butter red potatoes

Wednesday

Baked Old Spice Tilapia with brown rice, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots

Thursday

Spaghetti with meat sauce (using leftover beef roast) and green salad

Friday

Italian pork chops with baked potato and corn

Saturday

Leftovers

Sunday
Roast chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and stuffing

Southwestern Taco Salad

Quick, easy relatively light dinners are an important staple of summer. When we were visiting A's dad a few weeks ago, he introduced us to taco salad. We liked it and decided to make it at home. The problem was, I didn't have the right type of beans and didn't feel like going back out to get them. There were also ears of corn in the fridge that needed to be used up. What's a stay-at-home-mom to do? Why, tweak the recipe and turn it into Southwestern taco salad, of course!

The finished dish.

Ingredients
Tortilla chips
French dressing
1 lb. ground beef (I used 93% lean)
1 can black beans, drained

Cooking up the yum.

2 ears of corn or 1 cup of frozen corn
Shredded cheddar cheese
Lettuce

Directions
1. Brown ground beef in medium skillet.
2. When ground beef is almost finished, add the can of beans (drained) and corn. Stir together well. Heat until all is cooked. If the corn is frozen, heat it to room temperature in the microwave before adding.
3. Arrange chips on plate. Pour meat mixture overtop. Add however much cheese and lettuce you'd like then drizzle French Dressing over it all.

If you don't like the dressing (like me), you can leave it off. A's dad's version uses kidney beans and no corn. It's just as tasty.

So tasty. Even M2 loves it.

This is what M2 was doing while Mama put this post together.

Southwestern Taco Salad

Quick, easy relatively light dinners are an important staple of summer. When we were visiting A's dad a few weeks ago, he introduced us to taco salad. We liked it and decided to make it at home. The problem was, I didn't have the right type of beans and didn't feel like going back out to get them. There were also ears of corn in the fridge that needed to be used up. What's a stay-at-home-mom to do? Why, tweak the recipe and turn it into Southwestern taco salad, of course!

The finished dish.

Ingredients
Tortilla chips
French dressing
1 lb. ground beef (I used 93% lean)
1 can black beans, drained

Cooking up the yum.

2 ears of corn or 1 cup of frozen corn
Shredded cheddar cheese
Lettuce

Directions
1. Brown ground beef in medium skillet.
2. When ground beef is almost finished, add the can of beans (drained) and corn. Stir together well. Heat until all is cooked. If the corn is frozen, heat it to room temperature in the microwave before adding.
3. Arrange chips on plate. Pour meat mixture overtop. Add however much cheese and lettuce you'd like then drizzle French Dressing over it all.

If you don't like the dressing (like me), you can leave it off. A's dad's version uses kidney beans and no corn. It's just as tasty.

So tasty. Even M2 loves it.

This is what M2 was doing while Mama put this post together.

Easy Money Saving Tips: Summer Activity Edition

This article is part of a series. You can read the others here, here, here, and here.

With Memorial Day coming up on Monday, we're getting closer and closer to the summer season. It's that time of year when families are looking for fun activities that won't break the bank. So what is an fun-family-activity-planning, money-saving SAHM to do? Here are some free or cheap things I take advantage of whenever I can.

1. Free outdoor events and movies. Many counties, towns and organizations hold fun, free events. Do a search online for your area, call the government center and/or check out pamphlets at the library. We've found kids' festivals, craft festivals, heritage days, battle reenactments, concerts and movies in the park (or pool), parades and more. For a few dollars, you can check out school concerts and other productions. Some movie theaters even offer a free (or very cheap) showing of older children's movies on certain days. Many of these events aren't just fun and free, but educational too.
2. Parks. Most of us have parks in our area that we just never think to use when we're looking for something fun and free to do. By us, we have ones with huge playgrounds, pools, walking trails, lakes, tennis courts, disc golf courses, ball fields and picnic areas. Check out the ones near you and find one you like. There are also a number of national parks around. At various times during the year, they offer free admission. Our favorite is Shenandoah National Park, which, along with some free days, offers a season pass for $20. Since it's $10 to get in as long as we go twice, we at least break even. The views are amazing. Pack a lunch in a cooler, grab the whole family and head out for a day of fun in the sun. Some parks even offer grills so you can bring along hamburgers and hotdogs to cook up and then have s'mores for dessert. (Don't forget the sunscreen and plenty of water!) 
3. Museums. Many museums have at least one day a month where they don't charge admission. Some are even free year-round, like the Smithsonians in Washington, D.C. We have a children's museum that does free first Friday evenings and we're close enough to do day trips into D.C. Museums sometimes also offer free special events so keep an eye out.
4. Local pools. Last summer, we moved to an area that has tons of community pools around. While not free, for a few bucks we can spend a day relaxing in the pool and then hit the park for a dinner picnic.
5. Libraries. I love, love, love our local library. In our county, you can not only get a card for the county system but for three other nearby county systems as well. Each offers different children's programs for various ages, all for free. The one I go to with M2 most often does a sing-along and story time then play time with lots of toys for her age group. The bit older kids have a story, songs and then crafts. Special guests, like a live turkey around Thanksgiving, also make appearances. There's even a Lego club for older kids and a number of book clubs. And, of course, there are tons of books you can borrow along with kid-friendly movies. Borrow a movie, build a blanket/pillow fort, pop some popcorn and spend a rainy day relaxing.  Or, set up some boxes decorated to look like cars (craft project!) add the popcorn and you've got a drive in theater.

The Benefits of Weekly Meal Planning (and a Printable)

Each Saturday or Sunday, I write out our menu for the upcoming week. This handy printable helps. I find that it makes life so much easier. Having a predetermined meal plan has a number of benefits.

1. It reminds you to defrost meat ahead of time so that you don't have to use the microwave. This is healthier and saves on electricity (ok, not every much, but it does!)
2. When you have something planned and/or defrosting in the fridge, you're less tempted to eat out.
3. You're not scrambling last minute trying to decide what to cook, madly digging about in the freezer and fridge wondering what you can throw together before the kid(s) and husband start begging for food.
4. No more, "What's for dinner?" "I don't know, what do you want?" "I don't know, what do we have?" "Stuff, but I don't know what to cook." "Well, what do you want?" "I don't know, what do you want?" in an endless cycle that lasts so long you end up eating late or, worse, eating out.
5. You know what you'll be cooking so you'll know when to start dinner.
6. It gives you an excuse to go through the freezer, fridge and pantry each week so you can use up items about to expire and see what items you're low on.
7. You'll be able to plan portions so there are lunch leftovers. When the hubby has a packed lunch for work, there's no need to spend money eating out. It's healthier, too.
8. It allows you to go through your recipes, pick something new to try or cycle in something you haven't made in awhile.
9. When produce is on sale, you can build it into your meal plan for the upcoming week. That way, it doesn't accidentally get forgotten about in the fridge and go bad.
10. You'll save on trips to the grocery store because you'll know all the ingredients you'll need ahead of time and can plan that into your usual shop.
11. You can balance out the whole week's meals nutritionally.

Remember, even with a plan, it doesn't mean you have to cook what's on the menu; you can swap days or work in something unexpected. Planning is meant to help, not hinder. There are many times that I'll decide to make something else with the defrosted meat or find we have so many leftovers we can have those one night instead. 

To help you with your own meal plan and give you some dinner ideas, I post my weekly plan each Sunday in the Cooking with M: What's for Dinner series. If there is something specific on the menu that you'd like a recipe for, leave a comment and I'll share it. Don't forget the printable for easy menu tracking!