I'm still alive :)

Wow! It’s been a while since I blogged. There just hasn’t been anything too interesting going on :). We bought a laptop this past Wednesday - after shopping around for a few days and doing research to make sure we were getting a good one. It has the new Windows Operating system (Vista) on it which is REALLY cool! I’m still getting use to how different it is. The laptop will double as my computer since mine has been acting up and we’re getting rid of it.

I’ve been spending a good amout of time going through all kinds of food and cooking magazines I had stored up. I was quickly going through and ripping out any recipes I want to try. Now I have a pile of recipes and need to sort through them and start planning a few meals. I have yet to even start going through all my cookbooks and picking out recipes I want to try – that will prolly be a while from now.

Ever since I started keeping a blog I’ve also been keeping up with other blogs (see the links on the right column of my blog homepage). The Girl Talk Blog – By Carolyn Mahaney and her 3 married daughters: Nicole, Kristin & Janelle – has been doing a mini-series on meal times, meal preparation, grocery shopping, etc. This series came in prefect timing for me since recently I’ve been thinking a lot and working on all these areas; trying to find some way to make full, more nutritious meals for Jon and I, even with our busy schedule. Last night while grocery shopping I used an idea another Girl Talk reader submitted: as I was going through the store I made a list – aisle by aisle - of everything I like to keep on hand and use regularly. Then I typed it all into a Word document in the same order I make my way through the grocery store. Here’s a link to see my new "grocery list" – it’s not completely fool-proof yet but it’s a start. I plan to print one of these every week and hang it on the fridge so when I run out of something I can just check it off. Then when I go to the grocery store I’ll have my complete list, in the order I shop. I’m hoping this will help me not forget things and also make my shopping trips much quicker.

Tonight and tomorrow afternoon Jon and I are babysitting our favorite little friends: Hailey, Justin and Sydney. It’ll be great now that we have a laptop, I can take it with me and get some things done while the kids are playing or taking naps. I’m hoping to create a weekly meal plan and a budget/bill paying system on Saturday - Jon has some things to do during the day so I’ll be alone with the kids for a good amount of time.

So anyway, other than that, nothing much has been going on.