Raffle Mania

Happily J's school Raffle is almost upon us! (36 hours and counting...literally!) Between the baskets, the packaging, the descriptions, the volunteers, and the little "things" that need to be done, me and my faithful friend / co-chair are seeing a light at the end of the Raffle tunnel.  Our biggest goal for this event is to make sure everyone has fun and we raise a lot of $$ for school!

With that said, the family has been warned of the chaotic week I have, and have been patient and supportive (thank goodness!).  They get to enjoy the event while I work it so there is fun involved for them at the end of all of this chaos!  J is armed with a list of things he wants to win, C wants to run around in the indoor obstacle course and M, well he gets to be the chaperon for the kids since I will be busy.

These are just some of the things that have been residing in my living room for weeks!

 The DSi XL

Ipod Touch

I can happily announce that dinners and household chores have not been neglected.  Dinners have been on the easy side, and no new ones have been tried this week, but that is OK.  It's our week of favorites or the ones that I know are fast and easy with little prep time!  No one has gone hungry! Even laundry (which I would easily forget if I could) has been done and put away (the worst chore EVER). 

As much work and griping I give this event (and this is the 2nd year I am co-chairing it) at the end of it, it is fun. I enjoy the creative side of making the baskets and the signs. I love to see the students at school get amped up when they see me deliver another load of prizes. I like the fact that I am helping out at J's school getting to know all of the staff and teachers.  I never did this to become "that over involved mom", I did it to be a part of something that could help the school my kids will attend.  I believe helping the school is important for my kids and the kids that will attend there one day.  This is my last year chairing this event, but not my goodbye to helping out.  Between the Wizards event and being the VP of fundraising for the PTO for one more year, my active role in the school will still be there.  But it is time to let something go for me and my family.  I cannot imagine not doing something, but scaling back is a must for us.

Daily Calendar

We have tried a million different kinds of calendar's.  We have!  I wanted a system so both M & I would know what each day would look like. I used to enter events etc onto Microsoft Outlook and then sync our phones to it.  I found that too time consuming.  I used to make calendars for the fridge, but hated when that when I ran out of ink.  Post its never worked because M would miss them and look stunned when I would say "I have ___ tonight!"
Then I found Cozi!  It is a free online calendar!  It is amazing. Each family member has a color.  I enter the events onto the calendar weekly (or as they come up!) including school for each boy.  I even made a "color" for meals so everything is in one place. Weekly (on Sundays) Cozi sends M & I an email for the events for the week.  We have been using it for 9 months and we love it.  There is no more "I forgot I have ____."  Mark is never in the dark since he gets the emails too. I print a monthly calendar and it hangs on our fridge as well.  (since I have not found the perfect message / command center in this house!)  I even have Cozi as my  homepage so the calendar of the next few days pops up!
Cozi is still working on a Blackberry app for our cell phones, but they do have apps for many other phones.  Carole is customer support and she is fast to respond to issues.  She is amazing.  When the system crashes (and it does!) info has not been lost and she quickly directs me to some some technical guy to assist me.  It is amazing!
So, if you need a better way to organize your life and your families life, I suggest you look into COZI. It has been a real lifesaver for our family!

Dinners to try

We love Mexican around here.  It does not have to be Cinco De Mayo for me to make a fiesta out of dinner...So here is what I am whipping out tonight for dinner! 

credit: The F ood Channel

Mexican Chicken Casserole

• 6 cups pulled white chicken meat
• 24 ounces Mexican blend shredded cheese, divided in half
• 2 bunches green onions, tops only, chopped, divided in half
• 2 – 10 3/4 ounce cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 – 4 ounce can green chilies, chopped
• 3 cups sour cream
• 1 cup pitted black olives, sliced
• 12 – 6 inch flour tortillas

 Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine half the cheese, half the green onions, cream of chicken soup, chilies, sour cream, and olive.  Set aside 2 cups of this mixture for the topping. Add the chicken to the remainder for filling and mix well.Put 2 heaping tablespoons on each tortilla and roll up tightly. Arrange seam-side down in a single layer in a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.Spread reserved topping, sprinkle over second half of cheese and green onions. Refrigerate overnight or freeze.Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until hot, golden, and bubbling. Serve.

More snow

Superbowl Sunday, which is really a non-event at our house, greeted us with 3 more inches of the fluffy stuff.  BUT, the temps are warmer so the boys are happily burning off energy on the sledding hill with M.  I am catching up...

The Raffle for J's school is this week.  There is little else going on in my world until this is over.  Posters to make, baskets to design, descriptions to be typed.  I am glad to be a part of this event, but happily I am glad this is my last one.  In my efforts to say NO more, this will be my final Raffle as the chairperson. 

After the Raffle, I will be starting with Wizards event, which I am super excited about. Happily I have many parents stepping up to assist so this will no longer be just me planning this.  I love it when people get as excited as me for events! 

The end of the Raffle will also mean getting back to some of the things I started, like the master bedroom project, the painting of furniture and the better organization system in our home.  I was thrilled to get an email from Jen at iheartorganizing this past week. Even though this is perfect stranger to me, she was able to give me some good advice about saying no and doing it more for my family than for others. I am taking that to heart.  Sure I enjoy the challenges of planning events and fundraisers but it is a non-paying job.  It takes A LOT of time away from my family and that is not fair or good for us.  I will also start a part time job as a merchandiser for our family business. I am excited for that challenge but it will also let me get back to something I love, merchandising.  Part time is all I can muster up with two young boys who need me around, but it will be a nice creative outlet for me. 

Off to stir some chili for the Superbowl  game commericials I will watch!  The boys are amped for the for Black Eyed Peas performance at half time.  I see a majorly loud dance party in our future!

Survival...

We are on Day 2 of snow days around here...The 2011 Blizzard hit us and while the kids enjoyed the snow, M and I are feeling the burn (and aches) of shoveling 20+ inches of snow and grateful to neighbors with larger snow blowers than ours!

 This is out our side window...the fence is 6ft tall and this is a MAJOR drift!

 

This is the kids playhouse....

And the soccer goal! 

 

Our dear neighbor with a MONSTER of a snowblower finally made it here (after doing 3 other houses) to assist us in at least finding our driveway!

The other side of our house and the garage....The side of the house has yet to be touched, and although we like having the path clear, we could care less right about now!

This kids had a BLAST all day long!

 Needless to say, we are snowed in, and enjoying ourselves in the house.  It will be a long time until we see the green grass and flowers.

Comfort Food

 

credit : wikipedia

I love artichokes!   They are so delicious!  And interesting to look at.  

Tonight's dinner is a huge hit at our house!  And since we obviously need some comfort food while weathering "snowmegaddon" is going on, I thought it would be perfect!

Artichoke Chicken

2 cans water packed artichoke hearts, drained, and quartered
2 T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 to 3 cups of cooked chicken (I used shredded)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (do not dilute)
1 c mayo (the real thing, not low fat, fat free etc)
1 t lemon juice
1/8 t cumin
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar
1 c bread crumbs
1/4 c grated Parmesan
2 T butter, melted

In a bowl, combine artichokes, oil and garlic, place in a well greased 2 1/2 qt baking dish. top with chicken. combine soup, mayo, lemon juice, and curry in a bowl well. pour over chicken. sprinkle with cheddar.
combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and butter. sprinkle over top. bake, uncovered at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes or until bubbly.....
This is great leftover the next day.  M loves to take it to work with his lunch, he says it sticks to his ribs until he comes home for dinner!
Enjoy & stay warm!

LOVE!

 

photo credit: between you & me

I love this!  It inspired me to start thinking about a large creation for our home as well......

What would your family rules be?