Commuting

First off, I am loving everything I have been able to do with Primerica so far. My biggest complaint is that I don't feel as though I've given it enough of my focused time & effort. Improvement to come on that!

Okay, so with any career path, it is highly encouraged to work on your self development: increase your confidence, skills, knowledge, etc. I originally resisted any personal development through the traditional means of reading non-fiction books because generally I never complete them and I also REALLY enjoy reading fiction books so my personal time is dedicated to that. However, fellow Mompreneur, Sonja pointed out that I could do some audio listening for personal development. This actually works perfect for me because I have to do some commuting for my twice weekly meetings among other things, so now I can utilize this wasted time perfectly :-) I was SO excited to have this epiphany because I like to be what is called "coachable" in our business and by not working on improving myself, I was not being coachable. I love having my iphone because itunes has lots of really awesome podcasts that I have been listening to.  Here are some of my recommendations:

Everyday is Saturday with Sam Crowley

Organization Station with Monica Ricci

The Home Office Podcast

I also used to love Pregtastic, which is not business related so much, but great to listen to as someone who is, was or wants to be pregnant :-)

Other resources for audio I've used are my library (both virtually and the bricks and mortar place), amazon to buy audio books, and youtube.

Net Time vs Gross Time

I made an impromptu road trip to Grimshaw this weekend and on the way back I listened to a few fantastic podcasts. One of them, Organization Station with Monica Ricci, talked about the concept of "Net Time" which I found fascinating. I've have often quoted one of my favorite movies, Empire Records, and said "There are 24 usable hours in every day!". However, with some very logical reconsideration, is there really 24 hours?

Research has shown that after factoring in sleep, eating, bathroom breaks, life, etc, each of us only really has 4 - 7 hours of each day that can be used to be productive. Taking this into consideration, most of us are attempting to jam far too much into each day, which gets carried over to the next jam packed day resulting in us feeling completely unproductive & yet totally stressed out. Boy can I relate to that! 

A few of the other time concepts she touched on were "Tiny Time" and "Buffer Time":

Tiny Time is those little moments of time where things can be done as you register them, but if left undone, cumulate to become overwhelming. Examples could include things like putting your jacket away, getting your kids to put one toy away before using another (or group of toys), mail, and lately for me texts & emails! [Right now I have nearly 70 unread emails on my phone plus countless read but unanswered email , despite my new years resolution to not do that.]

Buffer Time, is just like it sounds, its building buffer time into your schedule. For example, if it normally takes you 30 minutes to drive somewhere, consider actually leaving with an extra ten minutes to account for traffic or unexpected delays (like needing fuel). Or, if your kids need to be ready for a ride at 3pm, start them getting ready in advance so they'll actually be ready for 2:50. The amount of buffer time would differ depending on the tasks. Its really a simple idea, but I admit I am uber guilty for not utilizing this and in fact doing the opposite by thinking I can jam an extra errand or task in the five "extra" minutes I think I have.

An example of something I've been continuously guilty for lately is with my sitters. I tell them I'll be home at say 9:00pm, but instead of leaving at 8:45 and thus packing up at 8:30, I tend to leave the place i'm at around 9:05 or 9:15. Very bad. It's not how I would want to be treated, so I need to make adjustments accordingly.

I'm really looking forward to making some improvements with this knowledge and listening to more podcasts from Monica.

Freezer Meals, an update

I believe I have sampled all the freezer meals I had made. All were delicious, but I have a few tweaks for the next batch I do:
-try pizza spaghetti with pizza sauce
-for Rachel's casserole I will cook the pasta less (more al dente), add more green peppers, and make bigger portions or maybe just more meat to pasta ratio
-for the stirfry, I dont think I'll precook the veggies. They came out a little too soggy for my liking. However, I think I would package my veggies separately, in fry order.

That all I can think of right now.

Party Favours

My mommy group had our 5th Anniversary so we threw a party. I wanted to "get my craft on" so u made these favors. The crayon packs for the kids & tea bag satchels for the mommies. So cute & so fun ;-)

Mourning the Loss of My HouseHusband (Again!)

Emotionally, I have been spoiled to have Tyler home 24/7 since the last week of July. When he's home & not working I have a super flexible schedule with almost total freedom. Tyler prefers to do the laundry (as he has a system he likes), he often ends up doing the dishes (though I still cook most of the time), he's here to watch Dexter so I can run all errands sans child, and I can do my Mommy Mingle stuff and Moms' Night Out without worrying about a sitter.

However, the down side is of course not having an income. We had what I thought was a healthy chunk of savings set aside but with a few major ticket items coming up (fixing a hand me down truck, annual property taxes), we burnt through it fairly quickly. We've been able to supplement our income and stay current on bills by using a Line of Credit and Tyler's "measly" EI cheques. I say measly because although they are appreciated, it's only 55% of income and it gets maxed out. We got the max which boils down to $1800/month, no where near our base expenses. So we were slowly going in the hole each month he wasn't working.

We were holding out as long as we could financially, in the hopes that a union job around Edmonton would come up. There were about 40 positions that came up for a job in Nisku (a very short commute) but unfortunately Tyler's 'out of work number' wasn't high enough to get the job. We are pretty close to the end of our comfort level for debt on our line of credit right now and Tyler's EI ran out about 3 weeks ago so we decided that the next possible job that came up he would take, even if it meant him going out of town like in Fort Mac. He has done the out of town thing before, so I am not a virgin to the experience, but for the quality of our family life we were hoping to avoid it. However, being homeless isn't an option so back to work it is! LOL

There were two types of out of town job sites we were expecting to come up, Kearl Lake (which operates on a 2 weeks gone, 1 week home schedule) and Suncor Fort Mac (which operates on 10 days gone 4 days home schedule) both near each other. On a positive note, both sites now offer fly in/fly out options which means way less travel time for Tyler and more home time. It also means increased safety for him as the Fort Mac highway is known for being accident prone. On Friday, he put in for a job at Suncor with a company he hasn't worked with before but is excited to work with: Chemco. They have a few perks that may or may not pan out. He'll be in camp and they have camp food too so there isn't any additional expenses for him being there.

While it will be an adjustment for both of us, we are actually a bit excited about it. Tyler's looking forward to working again (as not working really effects a person's self esteem) and I'm looking forward to getting back on track with our finances. Generally speaking, when he is working we can sock away quite a bit of money as his income is a lot higher than our base expenses...so long as we don't make too many silly purchases or committments.  I also re-evaluated our RRSP contributions and for where we are now & where we want to be, we need to bump up the amount we put away each month (which also means some commission for me too).

Since he'll be working, we'll have some wiggle room in our budget for me to get some child care if/when I need it. I still plan on being able to do my Primerica fairly consistently so I'm thinking about looking for a day home for maybe one afternoon a week starting in April, where I can have a solid chuck of time to do any prep and paper work I may have. I have some montly evening committments that I would like to keep on my schedule (2 book club evenings a month, 1 scrapbook project night & possibly 1 craft night coming up). My mother in law may be up for some babysitting here and there when it doesn't conflict with her own life and work schedule. She's going on a three week trip to the states in April though so no luck there! However, my mom has started a business where she works from home so she'll be able to come help me out here and there. She's planning on coming on Saturday (one week from today) so I'm looking forward to that as I had a busy week scheduled.

As one of our financial goals this year, I am planning a trip for us to go on for Couples Only to Vegas in October. My parents have decided they would like to go with us and Mary is willing to watch Dexter. Goal is for a 4 day trip. My parents told me that as a 30th birthday present (which is allegedly my "final" birthday present lol) they will pay for my flight to Vegas. In addition to that, since they go to Vegas so often, there's a really good chance they will get their hotel rooms for free and that we may as well! Which means we would need to pay for our experiences, shopping, food, and possibly Tyler's flight (I'm not sure if their offer was for my flight or both of ours'). My friend Melody & her girlfriend are coming for sure and then we have some other couples that are aiming to go but aren't 100% sure. [If you're reading this & are interested in coming too, just email me for details!]

Hmm, well the day is getting away from me, time to unplug & get moving!

My First Day of Making Freezer Meals

Most people know that I am super in love with Pinterest right now (if you haven't checked it out, you should!). There were a few links on there with once-a-month-cooking and it inspired me. I wasn't up for an entire month's worth of cooking, but I thought I'd pick a few complimentary recipes and try it out. I'm not completely foreign to the make-ahead-meals concept as I participated in "Your Supper Solutions" in Red Deer a few times, but I've never done it from home and with all my own research, shopping, etc.

 

Researching for meal ideas and shopping was a bit time consuming, but I was kind of in slow mo mode too. After about 4 hours of prepping and cooking the above depicts my results:

-3 containers of Rachel's Casserole,*

-3 containers of Alphine Meatballs with Rice,*

-2 containers of Pizza Spaghetti Casserole,*

-1 large ziplock container of Sausage Pasta Sauce,

-1 large ziplock container of Sausage Stirfry Mix,

-1 meal sized container of Taco Beef mixing,

as well as 1 meals worth of Taco Beef mixing which I made into Taco Salad that night.

*Recipes were found on other websites, links at end of blog entry.

I'll list the recipes I used first with basic directions, and then I'll list my methods of madness from that day (tips, etc).

A) Taco Beef Mixing (I made 2 batches):

• 1 package of Extra Lean Ground Beef
• 1 package of Taco Seasoning
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 small container of tomato paste
• 1 cup of salsa (I used Tostitos Mild)

Directions:

• Brown hamburger.
• Pour seasoning package over mixture and add water.
• Continue cooking until water evaporates.
• Add tomato paste & salsa.
• Store in freezable ziplock bag. Probably only need a medium size for one batch.

Future uses:

• add to lettuce, shredded cheese, fresh veggies (cucumber, green & red peppers, red onion) and cheesy doritos for a taco salad.
• use with taco shells & fixings for tacos.
• make the 'dorito bake casserole': which uses pillsbury cresent dough for the base, Beef Taco Mix, sour cream layer and then cheese and crushed cheesy doritos on top. Bake at 350F until browned.
• make 'tortilla bake casserole': alternate tortillas (I prefer cheese ones) and Beef Taco Mix. Have one sour cream layer in the middle and cheese on top. Could also have refried bean layer if desired. Bake at 350F until browned.

 B) Alphine Meatballs (Equalled three lasagna sized containers plus left over rice):

• 1 Box Premade frozen meatballs (I bought the blue menu italian meatballs from No Frills/Superstore)
• 4 Cups Rice
• 1/2 Cup of Parmesan
• 1 small pkg of Swiss Cheese (270g), grated
• 1 1/2 Cups Milk
• 2 cans Condensed Mushroom Soup
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 3 tsp chopped garlic or 3 cloves

Directions:

• Cook rice.
• Put a layer of meatballs on the bottom of your dish.
• In a seperate bowl, mix rice with all ingredients except meatballs.
• Pour rice mixture over meatball layer.
• Future Use: Bake at 350F for 30-45 minutes when thawed.

C) Turkey Sausage Pasta Sauce (made one large ziplock bag):

• 1 pkg of Turkey Sausage (bought mine at walmart)
• Fresh Veggies (Green Peppers, Red Peppers, Yellow Onions, Broccol, Carrots Medallions, Fresh Mushrooms)
• 1 Large Can of Spaghetti Sauce or Tomato Sauce

Directions:

• Bake turkey sausages at 350F for 30-45 minutes. Make sure they are no longer pink inside. Slice into bite sized pieces. Let cool to room temperature.
• Chop fresh veggies as needed into large pieces. I ended up with about 4 cups of fresh veggies.
• Put all ingredients into large freezable ziplock container.
• Future Use: Cook in slow cooker until desired tenderness. Serve over freshly cooked pasta. For leftovers, keep pasta seperate from pasta sauce.

 D) Turkey Sausage Stirfry (made one batch):

• 1 package of Turkey Sausages (I bought mine at walmart)
• Fresh Broccoli
• Carrot Medallions
• Yellow Onions, sliced
• Green & Red Peppers, sliced
• Fresh Mushrooms, sliced
• Sauce: ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, soya sauce. Mix together to taste. Use only about a tsp of soya sauce and a lot of ketchup to start.

Directions:

• Bake sausages in oven at 350F for 30-45 minutes. Make sure they are no longer pink inside. Slice into bite sized pieces. Let cool to room temperature.
• You can either keep veggies raw to fry later or fry them now depending how ready you want this meal to be.
• If veggies are cooked, you can store with the sauce. I chose to wait until I use this mix to freshly make sauce and rice.
• Future Use: serve warmed on rice with sauce.

E) Pizza Spaghetti Bake (made 3 lasagna sized containers):

• 1 package of ground meat (I used chicken to have a variety of meats in my recipes)
• Veggies (I used red peppers, green peppers, yellow onions)
• 1 Can of Mushrooms
• 1/2 Package of Spaghettini (or pasta of your choice)
• 1 Large Can of Pasta Sauce, or Tomato Sauce (ALT: maybe even pizza sauce)
• 24 pizza pepperoni slices
• 1 Cup Cheddar Cheese, grated
• 1 Cup Mont Jack Cheese, grated

Directions:

• Brown ground meat.
• Dice veggies. Fry along with mushrooms.
• Boil spaghettinni to desired tenderness. Drain.
• Mix all three of above together along with pasta sauce and let cool to room temperature.[Next time I am going to try it with pizza sauce. When I do, I will refrain from mixing it in, but rather do it as a layer of my casserole]
• Once cool, layer in bottom of dish.
• Sprinkle grated cheese on top.
• Place pepperoni on top of cheese.
• Future Use: Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes if thawed, 40 - 50 minutes if frozen.

F) Rachel's Casserole (made 3 lasagna cointainers):

• 1/2 Box of Pasta (I used Scooby Doo Spirals, she recommends egg noodles)
• 1 package of ground meat
• 2 tbsp flour
• Tomato Sauce or Pasta Sauce
• 1/2 Cup of Black Olives, Sliced
• 1/2 Cup of Green Peppers, Chopped
• 1/2 Cup of Green Onions, Chopped (I forgot to buy these)
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 2 Cups of Cottage Cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

• Cook pasta.
• Brown burger. Once cooked, add tomato sauce and flour and simmer for 10 minutes.
• In a seperate bowl, mix sour cream, cottage cheese, veggies and salt and pepper.
• Once pasta and burger is cool, put it in the bottom of the dish. Pour veggie mixture over pasta. Pour beef mixture over veggie mixture.
• Future Use: Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Methods of Madness/Tips
First Things...

• I wanted everything in disposable, freezable things. For things I was going to bake, I wanted freezable & bakeable so I bought tinfoil lasagna sized containers with lids (if they had larger ones with lids I likely would have bought those) as well as Large Ziplock Freezer bags. Both these things I got at No Frills for a decent price, but I noticed the dollar stores carry them too so you may want to shop around for the best price.
• I chose recipes with similar ingredients so that I could multi-task chopping of veggies, re-use pans, etc.
• I did one big shop of all the ingredients (well two because I went to No Frills & Walmart).
• I pre-planned my recipe attack.
• Have lots of bowls and counterspace so that you can keep things seperated but do multi-tasking work, and you'll have to allow everything to cool before completing your freezer process.
• I pulled everything out that I would need that day & set it in one area on my counter.
• I added lots of veggies to my meals to bulk up the recipe size and get my daily dose of veggies in.

Pre-plan (learned from my days in the kitchen of KFC):

• I set up my rice cooker with the rice for Alphine Meatballs, once cooked I put in a big bowl to cool &/or be ready for mixing whenever I had a break in the other meals' prep,
• I put all the turkey sausages in the oven to bake while I used the stove top for other things.
• I started with the Beef Taco mix so that I could fry it up while chopping my veggies for the other recipes.
• I chopped all my veggies at the same time and seperated them into bowls or ziplocks for each recipe, then fried or kept fresh as each recipe needed.
• When frying veggies such broccoli & carrots, I precook them in the microwave to get them tender, then fry them for crispiness.
• Once meat was ready for taco mix, I put it in a bowl to cool while I started browning meat for spaghetti bake. I also put pasta on to bowl and started frying veggies.
• Once spaghetti bake layer one was mixed & cooling, I started browning my meat for rachel's casserole and cooking the pasta. I also started frying the veggies for my stir fry.
• Then I mixed the cottage cheese stuff.
• When I had in between moments I cut up the turkey sausage, assembled the turkey pasta sauce, assembled anything that was cool enough and mixed up the rice mixture for the alphine meatballs.
• I saved all the cheese grating for last.
• We also had a taco salad for supper about 3 hours into my assembly so I had a bit of a break for everything to cool and before I grated cheese.

That's it I think! Everything went well and I'm anxious to try the new dishes. I'm also looking forward to doing a few more meals. Send me any ideas you have! On my list:
Ham & Asparagus Strata
Meatloaf (my recipe using Knorr Veggie Mix)
Premade Sloppy Joe Mixture
Premade Shepard's Pie Mixture
Perogy Lasagna
Lazy Potsticker Casserole (my new idea, using potsticker pork recipe and pasta)
Pigs in a Blanket
Bisquits

*Rachel's Casserole:
http://www.oneshetwoshe.com/2010/01/rachels-casserole.html
*Alphine Meatballs:
http://busycooks.about.com/od/precookedmeatballrecipes/r/alpinemeatballs.-8tU.htm
*Pizza Spaghetti Casserole
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pizza-spaghetti-casserole-10000001589396/

A Choice

When I discussed with Tyler the idea of maybe going back to work, he said "If your reason is only financial then I would rather you stayed home." His comment made me feel good, that he really does value the choice to stay home with Dexter.

This influenced my choice, which is that if I'm looking to work for fulfillment purposes, then I would like to find the time to search for work involving my writing. Something that has come out of my experience with Wentworth is that others, virtual strangers, have complimented my writing skills. This leads me to believe, hopefully not wrongly, that I do have a talent that could be explored. I have always dreamed of writing a book, being published &/or writing for a magazine. I'm not sure how realistic or lucrative this could be, but my plan for 2012 is to explore my options. I'm very excited!

Secondly, for a very long time I've had some interest in money & investing. We have worked with Primerica, as investors, for about 7 years now and for the last 6 months or so I've been considering getting involved as a representative. I enjoy being educated on what my money is doing and also educating others on the best and better alternatives out there versus the traditional banks and routes. My experience with Primerica so far, leads me to believe that they are an ethical business who has their customers best interest as a priority rather than just their bottom line. This weekend and next week I'll be discussing with Jasmine (my representative) the exact qualifications I need and hopefully getting started. I believe she told me that there is a test I need to take in order to become a rep. I'm excited to get started with this too. I'll be happy to be more participatory in our own investments (Tyler & I each have RRSPs and Dexter has RESP, we also had term life insurance through them) and I'm hoping I'll be able to share my education with family and friend's. I'm not sure how lucrative it will be (as money is a very touchy subject with people) but my end goal is to simply help people have the best set of investments and insurance for their needs.