Easy Peasy Potato Pancakes

I love mashed potatoes, in fact they are my favorite food, so when I make them for a side with dinner I tend to over make them. I make way more then we would ever eat at a meal and I always have lots of leftovers. Here comes in the trouble, I hate leftover mashed potatoes! They just are not good reheated. Do you agree? I feel like they get a really starchy flavor to them when they are reheated.

So, last night I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and putting away the leftovers. There were gobs of mashed potatoes left and I was getting ready to put them in a Tupperware and tuck them away in the fridge where they usually sit about a week and then are transferred to the garbage pan and I was thinking why don't I just throw them away now? It just seems too wasteful throwing away food that isn't spoiled. In the name of frugality, I decided I was going to use these leftovers somehow to make something! So, I spent an extra few mins making up some potato pancakes.


I threw all the ingredients in the serving bowl the potatoes were already in, mixed it in with my hands, and formed patties. I placed the patties on a plate and wrapped them in saran wrap and stuck them in the fridge. The next morning it only took a few minutes to cook them on the electric griddle and they were awesome!! Everyone loved them even the picky people in the family! And they made for a nice hot, hearty breakfast before taking Henry to school in this sub-zero weather we have been having.

Easy Peasy Potato Pancakes

*The measurements are not exact due to this being something one makes with leftover*

3-4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheese ( I used Vermont White Cheddar, plain Cheddar is good too)
2 thin sliced green onions
1Tbs minced garlic
3Tbs minced onion (I used the dehydrated kind for this)
A heavy handed sprinkling of Italian Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients
Form into patties
Cook on an electric griddle or in a frying pan until browned on both sides and warm all the way through.

I served with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of Italian Seasoning on top. Yummy!!!

Easy and Cute Christmas Savings!

  Easy and Cute Chrsitmas Savings Tip

 

The Christmas season is finally over and we can all go back to life as normal!!! I for one love the end of the Christmas season as much as I love the beginning. I have a habit of taking down the tree December 26th, packing up all the decorations, putting away all the new toys and clothes, and not having another Christmas-y though until about Halloween. This year, I really want to change that by preparing for Christmas year round so that it won't be such a drain on us next winter.

 

So, I got really lucky and found this adorable shadow box on sale at Dollar General. It has a slit in the top so kids can write down their Christmas wishes, but instead we are going to drop all of our change plus $40 a month into that slit. I think it will be really fun to actually watch our savings grow, and after saving change only for a month we had saved up $53.17 in December. In January we have started adding the $40/month in cash as well. We look forward to having around $1,000 extra dollars at Christmas time next year :)

 

What do you do with your change? Leave your ideas in the comments!

10 Changes you can make TODAY to strengthen relationships at home!

Do you ever go through a phase where the home is functioning, but no one seems to be feeling the love?

    Sometimes life gets so hectic we get out of the habit of doing the little things that show our families how much we love them. It is these little things that are so important. These are the things that make us feel good about our lives. Our family has been missing the little things lately, everyone is going through their routines well, but life is just busy. Overtime at work, sports practices, the business, Halloween... you get the picture. I noticed this last week when I was on the phone with Aaron while he was on a break at work. We were having an actual conversation about a recent news story and it hit me... I don't remember the last time we just sat down and had a recreational conversation and I miss you!! When we hung up I realized I needed to start making some time for some little things. I've made sure everyday to spend a little more quality time with the family and to show my love for them in simple ways and here are a list of 10 things that had a strong impact!

10 Simple Ways to Show Your Love

Embrace the good life, and share your love with your family.

1. Make your spouse a drink for their commute to work.
   Coffee drinker? Have a fresh-brewed to go cup ready to hand them as they walk out the door. Aaron's been on a water kick lately so I make him an ice water with a straw. You most likely know what your spouse likes, make it for them.

2. A hug, kiss, and an I love you every time he leaves the house.
   If you are home when your spouse leaves for work make sure you take a few minutes to give him a good hug, a kiss, and an I love you before he leaves every day!

3. Read to your kids!
   It's bedtime, and if your like me it's your favorite time of the day. I'm tired at bedtime, my kids are starting to get cranky, Aaron's not usually home at this time and I'm ready to get through the bedtime routine. Bath, teeth brushing, jammies, and bam I'm done for the day. It's so easy to leave out that bedtime story, but it is so worth your time to crawl into that tiny twin bed with your little ones and read to them. It means the world to them, it settles them into a calm, sleepy mood, it's educational, there is no down side! If you don't already read at bedtime, do it tonight! It nurtures the bond between you and your children and lets you all settle down and enjoy that love.

4. Family Dinner
  Every single chance you get eat dinner at the table together as a family. If someone isn't home for dinner that day just have a family dinner anyway. This is so important. This is when Henry tells us all about his day, Emily shows off her counting skills, Abbie confesses her current crushes, and we all laugh at Aaron's jokes. This is when we nourish our bodies and our souls all at once. Ask each member of your family what the best part of their day has been. Let the little ones tell stories, teach table manners, and leave you phones in the other room! When I was a kid my Dad always had us tell one thing we learned that day.

5. Get up and play
  Kids love it when Mom or Dad are playing with them, so get down on the floor and race Hot Wheels cars or toss the football around in the backyard, whatever your little ones are into give them 30mins or so of uninterrupted play time.

6. Guide sibling play time
  Are the kids cranky and fighting with each other while you are trying to cook dinner? Give them a game to play together. A favorite of my kids is when I pull out a balloon and blow it up. Then they have to work together to keep it off the floor while I go back to my work. You can also declare the floor hot lava and make them keep their feet off it. There are tons of easy games like this it will take you less then 5mins to set up or explain and then they will be entertained and bonding with each other while you finish cooking. Leave your suggestions for easy games in the comments section!

7. Tell your spouse you appreciate him
  Do you ever feel like you do a lot of things for your family that go unnoticed and unappreciated? I bet your partner feels that same way. Instead of wallowing in disappointment that your efforts have gone unnoticed lead by example instead! Take a moment to thank your partner for the little things. Leave a post it note in his lunch, tell him in person, whatever just remember to thank him for his efforts!

8. Tell each child one thing they have done today to make you proud
  This is very similar to number 7, but with those little ones! I like to do this at the dinner table or on the drive home from school. Make sure you let those little ones know that you see the areas in life where they are putting in extra effort and you are proud of them. I also like to do this after every sports practice and game. I like to make sure I say "I saw the block you did on that play and it was great! I am so proud of you, you are getting better every week". I think sometimes my son sees me chatting with the other Moms at practice and thinks I'm not watching. I like to remind him I am watching and I'm proud he's working hard.

9. Give your pet a little extra attention
  A game of fetch or a jog do a dog a lot of good. Have a cat? Maybe just a 30min scratching and petting session. Our pets need love and affection too. This helps keep them calm, happy, and well-behaved.

10. Take 30mins for you
  This is so important. It's a lot of work to raise a family and you are the easiest person to neglect. You deserve some time too! It will make you feel better and put you in a more pleasant mood. Either work out, take an extra long shower, catch up on your favorite TV show. Whatever it is just take a little time to refresh yourself. I am not a make up wearer. I love make up I just never make time for it, so this week I did make time for make up and it felt great. I felt more like myself after taking a little time to put my face on and I was more productive after so the time was not lost.

  For us this helped a lot. It has been a very pleasant week. The kids have been feeling great and playing nicely with each other. The dog is calm and Mommy is wearing make up! In addition to all that I have noticed my family changing. I started the little ways of showing love but they jumped on board with out even realizing it. Aaron has been doing little things for me just to be nice. The kids are thankful when we do things for them and they are proud of themselves when they work hard.
 Do you have little things that work great for your family? Leave them in the comments, we can never have to many ways to show our love!

Getting to know me :)

Hello. My name is Jamie and this is my blog about my family's journey to change our lives for the better. I can't thank you enough for reading this!!! The idea that our story could have a positive effect on someone else's life is just so exciting to me. Please comment, email, ask any questions you want!

Here is our back story so you can get to know us a little. My husband and I just celebrated our 4yr wedding anniversary last week. We each brought a child into our marriage and were blessed with a daughter together 2yrs ago. Our oldest is Aaron's daughter, Abbie, she just turned 11yrs old. Next is my son, Henry, who is 5 and started Kindergarten this year. And our baby is little 2yr old Emily. We also have a 6yr old black lab named Apollo. We live in a small town in central Illinois in a house that we rent. My husband works overnights as an electrician in a factory and I stay home with the kids. I am involved as a room parent for my son's class as well as a member of the school's parent involvement team. I try to keep the kid's in at least one activity per season so this month I am also a Football Mom for the first time and so far it has been a blast! My daughter attends a really neat program where we get to go to "school" twice a month and she can learn and play with other kids her age. As part of this program a teacher also comes to our home twice a month and plays an educational game with her. Also, we own a small business that is currently in serious financial distress. We need to make a really difficult decision to either pour everything we have into it or to cut our loses with it. It is a major source of stress in our lives, but it also provides great joy at times.

Aaron and I met online and had a long distance relationship for a while. We lived about 2hrs apart. We dated about 8mos before we decided that we needed to either go ahead and commit to each other and move in together or we needed to stop. So, I moved in with Aaron in July with my son. There was no school in session for summer so his daughter was also with us all the time and his Father lived in the house as well. It was quite an adjustment. I had gone from just me and my baby to a full house overnight and let me tell you it was HARD. I mean really, really hard on all of us. That is a lot of change to cope with. In the first year we lived together we both switched jobs, I put my son in day care for the first time, our exes worked on accepting our new partners in their children's lives, my Father-in-law moved out then back in again, we got engaged, got married, and then moved back to where I was living before we met. It was a crazy year and we spent too much time reacting to problems and not enough time concentrating on what we really wanted as a family and working toward it.

Unfortunately, the chaos of that first year really formed the way we acted as a couple and as a family. Four years later and we still seem to have lost our goal orientated mindsets. I feel like we are still always reacting to "emergencies" instead of creating an organized plan of attack on life. As a result of this we have financial problems, health problems, communication problems, you name it we aren't handling it correctly!!! And we have come to the conclusion during a rare moment where we actually communicated with each other that it all has to change and it has to change today! Not one more day of my children's childhoods will be spent with parents who don't have their shit together.

In this blog I will share with you things I have tried to improve our financial security, our credit rating, our marriage, our family vibe, our home, and our health. I will openly discuss our triumphs and failures. I will give lots and lots of tips for things that have really helped us. And I look forward to communicating with you as you find the things that work best for you and your families. I hope we all grow together into the best versions of ourselves possible.