Sponsor Shout out Numero Dos!

It's time for another awesome round of delightful meets!
Here are a few more of my swaps this month,
getting some ultra free publicity!




Carly @ Lipgloss and Crayons
PINTEREST | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

"Hello all! I'm Carly, and I blog over at Lipgloss and Crayons. I'm an elementary school teacher, a newlywed, a Christian, and a fashion lover. On my blog you will find crafts, recipes, beauty tips, and fashion obsessions plus a little info about my life in the City of Angels. Stop by, and make sure you say hello.....I love meeting new friends!"




Baylee @ The Day I Stopped Making Cents
PINTEREST

"I started my blog to help victims of domestic abuse and young divorcees to feel like they had someone to talk to. Now, I mostly blog to get advice and keep record of daily life."




Alli @ Life on LeRoy
TWITTER

"Hey, hey my name is Alli and I blog over at Life on LeRoy. I live in Wisconsin with my charming, energetic 2-year old Dayton, and my handsome, hardworking husband, Tony. We enjoy the simple things in life like snuggling, taking long walks, having random dance parties in our living room and tickle fights. On my blog you'll find updates on our life, recipes, DIY's, photography, fashion and a "Life Lately" link up party every other Monday!! Stop by and say hello, I would LOVE to meet you! xoxo"

The Dish Today! [Another Guest Post!]

Hey everyone!
Today's a busy day over here isn't it?
We have the fantastic grow.swap.share event going on,
But I'm also guest posting somewhere else!

As part of an awesome giveaway win,
I got to sponsor Makin Memories of Us
and get my very first sponsor spotlight!
I hope you go check it out,
since I'm doing a pretty awesome giveaway over there!!

Also, if you want double the chance of winning,
Sarah over at All Things Blogs
is having a phenomenal group giveaway, and I'm participating there too!
{Stay calm, I know you want to just loose your frickin mind right now}

One more thing!
June 11th there's a massive
throwdown giveaway session over at Covered in Grace!
You can win some awesome stuff over there,
lots of prizes, 3 winners.
But you gotta keep an eye out!

Grow.Swap.Share featuring Sarah!

Hey Gais!
Today, I'm participating in the Grow.Swap.Share. I'm posting over at Fantastical Sharing of Recipes about Menu Planning! I'd like to welcome Sarah from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi everyone :) I'm Sarah from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes.

I'm super stoked to be swapping with Mrs. White and posting over here on Little Homemade Housewife. Mrs. White threw out some amazing ideas and we decided to share our expertise on meal planning - and then share 5 go-to awesomesauce recipes. Yup, that's right - there's awesomesauce involved! I figure I can just walk ya'll through what I do and give you as many tips as I can! :)

I am a list person, by nature.
I have lists for everything, so meal planning was a given. In high school, my family went through a bit of a rough spot where it was just my mom, younger brother, and I. My mom was never great with handling finances, so I took over. All three of us worked and my paycheck went to groceries. Obviously a high schooler isn't going to make much money, so I had to learn how to be frugal from the get-go.

#1. Recipe Index: One of the biggest tips I have is to have a recipe index. Know what recipes/food you have and are capable of making. When I first was married, I had my recipe index on a piece of college-ruled notebook paper. Now I have a 26-page list of all the recipes I've acquired over the last 10+ years that are sorted into different categories, like breakfast, main dishes, side dishes, etc. This helps because it gives you all of your choices right in front of you.

#2. Frequency of Shopping: Figure out if you are going to shop once a week, once every other week, once a month, etc. Whatever works for you. I used to go once every other week when it was just my husband and I - and baby Matthew. Now that my baby is a preschooler and he has a partner in crime, his sister Cami - I shop once a week, so my fridge isn't busting from the seams. You can still make your menu plan months in advance, but I find I like to do it for each week because I may be craving something totally different from week to week.

#3. Menu Type: Decide what you kind of menu you are planning. How many meals are you going to plan? Will you plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner? What about snacks and dessert? Will you do themed nights, like Meatless Monday or Taco Tuesday? Are you going to plan around your store's weekly sales? Do you have coupons you want to use?

#4. Write it Down: Sit down with your index, a pen, and paper - and go for it! Plan your week, two weeks, month, etc.

#5. Make a Grocery List: After you have everything you want to make, walk through your plan and write down exactly what you'll need for each meal. I pull out my recipes and write down exact amounts and double check what I have on hand. I don't want to run out of ingredients or have way too many taking up space in my fridge - this helps so food doesn't go bad and you're able use what you have on hand!



Here's a quick peek at my recipe index and handy dandy calendar that I use for my menu:


My menu plan consists of at least 3 breakfast recipes, like pancakes, muffins, etc. We do cereal or oatmeal for the other days. For lunch, we rotate leftovers, sandwiches, spaghetti or mac 'n cheese, wraps, chicken nuggets, etc. For dinner, I plan one meatless or leftover night each week, one to two red meat dinners, one ham, pork, or tuna, and the rest chicken. I also try to do only one pasta or rice dish and one soup a week. Each week, I try to make 2 extra recipes - a snack and a dessert or something like that. I also plan to grab 2 to 3 different things for snacks each week like yogurt, graham crackers, chips, cheesesticks, etc. I strive on variety! And by planning everything, I don't get a bunch of extra food and I don't have two hungry kids begging for something to eat :)



Now my top 5 go-to recipes:
Homemade Pizza Dough - I am in love with this recipe, that makes two pizzas. Our favorite pizza is bacon, pineapple, and jalapeno.

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Quick and Easy Cinnamon Butter Buns - 4 ingredients for these delicious babies :)

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese - we have these almost every single weekend!

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Fauxtisserie Chicken - you can do many variations with this one and it's a crockpot recipe!

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

and last...
Ranch-Style Spaghetti - this one is packed with flavor and we have it a lot for lunch.

Source: fantasticalsharingofrecipes.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I hope I was able to give you all some handy tips - just remember once you get the hang of menu planning, you'll never go back to not menu planning. It saves you so much food (from spoiling) and so much money. Plus you don't have to worry about what's for dinner and make last minute decisions or go hungry!

And a special thank you to Mrs. White for being a total sweetheart and letting me take over her blog for a day - bwahahaha!

Sponsor Love June Uno

Hey my lovely party people!
So sorry I haven't been around much lately.
Been so super busy trying to get my sister's baby shower done,
as painlessly as possible.
I'll be posting up all I made her for that here soon ;)

Also, I'm going to be having a new series I'm doing,
the announcement for it is going to be on
Makin Memories Of Us
here shortly. So keep an eye out!

Since no one purchased large ad space for June,
I'm going to be doing a bigger shout out for my swaps!
{Girl's gotta have somethin to do right?}
So throughout June I'll be introducing you to my fab swappers!




Katlyn @ The Dreamy Meadow
TWITTER | FACEBOOK | SHOP

"I write about my life and things that I'm interested in as time goes on. I guess I'm a lifestyle blogger with a twist though. Come check me out and see for yourself!"
She also has a bloggy book club I'm hoping will start up soon, and a west coast blog hop regularly!




Jeanne @ Life in Cleveland
TWITTER | FACEBOOK | SHOP | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM | FLICKR

"Hi! I'm Jeanne aka Sourire11. I was an architect, knitter, and world traveler before my life was happily hijacked by a fashion obsessed redhead and a baby so chill we call him the dude. Now I blog mainly about raising them in the city I love, Cleveland, Ohio."




Kelley @ The Grant Life
TWITTER | FACEBOOK | SHOP | PINTEREST

"Hi! My name is Kelley and I blog over at the Grant life. I'm a momma to two blonde haired, blue eyed babies and I run a little online store called loveables. I love diet coke, How I Met Your Mother, twitter and anything with sugar. Throw in a rainy day where I can snuggle with my babies and I'm a happy lady."


So now you know some of my wonderful swappers this month.
Check back soon and I'll be introducing more of them!
As well as updating about the delight of what's going on around here soon!
And baby things of course.

Loves on a Thursday #6

Why yes indeed it is that time again.
Where we all bounce on over to Lish's blog,
coo over her lovely little things she shares,
and look over what I've dug up as well.

Last week I loved me some bloggers.
And I got some really lovely responses.
Truthfully, I was just happy to share a little love.
I know life gets hard sometimes, especially in the worlds
like the blogosphere where there's always some kind of competition.
Some kind of comparison,
some kind of desire to be something more than you.
And while I think self improvement is always good,
sometimes it's just great to be reminded that someone really likes you,
just the way you are right now.

I am also particularly inspired to share that bit with you,
because I'm seeing so many posts lately on that subject.
The subject of blogging for you
{You'd think that'd be obvious, but even I know it's not sometimes}
and being happy with who you and what you're doing foremost.
So I figured this week I'd share some of those posts!
Some of the posts that I've been loving on!



80/20 Rule
By the lovely Megan
This post personally really touched me. I can really relate to what she's talking about as a fellow perfectionist. I feel like I ruin things all the time just because I have a moment of weakness and show the negative emotions for a few minutes. But if I can manage an 80 percent batting average, I think I can do all right.

Getting Real > Rebelling Against The Rules
By the lovely Kate
I'm quite delighted in finding Kate over at Wake Up, Lovely. I just randomly stumbled across her blog, and she's doing a series about Getting Real in Blogging right now, and this is just one of the awesome posts. I love her style and her voice, and she really makes me want to get better about being me in all this.
Gah I find myself so envious of her, especially her design skills and overall look. I'm trying to get better!

Turn a men's polo into loose top...
By the lovely Lizzie
I could not help but share this one. It's just a beautiful little top she made there. If I was half as awesome at refashioning clothes as her I'd never shop anywhere but a thrift store. That and she looks totally killer with her baby bump. Man, some girls just have all the damn luck. God she's gorgeous.

I'm Doing It.. Or Well, Talking About Doing It.
By the lovely ap
Okay let me preface this by saying I assolutely love this woman. (Imagine this said by the Ramone from Happy Feet) She's witty, intelligent, and tells it like it is. That's a pretty potent combo. This candid talk about pregnancy and your sex life just made me grin and I've never even had kids! She writes in a really relatable way, a way that is definitely 'her', adult without being overtly crass, a balance I hope to find.

Lessons from Date Night
By the lovely Elizabeth
This chick is pretty fly. I will admit. I like reading her blog because she seems like she's in a similar place in her life as I am. Younger, married but without children. You know how it is. So I can really feel good about reading her blog and not feeling like I wish I was in another stage of my life. Speaking of, that post right thurr, is a perfect example. Date night between married peeps and it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy about ma handsome gent all over again.

Blog Speed Dating
By the lovely Nicole
This is another one that has just been plain ol' fun. I love me some link ups, and this one was something I'd never done before. Mainly because I've never been in said situation of 'speed dating', because a) I come from a small town and we don't do those things and b) I'm pretty spectacular all by myself. (i.e. spastic and loud and hard to ignore). Regardless, I had a lot of fun contributing my post to the mix, as well as reading others!


Mmmmmkay.
There you are, some of my favorite recent posts.
I hope they help and inspire you just as much as they did me.
Or just give ya a great laugh.
Also, one two more lovely thoughts for you to take with you while you leave.
or well one thought and a question


via

please tell me who doesn't love that quote.
makes me smile every time.

And a consumer question of the day:
{puts on best announcer voice}
Mrs. White would love your opinion!
She'd like to know what kind of link up
(most likely bi-weekly or monthly)
YOU think would be interesting to see or participate in?
Please leave your comment after the beep...
*BEEP!*

The Last Thing #4

I missed the opportunity of doing this last week,
but making sure I get back into the fray today!
Thanks so much to Jenna for hosting!


« WAS REALLY PROUD OF »

Isn't it so pretty?
I still coo and hold it to my chest.
First off, I have to give mad props to Carly for her custom blog planner she was giving away.
I, sadly, did not win it.
But the idea had gotten in my head and I could not let it go.
So I decided to make my own.
but it's not JUST a blog planner.
It's a year planner for my blog AND real life.
Including shopping lists, meal plans, and monthly calendars.
I want to thank her so so much for the inspiration!

« ATE FOR DINNER »

This lasagna. It was pretty dang good.
{Don't you judge my fridge or poor food storage}
I'm also currently enjoying a nice big bowl for breakfast!

« WATCHED »


Yeah, I'll admit it, I've been watching Tough Love New Orleans lately.
My hubby watches it with me!
And really, well, I'm just pulling for them!

« READ »
The last book I finished reading was


Pretty fun little book. Nice relaxed read.

« ANTICIPATED »
I get to finally go to one of my sister's ultrasound appointments Friday.
It's a specialist appointment, I am told.
They count fingers and toes and I've never been to one before.
So I'm stoked!

« CONSIDERED »
{THAT'S STILL ON MY MIND}
Two things really.
One: I'm quickly approaching 100 followers!
Exciting right? I'm looking to be doing a giveaway when I reach it.
I'm hoping I can get some contributors and/or ideas for budget friendly items to giveaway!
{If you help me, I'll help you ;) }
Two: I'm thinking of doing a once a month link up.
Sort of like a movie of the month club.
Nothing too all consuming. Just having fun watching a movie through the blog community,
and then getting together to share our thoughts.
The idea born from Rae and my swap the other day :)
what do you think?

« LAUGHED OVER »
My husband and I have been really busy lately.
Lots of family things going on to be apart of.
We took some time to just let go and be silly together yesterday.
Driving around town without a real urgency to get to our errands right away.
And taking the best hills we could find,
yelling "Put your hands in the air!" as we coasted down them
and giggling like idiots.
It was great.


Voila! My last things. You should really hop on this bandwagon yo.
Don't forget to go check in over at The Life of the Wife and see what everyone else is up to too :)

7 Questions {3}

{ 7 Questions }
thank you Gentri Lee!

1. If you were to start your own business, what would it be?
My husband and I have talked a lot about trying to do a mom&pop style bakery. Mostly single serve things. Some custom cakes and cupcakes. Maybe a breakfast special. Just something fun to do together and leave for our family.

2. You wake up on the wrong side of the bed, do you embrace your grumpiness or try to fight it?
Embrace your grumpiness! (haha) I am not always a morning person. I didn't used to be period but I'm getting better at it. So it's known by most of my family just to not talk to me for the first hour or so of my awake-ness. But usually my grumpy notions don't last that long. I tend to get happy again pretty easily.

3. What's the very first memory you have?
I am also notorious for having a very very poor memory. But if I had to think of my 'very first', it's more a snippet than an actual memory. I have a memory of opening my bedroom door, the long hallway covered by one of those handmade braided rugs, and racing up it on little toddler feet. I also have the memory of riding an elephant when I was quite small, thinking the people looked like ants. (Though we all know, an elephant isn't quite that tall.)

4. the world is ending, what do you do? Allow yourself to die? Fight? Hide? Etc.
Wow we sure got heavy quick, hmm? Well since my husband has in depth plans for the zombie apocalypse, I'd say we'd probably do a little of fight and hide. I've shot a gun before. Can even hit something fairly accurately. Plus we have like a party all mapped out already of who we want to stay with us. Best places to hole up. These are conversations my husband and his friends have often when they get together.

5. What is your favorite meal of the day?
Probably dinner. We don't often eat breakfast, and lunch my husband is only home for an hour. So dinner is the time we can really sit down and enjoy ourselves, cook something we want to eat without too much pressure to get it done quickly. This is also the most common meal we share with other people. So that's a perk as well.

6. How do you best learn? Visual? Listening? Hands on?
I guess visually? Visually in the sense that if I write something down it's not going anywhere. Writing on a computer isn't as good for me as physically writing. I used to get in trouble sometimes because I'd doodle in class while listening to help me focus and retain better. That and I love diagrams.

7. What is your favorite joke?
One of my all time favorite (kid friendly) jokes will always be:

What do you call a dog with no legs?
Call it whatever you want, it's never gonna come to you.


Thanks again to Gentri Lee for hosting. I love me some questions, always have!!