It has been a couple of days since I have posted.  I had to take a break.  We had a guest from out of town and then we have been preparing for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I am back at least for today.  I know it will be a busy week.  

Tonight I am thankful for my family members that I have known and loved who are no longer with us here on Earth.  I am thankful for the memories and the time we had together.  In particular my grandparents.  

Grandpa Marchal was a hardworking dairy farmer who loved his family and liked to kid around with us.  I have fond memories of visiting the farm and poking around the milk parlor and the barns.  He usually had Scwhann's icecream bars in the freezer too and shared them with us.  He loved fish and all things fishing.  He could tell a good story too especially about fishing.  

Daddy Joe and Gay Gay spoiled us as grandparents like to do.  Not too much, just the right amount.  They always had special treats for us like the small boxes of cereal.  I still remember what my grandmother's vegetable soup tasted like after a 12 hour drive to her house.  It was usually followed by her chocolate chip cookies.  I remember the smells and the warmth of her house.  All the little knick knacks and the oil lamp.  We loved to watch the oil run down the sides of the lamp.  I remember the sounds too.  There was always music on the large wooden stereo.  My memories are all of Christmas music since we were usually there at Christmas time.  The love and joy in everyone's voices as we hugged and kissed and caught up on everyone's life.  My Daddy Joe's great big hugs that lifted us off the ground, even as adults.  I could go on and on and I've already shed a few tears writing this post so will have to stop.  

I am so thankful for the memories and love we shared.  

Tonight I am thankful for our friend Jeff who drove 5 hours to come and spend time with my husband this weekend and go to the football game tomorrow.  We'll see who's team wins.  They're on opposing sides.  They both also love playing board games and are logging some serious gaming hours this weekend.  Their friendship spans decades as they have been friends since they were kids.  

We're glad to have you visiting with us Jeff.

If you would like to participate in 30 Days of Giving thanks, you can link up your posts at Blessed Beyond Words.

Tonight I am thankful for a kind gesture that I experienced today.  I pulled into the parking lot at the same time as another Mom to drop my oldest off at preschool.  I had the younger brothers with me and would have had to take all three in which takes 15-20 minutes.  The other Mom offered to take my son in with her son.  My son was happy to go with her because he is good friends with her little boy.  I was so appreciative because I still had to take my middle son to his preschool.  This saved me a lot of time and hassel not having to get the younger boys in and out of carseats and in and out of the building.  The other Mom often has two younger children with her too and understood what a help this would be.  

Thank you, Lisa.  You were such a blessing to me this morning.  

Visit Walmart.com and watch a quick video to score this $3/1 Huggies Diapers printable coupon.  You may be able to print it twice.  Remember my post earlier about the diaper deals this week at CVS.  Use this coupon to get an even better deal.  

Thanks Deal Seeking Mom for sharing the coupon.

I try to post this by Monday each week.  Oh well, better late than never.  

Here is our menu from last week since I will probably never be organized enough to plan a week ahead.  I hope you find some inspiration and I would love to know what you are having for dinner.  (I need some inspiration too.)  Feel free to share your menu ideas or links to your favorite recipes in the comments.  

Monday:  Split pea and ham soup, Bread machine buttery rolls
Tuesday:  Leftover soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Wednesday:  Pork roast, homemade mashed potatoes, peas
Thursday:  Mashed potato soup with lots of bacon
Friday:  Hamburgers, homemade onion rings, sliced tomatoes
Saturday:  Italian beef, homemade potato salad, sliced tomatoes
Sunday:  Leftovers

Tonight I am thankful that I got to shop at the grocery store with only one child.  There is a huge difference between shopping with three children and shopping with one child.  My afternoon had been a little crazy with two active little boys who just weren't getting along.  I needed a break and we really needed some things from the store, but I wasn't about to take the boys with me.  

The older boys did everything they could this afternoon to irritate each other.  Mostly our three year old enjoys irritating our five year old, who then retaliates and then we have a wrestling match.  They were like this all afternoon until they saw a dead bird outside the picture window and turned into little zoologists.  They couldn't wait to go outside and see this bird.  I was thrilled to send them outside, but told them not to touch the bird.  I hope they listened.  Oh well, Daddy gave them baths tonight so they're clean now.  

Anyway, when the hubby came home around 5:30 I took our youngest and went to the store by myself.  It's so much better this way.  I can actually concentrate on what I am doing and it's so much easier to use coupons (I use a lot of coupons).  The baby enjoyed seeing everything for most of the shopping trip so it was actually kind of enjoyable.  When I have all three boys with me or even two it's usually stressful.  Tonight the baby did great until we got to the checkout and had to wait in line forever.  He was desperately trying to climb out of his special baby seat cover until I broke open the new package of oreos.  Two oreo cookies later we were done and on our way home.  

If you would like to participate in 30 Days of Giving thanks, you can link up your posts at Blessed Beyond Words.  

I have made other onion ring recipes before, but I really like this recipe because these were easier to make and held their crunch better.  I used both panko crumbs and bread crumbs and have to recommend panko crumbs in this recipe.  Both are good, but the panko crumbs give a nice texture and crunch that is a step above regular bread crumbs.  My five year old who always proclaims that he does not like onions loved these.  We had to limit him so that he would eat the rest of his dinner.  These are truly great onion rings.  For a special treat, top a hamburger with some BBQ sauce and then some onion rings.  Delicious!

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).
2. Separate the onion slices into rings, and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are all coated; set aside. 
4. Whisk the egg and milk into the flour mixture using a fork. Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then place on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping. The wire rack may be placed over a sheet of aluminum foil for easier clean up. 
5. Spread the panko bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow dish. Place rings one at a time into the crumbs, and scoop the crumbs up over the ring to coat. Give it a hard tap as you remove it from the crumbs. The coating should cling very well. Repeat with remaining rings.
6. Deep fry the rings a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to paper towels to drain. Season with seasoned salt, and serve.

Slightly adapted from Allrecipes.com.

Tonight I am thankful that my husband did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen after dinner.  I didn't even ask, he just did it and there were a lot of dishes.  I am also thankful for our bountiful table.  The Lord provides.  I made a big turkey breast, sweet potato casserole, rolls, and stuffing.  It was delicious and the best part was not having to clean up afterwards.  

If you would like to participate in 30 Days of Giving thanks, you can link up your posts at Blessed Beyond Words.  

Tonight I am thankful for a productive day.  I am listening to an audio book about adultescents (22-35) year olds who haven't quite grown up and are still heavily dependent on their parents.  One of the common characteristics of this group is their lack of cleanliness.  They tend to leave messes everywhere in their apartments, homes, and even their parents homes (many of them live with their parents).  I heard this chapter of the book this morning as I was driving my boys to preschool and was inspired to clean up my house.  

I started with the 1st floor bathroom and cleaned it top to bottom.  This is all I got done in the morning and then I had to pick up the boys from preschool.  My husband even got into the act and scrubbed the much neglected shower.  After I returned with the boys we had lunch and then returned to our cleaning mission.  I cleaned the kitchen a couple of times today and did a couple of loads of laundry, but we do that everyday.  

I decided we would tackle the upstairs.  The boys room was so bad we could hardly walk through it.  Toys and books everywhere.  I spent a long time helping the boys put their stuff away.  It takes them forever, but they are learning to pick up after themselves.  I have been really bad about putting away my clean clothes and the boys clean clothes.  There was a laundry basket full and piles all over my room.  I spent all afternoon working up stairs and got most of the boys and my clothes put away.  I still have to put the babys clothes away, but I have to rotate sizes first.  It was an enjoyable day as it feels good to get things done and the boys room is spotless.  I still have some work to do in our room, but it has come a long way.  

My husband cleaned out the garage then fixed the phone line upstairs which had been damaged and even hid the cord under the floor.  

It was a busy and productive day.  We need to have cleaning days more often.  Luckily we had a fridge full of leftovers so we didn't have to do any cooking tonight.

I hope you had a great day too.  What are you thankful for today?

This is the week to stock up on diapers at CVS.  If you spend $30 on CVS brand diapers, Huggies, or Pampers you earn $10 in Extra Bucks.  This includes Goodnights, Pull-ups, and Easy Ups too.  If you printed the Goodnights and the Huggies coupons that were on coupons.com a couple of weeks ago, this is a good time to use them.  They are no longer on coupons.com so I hope you printed them.  There are a few new coupons on coupons.com so it is worth checking them out.  

Huggies and Pampers brands are $10 a pack
CVS brands are 2 for $14

I used two Goodnights printable coupons saving $2 off each pack of Goodnights for a total of $4 in savings.  Then I used a $3 printable coupon off of Huggies Snug n Dry diapers.  They do not have the Huggies Snug n dry diapers in this size package at my CVS, but the coupon worked on a package of Huggies Little Movers.  I was able to save $7 off with coupons and got $10 back in extra bucks.  This is like spending $13 for three packs of diapers.  Plus I already had $12 in extra bucks which I used towards this purchase.