Scrumptious Sundays

I thought it would be fun to start posting our weekly menus again. It can be a struggle sometimes to find inspiration in the summer, the heat just seems to zap it right out of me. Hopefully some of you will find it useful and inspiration as well!

For breakfasts and snacks, I made the following today to last us through the week: Egg Frittatas, To-die-for Blueberry muffins (that's the actual name!) and baked cinnamon bites.

Source: handletheheat.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Source: sugarandspice-celeste.blogspot.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Source: ohmysugarhigh.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Monday: Crockpot Italian Shredded chicken. Sorry no picture from pinterest, this is my own recipe. I'll snap a shot to share though!

Tuesday: Tomato-balsamic meatballs, make ahead garlic bread and Parmesan peas.

Source: crepesofwrath.net via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Source: ezrapoundcake.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Wednesday: Baked Penne with Chicken, Broccoli and Smoked Mozzarella and side salads.

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Thursday: Grilled Island chicken with rice, roasted broccoli and side salads.

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Friday: Chicken Lo Mein with side salads

Source: crepesofwrath.net via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Saturday: Bubble pizza

Source: food.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Enabling Shoppers

I have two really awesome websites to share with all of you today.

Before I go on though, just in case the title wasn't clear, I should note though that this is definitely an enabling post. :) If you are trying desperately not to shop...you might not want to keep reading.

Now that this is out of the way, let's move on.

There are two things I find very frustrating when shopping (this would be besides not having an unlimited budget but that is neither here nor there). The first is when I buy something and right after I buy it, it goes on sale! Ack! So annoying! Particularly when I'm not religiously tracking it (because seriously, who has time for that?) and by the time I discover it, the measly 7 day price adjustment period is over or my size is already sold out!

Seriously, the only thing worse than everyone else spending half of what you paid is having every size but yours available.

The second frustrating point I find with shopping is an online shopping irritation. Can anyone explain to me the point of websites having product pictures but no option for customers to shop online? I'm looking at you Zara and H&M! I fail to understand why all clothing retailers have not joined the current century's technology. If you have stores through out the US, you should have enough money to join the web. Please and thank you.

Thankfully, there are new tools cropping up to help consumers get around both irritations.

The first website is Sees The Sale.



Fairly new to the playing field, this is a site that lets you track items that you plug into your wish-list and it will alert you when the item goes out of stock/comes back in stock AND goes on sale! A genius website! I have been searching for an option like this for years! Other sites allow you to select brands and input your size to be alerted about sales, but this website lets you get down into the nitty-gritty of your wish-list.

I have been using it for awhile now and I am happy to say that it works and has a pretty fast turn around! The shops available are somewhat limited right now but they are brand new and seem to be adding new sites pretty fast. Anthropologie and Jcrew are already options available (among others). There are no referal credits or any of that nonsense that comes with a lot of the membership sites, so you can be assured that I am recommending this because its just plain awesome. Add the link, select your colors and sizes and you're all set, it's so easy to use, why would you not test it out? :)


The second site is Suddenlee, a site that allows you to shop from over 300 different retailers and pay one shipping fee for next day delivery. So for sites that exorbitant shipping fees **cough**Anthropologie**cough** or for sites that haven't joined the current century Zara**cough cough** there are now options! This is genius folks. Next time Pippa Middleton wears some gorgeous frock that I so desperately need, I don't have to call around to 20 different Zara's trying to track it down...ahem, not that I've done anything like that.

I'm a big fan of sites that exist solely to help the consumer out and save us money. What are some of your favorite money-saving sites?

Wednesday Tidbits

It has been a very busy couple of weeks and quite honestly I don't even know if I know why, I think it's just been a lot of little things that have kept us occupied.

The whole family was out of town until the weekend so we were looking after two houses instead of one, couple that with a heatwave of temps 110+ and heat indexes 120+ and there was quite a bit of watering and pet monitoring while they were gone.

Even amidst the drought like conditions and stink bug infestation, my tomatoes are flourishing! We've been enjoying lots of yummy bruschetta and fresh tomatoes in just about all our meals. I have a really yummy recipe incorporating the bruschetta that I hope to post soon!

Hubs and I have both had medical stuff to get out of the way and so there have been appointments and follow-ups to coordinate with each other as both of our appointments necessitated the others presence. So glad this is all done now.

I've been doing a new work out routine every day for the past week and a half other than one day where I could tell my body was at the max and working out would have been too much. I've been impressed with how much I look forward to it every day and how I can already feel and see the difference in my body. This pretty much results in me prancing around the house all evening and informing my husband that I am hot. :D

This morning when I walked out the door it felt like Fall. Definite chill in the air, sunny but with a cool breeze, it was quite the tease! It still resulted in me pinning a gloriously fun fall shopping list. There will be lots more to add as we get closet to the season I'm sure!

Speaking of shopping, has anyone indulged in the Nordstrom Anniversary sale? I've held out thus far but I'm in need of a couple of basics and have found a few other items piquing my interest that I may toss in for the free shipping. What is everyone's consensus on capes? Particularly these:

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

I waffle back and forth. The top two do look comfy but is it too tent-like? Any thoughts? Would love to hear some opinions...

Marketing Genius

Today is a Monday. Not just a Monday but a Monday...one of those sort of days.

It probably has something to do with the fact that I tossed and turned the entire night last night, and don't recall ever actually falling asleep. Or it could be that I am so incredibly sore from a new workout that Hubs and I have been doing.

Either way, getting up and going to work was tough this morning. On the off chance that a few of you are experiencing similar Monday drags, I thought I'd share this bit of marketing genius. Hubs and I get a kick out of every time it pops up on the USA network.

I giggle every single time! And sadly? Hubs and I identify quite a bit already with those parents!

Silk Slips

Earlier this summer, I discovered a magical dress. Comfortable with a bit of stretch, breathes nicely, doesn't wrinkle, doesn't require a bra and it comes in beautiful prints. Sold!

Exhibit A:

Slip Dresses by ourlifeaccounts featuring flower dresses

I love the modified v-neck and flowy-ness around the waist. I featured the one in the middle in my earlier summer stylings post but it is the one on the left that truly has my attention. There is something about the minty green color and flowers that I just can't get enough of.

You can imagine my delight when they released the same pattern in another color, a grayish-tealish-blue. Closely following my gasp of delight was the realization though that now I would have to choose!

Source: anthropologie.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

Something about the blue version screams more fallish to me then the minty version but when I tried to figure out how I would style it for the season, I sort of blanked. After a bit of messing around in polyvore, I came up with the following (which I think could worked paired with some lovely sheer tonal tights):

Verdant Slip Styling by ourlifeaccounts featuring slouchy boots

(Yes, every now and then I like to match my accessories...sorry, it came with the orderly type A personality) What do you think? Did I completely miss the mark? How would you style it? And which one would you pick?!

Organizing Your Health

These days, keeping track of your medical history is no cake walk. Anyone who has dealt with any sort of medical problem or condition probably knows what I'm talking about (fertility anyone?). General physicians, specialists, blood tests, prescriptions, insurance billings...it's a flood of paperwork and often times very little communication between physicians, resulting in redundant tests, incorrect billings and prescriptions clashing.

With several job changes that occurred within close proximity, there were a number of insurance, FSA & HSA changes that threw our "organization" into a tailspin.

So, in keeping with my organization mood as of late, the Health Management Binder was born.

This project has several more tabs than the last one I showed you but had a lot more going into it. No pictures as there wasn't much to see other than a simple binder, tabs and lots of paper. :)

I divided the binder into the following categories:

Hub's general physician
My general physician
OBGYN
Specialty medical tests
Dermatologist
Acupuncture
Insurance
Family history
Immunizations
Medical Waivers

The first six tabs are structured with the most current information in the front. Insurance "these are not a bill" mailings, bills and doctor reports are all clipped together for each visit. In the front of each applicable section I've included a summary sheet that I update periodically. For example, for my general physican summary sheet, I listed the dates of visits, line or two on reason for visit, prescriptions (if any) and any test results.

The immunization category I found a simple template online to track the dates received.

The Insurance tab lists current medical information (account numbers, various contact numbers, plan details) along with the past few proceeding companies (since we've changed so much). This is also where I track FSA purchases, reimbursements, claim forms and keep copies of the receipts.

The family history category I found various documentation online that I customized to contain all the documentation I wanted to be sure we had records of.

For the medical waivers, we used Quicken WillMaker Plus 2011, which contains the health care directive and power of attorney documentation.

I took a weekend to organize the mass amount of documentation we had (since college, even some high-school!) and shred what we didn't need. It is so nice knowing where everything is now and being able to have the information right at my fingertips!

PSA: Making Decisions for your Health

Medical emergencies are horrific, there's no way around that. But did you know that in many states, if something were to happen to you or your spouse that rendered one of you unable to speak up for oneself, the other spouse and family would be helpless to make any decisions.

Take my neighbor for example. Had she not died, but ended up in a coma or even been rendered mentally handicapped, her husband could not have legally made decisions for her care UNLESS they had jointly written up and signed a "Durable Health Power of Attorney" previously.

We recently encountered a scary situation where family friends did not have this particular set-up in place. The wife had no prior medical or mental instability history but a number of circumstances piled up and she snapped one day out of the blue while her husband was at work and kids were at school.

Her care necessitated that she be medicated, however, in Maryland, when someone is ‘committed’ that does not grant the doctor the right to administer medication against the patient’s will (though in some states they can). In fact, in order to get permission the doctor has to request a medical panel to present the patient’s case. The panel of doctors/social workers does not evaluate the necessity of the medication or it’s probable efficacy given the facts, but rather whether or not the patient represents a ‘danger’ to themselves or to others types of medications.

In this particular situation, the patient was deemed to be lucid enough in front of the panel to make her own decisions. This, even though she was incredibly delusional and every time they can get her to take meds she starts to get better and then refuses all medication and goes off the deep end again. When she goes off the deep end, she refuses food and drink and any other sort of care but there is nothing anyone can do. The whole situation has been been going on for more than a year now and has even gone to court.

Legally, the hospital can only allow the husband to see her during visiting hours and he is not allowed to be privy to any details to her care due to privacy and HIPAA regulations. This is not just in cases of mental illnesses but also in situations of unconsciousness and comatose states.

The last thing you want when going through a medical emergency is having to fight for your right to care for your spouse but many people don't know there are laws like this in place (as evidenced by the fact that the majority of the population does not have Durable Health Power of Attorney established) until something happens and they end up fighting against it. So consider this my PSA. Do yourselves a favor, especially if you have kids. Write up a Durable Health Power of Attorney and file it away safety away with your will (please tell me you have one of those too) and pray you'll never have to use it. It's super super easy to do, if it seems to complicated and over you head, there is software available that can walk you through it in under an hour.

I'm curious, any of you already have one?

Postpartum Recovery Gone Wrong

It's been a few weeks now since I posted about my neighbor passing away after giving birth. When I originally posted, the autopsy was still in process and there was a lot of uncertainty over what had gone wrong. The natural assumption was a pulmonary embolism or blood clot as the likely culprit (my immediate thought as well).

However, the initial diagnosis by the hospital (and relayed to us by her husband) was that it was caused by an infection that spread rapidly and undetected until it resulted in cardiac arrest.

This was indeed the final determination of the autopsy.

The details of the findings are extremely scary and something I think most of us don't tend to really think is that possible in our modernized society. I think we all acknowledge that there are risks involved in any type of medical procedure but this? This was a silent killer and there wasn't anything that could have been done differently.

My neighbor went into labor and gave birth naturally at a very well known and respected hospital. During the birthing process, bacteria gained access to her uterus. This was not due to lack of sanitary conditions or procedures incorrectly followed at the hospital. The bacteria is apparently an extreme form, relatively new and highly resistant. We were told that the hospital stated that there were no tests that could have been run to detect the bacteria in the beginning stages. Keep in mind, she worked here. Some of these people were co-workers and friends.

After the birth, she recovered nicely and was sent home with the baby within a few days. During this time frame, the bacteria began to multiply rapidly, spreading throughout her whole body, still undetected. The day she died, less than a weeks time from giving birth, she woke up feeling a bit off. While getting up, she passed out on the floor and was immediately rushed to the hospital.

By the time she arrived at the hospital, her kidneys had shut down and other organs were beginning to fail as well. As she was being rushed into emergency surgery to try and save her, she went into cardiac arrest and they were unable to resuscitate her.

It's scary to hear about the various new antibiotic-resistant forms of bacteria that are cropping up. Scarier still to realize that as of now, the medical community has very few weapons in its arsenal to fight back with.

I don't want to post the name of the bacteria here and end up with paranoid people googling and coming across this story on the blog but if you want to know the name, you can feel free to email me for it.

In the meantime, prayers for this young family would be greatly appreciated.

Sweet Peanuts

Edited to add: You can take an additional 10% off your order with Zulily Promo code "COUPREF3559". Thanks to my friend Kelly for the deets!

For all of you moms and mom-to-be's, the amazing baby sale website Zulily has one of my favorite brands available today: Sweet Peanuts!

They make some of the cutest clothes and it's been my go-to brand lately for baby gifts (along with the requisite baby shoes).

Really, even if you don't have kids yet, I think it's hard not to be suckered in by this brand!

Sweet Peanuts: Girls by LifeAccounts on Polyvore.com

Sweet Peanuts: Boys by LifeAccounts on Polyvore.com

All of the clothing shown here plus many other styles and prints are 50% off and more.

This is the second time I've seen Sweet Peanuts featured since I've been a member of Zulily and I can never resist it or the Trumpette socks! Do check it out if you're looking for baby gifts or to stock up for your own kiddies. I stock up and I don't even have a little munchkin yet. :)
Happy Monday everyone!

Organizing Your Life One Step At A Time

I've been slowing chipping away at our mass paper & file organization. Old systems that once worked have clearly hung on for far too long and resulted in important documents missing in action and way too much extra stuff that doesn't need to be kept.

This time I tackled a project that has gone through a few transformations: The Home Inventory & Manuals/Warranties project.

When I first started this project, we had a file folder in the filing cabinet where all the random manuals were tossed. Receipts were filed separately in a receipt filer. We also had random manuals scattered around the house where they were more accessible: tv/blue ray manuals kept in the entertainment console, kitchen appliance manuals tucked away in cabinets with the appliances... As a general rule this worked, but there were enough exceptions that I got tired of spending time looking because I couldn't remember which rule I had followed for that particular item!

My first attempt was to gather up all the manuals and corresponding receipts and organize them in a binder. This has been a popular project around the blogosphere already, and perhaps we just have too much stuff, but as you can see, this didn't work too well:



A lot of the manuals were too heavy for the plastic holders. Some of them are so ridiculously thick that they started to rip the plastic down the side. Others weren't a perfect 8.5x11 and stuck out the top of the binder.


My second attempt turned out much better:


Using a file box, each item got its own labeled manila folder. The manila folders were then alphabetized and grouped into the rooms they are currently kept.


I have a summary printout of the home inventory stored in the back of the file box in case I need to look something up real quick and I also keep a copy of this stored electronically. You can read more about the inventory process I have been working on this year here. Its so nice to know that I'll be able to easily find something when I need it and not have to worry about misplacing any important documentation. Its also nice not to have that file folder exploding out of the file cabinet anymore!

When What You See Isn't What You Get

I fell for this necklace while doing a little online browsing a few weeks ago. Even featured it in a number of my summer style polyvores.

image from here

I saw it again when I was at the mall and noticed a few of the necklaces weren't quite as perfectly round as the image above but mostly it was just due to where the stone was cut and attached to the necklace. The colors and shape were extremely similar to the above pictures.

When the necklace went on sale, I ordered it online and just in case, I ordered a number of them, so that I could pick a favorite if they weren't all round.

Here's what showed up:



Not a single one of them has the same colors as the one online or in the stores. Instead of purples, I got a lot of browns, greens and whites. I'm still deciding on which one to keep but the ones towards the left side are currently topping my list. Which one is your favorite?

A Little Touch of Honey

Welcome to all the new readers from Blue Eyed Bride! Erin was so kind to feature my meal-planning binder, I hope you all enjoyed it and were inspired to create your own system. I have several more organizational projects that I have been working on to share here so I hope you all will stick around!

Today's post features one of our family's favorite recipes. I have been wanting to share them here for awhile but haven't had the opportunity to make them and grab pictures before they were inhaled. I made these rolls for the first time right after we were married and they have become a staple ever since. I can't believe I've never blogged them! They were requested by my family for a birthday celebration over the weekend and I grabbed a couple of pictures before we headed out the door. It's a good thing too since we didn't have any leftovers!



Honey Glazed Rolls

Roll Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 packet yeast (instant works best otherwise you'll have to proof the yeast)
1/4 cup honey
3 T vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
4 cups bread flour give or take a few T (I have used all-purpose in a pinch and the rolls still turned out ok)

Glaze:
1 T honey
1 T butter

Combine warm water, yeast, honey, oil, salt and egg and mix well. Add in 3 cups of flour and mix with an electric mixer until combined. Add the remaining cup or so of flour until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl in a nice ball and is no longer sticking to the sides. Using a dough hook attachment, knead the dough until elastic and smooth (about 8-10 minutes on low speed).

While dough is kneading, lightly oil a bowl for the bread to rise in. This will help the dough from sticking to the sides while it rises. Once the dough is done kneading, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat the dough. Cover tighly with lightly oiled plastic wrap and place in a warm area to double in size. Depending on the warmth where the dough is rising, I've had this take anywhere from 1.5-3 hours.

Once the dough is done rising, place the dough on a floured surface and knead a few times. Cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Shape the rolls into 16 balls and place in a lightly-greased baking dish. I like to use my pampered chef stones for these rolls and I need a 9x13 and an 8x8 in order to get them all to fit and not be too squished. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise for another 20 or so minutes while the ove preheats to 400^. Melt the butter and honey together and brush the glaze over the tops of the rolls right before popping them in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Friday Feature: Sperry's

It's been awhile since I've done a Friday Feature but I just couldn't resist today. Are any of you familiar with Sperry's? If not, meet the worlds most comfortable boat shoe.

Or, if you do not have a boat (we don't!), a great walking shoe with arch support that is cute, comfortable and doesn't require any break-in time.

I'm partial to the Angel-fish style myself. I love the feminine twist with the cropped front and different colors.


I started with this classic pair a few years ago and I still wear them all the time. Vacations and trips involving lots of walking, they are one of the first pairs of shoes I reach for.


I absolutely adore this nautical pair and I think they would be fabulous paired with some white cropped jeans and a flowy top ala:

Source: polyvore.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

These pink ones are also adorable but I wonder how easy they would be to keep clean? I tend to wear them when I don't want to have to worry about my footwear.

These next two pairs I think would be fantastic for the fall! Leopard is a neutral..right? Right.




I'm also really digging these darker colors, I think they would also be great for the fall-winter months, particularly the black pair! I could see myself reaching for those all the time, too bad they don't come fur-lined! ;)

Source: polyvore.com via Jen | Life Accounts on Pinterest

These definitely rival my Toms in terms of comfort. I actually find these to have better arch support than the Toms, not to mention they are much more durable with the rubber soles. Anybody else own any Sperry's? I know the metallic ones are quite popular!

Menu Organization

Over the weekend I worked on several organizational projects to help simplify life and eliminate all the wasted time searching for that missing item.

The first project I put together was our menu planning binder. I've been planning our menus monthly since the beginning of the year but each month it was a bit of a chore to put together. One of my goals with meal planning was not to repeat too much of what was done the previous month and also carry over any recipes that we might have skipped. Each month during meal planning this meant I was rummaging around gathering up all the previous menus and marking what we had or had not eaten. The process took way too long and I was worried I'd loose the menus. Plus during the month I occasionally would misplace the very recipe I needed that night! We just have too many papers and recipes floating around in a small space!

Menu binder=problem solved.

Currently I have the binder divided into 4 separate categories:

The first tab contains the monthly menus, ordered with the current menu on top and all the past months behind it for easy reference.


The second tab is our grocery lists. Each month I make up the grocery list while menu planning and then after we shop I fill in where we got each item and what the price was. This gives me a good idea of the general price point we're paying for items and who generally has the best deals for it. If I get it on sale or have a coupon deal, I make a note of it here. During the month, if I get any good coupons, I also stick those in this tab so that I won't forget them the following month while out shopping.




The third tab contains all the planned recipes to be cooked during the month-main courses and any sides, in order of the menu.


The fourth tab contains any "extra" recipes: desserts, muffins, appetizers and any other treats that I'm considering making and want to make sure I have ingredients on hand for.

And there you have it! Project #1 crossed off the list! Anyone else tackled this project?

Edited to add: Here is the link for everyone who has asked where the pretty calender pages are from. She also has a lovely birthday calender that you will see in one of my later projects!

Mary Mary How Does Your Garden Grow

The only thing better that an weekend is an extended weekend. :) Hubs and I enjoyed a glorious 4.5 days off over the Holidays and it sure made it tough to go back to work! There was lots of lazy lounging about the house, home cooking and grilling in abundance and several projects started from the list!

We also put a chunk of time into helping my dad in part of the mass kitchen remodel underway. New flours (gorgeous hardwood!), cabinets, appliances, everything! Its been a long project since the house had to be jacked up to put in new supports but our fingers are crossed it will be marginally functional when the family makes their return first thing Thursday morning (functional means a sink, stove and fridge, which may well be plugged in/rigged in the middle of the floor-no promises on anything beyond that).

Long ago, I promised pictures of the garden. I actually these pictures a month ago the first time I broke out the new camera, so I actually need to take some updated shots now, but you'll at least get the gist of it!

It makes me smile when I walk out on our porch everyday!


The hanging baskets


A partial shot of the Dahlias in the planters lining the porch railings


Another partial of the Dahlias in one of the planters, we got so many pretty colors!


We also nestled a barrel half with Dahlias and some pretty red foliage in one of the corners. I plan to add at least one more of these possibly even a few next year.


The bottom plant with the orange (Nasturtium) had just started to bloom when I took this shot, it has now morphed into a beautiful curtain of flowers cascading down the side of the pot. The middle plant is double ruffled Petunias, the color variety was called peppermint swirl, how could I resist?!? At the top is a pretty red and white striped specialty Dahlia. I had never seen them striped like this before but it makes for a very cool looking flower, it always draws compliments from visitors!


Part of the Herb garden (basil, purple basil, Italian parsley, curled parsley, marjoram, chives, cilantro and oregano-not show is the cinnamon basil) , next year I plan to combine them in a couple of barrels to allow them deeper roots.


Close-up of the Portulaca flowers in Margarita and Tequila mix! Such pretty delicate flowers and I particularly love that the small little plants offer up a variety of colored blooms, each new bud is a surprise! They were just starting to bloom here and they are now covered in bright beautiful flowers!


Hosta, pink Bleeding Hearts and Impatiens in a variety of colors


Impatiens, double-ruffle Petunias & double-ruffle Begonias




Out of control Zinnias


Watermelon plants


Yummy tomatoes & peppers (my future bruschetta/salsa)

I was worried I would have a black thumb with so many plants, in the past I've managed to keep a small number of plants alive but never quite this large a brood. So far it's been incredibly successful though and Brent and I are already mapping out several above ground gardens for next year so we can go completely organic in the summer!