Freezer Meals

Does anyone do freezer meals? I have been doing a little research on freezer meals (often referred to as once a month cooking) and I think its a great idea. By NO means do I want to cook just once a month, but I would like to make and freeze 3 meals a week. I teach until 8 pm twice a week and would like to have one extra meal hanging out for the night I just don't feel like cooking. So, for those of you that do freezer cooking, I have a few questions:

• Do you have any favorite freezer meal recipes? 
• Are there any ingredients/meals that don't freeze well?
• How do you wrap your freezer meals so that they don't get freezer burn? 
• What day (or days...or time of day) do you find easiest to cook your meals? 

Thanks ahead of time for any advice you have for me! Hope everyone had a good weekend.

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA for...ever. We went to Houston for a couple of weeks (it was GREAT and makes us want to hurry up with school so we can get back to TX) and then came back and started school the next day. Since starting school I have been BUSY with the opera and teaching and Bryce has been spending lots of hours in the computer science lab getting his projects done for his 3 CS classes. And we've both been sick... yuck! Basically, we are just trying to survive until we get another 3-day weekend or some sort of break. (That's probably not going to happen until Thanksgiving break, which we're spending in Houston!!).

I will try to be a better blogger... we have lots of fun and exciting things coming up this semester that I will be documenting, time permitting!

New Year, New Post

So we have been extremely busy since I last posted. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Provo with some of our best friends, finished major projects, took finals, and drove to Houston. We have spent the past two weeks with my family in Houston and are incredibly sad to leave for Utah tomorrow, but we have to get back to life. On our trip we have :

1. Gone out to eat at some of our favorite places (Miller's, BJ's, Gringo's, Taco Cabana, Chinese Buffet, etc.) 
2. Watched as our cats got braver around my parents new Belgian Shepherd puppy (at one point when I was playing chase with the puppy around the kitchen island, Harry came bolting in to my rescue, hissed, smacked the dog in the nose and then started to chase after him... it was hilarious)
3. Did a LOT of shopping
4. Went to Corsicana to see Bryce's brother and sister-in-law, nieces, cousins and aunt and uncle. It was a really good visit and we were able to spend time with those that we rarely see anymore and meet our newest niece. 
5. Chilled around the house with family

Tomorrow we are leaving to go back to Utah and start school again (on Monday...YUCK!). Some upcoming events this semester:

1. Well, before upcoming events, I must say... I kicked grad school's butt! I got all A's (one A-, but that's still an A of sorts). Bryce did really well this semester as well. 
2. January 8-9: Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition Competition
3. January 9: Classical Singer Competition Audition
4. January 12, 14, 16: BYU's Young Artists of Voice Competition 
5. February 10: "Night of Opera" duet recital with my friend Amy. We will sing a few arias each and some duets together. 
6. February 17-20: BYU's Winter Opera. We are doing 4 one-act children's operas, so its not like normal opera scenes. I am in Chicken Little and I play Duckie Doodles.

It will be a busy start to the semester. Since it is a new year and new decade, I figure I should make a few resolutions. I want to post them here so that I will be held accountable for them... they're not just in my head floating around and not getting done. These are my New Year's Resolutions:

1. Get in shape. I don't have class or teach before noon or later except on Fridays, so I plan to go to the gym M-Th mornings and Friday afternoons. I also plan to eat healthier, which is hard when you have no time like I did last semester. 
2. Stick to my cleaning chart. I made a chart a while back with daily, weekly and monthly chores. They have not gotten done.... like ever. But it is a lot easier to do a little everyday than have to spend a whole day (or 2, or 3) doing everything, so I want to be sure to stick to it. 
3. Make all A's in grad school. Although I got a 3.95 instead of a 4.0 (pesky A-), I want to work my butt of some more and go for all A's until I'm done... only 3 more semesters.
4. Budget. We don't really stick to our budget very well, which is bad. Our budget usually consists of "we don't have money to go grocery shopping until payday, so we're living off raman noodles for now" or "oh crap, bills are due". We have set up a budget a few times to see where we stand, but we need to start accounting for our purchases. I love Excel, so I'm going to set up a budget spreadsheet and start keeping track of all of our purchases. Hopefully it will be like keeping a food journal... we will spend less because we're having to take the time to write it all down. I should probably start a food journal too. :)

Hope you all had a great 2009 and are looking forward to an even better 2010! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Too Long

Okay, I am a horrible blogger. A LOT has happened in the past few months, I have just been too busy to blog about it. Well, first of all, I graduated from college and started my Master's Degree this fall. It is a 2 year program, so I should be done just about the same time Bryce finished is Bachelor's in Computer Science. Oh yeah, Bryce has switched from doing a computer science minor to majoring in it. He LOVES his classes. I am so happy that he has found something he really loves and is good at (and that will make good money). The semester has been flying by. About the biggest thing that has happened is that I was asked to sing a piece with the Wind Symphony. I was able to sing for the Instrumental Showcase, a shortened version for Homecoming Spectacular (which will be on BYUTV!) and I will perform it once more for the Wind Symphony concert this coming Friday. It was a wonderful learning experience and great exposure. I also have some fun craft projects I've been working on. I will get some pictures up soon!

Sorry for the absence...

I know I haven't blogged in like a month. I own up to the fact that I'm a neglector (yeah, that's not really a word) to all of you who actually read my blog. But, here are some of the things that have happened recently that I will be blogging about in more detail soon:

• Spring Term and my cooking class
• My Senior Recital
  
• Classical Singer Convention weekend in Chicago
• Kristen (little sister)'s wedding in Houston
• BYU's Spring Opera (I was a lead in The Impressario)

Okay, so I have a few posts to do...you know, blogging is like laundry.... if you don't keep up on it all the time, one day you turn around and all of your underwear is dirty, but you still don't have time to do anything about it. I promise to be better.

No Time

I really have no time to blog right now, but a lot has been going on. I have a three-day weekend coming up, so I will update about everything and get back on my normal schedule after that. Basically, I am just sick of opening up my blog and seeing a post about Chritsmas in February!

Can you tell we're busy?

So it has been WAY too long since the last time I blogged. A lot has happened in the past month or so. Here's the update:

• I got my car back. Yay! But as soon as I got it back I had to take it back to the auto shop to have them fix something in the back that was making a weird noise. That is all fixed and now it is making another weird noise. I am taking it back in either tomorrow (if they're open) or Monday. 
• I started Fall semester of school. It is going well so far. I am taking 3 classes and then I have voice lessons and opera rehearsal once a week each. It is a pretty nice schedule. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am done at 3 (even after working). I only have class from 9-11 everyday. Jealous? Haha.
• We painted both of the bedrooms and the living room and dining room. They look really beautiful. The extra bedroom, living and dining rooms are all this pretty tan/sage color and our bedroom is blue. I am cleaning tomorrow so I will post some pictures of the finished product. We still need to paint both bathrooms (upstairs is going to be the same blue as our bedroom and downstairs is going to be the same as the living/dining room), the kitchen (pale yellow), and the stairwell (tan/sage also). I can't wait until it is all finished. It is so much better than white.
• Bryce got a new job. He starts next Wednesday. He will be working at the local DI processing donations. Well, that will be his job at least through his beginning "review period". After that month or two there is a really good chance for promotion to a lead. This job is awesome because they will pay for his school books (History text books get expensive) and they offer benefits like health insurance. 
• We have been to the first 3 BYU football home games. The team is doing well. They were undefeated last season and remain undefeated. They have the longest winning streak in the country right now. Pretty cool, huh? Even cooler is that 2 of the main players for the team, the 1st string quarterback and one of the first string receivers are in our ward. All I can say is they better not screw this season up... we know where they live!

Other than that, not much has been going on. We are just keeping busy between work and school and doing stuff around the house. I promise that I will post more consistently now that I'm in the groove for this semester.   

Neglection

I know it's not a word, but that is what I have been doing to my blog. I have had a crazy month and I promise I will post the rest of my England pictures with explainations as well as pics from our California trip and Illinois trip....yes, very busy. I've also been working on some crafts that I'm dying to show off. Anyway, I should start the blogathon tonight or tomorrow. You'll all just have to wait in anticipation until then!

Hectic

Life is really hectic right now. Bryce and I just barely get back from a wonderful vacation and had one day to recover before school and work started again. I have not even had time to unpack and fold clean clothes. Why do I always have to be so busy? I am only taking 2 classes and a half hour piano lesson each week and then working, but it is just so much. I just can't figure out if I'm doing too much or if its just because I haven't gotten back into the swing of things since getting back from vacation. All I know is that life needs to come together so I can have time to practice and study and relax. I was thinking I would be able to do that this weekend, but I have to work from 10-1 on Saturday and then I need to prepare for Primary on Sunday, since I haven't sung with the kids in a few weeks. Plus it is my week to lead the opening since the Sr. Primary Chorister has done it for the past 2 weeks. I need to make time to make flashcards and listen to my Music History pieces since the test starts next week. Yes, I have my first test the 2nd week of class. Plus I need to get everything ready since Bryce and I are going out of town for the 4th of July. We will miss 1 day of class, but that is like missing an entire week during summer term. Last of all, I was looking so forward to Friday Night, Craft Night with Kileen, but I came back to work to find out that the complex's Summer Social (which the office is throwing for the tenants) is Friday night, so we can't scrapbook. I need to let all of this energy out somehow, and scrapbooking or sewing is my way to do that and now I have to let it build up for like 2 more weeks because I won't be here next Friday. I do feel a lot better now that I have gotten this all out in the open, but hopefully I can feel all the way better soon and get my life in order.