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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sunny Sunday

Today is a beautiful,sunny day! We made it through all the storms yesterday and the worst that we got (at least in my neighborhood) was a few limbs blown down and the bushes looked like the wind whipped them pretty good. I need to go out back and check on my little garden patch and see how it fared. I took a few mins this morning to highlight my hair. I usually let my neice do it for me. She works at KUT N UP salon at Bonita Lakes mall. If you're there and need a haircut or color,go see DONDI-she will fix you up! Before she got her job at the mall,she would make housecalls and cut my son's hair and either color or highlight my hair. That was sooo nice! LOL She really spoiled me-plus she would give me a good family discount! ;) But at the salon,she's kinda locked into their prices. A few months ago I went and it was $75 for my hightlights. OUCH! LOL I needed them badly now,but couldn't quite fit that into the budget right now,so I decided to do it myself. I'd done it before,but they had never quite turn out how I want. I bought a new brand this time and was a little more relaxed and just went for it. Not to be braggin' on myself,but I love my hair! It turned out great--just what I wanted! Sorry,Dondi! LOL I should go to beauty school myself! When I was about 8-9 yrs old that's what I wanted to do--style hair. My barbies got regular new "hair-dos" lol. One time,my nephew helped me chop off all the doll's hair! It's so funny-he still remembers that to this day! LOL He is married to Dondi.

This afternoon,my son's music class is making drums-he is so excited. Then on Friday,at music they are having story time and will use the drums to help the story teller tell the story. That will be fun.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Monday~Monday

We had a dentist appointment scheduled for Zach today,but he has had a fever since yesterday evening,so I didn't want to "share" anymore germs at the dentist,so I called and re-scheduled. He isn't as grumpy as he was yesterday,but on the grumpiness scale he's about a 7 so far this morning. The weather can't decide if it wants to rain or be sunny. We desparately need some rain. The hubby wants some sort of "shepherd's pie" for supper tonight-quick/easy. I'm going to go investigate the freezer and pantry and see what kind of veggies/sauce choices I have. I found a quick/easy recipe for a icy dessert that sounds just YUM. I might even try it today. The blogger at COOKING FOR A VEGAN LOVER calls it "BANANA SOFTSERVE". Basicly,you take 3 frozen bananas,fruit,"milk" and some sort of "nut butter" and blend till smooth. I have a freezer full of frozen bananas just screaming to be used,so this might be our treat for the day.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday April 18,2010


The infamous Hubby and kiddo watching MARLEY & ME





Tinkie---snoozing on her back under my pillow with her feet sticking up in the air--sometimes she sleeps like this and hugs the pillow





My goofy kiddo making an animal mask





Earth Day Poster I made




Today was just the kind of Sunday I like---nice and slow and relaxed.The husband slept till after noon. Zach and I worked on putting up laundry and I tried to get a short nap in LOL but it didn't work,so I started some more laundry. Laundry is a never ending saga in our house. Later in the afternoon,Zach and I made his animal mask for his music class. We actually made 2 so he could play with one now and then still have one that was still in one piece for music class. They turned out cute. I tried to get a pic of him wearing it and he wouldn't have anything of that. He's been grumpy all day,complaining of a sore throat. A slight fever started early this evening and he was asleep before 8:30,so I know he doesn't feel well. We have a dentist appointment tomorrow and if the sore throat is still here in the morning probably a visit to the pediatrician also. I hope he doesn't miss music class. I also worked on getting all the printables and worksheets printed out for the Earth Day project our homeschool kids are doing. We are cleaning up one of our favorite playgrounds and having snacks and fun activities afterwards. Zach wants to read an Earth Day book to the kids. I made Earth Day posters,necklaces,printed out mazes and coloring sheets. I also got the kids seed packets and the things needed to plant a flower and take it home with them. I am so excited! It was all my son's idea. About 2 weeks ago he came to me asking if we could help clean up the Earth for Earth Day. AWE!!! He had seen something on Nick Jr about it and wanted to do something,too. So I got to thinking that it might be something that our other homeschool group kids might enjoy too.

Friday I got into the sweet tooth mood (thanks to mother nature's monthly visit). I pulled out two boxes of low fat brownie mix from the pantry and made a huge batch of HUGE brownies. Now don't frown at "LOW FAT BROWNIES". They were delicious. I set a batch aside for grandpa and moved the rest to the other side of the house--if I didn't the brownies would have been all eaten that evening! Saturday afternoon,the hubby came looking for the brownies. I think he ate about 4 when I gave him the stash LOL. He gave a few more to grandpa and we polised the rest of them off this evening. He asked me to make them again. My brownies usually turn out "OK",but they are always kinda "off" somewhere. These were FABULOUS! He said from now on when I make brownies-"do what you did this time" LOL. AND I WILL! Gotta keep the hubby happy. ;)

Friday, April 16, 2010

Fabulous Friday

HEY,Everyone! Remember that workout dvd I told y'all about a few days ago. Well,I think it's a keeper. My Thighs are soooo sore that I can barely go up/down stairs without assistance! As soon as I can lunge again without major pain LOL I am going to start doing it on a regular basis. Maybe this is a workout I will see results with-still doing the bike mostly every day,but not seeing the fast results I was hoping for. Maybe doing this along with the bike,I'll see SOMETHING that looks like results!

Today we played hookey and went to the movies. I took my god-child (grown up now) and my son to go see HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. I think we all had fun. The movie was interesting,but now looking back on it the story line should have explained some things a little better,but for a kiddie movie, it was fun.

The hubby asked what was on the AGENDA for tomorrow? I don't really know. I told him I wanted to do "as little as possible" LOL and I mean it. I have a few baskets of laundry that need to be put away and I need to wash the few new things I picked up for myself and Zach today. Other than that,I DO NOT want to do much more-other than walk the dog maybe LOL. I got Tinkie a new leash that we need to try out. Maybe we will hit the park tomorrow. We'll see. HAPPY WEEKEND,FELLOW BLOGGERS!!!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wednesday

I swear,if I didn't love the hubby so much I'd hit him hard with something....LOL Just the other day he agreed with me that we were spending too much on take-out and that we should "DO BETTER". And today when I was asking him what he wanted for "supper",he said "I don't know.....we could always get take-out". GRRRRR LOL I'm in a losing battle here. He and grandpa love this little place down a few blocks from us called NEWS Restraunt.So that's what they got-two HUGE hamburger "steak" plates with gravy,onions,a roll,and french fries. I usually get chicken tenders if I eat there,but have been getting sick every time I eat there,so I realized it wasn't worth eating it if I was just going to "lose" it later,so the past few times I've passed on News Restraunt. Now I'm not knocking their food-it's delicious--it just doean't agree with my digestion or allergies-or diet plan lol. I nibbled on chicken salad on pita crackers till I figured out that's not what I wanted-then I made an "ELVIS" sandwich on whole wheat rounds. I did 20 mins of the Valerie Bertanelli GAIAM workout dvd--GOING TO BE SORE IN THE MORNING! I did pretty good-was able to follow most of it-except when they did the floor exercises. I spent half the time shooing the POOPER out of my face LOL she was sooo excited to see me down on her level LOL. Earlier in the day I did a 4.5mile workout on the bike. So today was a pretty good exercise day.

** I love GAIAM-they have lots of great eco-friendly workout items and lots of yoga dvds (even for us beginners).

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tuesday 4-13-2010

I've been tired all day today-not sure why. I'm planning on hitting the bed after the hubby leaves for work in just under an hour. For dinner tonight,the guys got BBQ boneless pork chops. Nothing fancy,just poured some leftover bbq sauce over them and baked them. I pulled a couple out for me so I could just season them with salt/pepper. I made brown/wild rice (minute rice) and kale/spinach gratin for sides. For the spinach/kale,I poured half a bag of baby spinach in a pan with some chicken stock and let that cook while I washed/chopped the kale and a few garlic cloves.All that went in with the spinach and cooked down a bit.When it was done I drained whatever liquid was left and added the remainder of a small tub of light sour cream and a handful of cheese.I mixed it up and put into a casserole dish and baked a few mins until the cheese was melted.No pics tonight because it was eaten faster than I could get the camera out. LOL

****DON'T Forget to get those taxes in the mail on time now! :)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Monday~Monday



The picture doesn't do this meal justice-it was delicious!!! And even though here I added turkey,the next time I am going totally meatless with this recipe.It was delish!!! YOU SHOULD TRY IT!





Today was a busy day. I had to run a few errands-stop by bank,pay the water bill.I hit the fabric/craft store to find something springy and pretty to go on the front door,but didn't see any new wreaths I liked,so I just picked up a few things that looked like I could use them for our upcoming homeschool EARTH DAY gathering-more on that in the days to come. We stopped at Chik-Fil-A for lunch so Zachary could eat something besides McD's and still get a chance to play. LOL-he had fun and ate a little. Our last stop was WM where I picked up a few more planters for the front porch,more seeds,and a bag of dirt-amd other other boring items LOL. After supper,Zach and I went out and put a little marker beside each plant with the name on it. I marked what I could in the garden,but there are a few things coming up that I can't quite tell what they are right now. LOL When I planted,I didn't have anything waterproof to mark them with,so I just marked the rows with straws. I got a planter of catnip planted today and another bigger planter of lavender planted today. Now I just have to get a few ferns to hang and I think I'll be done with the porch.

I really didn't feel like putting a whole meal togetherthis evening,so the hubby and grandpa got one of those enchilada freezer meals (hey-they like them!).Zachary got some pasta and a pbj "burrito--he ate most of the burrito. I wasn't hungry and planned on just nibbling on the chicken salad I made the other day,but I got to flipping through some blogs online and found a sloppy joe recipe. I'm allergic to tomatoes,so if I have sloppy joes,I have to make them from scratch. I found a version that called for lentils. I added a little turkey to it but next time I plan on going meatless with this-it is totally filling without the turkey. I didn't really measure when I added the ingredients-I just added until I liked how it tasted. I think it's basicly the same recipe another mom shared with me a few weeks ago. I'll have to pull out that recipe and compare. The recipe I followed "somewhat" is from HERE.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Exhausted Saturday

Got up early with low blood sugar-50s. If I go into the 40s I feel really weak and shaky.I got up and ate and checked it later and it was 300 something.I hate mornings like that! Went back to bed for a few more mins sleep but it didn't happen. (the blood sugar did level off by mid morning-guess something was just out of whack today) Got up and got a shower and hit WalMart for a much needed re-stock grocery store trip-got a bunch but still ended up forgetting some things. Came home and unloaded it all and went to Sam's. We had to make a stop at the other WalMart across town because grandpa needed something from there. I picked up a couple of corn sprouts and 2 more veggie sprouts and a few little purple violet plants there,but couldn't find what I was originally looking for.I looked at both WMs for either MINT seeds or MINT plants and neither one had them. I picked up some BASIL and THYME plants and seeds for a few other herbs. I called LOWE'S and they didn't have MINT either. I remembered a little plant place that's on the same route the hubby takes to work every day-PLANT THE EARTH. I called and they had mint-so we got up and headed out again. I bought 3 APPLE MINT plants and 2 "regular" MINT plants and a hydrangia bush. I had the intentions of planting it all today but it didn't happen. I did get all but 1 mint plant into a planter box that's going on the front porch. I want to try MINT TEA. I've never tried it and saw a recipe on foodnetwork for an apple-mint spritzer drink that I want to try. I also got some CATNIP-I wonder if the neighbor's kitties will sniff it out and come play on our porch. I hope my little herbs do well this year-I usually have BAD luck with herbs.LOL After a quick lunch,we went out to where I used to live out in the country to shoot at targets. The shooting range where hubby is a member was closed today. It's been a long,long time since I've shot the pistols,so I was pretty rusty-most of the shots made it on the target but not all were where I wanted them to be LOL. The pistols rub my thumb nuckle so they aren't very comfy to hold-they are heavy too. My poor little hands weren't made for holdin' those big old guns (bats eyelashes very southern belle like)LOL. The hubby wants me to learn to shoot for self defense reasons and I was supposed to take a special "learn to shoot" course for women this spring but it just never happened.

Friday, April 9, 2010

GOALS

I joined WW a few months ago and lost some weight,but that has come to a stand-still. I'm doing good exercising every day-I love my exercise bike! I average between 4-10+miles a day and on good days get 2 workouts in during the day. I still have trouble with stress eating. Even today,as I told myself that whenever I feel stress sneaking up on me, that I would turn to the bike instead of the fridge--LOL Didn't happen-the bowl of jelly beans from Easter got the better of me. But I promptly took them to the other side of the house and stuck the rest of the holiday candies into the freezer. Out of sight-out of mind and mouth! I have come to the decision that I am going to start over-let go of all of my "intentions" and just start fresh. I'm going to start a food journal-not only for WW,but for health issues too. It hasn't been happening so much lately,but sometimes I'll eat something and almost immediately after eating (sometimes as little as like 15 mins)--I'll feel it not sitting right and I'll get sick.(in other words BARF) I was beginning to wonder if I had gluten problems so I had that tested and even though the results came back negative,a friend told me that it could still be the gluten. Crazy,I know! But then I have a ton of allergies. I'm allergic to just about every tree/weed there is around here,carrots,tomatoes,blueberries,AND ROACHES!! Yes,ROACHES-they tested me for that! ICK what a horrid thought!! Thankfully I don't have an infestation problem. So I'm leaning toward it indeed being some sort of allergy or intolerance. And the easiest way to see a pattern (if there is any) is to do a journal. I'm starting that tomorrow. I get so frustrated that when I do see any weight loss because each month Mother Nature sabotages me.No matter how GOOD I stick to the plan,each month I put on about 5pounds and lately not all of it has been going away when SHE does LOL. I need to get into the mindset of PUTTING MYSELF FIRST and realizing that I can be a better mom/wife/teacher if I am healthier. I think that's a hard thing for alot of women to do. Wives/mothers tend to put their families ahead of themselves. That's just part of the nurturing side of females,I think. I know I've been guilty of neglecting myself.

On the Homeschool Front



We have about 3 lessons to complete and a handful of misc pages to do and we will be FINISHED with this book! YAY!



We can't wait to start this new workbook!





I just realized today that we're almost at the "traditional" end of the year-we school all year round and take "breaks" as needed. I'm trying to get a few workbooks finished up and get a head start on what we need to order for when we start our 2nd grade studies. I think I've basicly got all the workbooks except for one or two,but want to get a good microscope since Zach's getting all interested in science. I have one picked out-just gotta set aside the $$ and order it.

Zach is just about finished with SPECTRUM SPELLING-grade 1. He pulled out the SPECTRUM SPELLING grade 2 book today and was looking through it. He said "THIS IS COOL,ISN'T IT? IT'S HARDER TOO RIGHT?" I told him yes it was but it was for 2nd grade-not 1st like he was in now. He's all excited about going up a grade. I love to see him excited about studies and learning new things. He was working in the spelling book late last night (I think it was a ploy to stay up later LOL)- and did some contractions (was not= wasn't) and he got them all right without me having to remind him how to do them. I was so proud! Getting him to do any sort of handwriting has always been a challenge,but lately I can see a big improvement in his work. He has started writing sentences on his own too. YES!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

What is your favorite brand of Iced Tea?

Iced tea is a staple of any respectable Southern Table. And my house is no different-we go through a TON of iced tea. I make fresh just about every day. Right now I go from Luzianne to RED DIAMOND brands iced tea. The hubby prefers RED DIAMOND,but I can drink both and be equally happy. What is your fave brand of iced tea?

Thursday April 8th 2010



cut up 3 half slices of bacon and cooked until brown and crispy--added a few handfuls of spinach and cooked until wilted down a bit--removed from pan and placed into large mixing bowl--added 2TBS of light sour cream and a few sprinkles of pamesan cheese--added the pasta and mixed well-ended up adding in a few more handfuls of spinach because it didn't look like just enough--poached two eggs and served on top--DELISH
based on GIADA'S CARBONARA.





Turkey,quinoa,low sodium black beans,and 3/4 jar of spicy mustard





THANKS to PIONEER WOMAN-just got her cookbook a few days ago and LOVE IT--only had one kind of olives on hand today so I just used the black-I'm not big on either olives or mayo LOL but I decided to give it a try-not bad...pretty good.....



Chick-pea burgers (can't remember where I found the recipe-if I do I'll share)
2 cans of garbonzo beans (drained-rinsed)-few TBS of chunky peanut butter--process well and shape into patties--LIGHTLY dredge in flour and "fry" in oil.

These were pretty good-still looking for my fave veggie burger.Even with the peanut butter these were a little dry-tasty but dry.My readers will have to send me their recipes for veggie burgers....PRETTY PLEASE!?



Wednesday, April 7, 2010

wednesday menu

Today I scratched enough stuff out of the pantry to make a "medium size" batch of "happy husband chili" for the guys. Hopefully it will feed them tonight and tomorrow. I made myself a huge batch of black bean/turkey/spicy quinoa. It'll last with only me eating it through the weekend. The kiddo did great homework/studies today-he even did math without complaining! After reading,math is his best subject,but he still complains about having to do it! LOL We went out and watered the plants and the garden patch. I have little sunflower sprouts coming up and what I think are carrots coming up-I didn't have anything to mark my rows and I've kinda forgotten where everything is. LOL We'll have to see what it is when it gets bigger. I planted turnips,eggplants,sunflowers,carrots,and elephant garlic. I am going to start some squash plants inside and transfer them out once they get a little bigger. I need to pick up some kale plants too. Just gotta get to the store--sooo glad the weekend is getting closer...

Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter weekend...........monday menus

Well Easter 2010 has come and gone.It was a good one spent with family and friends,but I was just sooo tired.Zach had fun running around and playing with other kids and hunting easter eggs.We took Tinkie with us this year.She had a good time but I think she over did it--it was the first time for her to be out in 80+ degree heat.She came home and just laid around all mopey like.She was poopered-out.She's back to herself today-running around looking for trouble with zach.I didn't cook an Easter dinner.The hubby got up and wated the preverbial fave dinner (KFC).I cooked the ham today and boiled up another bunch of eggs and made ham salad.I was browsing some of the blogs I read this morning and this just looked sooo good that I had to try it.I got the recipe for HAM SALAD here. I can't say I've ever eaten a ham salad sandwich,but I think I will tomorrow.I didn't follow the recipe fully,so I will put my variation at the bottom of the page.I was in the mood for a chicken salad sandwich today.And since my fave little specialty store is CLOSED on Mondays (BOOOO! lol),I tried to make my own version of their salad.It was pretty good but just not the same. LOL We really need to go to the grocery store for a big re-stock the pantry trip LOL.Hopefully we will be able to go in a few days.


Instead of the mayo in both the chicken salad and the ham salad,I used poppy seed salad dressing-a few TBS of it (didn't really measure)-I like my "salads" to be wet but not drowning in the liquid.In the Ham salad,I didn't use the mustard or the relish because the dressing was kind of tangy and I wasn't really in the mood for onions anyway.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Unofficial skeckers spokeswoman

I definately need to see if I can get a job promoting these skecher shape up shoes! Everywhere I go,people come up to me and ask how I like my shoes. I was in the salon friday morning getting a quickie manicure and was bombarded LOL. Everyone is so curious about them. I LOVE THESE SHOES!--I can't say enough good things about them. I just got my 2nd pair about a week ago and they are winners too! I don't know if I can tell a difference in my legs/butt like the commercials say,but they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I have every worn. And I am not big on paying a whole lot for shoes-especially tennis shoes,but these shoes are definately worth it! Check out Masseys shoes they have skechers and a whole lot more-clothes and accessories-alot of goodies! I'm not a spokeswoman for them either,but they have great stuff! I've ordered from them for the past few years.

10 years and counting.............

Well,today was the big day. 10 years ago I met the man of my dreams on a blind date. We were set up by one of my sisters and her husband.We lost "BIG JOHN" about 2 years ago and I've been thinking about him alot lately.He's probably up there sitting on a cloud laughing at me down here. What ever possessed him to get the idea of setting us up together. Well,it was a good idea-we've been together 10 years-through the good,bad and the ugly LOL. I ordered the same meal we had on our date for lunch today.It was good-but definately more food than I'm used to eating lately. And I didn't have to cook-that was a plus! After the kiddo goes to sleep,the hubby and I are going to have "movie night" and watch THE BLIND SIDE. That is,IF the hubby can stay awake-he's been yawning for the past few hours.LOL He's still working night shift and is used to sleeping all day. He has a long weekend so he hasn't been sticking to his usual sleeping schedule.He'll pay for it on Monday LOL. We haven't had a "date" in toooo long LOL. We've gotten into the "comfortable" parenting/working roles of day to day family life and have kind of neglected each other lately. That's easy to do in a marriage.

Tomorrow is EASTER. We will go out to an inlaw's house out in Toomsuba and do a giant egg hunt for the kids.There will be probably 100+ eggs for just a handful of kids. Most of the "kids" in the family have grown up and have kids of their own LOL. There will probably be about 5-6 kids young enough for the egg hunt. My son is ready. He's been talking about it all week. Well,this Easter Bunny has to go put out a basket and get ready for her date. I hope everyone has a great holiday filled with family,friends,and lots of spring cheer!