a taste of spring

lunch is over
tummy's are full
sun is shinning
trees and branches are telling me it is windy outside
hmmmmmm


let's go fly a kite!!

off we go to the park with the dragon, the shark, and the 3$ cheapy kite. What a fun time we all had. I mean all of us. We attracted kids like magnets.

running
laughing
playing
riding
swinging
climbing
pulling
yelling
rolling
jumping

is it spring?

We played and played at the park for 31/2 hrs. The kids dropped into bed at 8:30 begging to return tomorrow for more of the same.

A good day.

anything new?

its been a while....

Valentine's came and went....such a lame holiday I think. I have never really liked it much. Russ was a good doobie and got the girls in his life some beautiful roses. REd for me and Pink for the princess. I was going to get a photo, but they wilted the next day.......so much for that.

Other things that have been happening.....

We tore out the west facing bedroom wall to put insulation and reframe, and re-sheet rock it. That was really the happy valentines I wanted!!! I'll post a photo later. Work has stopped. AGAIN!. unfortunately. maybe in the next month or so, he'll get another bug in his bonnett and do another something to stop the nagging on my end. Oh how i wish I had the $ to have someone else refinish everything. What is really irritating is he helps lots of other people do their finish ups and doesn't ever do his own.... at least he knows how to do things like this. I should be grateful for his talents....

complain complain complain

Mom & Dad are in Arizona for 3 weeks, they left on the 12th. When your world is shaken or altered for some reason be it small or large, it makes you grateful for what you do have. I am so thankful for parents who are so willing to help out with my kids so I can work part time. I talked to my parents tonight and they both told me how much they have missed having Kamryn around. They see something and say, oh wouldn't Kam like that, or let's get that so Kam can play with that. Knowing this helps me see that I'm not the only one benefitting from this arrangement. They have the opportunity to get to know their grandkids in a one on one way. I'm glad it's working out. This fall when Kamryn goes to school will be a hard one for all parties involved for sure.

Good news...we took down the mondo huge King Canopy Lodge Pole Pine bed in our bedroom. Horray!! I have enjoyed it, but it is definately time for a change. Russell's feelers were a little wounded, because I said I didn't really want it anymore....he made the bed for one of our anniversary's---can't remember which one anymore. Anybody want a bed??? Right now it's in our living room.......wonder how long it's going to be there. No I really don't want to know that.

I made buckeye cookies today. For New Beginnings tomorrow. mmmmmmm

Whenever my mom takes cookies anywhere, she makes these. They are so yummy.

here's the recipe.

Buckeye Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 large packages Reeses mini cups

Cream together first 7 ingredients. Add flour, soda, and salt. Roll into balls (or use small scoop) and place balls in mini muffin tins. Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes (do not overbake). Remove from oven and immediately place an unwrapped Reeses in the center of each cookie. Place pan in freezer for 4-5 min. or until set. remove from tin and place on rack to cool. These freeze well if separated by wax paper between layers. YUM!

Please don't lick the screen....it leaves a nasty tongue print.

EEEWWWWW

After lunch. Kam's going through her amazingly-huge-for-preschool-valentine goodie bag and I decide to make some sugar cookie dough so it can chill til the boys come home so we can make cookies. Well, when I grabbed for the 2 half full containers (1 low fat, 1 regular---I always mix) one of them came out with some bonus sticky slime on the bottom. It curiously smelled of garlic. hmmmmm. I think I have a small problem. I continued to investigate and I discovered the culprit. Minced garlic in preservative oil stuff that you buy at Costco (strangley reminds me of formaldehyde), but will last you for 3 years. I don't really like the stuff, but some was given to me in a tupperware. There it was, leaking all over my fridge.



Now I'm not the tidiest person, but I do like things clean every once in a while, and at any given moment I can tell you what is in my fridge.....or so I thought.
I found a lot of things that shouldn't have been there. 2 Gogurts that expired Oct 10 that was stuck behind the drawers. A single packet of Tilamook cheese from who knows where with a date of 4/16/07. What? Yes I do clean out my fridge every year or so.... But the most amazing thing I found was this.





Care to venture a guess as to what this is???



Well it happened to be hiding behind the eggs, smashed beside the gargantuan pickle jar from my favorite warehouse store back in the netheregions of my frigidaire. EEEeeewwwwww!
It was squishy and slimey, and thank goodness it was contained in a ziplock bag. It was sporting all the lovely colors of spring! Well, it was a sweet potatoe left over from Thanksgiving!!!!!! I have this horrible habit of saving everything. (right Zalia?) I save so many things I tend to forget about them. Oi vay!

For the next hour I proceded to clean out the rest of my dear appliance. I didn't encounter anything else abnormal, except baked beans left over from the superbowl, and some casserole from last week the kids dubbed "glue in a crock pot". (I thought it was quite tasty though) I did find an exciting blott pattern on the floor of the fridge.....under the drawers. It looked to be contents from a disgruntled bottle of soy sauce, kind of a crispy puddle with black ooze marks coming down the back wall. Nasty!!


So, now it's clean!
All the throwaways are piled in the sink ready for me to deal with them.
Horray.
The dough is made and chillin.
Now Kamryn's sugar high is really getting on my nerves.
Off to vaccume.


What's the strangest thing you've found in your fridge? Or am I the only disgusting person out there....

is the day over already?

so I am wondering how in the world every day goes by soooo fast??

just a few minutes ago I was fixing dinner, then before I knew it....it's 9:00 and time for the bed and blanket show. for the kids that is.. I wound up doing so many things today I forgot to squeeze time in for a little cardiac stimulation, on the treadmill I went. It really sucks when everyone else is in bed and the 10 o'clock news comes on and I still have 1/2mile to go.

Ok you fitness addicts, is it better to excercise 3o minutes everyday or 1 hour 3 days a week? Is there any difference? Quantity or duration? What say you?

Oh...I fixed a very quick and yummy dinner tonight. Our family loves Pasta Roni, but 1 pkg is just not enough for us, and I totally admit I'm a cheapskate.....so, I found a recipe on Food network and tweeked it a bit, and came up with this.

Pasta side dish

2 cups water
3/4 cup milk or cream (I used 1% milk)
1-2 TBL butter (I used 1 and it was fine. could sub EVOO if so desired)
2 bouillon cubes ( I use the costco chicken base. You'll never go back to granules)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp basil
ground pepper
2 cups pasta (rotini, angel hair, linguini, curly noodles, etc.)

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. let boil 15-20 minutes until desired doneness. May need to add more water until pasta is done. (I did)
It was sooo yummy!! You could do almost anything to fit your taste. The garlic was divine!
Next time, I'll do parmesan cheese and a dash of nutmeg for maybe a fettucini twist.

I also made this old standby

Seasoned Chicken

chicken breasts cut into 2-3 pieces each.
1 sleeve crushed Ritz crackers
1/2 pkg Italian dressing mix (or Ranch drsg mix)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Mix crushed crackers, dressing mix, and cheese together. Roll chicken breasts in crumbs generously and place on cookiesheet ( if it's not stoneware, you better Pam it). Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until done. The kids love this. You can serve it over pasta with sauce, or just plain. My kids dip everything in ranch dressing, so that is always an idea.
Tonight I didn't have any Ritz, but I did find less than half a pkg of croutons and just smashed those up. I didn't add any dressing mix because they were already seasoned. It worked out pretty good. It was great because I started dinner at 6 and it was on the table by 6:30. A little broccoli and a glass of milk and wah la!


I must sleep now. My previously sweaty body has now been thouroughly chilled by the fan in my bedroom and I'm anxiously awaiting my flannel sheets.

TTFN

not much going on

So my life is just kinda there right now. We're status quo. That's a great thing though. I'm not complaining at all. I reflect on those days when I had so many things going on, so many things to do, and I like this place so much better. Kids are playing & laughing. house not cleaned, me not worrying about it. radio on. laundry done. time to blog and facebook. yeah. I like it this way.

I went to Costco the other day---and discovered a great time to go.....3:30pm. All the mommys are at home with their kids just arriving there from a day of schooling, the lunch crowd is gone, the workers are at work, the others have come and gone. I tell you I parked in the front and passed many empty slots. it was great. I found some things I want. not need. but want.

One is a Salad spinner. It looks pretty cool, but my family doesn't eat salads, only me. so it probably wouldn't make any sense to get one. But it's really awesome!! I tried to find a phot of it....but spended way too long.

Another is new tupperware. I want to get rid of all my old warped yellowed stuff I got for my wedding and buy a new set.

a sofa with a recliner on each end. brown leather. yup. i want this.

I can't remember what the other thing is. I better go again and make a list this time. Man I tell you Alzheimers is progressing to stage 2 now. Pretty soon I won't be able to remember what I had for lunch.

Has anyone tasted the chicken cashew that comes in a frozen mix? I want to try it, but don't want a whole bag if it's gross.

what I learned

Chocolate is a necessity.....well, it isn't really, it's just very important to me.

I craved sweets after every meal, even breakfast.

gum really helped curb my craving. and having an assortment of sugarfree gum is also a nice treat.

My favorite flavor of crystal light by far is cherry lime.

I didn't snack as much this last month...amazingly, and when I did it was almonds, or apples & cheese

I lost 5 pounds. Despite increasing my fried food intake a lot. rings, fries, potatoe munchers, oh yah, I didn't let myself feel guilty about anything else.

Russell is very cruel. He taunted and teased me with chocolate bars. rubbing them on my lips before I could excape his evil wrath. (this is what I had to put up with)

I really missed baking and fixing fun desserts for my family.

I will probably do it again....maybe in march. or april. or august.

I eat way tooo much sugar and chocolate.

I will make better dessert choices.

So, i really did learn a lot from sugar free January. I do need to focus on being more healthy and making healthier meals for my family. Don't tell anyone, but I am actually enjoying excercising 3 times a week, and I hope to do it more often.

So, not sugar free anymore so.............

look what I made today.

YUMMMM

I ate 4 with reckless abandon. One right after another, with a tall glass of milk of course. These are my friend Barbara's monster cookies. She gave me a layered mix for Christmas and I have been saving them until now too. Oh they are good. peanut butter, oatmeal, M&M's, chocolate chips.

oh yeah!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMmmmmm

So here I am, Saturday night planning what I'm going to indulge in first. a Reeses for breakfast, cookies for lunch and ice cream for dinner.....when my sweet husband reminds me it's FAST SUNDAY@!!!
yeah...
crazy.

so after all that.
I ate a reeses.
it was divine. I swear I heard music aaaaAAAAHHHHHH!

I savored every morsell.
then I had another.
then a leftover Christmas caramel.

then we went to my mom's where I had these:

Won Ton Yummies

1 pkg won ton wrappers
1 lb ground sausage
1/2 cup onions
2 cups shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack and cheddar)
1/2 cup Ranch dressing

Brown saugsage with onion. drain grease. Mix in cheese and dressing. Place won ton wrappers in mini-muffin tins and place 1 spoonful of mixture in the center. Pinch wrapper together. Bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes. YUM!

and this:

Queso

1 brick Velveeta cheese
1 bottle salsa (approximately)

cut up cheese into cubes and melt in microwave/crockpot. Add salsa to taste. We like Pace Picante medium. Add as much salsa as you want. serve warm with chips. We like homemade chips. (cut up corn tortillas and fry in oil, then salt to taste)
I could drink this stuff!!

and for dessert, I had cheesecake.
yum

Coming soon to a blog near you----what I learned from sugar free January.