Prayers

 Please take a moment and  pray for Jeremy Hoke and family on the loss of his wife.  Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for all of them.

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

Sounds like a case of the Mondays....

I had a case of Monday's today....

Maybe it had something to do with our nice relaxing weekend coming to an end?  Or maybe it had to do with Parker getting sick last night and running a temp today and still sick?  Wait...maybe it had to do with us being really busy with work today....we have a very important week.  No matter what the issue was today, I kept thinking about the movie Office Space.  I forget how much I love that movie, but I just could not get this quote out of my head as I was rushing through my day:

Peter Gibbons: Let me ask you something. When you come in on Monday and you're not feeling real well, does anyone ever say to you, "Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays?" Lawrence: No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man. 

This quote my friends sums up my day.  Needless to say, I was mentally exhausted and skipped my 8:30 volleyball game, WHICH I NEVER DO!!  We also had pizza night, which normally doesn't happen until the weekend, if at all during the week.  

Being home tonight coddling my sick child and visiting with my husband, who I can't thank enough for putting up with me today has already got me in the mood to kick Tuesday's butt!  I needed that time holding Parker and spending time with my husband to distress and just be thankful for another day that I have with the both of them.  Tomorrow will be a better day!  

Being sick really wears you out!

 

Hello Followers ... It's been a long time ... since I wrote you...

I can't believe February 2nd was my last post!  Awful!!  Thanks to Adam Dean for calling me out.  I deserve it! 

Here are few things that have happened in the last two and half weeks:

• My parents celebrated their 30th Anniversary!!!!
• I attended Kerris Osborn's Dove Chocolate Party (mmmmm mmm good)
• I have played Monday night volleyball for the last 3 Mondays. Losing 2 games and winning 1.
• Brett, Parker and I dined at Reichart's in South Jacksonville the week of their Ribbon Cutting.
• I was fitted for Brandon and Jill's Wedding and bought my shoes!!
• Attended a Lions Club Meeting, Roar!
• Was part of the Lions Club Reverse Raffle, we had lots of friends attend! 
• Attended my soon to be sister-in-law's bridal shower... yeah!
•   I have still continued to work at Lonzo's on Thursday's and Saturday's.
• Ate at El Rancherito with my in-laws, Brett and Parker for Brett's birthday
• Celebrated Brett's 29th!
• Celebrated Valentine's day at home with a meal that I prepared for my boys!
• Parker turned 10 months.
• I managed to go to Fitness World ONCE! 

Whew, what a whirlwind.  But wait .... there's more!!!!

Parker has hit a new milestone, he is starting to pull him self up and actually kind of walk with things.  Today I bought him a convertible car/walker and he seems to really be getting the hang of it.  These last few weeks with him have really seemed to have flown by.  I can't believe how fast he is growing.  We are enjoying him so much! There are no words to describe how happy he makes us! 

Parker helping Mom in the morning!

Laughing with Grandpa

My cousin Ryan's Marine Graduation party

SNOW DAY!!!!!

WOW!  What a busy week I had last week.  I really wanted to blog again on Sunday but I was beat!  After my long work week and working the whole weekend my time was spent elsewhere... with my family.  I promise I will make it up to all of you =)  

Last week, I spent most of my week preparing for Jacksonville Main Street's Bridal Expo.  Our booth turned out great and I was able to speak with many brides about booking hotels and coming to us for information.  Thank goodness for my friend Ashley, she really saved the day by being there with me.  Out of all the Sundays, this one was our busiest! We went to Church in Oakford that morning and Brett and I taught our Sunday School class after our service.  Parker was able to sit in on his first Sunday School class.  The kids really enjoyed him being there. 

I hate to say this, but I kind of enjoyed our blizzard.  I was able to work from home, spend time with Parker and Brett, cook some meals, and clean my house.  No matter how old you are snow days can still be fun.  Minus the shoveling!  I suppose you can look at it as two more days that have brought us all so much closer together.

Bridal Expo 2011

Winner of our $500 basket!!

Standing at the end of our driveway

Parker watching Mommy and Daddy

Brett Shoveling the sidewalk. 

Parker was starting to get bored!

Sunday Funday

Whew! We made it through the rest of the week and now our weekend has come and gone.  I hope some of you have tried my new recipes that I posted this week.  

Today we went to Springfield and got Brett measured for his tux for my brother's wedding in April.  While we were at the mall today we had a couple of things happen:

1. Parker peed on Brett in the back of the car while he was changing him.  Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me to open the door when I did ....  whoops!  For those of you that have boys, you know what cold air does to their little tushies.  
2. Brett and I broke down and had a cookie from the Cookie Factory. (shame on us!)
3. Parker took his first ride on the Merry-Go-Round and he loved it!  
4. I also found an awesome deal on pajama's from The Children's Place. The PJ's were already marked down from $10.50 each to $7.99 and then you got an additional 50% off of the price marked down.  This made them $3.99 each.  I also had a 15% off coupon.  I was able to buy 4 pairs of PJ's and a super cute winter hat for $18.06 (this included tax) Two of the PJ's I bought big enough for next year because they were Christmas!  

Next in our trip we went to Sam's Club, which I have a few secrets to tell you about. If any of you have some better tips for me I will gladly take them!  

• I have found milk is usually cheaper.  Today I paid $1.90 per gallon.  I normally go ahead and buy two and I choose the furthest expiration dates out.  
• PRODUCE, PRODUCE, PRODUCE!!!  We got  3 lbs. Bananas, 3lbs. Broccoli, 6 Peppers, 6 heads Romaine Lettuce, 6 Tomato's, 8lbs. Oranges, 12oz Blackberries, and 12 Kiwi.  If you eat a lot of broccoli you can get 3lbs of fresh broccoli for $2.94.  I also have an E-Value card and I was able to get $1.00 off of an 8lb bag of Navel Oranges costing me $6.88.  
• Also, with my E-Values card I was able to get $2.50 off of the Healthy Heart Lunch Meat.
• Always stock up on baby food here, unless you have coupons that can beat 62 cents a jar from your normal grocery store. Parker is now on level 3 food which without a coupon at Wal-Mart the other day I paid 68 cents per jar.  
• Parker just started eating the Gerber Yogurt Blends and at Wal-Mart without a coupon last week I paid $2.88 for 1 pack of 4 yogurts.  Today at Sam's I was able to purchase 3 of the same packs for $2.32 each.  I am actually saving a $1.65!!! 
• WE NEVER BUY FORMULA ANYWHERE ELSE!  You can buy 3lbs of the Members Mark Premium Lipil, which our pediatrician says is just as good and is comparible to the Enfamil Premium Lipl for about a $10.00 savings!  
• Gerber Puffs, anyone else think these are great?  This week Wal-Mart has them on rollback for $1.98 each.  I was able to buy a 6 pack at Sam's for $1.71 each.  I saved over $1.62!!!  

 YOU STILL NEED TO WATCH WHAT YOU PURCHASE AT SAM'S.  SOME ITEMS MAY APPEAR TO BE A BETTER DEAL THAN THEY ARE.  ALWAYS SHOP AROUND AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO PASS WHAT YOU THINK IS A DEAL.  YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK!  

Parker's First Merry-Go-Round Ride!

Thankful Wednesday...

Today I am feeling thankful for my Lions Club Group.  It is so nice for Brett and I to be part of a group that helps support our community!  Many of you know that my time is limited, so it is wonderful to be part of a kid friendly group!  We had our meeting tonight at Lonzerotti's and Brett and I were able to enjoy the meeting and our son all at once!  How awesome is that?!?!  

I didn't want to skip a blog tonight and I promised you all a few recipes this week.  Well, here is a new recipe I tried on Monday night ... it was quick, simple and yet so delicious.  It was the perfect prepared meal for us on our busy Monday night.  

"Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life."

-- Christiane Northrup

Hot N' Spicy Buffalo Chicken Salad

Ready in 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 1/2 cup Ranch-style salad dressing 3 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes salt and pepper 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce 1 tablespoon salad seasoning mix (such as McCormick® Salad Supreme Seasoning) 2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped

Directions:

1.	In a small bowl, combine crumbled blue cheese and Ranch-style dressing; set aside. Season cubed chicken with salt and pepper.
2.	Heat a large skillet over high heat, and pour in the vegetable oil. Just before the oil starts to smoke, add the chicken. Cook to brown evenly, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and add butter, hot sauce, and salad seasoning mix. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
3.	Toss together the lettuce and Ranch-style dressing mixture in a large bowl. Top salad with chicken, and serve.  (I mixed mine all together at once)

A Simple Start

Once I went back to working full-time, I was worried about how everything was going to get done.  Well guess what?  Sometimes it just doesn't!  I have found several ways to simplify things that I used to do in the past in half the time.

Today I am going to start with the big C word....COOKING.  Yes, that's right I said it and I said it out loud!  Whether you are a working mom, stay at home mom or even just someone looking for some quick help, here are some steps that I have found really helpful.  I am not going to lie, it was tough for me getting back into the mood to cook when all I wanted was to just sit down and hold Parker when I got him home from daycare.  I can proudly say it is now easy for me to provide at least 3 wholesome meals a week on the table.  If my week is rocking, then look out you may see 4 or 5!  

Here are a few steps that I took to make things a little bit easier for us (on our pocket book too):

• You need to have your kitchen organized.  The more organized your kitchen is, the easier it is for you and your spouse to get around and actually get some cooking done.   This is a huge key in saving you time while preparing your meals. 
• Stock your pantry and freezer.  Don't be afraid to overload on those staple items.  Call me crazy but a little birdy told me about an awesome lady named Lori that has been kind of enough to email me her secrets on over stocking on these special items which won't hardly put a dent in your budget.  (I will blog about this another day ...)  I will start you off with a small list of pantry staples: Pastas, canned tomatoes, beans, rice, variety of season packets, canned broth, soup, and canned fruit.  Freezer Staples:  Stock up on protein and vegetables.  Consider shopping at a wholesale store where you may be able to find things in bulk and maybe cheaper.  For me, I buy almost all my frozen vegetables from Sam's Club.  I can by a 5 lb bag of frozen green beans for about $5.00, you will pay way more if you buy individual bags at the grocery store. 
• Take inventory of everything you have in your refrigerator, freezer and pantry and try to plan your meals around what you already have. 
• allrecipes.com has saved my life.  I became a member on this site to share and gain new recipes.  Before the weekend arrives, I sit down and look through my recipe box of meals that I have saved that we would like to try.  My goal is to prepare three meals for the week.  I pick two off of the website and usually my last meal consists of one of  Brett's favorites  (pizza, tacos, spaghetti, broccoli cheese soup).  I then start a shopping list which can easily be done on this site by clicking on the recipe you would like to make and adding it to your shopping list.  I then go in an altar the list by adding what other things I may need for the week/weeks.  What is so awesome about this list is you can easily print this and take it right to the store with you and everything is neatly categorized for you.  Once printed I take a black marker and mark through the items I already have because you will see things like a 1/2 ts salt ... well most people already have this at home =). 

• Once my list is all printed I quickly search a coupon database for some of my name brand items.  For all you Wal-Mart shoppers, I normally will buy their Great Value brand unless I can't find it.  My savings is huge when I do this.  I can literally walk into Wal-Mart needing $160.00 worth of groceries and easily walk out spending only $90-100.  

I know what you are thinking... "I am so confused", "I am feeling overwhelmed", "What the heck just happened here?"

Trust me, you will get this.  The key is planning.  I seriously mean what I say, when I say.... "Allrecipes.com seriously has made my cooking a breeze"  I feel that flipping from recipe to recipe and writing down all your ingredients is the hard part.  This website literally does it for you!

With all of this being said, I have a few recipes to share with you this week.  Try them out, let me know what you think! If you can't start with 3 meals a week, shoot for making just one.  You can do this!  Take out is for chumps... work the kitchen and show your family what you are made of!

"Nearly everyone wants one outstanding meal for the day" - Duncan Hines

 "White Chicken Chili"

Cook Time 25 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes 1 tablespoon chili powder 2 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free) 1 can of shoe peg corn

2 cups water 2 pouch Campbell's® Dry Onion Soup and Recipe Mix 2 (15 ounce) cans white kidney beans (cannellini), rinsed and drained Shredded Cheddar cheese Sliced green onion

Directions:

1.	Heat oil in saucepan. Add chicken and chili powder and cook until browned, stirring often.
2.	Add chicken soup, water, corn and soup mix. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes.
3.	Add beans and heat through. Garnish with cheese and onions.