2011 in Review

It's hard to believe that yet another year has come and gone. I didn't stick to my resolutions/goals about my weight. :( So here I am, only about 10lbs lighter than I was this time last year. I made it through the holidays again without gaining weight, so that is a plus for sure.

What HAVE I done this year?
Created some WONDERFUL memories with my kiddos and husband
Loved with all I have
Forgiven people, let go of some of the hurt/anger from the past. SOME people, some. It's something I work on daily
Welcomed a new niece into this world
Put my 3rd child into school
Expanded my group of friends
Laughed a lot more
Cried, too
Painted MANY rooms (and spots) in my house
Hung pictures on the wall
Expanded my family meals :)
Started watching someone's child before and after school
Voiced my gratefulness a lot more
Celebrated my mom getting her Master's
Grew closer to some people
Volunteered to work at my church for PSR

These are just some SMALL things compared to what I know others have done or do do or go through. Life is about change and while I may not have changed my outward appearance, I have changed some of my inside appearance. :) Not a small accomplishment at times.

What have you done this year?

Pictures on Past Posts

I really have not gone back and updated them with pics. If you come across a post that has no pics on it, just an exclamation point and a black box, let me know. I will try and find the pics and put them back up. Somehow months ago I deleted all of the pictures that went with the posts. I know they are in my computer, but it's just a matter of linking and syncing them back up.

Thanks!

Cookie Exchange/Swap

Well, I promised pics of it, so here goes. :) Sorry so late. My dining room is one of the last rooms in my house to actually have decoration/photos/pics whatever on the walls, etc. So please don't judge me on the BARE walls. I am not gonna lie, I kinda just stuck that one picture frame up there for now to help "hide" the tape for the "Cookie Exchange" sign I hung up. lol. Lame, I know.

We had Peanut Butter Balls (made by moi) aka Buckeyes in some areas. We had Caramel Macchiato cookies, Snickerdoodles, those Rolo Turtle pretzel cookies, and MnM cookies. Yummm-O. I made labels for the bags (see the ones with the circles on them???) lol.

Confession Monday

This is what I walked in on last night.

As of yesterday, things have just NOT gone my way. lol. I am having a REALLY hard time with it. I get home after seeing my closest friend and the kitchen faucet has finally just crapped out. Mind you, it has been doing funky crap for the last few weeks and I have jumped on the hubby about taking care of it. He never has any time and I feel a bit guilty because I know what hours he is working, etc.
 

Can you say DISGUSTING?

  Thing is, I had plans to have a friend come over today, one that I haven't seen in a year, but talk to almost daily. So I made him go out and buy a new faucet. This house is only 7 years old. Some idiot (whoever put the faucet in) soddered some piece so now DH has to get the electric saw out to get the rest of the faucet out. WTH? I was of course upset and torn. It was 8pm and DH needed to BE AT WORK at 2am. I knew he needed sleep, but I needed my damn kitchen sink/faucet. I mean, I do have 4 kids that have to have breakfast in the morning etc. Besides, truth be told, I was a bit pissy that he didn't take care of it weeks ago. I pretty much said so last night when he said that he was going to bed because there was nothing he could do with it now, hardware stores were closed. He needed to get more copper now, too. He gave me the "we didn't have the tools" BS excuse as to why he didn't take care of it before. I wasn't about to get into the fact that we have family members who have TOOLS. Duh. You'd better believe we have tools now. :)

Yep,had to take all of the cleaning supplies out.

Tomorrow I get my haircut (it's been 8 weeks!) and then Wed is my Cookie Exchange. HELLO???? I am in PANIC MODE. Seriously. So, since I KNOW that there have to be other wives who get mad at their hubbies for procrastinating and then leaving their house/kitchen/garage/whatever space a mess, I thought I would be real and post it.

The Island.

 
"Now serving, Pity Party, table of 1." lol. Yes, that is my bottle of wine that I got out last night and had a glass. Hey, how about some wine with my whine? :)

Christmas Decor

It has been too long, peeps. Once again, life has gotten in the way. lol. Trips to Urgent Care,  school things, sicknesses, trying to decide what I am going to do since Dh's overtime is going to get cut, etc etc.

Today I wanted to show you how I decorated my mantel for Xmas. It's nothing immensely special, but I like how it looks. That's a good thing since I have to look at it daily. :)

I have other little bits of decor up now, too. Next week I am having a Cookie Swap, so I will post how I decorated for that next week.

Dining Room Chandelier

Above the kitchen table

The 3 boys count down to Xmas.

  There is alot more going on in my house with the Xmassy spirit/decor, but I didn't want to overload ya. :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I am JUST NOW getting around to posting this! I made these for my son's 8th birthday. He couldn't decide if he wanted a big chocolate chip cookie or a cake...I did a little googling and came across this lovely PIECE OF HEAVEN. I KNEW the kids would LOVE them.

I didn't follow the instructions completely, as I wasn't about to make a cake from scratch when I was short on time. So I got a yellow cake mix (the kind with the pudding in the mix) and went to town. :) This is my edited version of hers.

For the filling:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
about 3/4 c regular 2% milk (Hey, I don't carry condensed milk in my house on a reg basis)
1tsp. vanilla extract1/2cup REGULAR semisweet chocolate chips
  *note* 8oz is a cup. You may have to adjust up a bit.

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract

I just used regular sized choc chips or the decorations, too. Not mini.


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Make your cake batter like you normally would according to the directions on the box.

Cookie dough: This is easy, it's pretty much everything BUT eggs. It is an egg free filling!!! That means, YOU CAN EAT IT RAW! 
Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high.  Add the flour, sweetened condensed milk/ or MILK  and vanilla until smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.I rolled mine in little balls using a teaspoon or something, I can't remember which. I have an ice cream scoop, so maybe that? Anyway, I froze mine for about an hour.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 way full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, allow the cupcakes to cool. I test mine with a toothpick, which is what most people do. :)

Here is where we did things differently. I BAKED the choc chip cookie dough in with the cupcake batter. I just dropped a chunk of dough in the cupcake. See:

She doesn't in hers.




Frosting: (also egg free!!)  Mix the butter and brown sugar, add the powdered sugar, beat. Add in the flour and salt.  Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth.

Frost as you want!

Made it

I made it out from under that laundry in my dining room! I didn't need a boat or paddle as I did not drink enough water yesterday. :( So that is what I am drinking now. Yummmm. not.

I am pretty stressed right now. My daughter is sick (cold/allergy stuff). Dh's job is going to start cutting out overtime in 4 weeks. This sucks right before Xmas time. Hell, it sucks in general. His overtime is what keeps me from not having to work. I looked at DayCare's near us and was floored. FLOORED I tell ya. Cheapest was $145 a week for our 3 year old. (not bad, in reality, but then you add the other kids) $49 a week PER CHILD for before/after school care. So...We would be paying $295 a week for daycare and I wouldn't even have 4 in daycare FULL TIME. $1200 a month. LOVELY. Another daycare was $2040 a month. Yikes. I'd be working to keep them in daycare. Not cool.

So I am thinking I am going to start watching kids in my home. That in itself is a scary thing as far as it's been a while since I have had to work on someone else's schedule and not just mine and my kids, ya know? But, what are you gonna do? I don't want to let our house go or our cars go. Been there, done that, not going back. :)

Anyone else in this predicament?

My Wall Art

Here are a few of the ones I have done. I don't really have it all finished yet, (suh lacker) but at least you get the gist. I promise when I finish the last 2, I will post a pic of it all done and hung up (the right way) and looking BOOtiful. :)

Oh wow. These pics look MUCH better when I edit them and put borders on them. lol. Oops. Maybe the finished product. :)

Curtain Rods and Curtains

  Well, I have had my eye? eyes? on these CURTAINS for months. JcPenney has had them on clearance and then they haven't, then they did, then they didn't, and I caught them again when they did. Yay me! I only bought 2, at $.9.99 a piece, after shipping, etc it was $27ish. Blech. But, overall, not horrible.

I went to my local Lowe's and found some dowels and some finials. The dowels were like $2 or so a piece. I spent like $5 on 2 of them. They are 36 inches long and 5/8 thick. The finials were under $5, too or $5 total for 4 of them. WOW! I was SHOCKED. SHOCKED, I tell ya. I can't believe I haven't done this before now. I have $35 curtain rods sitting behind my couch right now. It makes me sick. I know that is "cheap" compared to some, but it hurt me paying $35 for curtain rods. Anyhoo, I bought black indoor/outdoor spray paint (my first time buying spray paint in over a decade). I got the glossy finish.

I am not experienced in this, to say the least. My grass is black now, since I sprayed this stuff over the grass. Then, my notthinkingself laid the rods on the grass to dry, placed the finials in between the stones of my flower garden, and went inside for 15 mins. I came back out and it was mostly dry, with some grass stuck all of the rods. I pulled the grass off and it was kinda funny. It left like a design on the rods. A textured type thing. And....I figured no none would really see it up close, so I left it. Hee hee.

I found some brackets that would fit the rods at Walmart in a package that sold a curtain rod with it. They didn't have them separate. So I bought 2 of them for $6 total. When I looked at Lowe's they were like $5 A PIECE. Same with the finials. I wasn't paying $20 for finials and then $10-$20 for the brackets. Uh uh. Not this momma.

Oh, I did end up cutting the rod in half. I still have a 36 in one, but I didn't need it. When I cut the one in half, it made a total of about 24 inches WITH the finials. That was fine for what I needed. My curtains are only 42 inches wide. I figure this way, they look a bit fuller. I didn't want to buy another 2. I know, I am cheap, but I would seriously cry if I spent another $27 when I could have shipped them all of $47. kwim?

Here is the finished product: 

It isn't WONDERFUL, but I like it. I couldn't have done it without Thrifty Decor Chick though. That girl kicks ass when it comes to decorating and ideas. Thanks, Sarah!

Aren't the curtains ADORABLE????? They had them in blue, which would look AWESOME in my bedroom, with the Steel Blue paint by Glidden (that I still have to finish up) but when I bought the brown ones, they were out of blue. :*(

What?! It's been HOW long?

I can't believe it (AGAIN). I have been meaning to update my blog and then LIFE happens. I have pictures, recipes, stories, etc to post about that have been pushed aside....You may get hit with a few today. :) I have a few minutes to spare. Well, not really, if you saw my dining room table that is covered in clothes, you may think I should be taking care of that instead. Part of me agrees. :)

What's been going on? Kids' school, PSR classes (Public/Parish School Religion), family events, funerals, Doctor appts for the inlaws, etc etc etc. Homework, staining the deck (still! We had a few boughts of rain) I recently came out from underneath my huge pile of laundry. That lasted for a week or 10 days. Now it is right back where it was. We celebrated our oldest son's 8th birthday in between all of this. Been on again, off again with WW. *Surprise* Had a few girls' nights out with the girls. Made a pillowcase dress for my daughter, removed the shower drain, bought a new one, installed it, complete with putty and all, glue the tile down in the kids' bathroom that is coming up near the tub, made a few pieces of wall art (pics to follow) etc etc.

No judging please. It's just my reality.  

I gave myself a crown for the messiest room of the day. The clothes ARE clean. I don't need to be on the Messiest Homes show or Hoarders, I promise. 6 people=massive amounts  of clothes. I can only fold and put away so fast. (oh and don't mind the deer head in the corner on the left. I keep telling the Hubs that if he doesn't get rid of it and put it in the basement, it is G O N E. Who wants to eat in a room with that staring at you? Not me. HA!)

Anyhoo....today I am started fresh again. One of my friends from grade school's dad died Saturday night. He had lost his mom when we were in 6th grade. She died from breast cancer. He is married and has a daughter now and I just can't imagine how hard all of this must be on him. I have been through some pretty shitty stuff in my life, but this would be H A R D. My dad lost his best friend last week to pancreatic cancer. We had the service on Friday. My dad did the service since he is a deacon and his friend requested it. Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of my best friend's dad's death. He, too, died from cancer. Cancer sucks, peeps. It really really does.

On a lighter note: I have started my Buffalo Chicken Pasta in the crockpot. YUM. The plan is to use my crockpot 5x this week. Can I do it? I THINK I can. I hope I do. It makes life easier. lol.

Plan for the day:

1. clean the kitchen
2. tackle the mounds of laundry
3. clean the loft
4. work on my blog
5. finish the damn Buzz Book for the kids' school.
6. drink water water water

I will either drown today in water or smother under the piles of laundry. You may not hear back from me for a month. lol. JUST KIDDING. But here is a pile that is NOT clean. :) That will need to be done today, too. :( 

Oh Crap

Somehow all of my pics etc on my blog are deleted. *sigh* I guess I need to work on getting those back up there. Sorry about that. Please bare with me while I do that.

Ugh. Weigh in Thursday

Let me just say that this week has been STRESSSSSSSFUL. Emotionally, I am worn down quite a bit. The kids are all in school and some schedules seem to be fine. However, there's library days, gym days, math homework, reading homework, sight words, etc to keep up with. It is hard to do that with 3 kids. lol. I am just being honest. I need to get a better system. I have a 5 year old who started Kindergarten who is having a challenging time as far as rules, structure, etc go. I don't regret not sending the kids to preschool etc. I don't. BUT I am wondering if I should have waited to put him in until next year. Educational-wise (is that a word???) he is completely on par or past where he should be. Socially, he is fine, too. I just think it will take him a bit to get used to switching classes and being more responsible for things. (Library books! That's what caused the meltdown yesterday) We had a relative get hurt really really badly at the end of last week. He is in the hospital in critical condition. It's a MESS. We had Open House at school Tuesday night. Last night I had to go to a "Protecting God's Children" class. OH EM GEE. It was hard to sit through all of that. I don't like listening to child molester's talk about how they groom kids. Oh yeah, my weigh in. So as you can see, I am stressed. It shows. I could tell my pants are a bit snugger. :( The scale screamed at WW when I WI an hour ago. I am up 3 lbs. THREE pounds since last week. WITH. (what in the hell) I am going to have to start flushing my system out. Yikes. Hope you guys are doing better than me!

Working on...

Getting together a 2 week meal plan list right now. I can't wait to do a MONTH in advance, but right now, I can only do 2. lol.

I have a bag of legs and thighs boiling on the stove. I am making Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I will post a recipe later. The kids LOOOOVE it and for the last couple of days have asked when we were having it again. :)

So far for my menu I have:

Chicken Noodle Soup (good for 2 nights)
Crockpot (CP) Salisbury Steak (good for 1)
Roast (good for 2 nights)
Roast beef and cheese sandwiches (see above)
CP Baked Potato Soup
CP Beef and Corn Chowder
Italian Spinach Meatballs (hello spaghetti!)
Meatloaf (using extra meat with Italian Spinach Meatball recipe)
Egg and Sausage Bake
Taco Bake
Chicken Chilli

I have to be honest, a few months ago is the FIRST time I have ever deboned a chicken. I used to think it was gross, etc, but I figured out how much cheaper it was to buy a chicken or a bag of things/legs than it was to keep buying breasts. Not that I still don't buy those. I do. I like to use them for MY chicken recipes. The kids love chicken thighs/legs just baked even so that's really good! $6 for a 10lb bag COMPLETELY works for me. :)

I have a few more nights to come up with. Maybe Sloppy Joes and Chilli 2 nights. We will see. I need to go through my pantry again and see what is in there....

Do you do "Mass Cooking"? or Meals for a Month? What are some of your tips?

Back to the gym

I did it. I went back. It's the first time since breaking up with my trainer. lol.

I did an hour and 12 mins and burned 798 cals. 

Well, really, I did an hour and burned 700 cals. Those last 12 mins were me standing and talking to the guy at the desk to line up my daughter for the sitter for the next 2 days. 

All in all, I will take the 798 cals burned! Hey, I was still at the gym...it counts, right? My goal is to work up to 1400-1500 burned a day. (over what I normally burn). Not too shabby. I know that it will get harder to keep burning this amount once I start losing, so for the present moment, I am OWNING it. I am glad I got up and did this.

Feels good to be back exercising!

1st Day Back

Am I the only mom who is sad today? Lord knows there were plenty of days this summer where the kids drove me nuts, but somehow, sitting here in my den/computer room, I am saddened by the quiet. Yes, Team Umizoomi is on and Victoria is making a little noise, but I am not kidding, it is QUIET. 

I may go nuts after a few weeks of this. Maybe. On the other hand, I have all of these projects that are running through my head and I think, WOW, I actually MAY be able to get that done. 

Troy was all excited to go into school and I yelled, "hey! wait for Connor." so he turned around and walked back and both he and Hunter took Connor's hands and they all turned around and looked at me and I about died. I know, I know, this is one of the things we somewhat look forward to but it is here now and I am NOT liking it. lol. I was crying last night and Hubby looked at me and said, "I am going to order your straight jacket now for 2 years from now..." (when Tori goes to school).

You can give me a freak award. I get it. I do. I know some of you are sitting there with crying babies/toddlers/hubbies, etc and you are wishing for a moment of peace and quiet. I get it. I do. I have many days like that.  I am sure I will have many more moments and days like that. However, I can count on 2 hands how many times I have only had 1 child with me....


I am grateful for the time I get with my kids. We had an awesome week this week while Hubby was on vacay. I can't wait to post about that. For now, I have my Starbucks, my baby girl, and a brief moment to sit down and do what I want. lol.

Strawberry and Blue Cheese

OH EM GEE. I LOVE this.

1/4 c RF Blue Cheese (2 ww plus pts)
2 Tbl LF or Light Italian dressing(1 ww plus pts)

and as much strawberries and lettuce that you want. So 3 ww+ pts, but if you want more dressing, add another 2 TBL or whatever for another point. Talk about filling. YUMMMM This was my lunch 2 days ago. I think I may have some for dinner tonight as well.

19 Days and Counting...

School will be here before we know it. It's unreal. I feel like we have SO much to do and that this summer has gone by fast, although at times, not fast enough.

Things I am looking forward to: 

Helping with PSR for the 6th graders

Helping out the PTO at school

Soccer and Dance (the kids, not me!)

Having 3 kids in school

2 hours a day at the gym

Having a schedule again

Cooler weather

Oh, did you catch that? 2 hrs a day at the gym? Yes, I called my gym (Club Fitness) and they allow up to 2 hrs a day for the daycare/sitter. SCORE. I figure from 9-11 is great. I can then come home, shower, eat lunch with my daughter, play for a bit, and then she can take a nap around 12:30 or 1pm. That is something she normally does NOT do. She quit naps about 18 months. YIKES. But I think I may try and get her back into them. lol.

What are you looking forward to?

Non Scale Victory

Since we have the funeral tomorrow, I decided I needed some new "dressy" capris or something. I'm not going to lie, being heavy and being a SAHM, I hardly EVER dress up. Like maybe once a year. So I headed off to Kohls and was SHOCKED. I grabbed a size smaller than what I have been wearing at home. They fit, but were even a bit loose. So I grabbed a size smaller than that.... THOSE FIT. I am in SHOCK. SHOCK, I tell ya. I haven't worn this size pants since after I had my daughter 3 years ago and before that it was before my 7.5 yo was born!!!

I guess those workouts with my trainer (even though it's been a few months) and losing a few lbs on WW has helped. ;) I am VERY pleased. In fact, it's kind of giving me some motivation. I am going to call the gym on Wed and see what the longest amount of time is allowed for with kids at the sitter there. Once my kids start school in a few weeks I will only have my 3 year old. If they allow 2 hrs, I may do that. If I could get in 6 hrs a week at the gym, that would be awesome. If I can get it in 5 times a week, even better. We shall see.

Seeing that I actually wear 1-2 sizes smaller than what I have been wearing is such a motivator. I would LOVE to be a size 10 by Xmas. 23 weeks and Xmas will be over... I know, shush, right? lol. 

Saying Goodbye

My MIL's twin passed away early Saturday morning. She had colon cancer and it was all through her body, bones, and lymph nodes. It happened so fast once we found out that she had the cancer. My heart breaks for my MIL even though at times she is NOT my favorite person. She had a messed up family life from a young age on. I feel like her twin was her only ally in that family. *sigh* My MIL has been diagnosed with emphysema (from smoking) and she hasn't quit. She is supposed to be using oxygen daily, but she doesn't. This pains me for the simple fact that if she did use it, she would have SOOO much more energy, etc.

The funeral is tomorrow and it's about 130 miles from us. :( So a 2 hr drive in 100 degree weather and 4 kids is on the agenda in about 5 hours. YIKES.

I hate saying goodbye. I am also worried about how this is going to affect my kids. They are identical twins and I am worried that it may flip one of the kiddos out. But death is a part of life so I am not going to hide it. Of course, I won't force the kids into going into the room with the casket, but...

I'm just sad. Sad for my husband, sad for my MIL.

Thursday

Um, yeah, I can't think of a great title today. lol.

This morning I took the kids to the park with some "Mommy" friends that I met a few years back on Meetup. We had a great time. It actually has only reached 86 ish today, so it was a nice "cool" morning. lol. The kids seem a bit worn out so I am praying that they stay that way and go to sleep good tonight, lol.

The Serpentine belt on my van needs to be replaced...the mechanic mentioned that last October or November when I took it in for an oil change. He did say that it could last a week or up to a year depending on things. Well, he was right! I got quite a few more months out of this belt! lol. So needless to say, on Saturday morning, I am bringing it in (with ALL four kids in tow, of course) to get it replaced. He said it would take about 45 mins so that's not too bad. Besides, it will make me feel tons safer knowing that I most likely won't break down on the highway or anywhere with all of the kids with me!!! I have really been feeling anxious about that the last few weeks. I wish Hubs was good with cars because I would have him change it. I have heard it is fairly easy...it could save us about $75 in labor, too. Eh, at least it will get done.

A few other things going on, but I will use another post to blog about that...

Hope everyone is staying cool!! I am feeling pretty blessed to have AC!

I can NOT believe it is July...

Am I the only one who is like, WOA. Half the year is gone. Where did it go???? Did you guys have a good 4th of July? Ours was pretty laid back. We had my InLaws over and BBQ'd and at the last minute, Hubs had to run to Walmart to get more meat since the meat FIL gave us was,  um... older. lol. There were some interesting hues to it let's just say. LOL.

*Le sigh* I still haven't done the trim in my bedroom. I know, I know, no one is fainting from shock, are you? lol. I haven't gone back to WW since the week before my birthday...I  have had some papers stuck above my fireplace on the wall to see if I like the look for about 3 weeks now...I need to buy the wood to finish that project off.... Do you see where I am going with this? The month of June has been whacky and just a month of procrastination, too. But just think, in another month we will all be rushing around getting ready for school to begin again. We will be back to school shopping, finishing up those Summer projects, etc, wondering why we didn't do what we wanted to do and where the time went.

Is it bad that I am already hoping for Fall to get here? It is MY FAVORITE weather and time of the year....I bought a Mary Engelbreit Halloween flag for my stand out front today. Hey, Michaels had some Fall things out and I could. not. help. myself. I lose control when it comes to Fall Decor. lol.

Well, this post ended up being a Confession Post. lol. OOPS. Do you have any confessions that you would like to make? Feel free to share.

Life...fires...toes missing....

I am way behind on what I have wanted to post about on here. My FIL was in the hospital for about 10 days and we were all a bit freaked out. He is a diabetic and one of his toes was REALLY bad. As in, he went and saw 2 Drs on 2 consecutive days and each one of them said get to the hospital--NOW. Of course, one was his podiatrist, which pissed us completely off. This guy is a quack. I won't go into that on here, though. All I am going to say is that he let my FIL's toe go for a LONG time. About 5 weeks. Needless to say my FIL had to have IV antibiotics for a few days before they would even consider taking it off. I'd post a pic, but it's pretty graphic and I think people would not be happy. lol.

So he and MIL are in town recooping and their neighbor's house here caught on fire. It also got my FIL's house.










I feel really bad for them. Thank God they got out and got the dogs out, too. Geesh. So much going on. He was talking about having his gallbladder out before he went into the hospital. Then when he gets there, they say definitely his toe. Then he thought he gave himself another hernia (making it number 3) and he actually ripped a muscle in his stomach. He also thought he needed heart surgery again. The Dr supposedly told him that one of his valves doesn't sound right. Apparently that may come later this year. He's had heart surgery (a 7 bipass) about 3 years ago...Can you see why we are all a bit out of whack right now???? lol.

My husband is working 12 plus hour days and the kids are going nuts at home. I am going nuts, too. They don't seem to want to do anything and I NEED them to go outside and play, etc. lol. The temps are heading back up into the 90s this week so I am sure there will be heat warnings. BLECH.

I started painting our bedroom last week....I can't wait to finish the trim so I can post some pictures!!! :) You know how I love doing trim. NOT. lol.

Alright, it's 1:15am and I had better get to bed! 'night.

Oreo Cookie Cake (Ice Cream Cake, really)

Here is one of our FAVORITE recipes EV-ER. It's a great cake, especially in the Summertime. :) One of the best parts is that it ONLY HAS FIVE ingredients. SAH-WEET! *pun intended* Talk about a QUICK dessert to take somewhere. YUMMMMM


1 bag/carton of Oreo cookies or a generic brand
1 stick of melted butter
1 container of Cool Whip
1 carton of plain Vanilla Ice Cream (can be generic)
1 jar of Hershey's Hot Fudge syrup (or your fave brand)

Melt the butter. Crush up the oreos/generic brand of oreos. Pour the butter on top and stir. Spray Pam or a non-stick cooking spray in the pan you are going to use. I used a 13x9 glass one. Press the oreo mixture into the bottom. I then put the pan into the fridge for about 15 mins, while I waited for my half gallon/carton of ice cream to soften a bit.

Take the pan out. Take the ice cream and open up the carton. You are going to cut this SIDEWAYS.

Then you layer the ice cream on top of the oreo crust. Like this....

Once you have the WHOLE carton of ice cream on there, you are going to pour some of the Hershey's Fudge on top. (I warmed mine up for about 20 seconds.)

Then you take this: 

and put that over the top of the fudge and ice cream, etc. Now, I bought the gigantic container because we use it with strawberries and blueberries, etc, too. You can get by with the regular sized one. I only used about half of this container for the cake. :)

 Spreading the Cool Whip......

There we go!!! And now....add some more fudgy deliciousness on top and you are almost good to go. Put it back into the freezer for a few hours and let it all set. I generally take it back out about 15 mins before serving, depending on the temp in your house or outside... My Mom would put this in a metal pan/stainless steel pan and it would be SOLID. You'd need all of the 15 mins for sure in order for it to thaw enough to slice!
ENJOY! Just beware, people are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE this and ask you for the recipe. :) It's SO easy to make and such a crowd pleaser.

Fitting in Online

Do you belong to any online boards or forums? I belong to a few. Some are supportive and some aren't. lol. Some boards are really friendly and others...it seems like they have their "groups". Can I say that? I mean, it's really kind of funny that not just in real life, but on the internet, you can tell who is who and who is in a clique.

When I was young, I mistakenly thought that once you were an adult, the judgments and the "popular crowd" etc would all go away...not true. Of course, being almost 34 (shh it's tomorrow) I don't care as much anymore like I did when I was 14. I've got more important things to worry about than who likes me or whatever else. (Of course, this has NOTHING to do with Blog Envy and how many people are following me or aren't following me. I'm a bit nervous about that. We will talk about that another time though)

I have just noticed on some boards that I frequent, that there are certain people who EVERYONE responds to or "talks to". KWIM? There is a board that I belong to that seemed to be a supportive board, but honestly, I don't feel I get support there anymore. I hardly ever post on it anymore because it seems that I, like a few other people, get skipped over. I think it shocked me at first when I realized it because I thought, really? This happens at my age? Most of these people are older than me, too and they are the ones who are doing it. lol.

I wonder if I am the only one who feels that way? Do you have any really good boards you belong to? Do you have one for mom things or for weight loss or financial issues or decorating or cooking?

I have support out in the real world, too. I have a great husband and therapist! lol. I have a Mom's group that I belong to and a few close friends.

Sometimes it's a lot easier for people to be more "REAL" online than in person... of course, it's easier for people to be meaner hiding behind a computer, too. lol.

I love Blog world. There are SO many things that are interesting to me and so many blogs to read, etc.

Sometimes fitting in online can be just as hard as fitting in in the real world...

Weekend Escapades

Waiting for MeMaw to get here.

So...Friday afternoon, ok, around 5pm, my mom arrived to pick up the kids for an overnight deal. After she picked them up, John and I actually got to go out to dinner!! WOOT. lol. We went to 54th Street Grill since we had never been there before. I didn't choose to wisely and when I got home, my stomach hurt for 3 hours. Can you say, "Please don't eat Gringo dip and that huge Chicken sandwich?"

Saturday morning I got up early (like 4am) and picked my friend up and we went to the race. It was UNBELIEVABLE. It was SO crowded. Our team alone had 7606 people on it. That's the BIGGEST team ever in 5k history. AWESOME!

Here is the crowd IN FRONT of us:

Do you see people ALL the way up there? There's like a good mile or 2 of people in front of us. There were more than 65k people downtown that day, just for the race!!

Here's the finish line:

After the race, we went and got our hair done>>>







Ahhh much better! lol. Hope you all had a great weekend!

It's Friday!

 My parents are taking the kids overnight tonight so that tomorrow I can go to the Race for the Cure. WOOT! John and I have been in this house for 10 months and have yet to have the house to ourselves overnight. I am so excited. I'm sure we will eat dinner and then go lay in bed and fall asleep EARLY. lol. We are adventurous!

Here's a look at the back of the shirt.

Cornbread is a local radio station guy who is AWESOME. We have THE BIGGEST TEAM! It's over 7600 people this year. It's hard to believe when StL started this like 10 years ago that his team was like 1k people. Every year it grows larger and larger.

I have to go get the oil changed today, which I'm not looking forward to because I will have to take all 4 kids with me. YIKES. It's a good thing (and a bad thing) that Walmart does Oil Changes. lol. I'm probably going to end up spending too much money there! Eeek.

The Tooth Fairy visited Troy last night. He let me pull his snaggletooth out yesterday. Yes, I bribed him with a chocolate candy bar...well, his tooth was coming in underneath the baby tooth and it was pushing that one onto his other baby tooth. It was rubbing on it and it looked like there was a cavity there but I think it was from rubbing. It's been months since his tooth has been loose. That trooper of mine let me pull it out yesterday! So he got a candy bar. AND the Tooth Fairy left him TWO dollars. :)

Weigh in #3

Well....somehow I managed to....

LOSE ANOTHER TWO lbs!!!

I about jumped for joy! lol. Despite eating BBQ, cole slaw, baked beans, 2 strawberry daiquiris, and ice cream cake on Saturday! The scale actually went down!! I have lost a total of 11 lbs. ELEVEN. I'm hoping to lose 25 more by the time school starts in 10 weeks. Yes, TEN weeks and YES, 25 lbs. 

I never thought that weighing in would have this effect on me. I almost feel like an addict needing a fix. I thought about not going today because I was worried about the scale, but then I thought, naw, I owe it to myself and I should OWN it. This is all about being honest, right? I knew I didn't track well last week and I knew there had been times where I made bad choices. 

So with this weight loss, I have also lost another daily point. I'm hoping I won't notice it too much. It's just ONE point, right? We'll see.

Good Eats

I've been surprised lately by my choice of foods...One thing I found last week was that I LOVE Brocolli Slaw. LOVE it. It's 0 points plus (pp) with WW. I take a TBL or 2 (whatever the serving size is) of Low Fat Poppyseed dressing and take the bag and dump it in a bowl and stir the slaw up. This morning I put some corn and black beans in with it, too. YUM. That added another 2 pp to it. The dressing I think is 2 pp or 3...can't remember of f the top of my head. lol.

I'm doing the Points Plus system. (the new one) Not the old one. So when I refer to "points" or "pts", I mean Points Plus. I'm so used to writing "pts" that I can't get used to "pp". lol.

I also am in LOVE with fresh spinach, RF or FF feta, onion and FF Kraft Italian dressing. That's what's going to be for lunch today, maybe with a boiled egg. That's low in pts, too, so I can have something else with it. I think it's about 4 pts. I try to keep lunches at about 7 or 8 pts. My bigger meal is generally dinner.

What are you eating today? What have you found that's "new" or something that you like now that wasn't something you'd normally eat? I'll add some pics later so you can see what I'm talking about. You will want to try it!! :)

Saturday Family Fun

Today we are going to a graduation party/welcome back party. I'm excited to be around some of these family members as we ALWAYS have a good time with them. I can't wait just to relax and have a beer or glass of wine while the kids are playing...and the best part is....Hubby gets to leave work ON TIME!!!

:::::::::::::::::insert clapping::::::::::::::::::::::

Yesterday he worked 17 hrs. Yes, you read that right. SEVENTEEN HOURS. He came home, ate dinner and literally was in bed 22 mins later and got 6 hrs of sleep before he had to be up again. I couldn't sleep for some reason last night so when 2am hit, I woke him up and I went to sleep around 3:15 am. Only to be up again at 7:15am. BLECH. I'm exhausted. YAWN.

 I'm sure I will be back later and post a pic or 2 of the shindig. It's going to be a hot one here. 97 degrees. What the heck? I'm praying no one's AC gives out. This whole week is a week of 90 degree plus temps. YIKES. I'm glad I bought sunscreen the other day. Thankfully it seems that my 5 year old has grown out of his sunscreen allergy, too!

Catching up on everything

Wow! I just read about 2 weeks worth of blogs... well, skimmed most of them. lol.

I forgot to mention in my last post, Troy had his first ever ear infection. It hit him on Saturday. AFTER the Dr's office was closed, of course. Poor guy was crying in his sleep that night, even after numbing drops and a shot of the antibiotic. :( 

THEN on Monday, Hunter says his throat hurts...he just had this look on his face and I KNEW what was coming next. Sure enough, we go to the Dr on Tuesday and guess what??? STREP. This child of mine MUST be a carrier for it. I'm glad I took him in though because it gave me a chance to talk to the Pede about his "episodes". We call them "episodes", for lack of a better term. He gets dehydrated really easily and on Friday he had Field Day. It was 70 degrees out and he almost fainted. He said he started to see blurry colors, etc. I don't know if I blogged about this a few weeks back during his soccer game he did this as well. This also happened last year at a picnic. The Dr said to make sure he drinks, drinks and drinks some more TWO HOURS BEFORE he goes outside and then while he is outside, too. He said to give him something salty to eat as well, or let him drink Gatorade, since that has salt in it. Yeah, did you know that? That's why some people swell when they drink too much of it. (eh hem, pregnant women--what? yes, this happened to me.) He said that if he STILL looks like he's going to faint or says he can't see, to call him. This scares me to death. Heat exhaustion is nothing to mess around with.

Did I mention it's going to be in the 90s for the next few days? Oh yes, we went from somewhat "chilly" weather straight to hot as hell summer weather. CAH RAZINESS.

Am I the only mom who feels as if sometimes the kids are always sick? lol. Right now the older 2 are on antibiotics and I am grateful that the younger 2 did NOT get the strep. ::wiping sweat off my brow::.

Alright, it's midnight and I had better hit the sheets. Here's to a peaceful weekend.

Weigh in #2

Alright, so I weighed in on Tuesday morning.....drumroll please...... down 3.8 lbs!!!! Not too shabby!!! I am thrilled! Of course, I think I probably ruined it all today so I have to be really careful for the rest of the week. It's too bad because Saturday we have a graduation party to go to and I KNOW there's going to be tons of food.

I'm really happy with the WL though, so I need to keep this momentum going.

The kids last day of school was today! Unreal how fast it flew by. I think Troy is a bit nervous about being on break for so long. Who knew? lol. He's come quite a ways since the beginning of school. He's definitely matured. He was so loving and full of hugs today. It's so nice when they are like that. lol.

I'm signed up for the Race for the Cure for St. Louis (on June 11th). I am VERY excited to actually be able to go this year instead of like the last 3 where I paid and wasn't able to go. :( My mom and dad are taking the kids the night before and I plan on going on a "date" with my husband that night. Early the next morning when he goes to work, I'm going to go pick my BFF up and we are going to head downtown for the race. I'm not running this year though. Maybe next. That's a goal, for sure. :)

Weight Watchers

I'm not sure if I should make a separate blog for my weight issues or just stick with this one....

For right now, I think I will stick with this one. Although, a weight loss blog would probably get more attention! Ha!!

I went to WW on Tuesday and weighed in with them for the first time since I joined (at the end of November!). I am down 5.2 lbs according to their scale. This was after all day of eating etc. Next time I am going to weigh in in the morning! lol. Although, I guess in the end it doesn't REALLY matter.I did stick around for a meeting, which I have NEVER gone to, either. I'm not sure I like the group on Tuesday nights so I may have to switch to a different one. This was an older crowd and I was the youngest by quite a few years. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't know that we are all going to relate since I have young kids and they don't any longer, etc. Plus, when the leader mentioned a 5k, they were all rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. They weren't interested. lol. I am though.

I know I haven't drank enough water or anything else for that matter. I did NOT get my liquids in yesterday. :( fail. So I am working really hard on that today.

The weather has been CRAPPY. I feel so bad for my fellow Missourians down in Joplin. Sedalia also got hit. My FIL's house down there was missed by 8miles. While that seems like a lot, it really isn't considering some of these tornados have been 1 mile wide!  Best wishes to everyone who has been hit with the bad weather.

Teacher Appreciation Ideas

I did this about 2 weeks ago and just haven't gotten around to posting them...Here are a few things I did.

 I also wrote a little note from the kids that said,

"Here are some nuts for the days I drove you nutty.
Here are some Hershey's kisses, for the days I was oh so sweet."

and I put that inside. I gave my 1st grader's teacher a GC to Starbucks and my Kindergartner insisted on buying his teacher's 2 dogs each a toy. So, we did that, too. The K teacher LOVED it. She sent me an email and a note home saying how she loves that the kids love her dogs as much as she does. She was thrilled.

I figured that the could always share the nuts and the kisses with someone else or if they had a get together at their own houses. Sometimes you are looking for that last little snack to put out and it's nice when you find something like that that you can use.

It wasn't a HUGE deal, but it still cost about $20 for each teacher when all was said and done.

ahhh Monday

For once I am glad the weekend is over. You will RARELY ever hear me say that. lol. It was just one of those weekends, ya know?

This morning we hit the Dentist's office. This is the first of 5 appts Connor has to have. He had to get a cap today... :( We have great dental insurance, but unfortunately, the Pediatric providers that are IN NETWORK are few and far between. There are THREE. THREE Pediatric Dentists in our plan. 1 retired and the other one...well, Let's just say that their office is NOT friendly. Financially or personally.  I will leave it at that. So needless to say, we drive 40 mins to get to one that is OUT of Network, and we pay MORE, but whom my kids LOVE. That means a lot when they have to be in there a lot. Anyway, today's appt went well and Connor was quite mellow and his pupils were huge...gotta love the nitrous. ;)

The sun is shining and the temp is in the 60's! It's so nice to see sun and not rain. Today I am going to finish painting the trim. Yes, yes, I know, I know, I've said that a few times now. But really, I am going to do it today. lol.

I want to be able to post the "finished" pics. Although, there won't be any decorations/decor on the walls...they will look bare, but oh well! Tomorrow night I'm going to a get together with some of my Mommy friends and I will put some pics together then. ;)

I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday!

HOT Tuesday

Goodness! It's like 90 degrees and the humidity is HORRIBLE. We went from frost advisories last week to this! lol.

My house is almost back in order as I spent 5 straight hours putting laundry and toys away, dressers together, vaccuuming, etc. I am beat. COMPLETELY beat. I am ready for Biggest Loser to come on and I'm going to plop myself down and watch it. lol. THEN I will take a shower. *sigh*

I'm a bit excited that things are looking better here so I can finish a few projects that I started but haven't completed. (As in the trim in my foyer and some pics I need to hang) lol

I have planted a few flowers though. I did some Lillies and some Hyacinths, as well as some Peonies. :)

Like these Peonies.


I hope that they bloom soon...we shall see.

Hopefully I am back tomorrow with some new updates and new projects being posted!!!

On a good note, I have lost 5lbs since last week!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOO! I am VERY happy!





Just a quickie...

We did a ton of running around today. Went to the produce market (LOVE that place), went to the Dr for Victoria. Turns out it was a contact dermatitis reaction she had. Apparently my daughter's beautiful face does not like Dora's lovely chapstick. That kind of stinks, so needless to say, I had to throw it all away when she FINALLY let go of her purse, etc. :( Poor baby girl, she's devastated.

We went to lunch (the younger 2 kids and Hubby and I) at a Cajun place. I was NOT impressed and I like spicy food.

Tomorrow Connor has his 5 yo check up since we missed the last one.... so 2 days in a row of seeing their Ped. I'm sure he will be thrilled. lol. Actually, he's a great guy. We are really lucky to have found a great Ped out here. Tomorrow is also our 8 yr wedding anniversary!!! I can't believe it! It's so weird. Some days have flown by and others, NOT SO MUCH. lol.

It's been a crazy day. We also stopped by the Meat market and Hubby picked up some steaks for us. We NEVER eat steak. It's SO expensive and when we do have it, the kids CHOW down. lol.

I have to go, but I promise, more projects coming soon!!

Sunday Funday

                           
I was laughing so hard in this pic! Can't you tell?

Gosh, I feel like it's been so long since I've been here. Actually, I think it's because I haven't posted any "major" projects lately. Saturday I spent a good 3.5 hrs catching up on laundry. You should see my living/family room. I have 5 buckets of folded laundry sitting there. I was so exhausted Saturday night I didn't take them upstairs.

Then today we did some FAMILY pics. Can you believe it? It's been 4 years since we've done them. So my poor little girl hasn't even ever had a "professional" pic done! To think I used to take my oldest in almost every month! lol. Boy does that change. I can't wait to share them. Alright....I guess I can share 2. My friend Tiffany is the photographer. She's trying to build her portfolio so she's taking pics of some of us in our Mom's Group. (check out her blog--she's just getting started)

Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get ALL 6 of us to look at the same time and then for all of us to smile? lol. I'm sure there are more, but she's only shown me these 2 pics so far.... I'm anxiously waiting. I'm not very patient!! lol.

Agenda for tomorrow: Take DD to the Dr. I think she has impetigo on her face. LOVELY. Thank you Strep for continuing to stay in our house...I was googling how to get rid of it and came across the fact that it's a Step strain. BLAH. Not good. Hopefully the Ped will give us some antibiotics! (Tiffany did such a good job, she got rid of the impetigo on this pic) yay!

I also have all of the laundry to put away and I have to go drop off payments for bills. Yuck. It's so hard sometimes to watch all of that money go out the window....I would REALLY like to use it on a few vacations. Just sayin....like Disney World for the kids, Alaska for the hubby and my dad, and then Hawaii for me and my bestie! lol.

I hope that you are going to have a much better Manic Monday than I will!! If anyone has any fantastic cures for impetigo, let me know. :)