A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT

Free or almost free happenings this weekend

2010-05-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/29klm3r

Deals and Freebies

2010-05-18T13:29:00.001-04:00

Check out some deals and freebies in my examiner.com article.

Summer reading programs

2010-05-17T14:37:00.002-04:00

Check out my post on examiner.com about summer reading programs for kids.

Just another use for goldfish crackers

2010-03-23T13:35:00.005-04:00

On Sunday, 2 weeks ago, we were anxiously watching the UK MS State basketball game. Ok I was watching anxiously, Jeff was some what watching, and Daniel was in his room playing. Anyway. Towards the end of the game, Daniel wandered into the living room and began to watch the game with us. He noticed that Demarcus Cousins had “snot” in his nose. I explained to him that no it was not snot, it was a plug to keep his nose from bleeding all over the place. He accepted that and helped me cheer for UK until the game was over.

Fast forward 2 nights. Jeff went in Daniel’s room to tell him it was time to turn the movie off and go brush his teeth. All I heard was, “Go show your mother.” Don’t you just love to hear those words? Daniel comes around the corner into the living room and he has 2 orange goldfish crackers in his nose. One in each side. He wanted, “to make sure that his nose did not bleed like Cousins.” (Cousins plug was orange.) I would like to be able to report that I immediately told him that it is dangerous to put things up his nose, but alas, I cannot. I had to get control of my laughing first. And no, he did not eat them when I told him to get them out. Although, he probably would have if I had not specifically said to throw them away.

If you are ever in need of some DIY first aid, try goldfish to stop nose bleeds. It has been 4 year old tested and approved.

The red circle on the picture is the nose plug in question.

Some family photos

2010-03-22T13:17:00.005-04:00

So it has been a while since I have written anything. Seems like life has just been busy and honestly, I have had a bit of writers block. I am trying to get back in the swing of things though. I thought for my first post I would share some pics I came across recently on my Uncle’s facebook page. First though a few recent ones of us.

This is our new 4 legged addition. Kysses the Kitten. I found her when she was about 5.5 weeks old. She has quite quickly become very spoiled.

This is a site I never thought to see. Jeff in a UK shirt! We have all gotten into the UK basketball this year. Daniel and I more so than Jeff, but we are working on him!

This is Aunt Pat and Uncle Kenny as the Clampetts. They had come down to AL right after I was born.

This is my Gramma, Big Bird, Mom (in the back), and Aunt Pat. I believe this is at Busch Gardens right after Mom found out she was having me.

This is my Gramma and my Grandfather, when they were younger.

This is Uncle Kenny, Mom, and Uncle Bill. Doesn't he look thrilled to have his pic taken? I believe this was in the early 90s.

This is Gramma as one of the Clampetts. This was taken right after I was born in 1983.

Hopefully I will be back to posting regularly in the next few weeks. I have to say I have missed it!

Electric Roaster Giveaway

2009-11-02T12:03:00.001-05:00

Check out Liz's examiner post to win an electric roaster. I know I want one now!

Cheeseburger Soup

2009-10-31T14:07:00.004-04:00

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com yesterday and had to try it. It was yummy! Even Daniel scarfed his down with a minimum of playing. (MIRACLE!) Here is my version of the recipe:

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
1 small onion chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cubes beef bouillion
1 pound ground beef
2 1/2 cups milk divided
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 pound processed American cheese, cubed
chili powder and cumin to taste
Prepared bacon

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the water, potatoes, onion, garlic and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.

In the mean time, brown and drain the ground beef.

Stir cooked beef and 2 cups milk into the soup and heat through. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup of milk with the flour and stir until smooth. Stir into soup. Bring to a low boil and cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheese until melted. Add chili
powder and cumin to taste.

Crumble bacon over the top of the soup and serve.

This is definitely going to become a regular in our house this winter. It was quick and easy and REALLY good.

A look at what we have been doing

2009-10-30T13:22:00.005-04:00

Wow! We have been busy. Here are some pictures of what we have been doing.

Making halloween cookies at our neighbors halloween party.

Bundling up to go to Keeneland Race Course in the cold while our family from AL was in town.

Me and my sister in law on the tram to the race course.

My sister and brother in law at the track.

Daniel the bathrobe jockey

Daddy and Daniel on the tram to the track

Me at the entrance to the track. I might not have looked fashionable but I was warm!

The perfect end to a great weekend: lunch and a random meeting with a chicken.

He has become quite the helper in the kitchen. He is cutting up cheese for my homemade mac and cheese

He wanted the squares of cheese to be just so.

Helping the transporters at work with me when he was sick.

Helping me make banana bread last weekend. And yes I am wearing pink floyd pj pants!

I went to jail on Wednesday for the MDA lock up. It was fun! I was disapointed that the hot pink Caddillac Escalade stretch limo was not the one to pick me up though :(

Mummy pizzas I made for Daniel's lunch at daycare today. I thought the kids would get a kick out of them.

Peanut butter spider crackers I fixed them as well.

So as you can see we have been quite busy in the past few weeks!

The joy of toads

2009-10-09T11:58:00.002-04:00

The joy of finding a baby toad in the yard is like no other.

Help the kids with Muscular Dystrophy go to camp!

2009-10-01T12:56:00.003-04:00

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is sending me to jail for good on October 28th. Can you help me by posting some money towards my bail? We are working on sending kids to camp as well as raising money for wheelchairs and flu shots for them. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Help keep me out of jail!

I know times are tight but any amount you can spare would help out.

You can go to my personal MDA website at

https://www.joinmda.org/hamburglockup2009/nstack

and make a donation through there.

Things never slow down

2009-09-30T13:59:00.003-04:00

Just when I think things might settle down.....NOPE. One of my employees wife had her baby last Thursday so I kept their 20 month old until they got out of the hospital on Sunday. We had a blast with him. Daniel enjoyed having somone to follow him around and play with him. I could not get out of his sight though. We went to an ethnic festival for lunch and I made the mistake of going to the bathroom without him. I could hear his screams all the way in the bathroom.

The Hamburg area is doing a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. They got my contact info through the BBB I believe. Either that or someone put my name in to be "arrested." I will be going to jail on Oct 28th at 2pm for an hour. The goal is for each person to raise $2000 in order to send 2 kids to camp as well as provide them with wheelchairs and flu shots. There is a website that you can donate through that I will post as soon as I recieve it. Maybe ya'll could help me out with my bail? Pretty please? They are going to send a limo to "arrest" me and then take me to Carinos restaurant where I will be fed their version of bread and water. After my hour is up the limo will take me back to the office. I wonder if it will have a stocked mini bar? LOL

Egg Drop Soup Recipe

2009-09-22T16:04:00.005-04:00

So I found a recipe while lurking around the web yesterday for egg drop soup. I love this soup so I decided to try it out. I thought it turned out pretty yummy. I doubled the recipe so there was enough for my ravenous husband.

2 cans chicken broth or 4 cups of homemade or made with bouillion
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tbs chopped chives
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

If you are using bouillion boil the water and throw in the cubes. If not place the broth in a pot over medium high heat. Reserve 3/4 cups of broth to be used later. Bring broth to a rolling boil. While broth is heating scramble 2 eggs plus the 1 egg yolk. Once broth is boiling add the chives and ginger and mix well. Slowly let egg drip from fork into boiling broth. Egg should cook instantly. Continue in small amounts until all the egg is used. Serve hot.

If you can find wonton noodles you can fry up some of them to serve with it. I could not find any yesterday but it was yummy without them.

I'm baaaaack

2009-09-21T12:39:00.002-04:00

Miss me? Yeah didn't think so lol.

It has been a rough couple of months for me. Depression has been kicking my ass with a vengance. I finally went to the doctor a little over a month ago and they put me on celexa. Once I got over the side effects it has helped quite a bit. I still was not sleeping though so when I went back last week they also put me on tropazine which is another depression med but it is also used to treat insomnia. I have been taking it for a few days and I feel almost like my old self again. I am sleeping better. I have more energy. I actually want to do things again. Ok maybe not the laundry that is piled up in my bedroom, but FUN things lol.

The tropazine is giving me some CRAAAAZY dreams though. Last night the batmobile was on my parents property in AL and was hunting down all these military guys. We were all running around hiding from the batmobile because no one knew who it was going to attack next. The weird thing is my subconcious is pulling people that I went to high school with that were several years older than me and using them in my dreams. The first night I took the medicine I dreamed that my mom and I were in FL except we were staying in this house on this teeny tiny strip of land. One side of the land was the ocean and on the other side was a salt water marsh. We had to leave the house because a hurricane was coming and it was pushing the waves up over the house and the land. We were trying to get to the mainland when a gust of wind pushed me into the marsh. Mom started screaming at me because there was an alligator in the water with me. I started frantically swimming and instead of getting on the land I dove UNDER it. It was like a strip of land just floating on the water. The alligator was just about to get me! Then my husband woke me up because evidently I was thrashing around and making weird noises lol. (You try and escape from an alligator and see what kind of noises YOU make!)

See am I screwed up in the head or what?! I think it is all the drama in my family in AL trying to work it's way out in my dreams. Oh well I always knew I was crazy!

Just some thoughts

2009-07-31T10:41:00.002-04:00

I am really liking that they are doing two seasons of Hell's Kitchen this year. Gives me something decent to watch on Tuesay nights. This week I watched the new show More to Love that came on after HK. I am not sure what bothered me more. The name of the show or the stories some of the contestants shared. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the average American woman was around 160-200lbs. So why is the show called more to love? Why isn't the other show called Less to Love? They said the average size of those contestants was a size 2. Somehow I do not see that as normal. Ok I will get off my soapbox now.

Jeff is sick. He has some kind of summer cold or crud. He is so whiney it is not even funny. I mean if I get sick I have to make my own homemade chicken noodle soup. No one brings me cold rags while I lie on the couch. My life still has to go on like I am not sick and feel like death warmed over. Oh well at least Daniel is not here to catch it from him.

This is our last child free weekend. We head to AL next Thursday when we get off work. Daniel is still not talking to us. They went to see Ice Age 3 yesterday and Mom said it was really good. Not sure what Daniel's opinion on it was lol.

My 4 year old is giving me the silent treatment

2009-07-27T15:11:00.002-04:00

Daniel has been in AL a little over a week and I have talked to him twice. For about 5 minutes. TOTAL. He is "too busy" to talk lol. Mom had to MAKE him get on the phone with Jeff and I this weekend. He has gone to the park a LOT, been swimming, gone and spent the day with my mother in law and went to church with them. Played at the park with my brother in law and wore him out from what Mom said. Today he is going to the Anniston Natural History Museum to see the dino bones and all the other exotic animals and artifacts they have. I warned mom he likes to touch. Hopefully we will not have to um replace any expensive items that he breaks. Maybe he will not try and take the dinosaur bones home with him. Then again maybe he will. You never know with him.

We have been enjoying our free time. We have watched a LOT of movies. With no interuptions. In complete silence. WONDERFUL! We went to Olive Garden and enjoyed a nice peaceful adult only dinner. We had a blast Saturday at a wedding party. And get this. I slept until NOON on Sunday. Ok not all the way until noon, but off and on until then. It was glorious!

Jeff is excited because the hot peppers are starting to show up at the farmer's market again. I got enough to can 5 jars of pepper sauce this weekend and will keep on every other week or so until there are no more left. He was starting to get worried because he just opened the last jar from last year's stash and was afraid he would run out. OH THE HORROR!!! Heaven forbid he should run out of pepper sauce! Seeing as how he is the only person in the house that eats it, he better be glad I love him enough to make it for him.

What has been going on in ya'lls worlds? I need to catch up on my blog reading.

Why yes I am alive

2009-07-20T16:00:00.002-04:00

I have not posted in forever and I have barely been able to get on article a week on examiner.com. I have had several good stories to tell but no time to do it in. Work has had me swamped for the past few weeks. Plus it seems like there is always something going on on the weekends. If we are not doing something then I am trying to catch up on laundry and cleaning. Or just being lazy because I am too tired to do anything. Maybe after this week at work things will finally calm back down. Not going to hold my breath on that one though.

Daniel left Saturday with Jeff's family for AL. Well actually he left our presence Friday night. When everyone got ready to go to the hotel, he grabbed his "pack pack" of toys he had had packed for 2 days and said "Ok I am ready!" We tried convincing him that he needed to spend the night with us at home but he was not having any of that! His response: "But you said when they got here I was LEAVING!" So he spent the night at the hotel. We met up Saturday morning for an early lunch and he barely had time to say 3 words to us. He was busy with his cousins! After a hug ("But NO kisses Mommy!) for me and Jeff he was on his way to see his Mimi, Grampie, and Melgie.

It was REALLY quiet after he left, but it was a nice relaxing weekend. We checked out a Lexington Horsemen's (Arena Football team) game Saturday night since the tickets were only $5. Had a blast. The best part of the whole weekend though was the fact that I slept until almost 10am Sunday morning! I have not been able to do that in months!

I am going to get back on the blogging train again and post more than once a month. I have lots of funny stories to share from my past months absence.

Where has the time gone?

2009-06-29T14:36:00.004-04:00

Seems like only a few weeks ago I had plenty of free time on my hands, and now I have NONE. Our weekends have been jam packed with things to do with Daniel, and the weeks are filled with work. Jeff's company has been super busy so he has been going in early and getting home late. I have been trying to train a new field agent and it seems like there are just not enough hours to fit it all in. I desperately want to try and find time to get in some exercise even if it is just a walk around the block but by the time I get home and get supper cooked I am exhausted. I am making a concious effort though to eat healthier than I was. My self esteem as far as looks goes is about as low as it has ever been and I want to do something about it. When you have a minor incident that causes you to go into that much self doubt and misery it is time to do something. I don't expect miracles, or even want to be as skinny as I used to be, but I want to feel healthier and lose at least a little bit of the extra weight I am carrying.

This weekend was a little bit slower than the past few have been, which was nice. Jeff heard on the radio that the S&S tire in Brannon Crossing was having Officer Don fly in in his helicopter on Saturday and that you could register to win 1 of 10 rides. We has planned on taking Daniel to the movies over there so it worked out good for us. He LOVED watching the helicopter land and take off and got to sit in it and have his picture made. He did not win one of the rides which is good I guess because he said he did not want to ride in it. We headed over to the movies and Daniel was all excited about watching Ice Age 3. Yeah but it does not come out until this weekend. OOPS. So I was all set to watch Transformers which he also wanted to see until Jeff opened his FAT mouth and mentioned there was another CARTOON movie playing. Yep spent $30 on UP in 3D when I would have much rather rented it for a $1. So now we get to make 2 more trips to the movies because he has already been promised he could see Transformers and Ice Age. #@%))!#$)*#$ men!

Here is Daniel just out of the tub after a long day of being spoiled on Saturday. I think his face says it all!

Speaking of faces saying it all: If your husband goes to the doctor don't just assume he knows what a prostate exam is. His face said it all when I came back in the room. PRICELESS! That and the muttered curses under his breath. Now you know how we feel honey!

Camping as an alternative to a staycation

2009-06-26T14:30:00.000-04:00

Check out my newest article http://tinyurl.com/mr56nj

Happenings in Lexington this weekend for free or cheap

2009-06-25T12:09:00.002-04:00

I have a new article posted. Check it out!

I finally wore my child out!

2009-06-22T15:55:00.004-04:00

I never thought I would see the day that my child was actually worn out, but it has happened! Liz came by Friday night and was going out so my wonderful husband watched Daniel so I could go too. After I left they took a shower and he put Daniel on a movie to watch. At 11:30 Daniel woke Jeff up on the couch saying his movie was off. Jeff was only going to let him watch a little bit of it and then go to bed, but fell asleep on the couch. Needless to say he was in our room at 7am the next morning. So much for staying up late=sleeping later.

Saturday the Lexington Farmer's Market was having their Farm Tours. We ate breakfast at the market and grabbed our maps and tickets and headed out. We went to Abigails Apiary first. She told us some pretty interesting facts about the bees but Daniel was just not too into it. He did get to feed one of the boarder horses and thought that was really cool. From there we headed to Garey Farms in Paris, KY because they are one of our favorites at the market. They are always very nice and have good quality produce and meats. They had lunch set up their for a small price. Smoked bison, turkey or chicken and all kinds of sides to go with it. It was YUMMY! Then we headed to the back of the property to see the turkeys and chickens. It was a pretty good walk and Daniel of course RAN the whole way. He liked the chickens because he said they were laughing at each other and he liked the turkeys "Long nose that looks like a worm." Then he ran back up to the front of the farm. From their we went to Reed Valley Orchard and picked some red raspberries to take home with us. Of course he ran there too.

When we left all the farms we headed back to Jacobson Park in Lexington for Pig Day. They had all kinds of the inflatable things for the kids to play on. Daniel proceeded to run from the one on this side to the one the furthest away and then back to the other side and then back to the furthest away. Jeff and I drug ourselves around behind him. After about an hour of that we could not take any more and told him we needed to go but when we got home we would get in the pool and cool off. (Bright person I am I forgot the sunscreen so my face was burnt and Daniel now has a redneck tan on his neck.)

We played in the pool for a while and then headed inside for baths and relaxation. After he had a snack of a piece of pizza he wanted to watch HAppy Feet in his room. He made it maybe 30 minutes into the movie and was passed out asleep.

Sunday we went and ate for Fathers Day and ran a few errands and tehn spent the rest of the day in the pool. When we got out we had leftovers for supper and settled on the couch to read/watch the race. (Wonder who was reading? NOT my husband lol) Daniel had said he was cold so he grabbed my fuzzy Auburn blanket and his "squishy" pillow and snuggled into the couch. And would have been asleep 30 minutes later if we had not bribed him with some more berries and cream. SERIOUSLY my child was falling asleep on the couch! He NEVER does that. If it had been a little later we would have let him sleep but it was only 6 so he would have been up at 3 this morning. We kept him awake a little longer and then shot off a few fireworks that Jeff had gotten him and he was passed out 2 minutes after he hit the pillow.

I guess all the exercise and the heat wore him out but I never thought I would see the day that my child was actually wore out. Sad thing was so were his parents. Even more so than him!

Feeding the horse at Abigail's.

Picking raspberries at Reed Valley Orchard. Of course he had to try some even though they weren't washed yet!

He climbed up this like it was a breeze. My little monkey boy!

This was one of his favorite things. Plus he got a shiny silver skull ring that he refused to take off the rest of the weekend.

Daniel and Dad in his new Dad t shirt. It says Dad the man, the myth, the legend.

New article up

2009-06-22T13:14:00.001-04:00

I have my new article up on Examiner.com on How to Save Money with Homemade Cleaners. Go check it out!

Mommy Fell in Cow SHIT Water and Other Tales From the Race

2009-06-17T10:33:00.003-04:00

We all went to the Nascar Nationwide series race at the KY Motor Speedway last weekend. We went last year and had a blast so decided to go back again this year. We stayed at the same campground because the people are extremely nice and it is a fun place to camp. They have a stream that runs through part of the grounds that the kids like to play in. Daniel remembered it from last year and could not wait to play in it when we got there on Friday. After we had camp set up and had grilled some hotdogs we all went down to the creek. Jeff wanted to walk all the way down to the bridge and get out there. I told him I did not think you could get out there but he insisted that you could. Oh yeah you can get out there.....the same way that the cows cross over. Right where they um go to the bathroom. We were crossing the creek when SPLASH!!! I slipped and fell in. In the cow crap water. With my camera. And only pair of sneakers I brought with me. NOT HAPPY!

Needless to say I had to walk through the camp to get to the showers and all the people that worked there teased me all weekend long about swimming with the cows. The closest Wal Mart was 20 miles away and was the sorriest super center I have ever seen. I had to buy a new camera and a nice new pair of shiny silver sneakers because that was the only freaking pair they had.

I have rotten luck with cameras. I lost mine last year when I was leaving the race because my bag had a hole in it and it fell out. 6 months before that I left mine on the top of the car when I was getting Daniel in the car and forgot about it until I heard it bounce off the top of my car while going down the highway. This makes my 3rd camera in less than 2 years time. If this one does not last I am giving up lol.

We had a blast at the race on Saturday. (And no I did NOT go in the creek when the boys did.) Daniel chowed down on a huge bag of kettle corn and sat back and waited for the wrecks. (That is his favorite part) We got to see a couple right in front of us so he was very happy about that. Joey Logano beat out Kyle Busch right at the end of the race for the second year in a row. I was happy about that because I do not like Kyle Busch.

All in all it was a great weekend. Other than the cow water incident.

Monday night Jeff's brother called and Daniel wanted to tell him about the race.

D: "Mommy fell in the cow SHIT water!"

B: Hysterical laughing at Daniels choice of words.
J: "Daniel! Don't say that! That is NOT nice."

Oops I think I might have used a few choice words after falling in the water. Bad Mommy.

The clean part of the creek.

I want a job driving one of these

Coming out of the garage area before the race

Waiting for the race to start

Boogity boogity boogity let's go racing boys!

I got stung by a sting bee 10 times

2009-06-11T11:31:00.002-04:00

Daniel is obsessed by "sting bees" and worms, spiders and ants. But mostly sting bees. He has been telling huge stories about how he has gotten stung by sting bees every day at daycare. In one story he was telling my mom he even went on to become friends with a sting bee who was nice and they played together but then the sting bee got sick and went to the hospital.

One of the other kids at day care did get stung by a bee when they were outside about a week or so ago. We have been telling Daniel to leave the bees alone when we are outside together. He chases them, hits at them, just generally annoys them. We kept tellinghim he was going to get stung if he did not leave them alone to which he would reply, "But I HAVE been stung by a sting bee at daycare." (He has trouble keeping his stories and reality separate lol)

He finally got his wish. He was stung by a bee at daycare yesterday morning. Evidently he has a mild allergy to them. His teacher called me because the place swelled up to the size of a dollar bill and he had hives on his back. By the time I got to his daycare the hives were gone and the swelling had went down quite a bit. So thankfully no trip to the ER.

He swears up and down that he was not messing with the bees, that he just turned around and "there the bee was and it jumpd on my shirt and stung me." Somehow I just don't believe that.

So he came to work with me and played games on the computer until we could go home. I dosed him up with some Benadryl and some Tylenol and he fell asleep watching cartoons on the couch. For about 10 minutes until Daddy got home.

Oh well, we knew it was coming eventually.

Eight Meme

2009-06-09T10:53:00.002-04:00

Mrs B from Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom tagged me for this meme.

THE RULES: Mention who tagged you. Complete the list of 8’s. Tag 8 other people.

8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:

1 Camping this weekend in Sparta for the NASCAR race

2 Summer

3 Tomatoes to grow on my plants

4 Being off work on Friday

5 My husbands 28th birthday so i can rub in how he is ALWAYS going to be older than me

6 Watching Daniels face while at the race this weekend. He is SOOOOO excited

7 Did I mention being off work on Friday?

8 Daniel starts school in one more year

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:

1 Had leftovers for supper

2 Conference call about new insurance through work

3 Took a walk with the family

4 Rode around in the repo truck looking for cars.

5 Thought once more how I needed to order more tow lights for the trucks...and promptly forgot to do it

6 Drank lots of water

7 Took walk around the block at work

8 Thought about what needed to be done for camping/race this weekend

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:

1 Sleep for 12-16 hours straight with not a single person waking me up

2 Be closer to my family

3 Be closer to the beach so we could take Daniel there on vacation

4 Fly

5 Make sure that nothing bad would ever happen to my child

6 Lose some weight

7 Eat whatever I wanted too and still lose weight

8 Sing better

8 SHOWS I WATCH:

1 House

2 Bones

3 Ugly Betty

4 Fringe

5 I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (lame I know but there is nothing else on)

6 Hell's Kitchen

7 American Idol

8 Lie to Me

8 FAVORITE FOODS:

1 Pasta in any shape form or concoction you can think of

2 Mac and Cheese

3 Mexican

4 Sushi

5 Indian

6 Cheese

7 Bread

8 Smoked pork tenderloin

8 PLACES I’D LIKE TO TRAVEL:
1 Austrailia

2 Africa
3 Hawaii
4 Greece
5 France

6 Ireland

7 Scotland

8 England

8 PEOPLE I’VE TAGGED:
Please feel free to do or not do this as you wish. I know not everyone likes to do memes. I choose you:

Jessica at Don't Give Him Crackers

Liz at Narcississims

Janelle at Everyday Stories

MJ at I'm Just a Girl

Aaenson at Life with a Toddler

Stacy at I Eat Snowman Poop

Bobbi at Rightmyer Rants

Anyone who thinks this looks like fun!

Playing cops and robbers...supposedly I am the robber

2009-06-02T15:48:00.002-04:00

One of the things about my job tat I have always liked is that it is never boring. I have been called every name under the sun and then some and there is usually something interesting going on, if not here at my office, then one of the other branches.

One of my employees called me Sunday afternoon to tell me that he had a debtor that was calling him about her personal property that was in her car. He gave her the office number and told her she needed to call Monday morning and MAKE AN APPOINTMENT.

On my way to work yesterday morning he calls me again. To tell me that they have been sitting at our lot since 6am! WHY would anyone do that? What freaking business opens that early?

So they came in the office and I told them sorry you have to make an appointment and I have to have time to clean out the car. You can make an appointment for tomorrow morning. Yeah she (whose name is actually not on the account it is her husbands account) did NOT like that. Started telling me how I can't keep her stuff yada yada yada. They finally make an appt for in the morning and leave.

45 minutes later she calls me back and tells me that Lexington PD said I can't keep her stuff that she is coming back to get it. I tlak to my boss and he says no without an appt she can't get it. So she calls the PD to come out here.

The 2 cops who came out here yesterday must not like repo companies because they told her she could swear out a warrant for ME if anything was missing when she picked up her stuff today. She was already claiming that there was money in her car so I knew I was going to have more problems today. When the guys repo a car that has personal items in there they do a quick check for drugs, guns and large amounts of money. I already knew there was not any money in the car.

Since I work by myself I had one of the guys come in this morning so I was not here by myself with them. People can get crazy I do not want to bleed to death by myself lol.

So this morning she blows up because her money is not in there, then accuses me of taking her food stamp card and debot card too. WHY would I want those? It is not like I have your pin and can use them! Needless to say the husband threw the clipboard with his paper work on it across the office and they called me a few choice names and called the cops again.

That paperwork he signed and threw across the office though is a personal property release: it says you do not hold us responsible for your personal items and anything that may be missing. Guess you should read before you sign? I also made sure that I had 2 witnesses when I cleaned out the car that can attest to the fact that there was NO MONEY in the car. Add to that the fact that the car was UNLOCKED when my employee picked it up and that is documented on the report he does.

Guess that warrant with my name on it just isn't happening today!

Maybe if your husband who appears like nothing is wrong other than being overweight got a job instead of disability checks and you quit spitting out kids like they were going out of style you would not be in this position.

I understand that there are hardworking people that for whatever reason lose their car. Shit happens. People like I have dealt with the past 2 days however just really get under my skin. Thankfully here I do not have to deal with them very often. Birmingham I dealt with them on a daily basis.

I am not a liar OR a thief. I wouldn't hold the title manager if I was.

I am now a Lexington Examiner!

2009-05-28T15:40:00.004-04:00

Hey guys I have been selected to be an Examiner for Lexington on Examiner.com. Basically I write articles on whatever category I represent. I am the Lexington Frugal Living Examiner (but I am throwing in a green twist as well). Please go check out my quick introduction and there will be more articles to come in the next few days. The more views I get the better off I am so....PUUUUHLEASE go read even if you are not from Lexington.

I feel old

2009-05-26T10:35:00.002-04:00

I remember just a few years ago I could stay out all night or only get 2-3 hours of sleep and then get up go to work and do it all over again the next night. We have been staying up the past couple of weeks WAAAAAY past our bedtime and I am worn out. What happened to being able to go on very little sleep for days at a time? I feel so old!

Off to get some shots

2009-05-22T13:32:00.001-04:00

Daniel has his 4 year old check up and shots today. He is going to love me later! Mean mommy! LOL I will post some more if I get a chance this weekend. Just been taking a bit of a break.

My husband wonders why I do not like him to cook....

2009-05-19T16:36:00.003-04:00

Last night I stopped at Wal Mart on my way home to pick up a frozen pizza to go with the few leftovers we were going to have for dinner. We really did not have enough leftovers for all of us to eat so I thought with the pizza it would be plenty.

My wonderful husband offered to cook the pizza while I soaked in the tub. That would be great!

I am soaking, reading my book, when Jeff comes in:

J: "You are going to be mad at me."
N: "Why?"
J: "I ruined dinner."
N: "How did you ruin dinner?"
J: "I did not know there was cardboard under the pizza. The pizza is all stuck to the cardboard and not cooked in other places."
N: "All pizzas have cardboard under them."
J: "I was not thinking."
N: "Go get another one."

And he wonders why I don't like it when he cooks.

The man who also fixed oatmeal one morning and thought he grabbed the cinnamon, but it was cumin. So he added cinnamon to it and then ate it. NASTY!

MEN!

I scored an AMAZING deal

2009-05-18T11:18:00.002-04:00

One of the money savnig blogs I read posted last week about a deal going on at Kroger. Kroger has Kraft BBQ sauce on sale for $1.08. There were several coupon sites that had $1 off one Kraft BBQ sauce coupons. When you bought 6 you got a Catalina for $3 off your next purchase at Kroger.

I decided to give it a try since Jeff had said we were out of BBQ sauce and we LOVE to grill. Like every day if I would let him. Seriously.

I printed off the coupons, which took me a while because a lot of the sites had already reached the max that could be printed. On my way home I stopped at the Kroger on Hartland. Theirs was marked down to $1.56. I decided to see if a Kroger in a less ritzy neighborhood had them any cheaper so I waited. Friday I checked the one on Tates Creek. SCORE! They had theirs for $1.08.

I ended up paying 42 cents for 6 bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce AND got the $3.00 Catalina. So I made $2.52!

We should have enough sauce for at least 2 months. Maybe. Or not.

A dilemma

2009-05-15T10:57:00.003-04:00

Most of you who have been reading for a while know that my mom had a scare with ovarian cancer a few months back. She had to have a complete hysterectomy done and was supposed to take 6 weeks off work. She did not have any complications from the surgery itself, but has been in excrutiating intestinal and abdominal pain since the surgery.

She has been to several different doctors and had numerous tests done. The consensus has been that because her uterus was so swollen (like the size of a volleyball) that all of her internal organs got displaced. Now they are trying to get back to normal and all the moving and shifting has aggrevated her colon.

She was supposed to start back to work towards the end of April, but because of the severity of the pain, this has been her first week back to work. She has been on disability whike out of work, but when you go from making over a $1000 a week to $400 a week, it is a HUGE difference.

Money always seems to be tight for them anyway. I love my Mom but she does not always make wise financial decisions. Since the cut back in her wages things have gotten REALLY tight for them. It will be another week before she gets a normal paycheck.

I was talking to my Dad on the phone earlier and he told me he is $400 overdrawn at the bank and has no way to fix it until he gets his monthly check. (My dad is a disabled retired US Marine.)

My dilemma is this: I could send him the money to take care of that, but doing that would take most of the money we have saved for our emergency fund. If something happened to us in the next few weeks we would have nothing to fall back on. I could send them both a little money to help them out until Mom gets paid next week but not enough to bail them out or disrupt our financial security. (What little we have.) I could send them the full amount with the promise that when Mom gets paid I get our money back. The last option makes me feel bad though because my parents have done so much for me and have not asked for anything in return. Ok other than occasional monthly visits from their grandson now that we have moved so far away.

BLECH! I do not know what to do! Anyone have any thoughts?

Smoked Bison Rump Roast becomes yummy sandwiches

2009-05-13T12:28:00.005-04:00

Before Jeff's family left on Sunday we all took a trip to the Lexington Farmer's Market out on Southland. We wanted to show them how awesome our local market is, especially when compared to the ones in AL.

We all enjoyed some fresh ice cream made with fresh from the farm milk. I picked up some smoked garlic powder that I was out of. Daniel wanted "A tree of broccoli." Jeff wanted me to make squash casserole for dinner so I picked up some squash. My sister in law picked up a few things to take back to AL for their dinner that night. Jeff and I were debating if we should get some ham for dinner when he saw the next stall over had roasts. I wanted a Boston butt but the only one they had left was WAY to much food for our small family. They did have a Bison rump roast though. We agreed on that not realizing it was going to be quite as expensive as it was. $18 expensive to be exact. YIKES! The way I justified it was if we had went out for Mothers Day it would have cost us more than the $25 it cost us to buy our dinners ingredients.

We decided to smoke the roast in Jeff's smoker. I thawed the roast in some warm water while Jeff got the smoker going. I made a marinade of some fresh rosemary from my herb garden, olive oil, the smoked garlic powder and a little minced garlic, and some cracked pepper.

It was pretty darn good. Maybe not quite $18 good but good nonetheless. Bison is also a very lean meat so their was very little fat on the cut of meat.

We still had quite a bit left over so I decided to make it into sandwiches last night for supper. Jeff shredded the meat and warmed in on the George Foreman grill (best appliance ever). I sauteed onions, mushrooms and garlic powder in a little bit of olive oil. Then we made up a brown gravy. Toasted some rye bread and added some slices of cheddar cheese. Place all the ingredients on the bread and man was it yummy! I had the last for leftovers in my lunch today.

In the end I guess our $18 roast was not too bad of a financial move as we were able to get 2 dinners and 1 lunch out of it. Next time I will definitely check the price before saying I will take it however!

Daniel's Birthday

2009-05-12T10:32:00.006-04:00

It does not seem like 4 years ago I was taking care of a tiny little baby. He has gotten so big and grown up so fast. He had a wonderful time on Saturday and thank you to all of you who helped make his birthday special.

We were worried that the weather was not going to clear up in time but by 3:00 it was nice and sunny outside. The kids were all dying to get in the new pool and finally after it had time to warm up a little bit we relented.

When the hamburgers and hotdogs were done Daniel did not want to get out of the pool. Finally we bribed him with his cake and he agreed to get out and have cake and open presents. As soon as the presents were open they were back in the pool. With a few of his new toys.

After a few of the guests had left Jeff's mom brought out one of her gifts to Daniel. A Spongebob slip and slide. Of course my husband the "big kid" had to show the little kids how it was done. They all had a blast.

It was so nice to be able to have so many people over and have such a good time. We never could have done this in our old apartment. Plus Jeff's family that came up from AL were able to stay with us instead of getting a hotel, so we were able to spend more time with them.

It was a great weekend for all of us.

Here are a few pictures:

Daniel LOVED his cake.

They were whales and sharks!

Supervising lol!

Eating cake with Uncle Brian and Gigi.

Fun on the slip and slide.

Big kid fun on the slip and slide!

2009-05-11T14:51:00.001-04:00

I am a bit under the weather today so I am taking another day off from blogging. I will get a post up about Daniel's birthday tomorrow hopefully.

Spongebob Cake

2009-05-08T13:19:00.004-04:00

Daniel loves Spongebob so I got a burst of inspiration to make him a spongebob cake for his birthday. Cakes are square, Spongebob is square. Should not be that hard.

After one cake that exploded over the sides of the pan, I got the cake baked yesterday. I started on the frosting this morning.

Here is the final result:

I am pleased with the way it turned out and Daniel LOVES it.

Sorry for the crappy picture quality I can't find my usb cable for my camera so had to take this with my camera phone.

Where does God live?

2009-05-07T21:11:00.002-04:00

Daniel and I went to Meijer's today to get the stuff for me to make him a Spongebob cake. Meijers usually has some pretty good sale prices so I was looking around at all the clearance food items. We were looking at the spice isle for some yellow food coloring when Daniel asked me:

D: Where does God live?
M: Well he lives in Heaven but he is around us all the time.
D: Have you ever been to Heaven?
M: No not yet.
D: Are you going today?
M: Well I hope not!
D: Why?
M: Because when you go to heaven you are dead and I would like to see you turn 4 on Saturday.

Needless to say the other people in the isle were dying laughing at me and Daniel.

Fast forward to the area by the milk where they keep other markdowns:

D: Who works here?
M: Well there are a lot of people who work here.
D: What are there names?
M: Well I do not know.
D: I bet one of them are named God!
M: Um no I do not think so.
D: YES! One of them are God!!!!

More snickering and laughing from the people in the area.

He may not make it to 4.

Homemade croissant pockets

2009-05-06T13:27:00.003-04:00

I found a recipe yesterday and just had to try it out last night. Man these things were good!

Ingredients:

2 cans of croissant dough
1/2 of an onion, chopped
1/2 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1 cup grated cheese of your choice
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 cups frozen hasbrowns
pepper and garlic to taste

Heat oven to 350. If ham is not already cooked, cook and dice and set aside. Defrost frozen hasbrowns in microwave safe bowl for about 2 minutes. Brown hashbrowns and onions in a pan with butter. Add garlic and pepper to taste. In small bowl mix dressing, cheese (I used cheddar and an asiago/parm blend and of course I used more than the 1 cup. I like my cheese!) and the ham. (I did not mix the ham with the dressing mix as I wanted half of mine to be meatless.) On a cookie sheet roll out the croissant dough. Take the first 2 triangles that roll out (that form a square when together) and pinch the seams together. Continue this process with both cans of croissant dough. Place a small amount of the potato mixture and a small amount of the cheese mixture at one end of the dough. Fold the other end over and pinch all the edges shut. Fill and seal all of the pockets and bake for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

What I love about this is you can very easily change the stuffing ingredients. You could use spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, musrooms etc for a pizza pocket, or some of that wonderful pesto I love with chicken. The possibilities are endless!

I meant to take pictures, but well um they were eaten before I had the chance.

This is the awesomest!

2009-05-06T13:06:00.003-04:00

Frugal Dad used me in one of his blogs and linked back to my page!!!!! SWEET!

Seriously though his blog is my favorite personal finance blog that I read. I have learned a ton since finding his site and his articles always put things in terms I can understand. (Not a big math/finance wiz here.) So if you have not checked out his site I recommend doing it.

A day of laziness I mean rest

2009-05-04T14:57:00.002-04:00

I spent all my free time last week washing clothes and cleaning house. I did NOT want to spend all weekend doing those dreaded chores. Saturday we always have a bunch of running around to do. The Farmer's Market downtown, ALDI's for groceries, depending on what else I need a trip to Meijer's or Wal Mart.

We got everything done on Saturday.

Sunday we stayed in our PJ's ALL DAY LONG. Yep. We were lazy and it was sooooo nice.

We cooked breakfast. Then we pulled out our couch into a bed and all piled up and watched a movie. Then Daniel had lunch and took a nap while Jeff and I watched more movies and he also napped. Then at 5 I had to wake Daniel up and he did a flying leap on to Jeff who was napping on the couch. It was quite funny. Must have been the way he threw his hands up over his head like a cheerleader getting ready to jump off the top of the pyramid, and then jumped full force on Jeff. (And he did not get the idea to jump on Jeff and wake him up from me. Nope I would NEVER tell him to do that. Ever.)

Ok maybe he did.

Leftovers for supper. And then bed. It was a nice relaxing day. Can I do it again tomorrow?

Some advice needed

2009-04-30T23:59:00.002-04:00

A little over a month ago my husband did something that made me lose some of my trust in him. Nothing so drastic as cheating on me or anything but something that we had talked about and both reached an agreement about.

He lied to me blatantly to my face, and it was a really bad lie at that.

After a few days ( I needed some time to cool down and think.) we talked and I explained to hin how much it hurt me that he lied, and how it was going to take me a while to get over that, and that it would take me a while to be able to trust him again. He said he knew that and could understand that and that he was sorry it would not happen again. But how do I know? Like I said he has pretty much lost my trust.

How do you fix something like that in a relationship? I have no experience with this. I have always been the type that when things got rough, I got out. I do not want that to be the case here though. I love Jeff.

I know he loves me and I love him very much but at the same time I guess I am still hurt maybe?

I know this is not anywhere near the end for us and that eventually we will recover, but what can I do to make it better?

Should it be up to me to try and make things better?

BLECH! I am soooo confused.

Answers to a few questions about Dryer Balls

2009-04-30T09:23:00.003-04:00

There were a few questions about the dryer balls I posted about yesterday. Here are the answers that I have.

Bobbi, I have noticed that there does not seem to be as much static in my clothes. I have a couple of fleece blankets and normally when I pull them out of the dryer you can hear the static in them, but Sunday I did not notice any static.

Janelle, supposedly they work by creating more space between the clothes for air to flow through thus shortening the drying time. As far as how they make the clothes softer and stuff I honestly have no idea. From what research I have done online it seems like because they do not have the chemicals that dryer sheets do that build up a residue on your clothes and prevent them from being soft and fluffy. Expecially with the towels the residue causes them to be less absorbent.

Nellie's Dryer Balls: A Review

2009-04-29T12:24:00.003-04:00

I have been reading a lot about using dryer balls instead of fabric softner sheets for the past few months. Supposedly they reduce drying time, lint and wrinkles, make towels more absorbent and clothes softer and of course they are better for the environment because they reduce waste. You spend less money on energy as well. Like the no-poo (which I am still doing by the way) I had to give it a try.

There are people that make their own out of wool, and then there are the rubbery plastic type ones like I got. ALDI'S had them for $6.99 for the 2 pack, so I picked some up last week. After getting home from camping I had a TON of laundry to do. I washed my first load and then threw them in the dryer with my new balls.

The results? Since I have an older dryer I always have to let it finish one complete cycle then turn it on for another 30-40 minutes. With the dryer balls I am only having to add on an extra 10-20 minutes. Honestly I have not noticed if my clothes are any softer or my towels more absorbent, but for me the energy savings plus the fact that they are reusable instead of disposable makes them a winner in my book.

First Camping Trip of 2009

2009-04-28T12:53:00.007-04:00

On a spur of the moment trip, we decided to head to the Natural bridge/Red River Gorge area of KY and go camping this weekend. We had an absolute blast! I think if Daniel had not been made to take several showers, he would have brought home a sample of every type of dirt that can be found in the area. Here are a few pics:

Aren't they cute?

The Natural Bridge from a distance.

He just HAD to play in the water. Of course he "accidentally" sat in the water.

Showing off his dirt. He had to be "naked" like Daddy.

More dirt. He took a LOT of showers.

One of the reasons he was so dirty. He was building this wall.

After one of the many showers, he was "fishing" in the stream with this stick.

The moose in one of the stores in Slade, KY. They also had a stuffed lion up in the rafters of the building.

Entrance to the Red River Gorge. You had to drive through the mountain in a one lane tunnel. Daniel loved it!

Turtles at the KY Reptile Zoo.

PS I did not barf on Friday! I did a great job!

I hope I do not puke on someone

2009-04-23T13:13:00.003-04:00

Back in November or so, I talked with my boss about getting together a packet for the local credit unions here. In AL we had quite a few that we got good business from and there are a TON of them here. With the craziness of life (ok and my procrastination) I had not gotten anything done on it until a few weeks ago.

After being connected to the right person in our corporate office, who could get me the material I needed, I quickly whipped my business packet in to shape.

Tomorrow is the day it begins. I start visiting all the credit unions making my presentation. I have to represent my company. And be professional. And DRESS UP. No blue jeans tomorrow :( My boss telling me they were all counting on me does nothing to help my nerves either. I am sure after the first couple I will be fine, but I am afraid in those first few I just might barf on someone. That would be REALLY professional.

Did I mention that I have NOTHING to wear. Or that my hair is horrible right now because of it's in between lengths growing outness? It never cooperates.

Oh well at least they have confidence in me that I can handle it myself instead of sending someone from our corporate office to do it. I see that promotion to branch manager within reach! WOOHOO! Payraise!

A rant

2009-04-21T14:59:00.002-04:00

You know I moved 400 miles away from home for my job, because I could not keep working with a certain person. Made my life hell. Why is it that from 400 miles away she is STILL trying to make my life hell? All it does is make you look bad to the clients and to our bosses with our company! GET A LIFE! You are a LOT older than me and should freaking know how to act like an adult! NOT A KID! BLLLLAAAARGH!

Ok feel a little better now.

REEE Clunk REE REE Clunk (or something like that)

2009-04-21T11:57:00.003-04:00

Last year Jeff won tickets to the Nascar Nationwide series race at the Kentucky Motor Speedway. We took Daniel and camped out that Saturday for the race. Daniel had an absolute blast! Unfortunately, I lost my camera when leaving the track, so no pictures.

For months after we went he would ask us when we were going back to the races. He loves everything to do with cars. From the movie CARS (Probably why it looks like the movie exploded in his room.), to coming to work with Mommy and seeing the tow trucks.

We have been talking about going back to the race this year. I looked into the ticket prices the other day and was talking to Jeff about them. Daniel is THRILLED because he heard us and knows we are going to go to the races again! Once again, every day he asks, "Are we going to the races today?"

The ultimate though was last night. I picked him up from daycare and he wanted to call and talk to Melgie. (My sister. She was gone all weekend and he was VERY upset that he could not talk to her.) He was playing with a race car when I handed him the phone. He then proceeded to demonstrate to everyone who got on the phone, the noises that the cars make when they are doing a pit stop. He also explained that the car was getting it's tires changed, and then that it had wrecked and had to go to the garage. Funny thing is, he sounded scarily like the air wrenches they use. Maybe he will be a sound effects person for movies when he grows up.

Or a NASCAR driver.

And Mel, from now on you have to stay home so that when Daniel calls, you are there.

I NEED one of these.

2009-04-21T11:14:00.000-04:00

Anyone want to buy me one?

Wish I did not have plans this weekend

2009-04-17T13:00:00.002-04:00

So I could go meet some hillbillies.

Garlic pesto and spinach pizza

2009-04-17T10:47:00.003-04:00

A couple of months ago I made some homemade pizza dough. I used half of it and froze the other half for future use. I can't remember what recipe I used but here is one that is a LOT easier than what I used. I will be trying this one next time.

I decided Wednesday night that pizza sounded good for supper on Thursday and set out the dough to thaw. I am GLAD I did. Corvette hunting took longer than I expected.

My 2 years working at Papa John's came in handy last night and impressed my son. He kept wanting me to "throw it again." Those skills are not nessecary however. Just fun.

This recipe is what I used, but you can change the toppings to reflect your tastes. My husband was horrified when I told him there was not going to be any meat on the pizza, but changed his tune when he tried it.

1 pizza crust (homemade or store bought does not matter)
2-3 Tbsp Garlic Scape Pesto from Blue Moon Farms (Any pesto will work but this stuff is AMAZING.)
2-3 Tbsp spaghetti sauce (I only used about 2 because I do not like a lot of sauce.)

Toppings I used:

Spinach drained and pressed to remove as much water as possible.
Sliced mushrooms
Sliced black olives
Italian blend cheese

Spread pesto over pizza crust. Then add spaghetti sauce and spread. Add your toppings and cheese and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until cheese is melted and slightly browned on top and sauce is bubbly.

My CHILD ate 2 pieces. Of course he has been watching Popeye and thinks it is cool to eat spinach because it will give him big muscles. My husband raved, even if it didn't have meat on it. (I might add some crumbled bacon next time, just for him.) I could have eaten another WHOLE pizza myself. It was wonderful, if I do say so myself!

Corvette Here I Come!

2009-04-16T14:31:00.002-04:00

Oh yes baby. I am coming to get you and I am going to LOVE driving you back to work every minute of the way.

Savings 2009 Update

2009-04-15T14:35:00.003-04:00

It really amazes me how much money we have been able to save in such a short time. I do not even miss it from my bank account! Which leads me to why the !@$%@% were we not doing this before?

So far since January we have saved, drumroll please, $622.19! We only have $878 to go to our goal! That is not counting the change we save, which is adding up now that we do not have to use our quarters for the laundry. We plan on using that for a vacation fund. Plus I find more and more that there is more money staying in my checking account as well.

Even with a week long trip to AL, moving and buying stuff that normally I would make, and buying a washer and dryer, we have managed to keep our expenses low enough that we can still put money in our savings, and within a pay check or so of the big expenses our bank account has been right back to where it should be!

We are starting to get our bills for our new place too and so far they have been pleasantly low. Our water bill was a little higher than normal because of the activation fee but even with all the clothes we wash and all the times I refill the bathub (Yeah I know I am working on my bathtub addiction, it is not very green of me to waste water like that.) it would have only been $20 without the other fee. I am hoping that we can continue to keep our bills so low, that way we can have more wiggle room in our budget to do the things we want too.

I guess the biggest thing for me though is the fact that I do not feel like I am deprived by not eating out, or not buying new clothes every season etc. We have a happy, healthy family that enjoys spending time together. What more do you really need?

Are you making any more lifestyle changes with the ongoing problems with the economy?

Yummy corn casserole

2009-04-15T13:15:00.002-04:00

I saw this last week and gave it a try Friday night. For once I did not make any changes to it at all, although I did think about adding some chopped onion. And more cheese. Because cheese is good and IMHO you can never have enough. I was skeptical if I would even like it due to the massive (to me) amount of sour cream in it, but it was REALLY good. And I could not taste the sour cream which made me happy!

Corn Casserole - Paula Deen

Ingredients
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with Cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.

My dog is mad

2009-04-15T12:45:00.003-04:00

Spot is VERY upset with me. I took her in to the Lexington Humane Society yesterday to be spayed and get her shots. As soon as we got out the hair on her back stood up and she had her tail tucked between her legs. When the nice attendant tried to get her to walk down the hall with her she flat out refused to move. She had to be picked up and carried away.

When I returned to pick her up she was not quite her normal boisterous self, but pretty close. She whimpered and whined in the back seat of the car the whole way home.

When we got home, she went to her normal inside resting place, under the window bench. A few minutes later I was looking for her and could not find her. She was under the chair. And refused to come out.

Later on in the evening she did venture out to get some attention, but then she would go right back under the chair. Because of the surgery she has to stay inside for the next few days. Hope she does not pee all over the carpet while I am at work.

For those that live in Lexington/Fayette Co. The humane society has a low cost/no cost spay and neuter program. Go by their office to sign up and they will contact you in a few weeks and set up an appointment if you qualify.

70% off Restaurant.com code

2009-04-15T09:46:00.001-04:00

You can use the code FEAST when you checkout at Restaurant.com to get a 70% discount. I just bought a $100 giftcard for $12!

Easter happenings

2009-04-13T12:57:00.005-04:00

What a wonderful weekend! Ok staying home doing nothing would have been nice too but then I would have nothing to blog about!

The Lexington Farmer's Market kicked off it's season on Saturday and after a nice cooked by someone other than me breakfast at Denny's we headed to the Market. It was nice to see the familiar faces and some new ones as well. I picked up a bunch of baby green garlic and Daniel had to have some honey straws of course. I got a new bar of soap from the honey lady as well as I am down to my last bar at home. I also sampled some of the local wines that were for sale and ended up getting 2 bottles. What a way to start your weekend huh? The Farmer's Market here is seriously the most awesome thing ever. And it promotes your local economy as well as a greener lifestyle by buying local.

After getting the running around done we dyed eggs and hung out at the house cooking, cleaning and all that fun stuff. Daniel still did not have a big interest in dying the eggs. He helped with 3-4 but then it was outside to play in the yard. He was soooooo excited about Easter though. He told my mom that he was going to watch the Easter bunny put the candy in his eggs. That he would come out of his room and sneak up on him so he could see if he was big like Mommy and Jeff or little like a rabbit.

We spent Easter morning at the house and then went to Jeff's boss's house for another Easter egg hunt. He had a huge yard and several 4 wheelers for the kids to ride. Jeff took Daniel for a ride and I could hear Daniel screaming the whole way. "YAAAAAAAAAAY."

No nap+lots of excitement+lots of sugar=CRANKY child.

He fell asleep watching his movie last night and he NEVER does that.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend and Easter!

I'm in the money!

2009-04-09T14:49:00.004-04:00

Ok maybe not really, but when you open your bank account online and see more money than what is supposed to be there, yeah it is a good feeling.

My AL tax return finally hit my bank account today! Now if my KY check would hurry up and come in the mail, it would be wonderful.

I am going to take $100 of it and put in my savings account, for our emergency fund. I will probably have to break down and buy myself a few spring/summer shirts. I got rid of most of mine when I purged everything in my closet that did not fit when we moved. I have been looking at the thrift stores but I have not had any luck finding anything. So Wal Mart here I come! Some will go towards Daniel's birthday party next month, and if there is anything else leftover it will go in the savings.

Oh yeah and I am going to treat myself and we will go out to dinner tomorrow night. Can't squirrel everything away without having a little treat!

The Great Chicken Caper: SOLVED

2009-04-09T11:41:00.002-04:00

My husband always calls me when he gets off work, to see if I need him to do anything or pick Daniel up from daycare. When he called yesterday I asked him if he knew anything about the chicken in my car. He swore up and down that he did not.

We were sitting on the couch watching TV last night when all of a sudden he shouts:

"Mrs. Sharon!"

"Huh?"

"Mrs. Sharon gave me a bag when I was leaving her apartment yesterday, but I did not pay attention to what was in it. Must have been the chicken and I left it in your car."

So the great chicken caper was solved.

And Bobbi, I think the problem might be that I'm NOT on meds. ;)

How did that chicken get in my car?

2009-04-08T13:52:00.005-04:00

Ok from my post yesterday you can obviously tell, I am not a morning person. Combine that with insomnia, and some mornings are just ROUGH for me. This one was no exception.

When I got to work I grabbed my purse and my plastic lunch bag. After I was in the office for a few mintues, I decided to munch on something from my lunch. I grabbed the bag and inside was a bag of breaded chicken fingers from Meijer's! WHAT!? That is NOT my lunch! Where in the h e l l did these COME from? I don't buy stuff like that! As hungry as my husband is and as much as he complains that I am starving him to death by only letting him take 2 sandwiches for his lunch, I know he did not buy them. So WHERE did they come from? After all this runs through my head, I decide to check my car for my lunch because I could have SWORN that I grabbed my lunch out of the fridge this morning. Sure enough there it was on the front seat of my car.

Which still leaves me with the question: How did that chicken get in my car?

Also, I DID check my underwear this morning ;)

I sleep by myself

2009-04-08T11:50:00.003-04:00

Daniel loves to talk on the phone to all of our family back in AL. That is, when he is not "busy" with toys, cartoons and the like. Last week he was talking to Uncle Brian and this is what we heard:

"Mommy and Jeff sleep together in their big bed."

"I sleep by myself in my big bed, but I have 2 pillows. That way when I get a brother he can sleep with me."

At this point I added:

"You mean when he is a baby?"

"NO Mom, when he is a big boy like me!"

Evidently he has not given up on a brother or sister, and now he wants them to share his bed. (He has a full size bed which was given to us free, that is why he calls it a big bed.)

The NEW crotchless panties

2009-04-07T14:45:00.004-04:00

I have a beagle puppy who is right at a year old. If you have ever had a young dog, you know that they like to um EAT underwear. In very specific places. Like the crotch. Needless to say I went through a LOT of underwear with Spot. Well I try and reuse as much stuff as possible instead of throwing it away, so I kept the chewed underwear and use them as rags to clean with. AFTER washing them of course.

Most people who know me, know I am NOT a morning person. So I stumbled out of bed this morning, grab a pair of underwear from the drawer and the rest of my clothes, and proceed to get dressed. I go to work, procrastinate, do some work and then run to the store. While at the store I decided to make use of their facilities instead of having to use my cold porta potty. Imagine my surprise when I notice that my underwear is only being held together by the elastic on one side! Thankfully there was no one else in the bathroom because I about died laughing.

Obviously I need to lay my clothes out the night before, AND pay more attention when I am sorting clothes. I must have put the rag in my underwear drawer by mistake.

OOPS!

Why do moms feel guilty?

2009-04-07T14:07:00.004-04:00

It seems that every Mom has something that they wish they were better at, or did not do, or just plain makes them feel guilty.

As a mom there is a lot on our plates whether you are a SAHM or a WAHM or a working mom. I think Mrs. B made a good point that so many times we as women/mothers spend too much time concentrating on putting other women/mothers down because they do not do things the way WE do or what WE personally think is the best way, and instead need to concentrate more on supporting each other.

I feel guilty because I moved our family 400 miles away from the people that Daniel spent most of the first 3 years of life with.

I feel guilty because sometimes I let my temper/frustrations get the best of me and I yell. If I was like THAT Mom I would NEVER yell at my child.

I feel guilty that I do not get to stay at home with my child, but have to work to keep our family functioning.

There are so many things that I feel guilt over at one point or another as a mom. BUT. None of those things make me a bad mother or any less of a person. It is normal to feel overwhelmed and angry at times. It is normal to want time to yourself every once in a while. It is normal to think about well what if I could be a SAHM. Honestly I would probably go crazy if I did not go to work every day.

What is it that makes you as a mom feel guilty and why?

The mind of an almost 4 year old

2009-04-06T15:16:00.004-04:00

5:45am

*Creeeeeek*
Roll over look at door. Daniel is naked.
WAIT!
"Daniel why are you naked?"
"Because I had an accident."
"Did you pee in your bed?"
"No I pooped my pants! I tried to get to the bathroom but I didn't make it!"
"Where are your clothes?"
"In the dirty clothes."

At this point Jeff gets up with him. He has used approximately half of a roll of toilet paper to try and get the poop off of him and he still missed a few spots. After inspecting the clothes it seems like he peed as well. Bed was not wet but the ummm skid marks were a little disgusting so sheets had to be changed anyway.

Not sure if he has an upset tummy or what. That is the first time he has done that. NOT what you want to wake up too. Especially at 5:45am. Especially when you are not a morning person. Especially when it takes you so long to go back to sleep that the alarm is going off.

Mom of the Year Award! My first award!

2009-04-06T13:55:00.005-04:00

Joell over at Life with a Toddler nominated me for a Mom of the Year Award! She is quite possibly one of the sweetest people I have met through my blog. Thanks so much for the award!

Admit one thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are No Longer allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a good mom!

I feel bad that sometimes when it has been a long day at work or my back is really bothering me, that once I get supper cooked, I disappear into the bathroom for a nice LONG, and I do mean LONG, (like waaaaay over an hour) soak in the bathtub. I could be playing with Daniel or we could all be watching a movie or playing a game together, but I would rather hole up in a hot bath with a beer and relax. He is in daycare all day and if I was a good Mommy I would wait until he goes to bed to do my relaxing, but then I would not have time for the LONG soak. Just a normal one. Is that selfish of me?

Remind yourself you are a good mom, list seven things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself everyday that you Rock!

1. Daniel's smile can lift my spirits even when I am not at my best.

2. I love taking him to new places and seeing him experience new things and the joy that experience brings him.

3. I love the way he comes into our room on the weekends, crawls in bed with us, and then proceeds to "hide" under the covers and we have to "find" him.

4. I love how the smallest thing can fascinate him.

5. I love the ritual of kisses we go through at bedtime every night. Kiss, then a butterfly kiss, then an eskimo kiss, then a fish kiss, then a normal kiss again. And believe me if he does not get them all he WILL get back up and come find me.

6. I love when he laughs.

7. I love his Daniel-isms. The unique things that only he could come up with and say.

Send this to five other Mom's of the year that deserve credit for being great moms and remind them that they are the best moms they can be!! Remember to send them a note to let them know you've selected them, and add a link to the person who nominated you.

Jessica at Don't Give Him Crackers

Heather at And Baby Makes Four and Bookworm Mom in KY

Janelle at Everyday Stories

Stacy at I Eat Snowman Poop

Mrs B at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom

Stay out of my container garden Peter Rabbit

2009-04-06T11:04:00.004-04:00

I got several herbs and various flowers planted yesterday in containers as well as I got some onions in the ground. It was such a beautiful day. I even got a touch of sun on my arms. Alas my legs refuse to tan and are still blindingly white. Oh well. Daniel and I were literally outside all day yesterday. Today I do not even want to open my door. It is sleeting right now, and it is supposed to turn to snow later. Temp was at its high point this morning and will drop all day long. WTF!? Winter go away! NOW! Stupid KY weather.

PAAAAARTAY!

2009-04-01T14:55:00.004-04:00

I have been selected to host a Juicy Juice Shining Moments House Party on April 18, 2009. Anyone who would like to attend send me an email and I will shoot you an invite. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and be sunny and warm so we can spend some time outdoors. Email is nstack at unitedautorecovery dot com.

An outpouring of words

2009-03-31T12:58:00.003-04:00

I feel a lot better today. I was in bed by 9 last night and slept wonderfully! Except for the really strange dreams I had this morning.....WEIRD. No more grilled cheeses before bed for me. I am definitely a lot less witchy today. Jeff brought me roses last night to apologize for him being witchy. (Although Daniel tried to take the credit and tell me HE got me flowers.) I apologized for me being less than my normal self, because lets face it I am witchy all the time, just some days more so than others. We all enjoyed a nice peaceful evening cooking and spending time together.

I still have a lot of things I need to catch up on. My kitchen stock is running pretty low. We have been eating store bought bread and chips for the past few weeks. GASP! I know how horrible right? I still need to just take some time to relax for my own peace of mind. I have lots of recipes I have found that I have not been able to try. I have lots of ideas for blog posts that I just have not been able to get too. BUT...first is going to come the relaxing. And the cooking. Strangely enough if I am in the kitchen messing around to me it IS relaxing.

I did find time Sunday to whip up a batch of my homemade mayo and I DID IT ENTIRELY FROM MEMORY! Ok so I ALMOST forgot to add the lemon, but I remembered at the last second and threw it in last and it still came out fine.

Savings are continuing to grow even with the purchase of a washer and dryer from craigslist. I still have some extra money that I am planning on transferring over to the savings, but I want to get through the first month of bills at our new place to see what kind of expenses we are looking at first.

Mom is doing really well. She went back to the Doctor yesterday and he said everything seems to be healing the way it needs to be. She said she does not however recommend getting a stomach virus the week after having major abdominal surgery. NOT FUN!

We are really enjoying the new place. Daniel loves the fact that there is a yard for him to play in and he enjoys seeing all the other kids who come walking by with their parents. He has already made friends with a little girl right down the road and does not understand why we can't go over there everyday. Luna is enjoying the freedom to go outside, and she is trying her darndest to catch one of the million robins in the yard, but has had no luck yet. Spot is enjoying being outside in her own yard. She has even quit barking quite as much as she used too. Now it is every other person that walks by that she barks at. Jeff and I are enjoying the extra room and the fact that the rest of our family is happy.

All in all, it has been a really crazy past 2 months for us but things are finally going to settle back down. (Who am I kidding something else will come up in a few days I am sure. That's just how we roll around here.)

I am alive...but feels like just barely

2009-03-27T16:11:00.003-04:00

I am worn out. At about midnight last night I finally got all the stuff from the move put up and the last load of clothes out of the dryer. I literally have not stopped other than to sleep for a few hours every night this weekend and then get back up and do it again. I will be back sometime this week I promise, but for now I need some rest. Because if I get any bitchier my husband might decide to leave me lol.

Awesome contest...Won the first time I entered.

2009-03-24T15:10:00.002-04:00

For details on how to enter the MyCoke Under the Cap Instant Win game go here. I won a $20 Mastercard giftcard on my first shot! And we all know I am not very lucky.

Never ever moving again.

2009-03-23T14:09:00.002-04:00

Seriously. If I have 20 kids and we have to sleep 10 to a room, I am not moving again.

We have almost everything moved, and all the furniture. Just odds and ends stuff left. I would say 60% of the stuff that has been moved has been put up and organized. Still a lot left to go.

The washer and dryer I found on Craigslist is awesome though because if it was not for that we would not have been able to get as much done yesterday as we did.

Hopefully I can catch up on blog reading and posting this next month I mean week!

Quick Savings Update

2009-03-17T15:31:00.003-04:00

I have fallen behind on transfering money every week when Jeff gets paid. I was a little worried though that with the trip to AL I might fall short. I somehow seem to have accumulated more money in my checking account over the past few weeks though than what is normally there! Which is good. We are going to need a washer and dryer for our new place so it is nice to know we can go ahead and do that instead of waiting a month or two like we thought we were going to have too. So far this year even without the transfers when Jeff gets paid we have saved 32% of our goal!

I have decided too that the money I would have normally paid on my laptop I am going to put in the savings and at the end of the year, after we set aside the money for the emergency fund I am going to make a big lump sum payment on my car with the rest. That will get my car note down to where I should be able to pay it off next year. I am hoping I can do it sooner but we will have to see.

How is everyone else doing?

Moving Time

2009-03-17T15:23:00.002-04:00

I will be glad once we get everything moved to our new place! I have missed blogging the past week or so. I will try and post here and there this week but I am still going to be pretty spotty. I will be reading all my favorite blogs when I can though.

Daniel is glad to be back in "Tucky." He did not want to leave Mimi's house Sunday but once we got on the road he was ready to be home. We have been talking tohim about moving and I think he thought we were moving to another city. Once we showed him that we were just moving around the corner and he saw his yard and that he was going to be able to play outside more he is ready to go! Everyday when we go down there he asks me if we are going to sleep there yet. Just a few more days and we will be! I am ready to get the move behind us though. These past few weeks have been crazy for me and I am ready to get back to normal.

Mom is still doing really well. She went back to the Dr yesterday and got the staples taken out. When I talked to her last night she said that completely wore her out. Hopefully in the next few weeks she will be back to normal and pain free! I am just glad it was good news.

Quick update on Mom

2009-03-14T15:15:00.002-04:00

I took a break from the computer this week while I have been in AL but I just wanted to let you guys know Mom is home and is doing good. She is sore but able to get around a little bit. The best news came yesterday when the doctor called with her pathology results.......Not cancer!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

I am spending the day visiting with friends before we leave tomorrow. I will catch up on all my blogs and blog reading when I get the chance. It might be a week or so though because we will be moving this next week when I get back.

Spotty this week

2009-03-09T12:53:00.002-04:00

I will be leaving in the morning to go back to AL for my mom's surgery so I will be hit and miss on the blog this week. I will try and keep it updated on how she is doing but fighting my 16 year old sister for the computer may not be easy. My laptop will be with me but I am not sure what the wifi situation is around my home either. I will do my best though!

Good news!

2009-03-06T17:31:00.001-05:00

The doctor finally called and left me a message while I was in a defensive driving course for work........NOT CANCER and do not have to do any other procedures other than a repeat pap smear in 6 months! HAPPY DANCE!!!! Now I only hope my mom's results next week are as good as mine.

The suspense is killing me

2009-03-06T11:40:00.003-05:00

I should be getting the results of my biopsy today. NOW WHY WON'T THAT DOCTOR HURRY UP AND CALL!? I have had to wait 2 weeks as it is because of her vacation! Is that not enough? Noooooo now I am going to have to wait all fricking day evidently.

We signed the lease!

2009-03-06T11:38:00.003-05:00

We met with our future landlord last night and signed our lease! We are going to start going through Daniel's toys this weekend and start taking what we can over. Then after I get back from AL we will move in completely! YAY! No more small dreary apartment! Now it is a small duplex with a yard! WOOHOO!!!

A new place to live!

2009-03-05T10:47:00.002-05:00

I have been searching the newspaper and craigslist for the past 2 months for a new place for us to live. Our apartment is just too small for the 3 of us and the dog and cat. I had not had any luck really in finding something that thought we could afford.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a duplex that I drive by on my way home (it is literally a block from where we live now.) had a for rent sign out front. I stopped and wrote down the number and called the next day. The landlord said that the current resident would not be out until the end of February but I could call back after then and go look at it.

Last night Jeff and I walked down and met the man to look at the duplex. It has a fenced side yard for the dog. YAY! A small back yard for Daniel to play in. Plus his outdoors toys can finally be outside not in his room. It has washer and dryer hook ups so we will be scouring craigslist for those in a few weeks. PLUS I will have room to do some container gardening this summer!!!!! YAY! Fresh squash and broccoli! Tomatoes! Herbs of all kinds! (Can you tell I am a little excited about that?)

The best part of it is....it is the same we are paying for our apartment now! We will have to pay for water and garbage there but I know we can swing that every month.

So the rest of this week and the week after I get back from AL I will be packing up and moving!

Savings update

2009-03-02T12:51:00.002-05:00

We have saved 29% of our yearly goal already! YAY! There were a few weeks this month that I did not transfer the weekly amount from Jeff's paycheck. We are still way ahead of our goal though. I was hoping for a big chunk of money back from the IRS, but evidently you get married and you get screwed on your taxes. LOL. We are getting enough back to cover the deposit and first months rent on a new place though. That was the most important thing. I had wanted to pay off a good chunk of my car so that I could hopefully completely pay it off this year, but that is not going to happen. I also wanted to take the rest and apply to our savings fund. Oh well, overall I am happy with the way our savings is going. I also paid off my laptop this month. So that will be an extra $85 a month. Have not quite decided where I am going to put it though. How are your savings coming?

I feel better!

2009-03-02T10:28:00.002-05:00

This weekend was exactly what I needed! Saturday we did our grocery shopping and I cooked up some more mac and cheese and a sheperds pie and I was done for the weekend. I did not clean my house, did not bake bread or make chips or any of the other 500 things I normally do on a weekend. I relaxed. And it was sooooooo nice! I think I might do it again next weekend! Spend my last 2 weekends without Daniel relaxing and getting prepared for the hurricane to come home.

We went to Miyako for our anniversary on Sunday and it was pretty good. I had a coupon from the entertainment book buy one entree get one free up to $20. I ordered a couple of pieces of sushi (Jeff even tried it and liked it!) and we both got the hibachi steak. Only cost us $30 plus tip. Not bad for a Japenese steakhouse. Plus it was our anniversary we deserved to splurge a little bit.

Now it is back to work. Thankfully this week will be a lot calmer than last week. No corporate people here and end of month is over! YAY!

The saga of my romance

2009-02-27T15:30:00.002-05:00

This weekend marks mine and Jeff's first anniversary! Made it through a year without killing him. YES! Just kidding. Although there are times......

A long LONG time ago when I was 13 or so I met this guy named Jeff. I liked him, he liked me. BUT we lived a long way apart (an hour). When you can't drive, that is a long way. So we lost contact.

Fast forward 11 years....

My friend Emily, had been dating his brother for several years, and called and told me they were getting married, and asked if I would be in the wedding. I said yes. Never crossed my mind that Jeff would be there. I had not thought about him in years. (mean I know) The day of the rehearsal I could not figure out who the guy was that was staring at me. And I mean STARING. All the time. Rude much? Anyway...that night Em said something about Brian's brother Jeff, and a lightbulb went off! That was who that rude guy was!

After the wedding (and a few free cocktails to get up his nerves) he approached me at the reception. We spent forever talking. He had ridden to the reception with his Mom and she got ready to go so I offered to give him a ride home. It was on my way. Kind of. In a not really but not that far out of the way, way. We stayed and danced and had a blast. When we got to his place my sister and I went in and stayed for a while talking some more. When we got ready to leave, he got my number and said he would call me. (Yeah right is what I was thinking. He did not even have a phone.)

The next day my sister and I went to the movies. I was waiting on her to get done with hers and my phone rang. It was Jeff! He asked me out on a date for the next Friday and I agreed. (also happened to be my now sister in laws birthday) We had a great time Friday night and when we got ready to head our separate directions, he asked me out again for later that weekend. I explained that the weekends were the only time I really go to spend any time with my son so no. He told me to bring him with me. (He wanted to go to a porsche race.) I was skeptical but I did. He was great with Daniel and Daniel seemed to really like him.

Pretty soon it got to where we were both spending a LOT of time at his house. He would buy pie and other treats for Daniel to have when he knew we were coming over. He would buy me the beer I liked that I would not buy myself because it is pricey. (Hey what did you stop doing that for!?) Daniel responded by taknig the eggs out of the refrigerator and putting them in Jeff's bed and turning the breakers off to the house.

On Halloween he asked me to marry him. (kind of.) It was one those I would marry you tomorrow kind of things and I was like Really? and he said yes I would so I said well so would I. So we were engaged. LOL Really romantic huh?

We had planned on getting married in the fall of 2008 but in December we found out I would be getting the promotion to manager and we knew we were moving at some point soon. So we did the even more romantic wedding! We went to the court house on Feb 29 and got hitched!

We had I guess you could say a whirlwind romance, but I love him even more today then I did then. He gets on my nerves, has atrocious manners sometimes, infuriates me, but what can I say? He has been there for me and Daniel both ever since we re-met. And life has really thrown some big changes on us in the past year.

I was his first kiss and he swears I am going to be his last! (Wait a minute....did you mean I am the kiss of death?)

Swamped!

2009-02-26T14:39:00.002-05:00

The end of the month is always a busy time for us, because clients are pushing us to get cars picked up so they can make their quotas, and our company is pushing us to get cars picked up so we can meet our quota. For some reason the past week though everyone has decided they do not want their cars anymore and want us to come get them. The guys are exhausted! Plus we have had our HR director and the CFO of the company here as well. I am glad today is Friday. I need a nice relaxing weekend. DOUBT that will happen.

Pay it forward!

2009-02-26T10:27:00.002-05:00

Woohoo! I am getting a surprise in the mail from Almost Empty Nester! I love those kind of surprises!

Want to get one in the mail from me?

This is called Pay it Forward. Leave me a comment on this post and I will randomly pick 3 people to Pay it Forward too. I will send each person a handmade item through the mail. Each person that is choosen, has to then post Pay it Forward on their blog. Only people with active websites/blogs can participate.

Three Cheese Mac and Cheese

2009-02-24T14:18:00.004-05:00

I made this last week and I am sad because the leftovers are almost gone. It was delicious!

1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni (I used 8 oz of macaroni)
2 eggs
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon seasoned salt (did not use)
1 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces process cheese (Velveeta), melted (about 1/4 of the whole brick)
2 cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese, divided (I used mozzarella)
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

I also added chopped red onion

Cook macaroni according to package. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, butter, mustard, seasoned salt and pepper and onion (if using). Stir in the melted processed cheese and about 1 1/2 cups of the other cheeses. Drain macaroni and stir into mixture. Pour into a greased pan. Cover with the remaining chesses. (I more than you were supposed too. I like mine to be COVERED in cheese on top.) Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges are bubbly.

This was quite possibly the best macaroni and cheese I have ever had. Seriously.

How to make McMuffins (or English Muffins to normal people)

2009-02-21T16:51:00.003-05:00

A couple of weekends ago I was up later after Jeff went to bed. Nothing abnormal for me when I have a lot on my mind. It is hard for me to go to bed anyway, but when I have a lot on my mind, it is almost impossible. I got a wild hair and looked up English muffin recipes. I did not have the time that weekend to try them, but last weekend I did. They were AWESOME. And relatively easy. Jeff liked having them for breakfast this week. He asked why I decided to make "Mcmuffins." I said well to normal people those are english muffins, not something you get at McDonalds. I am now in the process of making my second batch and thought I would share the recipe with you.

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup melted shortening
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Warm the milk over low heat until it bubbles. Remove from heat and add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, combine the yeast and water and let sit about 10 minutes, or until it is creamy. Combine milk, yeast and 3 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Add the salt and the rest of the flour. Knead and then place in a greased container and let rise. I preheat my oven to the lowest temperature possible when I start making the dough. Then I turn it off and place my dough in the oven to rise. After it has doubled in size, take it out and punch down. Then roll out to 1/2 in thickness. Cut out with a biscuit cutter, glass or whatever round object you have. Sprinkle wax paper with cornmeal and place cut outs on wax paper. Sprinkle tops with cornmeal and cover and let rise again for about half an hour. Heat a greased griddle or pan over medium heat. Cook 5-10 muffins on each side until brown.

These are great because you can freeze them and then pull them out of the freezer, cut in half and pop in the toaster.

Jeff LOVED the Mcmuffins as he calls them and they will be a staple in out house from now on.

What I learned today

2009-02-20T14:41:00.003-05:00

Well I still really do not know anything. They did the colposcopy and had to do 2 biopsies. They said that my entire cervix is "infected." They should have the results of the biopsies back in 2 weeks. Depending on what that says, I may have to have a procedure called a LEEP. They do a local anesthesia and take out the parts that they need too. From what the Dr. said I should be able to still carry a child as long as they do not have to do too many of them. So I guess I get to wait some more! At least I get a 3 day weekend with my DH. Oh and Liz your comment cracked me up when I saw that!

Tomorrow is the day

2009-02-19T20:37:00.003-05:00

I go to the doctor tomorrow to have my colposcopy and biospy done. I am scared. This is also going to be a new experience for me to have someone there with me. Jeff told me tonight no matter what he was there for me. I honestly think it scares me more that he is going to be there. I am used to doing things myself. Then I share what is going on with everyone. It is a new experience for me to have someone that is going to be there WITH me. That to me is scary. Please offer up prayers or thoughts or whatever it is that you do for me tonight and tomorrow.

Cinnamon Sugar Yummieness

2009-02-18T14:24:00.003-05:00

I made these this weekend and they are quite possibly the best cookies I have ever tasted.

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy; then add eggs, and beat well. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pudding mix. Mix contents of both bowls togethr. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in a preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven; allow cookies to cool momentarily on baking sheets before removing them to wire racks to cool completely.

I did not use the chocolate chips or the nuts, and probably never will. They are wonderful without them! I also lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper so that the cookies did not stick. They are soft and buttery and wonderful!

The date is set

2009-02-17T16:01:00.002-05:00

Mom will have her surgery on Wednesday March 11. We have decided that we are going to hope that when they remove her uterus, that maybe she will lose 20lbs as well. You know how you hear about the people that have a gigantic tumor and do not even realize it? We were joking around about that last night. How can you NOT know that you have a tumor that big?

I am going to head down to AL that Tuesday and be there the rest of that week. My sister will be getting a crash course in cooking and doing laundry. Should be interesting.

Another positive note to it, is that I will be in AL for more than 2 days, so I am going to get to see a few people that I normally do not have time for, and spend more time with my family than I normally do. YAY!

Homemade mayonnaise...not for the faint of heart.

2009-02-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

I had found a recipe for homemade mayo a few weeks ago, and decided that when I ran out of the mayo we had, I would try it. So Thursday night, while fixing our lunches, Jeff told me that he had used the last of the mayo. I had told him to let me know.

Today I headed to Wal Mart to get a stick blender, which one of the recipes said I would need. I came home and began my recipe.

First attempt: I was following one recipe I had found and I broke out my new stick blender. I put one egg yolk and salt in a bowl. I proceeded to TRY and blend until sticky. Yeah, it did not work. There was not enough in the bowl to really BLEND. So I dumped it out and tried again with the same recipe.

Second attempt: Same recipe but different equipment. I used a mixer this time. I mixed, and I mixed and I mixed. Adding oil all the while. After about an hour and it still did not look like the pictures on the recipe I was following, I decided to try another recipe.

Third attempt: New recipe. I spent about 30 minutes or so looking for a new recipe. I found one that used just a regular blender, and seemed easy. So I tried it. It finally emulsified the way it was supposed too. I tried it though, and did not really like the way it tasted. I had used olive oil and it tasted TOO much like olive oil. So I tried again.

Final attempt: I used the same recipe as on the third attempt, but used vegetable oil. This time it turned out really good.

Next time I think I will try using about 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup vegetable oil, to give it a little bit more flavor. Other than the massive amount of time it took me to figure out what worked, it was well worth the effort. Besides the Daytona 500 was on, it gave me an excuse not to act like I was interested!

The final results recipe:

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (smoked garlic powder from Blue Moon Farms)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup vegetable oil

dash of salt and pepper to taste

Combine egg, garlic, and salt/pepper in blender until well blended. Slowly pour oil into blender in a thin stream while still blending. I noticed it did splash quite a bit, while pouring in the oil, but it could have been my blender.

The ingredients all emulsified perfectly with this way, AND it was super easy to do. Only took me about 5 minutes total.

The original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic which I did on the first attempt with this recipe. (With the olive oil.) On the second attempt, I used the garlic powder.

Like I said before, next time I plan on using 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. Like my potato chips, I will keep playing with it until I am happy.

****Edited to add*********

In answer to your question Janelle, it is supposed to keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks. It did not make a HUGE amount either so I do not see us having any problem using it up before it goes bad.

KY Bourbon Distilleries

2009-02-15T18:09:00.007-05:00

Yesterday Jeff and I took a trip to the Wild Turkey and Four Roses distilleries here in KY. Both of those are in Lawrenceburg. Honestly, to begin with I was not too excited about the trip. After going though I am glad we did, because it was very interesting. And it was free!

The Wild Turkey distillery was pretty nice. They had some valentine's snacks made with bourbon of course in the gift shop, for everyone to sample. Our tour was a fairly large group and our guide was nice, but was not that knowledgable about the place. There were several places on the tour that are closed on the weekends, that had we gone during the week, we would have been able to see. Some of the things we could see on the tour looked pretty run down. I bought a bottle of their honey liqueour to try, which I have not tried yet. Overall, it was a good time though.

We decide on our way back to the Bluegrass Parkway, to stop by the Four Roses distilleries. It is a very pretty building with a Spanish look to it. Legend has it, the reason it is called 4 Roses is that the founder was in love with a Southern Belle, and asked her to marry him. She said that she would respond that night at a ball. If she was wearing a rose the answer would be yes. That night he attended the ball, and she showed up wearing a corsage of four roses. Hence the name.

Overall, we thought that the 4 Roses distillery was a better tour. We were able to take pictures inside there, as long as we did not use a flash. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions. While on the tour they let everyone sample the 130 proof and 140 proof "white dog." The distilled products, before they went into the barrels, which are what give the bourbon its flavor and color. Taste also depends on how long it is aged. After the tour we were able to sample four of their different types of bourbon. I am not a huge bourbon fan so I took small sips and gave the rest to Jeff, except for the last which was their single barrel. It is VERY smooth and very nice tasting, for a bourbon!

Here are a few pics from our day yesterday:

Me in front of the Wild Turkey sign.

Jeff and the sign.

The outside of the Four Roses distillery.

The fermenting process. Each vat is 30,ooo gallons.

Some of the vats at Four Roses are made out of wood, and some are stainless stell. The vats at Wild Turkey are all stainless steel.

A little bit further along in the fermenting process, it forms a crust.

After fementing, the mash gets pumped into this still, which is about 3 stories high.

Once it goes through the still, it goes through one of these and it is 130 proof. Then it goes through the other and is 140 proof. The things like these are what we got to taste the "moonshine" from.

Me sitting on an old barrel that had been made into a swing.

Jeff in the swing.

Jeff and the stack of barrels.

If you get the chance I highly recommend going.

YAY Brian!

2009-02-13T20:30:00.001-05:00

Well Jeff's brother did not win Jeopardy, but he did good. Wish I could get $10,800 for answering trivia. Maybe I need to try out...

Savings going full steam ahead

2009-02-13T14:08:00.002-05:00

Wow! I can't believe that I have managed to put $401 in savings in less than 2 months! I have met a little over 1/4 of my goal already!

Brother in law on Jeopardy tonight!

2009-02-13T10:29:00.003-05:00

Jeff's brother Brian makes his debut on Jeopardy tonight! We still do not know if he won or not. He was not allowed to tell us. (come on how are they going to know if you do or not.)

So check it out tonight at 7:30pm est and 6:30pm cst.

Frugal Friday: An inexpensive way to celebrate Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T10:16:00.002-05:00

I mentioned to Jeff the other day that I had a coupon for TGIFriday's BOGO entree free. So we decided to go last night, as we did not want to miss his brothers Jeopardy debut that is tonight.

I made sure before we ordered that we could use the coupon and we could. If you go between the hours of 4-7pm they also have $4 appetizers. We ordered 2 entrees and an appetizer and our total was a little over $16! If you ordered cheaper entrees and did not get an appetizer, you could spend even less.

The coupon is not valid on Valentine's Day, but you can use it until March 1. I printed a couple more, after all we have our one year anniversary coming up too!

I kick repo butt!

2009-02-13T10:10:00.003-05:00

I was talking to my boss at the corporate office yesterday afternoon, and I asked how my office as a whole, did last year. In the roughly nine months we were open we made $69,000 profit! He was VERY pleased with that. There were people in corporate who did not think I would be able to move up here and be a manager, with no previous managers experience. I sure proved them wrong! Not only is he happy with the fact that the office is making money, but he is happy with the people I have hired, and the way I run the office. YAY! Now maybe I will get the employee evaluation and a raise soon!

The blahs have struck

2009-02-12T12:46:00.002-05:00

I have a major case of the blahs.

Everything I have been trying to deal with has finally started to get to me. I am not a negative person. But right now it is hard for me to see the positive in life. I guess that means I am normal, but I do not like feeling this way. Plus when I get stressed I don't sleep and that just makes everything worse.

I sat up thinking about a lot of things last night. My friend Mike, and how today is the one year anniversary of his death. How everyone in AL will be together celebrating his life tomorrow night. How I needed Jeff to be there for me last week when I needed to talk. How I wish I could take the time off work to be with my mom the whole time she is unable to work. She is going to have to have help, and my 16 year old sister has never cooked a meal or washed clothes in her entire life. There were about 500 other things going on in my mind as well.

I guess I am just feeling overwhelmed right now, and I also feel like I am alone.

My posts may not be as often as they were for the next few weeks, because I can't seem to think right now. I do not want to spew all the negative feelings on here everyday. I might lose the 5 followers I have! Hopefully though, I will be back to normal soon. Or as normal as I get anyway.

Jeff wants to go to one of the distilleries this weekend. Suppose it would be good to get out and do something while Daniel is not here. Anyone have suggestions on which one to go too?

I perfected the home made chips!

2009-02-09T16:30:00.003-05:00

I have been playing with the recipe since I started making them and this weeks batch has been the best so far.

I did two things differently:

1. I bought a mandolin slicer so that the chips would be more uniform in thickness. Not sure how much this really helped but it took a lot less time. And it was relatively inexpensive ($10) and I can use it for other things.

2. I soaked the chips for a couple of hours in a bowl of water.

Normally when I would do them they would be crispy to begin with, then, some of them, would get kind of soft. My husband had always said his Granny soaked home made french fries in water before cooking them because it made them crispier. So I tried it. And it worked.

YAY!

When it rains, it pours

2009-02-06T21:18:00.002-05:00

My mom was told after her last yearly exam that she had several fibroids in her uterus and needed some tests done and possibly a hysterectomy. She got her blood work back today from those tests. They tested for ovarian cancer, and a normal test result is 0-35 hers was a 96. They still do not know for sure that she has ovarian cancer so they have to do the hysterectomy and have it biopsied. Once they get those results back they will know if she needs any other treatment or not.

One of my best friends from home told me she has 2 lumps in one of her breasts and is having a biopsy done on Tuesday.

Today has not been a good day.

CPSC Grants a one year stay!!!!! Crafters safe for one more year!

2009-02-06T14:02:00.003-05:00

Has anyone else seen this? Here is the article on the CPSC site. Looks like the letters, emails, calls and general uproar has worked!

Just a little rant to feel better

2009-02-06T11:49:00.003-05:00

Lying in bed last night, my husband and I (get your minds out of the gutter!) were talking about what happened with my sister in laws baby. (see nothing sexy there) I brought up the fact that if I do have cervical cancer and they take parts of my cervix I might not ever be able to carry a child full term. I know it is possible to still have a normal pregnancy, but I guess I am just trying to prepare Jeff for what might come.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the fact that because I have the HPV virus that my chances of cervical cancer are a lot higher. To me, just the fact that I have had this same problem twice in less than 2 years, is pretty scary. If it is not cancer this time, then what about 3 months from now or 6 months from now? I have been seriously considering a preventitive hysterectomy. I had mentioned this to Jeff before, but we really started talking about it last night.

Instead of being supportive he told me I was being negative and looking at the worse case scenario and how I had not even talked to the Dr. about it yet. I told him I was jsut trying to talk to him about what I was thinking and how I really do not want to live in fear tha everytime I go to the Dr he is going to tell me I have cancer. Which brought up the argument that just because I have a hysterectomy does not mean I won't get cancer. DUH! I do know that but if I have the virus that puts me at a higher risk and I am obviously already having problems does it not make sense to consider it?

It really bothers me how badly my husband does not seem to understand where I am coming from. I guess because I was really hoping he would listen to me and instead he was such an ass.

What do you guys think? Am I being negative and focusing on worse case? Am I "stupid" to be considering this without having talked to the Dr. first? The Dr might not think I should have one but what if I do decide that is what is best for me? Do I not have the right to decide about my own body?