Some Faves

One of my favorite sites for weight watchers recipes has been Gina's Skinny Recipes. I have found lots of yummy stuff with the weight watchers points already figured out-pure awesomeness!

A favorite recipe is the Spinach Lasagna Rolls. It is a variation of lasagna and the kids will actually eat it! That is a huge plus in my book. Yes, Becca ate something with spinach in it, I almost fainted!

Today I just found another website called Mother Rimmy's Cooking Light Done Right . I haven't tried any recipes yet since I just found it but I hope to try some really soon!

One more recipe site that I have been enjoying is Frugal Antics of a Harried Housewife. Not necessarily weight loss friendly, but more good stuff that I hope to try for a special occasion. She recently posted a coconut cake that I really want to try, maybe for Easter.

St. Joseph's Day 2011

Today we traveled to Gloucester to celebrate St. Joseph's Day. This means no dieting for the day and lots of yummy food cooked by my mother-in-law.

Here are a few pics of the beautiful altar they have set-up.

And here are my girls trying to ignore the mamarazzi as usual. I finally got a couple of smiles.

Though not from both of them at the same time.

Lucky....or Not?

Yesterday the leprechauns made a little mischief while everyone was sleeping. We had green milk, green sugar and green toilet water! The girls also found a few little treats in their shoes-some japanese erasers and chocolate gold coins.

The girls have had the past two days off from school for parent-teacher conferences and a teachers workshop. Both girls recieved much praise from their teachers. Becca has all A's and one B. Kenzie 'exceeds expectations' in all areas. I am a very lucky mommy to have two smart girls. As a reward for such great work we hit the book fair so the girls could pick out some books. We were also lucky enough to be blessed with some beautiful weather with temperatures close to 60, perfect for playing outside.

Dom even got home a little early and joined us for a walk to the river.

It was a very nice day until I totally messed up dinner.

Now let me start by saying that I have come a long way in the kitchen. I couldn't even boil water when we first got married. We ate a lot of frozen pizza and steak-umms. Dom would often cook when he had a job close to home, as he has lots of experience since he had cooked his way through high school and college. Then he got a job farther away and I was in charge of dinner meaning we ate a lot of prepackaged things like Hamburger Helper and frozen meals, which is not of course real cooking.

Slowly I gained confidence in the kitchen. Dom, my mom and mother-in-law offered tips and encouragement. I started watching cooking shows and surfing the net for easy recipes. I am proud to say that I am no longer afraid of the gas stove and words like mince and saute don't send me running for a dictionary.

So yesterday, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I planned on making an Irish stew which I had made quite succesfully the year before. Stew is not hard to make, quite simple in fact, but not so I was not so lucky this time. Now my very sweet husband insists that the failure of dinner was not my fault but it was, mainly because I did not pay close enough attention when buying the lamb. (I still struggle a little with buying meat.) He said they should have labeled it differently, Anyway the label did say Lamb-Stew Meat B.I. What I failed to notice was the B.I. meaning of course bone in. But when I realized my mistake at home I still thought I could make it work by just taking the meat off the bone. What I soon realized is that the meat was very fatty and that really the only thing this was good for was making a stock and then throwing away and long story short we ate salad and smoothies for dinner. Not very irish, but luckily, still tasty!

Wordless Wednesday

Dear Four-Legged Furbabies...

Dear Four-legged Furbabies,
I would really appreciate it if you could come in the same door at the same time when coming in from outside. Waiting until I sit down on the couch after cleaning up from dinner is also unacceptable.
And cat, waiting until I walk away from the door after having just let out the dogs and meowing to got out-not okay. Also just because I am sitting, standing or looking out the sliding glass door it does not mean any you have to go in and out 14 times.
Tuukka, coming in the front door and running immediately to scratch at the back door to be let out again is not a fun game. The house is not a shortcut to the back so that you
can ambush Boomer and eat his face. Run AROUND the house next time. Lord knows you have plenty of extra energy to burn off. And speaking of burning off energy, You get walked at least once sometimes twice a day on most days. When we return from said walks it is not necessary for you to come back inside just because I do. Especially if it means as soon as I remove my outdoor clothing and sit down for a second you are at the door scratching to go out again. Just stay outside!!
Misty, aka: The Keeper of the Door, I will not leave the front door open in 20 degree weather while you take 30 minutes decide you actually want to go out or not. The door to the downstairs will remain closed at MY discretion not yours! It is closed for a reason- usually to keep Tuukka out of trouble or to block the noise from Thing 1 and Thing 2 (aka-Becca & Kenzie). You can sit there and meow and give me the evil eye all you want, it will remain closed!
Your prompt attention to these matters is greatly apreciated,
Love, MOM

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Okay, so Dr. Seuss's birthday was actually yesterday but the kids are celebrating in school all week long. I always want to do something special but for some reason I never remember until the last minute. There were several websites that had lots of cute ideas but I really liked this.
If you check out the link you'll see she actually used clothespins for the bodies and pon-poms for the hair. I did my own version with these little peg figures and found some blue boa material. Love the way the hair looks but there are now little blue feathers floating all around the house because once you cut off a piece of this stuff it sheds like crazy!
Other than the pegs, boa material, some paint and a fine tip black marker that's all there is to this little project.

But I couldn't just stop with Thing 1 and Thing 2. I had to add Thing 3 and Thing 4 because I just happened to have some smaller pegs on hand. Anyone who got a Chrismas card from us will understand. For those who didn't get a Christmas card we did a family photo with the four of us in t-shirts that had thing 1,2, 3 and 4 on them. I wanted to include that picture in the post but

for some reason I can't find it on the computer.

Wordless Wednesday

Kenz in the Hat

This kid was made for hats. She loves to wear them and she always picks hats that are fun and funky. We found this hat over the weekend and though I spent more on it than I normally would like, it was made in the USA-in Colorado in fact and it is made out of recycled wool products. And it is totally adorable on Kenzie.

The hat came in handy this weekend when she decided to brave the cold and put on her skates to skate in the driveway. It's true we had a couple of days of gorgeous weather where everything started to melt and then of course it got cold again, turning the driveway into a skating rink.
Not a very good skating rink either but it didn't stop Kenzie or Dom.

Wordless Wednesday

Valentine's Round-Up

I intended to post this on Valentine's Day but that day turned out to be unusually hectic so here it is, a few days late.
The weekend before Valentine's day Kenzie and I made Valentine's for her class. She picked out two ideas that we came across and we set about making them with the help of my handy, dandy Cricut. She has recently become very fond of owls so I wasn't suprised when she wanted to incorporate owls into her Valentines. So we cut out cute little owls with the Cricut and attached them to a pencil, making it look like the owl was perched on the pencil.


Next she wanted to make some caterpillars and these had a pencil attached to them too.



I always get a little something for the girls. I found these cute little mailboxes at the dollar spot in Target. I added a little paper, a silk flower and their names to each one. Inside I put some funky socks, headbands, Pokemon cards, a pair of heart earrings and some hershey kisses.


I also made a little bouquet for each girl. Everything came from the dollar store except the hershey kisses. The little pink rosebuds are hershcy kisses wrapped in tissue paper and attached to a plastic stem.

I also do something for Dom, even though he despises Valentine's day. This idea I found online on Valentine's day and decided I had to do it because I thought it was so cute. And I knew even though it was a little corny Dom would get a kick out of it.
I got the idea here.
Again, I got out my trusty Cricut and made altered the beer labels for Valentine's day.



The labels say "Beer in mind I love you", Love Lager, "I love you Beery Much". I also included Studly Stout, Hearty Hops and Ale, Ale for my favorite male.
Now the original idea is to have a variety of beers that fit each label like a stout, lager etc.
but because Dom is joining me in the weight loss journey I put the labels on a light beer instead.

Wordless Wednesday

Decluttering 2011 post #3

This week I took on the junk drawer in the kitchen. I had a little help with this from Kenzie. She had a day off from school due to a burst pipe. Unfortunately there is more than one junk drawer in the kitchen. Now at least there is one less!

I have a bad habit of just stuffing things in drawers when I want to get the clutter off the counters and our kitchen has lots of counter space and lots of drawers which has led to, as I mentioned, several junk drawers. For the main junk drawer. I had purchased several little plastic containers to organize stuff and it helps some, but again, to really solve the problem I need to stop just sweeping stuff into the drawers.

So Kenzie and I sorted all kinds of little stuff, from spare change to pushpins to earrings and toys and found homes for it all. Now you can easily open and close the drawer and find whatever it is that you may be looking for.

Wordless Wednesday

The big 40!

Yup, today I celebrate the big 40th birthday! I have had several people ask me if it bothers me to be turning 40 but I am happy to report that it hasn't bothered me at all. Okay, well maybe an itty-bit last week when I recieved a magazine solicitation with a senior discount! I am the first one to say that 40 is not old and certainly doesn't warrant a senior discount.

Anyway now that my birthday is officially here and I am officially 40 years old I have to say that I feel quite good about it. I do not feel any older and in fact due to losing weight-(23 pounds total so far!) and exercising, I might even say I feel younger than I did over the summer!

I am not one to really celebrate too much but since this is considered one of those milestone birthdays we did have friends over last weekend to help celebrate and this weekend I will be celebrating with family which should be fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Decluttering 2011 post #2

We've had some really cold temps lately and it's making me want to hibernate! We got spoiled last week by having lots of snow and several snow days. That combined with the cold weather has made it extra hard to get back into our regular routine this week. Who wants to go out early on a Monday morning when the temperature is -11 and the high is only 10!
But I had to be the responsible adult and get the girls off to school and hit the grocery store. Today I am trying to get back on the decluttering track and tackle some of the problem areas.
Due to my procrastination I have a tendency to make piles of papers, books and magazines on the kitchen counter to deal with later. But as a procrastinator later doesn't come. Then we have guests and I move the pile to a corner of the bedroom, again to deal with later until the pile gets crazy big and I am forced to deal with it or risk being buried in a paper avalanche. So today I decided was the day to deal with the pile which mainly consisted of old catalogs, school papers and drawings from the girls, magazines and recipes that I had printed off the internet and ripped out of magazines.
Most of it went into the trash. Books that weren't mine went to the rooms of the respective owners along with notebooks and sketchpads belonging to the kids. I sorted my books into keep and donate piles. I found an empty binder in the pile and put all the recipes that were keepers into it. I want to eventually make a nice little cookbook of favorite recipes but until then the binder serves as a good home and it will make it easy to find the recipes again.

Apple Muffins

I had to make muffins for church yesterday morning and decided that I would try a new recipe. I decided this right before church which means I then tortured myself with worry that they were going to come out yucky. Luckily they didn't. They were good.

Really, really good.

So good that as I type this I am trying to convince myself that I don't need another one, cause i already had one that I really shouldn't have had because I am sure they are packed full of calories because the recipe involves butter, sugar and buttermilk which of course is why it is so tasty.

Anyway here is the recipe, I tweaked it just a bit from the original by adding about a Tbsp. of cinnamon to the batter. I also added a bit of nutmeg to the topping.

Apple Muffins

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 cups diced apples

Topping

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups or use liners.

Sift together 2 1/4 cups flour, baking soda and salt. In a seperate bowl mix together the buttermilk, egg, 1/2 cup melted butter, vanilla and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar until sugar has dissolved. Add to the flour mixture along with the diced apple. Stir just until everything is blended. Spoon into the muffin cups filling to the top.

In a small bowl stir together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour and cinnamon. Drizzle in the two Tablespoons of melted butter and toss with fork until well blended. Sprinkle generously over tops of the muffins.

Bake for 25 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Sledding & Snowmen

The beginning of the winter had been pretty mild with little snow fall. I say had because a lot has changed since the beginning of the month. The kids have had two snow days and a two hour delay in just two weeks time so mother nature is quickly making up for the lack of snow we originally had. After our first real snowstorm of the season we took a nice walk down to the river.

The mighty Mad river getting more and more frozen and snow covered as the winter days wear on.

Most of the snow we have gotten this season has been light and fluffy and not good for making a snowman. On this particular day it had warmed up enough that the snow was just right for making snowballs and snowman. So after a kids vs. adults snowball fight we set about making a snowman.
We named our snowman Julius because his hair kinda reminded us of the the crown of leaves that Julius Caesar wore. He gave a big smile for the camera.

The girls with Julius.

And of course it would be fun to play out in the snow without a few runs down the hill with the sled. The girls getting ready for a ride together.

Here goes Becca!

Slumber Parties,Snow Days and Delays

Well Becca's birthday slumber party was a success. The girls had a great time giggling, talking, playing video games and watching movies. The noise level was bearable most of the time and they had a nice long weekend to recover. And when I say long weekend, I mean long weekend. The kids already had Monday off for MLK day and then got a bonus day off on Tuesday do to a snow/rain/ ice storm which also caused a two hour delay on Wednesday morning. Sooo I am finally getting back into a normal routine.

I did want to share a few pictures from the past weekend.

Not a great pic except that Tuukka was sitting in the circle with the girls while Becca opened her gifts.

I made both a small 6 inch chocolate cake and then vanilla cupcakes because most of the girls prefer vanilla to chocolate-go figure!

An I did make one more decoration for the party. Paper dolls of each of the girls. I think they came out pretty cute!

And a little picture of the snow during one of my walks in the woods with the dogs.

Birthday Mode

I've been in birthday mode this past week getting ready for my daughters slumber party tomorrow night. I have a tendency to get all Martha Stewart and decide I want to make 101 diffrent little things for the party. Then again my children have a tendency to pick themes that aren't readily available as party decorations, like Willy Wonka or the Australian Outback so that just fuels my creative juices. I actually have it pretty easy with Becca this year. She just wants a slumber party with her closest girlfriends and she's chosen rainbowy, tie-dye peace and love type stuff which was easy enough too find. Too easy for me in fact, since I had gotten somenew Cricut cartridges and was just dying to use them. So I had to make just a few decorations. The first thing I made was a little banner with some cute tie-dye paper I found online. Then it was onto party favors.

Last year Becca had a similar theme and the girls made tye-die t-shirts and that was their party favor to bring home. The process was suprisingly easy and there was minimal mess plus the girls had a new t-shirt so I gave Becca the option to do it again this year and she chose not to which meant I needed another idea. Luckily I had an idea up my sleeve and Becca loved it.

It is not my original idea but it is super cute and easy to do!

Presenting Fuzzy Sock Cupcakes!

Just roll up a pair of fuzzy socks starting at the toe. Wrap a rubber band around it to keep them from unrolling. Stick in a cupcake wrapper and put a little pompom on top for a cherry! I used my cricut and the cupcake wrappers cartridge for the wrapper.(it says party time) If you don't have a cricut there are several templates online if you do a quick search.

I also made a few other decorations, also with my cricut. These have a general birthday theme and I will be pulling these out every year. I like to hang things from the light above our kitchen table so I made these two sided and strung them up with some embrodery floss. I strung on some colored pompoms and used some sticky backed foam stars. These images are from the Simply Charmed cartridge that is packed full of super cute images. I also stuck some googly eyes on the faces because googly eyes make everything cuter! As is always the case when I begin crafting I get more and more ideas but then run out of time to finish them all! With the party quickly approaching we'll see how many more things I can squeeze it...

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Could there be a better combination for a winter treat than hot chocolate and cupcakes?? How about putting the two together and making a hot chocolate cupcake?

Now that's what I'm talking about, right?

I found the recipe in a recent issue of Family Circle Magazine and Kenzie decided that she wanted to make them for her class holiday party, so of course we did!

I think they came out super cute looking like little cups of hot cocoa.

Here's the recipe featured in the December issue of Family Circle Magazine-

Cupcakes

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 Tbsps. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Topping

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening

2 Tbsps. plus 2 tsp. milk or water

1 1/4 cups mini marshmallows

3 candy canes

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Fill 1 cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

In a medium sized bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, with mixer on medium high, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, aobut 2 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in flour mixture alternately with

milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes our clean. Remove cupcakes

from pan to wire rack and let cool.

Topping

In a medium size bowl with mixer on low speed, beat confectioners sugar, shortening and milk or water until smooth. Spread over cupcakes then top each with 7 or 8 mini-marshmallows. With a serrated knife, cut wrapped candy canes into 2 inch pieces. Unwrap and place one in each cupcake.

Now this recipe only makes 12 cupcakes and I needed 17 for Kenzie's class. So I acually cheated and just used a boxed chocolate cake mix. I could have tried doubling the recipe but sometimes with baking that doesn't always work.(at least in my experience) So rather than take a chance I cheated. They were still yummy and a big hit with the kids. I have tried the recipe and it is good!

Decluttering 2011 post #1

I have decided that 2011 will be the year of decluttering in our household. Fighting clutter is a constant battle for me and I would really like to get rid of it all once and for all. My husband would like nothing more also. In fact he would just like to get a ginormous dumpster and throw it all away and there are days that I am in total agreement. But it isn't that simple as I have a bit of packrat in my blood. I blame this on my creativity because I constantly think ooo I can make something out of that or save magazines for article that have crafts or recipes that I want to try. The problem is I almost never actually do said idea and so the clutter builds...

But this is the year to get firm (or get real) with myself and get rid of things piling up and collecting dust in closets, under beds and even in the crawlspace and attic. I am ashamed to admit there are boxes in our crawlspace that have never been unpacked since we moved here.

We've lived here eight years.

Yea, it' glaringly obvious that they are things that we don't need. Much of it is toys, craft supplies, books and who knows what? Stuff that really isn't important anymore.

Books are a major source of clutter as I love them, but now that I got a Nook for Christmas I feel that it will be easier to get rid of them, not all of them, but almost all of them...

So today I gathered up 20 books and donated them and you know what?

It felt good!

Reaaallly good.

I also donated two bags of clothes.

Yay Me!

Nook

I am a huge fan of books.

I think I may have mentioned that once or twice.

Anyway, as a fan of books I didn't pay too much attention to the ereaders whose popularity seems to be growing. I wasn't interested because I like to hold and feel and yes, even the smell of books so why would I need one of those fancy ereaders?

Then my husband who is a total techno-geek started putting these crazy ideas in my head.

Telling me if I got one of those newfangled colorNooks I could surf the interweb and have access to thousands of books.

Instantly.

No waiting for the UPS man or driving 40 minutes(yes 40 minutes!) to the nearest Barnes and Noble or Walden books at the mall.

That got my attention.

And not just books he told me, but newspapers and magazines, too!

Cool.

Wicked Cool.

Then he told me HE wanted one for Christmas. Dude doesn't even read!

Okay he reads, but mostly magazines.

So I suggested I get him one for Christmas but we can share it.

"No Way!" he tells me. "I know how much you like to read and I'll never get to use it. Plus I want to hack it and do cool stuff with it."

Maybe... but I still really like real books.

But he got me thinking.

There is no rule that says once you have a Nook (or any ereader) that you can't ever buy or read a real book. Then I really started to think about the amount of actual books I have that are taking up space, lots and lots of space. Not just on bookshelves but in the closet and under the bed, creating clutter which I am constantly struggling with.

The same with magazines -more space and clutter and trees being cut down.

So I got him one for Christmas and by the time Christmas rolled around I decided I really wanted one too. I Even told my mother-in-law on Christmas day thats what I wanted for my birthday.

What I didn't know at that time was that my husband had already gotten me one for Christmas, only he waited until everyone had already left before he gave it to me.

For the extra drama.

And guess what?

I love it!

I wasn't sure I would, but I do.

Just the idea of carrying a bunch of books around with me is really cool.

I can surf the web.

I can still trade books with my mom because she got one too.

I can read books for free at a Barnes and Noble, not that I needed an excuse to hang out at Barnes and Noble...

I don't need a light to read by.

I can read any book I want instantly.

I find it comfortable to hold and I don't have to worry about holding a book open so it makes it easier to hold and sip my coffee when I curl up to read.

No more stacks of books and magazines to trip over and collect dust. Okay I am still working on this one. It will take some time to get rid of my books and there are some that I will always keep but the intent of less clutter is there.

I 'm saving trees.

So if you are really into books but think you won't like one, I would reconsider.

Back on Track

So the holidays have come and gone and it's time to get back on the weight loss track. Just before Christmas I was down 21 pounds but I gave myself freedom to eat whatever I wanted for Christmas and New Years. It was my reward for being so good after a week in Disney and during Thanksgiving where I tried to be good and didn't gain any weight. I didn't lose any either, but not gaining was key for me. But for Christmas I ate whatever I wanted and enjoyed every minute of it. Actually that isn't entirely true. To be totally honest as New Years day crept up (and I was starting to get heartburn) I was feeling ready to get back to the healthier eating and exercise. The last few days I did get back into walking the dogs out in the woods so that may have helped me to only gain two pounds. It has been a little hard getting back to eating healthy and my biggest downfall was probably the salty chips and dip. Suprisingly I craved those more than sweets! And I still have been craving them a little bit...

Something else that has helped me get back on track is that one of my favorite food blogs has recently posted some new healthy recipes complete with the new points totals! Check them out here.

When Weight Watchers changed their points totals that screwed me up a bit because it meant re-doing all the points totals for all the foods I ate on a regular basis and this was a bit upsetting.

Again just another little bump in the road as I continue on my weight loss journey!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to Reality....or Not

It's the Monday after New Years and all the decorations are put away. The kids get ready for school a little reluctantly. They want to reconnect with friends but aren't really ready to settle back into the routine of school yet. I grab my purse and shopping list as we head out to the car, I've enjoyed having everyone home and am reluctant to get back into the daily routine also.

As the kids buckle up I put the key in the ignition and turn the key

RRRrrr and then nothing.

I try again. RRrrclick nothing.

Car won't start.

I tell the kids to go back into the house, we're not going anywhere.

'Darn we really wanted to go to school' they both admit each with a little twinkle in their eye.

Not today girls we just got an extra day of vacation!

This doesn't really upset anyone too much.

We hung out and made chocolate chip cookies.

What does upset me is that my car won't start and I don't know why and even if I did know why

I wouldn't be able to fix it anyway. I'll have to wait for Dom to come home to diagnose and hopefully fix it.
For the record it was a dead battery.

Christmas Roundup 2010

One of the suprises of this Christmas season was little snow on the ground. The day after Christmas did bring some blizzard like conditons but when all was said and done we probably only had 8 inches or so on the ground. It was still a few days after that before the kids could actually go out and enjoy the new fallen snow because of the wind and freezing temps.

The snow also brought the realization that I had forgotten to see if the kids winter boots and snowpants fit. Becca was a no go on the boots and snowpants. Kenzie was a no go on the boots.

How dare they grow over the course of the year!!







One of the highlights of this Christmas season was seeing all the little little kids-Molly, Abby and meeting little Ari for the first time. He's so sweet!
Kenzie is hiding in there.

The girls making sugar cookies for Santa.

I managed to snap a quick picture before the kids tore into their presents!

And a document of Christmas wouldn't be complete without the Christmas morning mess!