Day #10 : A B-YOOOO-TI-FULL Day

Happy Afternooning!  Lena Bean was dropped off late at Daycare today (that is usually the story of her Daycare life)  lol.  She has 4 days left…..oh my!  She had a good shower this morning and I combed the knots out of her hair.  She has a very pretty long braid “like Mommy” today.  What a cute kid!
Alex was all over today.  A little bit in his room, then a bit in his sister’s room, out in the living room with me, helped me do laundry (not really!), and back to the start again.  We had a tickle match on the floor and later on he pulled himself up to a stool so I taught him how to play the drums on a stool seat.  He had a blast!
ATM (at the moment, LEARN MY ACRONYMS!) – I am slicing and dicing my ingredients for what will be a delicious, hearty, flavorful, and HEALTHY potato soup.  Mmmm yummy!  I am making up a big batch today (to use up that 10 lbs of potatoes in my fridge) so I can freeze most of it.  Wanna see my recipe for your own use?  Feel free!  I <3 to share!

Mama’s Excellent Potato Soup: # of servings (? I don’t know, I have never measured it out, but it will easily feed a family of 4!)

Slice up 1 lb of (BEEF) sausage into chunks (I do not use pork products)

Slice & dice 3 medium yellow onions

Dice 3 cloves of garlic

Sautee the garlic, onions & beef in 3 tablespoons olive oil with 4 tablespoons butter

In a large pot combine cooked sausage, onion, garlic & drippings with 10 chopped potatoes (I leave my skins on), 7 cups of water, & 2 cans of creme of celery, and 3/4 cups diced celery

After approximately 10 minutes of cooking (once potatoes are tender) use a potato masher (or wooden sautee spatula) and mash half of the potatoes

In a separate saucepan, melt 5 tbsp butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

Slowly stir in 3 cups of milk mixture into soup, let simmer until heated all the through.

Add pepper/salt to flavor (I never add salt to anything I cook at home)

VOILA!  Garnish & serve as usual

Pairings : Excellent with a soft red or sweet white wine & whole wheat sliced bread or roll (wheat baguette anyone?)

And for later tonight?  WORK OUT TIME!  I have a weekly appointment on Tuesday evenings now to meet 2 other ladies for an hour long fitness workout followed up by just ONE glass of wine.  Can’t wait!

Manic Monday

Goooood Morning!  Try falling asleep at 8 pm…… it just doesn’t work!  lol Stayed up and watched the first Lord of the Rings last night with hubs.  Well, he fell asleep but I finished it clear to the end.  And then didn’t get as much sleep as I was hoping for (oh well!)

Today’s Agenda:
10 am WIC apt for Lena Bean : CHECK!

Been there done that – we bundled up and walked the half mile over there and back.  Before returning home we even walked a little further to Papa’s office and dropped some soup off for him to have for lunch.  That’s how sweet we are.
No real plans for the rest of the day.  Lena has to spend some time writing in her notebook after lunch time and then hopefully everyone will quiet down for a good nap this afternoon.  Lena didn’t go to Daycare today (you probably could figure that one out yourself, lol) and Friday will be her last day in Daycare.  Finally convinced hubs to pull her out!  Mr Alex isn’t in Daycare yet (I don’t believe in putting my babies into someone else’s care until they have reached their 1st birthday), and it just seems silly to me that I have to leave the home twice a day just to drop her off and pick her up.  A waste of gas!  And she has a lot of fun playing with her brother and playing with me too.   We maybe don’t wear her out as much as Daycare does, but I sure do like spending my days at home with her!  And hubs & I already work our schedules around each other for our son, so there isn’t any real reason why she has to be in there right now.

For now . . . . . off chasing kids up and down the hall way!  Happy start of the week – it is beautiful and sunny out there today!

Sasquatch Sunday : Part 2

After procrastinating on the computer and running out of ways to laze around; I bundled the kids up to walk over to Papa’s office (.75 miles).  Along the way we saw a red-tailed hawk swoop past only to turn tail and perch atop an electric pole.  It was as if he was begging us to take his picture.  I was only too happy to oblige!

We met up with Papa and proceeded to trek the rest of the way across campus and down the hill to a family favorite for a late lunch : Panera.  (2.25 miles from our front door)  Alex was packed up on my back and hubs carried Miss Bean up on his shoulders periodically.  We slurped up some delicious soups for lunch, steak & chili for hubs, the NEW sonoma chicken stew for me, and Lena Bean thoroughly cleaned up her bowl of chicken & wild rice.  Mr Alex happily opened his mouth for whichever spoon had a heaping pile ready to share with him.  A boy after my own heart!

The kids were quite tired by the time we returned home (2.25 miles back!).  Alex was sooo anxious to get into his crib to sleep that he tried to lurch out of the back carrier (Luckily for me he was strapped in!) and Miss Lena promptly took her shoes off and laid on the couch.  After I finished up a nice phone call with TN Grandma, I tucked Lena in for a nap since her brother was still sleeping.  With the late lunch, no one is really hungry for dinner anytime soon.  HURRAY!!
NY’S Resolution : Dinner before 6:30 : CHECK!
NY’s Resolution : Kids in bed by 8 : CHECK! (I doubt they will wake up from their late naps)

NY’s Resolution : Mama in bed by 10 : TRIPLE CHECK!  (since I am about to go lie down with the tv once I wrap this up and finish expressing breast milk.  And I *KNOW* that I will fall asleep over there!
HURRAY!  First time we accomplished all three NY’s resolutions in ONE DAY!!!  WOOT! WOOT!!

Haha, moving right along – although we had a nice walk in some fairly warm weather for January, we did not manage to catch any sasquatches today.  Better luck next time on our future outdoor endeavours.  Catch you tomorrow!

Catching up to Day #8!

So I am playing catch up in this post!!!  This is what happens when life catches up to me & time for turning the computer on becomes a memory…lol!  So here goes!  :

Day #5 : My only goals were to :
#1. CLEAN!  I really just wanted to sweep, mop, and do some laundry.

#2. Take a good nap!

My accomplishments:
#1. laundry : DOUBLE CHECK!  (I did TWO WHOLE LOADS! From start to finish!  That is rare!  Nothing left in the dryer!!!)

#1 b. Sweep : FAIL

#1 c. Mop : DOUBLE FAIL!!  (Oooooh NO!)

#2. Take a good nap : DING DING DING!!!!  This was my proudest accomplistment today, because Thursdays are long nights for me when I have to go work at the bar until 3:30 am.  I really need that nap!

Work was super slow that night, the students are not quite back in town for the spring semester yet.  Tips were pretty poor too.  THANKS GUYS!  Oh well, maybe next Thursday?  Alex was pretty cute today, speed army crawling all over the apartment as close to me as my own shadow.  He wore himself out and took a pretty good nap for me too – YAY!  As far as my resolutions went – the first were CHECKS!  I make dinner dinner before work – so it is always ready by 6:30 pm, hubby ALWAYS has the kids in bed by 8 so he can get back to writing his dissertation.  As far as my 10 pm bedtime?  Doesn’t happen on bar nights!

Day # 6 : TGIF!!!

I love sleeping in on Fridays.  If it is possible!  I love my hubby sooo much when he very quietly gets our daughter ready for daycare and drops her off on these mornings.  Alex woke me up pretty early (as usual, my little alarm clock) but he did a good job of falling back asleep – thanks buddy!!!  I did get one? load of laundry finished.  Maybe 2.  I can’t remember!  Oh I think that I did 3 because I washed up a bunch of blankets and towels, those are easy loads.
You want to know the best part about my Friday??  This was the FIRST Friday in a very long time that I did NOT have to go into work for the  evening!  It was pretty nice to spend the whole afternoon & evening with the kids – we drove around, met Grandma (mom) at the mall.  Mom spoiled Lena and picked up some cute light-up shoes for her.  Lena spent the rest of the evening slamming her shoes on the ground so they would light up to show us back at the apartment.  MOOOO_OOOM!

I made a nice dinner of……hmm, chicken sautee pasta olio.  Kinds were in bed before 9 (so…. half check : half fail?)  Hubs & I stayed up late watching tv so I was NOT in bed by 10, but it sure was nice to spend the evening home with him!

Day # 7 :  SUPER SATURDAY!

I like Saturday mornings.  I wake up early & take care of my baby boy before quietly getting ready to go into work early.  The most special part about this morning?  Hubs woke up with me!  Not only did he put the hot water on for some deeelicious tea; he whipped up some eggs & toast for me too!!  This is a VERY RARE SUPER SATURDAY MORNING!  Can you tell that I liked it?  Hahaha!

Work was uneventful, I rushed home to spend an hour with them in the afternoon before everyone went to lie down for a good afternoon nap. (Yep…..had to go work in the bar that night.)  The nap was nice & longish, and upon waking we all sat around the tv and watched part of Hell Boy until I got up to get ready for working at the bar.

It was a slow bar night – but tips were rolling in!  And the best part was working with a super friend.  (So…this truly was a Super Saturday!)  I did diddly-squat on my crocheting at work, but I did browse TWO V S catalogs (and promptly pitch since I’m broke after the holidays), write an entry post from my phone (Day #4 I think?, lol), AND played with mini Tinker Bell playing cards…..yay!  (and No, Lena didn’t know I had those)  In the end we made almost as much in tips as we did Thursday night, and Thursdays are usually the highest tipping night.  Awesome for us!

In all fairness for not crocheting – I still have blisters on my palms from New Years Eve when I opened 1000 + champange bottles, and I also poked my index finger and it has some inflammation.  Hopefully in a few days everything will be all better for the crocheting bit.  Wish me luck!

Now that I have caught up to :

DAY # 8!!!!!  : SASQUATCH SUNDAY!!!

Sasquatch Sunday?  I don’t know why I wrote that, BUT Sasquatch is FUN word to say!  Sas-quatch! Sas-quatch!  What do you got? I found a Sasquatch behind the parking lot . . . . (kids rhymes anyone?)  Mmmm, yes, so I also make up my own lyrics.  Its more fun that way when I don’t know the real words to any songs, lol!  I will have to share some of my made up lyricals with you sometime.  But be prepared, they are usually more for the over 18 age group.  Hilarious for most adults tho!
So my goals for today are :
#1. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN SOME MORE!  (laundry, sweeping that I didn’t do on Thursday, cleaning the kids rooms, and finding some space on my desk top, I’m lucky I can type blindly on my keyboard……)

#2. Take a walk!  Being part of the Biggest Loser Contest – I really should be getting more exercise than I have.  Shame on me!  I promise to do better this week, and I WILL walk today.  I don’t know where, or how far, or how long, but I will walk.  Somehow, someway, somewhere, somewhen.  Somewhen?  I wonder if that is a real word…..

#3. Whip up some delicious potato soup for dinner.  Lena Bean helped me make some a week and a half ago, and I have about 10 lbs of potatoes in my refrigerator that I ought to use up.  And soup is easy to freeze for easy dinners later on in the week.  *winky winky wink*

PLUS, I need to follow my NY’s resolutions.  Let you know how that goes later on!  Happy catching Sasquatches today! 

Day#4 quick post!!!

So I am at work trying to figure out how to blog from my phone! Haha. I have figured out that I can’t post pics unless I have the pro version. Oh well, too bad for me! Guess you will have to wait for pics until I get home and update post #5! So far I have followed new years resolutions about half the time. It is always a work in progress until it becomes a habit. A good habit tho! I made a yummy spicy peanut chicken and rice dish. I set aside some nonhot chicken for my daughter, but my husband loved the flavors. Bonus points for me! Received a luxurious foot rub that night! He may work a lot, but he sure can make up for it at times. Well back to work! Happy nights!

Day #3

Day #3 :  Lena had a playdate with her friend Carter today.  After eating lunch & playing with toys they wore themselves out by doing the WII dance stuff.  When they got tired of it, Carter’s mommy & I did it too!!

Dinner was served on time : Resolution : CHECK!

Kids were in bed on time : Resolution : CHECK!

Mama in bed on time : Resolution : FAIL!!!

Well….two out of 3 isn’t so bad.  It is all a work in progress.  On another note, I am blasting a short blip for Go check out @Keri*Meyers*Photography at http://www.kerimeyersphotography.com to enter to win her HUGE 30K GIVEAWAY!  Maybe I will win something cool!  Or if you check it out maybe you will something cool!!

A 365 Day Work of my Life

Welcome to day #2 of my life in the New Year : 2012.  To begin with, I already broke my New Years Resolutions last night which are :

#1. dinner no later than 6:30 pm.  End of story.  ( did not even make it back home following a girls’ day out until after 8 pm…… OOPS)

#2.  Kids on their way to bed by 7:30 pm and IN BED by 8 pm  ( YEH RIGHT, since Lena & I were not even home yet! . . . .)  BIGGER OOPS.

#3.  ME in bed by 10 pm (most nights)  (*rolls eyes*  YEH RIGHT)

Why the time blocks?  Last year I spent so much of time rushing here and rushing there.  I felt completely unorganized, stressed, and tired almost all the time.  So this year I am attempting to create a new habit for myself by structuring out my evenings.  I think that maybe if I serve dinner at a reasonable time, if I have the kids start getting ready for bed at a reasonable time, and if I have them IN bed at a reasonable time; that perhaps I just might get a few moments to spend with the husband (movie night?) and still get to sleep at a reasonable hour for plenty of beauty sleep.  I am not a late night person anyway, I love my mornings!  And I would really like to start enjoying them again.  It doesn’t matter how late I stay up, I am awake every morning by 5 am, compliments to my 10 month old son.

So for the rest of the day I was supposed to :
#1. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN (yep, didn’t happen as much as I would have liked)

#2.  Figure out lunch & dinner

#3.  Enjoy some company for a bit (a friend is coming over with her infant daughter!)  (plus, she came bearing gifts of Jimmy Johns, so I could stratch figuring luch out right off my list!!)

#4.  Clean some more!

#5.  Update my business.  Yes, not only do I work two part time jobs, I also run my own business from home!  Or at least I attempt to.  *wink*

With all that said, I think I better hop off here and just get on with it.  You will learn more about me, my family, my projects, & so much more over the course of this year.  Don’t worry, YES I will amuse you, YES I will scare you, YES I will be a pain in the you know what, & YES I will share up some cool stuff, great advice, & hopefully some new cool recipes.
Bring it on 2012!