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Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
2 9 2 9 2 9 2 9 2 9 2 9
2/9- Today's my birthday and I'm 29! Fitting, huh? :)
It's my last year on my twenties, and can I just start out by saying I never thought I would be excited about my thirties? Yes, seriously!
Let take a look back in time....
The twenties brought a lot of difficulties, but along with that came many joys to my life. I finished college, I had two beautiful babies, married the man of my dreams, and grew to like myself a little. The bad times seemed to outnumber the good, but what good we have had outPOWERS the bad. Bad relationships, lost jobs, moving, bad hair, and stretch marks I could have done without. You gotta take the bad with the good I guess.
The hubby and I were reflecting on the eve of my birthday about his past year being 29 (turns 30 7/11!). He looked at me and said, "I've found a great job, we moved into a great place, I can't complain too much." So here's to hoping 29 brings me a great job :) and moving onto bigger and better things :)
I can't get over how much I am looking forward to my 30's. I think it will be a great decade and can't wait to bid my 20's good riddance :)
It's my last year on my twenties, and can I just start out by saying I never thought I would be excited about my thirties? Yes, seriously!
Let take a look back in time....
The twenties brought a lot of difficulties, but along with that came many joys to my life. I finished college, I had two beautiful babies, married the man of my dreams, and grew to like myself a little. The bad times seemed to outnumber the good, but what good we have had outPOWERS the bad. Bad relationships, lost jobs, moving, bad hair, and stretch marks I could have done without. You gotta take the bad with the good I guess.
The hubby and I were reflecting on the eve of my birthday about his past year being 29 (turns 30 7/11!). He looked at me and said, "I've found a great job, we moved into a great place, I can't complain too much." So here's to hoping 29 brings me a great job :) and moving onto bigger and better things :)
I can't get over how much I am looking forward to my 30's. I think it will be a great decade and can't wait to bid my 20's good riddance :)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monthly Monday Weigh-In
Being that today is the first Monday of the month, I thought this would be a good time to update my weight status. I see so many different things on blogs that I stalk, er... follow, such as Weigh-In Wednesday, Friday Fatloss, and Supersizeme Sunday. Wait, not the last one. Anywho, I don't want the complete focus of my blog to be my weight loss, that's why I only want to do a weigh-in once a month. Yes, it is a part of me, and I am proud of it, but it's not what makes me, well, me. I'm more that just another diet success story, I'm a mom, student, wife, cook, all around awesome lady ;). It's not like I've been super consistent with it either, I'm just buckling down more here lately. So I'm going to make an attempt to weigh in monthly. I try to keep that scale hidden, I don't want to make standing on it a ritual. If so, I become obsessed and beat myself up. So that said... here it is:
Last month: 178.5 (The holidays happened!)
This month: 172.8 w00t!
I secretely had a goal to make 170 for my birthday coming up here on Wednesday, but 172.8 is good too and I'll take it! I do need to incorporate exercise into my routine. Working back to back 12s at the hospital has probably contributed (in an unhealthy way) to my weight loss this past month.
Goal for next month: Get some exercise in every week. Surely I can afford 30 minutes a day for 3 days out of the week. ?? Maybe not. We'll see!
Last month: 178.5 (The holidays happened!)
This month: 172.8 w00t!
I secretely had a goal to make 170 for my birthday coming up here on Wednesday, but 172.8 is good too and I'll take it! I do need to incorporate exercise into my routine. Working back to back 12s at the hospital has probably contributed (in an unhealthy way) to my weight loss this past month.
Goal for next month: Get some exercise in every week. Surely I can afford 30 minutes a day for 3 days out of the week. ?? Maybe not. We'll see!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
A new do
The hubby and I trekked it out to the mall on Sunday since I needed a trim. I came out with some side-swept bangs. The waves are from my blowdryer this morning, it's not like that on it's own. Disreagard the poor quality of the pic, it's with my webcam and I'm trying to be incognito in the library.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
My Itali-Rican Girl
This week is cultural week at big girl's school. She has had an opportunity to share Puerto Rican snacks, Puerto Rican instruments (palitos), and yesterday she drew a PR, Italian and American flag. PR for mama's side, Italy for daddy's side, and the US flag for herself, since she was born here and is American. Tomorrow is their cultural week parade. They are suppose to wear something that represents their country, so I whipped up this shirt with some fabric paint. Hopefully she appreciates it!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Dream!!!!
Spotted today...
The Dream himself! Getting some photocopies at FedEx Kinko's :)
He was getting bombarded with the workers there, so I decided against asking for an autograph. I figure he's a normal person like me.... just 7' tall.
The Dream himself! Getting some photocopies at FedEx Kinko's :)
He was getting bombarded with the workers there, so I decided against asking for an autograph. I figure he's a normal person like me.... just 7' tall.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, Monday... and some recipes...
So good to me. You know that you know it, from the Mamas and the Papas.
That is the song that has been rolling through my head, probably because it's, duh, Monday.
I'm supposed to be doing a lot of things. Studying, cleaning out my fridge (has to get done today since it didn't get done this past weekend), cleaning out my car... those are the things at the top of my list. Instead I spent my morning eating faux Cheez-Its, watching some Barney movie, and snuggling in bed with my almost 2 year old.. the things that should be at the top of my list.
I love my little bit... the fact that she is so petite makes me feel like she is still this itty bitty baby. She stepped on the scale this weekend in my bathroom, and it was only fluctuating between 26-28 lbs (you know if you are almost two years old and hop up and down on it, it's bound to fluctuate... I've tried it myself to make the scale give me a lower number... no such luck). I'm almost certain her big sister had surpassed 30+ lbs by two?? Who knows.
On to some recipes! Now that we are back to living on our own, there is a lot less eating out. Here are a few of my favorites for the month of January so far:
1. Penne alla Vodka- sans vodka and fat, but not lacking in flavor! As always, I have my own twist on things. First of all, I use whole wheat rotini, not penne. Nothing special, just the local grocery store brand, Hill Country Fare or the like. I prefer the rotini because I feel it holds on to the sauce better. And who doesn't like twirly pasta?? I also use the cheapest, store brand, basil marinara sauce. It has the lowest calories and fat when you compare the the big names like Prego, and Ragu. I use one whole jar instead of measuring 2 cups.... it's about the same. I use 2/3 cup of FAGE greek yogurt, because I buy the extra large fat free container. That stuff gets used a lot around here in place of sour cream on tacos, heavy cream in recipes, and milk in my cereal (because I hate milk). Then I do a few generous shakes of dry basil, because it's cheaper than fresh basil. Plus it lasts longer.
2. Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Chili With Sweet Potatoes- did you click that link? You should to see the picture. It seriously looked like that when I cooked it. My twists- I used dry beans instead of canned. I did a quick soak on the stove of 1/2 cup of black beans and 1/2 cup of pinto beans. I didn't have kidney beans on hand, but it still worked. I *may* have only used a 14.5 oz can of tomatoes because I sent the hubby out for that, but I don't recall. Besides using a white onion instead of red, I followed the recipe exactly and loved it. The kids ate it up too. We ate it over Quinoa <-- buy this in the bulk food section at the local grocer, a lot cheaper that way.
3. Carolina Pulled Pork in the slow cooker- this actual made two dinners! Check out number 4 below. For this recipe I bought a decent sized lean pork loin. It had very little fat, and was maybe 2 pounds for about $6.00. The amount of vinegar in the recipe made me weary of the taste, so to be safe I only did 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and 1/4 cup of vinegar(in the Kansas City version... the Carolina version had mustard and if my husband saw that he would freak). I had to use rice wine vinegar, because I didn't have apple cider vinegar, but I'm sure it would have tasted the same. So I poured the 3/4 cup mixture over the pork loin and let it cook on low. I came back to it, beautifully pulled it apart, added it back to the juices/sauce it was cooking, the promply proceded to make the exact same sauce (1/2 cup bbq, 1/4 vinegar) and just poured it right over. It didn't quite have enough "oomph". The extra sauce however, fixed it right up. I'm glad I didn't cook all the sauce with it, I feel that the flavors are stronger when it doesn't go through the whole slow cooker experience. These served over whole wheat buns with some french fries for the kids and a baked sweet potato for myself... sooo good!
4. BBQ Pork loin tacos- woo hoo for left-overs! We had a good amount of pork left over, so I decided to make tacos out of what was left. Tacos was originally on the menu, but it was going to be cubed beef with mole (10th thing on the list from the top). I figured the kids wouldn't like mole, so I gave them the pork and I fell in lurv with it myself! Served over corn tortillas (NOT FLOUR- gross), with a mango pico de gallo (again, thank you local grocer! Soooo good!), with some avocado sliced up on top. The good thing is the kids did like the beef, and we STILL had leftovers! Lunch the next day, woo hoo!
5. Inside out stuffed peppers- So this isn't as good of a recipe only because I'm trying really hard to remember the measurements. It came about out of pure laziness and not wanting to wait on the peppers to soften in the oven. I knew I should have written it down, oh well. Basically, I sautteed 1 lb. of ground lean turkey with onion (1/2?) and garlic (2 cloves?). I added a can of diced tomatoes (14-15 oz), a big handful of spinach, some italian seasoning, salt/pepper, and probably 1/2-1 cup of cooked quinoa. I think it was 1 cup cooked and 1/2 cup dry if I recall. I then added diced up 1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper and added it to the mix. Served it in bowls with a sprinkle of cheese over it.
I'd say my favorites were the pork tacos and the penne (rotini) alla vodka. My kids loved all the dishes, but they tend to not be too picky. Alright, with the little bit napping, I'm going to tackly my to do list! I leave you with some Jimmy Buffet on this Monday. Hope the rest of your week is great!
That is the song that has been rolling through my head, probably because it's, duh, Monday.
I'm supposed to be doing a lot of things. Studying, cleaning out my fridge (has to get done today since it didn't get done this past weekend), cleaning out my car... those are the things at the top of my list. Instead I spent my morning eating faux Cheez-Its, watching some Barney movie, and snuggling in bed with my almost 2 year old.. the things that should be at the top of my list.
I love my little bit... the fact that she is so petite makes me feel like she is still this itty bitty baby. She stepped on the scale this weekend in my bathroom, and it was only fluctuating between 26-28 lbs (you know if you are almost two years old and hop up and down on it, it's bound to fluctuate... I've tried it myself to make the scale give me a lower number... no such luck). I'm almost certain her big sister had surpassed 30+ lbs by two?? Who knows.
On to some recipes! Now that we are back to living on our own, there is a lot less eating out. Here are a few of my favorites for the month of January so far:
1. Penne alla Vodka- sans vodka and fat, but not lacking in flavor! As always, I have my own twist on things. First of all, I use whole wheat rotini, not penne. Nothing special, just the local grocery store brand, Hill Country Fare or the like. I prefer the rotini because I feel it holds on to the sauce better. And who doesn't like twirly pasta?? I also use the cheapest, store brand, basil marinara sauce. It has the lowest calories and fat when you compare the the big names like Prego, and Ragu. I use one whole jar instead of measuring 2 cups.... it's about the same. I use 2/3 cup of FAGE greek yogurt, because I buy the extra large fat free container. That stuff gets used a lot around here in place of sour cream on tacos, heavy cream in recipes, and milk in my cereal (because I hate milk). Then I do a few generous shakes of dry basil, because it's cheaper than fresh basil. Plus it lasts longer.
2. Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Chili With Sweet Potatoes- did you click that link? You should to see the picture. It seriously looked like that when I cooked it. My twists- I used dry beans instead of canned. I did a quick soak on the stove of 1/2 cup of black beans and 1/2 cup of pinto beans. I didn't have kidney beans on hand, but it still worked. I *may* have only used a 14.5 oz can of tomatoes because I sent the hubby out for that, but I don't recall. Besides using a white onion instead of red, I followed the recipe exactly and loved it. The kids ate it up too. We ate it over Quinoa <-- buy this in the bulk food section at the local grocer, a lot cheaper that way.
3. Carolina Pulled Pork in the slow cooker- this actual made two dinners! Check out number 4 below. For this recipe I bought a decent sized lean pork loin. It had very little fat, and was maybe 2 pounds for about $6.00. The amount of vinegar in the recipe made me weary of the taste, so to be safe I only did 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and 1/4 cup of vinegar(in the Kansas City version... the Carolina version had mustard and if my husband saw that he would freak). I had to use rice wine vinegar, because I didn't have apple cider vinegar, but I'm sure it would have tasted the same. So I poured the 3/4 cup mixture over the pork loin and let it cook on low. I came back to it, beautifully pulled it apart, added it back to the juices/sauce it was cooking, the promply proceded to make the exact same sauce (1/2 cup bbq, 1/4 vinegar) and just poured it right over. It didn't quite have enough "oomph". The extra sauce however, fixed it right up. I'm glad I didn't cook all the sauce with it, I feel that the flavors are stronger when it doesn't go through the whole slow cooker experience. These served over whole wheat buns with some french fries for the kids and a baked sweet potato for myself... sooo good!
4. BBQ Pork loin tacos- woo hoo for left-overs! We had a good amount of pork left over, so I decided to make tacos out of what was left. Tacos was originally on the menu, but it was going to be cubed beef with mole (10th thing on the list from the top). I figured the kids wouldn't like mole, so I gave them the pork and I fell in lurv with it myself! Served over corn tortillas (NOT FLOUR- gross), with a mango pico de gallo (again, thank you local grocer! Soooo good!), with some avocado sliced up on top. The good thing is the kids did like the beef, and we STILL had leftovers! Lunch the next day, woo hoo!
5. Inside out stuffed peppers- So this isn't as good of a recipe only because I'm trying really hard to remember the measurements. It came about out of pure laziness and not wanting to wait on the peppers to soften in the oven. I knew I should have written it down, oh well. Basically, I sautteed 1 lb. of ground lean turkey with onion (1/2?) and garlic (2 cloves?). I added a can of diced tomatoes (14-15 oz), a big handful of spinach, some italian seasoning, salt/pepper, and probably 1/2-1 cup of cooked quinoa. I think it was 1 cup cooked and 1/2 cup dry if I recall. I then added diced up 1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper and added it to the mix. Served it in bowls with a sprinkle of cheese over it.
I'd say my favorites were the pork tacos and the penne (rotini) alla vodka. My kids loved all the dishes, but they tend to not be too picky. Alright, with the little bit napping, I'm going to tackly my to do list! I leave you with some Jimmy Buffet on this Monday. Hope the rest of your week is great!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Painting our room
I don't think these pictures are quite as good, mainly because you don't see the final "ta-da" like in the girls's room, and because we are sometimes lazy and just use our camera phones sometimes. In our room we used Behr paint in Valley Mist. Very similar to the girls, slighly greener in hue. You can see in one picture how I went through a few different samples. I purchased the green bedspread from Target first, and thought I had to have a green wall. Turns out, I liked the bluer color best against the green bedspread. We are still painting our awesome headboard/footboard we scored from Craig's list for %50, so once that is completed, we will have a final pic to post. In addition to the headboard/footboard, we also painted our old drawers in black also. It still needs hardware, but it looks great!
Painting the girls' room
The girls' bedroom has always been full of pink stuff. We added an accent wall with a real pretty blue. We used Berh paint in Delicate Mist. It went perfectly with the bedspread as it has little blue flowers every now and then in the same shade throughout it. The hubby and I had a fun time doing this, believe it or not! So check out the progression, and ignore my backside in the pics!
The weeks are long...
The weekends are even shorter!
On the 8th, we went and test drove the Nissan Leaf for fun. For an electric car, it really was fun!
Last weekend was busy doing errands, celebrating my mother's birthday, and basically household chores and studying (I did mention I went back to school).
This week was also crazy. I was woken up on Monday morning (MLK day) by my children barging into my room, dressed to the nines. It was my one day to sleep in this week, and I was annoyed for a minute, but then when I saw what they were wearing, I couldn't help but crack up.
This week I also applied for a job at a hospital (already?!), had class, then clinical at a school district on Friday. It was mostly stomaches and the usual, mainly uneventful. Except for the part where one kid passed out and 911 had to be called. Did I mention the actual school nurse wasn't there when it happened... she had to leave early! So that mega dose of adrenalin knocked me out on Friday night.
Today consisted of cleaning again. Saturdays I clean bathrooms, dust, vacuum, mop, and do laundry. We hit the recycling facility up, made it to the library in time to pick out a ton of books and borrow Disney's "Cinderellla" and "Alice in Wonderland" on DVD (gread find Daddy!), go to Walmart, and get a burger from Fuddrucker's.
I have two more posts to do with things that have been racing through my mind, so that's all for now! Check out the hubby's blog @ anthonyjohnson dot posterous dot com.
However, it seems that all of our weekends for this month have been fairly busy. I've had a lot of things on my mind that I keep thinking I should write down, or add to my blog. So it looks like this will just be one long entry.
So let me begin with some of the fun things this month. January 7th, the hubby and I went to a hockey game! We LURV hockey! We are big Penguins fans, but our local AHL team will have to do.
On the 8th, we went and test drove the Nissan Leaf for fun. For an electric car, it really was fun!
The next week was busy with me starting back up at school, finding out one of my best friends is pregnant with her first, and on the 11th, the hubby and I celebrating our 6th anniversary. I baked a cake, and the big girl helped me decorate it. Big girl also lost her FIRST tooth on the 14th!
Last weekend was busy doing errands, celebrating my mother's birthday, and basically household chores and studying (I did mention I went back to school).
This week was also crazy. I was woken up on Monday morning (MLK day) by my children barging into my room, dressed to the nines. It was my one day to sleep in this week, and I was annoyed for a minute, but then when I saw what they were wearing, I couldn't help but crack up.
This week I also applied for a job at a hospital (already?!), had class, then clinical at a school district on Friday. It was mostly stomaches and the usual, mainly uneventful. Except for the part where one kid passed out and 911 had to be called. Did I mention the actual school nurse wasn't there when it happened... she had to leave early! So that mega dose of adrenalin knocked me out on Friday night.
Today consisted of cleaning again. Saturdays I clean bathrooms, dust, vacuum, mop, and do laundry. We hit the recycling facility up, made it to the library in time to pick out a ton of books and borrow Disney's "Cinderellla" and "Alice in Wonderland" on DVD (gread find Daddy!), go to Walmart, and get a burger from Fuddrucker's.
I have two more posts to do with things that have been racing through my mind, so that's all for now! Check out the hubby's blog @ anthonyjohnson dot posterous dot com.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Starting the new year off right
It is officially 2011. Goodbye 2010, farwell, adios. It was a tough year, but 2011 holds many exciting new things to which I have to say, "Bring it on 2011... Bring. It. On."
So what has been going on since I secretly started this new blog... By the way, I think I'm about to go "public" i.e. let my friends know I have a new blog :). Many things have happened since November. I finished my third semester in nursing school! I only have one more to go. I will officially be done in May. Then I get to pay back student loans... woo hoo!
Other things that have happened... we moved out of my sister's house. We are on our own again! We are on the other side of town, but it is well worth the drive. I love LOVE LURRRVVVV my new apartment! I have made it a point to having it clean and organized. I'm pretty sure my husband hates the fact that anything of his gets shoved into some drawer, basket or closet. However, I warned him long ago when we moved that I would not live in a computer office. (For the record, he does IT stuff for a web development company.. which by the way, he LOVES LURRRVVVVS his job!). Did I mention I lurv it here? Because I do... :)
It's far away for the 5 y.o.'s school. It takes me a whopping 20 minutes to drive there. It's actually not bad, but the fact that the elementary school we ARE zone to living here is a block away makes it just a little bit annoying. However, I didn't want to switch her schools half way through kindergarten. If you knew everything she's been through you would probably agree. Anywho, she is one of the top readers in her class and did really well her first semester in kindergarten. She finished the semester having outdone herself in both soccer and ballet along with school I'm so very proud of her!
The 23 month old is my teeny girl. Little bit is so small! She is just now wearing 24 month sized clothes, and they are loose on her. I swear she eats too. As I sit here typing this the two of us just shared a whole box of shells and cheese. If not split 50/50, then it was at least 45/55. She packed down two bowls. She may be small, but she fits a lot into that package. She is either laughing uncontrollably, or standing in a corner screaming or saying "NO!" because you did something she didn't like or you didn't let her do something.
I head back to school next week. Little bit will start at a mother's day out program on Tuesday. I'm hoping before school starts to get one thing done... I just haven't narrowed it down to if it going to be a craft, a dessert, or what. Maybe a little bit of both?
Oh yeah, new year's goals:
1. Dedicate some time to my big gurl everytime. Just her and I. She deserves it.
2. Despite eating the 1/2 box of shells and cheese, I would like to lose another 25 pounds this year. I'm currently around 175. This time last year I was about 195 (the year before that I was pregnant and tipping the scale at 256, but have gotten to 250 not pregnant). I figure 20 pounds is completely reasonable and attainable.
3. Try and dedicate more time to myself, doing the things I love: crafts, cooking, reading, some sort of overall me time.
I can't really think of anything else. This year I just want to enjoy life. Good riddance 2010!
So what has been going on since I secretly started this new blog... By the way, I think I'm about to go "public" i.e. let my friends know I have a new blog :). Many things have happened since November. I finished my third semester in nursing school! I only have one more to go. I will officially be done in May. Then I get to pay back student loans... woo hoo!
Other things that have happened... we moved out of my sister's house. We are on our own again! We are on the other side of town, but it is well worth the drive. I love LOVE LURRRVVVV my new apartment! I have made it a point to having it clean and organized. I'm pretty sure my husband hates the fact that anything of his gets shoved into some drawer, basket or closet. However, I warned him long ago when we moved that I would not live in a computer office. (For the record, he does IT stuff for a web development company.. which by the way, he LOVES LURRRVVVVS his job!). Did I mention I lurv it here? Because I do... :)
It's far away for the 5 y.o.'s school. It takes me a whopping 20 minutes to drive there. It's actually not bad, but the fact that the elementary school we ARE zone to living here is a block away makes it just a little bit annoying. However, I didn't want to switch her schools half way through kindergarten. If you knew everything she's been through you would probably agree. Anywho, she is one of the top readers in her class and did really well her first semester in kindergarten. She finished the semester having outdone herself in both soccer and ballet along with school I'm so very proud of her!
The 23 month old is my teeny girl. Little bit is so small! She is just now wearing 24 month sized clothes, and they are loose on her. I swear she eats too. As I sit here typing this the two of us just shared a whole box of shells and cheese. If not split 50/50, then it was at least 45/55. She packed down two bowls. She may be small, but she fits a lot into that package. She is either laughing uncontrollably, or standing in a corner screaming or saying "NO!" because you did something she didn't like or you didn't let her do something.
I head back to school next week. Little bit will start at a mother's day out program on Tuesday. I'm hoping before school starts to get one thing done... I just haven't narrowed it down to if it going to be a craft, a dessert, or what. Maybe a little bit of both?
Oh yeah, new year's goals:
1. Dedicate some time to my big gurl everytime. Just her and I. She deserves it.
2. Despite eating the 1/2 box of shells and cheese, I would like to lose another 25 pounds this year. I'm currently around 175. This time last year I was about 195 (the year before that I was pregnant and tipping the scale at 256, but have gotten to 250 not pregnant). I figure 20 pounds is completely reasonable and attainable.
3. Try and dedicate more time to myself, doing the things I love: crafts, cooking, reading, some sort of overall me time.
I can't really think of anything else. This year I just want to enjoy life. Good riddance 2010!
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