Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Robot Parades & White Prizes




Life with an almost 3 year is crazy. Especially an imaginative 3 year old. This little one of mine is seriously mad at me today.....all because of a robot parade. Here's the conversation....I'm checking email and I hear: "Mommy, I watch Robot Parade!!" What? "I watch Robot Parade!" Really confused now, I ask Zach what is a robot parade. "Mommy, I.WATCH.ROBOT.PARADE!" Okay, I have no idea what a robot parade is Zach, show me, where is it? "I mad, Mommy" "I watch Robot Parade!" He got up, turned off the TV, went to the stairs, sat down on the bottom step, crossed his arms, said "I mad" "I watch robot parade!" I'll never know, I guess!


I talked to my Mom this morning, she tells me the conversation she had with Zach last night on the phone(I was at work). Zach gets on the phone and says to her "Grandma, you come my house, bring me prize, a white one". Good luck, Grandma, trying to figure out *which* white prize to bring!


Typing the end of that 1st paragraph, Zach comes running into the living room, saying in a sing-song voice....."Moooommmmeeee, guess whaaattt?" I say, "Whhhaaaatttt?" his reply.... "It's a beeeeuuuutttful sunneeeee daaaaaay" I just had to pick him up and squeeze him till he squealed! So darn cute. Off to go play in our "beeuuutttful sunneeee daaaay".

Monday, February 16, 2009

Home Sweet Home

The move to NC has been better than I expected. Now, I didn't expect to sit around homesick for GA for years or anything. I just figured I'd really miss it...in a healthy way. And I do miss seeing my friends & family like I did before I moved. But NC has been good to us, to me. Our church is awesome. Our house and neighborhood are great. But one of the neatest things is that I've made some really good friends so far.
A few Friday's ago(2/13/09) was one of the reasons I love living in the South! It's February....most people are cold, not us in NC! Friday was a beautiful spring day in NC. The sky was crystal clear Carolina Blue, a few fluffy clouds floating around, the sun was just right to warm our faces, the temp was a wonderful 70 degrees! So I & my fellow playgroup Moms decided to have playgroup at the park. "Playgroup" is a group of several Moms who have children of similar age and we meet once a week for the children to play and the Moms to commiserate. The children make friends quickly & have lots of fun. We Moms---well, it gives us a break and a place to find some sanity. We chat about preschool & potties & what funny thing our kids have done lately, we vent about our frustrations, and we share many cups of coffee. CAFFIENE....it's what keeps us going!
Enjoy a few pictures of our fun park day and meet some of my new friends! This isn't everyone...a few Mom's were busy that day and couldn't make it.

Becky w/ Sara, Julie & Samanta


Brandon, Sam's son


Richard, Sam's son


Alex, Becky's son


Sara, Becky's daughter


Zachery, he's MINE!






















































Saturday, January 24, 2009

A delicious healthy dinner

At the beginning of January, I, like everyone else in the world, decided to eat healthier & lose a few (ahem...more than a few!) pounds. So I've been searching for healthy and tasty recipes. I found this great website that has many healthy recipes to try. The recipes are grouped by many different criteria such as occasion, type of cuisine, main ingredient etc... Or you can use the "advanced search" feature to narrow down your search to things like "high fiber", "low carb", "high protein" etc.... The web address is http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/collections.php

Here is a dinner I planned using the recipes from that website. Both of these are delicious and do not taste low calorie or low fat at all! And both were easy to make and bonus....these are usually ingredients I always have on hand.

If you try this recipe or any other from the website...please write & let me know what you think!


Sauteed Chicken with Creamy Chive Sauce
Makes 4 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 35 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), trimmed of fat
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped chives (about 1 bunch)

1. Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Season both sides of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place 1/4 cup flour in a shallow glass baking dish and dredge the chicken in it. Discard the excess flour.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, cover and keep warm.
3. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour; stir to coat. Add wine, broth and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil, stirring often.
4. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until heated through and no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Stir in sour cream and mustard until smooth; turn the chicken to coat with the sauce. Stir in chives and serve immediately.
NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 244 calories; 9 g fat (3 g sat, 4 g mono); 72 mg cholesterol; 8 g carbohydrate; 26 g protein; 0 g fiber; 679 mg sodium. Nutrition bonus: Niacin (50% daily value), Selenium (31% dv).

Roasted Florets (broccoli/cauli mix, I omitted the lemon and added 2 cloves chopped fresh garlic)
Makes 4 servings, 1 1/2 cups each
ACTIVE TIME: 5 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

8 cups bite-size cauliflower or broccoli florets (about 1 head)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Lemon wedges (optional)

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Place florets in a large bowl with oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread out on a baking sheet. Roast the vegetables, stirring once, until tender-crisp and browned in spots, 15 to 25 minutes. Serve hot or warm with lemon wedges, if desired.
NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving (cauliflower): 113 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 5 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 11 g carbohydrate; 4 g protein; 5 g fiber; 351 mg sodium. Per serving (broccoli): 101 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 5 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrate; 4 g protein; 4 g fiber; 327 mg sodium. 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

"Finding something good in a mess...

Subtitled: "Words you never want to hear from your 2 year old!"

I'll set the scene for you: I'm running behind for work, of course! Zachery is all dressed, bag packed for the baby sitter. I'm almost ready to walk out the door with no time to spare. I'm standing in front of the mirror in my bedroom and Zach walks in.... Here's the conversation:

Z - "zachery clean up mess, mommy"
M - (thinking to myself)oh no! OK, if I ignore what he just said...maybe nothing happened, right?? so I innocently say... "Hi Zachery, are you ready to go?"
Z - "Zachery clean up mess, mommy"
M - (OH NO!!, not now) "Really Zachery, what mess?"
Z - "Zachery clean up eggs, mommy"
M - And RIGHT THEN is when I remembered that I needed to put the eggs back in the fridge! "Alright, Zach, lets go see what happened."
So I run down the stairs in my state of "almost ready" to the kitchen. And find that he has broken 3 eggs on the floor. And, yes, as he said...he did try to clean up the mess. The shells were in the trash can...and the broom was lying in the gooey mess on the floor. He had tried sweeping it up....only to smear all the egg whites ALL.OVER.THE.FLOOR.

So, with less than 10 minutes before I had to walk out the door for work, I'm standing in the kitchen spraying clorox spray and floor cleaner and mopping the floor.

Really I would never have chosen to mop my kitchen floor at that moment in time. BUT the good in all this mess is....Today, my floor is mopped! One less thing to do today, my day off.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Just when you think you have it all figured out.....

So....as I was commenting on the pictures in the posts below....I described one as "Pseudo Christmas". Now, I know most of you may have never heard of the holiday called Pseudo Christmas. Right now you are scratching your head and squinting your eyes thinking about it.....what is this Pseudo Christmas of which she speaks???? "Oh my....do I need to run out and buy another gift?????"



Rest easy.....no need to panic, no need to rush out to the nearest 99% off sale to get just the perfect gift. "Pseudo Christmas" is an exclusive holiday we've claimed for ourselves!



You see....in this wonderful thing we call life, most of us find our one. We find that one, we take our 2 lives and make them 1, we begin to live our lives as a combo rather than a single. Right? Well.....sometimes the unthinkable happens, sometimes happily ever after becomes "what the heck happened???" And unfortunately.....there's more than just the original 2 that take the fall-out......



I've married a wonderful man. A man who is like the Phoenix. You know....the beautiful bird that rises from the ashes.



My dear husband .... I met him after the fall-out. He had met his 1 and they had made 3 amazing sons. But life took it's messed up, sideways, backwards directions and he ended up a single Dad that desperately wanted to turn those ashes into beauty.





When a marriage breaks up....certain things are lost. Things change. Traditions are tainted. My sweet husband decided he would not let that destruction take over. He was going to take charge. No, things wouldn't be exactly the same. Really....can Santa visit 2 houses for the same children??? But doesn't Santa only come on Christmas Eve??? Absolutely not! Santa, you see, knows to go to Moms house. BUT "Pseudo Psanta", well, he comes to Dads house. The children know....Pseudo Psanta is really Dad. The treats left aren't cookies and milk....but pretzels and soda. Out of the destruction rises a new joy. Something new, something fun, something that is totally their own. Instead of letting the bad take over.....my Brian let the new begin.





I find it spectacularly amazing! In my humble opinion, it takes a very special person to put aside all that had to be put aside......to build something so new. Yes, to some it's simple....they dismiss it. But when you really think about it...... that Pseudo Christmas and that Pseudo Psanta.... they laugh in the face of disaster and say.... "We're not gonna take it!"





So.....those pictures were of our Pseudo Christmas. The boys stay for almost a week during the Christmas break. We laugh, we eat, we play games, we watch movies. And on Pseudo Christmas Eve we put the kids to bed early, we pull out all the presents and wrap them up with brightly colored paper and bows and we carefully arrange the gifts under the tree. Brian "booby traps" the doors to their rooms..........so when they try to sneak out to peak at the gifts we KNOW. Of course..now, we literally have to wake them up for Pseudo Christmas morning! :-)




Yes, our children are "too old" to believe in Santa.....well, except for Zachery. But thankfully, they will NEVER be too old to believe in Pseudo Psanta!!

Merry Merry Christmas

A few more pictures of Christmas celebrations......




My Dad, Wayne, and Step-Mom, Claudine

The boys on "Psuedo-Christmas" morning....
Nick, Mike, Zachery and Robbie
all having fun opening gifts






Zachery playing with his new
"computer", a gift from Nana & Grandpa.
Do ya think he'll leave our real one alone now?????





Zachery "helping" Dylan.....he couldn't get it that not every present was for him!









Merry Christmas!

This Christmas has been very full and very busy! Full of fun, full of memories and full of love! Here are a few pictures of our family celebrations.....

(bear with me as I figure out how to best post and comment on the pictures and make it all "blog-beautiful"....I'm still new at this! ;-) )






A semi-family pic....missing a brother, Bobby & a sister, Carrie....but this is Norman, Doug & Me.....GOSH....we look alike, don't we??????




Me & my Dad, Wayne.


Me with my beautiful Mom, Faye.




What a sweet picture of the boys....almost all of them!
Dylan(16), Mike(21), Nick(14), Robbie(19) and my nephew Hunter(16)