TV Giveaway!

5 Minutes for Mom is Giving One of You a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!!
Yes, you read that correctly - even though I can hardly believe it myself - we are giving away an Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!! This incredible prize is valued at $799.99 and is courtesy of Best Buy.

I know! How exciting is that?!? (I just wish I could enter to win it!)

So do you want to know more about your future TV? Well, this is one fabulous prize…

The ultra slim, lightweight Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV (Model: NS-LCD37) features 1366×768 Resolution, with 16:9 widescreen ratio for cinema-quality viewing. You will be enjoying picture perfect quality from every angle and not missing any details with its built in high definition capabilities.

The TV measures 5″ deep and will look fantastic either in an entertainment center or mounted on a wall (with optional mounting kit, not included.)

Along with a ton of other features - you can read all about them over at Best Buy - this model is equipped with a V-Chip for parent control and is Energy Star compliant.

And - for extra fun - your new TV can double as a PC monitor so that you can download and watch HD movies.

Okay - so you want it of course. We all do! How can you get it? Well, as I promised, one of you is going to win it for free just be entering here!

Here is how to enter:

First - leave a comment here at this post by Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 12:00am Eastern. We will announce the winner Friday morning, August, 17th. Please only comment once - any duplicate entries will be deleted.
Second - on your blog, link to this contest so that your readers can have a chance to win too. You gotta let your readers know about this! And also please link to Best Buy to thank them for sponsoring this great contest. If you are not a blogger, no worries, you obviously can’t link. But please tell your friends about the contest. I am sure they will thank you!
This contest is open to both Canadian and US shipping addresses!!! YEAH!
GOOD LUCK!!!
(Remember someone has to win - and it might very well be YOU!)

Life in general

I am the worst for feeling guilty for making a purchase for myself. I will go out and spend $100 on a pair of running shoes for my daughter but feel guilty if I spend that much on me. What is it with us mom's? I housesit for my boss about twice a year and I usually use that money as mad money for Erynn and I to do whatever we want. This time I bought a "used" not even "new" Cricut machine for my scrapbooking hobby. For those of you that don't know what it is it's a machine that cuts out fonts (like whole words at a time) and shapes. I'm going to sell my other two sizzix fonts since I never use them to maybe buy a new font for my new machine. My new toy will be in Wednesday - oh tomorrow. I can't wait to play with it.

Erynn is leaving Sunday to spend about 11 days with her dad. She is handling it better than she usually does. They are staying in Arkansas and she still has her training for cross country and her dad will get to go to her school orientation and pick up schedules for the 8th grade. It's going to feel very weird at my house after this weekend. I'm taking Friday off to spend the day with her at my parent's pool soaking in the sun and I'm sure we'll eat lunch somewhere. Then Friday night I start my weekend crop. I have packed everything but the kitchen sink. It's going to look like I'm moving in. I can't decide what to take so I'm taking as much as I can!LOL

Please keep Erynn in your thoughts and prayers that she has a good visit with her dad and get's whatever she needs from him. She craves attention from him.

Busyness of Life

Let's see if I can catch everyone up. I purchased a new car in May. A little Honda Civic. It feels great not having to worry about break downs or how I'm going to pay for repairs since this car has warranty. It's funny the things that you worry about as a single parent and money always seems to be one of them right along with "Am I screwing up my child?". I always tease Erynn that I can just see her in her 20's laying on the psychologist's couch saying, "It all started when my mom....". She laughs and tells me she knows I'm doing the best I can.

We still have Daisy. Daisy is still such a joy in our lives. She is spending the days outside in our back yard. She has a dog crate that she hides in under the breezeway or she hides under the lawn mower. She is still just as sweet and gentle as she can be. I'm wondering if this will change. I can't keep her fastened up - it just seems so inhumane. I tell Erynn that there is a big chance she will get ran over but I figure in the wild she has just as big of a chance of that happening too. In the evening she comes inside and puts herself in puppy's dog crate for the night. We let her wonder around the house some when we are home. She love's puppy's bed in the living room and playing with the dog toys. So far she hasn't climbed any furniture yet.

I have been painting again!LOL. Here are pictures of my kitchen and living room that I have been busy painting the last two weeks. I am so glad to have them done. I was starting to get worried about how dark the paint was but it really makes the house seem warm and inviting. I actually spent time in my living room which I never do. I still am in "awe" over it. I can't believe it's my house.

Erynn and I picked out paint for the scrapbook room. Two shades of pink but this will not happen until Christmas break. I was going to do a chair rail but Dad and I were talking about it and we decided to do stripes. He got so excited and wanted to start measuring walls and figuring it out. I had to remind him I wasn't going to do it tell Christmas break!LOL Evidently he's always wanted to do stripes. The scrapbook room will be the last room that needs to be painted decorated other than pictures to put on the walls in my bedroom and the canvas Erynn and I want to do for the living room.


This is one of the chalkboards that I sprayed onto my door in the kitchen. I have two doors (one for the laundry room and one for the pantry)and I decided to make chalkboards on them. I bought the chef stamp from Stampin up and used staz on white ink to stamp him on the spray on chalkboard. Then I painted him in with acrylic paints and stamped "Menu" on one and "list" on the other one. I have wood trim that I need to primer and paint the same color as my trim work. I'll liquid nail that up with some hot glue to hold it in place until it dries since the doors are hollow wood doors. ***Hint*** If you use this spray on chalkboard be sure to tape - I mean tape all the papers around the place you are going to spray it at. Tape, tape and tape. The overspray has a way to sneak in everywhere. The first door I did I ended up having to sand around the chalkboard and repaint the door! YUCK! The second one was fine since I taped, taped, and double taped paper around where I was going to spray.

Daisy the raccoon

At the end of March, our local animal shelter had baby raccoons that they needed foster parents for to bottlefeed to be released back into the wild. So I come home carting this little female raccoon that we named Daisy. Of course since she is a baby the first night all she did was cry every time I tried to hold her - as babies normally do when I try to hold them. My daughter was just in awe of her as I was. Do you know that baby raccoon are not born with their mask or the stripes on their tails? That's how you can tell how old they are. Daisy's ears were just starting to open when we got her.

Oh the noises that a raccoon makes. Daisy can purr like a cat when she is happy. She tells you about it when she's upset, a little squeal noise. She also chatters when she's excited. My mom has her brother and they at first would chatter back and forth with each other but they have been separated enough now that they are not sure of each other.

Erynn the other day put just a little bit of warm water in the bathtub for daisy to play in. She gave her a little cat ball and Daisy would go get it and then bring it to the side of the tub for Erynn. It was too funny. Daisy chattered the whole time.

We have been keeping her in my daughter's bathroom in a dog crate. Erynn made her a long box out of small boxes taped together and Daisy loves to hide in there. It's funny in the morning to walk in there because we always call her name "Daisy", "Daisy" and when she sees that bottle she comes barrelling out. After Daisy finishes her bottle she has to give you lovings. She puts her little feet on your face like she is holding your face and then washes you like a cat washes. Lately she has been getting upset with us when we go to put her up.

Have I told you how soft her little feet are? They are like the finest leather. She loves for me to rub them for her. She has 5 little fingers that are jointed. Her little feet are so amazing!

Now, every time I see a raccoon hit on the road I think that could be Daisy some day. It's a very neat time but a very sad time for us because I know she is wild and we will have to let her go.

2 things my mom always told me to do

Dixie on SBA is really challenging us to blog this week. I have just had my head stuck in World Civilization up to the 1600's this past eight weeks. So it's good to finally think of something else.

When I started junior high my mom always told me to take as many business courses as I could. She said the more I learned the more I would be worth to a business. I took all the typing and business classes I could when I was in junior high and high school. I worked my senior year with a local attorney's office part time while going to school through a work program.

After I got married my mom also told me to always work so that no matter what I would be able to take care of myself. I have basically never not worked. I think the longest I have gone without a job is two weeks since I was eighteen. My ex husband was military and we moved about every three years. I always had a job within two weeks of us moving. I am the type of person that I don't know what to do if I'm not working. I end up cleaning baseboards, etc. I need other human interaction.

I am so thankful for my mother's wisdom. So many women find themselves in the divorce world with several children and no work skills and well it's scary enough being out there with work skills. I am also thankful for my parent's help and encouragement while I go back to college. I started college at the age of 34 with just one class a term at night. I now have 7 classes left to finish my associates in liberal arts so that I can transfer it to one of our 4 yr colleges for Business Management/Accounting degree.

I really want to be a nurse but currently that will have to wait. My daughter is a teenager and well she needs me right now during these tough teenage years. I always tell her that when she starts college I'll start nursing school.

I love to learn new things and the challenge of learning them. I just have to learn not to beat myself up so much over a "B" because 20 yrs from now nobody is going to know whether or not I made straight "A's".

2 Very embarrassing moments in my life....

Hoppy from SBA is trying to get us all the update our blogs. I just haven't been very organized lately and well it's about it drive me crazy. I just can't seem to catch up. I finish both classes tonight and then I have a 1 1/2 weeks off before they start again. Do you think I will get anything done during that week - no I will probably be a slug until right toward the end and try to kill myself to get everything done and then I'll be tired again. LOL Story of my life!

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life has to been when I was about 20. I had a dress on and was in a dress shop to go tan. When I came out of the tanning bed my full skirt was stuck in the back of my panty house and luckily the lady told me. There was a man in there waiting to tan and I'm sure he saw my underwear!LOL Thankfully this was way before the time of butt floss and when I was much younger!

The second one has to deal with a dress again and my darling daughter. I had on this long blue jean dress with a full skirt on and I was waiting in line at Best Buy to have my computer repaired. At the time Erynn was probably around the age of 3 and she was twirling around my legs while I was in line. I had a whole line of people behind me and suddenly I feel air and then my skirt goes back down. My darling daughter had just flashed everyone behind me with a view of my butt. I never turned around I just picked her up and held her the rest of the time. Talk about mortified!LOL

Oh I forgot about the start of my bad luck with dresses. It started when I was in kindergarten wearing a dress my mom had made for me. It was pink and I loved the material. It was so cute. The dress had a high waist on it. At recess I sat down on the swing to swing and the whole front part of the wasit came undone. The teacher on duty sent me to the office and they pinned my dress back together again. My mom never made me another piece of clothing after that!LOL

So see this is why I never wear full skirts or dresses anymore. Way too many embarrassing things happen to me in a dress.

Hello my name is Angie

Yes I know I haven't been around much lately. Life has kind of gotten in the way or I've let it get in the way. I'm struggling along with two classes this 8 weeks and they are both very boring and I'm not liking them very much. Honestly, I'm questioning why I'm going to college and if it's really going to make that much difference in my life. Will the pay really be better, or will it just add more stress to my life? Normally more money means more responsibility and more hours and well I don't know that I can take much more of that!LOL

I'm on the change of lifestyle wagon again. I need to loose 20 pounds that I have gained as my protector from getting out in the dating world. Not that the 20 pounds have really helped keep me out of trouble. So this week thanks to Janice we are adding water to my life. My goal is to drink three or more glasses of water a day. I'm a diet dr pepper kind of girl - that's all I drink so plain no bubbly water is a challenge for me but so far I've done it. I'm tired of the yoyo of loosing weight and putting on more. I'm still below my highest weight by 30 lbs but well honestly it wouldn't take much before I would be there. Most of you would look at me and say I do not need to loose weight but I do. The junk is crammed into the trunk of my pants that nobody can see until I take them off. I will never be a 2 again or even a 4. I would love to be a 6 again but honestly right now I would settle for a 8 and it not be too tight. Valerie Bertinelli has joined Jenny Craig and she has a wonderful blog that I encourage anyone that's on this battle to check out for some inspiration.

My daughter will be pledged into the National Honor's Society this weekend at her school. She is very excited about this and I'm very proud of her for this accomplishment. I'm sure this means shopping for a new outfit this weekend!LOL But she deserves it!

I haven't been cooking lately so I don't have any recipes to share right now. I haven't been in a cooking mood lately. Hopefully that will change soon.

Hope everyone is doing well in blogland and I hope to catch up to you all soon!

Wow - a whole month!

Where does the time go? I can't believe that a month has went by already. Things have been hectic but fun. I signed up for two college classes this term with one of them being online. Boy, oh boy is it crazy at my house right now. Erynn is doing track but not real excited about it. She is sort of upset with herself because she didn't try out for cheerleading and a lot of her friends did.

I as usual haven't sat still for very long. I still need to seal my cabinets in the kitchen that I did last month. I've been out working in my flowerbed and enjoying the sunshine. I have my spot for my vegetable garden all cleaned up and I have planted some loose leaf lettuce in there and I have several peat pots in the house with seeds in them. I'm going to try squash, spinach, basil, and some herb plants along with some tomato plants. So we shall see if I kill them or not. No painting lately. I have plans for the living room/kitchen area with a bankok red but it will probably be a winter project. I'm starting to settle down in the house stuff. I only have the scrapbook room and the living room/kitchen area left to paint and well it can wait. Right now with the sun shining I want to be outside in my flower beds and yard playing around.

Michele and I are going to a weekend crop this weekend. Our first weekend without kids in forever. We are like two teenagers sneaking out for a weekend without our parents. It's Michele's first big crop and my first one that I spend the night at. We have been planning and packing all week.

I've joined the dating world again. Someone that I have met in my college classes and I've had several classes with. We are having a great time getting to know each other and well it's nice to smile again and to have someone to share things with.

Hope everyone out there in blogger world is good. I'll try to be better about updating. I had some computer issues that have finally been fixed so I won't have that excuse anymore! I'll try to post some layouts next week from this weekend!

I've been ill but busy!

This was my kitchen cabinets before Saturday evening. In the picture they look nice and white but when the people flipped the house they did a really bad job of painting the cabinets with runs and everything in them and really cheap hardware.


I bought my antique glaze at Lowe's with the rags and gloves -spent about $30. I bought new hardware pulls at ebay for $20. Now I need to put some type of protectant over them. I'll be making a trip back to Lowe's this weekend - not sure that I will do it this weekend though. I had just planned on doing one cabinet to just see and before I knew it I had all the bottom one's done and got up on Sunday and finished the top ones. So it went very fast - messy but fast. When I should have been taking it easy. I woke up Saturday dragging and by Sunday evening had a full blown cold. Now I honestly feel like I have had the flu - I ache and just feel bad all over. I stayed home Tuesday and today but I have to go in tomorrow and Friday for the end of the period at work.

Hope everyone out in blog land is doing well. I'll do better next week in posting I promise!

Monday Menu, February 12, 2007

This weekend was a nice, quiet weekend. I honestly didn't do a lot. I had plenty to do but well we just sat around and watched tv. I took Erynn shopping Saturday morning and she got a few new clothes. Gosh, as they grow it's hard to keep them in clothes! When they are little we want them to grow and then when they start growing we don't want them to anymore.

Sunday: Ate corned beef sandwiches at my mom's

Monday: Cheese tortinelli - didn't eat last week

Tuesday: Class

Wednesday: Church dinner

Thursday: Class

Friday: Mini meatball soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, sour cream pound cake -
I'm scrapbooking with my cousin Martha and her daughter Jennifer. Can't wait to see
them!

Saturday: Dad's b-day - making him a hummingbird cake

Hope that everyone has a great week! Check out Laura's blog for more menus!

Monday Menu Plan February 5, 2007

Well, this past weekend was very busy at my house. My 13 yr old went to her first formal dance. All day on Saturday she was a nervous wreck. She was worried her dress wasn't dressy enough (this coming from my sports playing tomboy), to someone having the same dress as her. I really don't think she ate much at all - I finally enticed her with her favorite taco bell and got her to eat a late lunch after getting her hair put up. Let me show you some pics:

Ok, now after seeing those pics can you see why I'm so sad. This is my only baby and where did she go and who is this teenager that has replaced my tomboy. Someone suggested I get a shotgun. I brought the photos to work this morning and shared them with my coworkers and they were just as shocked as I was. It just seems like this has happened over night.

Saturday morning we woke up to this:

Can you see the forks too? It was too funny. The girl next door and a friend of theirs did this. Erynn was so excited - I guess it's a "Right of Passage". I'm just thankful there wasn't a lot to pick up.

So finally here is my menu for the week:

Sunday: I had left over potato soup before I went to the Superbowl party and pigged out.

Monday: Stromboli - I'm just making one of those package pizza crust and putting sausage, cheese and pepperoni on the inside and baking it and then dipping in spaghetti sauce.

Tuesday: Class

Wednesday: Cheese tortolini (sp?) with alfredo sauce and veggies

Thursday: Class

Friday: Meatloaf

Saturday: Bowling alley with the Single's group from church

OH, I watched some of Paula Dean on FoodNetwork yesterday and I'm telling you I think I gained 10 lbs just watching. I printed out a ton of recipes and I'll let you know as I try them.

I hope everyone has a great week and be sure to check out Laura's blog for more menus!

My favorite afghan to make

This is my very favorite afghan to crochet. You use a 8H afghan hook - it's a long hook and you crochet it in strips. It works really fast. I have made about three of these so far. They are very heavy and very warm because of the single crochet. My favorite yarn to use is Caron Simply Soft but when I can't purchase it on sale I will then purchase Red Heart. I can't figure out how to attach the instructions so if you would like a copy email me and I'd be happy to send them to you.

Happy Crocheting!

January 29, 2007 Monday Menu

Well, this weekend was a quiet one for us and I really needed it to be. I spent Friday evening with my friend Michele and her three boys. We made fried rice and had spring rolls - YUMMY! Then Parker (Michele's youngest boy - he's 5) gave me a sack of pecans that he's been picking up and asked me to make him a pecan pie!LOL These are the little bitty pecans and it may be easier to purchase pecans to make him a pecan pie! He associates me with Chocolate and if I don't bring chocolate he thinks I don't love him anymore! He is a cutie! I'm doing very simple meals the next few weeks.

Sunday: Pork tenderloin cooked in crockpot with dry lipton herb soup mix, roasted potatoes, garlic biscuits

Monday: Chicken with garlic parmesan noodles and green beans

Tuesday: Class

Wednesday: Meal at the church

Thursday: Class

Friday: Homemade pizzas

Saturday: Erynn's first formal dance!!!!

I have been awful about not posting photos lately and I promise to get better about it. I have lost 3 lbs since starting WW 2 weeks ago. Last week was completely blown because of conferences we had a work and all the junk food laying around from my favorite bakery. So today is a fresh start on a new week. I quit going to the weigh ins because honestly - I can weigh myself in and pay myself the $10 since I can't ever make the meetings. Hope everyone has a great week and be sure to check out Laura's blog for more menus.

Monday Menu January 22, 2007

Well, this week certainly looks like it's going to be a easy cooking week for me. With class two nights a week and then church - it's only a few day!LOL

Sunday: Autumn Chowder (my daughter's favorite) with cracker bread

Monday: Poll Fajitas new recipe I found on someone's blog and thought I'd try it

Tuesday: Class - dd will eat leftovers before going to mom's

Wednesday: Church

Thursday: Class

Friday: Chicken Parmesan Strips with Roasted potatoes and salad - I think I have had this on the menu several times but I promise I'm going to make it this week!LOL

Saturday: Homemade pizzas

I made the hummingbird cake yesterday and it was so yummy. I had a small slice and then brought the rest of the cake to work today. They are really enjoying it. This is my second week of WW and I think I blew it this week. I wasn't as well with my water as I had been. I'll see tonight when I go weigh.

I made me a household notebook from organizedhome.com and I am really loving it. I have sections for emergency #'s, then address/phone book, menu's/takeouts with phone #'s to local restaurants - the menus are put in page protectors instead of digging through a drawer trying to find them, shopping list/menu - in here I have a menu for the current month and the next month so I can jot down ideas as they come to me - organizedhome also has a recipes to try list that I have been writing recipes on and putting the recipe behind it in the page protector, then lastly bills. I have my monthly list of bills and then a page protector to put the bills in as they come in. So everything is in one binder and if I need it I can carry it with me. It's great. I normally keep it in a drawer at home and my daughter knows where it's at too incase she needs it.

Hope everyone has a great week. Be sure to check out Laura's blog for more menus!

January 16, 2007

Well, I didn't get my menu posted for this week yesterday.

Monday: Tacos with salad

Tuesday: Class night

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan strips, green beans, roasted potatoes

Thursday: Class night

Friday: Homemade pizzas - I did these last week with individual biscuits that I rolled out. Erynn loved it.

Saturday: Spaghetti

Sunday: Autumn Chowder

Hummingbird Cake

I honestly didn't do much this weekend. I actually scrapbooked some this weekend and got about 4 pages done.

I weighed in with WW yesterday and I lost 2 1/2 lbs. How I'm really not sure - I've tried to be good but well it's hard. I haven't started the exercising yet and I talked to our WW leader and she suggested that I just focus on the food for another week or two and then add in the exercise. A lot of it is portion sizes and well the vending machine at work. When I walk by that machine it calls my name. This past weekend I fixed some brownies and I just had little (i mean little squares). With me usually I just want a bite and just eat the rest just because it's in front of me. I thought I'd make the hummingbird cake and then take the rest to work on Monday. That way - I got a little treat but don't over do it.

Hope everyone has a great week!

A full week of work....

uGGGGGGh. I tell you after being off 11 days with the holidays and now finally working a full week of work and starting my class this week - I'm tired. So tired. I have a ton of laundry, a dirty house (not really but I feel like it's dirty because I haven't mopped or dusted this week) and a craft room that is calling my name.

I started on Weight Watchers this week. I have a good 20 pounds to loose. Looking at me you would have no idea that I need to loose that but when the jeans come off the junk starts falling out of the trunk. I'm just carrying too much weight, my knees are sore and I can see it in my face and arms, too. It's been tough. I've tried not to feel guilty for going over in points each night but I have. I keep telling myself little changes and I'll get there but I feel like I'm starving and I'm really not. I haven't got the exercise going yet - one change at a time - let me get the food under control and then I'll start it - I promise! Have you ever notice that certain foods trigger you to eat more - mine is mexican food. I love mexican food but I know if I eat it and even just a little bit it throws me off plan for days! Did I say I love mexican food?!! The little lady at El Canaverals will be asking where I have been.

I got the hardware for my kitchen cabinets in the mail on Monday and I'm anxious to get started but I'm tired and I think it can wait a week or two or maybe three. I'm awful about wanting to get things done and like my neighbor said this summer, "you aren't moving anytime soon are you?" He also asked for a list of things I planned to do to the yard so he was prepared and knew how much it was going to cost him too!LOL I have done a lot with my parents and friend Michele's help since moving in the last of April 06. My parents came over within a month of me moving in and dug a flowerbed the whole length of the house in the front for me. Then they put in a little garden for me out back (it was late summer by this time so other than my herbs there is weeds again and needs to be dug back out - on my list to do). Michele and I painted my daughter's room three shades of lavendar when she was gone to Germany in July and I painted her bathroom a bright fun orangy color that matched her shower curtain. I then painted my bedroom/bathroom. So the only rooms left is the living/kitchen that are opened to each other and my scrapbook room. All the flooring is new throughout the house. It's hard to believe that in April I will be there a full year! Where does the time go?

So, I'm tired and I think I will piddle around in my scrapbook room and maybe take a nap or two if my World Lit II instructor doesn't give us a ton of work to do.

Monday Menu January 8, 2007

Well, it's another week of the new year. Today I start Weight Watchers. YUCK! I know I have to get in the right frame of mind - it should be a change in lifestyle not a diet. I'm really trying to get there. I have about 20 pounds that have snuck up on me somewhere.


This weekend I cooked for my parents. I cooked the sausage and three cheese mac and cheese from Rachel Ray's show. The recipe link is in last week's menu. I also made a tuscan salad and a lemon yogurt cake. On the tuscan salad it asked for cannellini beans and I couldn't find those so I used chick peas. Both of these recipes call for lemon juice and they really suggested using fresh. I have always used the bottled juice but this time I squeezed fresh and oh my goodness. My mom, dad and I ate like little piggies. The mac and cheese makes a ton - I bet it could serve 8 to 10 people so be sure to half the recipe if you need to.


I painted this weekend again! I painted my bathroom the color that was behind my bed in my bedroom. It's called aged copper - I believe. It really made a difference in the room. Now I just need some rugs and and few chocolate towels and that one will be finished.

This is before
This is after!



The kitchen is my next project. I purchased black swedish iron twisted pulls from ebay for 60 cents each. I'm so proud of that purchase. I am going to glaze these with a mocha stain so it will antique them a little bit. I will have to paint the hinges black since they are painted silver right now. When I purchased the house they had painted the cabinets white but the pulls are cheap plastic covered where they peel the silver off. I think this project won't get started for a few weeks. I'm hoping for a quiet weekend this weekend.

Ok here's the menu:

Monday: dry smoked ribs and a large salad - my dad is cooking these for us

Tuesday: Class

Wednesday: Chili dog, salad - not sure how much of the chili dog I will be able to eat - check pts

Thursday: Class

Friday: Tacos or taco salad for me

Saturday: not sure yet

Pretty boring week here. Just trying to get back in the groove of eating right with WW. Hope everyone has a great week. Be sure to check out Laura's blog for more menus.

Making friends in unexpected places...

Right before Christmas, I was getting ready for a cookie exchange at my church. I have been going to this church off and on for the last couple of years and have finally joined the singles group and going regularly. Well on this particular morning, I just didn't really want to go. I wasn't sure there would be anyone there that I knew and thought I might be bored.

I got there a little bit early and helped finish setting up room that the exchange was going to be in. I met on lady who is about my age and she was to be baptised the following morning. She was telling me that at first she was having problems with it because of her age and that she felt she should have done it when she was younger - she was embarrassed. I told her that I was proud of her - because it was something that I needed to do too and she was talking to others out there in the church that needed to take the step too. My daughter and I have both accepted God as our Saviour but have never taken the step to be baptised. I know that Erynn is very nervous about taking that step and I have told her I will wait for her so we can do it together but I feel the need to take that next step but I don't want to pressure her about it.

Anyway, next I met the neatest person, Linda. Linda is from the area that I grew up in. She is a few years older than me but we just clicked. She is a missionary with her husband and four children in Central Asia. Every three years they come to the states and spend time before they go back. She had such neat things to tell about the culture of the area they had been staying in and the people. Linda is one of those people that when she speaks God speaks to you. You could just sit and listen for hours and I did and was just in awe of her and the wonderful work they do for God in Central Asia.

What brought this up is I sent them a email because they went back right after Christmas. Linda said that it always weighs heavy on her heart until they leave but she knows that this is what they are called to do. Isn't it funny to know that others have that problem too - don't want to but know they are to do God's work. She and her family have made me think of things differently. At Christmas, when I wanted to make a purchase at the spur of the moment - you know not really needed but wanted - I thought - here is Linda and her family and they do without so much more than we do and they are fine - do I really need this? All the material things that we think we need and we really don't need. I have received several emails back from Linda and again she is just an awesome person that I can learn so much from and am very excited to have this special friendship with her.

So on that day that I really didn't want to go - two amazing things happened. A woman talked to me about being baptised at an older age (which spoke to me) and Linda, a very special person that has a lot to teach me about faith. Could you say an extra prayer or two for Linda and her family trying to adjust back to a completely different culture and for God to watch over them and keep them safe while they speak the word of God to the Muslims and try to convert them.

Chicken Adobo and Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle Recipes

4 chicken breast boneless
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 bay leaf, whole
2 cups water
1 large onion

1. Put chicken into a kettle and add salt, garlic, black pepper,
bay leaves, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and water.
Place a sliced onion in bottom of pan and then put chicken
on top of it.
Cover and let simmer until chicken is tender and brown.
2. Serve over hot or cold rice.

Our neighbor shared this recipe with us. We had it tonight and it was delicious. Even my picky eater daughter ate it.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle


2 packages gingerbread mix 14oz pkgs each
5 ounces cook and serve vanilla pudding mix *
30 ounces pumpkin pie filling *
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
12 ounces whip topping mix
1/2 cup gingersnaps, crushed

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool.
Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble
1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl.
Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of
cool whip. Repeat with the remaining ingredients ending with the cool
whip on top. Sprinkle the top with crushed gingersnaps. Refrigerate.

*This had a strong pumpkin taste - so if you like pumpkin pie you should really love this. I think that when I make it I'm going to use the pumpkin pudding mix if they have it out again and not as much of the pumpkin pie filling.

Reflections on last year

It's so hard to believe that a year has went by. Where does the time fly? I'm in such a better place this year than I was last year. Last year I was in a very unhappy, unhealthy marriage. The end of February of last year would have been a year of this marriage. I remember being scared of what I was going to do, hoping he would realize what he was doing, and hating that I had my daughter and myself in this mess. As parents, we try to do what's best for our children and well, I thought this marriage would do that for my daughter. It got us in a nice, big house and my daughter in a great school district but these were not the right reasons for getting married. I loved him but well love isn't always the best. I had separated myself for God and church. When I was going through my thyroid cancer, I lost my faith. I was mad at God for my divorce from my daughter's dad, being 30 and being divorced, and then adding cancer to the mix. I was so scared and so mad and well it took me several years to realize he was right there with me but I chose to ignore him. When I was writing a paper for my freshman english class, I wrote it why I do the "Race for the Cure" each year and it was my cancer story. As I was writing it, well I cried the whole time that I wrote the paper. Reading back over it, I saw the times when God was right there with me. He sent my dad to the hospital with a "Leroy's" hamburger and french fries (when you get ready for a radioactive iodine treatment you have to eat a very special diet - you feel like you are starving and then when you get to the hospital for the treatment you can eat whatever you want). God also sent a wonderful nurse in that night to check on me (with the radioactive iodine treatment you are put in isolation until your counts are down to a safe level - Arkansas now lets you do these treatments in your home but several years ago you had to go to the hospital and have everything in your room covered in plastic and the nurses usually treat you like you had the plaque) - which I was so thankful because the hamburger made me so sick or the iodine treatment did. It's amazing that when we are so low, and God is always there whether we realize it or not.

In April, I purchased my first home by myself. Erynn and I were so excited. I had a cedar chest, kitchen items, enough Christmas decorations to decorate three houses, a bed and two night stands and our clothing. It was a very scary time again. We started going back to church and in July I started going to Sunday School classes again. I'm getting there. We are all tested at times with our religion. We just have to find our way back.

So, I have almost went a whole year of making house payments and all the utilities that go with it. I know that I am truly blessed because not all single mom's are able to do this and I'm truly blessed to have the parents that I do.

Today, being the first day of a new year - you never know what the year will bring but I hope it's half as good as last year - even with all the turmoil - it was a very blessed year.

Wishing all of you a very prosperous, happy new year.

Monday Menu January 1, 2007

Sunday: We had appetizers at a friend's house.

Monday: Recovering from Sunday - I did eat some black eyed peas, and Erynn had some soup.

Tuesday: I have stamp club so I'll grab something on the way

Wednesday: Chicken Adobo - new recipe - if it's good I'll post it next week.

Thursday: Chili Dog, french fries and salad

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Sausage and 3 cheese Mac n cheese with a big salad

Well our Weight Watchers wasn't open today so I'll have to wait until next Monday to go to my local meeting but I'm going to start watching those points. I got on the scale last night and it was a shocker! Exercise and eating right here I come.

Check Laura's blog for more menus!