Day 3- June 2nd

Erynn and I left Holbrook, AZ on our way to the Grand Canyon - which was about a three hour drive. After being on the road just a few minutes we came across Jackrabbit, AZ. Michele C. has photos of when they went through a few years ago so I knew it what it was and so we made a quick stop.

I had to beg Erynn to get out of the car to just take a photo of me! She would not stand by it or get on it for me to take a photo of her! Party pooper!

The Grand Canyon is a sight to see. It's just breathtaking and so hard to catch the true beauty in a photo. It was a little hazy so the colors just aren't as strong in the photos as they were in real life.




The one thing that made me really nervous was there wasn't very much safety railing at all and I know that's so it doesn't mess up the view. I am really glad that Erynn is grown up enough to listen because I heard plenty of parents threatening their young ones to stay on the path. People were climbing all over the side of it! For someone that's afraid of heights it was a little nerve racking for me!

We had this squirrel come up to us on the path begging for food.

He tried like crazy to get us to feed him. He was the fatest squirrel I have ever seen!

The landscape to the Grand Canyon was real surprising for me. I figured it would be dry with brush like what we had been seeing but you go through several national forest to get there and there are pine trees everywhere. Much greenier than what we had been seeing!

We left the Grand Canyon heading to the Hoover Dam. Of what all we had seen the Hoover Dam and Lake Meade are two of my favorites of sights to see. The water at Lake Meade was a beautiful turqouise color that reminds me of the when the warm water comes into the gulf in Florida. To get to the Dam you still have to go through checkpoints since 9/11. There is a lot of construction where it looks like they are doing a new bridge.




As we were leaving the dam we drove down to Lake Meade and it's beautiful. You have the turqouise blue with the red of the rock - just beautiful!


Then Ms. Garmin led us to Treasure Island in Vegas! Wow what a town! We saw the siren show.



Oh I tried my hand at the slots while Erynn used Wifi in the room. I had a blast on the 2cent machine and had won $50 and lost it back to the casino. I walked in and played a $50 and cashed out with $50.50. 50 cent gain!LOL

2nd Day May 31,2008

< Leaving the hotel this was the view we had. I still can't get over how far you can see. On the way to 4 Corners today and Petrified National Forest.
On the way to the four corners we saw Shiprock.
I was told that I would be disappointed in the 4 Corners but honestly the drive was something to see. We went through at town called Cuba, NM that was a really cute town. We did a little shopping at 4 corners - Erynn got a anklet and I got a bracelet with the 4 corner embelm on it. They had baby bracelets made of glass beads and juniper beads that were to keep ghost/evil away from the babies.

Through the reservations it was unbelieveable the conditions they live in. Erynn and I were fascinated with the round houses - we definetely want to find out more about them. They used anything they had to make their barns, corrals. Here they live in very simple conditions but they have the most beautiful view out their back door. Makes you think about whether or not we really need all our gadgets to be happy doesn't it. Erynn said our little modest house makes us look rich to what a lot of them have. I think it was a eye opener for her too.
This is inside the petrified forest in the painted forest.
Erynn wanted this photo for her My Space page!


This is the Blue Mesa in the petrified forest.
Mule deer on the side of the road.


We took a 1 mile hike into the Blue Mesa and going down was easy but coming back up in flip flops was rough! We spent the night in Holbrook, AZ and ate at a little italian restaurant called The Mesa Italian. We drove about 650 miles and will be leaving for the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Wildlife - We have seen prairie dogs, cows, horses, some goats, lambs, mule deer and lots of crows!

Until tomorrow!

1st day of road trip

Erynn and I left the state of Arkansas at about 6 a.m. with Ms. Garmin in her womanly voice telling us to turn right and off we went!

I knew that today's travels would mostly be boring -we are both in a rush to get to the Grand Canyon and see it so we didn't sight see much through Texas or Oklahoma.

We saw all the windmill/turbin things in Oklahoma. Those things are huge and I kept trying to figure out how I could get one of those in my backyard to use for electricity!

On I40 in Texas is the huge cross you can see for miles and miles but we actually missed the exit for it.

Erynn laughed at me because I stopped and took pictures of "nothingness" in Texas. I have never seen anything like it and New Mexico is looking like Texas except more red clay.


In Amarillo we spray painted the cadillacs and then we were off to New Mexico!




We made it to Moriarty, NM and spent the night. In the morning we'll start the trip to the 4 corner states!

Strawberry Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

This recipe is out of Paula Deen's magazine and is to die for!

18.25 oz pkg strawberry cake mix
1/2 c butter, softened
4 large eggs
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
16 oz box confectioners sugar
3/4 c chopped fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan. In a separate large bowl, beat cream cheese and 3 eggs at medium speed with a electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until combined. Stir in strawberries and spoon mixture over cake mixture. Bake for 35-40 min or until center is set. Cool completely; cut into squares to serve. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and strawberries. I served with vanilla ice cream.

I made this for my Mom for Mother's Day and my Dad requested that I leave the pan at his house! It's one of the best cakes I've had in a while and that says a lot from me because I'm a chocolate-oholic and this doesn't have chocolate in it.

The other recipe I made this weekend for my scrapbooking ladies was:
Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

Butter, for greasing pan, plus 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, melted
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 egg, plus 2 eggs
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted butter, and stir until well blended. Pat mixture into prepared pan and set aside. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining 2 eggs, and the cocoa powder. Lower the speed of the mixer, and add the powdered sugar. Continue beating until ingredients are well mixed. Slowly add the remaining 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of melted butter, and the vanilla, continuing to beat the mixture until smooth. Stir in nuts with a rubber spatula. Spread filling over cake mixture in pan.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking. Let cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.

This cake was a huge hit too and only a few bites came home with me but if I had to choose between them I think I would go with the strawberry - shuuush - don't tell anyone!

How life has changed

Many of you know Daisy and this is my last photo with her. I haven't seen Daisy since January at my parent's house. They think she has babies and is taking care of them so maybe we'll meet again. In January, my Dad told me he thought she was living underneath one of their buildings toward the back of their property and so I went out at dusk time and called and called Daisy really thinking that she wouldn't come. I heard some scurrying behind me and I turned and there was Daisy running as fast as she could to me. I honestly was nervous wondering if I should put my hands down to her or not so I decided I would bend down and put my hands out and see if she would come to me. Daisy was in my arms before I could get completely down. She let me hold her in my arms and pet her belly (holding like a baby) and she gave me kisses and then she was on my shoulder and off we went to the house to get her a treat. My mom took this photo and said she wasn't sure who was smiling bigger me or Daisy. All I know is this little creature wiggled her way into my heart more so than any pet I have ever had. We have truly been blessed to share some time with her.


Graduation for my Associates happened at the end of April. It took a little over three years but I accomplished it. So I have the first summer off in three years! ROAD TRIP! Erynn and I are hitting the road at the end of May for a little bit over two weeks going everywhere out west and back. We have never done a long trip like this together before but we have the gps and are ready to roll! Check back because we are going to try to keep a running journal of our travels.

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!