Monday, January 31, 2011

Delicious Banana Bread

This picture made me think of meatloaf, ewww, so I guess it's obvious I'm not a good picture taker, LOL! I've had this recipe saved in my inbox since 2002! So for 9 years now I've saved this and it's finally printed out in my recipe box! I've made this several times and it's one of my most favorite banana bread to make. It just requires more ingredients due to the topping, but it's well worth it!!

My very good friend took my kids to school and picked them up today for me (didn't have a car), I was getting ready to make the kids banana muffins and I thought I should do something nice for my friend, so I thought BANANA BREAD, YUMMMM!!! So she got a loaf and we did too, we both win :-)

I really hope you give this bread a try, it's so delicious!

nlb's Indescribably Delicious Banana Bread

Batter:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 very ripe bananas, mashed * or 1 3/4 c
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons buttermilk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Topping, put on after baking:

6 tablespoons butter
10 tablespoons dark brown sugar
5 tablespoons milk
1 cup or more, chopped pecans (walnuts work
well too)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar. Mash bananas, beat eggs and add to the bananas with vanilla and buttermilk; mix well and add to creamed butter and sugar.
Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add to banana mixture, beat well. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until bread pulls away from sides of pan. Cool. (Note: start checking with toothpick after 35 minutes -- you don't want the bread to overbake.)

To prepare topping: Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar and milk. Cook until very syrupy.
Remove from heat and add chopped pecans. Pour over bread spreading to all the corners
and place under broiler until bubbly and brown. Watch closely.

Yield: 2 loaves.....makes good muffins too!!!

Italian Cheese Breadsticks

These are sinfully delicious! I created these trying to mimic Little Caesar's Cheesy Bread (I think that's what it's called, I've always called them breadsticks!)

Ingredients:
-1 Pizza Crust
-Mozzarella Cheese, 1 lb.
-1/4 cup butter, melted
-2 to 3 tsp garlic powder (depends on how much you like garlic)
-Italian Seasoning
-Parmesan Cheese

-Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
-Take your regular homemade pizza crust (or store bought, whatever you have on hand) and roll it out like you're making a pizza. Fork holes in it and bake for around 6 minutes. Take out and cover with mozzarella cheese, bake till golden brown. After it bakes, coat with butter and garlic mixture (mix this together before putting on breadsticks) sprinkle Italian seasoning and Parmesan on top. MMMM, these are SO addictive!

I haven't made these since last July! I hope you all enjoy them :)



Vicky

Hit the Floor Running...

A week ago we were in Wal-mart and an old lady noticed I had 4 boys, she made the comment I bet you hit the floor running when you get up. This comment made me laugh. I do hit the floor running, to the kitchen that is, LOL! I am honestly afraid of having teenage boys, afraid of how much they will eat when they eat so much now! I guess by then I'll just be quadrupling recipes to get everyone full, LOL!

I still chuckle at the thought of people actually thinking stay at home Mom's do nothing all day long. If you have kids, you're working! There's always snacks that need fixed, or meals to be prepared, laundry, cleaning, not to mention referring fights! If you're like me, then there's always plenty of messes to clean up and I don't even want to get off the subject of the bathroom and all the misses around the toilet! YUCK!

When I don't have anymore little ones at home, I won't know what to do with myself. Oh wait, I just remembered, I'll be cooking for an army, LOL!

Well I better get off here, there's laundry to do, bathroom mistakes to clean (that not one of the kids ever do???) and I need to fix some muffins, hopefully they'll make it through to have for breakfast in the morning :-)

Vicky

Friday, January 28, 2011

Something new...

Yesterday I took my 7 yr old (will be 8 in April) to the dentist to get a tiny cavity between his teeth filled. It showed up on the X-ray. He's the very first of the boys to have a cavity. I knew this day would eventually come, although I prayed it wouldn't. I still can't help but to feel like I didn't do enough to prevent this. I kept thinking what if I didn't fix sweets at all, but sadly life doesn't work that way, at least I'm not going to live my life or punish my kids like that. In fact his 2 brothers (not the baby) eat twice the sweets he does, out of all the kids he's the one that doesn't like icing and prefers his hot cocoa with hardly any chocolate in it! He is the one that loves water and it's his drink of choice 99 % of the time. He's just not that big of a sweet eater, he loves "real food". So I guess it was all the times he went to bed and I found his toothbrush sitting on the bathroom counter untouched (sometimes I make out their toothbrushes for them with the toothpaste). This happened more than once and now he had to pay for it.

So I took him to the Dentist, he was as brave as could be. The dentist didn't use any type of medicine on him, no numbing agent, no nothing! I thought I would freak out and kept watching Nicholas for any signs of distress, LOL! When the dentist wasn't in his mouth, he would look over at me and smile that Million Dollar smile and I knew he wasn't in a lot of pain, which certainly eased my mind! The dentist said it was small enough that it wouldn't hurt him and he was right.

His brothers were waiting with their Daddy when we got home, eager to hear all the painful, gruesome details. They got nothing exciting, only to hear that it didn't hurt at all. So all the years that they heard their Mommy and Daddy tell them how bad cavities hurt and how the drill would hurt was trumped by the actual experience! I'm not ashamed to use fear tactics when it comes to kids and brushing habits, LOL!

I think this experience will be a reminder to all the other 2 kids to keep brushing away and it will certainly be a reminder for me to visible see Nicholas brush every day :)

Vicky

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Quick and Easy Snack

I found this on the internet last week and fixed it that night, now I can't find the website I got it from. Oh well, good thing it was easy to remember so I can share it here :-)

Ingredients:
-2 Flour Tortilla shells
-1 Banana, sliced
-Handful of Chocolate Chips
-Powdered Sugar for dusting on top
-2 Tbls butter

*Melt butter in skillet, put 1 tortilla shell (that already has sliced bananas on it) add chocolate chips, cover with other tortilla shell. Cook a couple of minutes, then flip. Cook on other side till golden brown and inside is warm and melted. Be careful flipping! Slice like a pizza and enjoy!



Friday, January 21, 2011

Giveaway: Plastic Bag Holders

I've always loved to re-use all those plastic shopping bags and now you can have a cute, stylish holder of your very own! The winner will get to choose one from the picture above. They measure approximately 17" long, the one with the chicken/rooster is shorter due to the fabric (15"). They are cotton fabric and washable. I went to make a blue one and realized that I didn't have enough blue fabric left, so sorry if you wanted a blue one! All of these were made by moi (why does that always make me think of Miss Piggy saying Moi? LOL!)


For one lucky reader, you will win one of these cute holders!
If you are interested, please follow the contest rules. Good Luck!

*Contest ends on January 31st, 2011.

*US only please

*To Enter contest you MUST be a follower of this blog.

*Please leave all extra entries in separate comments to let me know.

*Winners will be notified by e-mail.

*Email Address must be visible in comment so that I can contact you.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+1 for following me on Twitter here

+1 for following me on Facebook here

+5 for following my friend's blog Mom's Magical Apron here

+10 for sharing this contest on any social site and leaving the link in your comment

+50 for subscribing to this blog via email.

Good luck!

Vicky

here's the one I have in my kitchen, you can hang them anywhere!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Battle of the Bulge Continues...




Fighting with your weight is a battle, a long, enduring battle indeed! For all of the skinny people still left reading this far, you may now close out and roll your eyes and go eat you a donut, LOL! For the dieting people, please forget I said the word donut :-) How many times have you heard the term the battle of the bulge? It really is! You have to constantly monitor what goes in your mouth and how much you consume. Sure you could say I should've never let myself get this big, but it sneaks up on you and then suddenly you realize you are as big as Shamu and have more chins then a Chinese phone book! So in comes damage control and portion control.

Today would've been my last Weight Watcher's meeting. It will be cancelled due to all the snow. I have cancelled to save money. I'm still going to do the program at home, but with a twist. Every week I'm going to weigh myself on Thursday, if I lose, I will put a $10 bill in a clear jar, to motivate me :) If I lose, then well, it will stay in our bank account! I'm using all the money saved to do something special during spring break. WW's cost $10 a week, so that is why I chose the same amount of money.

I'm telling you all this to be another form of accountability for me. So feel free to ask me how I'm doing and hopefully I'll be posting some great updates about my weight loss periodically :-)

Vicky

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

How I save hundreds of dollars every month and get stuff for free , TRUE story!

This isn't some scam of any sort, but my true example of how I manage to save literally hundreds of dollars each month and get stuff for free! I wish I would've been taught this while I was growing up, that way it could've saved me (us) a lot of headache and a ton of money! But it's hard to teach youngsters and I probably wouldn't have listened and applied it anyways :) So if you're wondering how this can be done, then read on...

It all started 2 years ago this month. I was pregnant with baby #4 and my dh (stands for dear husband) signed us up for a trial membership to http://www.thegrocerygame.com at that time it was $1 for 4 weeks, now it is completely free for the trial month. I can't tell you how many times I heard about this, shoot I even had it written down in my organizer as a website to look at! Talk about procrastination! Anyway, he read about it from some money site, not sure if it was from Dave Ramsey, or another site he likes, but either way, he talked to me about it and signed us up.

I have to admit I was very leary at first, I mean how could I possibly save more by buying all name brands even with a coupon and going to Kroger of all places! I was super loyal to Wal-mart and thought they had the cheapest prices in town, I was sorely mistaken!

I'll tell you up front, YES you do have to use the dreaded "c" word, Coupons. Not sure why there's such a bad rap for coupons. Sure it does take some extra time to clip them, but look what you're saving, much needed money!

Basically the grocery game is a website that gives you a "list" based on what stores you choose in your area. They do all the hard work for you, they take the weekly sales ad and match it up with the coupons and rate it, color wise, Green items are totally FREE, Blue items are the rock bottom price and that means stock up on it, Black means things are on sale, buy if you need it. A ton of things are listed that do not require a coupon, but it means that the computer has notified her that the item is the lowest of the year, sales usually happen on a cycle, take notice.

You may think, why bother clipping coupons, or coupons are too much work for me, or I can get generic brand items cheaper. Well let me tell you, I was a big skeptic before, but now I'm a true believer and a couponer at heart!! I can get name brand things on sale with a coupon a lot cheaper than regular store brand stuff! I'm a name brand kind of gal, had too many experiences with crappy off brands, so I prefer to stick with what I know and love :-)

Now we get 5 newspapers at a time, our Sunday paper that has the coupon inserts in them. They're $.75 each, plus the low cost of the grocery game service, so we have to take that amount into consideration when determining if we're still saving and we are saving, hundreds of dollars a month! Remember, we are a family of 6 and so we usually need more coupons of each item.

I'll never forget when we first signed up, dragging all 3 kids with me to price check the list at Wal-mart, I wasn't just gonna take their word on it! Not to mention that I was almost 8 months pregnant at the time! No, I had to make sure I was getting the best price before I bought anything. Now I rarely shop at Wal-mart for anything! Kroger doubles coupons up to a dollar in my area and they have great sales!!

2 years later and we're still using the grocery game and still loving it! We have down graded our lists to only 2 now, a grocery store (Kroger's) and Wal-greens. I'm still shocked and pleasantly surprised at some of the deals we get. I can't remember the last time I had to actually pay for toothpaste and shampoo!

If you're wondering if I work for them, well, no I don't. LOL! I'm just a huge fan of the program and reap the rewards in my wallet! The only thing I do ask is, if you decide to sign up , then use our address (shadl3y@gmail.com) so we can get "credit referral" for it, if you sign up so many people you can get a month free. NO this isn't a requirement, but it would be cool to get something else for free :-)

So now you know my secret, not a secret since I proudly tell everyone about it! In the grocery store the clerks are always amazed about how much I save and almost all of them are nice about the coupons and they're always smiling when I leave b/c of the huge dollar amount that my coupons takes my total down too! For the people behind me, I simply smile and say, I have 4 kids and using coupons helps me stay home with them, to which they usually smile and say I wish I could save that much money too. So now you can save that much money too :-)

If this post helps out just one person, then it was totally worth my time to write it. I honestly never knew how to really shop before. Now I have a freezer full and a pantry full of good stuff. For the record, I do NOT buy things that I normally would never buy, sure I buy stuff that I would like to try, stuff that I could never afford before. Almost every new product on the market comes out with a coupon to try it. Never before have we eaten so good and healthy for that matter. I don't buy my kids a bunch of junk either just because I can get it really cheap (b/c you certainly can!)

Try it out, it's free, the only thing you'll be out is your time clipping the coupons. I just store them in a folder with the date on them and clip them as needed, so really not a big hassle at all.

Vicky

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Cinnamon Toast

I got this yummy recipe from a book called The Old-Time Brand-Name Cookbook.The cover caught my eye, because I just love looking at old timey photographs. I bought it last year at Half Price Books. It is just covered with nostalgic photos and informative things I never knew. It really is a good cookbook!

Anyway, this has become one of my kids new favorite breakfasts! Not the most attractive looking thing, but it sure is tasty :) Growing up my Mom fixed a buttered toast topped with apple butter, but it was soggy and had way too much butter on it. I'm weird in the fact that I don't like butter on my bread (try not to scream in horror!), so her toast combination wasn't a hit with me and I don't ever remember eating Cinnamon Toast before. So when I saw this recipe I didn't fix it, then I remembered it one day when I looked at my cinnamon container and saw the non eaten toast left on their plates day after day! I have to admit, I fixed this over and over and never even tasted it, partly because like I said before, I just don't like butter on bread and plus I'm on Weight Watchers, don't want to waste points on buttered toast! One day I thought, I really want to know what the big deal is about this toast! So I fixed extra and took a bite, mmmmmmmmmm, I can see why the kids love it so much! No more non eaten toast here!

RECIPE:
-6 slices white bread (I only buy whole wheat, so it works great also)
-1/4 cup butter, room temperature
-1/3 cup sugar
-1 Tbls cinnamon

1. Pre-heat broiler.
2. In the broiler, toast the bread on ONE side, watching carefully to be sure it doesn't scorch.
3. Cream the butter and sugar; mix in the cinnamon
4. Spread the butter mixture on the untoasted side of each bread slice.
5. Place the slices on a cookie sheet and broil until the mixture melts and the bread is bubbly and brown. Serve immediately.
Note: Use firm white bread-Pepperidge Farm or Arnold, or a home-baked loaf. If you have an unsliced loaf, slice the pieces about 1/3-inch thick.

Serves 6


**I cut the sugar down to 1/4 cup and use have used less cinnamon also. That's a lot of sugar and a lot of cinnamon, but still less than what they would get in a bowl full of sugary cereal!

Pair this delicious toast with some scrambled cheese eggs and fresh fruit and you'll have some happy kids :-)



Friday, January 14, 2011

Starting to enjoy this thing called cooking...

I don't like to cook, I've never liked to cook. I only cook because I have too! This may come as a shock to many of you, especially since I'm a Mother of 4! But to me cooking is just one of the many different roles a Mother is required to fill. Since I have a family and little kids can't cook for themselves, well, I gotta feed them, LOL! Now baking, I could bake day in and day out and not tire of that! Baking is a different story, but sadly, you shouldn't eat those yummy sweet treats everyday!

I've been trying out new recipes, trying out new flavors and actually starting to enjoy cooking more! It's been almost a month since I have cooked just about every single meal we've had, only having leftovers a couple of times. This means, no take out, no fast food, no delivery pizza, nope, just me with my apron on in the kitchen, blasting my music and cooking! LOL!

I now have a deeper appreciation of fresh food. Fast food just tastes so processed and flavorless (which I guess it is). If you don't eat it in a while and then eat it again, you will see what I am talking about!

So now instead of dreading dinner time, I'm starting to look at it differently, that it's not a chore (not as much anyways!), but a time when I get to create something nourishing and fulfilling for my guys :)

Vicky

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Some tips...

When you have little ones in the kitchen with you, it's always best and more fun to have "little" kid tools/utensils for them. No, it's not a requirement to have, but it sure makes it easier for the kids to participate and hold with little hands, and besides, little tools just look so darn cute!! If you notice on my Blog picture, that is my big rolling pin, and the little one is my 4 year olds. Whenever he sees me grab my rolling pin, and, yes you guessed it, he goes to the cabinet and grabs his out too!

Also, if you have more than one kid. I suggest doing one on one baking projects. If you have the day free, let each kid choose their very own cookie and then that is the only kid that will help with that recipe. Whenever you have more than 1 child in the mix (no pun intended!) there's bound to be a fight or jealousy over who is doing what! If you let one kid do the whole recipe with you, then the others will know it's not their turn and they will get to do it all with you when it is their time! All the fun is scooping out the ingredients, cracking eggs and mixing the dough, don't short change one child by just letting them dump the dough onto the cookie sheet, let them do it all!!

Cookies are really quick and easy to make, if you are doing more than one recipe for multiple children, just cut the recipe in half, or stick the cookie mix in the fridge to finish later, or freeze. Most times, a child's attention span is very short and after they get that first batch in the oven, they won't want to continue waiting and baking several more batches! Who's got time to wait on cookies when there's basketball to play? LOL!

Also I highly recommend little kid aprons, once again, only because they are just sooo cute! I love seeing my kids in aprons and if you can't find any, then make them yourself, they are super easy to make.

If you don't want a mess, then don't bake with kids! I'm a grown adult and I still make messes, so I don't know why in the world some people expect little children not to make messes! I've never figured that one out! Just get the dust pan ready to clean up those extra messes on the floor and as always, the most important ingredient when having kids in the kitchen with you is..........
PATIENCE :-)

Happy Baking!
Vicky

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow Day!!

I don't know about you all, but I just LOVE when my kids' have snow days and there's no school! That automatically means Hot Cocoa and fun! Actually the honest truth is, even at the tiniest flake of snow, we have hot cocoa :-) Winter doesn't last forever and no one wants to drink Hot cocoa when it's warm, so we take advantage of it while it's good and cold, LOL!

I remember when my oldest son was a tiny baby and it snowed, I just couldn't wait till he was old enough to drink hot cocoa with me :) I thought about that this morning when my 4th son, was sipping his hot cocoa with the family. Last year he was too young and now he'll be 2 in April, he's just beginning to taste the yumminess of hot cocoa, LOL!
*Disclaimer, this isn't my cute little pug, in fact, my dog is much cuter than this one, LOL!*

So if you have snow on the ground, even a dusting qualifies! Make some yummy hot cocoa, put it in your favorite mug and top it with some Reddi Whip!! Sweet goodness in a cup :)

Hmm, I posted this and then thought maybe you all would like a recipe to go along with it??

here is my favorite recipe:

4 cups milk
5 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup boiling water
pinch of salt.
Reddi Whip (optional)

Directions

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 4 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs (or 6 smaller mugs like I do here!). Add the Reddi Whip to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.



Vicky

Friday, January 7, 2011

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I found this recipe on line the other day and I just loved it! I was looking for a broccoli soup recipe to use up 1/2 jar of Cheez Wiz I had leftover from Christmas dinner. Funny thing is the baby (21 months old) ate the most out of everybody! I couldn't even get my 4 yr old to try it, my oldest ate it but said, it's really good tasting, but on a scale of 10, it's a 2 for appearance, ROFL!! That made me laugh :-) I really fixed it for my husband to eat with his sandwich, but he ended up not even liking it and I loved it, go figure! Anyway, on to the recipe...

-2 1/2 cups diced potatoes (I just used 2 potatoes)
-2 to 3 grated fresh carrots (I used 2)
-1 onion (puree in blender)
-1 tsp sugar
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 to 3 chicken bouillon cubes
-1 pkg. frozen broccoli
-1/2 cup butter
-1/2 cup flour
-1 (8oz) Jar Cheez Wiz

1. Cook potatoes in enough water to cover. Add all other ingredients down to the broccoli, leave it out. Cook for 5 minutes then add 1 bag of frozen broccoli, cook till tender. DO NOT drain! I almost drained this just by habit!
2. In microwave, melt 1/2 cup butter and stir in 1/2 cup flour. Pour this mixture into soup and stir.
3. Add 1 Jar Cheez Wiz

*NOTE* I found the water amount to be insufficient, so I added 1 cup of chicken broth also.

Oh, almost forgot, I pureed everything also, since I don't like huge chunks of broccoli in soup. It's your personal preference!

I hope you try it and like it too!!
Oh, the picture I snapped of it, I added 2 croutons to the soup, I just wanted to show off my cute little Tea Rose soup and sandwich platter my amazing Mother-in-law got me a few years back. I just love it, it's so pretty!!
Vicky

Shhhh!!!!!!

I'm so happy! I just want to tell everyone I know! This past week I've been "hiding" pureed vegetables in everything I cook, and I do mean everything! From pinto beans and tomatoes in tacos, to sweet potatoes and carrots in banana muffins and even pizza casserole! Believe me, it's not even detectable and it's still tastes the same! I just can not believe it!
I feel so stupid for not thinking of this before! I just bought the cookbook The Sneaky Chef and Double Delicious. I already had Deceptively Delicious, I bought it after my 4th son was born and it's been sitting on the shelf for over a year now! I did some puree's here and there when he was eating baby food, but was scared to put it in many things, not anymore!!
It's gotten to the point where my 4 year old won't eat any vegetables anymore, not even corn! What kid doesn't eat sweet corn? While my 7 and 10 year olds just gobble down fresh broccoli by the cupful, my sweet little 4 year old only loves fruit! You can imagine how ecstatic I was when he gobbled down his food this week with multiple vegetables mixed into them!! I just couldn't believe it!
This morning I fixed them Cocoa banana muffins for breakfast and I loaded it down with flax seed, sweet potatoes and carrot puree!! They happily ate that with their yogurt and knew nothing about my sneaky deception, ahhhh, life is good, LOL!

I can't wait to try out new purees and see how they taste. Last night I fixed pizza casserole and broccoli and for the first time in a long time I wasn't threatening my 4 year old that if he didn't eat his broccoli that he wouldn't ever be able to eat candy again, LOL! I just feel like a new woman, with stress lifted from me :-)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Book Review: Grandma’s Back to Basics All Natural More than Just a Cookbook


I can't begin to tell you just how excited I was to receive this book! I have a passion for cookbooks and the title just seemed so incredible to me! I got the book in the mail and immediately opened it up, I was like a little kid on Christmas morning, LOL! The author describes her life with severe allergies. Although we're blessed not to have severe allergies, I found this very interesting and do believe we need to be more aware of the chemicals and additives that we ingest on a daily basis! Now, on to the book. First let me say, I think the title of the book is very catching and very "homey" feeling, that is what intrigued me the most! After looking through the recipes and trying some, I was left sadly, very disappointed! A lot of the recipes called for weird and odd ingredients. I was sad to see lard listed. Do they even sell that stuff anymore? Yes, my grandmother may have used lard, but I refuse to cook with that for my family.

I received a complimentary copy of Grandma's Back to Basics All Natural More than Just a Cookbook as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Sewing and recycling...


I got to thinking about the bedroom curtains we have, actually they are all technically valances, but I always call everything that hangs on a window a curtain :) The ones in the kids room were made from a flat bed sheet, the ones in my bedroom were made from an old table cloth, both were bought from Goodwill for a buck each! I made my oldest son's curtain/valance out of material that I bought at Wal-mart, he has Louisville Cardinals. So for around $8 I made 5 valances, not too shabby considering you can't buy 1 for that price~! They're not the best in the world, but they serve the purpose and add niceness to the rooms!
Before I would never have thought about taking things like bed sheets or table cloths to make curtains out of them. But if you have the right fabric and materials, you can do it and it will save you money!!

Vicky

School...

School is starting back up in a week. I won't be attending college for the spring semester. Part of me is sad, part of me is relieved. Although I whined and complained about all the work, it really wasn't that bad, school wise, just very time consuming. I got A's in 3 of my 4 classes, and got a B+ in the last one, I was actually only 1 point away from having 4 A's! I realized that this is Evan's last year home with me (tears filling my eyes!) and I want to enjoy what little time we have left together. He starts K this fall and I don't want the next few months spent with him playing around and me doing homework on the computer. There's plenty of time for me to finish my degree, but I will never get this time back with him!
My kids are growing up on me too quickly! I don't want to look back in 10 years and say I wish I did this differently when I know I should be doing it differently now!

I never heard anybody say on their death bed that they wish they spent more time at work or in school, instead you always here about people saying I wish I spent more time with my family.

Some part of me wishes we would go back to the 50's mindset where when you had kids you were expected to stay at home with them and just raise them, not like nowadays where you're expected to do everything else under the sun but stay home with your kids. Society puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on stay at home Mom's. We're made to feel guilty if we stay at home, like we're just lazy or we're wasting all of our time and talents. Just think of all this stuff you could have if only you worked too, a big house, fancy cars, 1st class vacations, ____________________ you fill in the blank. But I ask you, at what cost?

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not Super Woman, I can't do it all! Raising kids is a FULL time job and no I can't have my cake and eat it too! MMM, did somebody mention cake? LOL!

So I guess I will be a drop out in the eyes of society for not finishing my degree right now, but it's not the eyes of society that looks at me with the utmost love every day and the little arms that wrap around me and I hear I love you Mommy! Now that's what counts as being successful to me! My 4 little people God blessed me with, that's what I want to invest my time and energy into!

I guess I went a wee bit off the title post about school, LOL!

Vicky

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ham and Potato Frittata

I made a Ham and Potato Frittata last week with the leftover ham from Christmas dinner and let me tell you, it was great! So yummy!! It's like the dish I make for breakfast with leftover ham, but only better! Here is the link to the actual recipe and an amazing new website I have found
http://stolenmomentscooking.com/ham-potato-frittata/

you won't be disappointed with this recipe!

Vicky

Happy New Year!!

Ok, so I'm a little late to the party :) My 4 year old has had a very nasty stomach bug and it's been a very rough couple of days.
As most of you already have thought about New Years Resolutions, I was inspired to write about something else. I read somewhere that instead of calling them resolutions, why not call them goals instead? I found this to be very clever! According to the most recent polls, every single year people say the same thing, #1 is to lose weight. I would have to say that is pretty high on my goal list also. I also want to de-clutter my entire house, I mean really de-clutter, donate so much junk that the kids are gonna wonder if their beds are next, LOL! I live in a small house and the clutter is just overwhelming. No matter if your house is clean, when it's cluttered and junked up, it looks dirty! So if I had a list, it would look something like this:
1. Lose weight (should put, continue)
2. De-clutter
3. Be more organized
4. Follow my menu plan better

I'm sure you may have noticed that I didn't put anything about my family. I don't believe in setting New Year's Resolutions for these things, they should be daily goals that you work at. We're all guilty of not doing this or that, if you realize it, then do better. One of my favorite quotes is, "When I knew better, I did better". I just love that one! Your family should be your #1 priority in life, so that should be the best goal to work on, not necessarily the easiest. Relationships take work, even ones between parents and children, and definitely ones between husbands and wives.

My husband said that he reads my blog and wonders why I never write anything bad, meaning negative, airing our dirty laundry so to speak. Well I could, easily, and could write about him being a jerk sometimes, or me blowing up at him over stuff, but what would that solve? I seriously doubt there's one person out in cyberland that honestly thinks another family is perfect. We all have our own problems, our own hurdles and mountains to climb. So if you wanna read about someone talking about how much they hate their husband, or how their kids are killing them, well you're reading the wrong blog!
I want to stay positive and think about the best! Life isn't always positive, so why read all the negative stuff on the internet and fill your head with it? Instead you could be filling your mind with happy stuff and fill your mouth with yummy food, LOL! Ok, so maybe a nice apple :-)

So this year, 2011, I want it to be my year to get my weight under control, to be physically fit and get my house under control also!

Vicky