Confessions of a Crazy Cropper

Cajun Chicken Pasta

2010-07-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

I made a delicious dinner tonight. It was a combination of a few recipes. I've been craving Cajun Chicken Pasta like what's served at several chain restaurants, but it's always made with heavy cream, which is like dumping a cup of fat into the pot. I made some modifications, and came up with this tasty alternative:

Cajun Chicken Pasta

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 box fettuccine or linguine
2 peppers, any color, cut into thin strips
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1 onion, diced
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic, diced or pressed
1 can evaporated skimmed milk
2 tsp or 1 cube chicken bouillon (dissolve cube in a little hot water)
Cajun seasoning
black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a heavy skillet with olive until foamy. Sprinkle Cajun seasoning liberally over chicken. Cook chicken in butter and oil until no longer pink. Remove chicken to a plate. Add vegetables to hot skillet and cook for approx 1 minute, until peppers are crisp-tender. Return chicken to skillet. Add evaporated milk, bouillon, and Parmesan. Cook until sauce is bubbly and slightly thickened. This won't take long. Combine chicken and sauce mixture with pasta. Sprinkle with black pepper and additional Cajun seasoning if desired. This made enough for two dinners for my family of three. Enjoy!

I Ain't No Quitter

2010-02-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

Hello from the Franklin house. My pledge to update more often hasn't worked out so well. Seeing as this is my journal, here's a look into a week in my life right now. Let's look at next week's schedule, shall we?

Sunday: Small group-9:30, Church-10:45, Hanging out with Greg and Carson-afternoon, Studying-evening
Monday-Leave house at 8:00 for 10:00 appt in Caruthersville, work in Caruthersville until 1:00, drive to Cape, stop at office briefly, meet with teachers in Cape at 3:30, see theapy kiddo from 4:15-5:15, drive to Jackson for 6:00 Weight Watchers meeting until 6:30, cook dinner, do homework, sleep
Tuesday-Leave at 7:30 for 9:00 appointment in Poplar Bluff, work in Poplar Bluff until 1:00, drive back to Cape and stop at office briefly, see therapy kiddo from 4:15 to 5:15, grab dinner, go to class from 6:30-9:30, come home, sleep
Wednesday-Answer office phones from 8-4. Rush across campus to teach class from 4:15-7:00, come home, cook dinner, study, bed
Thursday-Work in office 8:00-9:00, drive to Fredericktown for lunch meeting and training, drive back to Cape, see therapy kiddo from 4:15-5:15, go to class from 6:30-9:20, come home, sleep
Friday-Drive to Advance to see therapy kiddo from 9:00-10:00, drive from Advance to Oak Ridge, do practicum hours at Oak Ridge from 12-4, drive home and grab stuff for scrapbooking from 6:30-11:00
Saturday-not yet scheduled, but sure to be a full day of housecleaning, grocery shopping, and general catch-up work

I've been feeling a bit over scheduled lately. I may have even given a fleeting thought to not going to school anymore. However, when I look at the amount of "stuff" I have to do every week and realize that I am actually doing it all and doing most of it pretty well, I start to feel better. I keep reminding myself that I will likely never be taking two night classes and teaching a night class in the same week ever again after this semester, and I start to feel better. I remind myself that when I finish this program, I will be working in a field I find exciting and I'll be helping people in a whole new way, and I start to feel better. I remind myself that week after next is midterm and I'll be halfway through this hellish schedule and I start to feel better. I remind myself that, " I ain't no quitter," and everything is temporary and I start to feel better. I remind myself that Greg and Carson are handling my absence and my crabbiness when it's study time very well, and I start to feel better.

My hope is that a year from now when I'm nearing the end of this program, or possibly finished with it, I am going to feel such a huge sense of accomplishment. I hope that I can look back on this time when I'm feeling overwhelmed in the future and remember that I did all this "stuff" and survived.

Pep talk over. I've got studying to do.

Cooking Up a Storm

2010-01-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

Actually, that would be cooking after a storm. We decided to stay home today due to the 10 inches of snow that fell yesterday. Southeast Missouri does not deal well with 10 inches of snow. Greg did dig the van out and go to the gas station for iced tea, but otherwise we stayed home...and cooked...and cooked..and cooked some more!

Last night I made a chicken noodle casserole with broccoli and a yummy cheese sauce. Greg made the salad.

This morning Greg made apple cinnamon muffins for breakfast. They turned out very tasty.

For lunch, I made patty melts and skillet fried potatoes. The patty melts turned out great. I even whipped up some garlic mayo to go with them.

Tonight, I made the perfect lasagna and some awesome garlic cheese pizza bread from scratch. The crust turned out great. Here is the recipe.

Here is the lasagna recipe. It takes a lot less prep than most lasagnas and the consistency comes out perfect. Do not boil the noodles ahead of time. I quit boiling noodles several years ago and haven't had lasagna come out soupy since. I also use cream cheese because I always have it on hand and I like the texture better than ricotta or cottage cheese.

Easy Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles (I use whole wheat)
2 blocks cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 26 oz jar spaghetti or marinara sauce
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1 large or 2 small cans mushrooms
1 1/2 cups water

Heat oven to 350. Brown beef. Drain and return to skillet. Add sauce, mushrooms, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Mix cream cheese, eggs, 1 cup mozzarella and parmesan cheese in a bowl until smooth. Spray a deep 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup of sauce in bottom of pan. Add a layer of lasagna noodles. Add 1/2 of remaining sauce and spread over noodles. Top sauce with cream cheese mixture and spread evenly over sauce. Repeat layers. Top with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes or until cheese browns. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

The added benefit of all this cooking is that I now have lunches and dinners to take with me to work, especially for those nights when I go straight from work to class. I divide the leftovers into individual portions and store them in the freezer.

Carson played in the snow for a grand total of 30 minutes, spread over two trips outside. You would have thought he had just returned from climbing Mt. Everest when he came back inside. He informed me that he had "winter freeze." This is apparently a condition that can only be cured by drinking hot chocolate and watching Star Wars movies. Luckily, we had both on hand.

I'm looking forward to starting a new small group at church tomorrow morning. Our church is starting a new series called Life's Healing Choices. It's an 8 week study and our pastor will also be delivering a sermon to go along with each week's lesson. We'd love to have you!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Snowstorms and Scrapbooks

2010-01-29T14:07:00.001-08:00

It is snowing up a storm here in Jackson, MO! Carson came home early from school and Greg came home early from work. We're enjoying a snowy afternoon inside.

I'm recovering from a 24 hour flu virus and have started feeling much better in the last few hours. I came home from work yesterday around 1:00 feeling terrible and had a rough evening. Much better now!

I'm still trying to figure out digital scrapping, but I did manage to make another layout today. There are lots of free kits to download on the internet. Many of the kits are premade pages ready for you to plop pictures into the predesigned layouts. I love the ease of these type of kits, but I'm trying to download lots of individual elements to force myself to figure out how to put them into a page using Photoshop. I have a lot more learning to do, but here is today's creation.

I'm off to watch the Disney World vacation planning DVD that arrived today and to do a little dreaming for our trip. We leave on May 26th!!! Enjoy the weekend!

My first digital layout

2010-01-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

Today I spent most of the afternoon trying to teach myself the basics of digital scrapbooking. I can't say that I have anywhere close to a good understanding of how to scrapbook in Photoshop Elements, but I figured out enough to crop the picture in the layout above and add each individual element in separate layers. I had never used Photoshop until this afternoon, but I think I'm going to have to buy it. I downloaded the trial version today to play around with the program. I found several useful Youtube tutorials, that would have been even more useful if I had some clue as to what they were talking about. I am very computer illiterate if I need to do anything other than type a paper, send an email, or surf the web. This is going to be an adventure!

I love paper scrapbooking and I'm sure I will continue to scrap with paper if I manage to figure out the digital side. I am a little concerned about where I will store all of the scrapbooks I'll accumulate if I continue doing everything with paper. I would also love to be able to share my digital albums with others on the web. We'll see how much progress I make!

I would love to hear from anyone who has gone from paper scrapping to digital. If anyone has hints on using Photoshop elements, that would be great too!

I'm headed into a super busy week, with obligations every night until Friday. It's good to back in a routine. Have a great week!

Baby Girl, Mickey Mouse, and Education

2010-01-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

Things have been eventful since my last post! On January 5, I became an aunt to a sweet new baby girl! Olivia Marie Penny is my first niece. We think she's gorgeous. She'll likely be having some surgery soon.Please keep her in your prayers.

Last week we were invited by Greg's parents on a trip to Disney World in May. We're very excited! Greg's brother, Jim, and our nephew, Andrew will be going too. We'll be there during a Star Wars weekend, which is like winning the lottery for Carson. He's so excited that he can barely talk about anything else. I'm thinking we'll be making a countdown calendar this weekend so he'll stop asking us when we're going every other minute. We all love Disney!

Next week I'll be starting the dreaded semester of taking two night classes, teaching one night class, and completing a practicum. I'm trying to be optimistic about things and tell myself that I'll be so busy that the semester will fly by. I'm looking forward to learning more about applied behavior analysis and getting some hands on experience in my practicum.

I'll be enjoying my last day of freedom tomorrow while Carson is at school. I haven't decided if I want to read all day, scrapbook, watch tv, or a little of all three. I'll be hanging out with my girls tomorrow night for our monthly crop. Can't wait!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T10:18:00.001-08:00

2009 in Review

2010-01-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? Employed a cabana boy. It was fabulous.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I can't remember making any last year.
Did anyone close to you give birth? Greg's cousin, Amy, had a baby boy in November. My sister-in-law, Rachel, is due Jan 10.
Did anyone close to you die? My uncle, Eddie, died of pancreatic cancer in December.
What countries did you visit? Mexico on a cruise with my mom and my girlfriends. We had so much fun!
What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? dedication to get healthy
What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Tuesday, Dec 15-the day I got my diabetes diagnosis
What was your biggest achievement of the year? managing to stay sane and keep my house relatively in order while working 2 jobs and going back to school
What was your biggest failure? Gaining weight...again. I'm now back on track and feeling great!
Did you suffer illness or injury? Did I ever! I had swine flu, strep throat, blood pressure issues, pneumonia, and a few rounds of stomach virus. This was the sickest year I remember.
What was the best thing you bought? A cruise ticket
Whose behavior merited celebration? Greg's-he has the patience of Job and never says a word when I throw a fit or leave him with Carson while I go off to Mexico for a week.
Where did most of your money go? To restaurants, which is so stupid and will not be happening this year.
What did you get really, really, really excited about? My trips to Mexico and Chicago.
What song will always remind you of 2009? While I'm Waiting by John Waller. It reminds me to have patience, which I sorely lack.
What do you wish you'd done more of? Hung out with Carson
What do you wish you'd done less of? Eat
How did you spend Christmas? With 5 celebrations spread out over a week...a little too much for my taste.
Did you fall in love in 2009? I celebrated 10 years of marriage and 13 years of being in love
What was your favorite TV program? Lost and So You Think You Can Dance, but I really cut back on TV this year
What was the best book you read this year? I read the whole Sookie Stackhouse series and loved them..perfect escape from the textbook I basically had to memorize.
What was your greatest musical discovery? I downloaded lots of different kinds of music from So You Think You Can Dance
What did you want and get for Christmas? A camera and I got it!
What was your favorite film of this year? I loved The Blind Side
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 33 this year. I went to Red Lobster with the family and had a pretty quiet celebration.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having lost a ton of weight and avoiding the diabetes diagnosis.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Dark jeans, layered sweaters, and a little more jewelry than I've worn in the past.
What kept you sane? Girlfriends..I love my scrapping and Bunco buddies
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? none that I can think of
What political issue stirred you the most? Health care
Who did you miss? My Utah friends.. I would love to go see them this year. Miss you all!
Who was the best new person (people) you met? We became closer with several people from church and have enjoyed great fellowship getting to know them better.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: The only thing certain is change and it's how we respond to it that matters.
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: I will move ahead, bold and confident.

2009-02-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

I finally remembered to post pics from the last couple of weeks. We had a huge winter storm and had snow and ice on the ground for over a week. Everything finally melted today. Above are pictures of Carson and the neighbor girls playing in the snow. They had a great time. Carson screamed like a girl every time the girls pushed him on the sled.

Last Saturday we joined the Moore and McCoy families at the SEMO basketball game. It was Rowdy, the mascot's, 4 th birthday. The team lost, as usual lately, but we had a good time visiting together.

We had a busy weekend. Carson got to bring Mr. Bear, his class mascot, home for the weekend. We had to chronicle Mr. Bear's adventures in a journal that will go back to school with him on Monday. He went to Burger King and Target with the guys while I was scrapbooking on Friday with my First Friday girls. On Saturday he helped clean the house, then went to El Torero with us for dinner, where he tried to eat all of Carson's fried ice cream. Today he went to Sunday School, Delmonico's for lunch, and then to Carson's friend, Gio's, to play Star Wars all afternoon. Carson was Anakin, Gio was a transformer, and Mr. Bear was Yoda. He's now spending the night at MeMaw and PawPaw Franklin's with Carson.

Greg and I had another great small group lesson at church tonight. We have been blessed with an awesome group of new friends.

This week begins the Shape Up Southeast program at work. My office team, The Southeast Celery Sticks of Steel, is going for the win, which means I will need to work out every day for the next 10 weeks. I downloaded some rockin' workout songs from iTunes tonight and I'm ready to get moving!

Have a great week!

2009-02-05T18:39:00.000-08:00

Greg and I have some sort of nasty, croupy cough and crud. I'm looking forward to staying home and doing nothing tomorrow. I feel a PJ and TV day coming on. I'm hoping to feel well enough to meet my girlfriends for some scrapping tomorrow night.

I had an uneventful trip to Jefferson City for my quarterly work meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got the news that I will likely be made full time in July, which is good. I've been working 4 days a week at Child Care Resource and Referral and picking up some kiddos for therapy on Fridays. Hopefully, I'll still be able to work in my therapy kids with the new schedule. Nothing's definite when asking for state money, but it looks probable that this is going to happen.

In other news, I have recently become addicted to Facebook. I am starting to think I may have to impose some limits on my time spent sending Flair, tagging people, and updating my status. If you're on Facebook, look me up. I'm Amy Franklin in the St. Louis network. See ya online!

Easing back into things

2009-01-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

I think Facebook is to blame for my lack of blogging. I see what everyone is doing everyday and post my own frequent updates, so I rarely even think of coming here to post anymore. I need to get back on track, so here are some updates:

I am teaching again. I decided to play hard ass this semester and let them know upfront that I will not accept junk papers that look like a 5th grader wrote them and that they will be required to attend the St. Louis field trip. 5 of them dropped the class as soon as they left that evening. I'm not taking it personally.

I'm planning a scrapbook retreat for my scrapping buddies and I can't wait! We'll be at an undisclosed (to husbands) location for three days at the end of March. Fun times ahead!

We recently joined a new small group at church and are having a great time and gaining so much from the lessons we're studying on showing Christ's love in our community. We knew many of the group members already, but have made some new friends too.

Greg is still enjoying his job, although the hours have gotten quite long since the ice storm on Tuesday. He's been working in southern Missouri to try to help restore power to the many communities devastated by the ice. Luckily, we never lost power at our house. He's scheduled for another 12-14 hour day tomorrow and may work again on Sunday.

Carson is enjoying his week off from school due to the winter storm. Although he likes staying home, he asks everyday when he can finally go back to school.

This little meme is from a blog that I enjoy. I've been reading Sophia's blog for several years and
enjoy her recipes, crafty projects, and words of wisdom. Check her out when you can.

8 TV Shows or Movies I watch regularly

Fringe
CSI
CSI:Miami
Criminal Minds
NCIS
17 Kids and Counting
Iron Chef America
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives

Eight things that happened yesterday

I stayed in my PJ's until noon.
I spent more than half the day on the internet (mostly facebook)
I talked to Greg at least a dozen times to make sure he wasn't frozen
I watched CSI
I rammed a snowbank with the car in order to get to El Torero
I looked at the dirty dishes, but did not wash them
I read Good Housekeeping magazine (where else can get recipes, decluttering tips and advice to spice up your love life?)
I stayed up until 1:00 am reading a very disturbing book

8 Favorite places to eat ( in no particular order)

El Torero
Chan's
Shogun
The King and I
Texas Roadhouse
Saffron
Stooges
Cheesecake Factory

8 Things I am looking forward to

My scrapbook retreat!
Going to the SEMO game with Becky, Shelly, and their families tomorrow night
The first Friday crop in one week
My tenth anniversary
A likely trip to Disney World in October
Valentine's Day
Getting back to the gym next week
Going out to eat as soon as I finish this list!

8 Things on my wish list

iTunes gift cards
A new Canon digital SLR
new floor tile
a trip to Disney World
a new couch
a new haircut, which I am getting Monday
a new Vera Bradley tote
new bedding for our room

8 People I tag... anyone who wants to participate!

Not Mine!

2008-12-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

A little meme while I wait for my pot roast to cook. This is borrowed from Dawn. She's my Florida friend and Disney connection.

1. When did you last sleep in a bed outside your home?
the second week of November for 5 nights at my work retreat. I had to change rooms mid trip due to lack of heat in my first hotel room. Brrrr.

2. When did you last drive someone else’s car?
See answer #1. I drove a black Pontiac G6, courtesy of Enterprise. I actually drive rental cars often for work.

3. When did you last cook in someone else’s kitchen?
A week ago. My sister, Mom, and I had a Christmas treat extravaganza at Mom's.

4. When did you last care for children who aren’t yours?
My nephew, Riley, spent the night last Friday. I saw therapy kids on this past Friday morning.

5. When did you last do someone else’s job?
About three weeks ago, my friend and coworker, Christy, was home with a sick baby, so I drove over an hour to do a training she had scheduled. It did not go well. She owes me big. :)

I'ts Christmastime!

2008-12-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

And time for another blog post. I really have no idea why my blogging mojo has become so sporadic in the last year. I read tons of other people's blogs every single day, yet completely abandon my own. Weird. I'm not even going to promise more regular posts, so you can be surprised and delighted if I get back into the swing of blogging.

First, the updates:

Greg really likes his job and his boss, which is a huge relief. What a difference to actually be told he's doing a great job and to be appreciated by his boss. Working outside in winter isn't so great, but getting to work from our house and set his own schedule is pretty nice. He's much happier in this position.

Carson is doing well in kindergarten and had a fantastic check-up at the eye doctor in Springfield 4 weeks ago. His eye movement has improved by 30%, which is a huge change. We love Dr. Pierce! Carson informed us at dinner last week that his job in Heaven will be to pack a lunch for Jesus each day, then guard his garden from monkeys, walruses, and penguins. Jesus does not eat out.

I am still scrapbooking, playing Bunco, working at SEMO, and saving the world, one dysfunctional family situation at a time. I love my work, and boy does it give me some stories to tell!

I've already attended 4 Christmas parties and have 6 to go. Have a great Friday and a Merry Weekend!

Mum's the Word

2008-10-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

I had the strangest experience today. I decided to stop by the university greenhouse and pick up some mums as decorations for Carson's party next weekend. I took my time perusing the long aisles of brightly colored mums, thinking someone would be out to help me transport the giant pots to my van and write a ticket for me to pay inside. After nearly giving up and preparing to go inside to get someone to help me, I came across a woman, kneeling on the weed mat, working with a hose. I was still several feet away from her, when I asked if she would mind helping me with some flowers. She looked at me, put her head down, and continued her work. I tried again, asking if there was someone else who could help me. She again made eye contact, and said, "I water," then returned to her work. I decided to try one last time and asked her, "Is anyone else here?" She jumped up from her work, marched over to me and shouted, "I water! You yourself!" At this point I realized that she was an Asian student and determined that something was obviously getting lost in translation. I turned and quickly walked away, loaded my flowers, and went inside to find another worker. When I walked back outside, a lady with a thick Southern accent had arrived and was speaking to the Asian girl in a thick drawl, saying, " Sugar, could you fetch me some chrysanthemums?" The Asian girl hopped up, said, "Sure, " and fetched the woman's flowers. Weird. Even weirder is that tomorrow I'm going to work with a child who speaks only Chinese. Guess I'll turn on the Southern charm and hope for the best. Have a great Tuesday, Sugar.

Happy Birthday....on the road

2008-10-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been an absolute blur. With Greg working out of town and me having a St.Louis doctor's appointment, a meeting in Jefferson City, and a trip to take Carson to see Greg overnight, I am exhausted. We'll start the process over on Monday morning. Carson is being farmed out to various relatives after school and often overnight while I work. He came stumbling into the living room half asleep one night last week, rubbing his eyes, to ask me where he was going the next morning and who he should look for to pick him up. Poor guy. On the bright side, Greg is officially half way through his training and will be home for good in two more weeks.

Because of this crazy scheduling, Carson is set to have the longest birthday celebration in history. We started off with an ice cream party for his class on Thursday, since school was out on Friday, his actual birthday. I picked him up after school and we drove to St. Charles to stay with Greg for the night. We visited Chuck E Cheese for dinner. I had never noticed before how much Chuck E's is like a little kiddie casino. It was packed with very overstimulated kids who had very little supervision. Definitely a once a year place for us. Friday morning, Carson opened his presents over breakfast in the hotel dining room, then he and I met my friend, Katie, at the St Louis Zoo for a beautiful day of visiting the animals. We drove home in time for dinner, and Carson chose to eat at Golden Gate, our favorite Chinese place in Jackson. On Saturday, he and Greg spent the afternoon launching Carson's new rocket, then we went to yet another birthday dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Penny. Tonight we'll be celebrating with Greg's parents, who returned from their cruise to Nova Scotia last night. We'll finish the celebrating with a hayride party next Sunday, where Carson will finally get to blow out some candles!

I am hoping to get to take some vacation days to stay with Greg and scrapbook in the hotel this week. I really want to get at least this year completed in an album and attempt to stay more on track with my scrapping. I may never get caught up on years past, but I would like to stay current from now on. (I'm probably dreaming!)

Have a fantastic week and enjoy the lovely weather if you're local!

Life Sucketh No More

2008-09-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hello! I apologize for the very long delay in new posts. Frankly, life had been really sucking for me and my family for what felt like a very long time, and I really didn't feel like immortalizing all the crap on my blog. To those of you who have had the pleasure of hearing my tales of woe in person for the last several months, thanks for not telling me to suck it up and continuing to tolerate my whining.

First of all, the absolutely wonderful news that as of today, my mom is in remission! She had a scan this morning and what little bit of tumor is still there is expected to dissolve within 6 months. Her hair is growing back and she's feeling much better!

Second, Greg is working! He got a job working for SM&P Utility Resources as a technician. His job involves locating and marking utility lines. He is currently in training in St Louis during the week and will be home for good near the end of October.

We're starting to feel like life is back on track. Next week we'll be celebrating Carson's birthday on Friday with a trip to St Louis to visit Greg and a visit to either the Magic House or the zoo. The following week we'll celebrate with a hayride and birthday party at MeMaw and PawPaw Franklin's house.

Thanks for checking back in! Look for more frequent updates in the near future. Have a fantastic weekend!

A Short Update

2008-08-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

So, we're still alive. Carson fell on our laptop and shattered the screen several weeks ago, hence no updates for many weeks. The new screen is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Yay! I am making due with our ancient desktop computer, which does not allow for picture uploads and has a screen that is so dark, I can barely make out what is on it. Greg is still job hunting, but he had an interview on Wednesday and has another one tomorrow. We don't get too excited about interviews anymore, but we're hopeful that one of these opportunities will work out. This economy sucks. Carson started kindergarten at South Elementary two weeks ago, and has a completely awesome teacher. Things are going so much better than this time last year. I'll have a full report as soon as the new laptop screen arrives. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

What's Up, Buttercup?

2008-07-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

We're still chugging along here at the Franklin house. Greg has fallen into the duties of Mr. Mom nicely. He has developed a new penchant for housecleaning and laundry that I am loving, although it is freaking me out a little bit to have the clothes I wore yesterday clean and hanging in my closet by the next morning. He also gets really cranky when I leave clothes in the hallway outside the bathroom. This role reversal has been quite the learning experience for us both.

Hopefully, this situation will be coming to an end soon, since Greg got two calls for interviews today. We'll be going to St Louis on Sunday for his interview Monday morning with a company he is really interested in. We're not moving. The job will be based in Cape. Please say a prayer for us that things will move quickly if this is the job he is meant to have.

Cason is begging me to take him to garage sales tomorrow, but I think it's going to be way too hot. I have scrapbooking tomorrow night and we have a bowling birthday party to go to on Saturday.

Carson had a great day today. He finished his last swimming lesson, then went to St. Mary with MeMaw and PawPaw. While there he got to drive the big tractor with Great Uncle Floyd and plant corn, then when he got out, the train was going by the farm and blew it's whistle at him. Trains and tractors in one day makes for such a great time when you're six.

Have a great Friday and a cool weekend.

You Say You Want a Revolution

2008-07-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Such interesting times. No explanations tonight. Just a note to myself to stay strong in my beliefs and honor my faith.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
-Romans 12:9-21 (NRSV)

Firecrackers and Birthday Candles

2008-07-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

My vacation has flown by! I'm back to work tomorrow. I'm ready to get back into a routine and back in the habit of exercising more regularly. Being on vacation was bad for the walking routine.

We celebrated the 4th at Marcia and Steve's house, as always. Marcia has been my mom's friend since junior high school, so our families have always celebrated together throughout the years. They put on a fantastic fireworks display and have tons of yummy food. (This may be a problem at my weigh-in tomorrow, but it was all soooo good!) I made a new recipe that was quite the hit. I decided to use some of the blueberries we picked a few weeks ago. Here it is:

Blueberry Pretzel Salad

2 cups of crushed roughly crushed pretzel crumbs

3/4 cup melted butter

3 Tbs sugar

Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Cool completely.

In a large pot, place:

4 cups blueberries

1/4 cup water

Bring to a boil and add:

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbs cornstarch

Boil, stirring frequently until sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and cool completely.

In a mixing bowl mix:

8oz softened cream cheese

1 cup sugar

8 oz carton of Cool Whip

When crust and blueberries are completely cool, top crust with with cream cheese mixture , then blueberries. Chill until served.

On Saturday we took my Grandma out to eat for her birthday at lunch, then went to Greg's parents' for a BBQ with his brother and nephew. Carson and Andrew had a blast soaking each other and everything in their path with water balloons.

Today we went to church, then hung out at home. Carson played in the pool and sprinkler with the girls next door and outside most of the day. Greg mowed and I did some laundry and watched some TV.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. This week we actually don't have anything on the calendar, other than my usual Weight Watchers and aerobics. Next weekend we have a family wedding shower on Saturday and a Campaign '08 houseparty at some friends' house on Sunday. Should be another fun weekend!

Be Careful What You Wish For....

2008-07-02T15:43:00.001-07:00

'Cause you just might get it all, and then some you don't want.

I wished for weight loss this week.....I got the stomach flu. Really bad. I'm getting better, but my abs are screaming from all of the wretching.

I wished for Greg to not have to work so much overtime....and he lost his job on Monday. He is applying everywhere, and we are optimistic that he'll be working again soon, but this is not good for the budget.

Enough of my woes. Everything is temporary and I'm faithful that things will be better soon.

In happy news, I am absolutely astounded at how well Carson is doing at swimming lessons. He started Monday, but today was my first day to take him. He wants to swim under water the entire time. He still has trouble getting his arms and legs to work at the same time, but he is doing so much better than I had imagined. His new swim teacher is awesome. The lessons are at her house, which is gorgeous, and she is the most patient, loving teacher I have seen.

I lost another 2.5 pounds this week. This was due in great part to the stomach flu, but I'll still take it! I'm shrinking every day.

I'm off to suspension aerobics in a few minutes. This is the class where we are in the deep end the whole time, so we don't touch the bottom for the entire class. It should be interesting given how sore my abs are right now.

Have a good Thursday. We have plans to go to swim lessons, and not much else. Sounds like a good day to me!

All You Need is Love

2008-06-29T09:59:00.001-07:00

We are feelin' the love at the Franklin house. Here's a list of things our family is loving right now!

10 new old love songs recently downloaded to Amy's Ipod:
1. Your Love Amazes Me-John Berry
2. When You Say Nothing at All-Keith Whitley
3. How Do You Fall in Love-Alabama
4. When You Love Someone-Bryan Adams
5. At Last-Etta James
6. Our Love is Here to Stay-Natalie Cole
7. I Get a Kick Out of You-Frank Sinatra
8. Come Rain or Come Shine- Sarah Vaughn
9. Chapel of Love-The Dixie Cups
10. Me and You-Kenny Chesney (Our First Dance Song)

Nine Things We Loved About Last Week:
1. Science Camp-Carson had such a great time! See the slideshow for pictures. FYI-He will be leaving for Mars soon, so make sure to tell him goodbye the next time you see him. :)
2. Great conversation and companionship with my St Louis coworkers on our Jefferson City trip.
3. The absolutely sinful Chicken Wellington and Ceasar salad I had at the Capital City Steakhouse. Yum-o-rama.
4. The fact that I lost 5.4 pounds!!! I even went to the Jefferson City Weight Watchers meeting while I was out of town. Yay, me!
5. Carson is doing so well at speech. We are so proud of him.
6. Carson crawled up on my lap and had charming conversations with me two nights last week.
7. My pants were slightly looser.
8. I made it through suspension aerobics without puking.
9. Greg got to be off all day with Carson and me on Friday.
10. Carson has made friends with the little girl next door and they had a great time splashing in his new pool.

Eight Things I Would Love to Get Done This Week:
1. Complete our Florida vacation scrapbook.
2. Get started on our 2008 scrapbook.
3. Finish "The Innocent Man" and get started on "The Other Boelyn Girl."
4. Perfect the BBQ chicken as featured on "Down Home with the Neely's" on Food Network
5. Go see "Wall-E" (Is that how you spell it? Hmmm..)
6. Swim at Shelly's
7. Go to water aerobics Monday and Wednesday
8. Take several walks

Seven Things I Would Love to Cook This Week:
1. Another yummy bluberry buckle
2. Blueberry corn muffins
3. Chicken and Dumplings
4. Honey Pecan Pancakes
5. Chicken Tortilla Casserole
6. Strawberry Salad
7. Blueberry Pretzel Salad

Six Things that I Would Love to See Happen this Week:
1. More weight loss
2. A clean house...that stays that way all week
3. Carson have fun and learn a lot at swimming lessons
4. Me not get overwhelmed by all I want to accomplish on my time off
5. Me cooking dinners out of our pantry..there's a lot of food in there
6. Lots of crockpot and grilled dinners

Five Things I Would Still Love to do this Summer:
1. Go to Elephant Rocks
2. Go to the Miner's baseball game
3. Go to The Magic House
4. Go to lunch at Giant City park
5. Visit Katie and go to The Incredible Pizza Company

Four Things that Always Make Me Feel the Love
1. Weddings-Mom and I went to another one this weekend. Mae-Cie and Jason had a lovely pink and chocolate brown ceremony and a fun reception with great music and lots of family and friends. See the slideshow
2. When Carson says, "Thank you, Momma!" when I do something small and routine for him.
3. Old love songs...hence all the new downloads.
4. When Greg calls me just to see what I'm doing during the day.

Three Options for Celebrating our Tenth Wedding Anniversary next May:
1. A party, with lots of friends, family, and love songs, of course!
2. A trip to somewhere sandy and sunny.
3. With a new anniversary band.

Two Shows I am Loving Right Now:
1. The Tudors (whew! steamy!)
2. Deadliest Catch-we've been addicted for a few years now

And Finally, to the ONE I Love:
I love you, Greg! Thanks for being such a great Dad and Husband!

I hope all of you are feeling the love and having a great weekend. Have a lovely week!

Father's Day, Berries, Workouts, and More!

2008-06-22T19:59:00.001-07:00

I just typed a fabulous post and Blogger ate it. This laptop is really frosting my butt right now. I think it needs a trip to the repair shop. Anyway, here are the highlights of the disappearing post.

Father's day was spent at our house this year. Mom, Dad, Grandma Pat, Juli, and PawPaw joined us for a low key BBQ. After the meal, Juli and I researched cruises for our Operation Lose to Cruise reward. We are almost positive we want to go to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean out of Miami. Any advice or comments from those who have cruised this route will be appreciated.

Last week I went to water aerobics twice and walked once. I really struggled with my walk and wanted to quit on lap two. I stuck it out, but I realized I am very out of shape and this is going to take some time before I enjoy working out again. It didn't help that I had a 5 day headache that finally ended today.

Friday was spent scrapbooking with friends. Saturday I went to Iller's Berry Farm and picked fresh blueberries with a few friends. I was home by 11:00 and went straight to work making a blueberry buckle. It's like a cobbler, but better. I froze the rest of the berries to enjoy all summer. I'm going to try making blueberry cornmeal muffins sometime this week.

We spent the rest of the weekend at home. Greg and Carson spent the day outside today. Carson has found a new friend in the neighbor next door. He and Erica are close to the same age and want to spend every waking moment outside together. I did 10 loads of laundry and finished a few scrapbook pages this afternoon.

I'm of to Jefferson City in the morning to spend the night and attend a training on Tuesday. Carson is going to science camp this week and starts swimming lessons next week. I'll be going to water aerobics and getting some walking in this week. Gotta love a fun filled summer! Have a great week!

Lazy Day

2008-06-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Carson and I had a lazy day today. We stayed home and played and I surfed the net for a few hours. I researched cruises for my trip with Juli, caught up on blogs, and read the message boards at twopeasinabucket.

Tonight the guys went to church band practice and I had Bunco. We had a fun time, as always! I love my Bunco buddies. I won a box of sugar free Tic Tacs, a perfect prize since I'm in the Weight Watchers wagon again.

Last night I met Juli and Leah at the pool for suspension aerobics. We wore float belts and were suspended in 13 feet of water for the entire class. It was challenging, but fun. I was pretty sore this morning.

This is the weekend of weddings for us. We have two ceremonies and one reception to atend on Saturday. Sunday we're BBQing at our house for Father's Day. Have a great weekend!

When the sun goes down...

2008-06-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'll be swimming! Juli and her friend, Leah, joined me at the pool tonight for our first water aerobics class of the summer. It was great! There were a few times I felt like my arms were on fire, but just when I thought I'd have to quit, the instructor would switch exercises. There were ladies of all ages and sizes and everypne was so nice. Tomorrow we'll have our deep water strengthening class. Carson and Greg went along to swim while we had class, then we went for Hawaiian shaved ice after the pool closed. It was a good night!

I'm working tomorrow, then I'm off for 4 days. I am loving summer hours and getting to use comp time for some extra days off. I'm home all next week, then have an overnight trip to Jefferson City the following week with two of my crazy coworkers from St Louis. I always have a blast with these two ladies, so I'm looking forward to it.

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

It's Summertime!

2008-06-08T20:34:00.001-07:00

Summer has arrived. It's the season for sunshine, sunscreen, sweat, and swimming. We're off to a great start with out summer activities and have plans for lots more fun summer activities in the coming weeks!

Last weekend we went to the first annual Franklin Family Fishing tournament at the Franklin family farm in St. Mary. Carson caught the biggest fish in his age category, a bass weighing in at 1lb13oz, just 2 oz less than Carson weighed when he was born! He reeled it in with some help from Uncle Jim and lots of cheering from me. Carson had a great time playing with all of his cousins. Greg had several bites, but didn't manage to hook any fish. I planted my butt in a lawn chair and kept watch for spiders, snakes, ticks, frogs, bugs, and all of the other icky things that I cannot stand and truly fear. The sacrifices I have to make for family. I am so not an outdoorsy girl.

On Monday I left for a three day trip to St. Louis as part of my volunteer work as a validator for the Missouri Child Care Accreditation group. I took three coworkers with me and we had a great time. The work days were very long, but we were able to sneak in a trip to Chesterfield mall and dinners at the Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs. It was a nice break.

On my to pick up a rental car for the trip on Monday, I was the ninth caller on a local radio station and won 4 tickets to see Mamma Mia at the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis on Saturday. I took my mom, sister, and mother-in-law. It was terrific! We had lunch at Mama Caprese's on The Hill, then went to the matinee performance. I think I may have to download some ABBA to my ipod! Juli and I will be adding "Dancing Queen" to our karaoke repertoire.

Today we headed back to St Louis (my third trip in 6 days!) to the St Louis Zoo. We piled in my van with my mom, Grandma Pat, and Juli. We met Juli's friend, Josh, at the zoo and caught up our friend, Brittni, who is doing a summer internship in the Great Ape Habitat this summer as part of her pre vet studies. It was hot, but we had a good time visiting the animals, having a picnic lunch, and riding the zoo train, where Carson got to say, "All Aboard!" on the loudspeaker.

This week is slow at work. On Friday we'll be attending a rehearsal dinner for a wedding we're helping with on Saturday. Sunday's plan is still open for now.

In other news, Juli and I have decided that we are each going to lose 50 pounds and take a girls-only cruise in January as a reward for our hard work. We are both attending Weight Watchers and will be starting water aerobics tomorrow night. She's already ahead of me by 10 pounds, so I have to get my butt in gear. I'll be packing my lunch much more often.

I have a decent list of summer activities we're planning to do so far. If you want details on any of them, just let me know. Here they are:

trip to Farmington water park
trip to Land Between the Lakes in KY
attend a Southern Illinois Miners baseball game in Marion, IL
have lunch at Giant City Park and browse the funky little shops in Makanda, IL
attend the DuQuoin State Fair in late August
visit and stay with my friend, Katie, and go to the Incredible Pizza Company and other fun St Louis stuff with her
trip to the City Museum in St Louis
trip to Grant's Farm in St Louis
2 weeks of swim lessons for Carson
1 week of space camp at the university for Carson
hanging out at the camp ground with my aunt and uncle
trip to Elephant Rocks park in Iron County
attend a St Louis Cardinal game
Municipal band concerts in the city park on Thursday nights
attend a show at The Muny in Forrest Park
other activities as we have time!

I have a lot of things to schedule! I'll be working on that this week. Have a great week!

2008-05-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Lots of updates again!

First, my mom's tumors have shrunk by 50%. This is very good news! She is 2/3 of the way finished with chemo and we hope that the tumors will continue to shrink. Please keep her in your prayers as she goes through the next two months of chemo and nears the finish line!

I ended up not having to make it through my last day of work before vacation. Instead of going to work, I ended up staying in bed most of Thursday with a horrible migraine. I hadn't had one that bad in almost a year. Between mom's chemo, a stressful extended family situation, and the everyday stress that is my life, my body decided to revolt. It was not a fun day.

Thursday also happened to be our 9th anniversary. Needless to say, we did not celebrate that day. We'll be having a date night soon in honor of the occasion. It's very hard to believe that we've been married for nine years and together for twelve. We have seriously been through some very hard times together and made it through! I love you, Greggie!
On Friday, I let Carson decide how he would like to spend his day with me. He chose for us to go to garage sales in the morning. He hit the mother load of toys and now has a completely restocked play area downstairs for less than $20. He got a four story parking garage with elevator, a Rescue Heroes aircraft carrier and command center, and lots of Rescue Heroes figures to staff them both. He's been playing with them nonstop since we got home on Friday. He chose for us to have lunch at Target, which was an interesting, but very cheap, choice.

Yesterday we completely cleaned out our basement to get things together for a garage sale on Friday. I get so mad at myself when I see how much junk we accumulate in a year, but it feels so good to purge everything and start fresh. My scrapbook area looks great and makes me want to get all the other things on my vacation list finished so I can sit and scrap the rest of the week.

Today we went to church, then out to eat. When we got home Greg mowed while I tackled pricing all of the stuff in our storage shed for the garage sale. About halfway through, I remembered why I said I was never having another yard sale. I was hot and very tired of looking for more 50 cent price tags. Everything not sold on Friday is going to be donated!

Tomorrow I will be cleaning out our closets and finishing up the pricing. I cannot wait to be finished. Hopefully it won't take too long and I'll get to start scrapping!

Have a relaxed and enjoyable Memorial Day!

For One More Day

2008-05-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

I have to make it through one more day until my 10 days of freedom! I am so excited to have 10 days with no real plan or commitment. I will be cleaning and organizing the house and getting ready for a garage sale, but I hope to get that done early in the week.

I spent yesterday in the office and it just about killed me not to be outside in the beautiful weather.

Today I worked in Perryville, then went to Sikeston to evaluate a child after work. It was a tough eval. I hate ending the day by having to break bad news to parents. It's by far the most difficult work I have to do.

Juli came over tonight and scrapbooked with me. She made a cute little chipboard album all by herself. I will soon have her completely crossed over into my crafting cult. :)

Greg is liking his new job so far. He's very sunburned and has been falling asleep on the couch by 9:30 due to all of the physical labor and sunshine he's getting. we may have to invest in some energy bars.

My mom will get the results of her CAT scan tomorrow. We are praying for good news that her tumor has shrunk. She is more than halfway through her treatments now. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Have a great Thursday! I'll be counting down the minutes until my vacation!!!

Shindigs, Showers, and Scrappers

2008-05-18T20:08:00.001-07:00

Friday night was Crazy Croppers. We had a fantastic time, as always!

Saturday we went to my dad's company picnic. My dad is a carpenter at the same university where I work. My mom works there too. The picnic was held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church grounds near Apple Creek. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. There was great food, fun games, and several of my friends were there. Hi Dana and Sherri! See the slide show for pictures of our fun day.

Today I helped give a bridal shower for my sister's friend, Marge. I was in charge of the chicken salad. (Thanks to my Utah friend, Shar, for the recipe! It has become a must-have at all of our wedding and baby showers!) Juli is going to be the Matron of Honor and I will be a server at the wedding on June 14th, a.k.a. Flag Day. Marge has a patriotic theme going on, which should be fun. There are pics from the shower in the slide show also.

Tomorrow Greg starts his new job. I am working in Marquand, MO at one of my favorite child care centers to visit. I'll be in the infant room, which has a tendency to bring on Baby Fever for me. Could be dangerous. I'm in Poplar Bluff on Tuesday and Perryville on Wednesday. Thursday is my office day, then starting Friday I am on vacation for 10 Days!!!! I cannot wait!! I plan to clean and organize the house and get ready for a garage sale. Hopefully, I'll get all of my cleaning and organizing done early in the week and have lots of time to scrapbook!!!

I have decided that since we won't be going on vacation this year, I am going to make a list of cheap places to visit close to home. If you know of anything, leave me a comment. I'll compile a master list and post it for everyone to get ideas.

Have a good week and enjoy the beautiful weather! It's going to start feeling like summer here in Missouri!

My Personality Profile

2008-05-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:

You have high extroversion.

You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends.

You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation.

Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!"

Conscientiousness:

You have high conscientiousness.

Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life.

Most things in your life are organized and planned well.

But you borderline on being a total perfectionist.

Agreeableness:

You have medium agreeableness.

You're generally a friendly and trusting person.

But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism.

You get along well with others, as long as they play fair.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.

You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.

Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.

Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is high.

In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.

You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.

A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Lots to share!

2008-05-15T18:19:00.001-07:00

Hello Blog Readers! I have lots of updates to report.

Carson now has glasses. I'd show you a picture, but he's not home for me to take one right now. He looks very cute and he seems to have increased depth perception while wearing them. We went to see a new eye doctor in Springfield, MO who we are very impressed with. He prescribed the glasses and gave us a set of exercises to try for 6 months when we have our next appointment. We spent the weekend before the appointment in Springfield. We visited the Bass Pro Shop, The Discovery Center, Lambert's Cafe, and of course the only scrapbook store in town. There are a few pics of the trip in the slide show.

The following weekend I spent in Paducah, KY at Cropical Paradise with some of my best girls. We had lots of fun and got lots of pages done. During the weekend I made my first visit to the self-serve ice hut while not wearing any shoes, (thanks for the help Shelly!), a couple of beds got short sheeted, some sleep was lost and we had a blast. Pics are above.

Mother's Day was interesting. My baby nephew was supposed to be christened in church, but that didn't happen. Long story. If you see me, ask and I'll explain. My sister, Juli, and I were scheduled to sing a song after the ceremony, so we went ahead and sang it. Luckily, it worked for Mother's Day. We enjoyed a BBQ at Mom and Dad's house with lots of family. Carson got me the ipod docking station and speakers that I had been eyeing and made me a lovely noodle necklace. I'm wearing it with my dress suit in the picture above. :)

Now for the big news: Greg will be starting a new job on Monday. He will begin his plumbing apprenticeship at Dutch Enterprises bright and early Monday morning. He's excited to begin a job where he can work outside frequently and learn a new career. The bad news is that he won't get to take vacation until next May, so we will not be going to Disney World in December. I'm bummed, but I realize this is a much better opportunity than his last job. Looks like we'll be staying home for a year. Good thing we have lots of projects that need to be completed around the house. Maybe I'll get that scrapbook caught up! (yeah, right!)

We're all home tomorrow, then I have Crazy Croppers tomorrow night. Saturday I have to work at our Provider Appreciation Brunch, then we're going to my dad's big work picnic. On Sunday I'll be helping my sister with a bridal shower for her friend. Busy times, as always! Have a wonderful weekend!

Where have I been?

2008-05-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry, dear blog readers. I have been very lax in my blog updates lately. I'll try harder to keep things a little more current. Here's the current state of things:

My house: A mess
The laundry: backed up, but not crazy out of control
My job: slowing down-1 week until reduced summer hours
My son: getting glasses, goofy as ever
My husband: still obsessed with the lawn, yet unaware of the state of the house
My mom: halfway finished with chemo

We took Carson to see a new eye doctor in Sprinfield, MO on Monday. We drove to Springfield on Saturday and visited the children's museum and the Bass Pro Shop on Sunday. We also at Lambert's, which is much smaller than the one near us.

The eye doctor spent two hours with Carson and gave us some great ideas to help him use his vision better and suggested that we put him in glasses. It was amazing to see the difference in his depth perception with the lenses in place. We'll be ordering his glasses on Monday.

I'm leaving for Cropical Paradise at 8:00 am. I am so excited!! I'm hoping to get our last vacation to Florida nearly finished. I'll try to check on in Monday. Have a great weekend!

32

2008-04-20T20:17:00.001-07:00

I had a great birthday weekend! I got to see friends and family, sleep in, have a delicious birthday dinner, and sing some karaoke at a gas station. It doesn't get any better than that!

Yesterday, my friend, Katie, and her boyfriend, Gary, came down from St. Louis. We had planned to go sing karaoke at a local restaurant, but found out midweek that they no longer have karaoke due to some management changes. We made some calls and the only place we could find that was having karaoke Saturday night was The Lil Country Store at Neely's Landing. We decided to give it a try. Katie is from this area, but Gary is most definitely not a country boy and he was a little reserved at first. It ended up being a hilarious evening. My sister, Juli, met us there since she is karaoke junkie. The store is literally a gas station/bait shop/diner with about 4 little tables next to the potato chip display. The food was awesome. At first it was a little strange to be singing karaoke with the liquor cooler behind us and the beef jerky display in front of us, but we rolled with it. We ended up being the only ones that showed up! It was mainly me, Juli, and the karaoke guy, with Katie offering up her version of the song "Tequila", complete with the PeeWee Herman dance. I will venture to say that very few people have had the honor of celebrating their 32nd birthday by singing karaoke in a gas station. Such is life in rural America.

Today I slept in then Greg and I went to see The Bucket List.l I enjoyed the movie. Greg didn't care one way or the other. We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Juli, Ashley, Rachel, Jeremy, Riley, Mom, Dad, Grandma Pat, Greg, Carson, and I well there. I got some lovely gifts, including ITunes gift cards, new flip flops, a beach bag, a rice cooker, a new purse, the movie Enchanted, a flower from Carson, and some cash. Mom cooked my favorite dinner of kettle beef, funeral corn (corn with cream cheese and sugar), mashed potatoes, rolls, and cousin Patsy's salad. Yummm-o! The best part was the fresh strawberry pie that I chose rather than cake. It was delicious!

After dinner, we stopped by Greg's Mom and Dad's where I got some cute cherry dishtowels for my kitchen and some money to put toward getting our new ceramic tile in the kitchen and bath. I think I got enough money to almost pay for the flooring. Now to find enough down time to have Greg's dad install the tile. That may take awhile. When I got home, I found a beautiful hanging basket of flowers from Becky. They are so pretty that I hung them outside our front door so we can see them from the living room.

This week is packed. I work tomorrow, although I need to try to get to the doctor in the afternoon. I am having severe allergy issues this year. I think I need a shot. Tuesday is my class filed trip to St. Louis Children's Hospital. Wednesday and Thursday are full of appointments and Friday I'll have to pack for our trip to see Carson's eye doctor in Springfield. I work in Kennett all day Saturday, then we're leaving from Kennett to drive the 5 hours it takes to get to Springfield. We're going to take it easy and see a few sights on Sunday, then head home on Monday after the appointment. I'm tired already. Have a fabulous week!

When things slow down

2008-04-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

I have this list of things to do "when things slow down." I am coming to the realization that I am the one in charge of making sure things slow down. It ain't gonna happen this weekend or next week, but it's time for things to slow down. I like busy, but I have really pushed it lately. I'm tired.

I worked until after 6:00 tonight to get my portion of documents ready for our monitoring visit. I still have to make copies of every document, but I feel better knowing that I have at least located everything I need. My calendar for next week is so covered with work appointments and personal obligations that I literally cannot write another thing on 5 of the 7 days of the week. May has got to be slower or I'm going to start getting very difficult to get along with. I'm starting May out with a scrapbook retreat, so I'm going to try to stick with the relaxation theme for the rest of the month on into the summer. My shorter summer workdays are only 2 weeks away!

Tomorrow Carson and I will be straightening and cleaning the basement in preparation for my new BeautiControl business. I plan to keep some inventory, so we're making room. Tomorrow night is Crazy Croppers. Saturday is my BeautiControl University, and a night out with friends for my birthday. Sunday is church, then dinner at Mom's with the family to celebrate my birthday. Not much time to relax this weekend, but lots of celebrating!

I'm off to bathe Carson and get him to bed. He'll be staying up later tonight in the hopes that he'll sleep in tomorrow. I doubt it, but a mom can dream. Goodnight!

Monday, Monday

2008-04-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

I had the most productive, quiet, noninterrupted day at the office that I have had in a very long time. It was wonderful. We have our annual monitoring visit (kind of like an audit) at the end of the month and I get several things checked off my list for that. I headed to Culvers at lunch and had the very yummy pot roast sandwich and mashed potatoes. I'd highly reccommend it.

I went to see my babies after work, then headed home to get my stuff ready for class tomorrow. Praise God that tomorow is my last night to lecture. This has been the craziest semester with all of the unusual weather and two flu bugs I went through. I feel like this class never really got good and started and now it's almost over.

I decided to undertake a new venture and signed up as a BeautiControl Consultant today. I am in love with their face products and decided to join to get my products at a discount. I'll be attending BeautiU on Saturday with several friends/relatives who are also joining. I'll be booking spa shows for anyone who is interested. You get lots of pampering and great products at great prices. I'll post more details after Saturday. I'm not interested in doing this full force like I did with Pampered Chef, but I'd still like to do a few parties a month. Fun stuff!

Tomorrow I'll be working at a child care home in Zalma. It's a very small town about an hour from Jackson. I'll be completing a rating scale for the environment, which is a nice break from evaluating kids with special needs. It should be a good day!

Thanks to Becky and Rebecca for the menu tips and to Dawn for checking in with me after my little hiatus! I love you guys!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Be the hero of your own life story.-Alex Rover in Nim's Island

Weekend Update

2008-04-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

I've been back for a week and I'm still trying to get back in a routine. This week will be super busy, so hopefully things will slow down eventually.

Friday night, Becky and I went to the late show to see 27 Dresses. It was very cute, but definitely a chick flick. There were 8 women in the theater. There were no men. It was a fun night out.

Yesterday, we went to Messy Morning, a community event that has free activities for young children. Usually I have to work in the booth that my office sponsors, but I was able to skip working this year and just enjoy visiting all of the booths with Carson. Greg's cousin, Amy, and her twin girls met us there. The kids had a great time getting messy together.

After Messy morning, we went to Shogun for lunch. I had it in my mind that it would be so much cheaper to go at lunch, but it was still $40. Not exactly a frugal decision. Oh well, it was really good and Carson has a blast watching the chef cook on the hibachi grill. After lunch we went shopping for ceramic tile. We want to put tile down in our dining room and kitchen. I have 4 tiles chilling out in my kitchen floor, just waiting for me to decide which one is my favorite. I change my mind every time I go into the kitchen. We also want to pull our carpet up and refinish the hardwood flooring in the living room, hallway, and bedrooms. I think we'd probably better wait until the tile is done before we start another project.

I'm out of the office 2 days this week. I have 2 parties to attend. I have class on Tuesday night. My birthday is on Sunday. I'm already tired.

My class is winding down and while I'll miss the extra money, I can't wait to have the extra time to get my house really organized. I want to take a few days off soon to really declutter and get things in order. Life seems to run so much smoother when I'm not fighting piles of clutter.

I have stocked the house with tons of groceries in an effort to quit eating out. I need to menu plan, but that may have to wait until tomorrow. Anyone have any menu planning tips or yummy recipes to help motivate me? I also need to convine myself that I like leftovers again. We used to eat them all the time when we first got married.

A little update on my mom: she got sick about a week after her 2nd round of chemo, but her doctor is convinced she had the stomach flu, since my dad was also sick. She had another round last Thursday and was feeling well enough to go with my dad and grandma on a little trip to Gatlinburg, TN. She's lost most of her hair, so she alternates between her wig, turbans, and hats. She can no longer feel the tumor from the outside, so hopefully, it's shrinking. Keep up the prayers!

Thanks for checking in! I'll try to post more often this week, but I'm not making any promises.

Day 4 in DC

2008-04-04T19:22:00.001-07:00

Today was another awesome day! We had sessions this morning and afternoon, then we were off for some more sightseeing. I was with a different group of Missouri girls because my other buddies flew home today.

We took the Metro to The White House. It was my first subway ride! It was surprisingly clean and easy to navigate. The White House was much smaller than I had imagined and literally sits in the middle of the city, surrounded by office and government buildings. We talked to a Secret Service agent for quite awhile, but we couldn't take his picture. He said his job is very boring and that the only time he gets any excitement, it means that something is very wrong at The White House. It was interesting to talk with him, and several of the girls thought he was cute. He was way too short for my taste. :)

We then walked to the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Wall. I had seen them on Day 2, but it was nice to see everything in the daylight, since our tour was at night. From there, we walked around the Tidal Basin, which is where most of the famous Cherry Blossom trees are blooming. We then walked to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, but they were out of tickets for the day.

We hopped back on the Metro, switched trains at Metro Center, (aren't you impressed that we managed to figure out the subway routes?!?), and got off at the China Town exit. China Town was bustling with people and not nearly as impressive as we had hoped. Instead of neat shops of imported goods, they had Bed, Bath, and Beyond and McDonald's. We ended up eating at the Chop House in our own private dining room. It was awesome!

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. We'll be in session in the morning, then catching our flight at 3:30. It's been a great trip!

Days 2 and 3 in DC!!

2008-04-03T19:18:00.001-07:00

Discalimer***I am exhausted and have chosen to ignore my typos. If you love me, you'll do the same.

Yesterday was great! We had conference sessions all day, then went on a Trolley Tour last night. It was awesome to see the monuments lit up at night. The tour pics are in the slide show. We had a fantastic tour guide and a fun group of tourists on the trip. I was absolutely in awe of how big all of the monuments are. The Lincoln Memorial blew me away.

We had limited time at each site, so my new friend, Becky Kircher, and I literally power walked at every stop to make sure we saw every possible sight. I was exhausted at the end of the night, but glad I got to see so much on the tour. The only thing I still really want to see tomorrow is The White House. The forecast is cold and rainy, so we'll see.

Today we met with our Senators and Reps on Capitol Hill. What an eye opening experience. I try not to get too political on the blog, but the Republican congressmen where very good at glad handing and offering a photo op, while the Dems took notes and listened to our comments. A certain Republican candidate literally told me that the way to solve child care issues was for women to stay home with their children. He was a scary, scary man. I did take a pic of John McCain's office, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to find Hillary or Obama's offices. Capitol Hill is a truly gigantic place and took lots of time to travel to our various appointments.

Late this afternoon, Becky and I toured the National Air and Space Museum, where the Treasures of American History are temporarily housed while the American History Museum is being renovated. I say lots of cool things, including the hat Abe Lincoln was wearing when he was shot, Dorothy's ruby slippers, Babe Ruth's baseball, R2D2 and C3PO, and lots of other fun stuff.

Unfortunately for us, we could not find a cab back to the hotel when the museum closed, so we got to walk 15 blocks in the pouring, freezing rain to get back to the hotel. Did I mention I was in a windbreaker with no umbrella? It took 30 minutes for my arms to thaw. We took cabs to and from dinner to avoid catching our death.

Tomorrow is more meetings and more sightseeing! Thanks for checking in!

Day One in DC

2008-04-02T05:36:00.001-07:00

I arrived safe and sound! Security took forever in St Louis, but the flight was great and we got to the hotel without any problems. After checking in, my roommate, Penny, and I met up with several of the other girls and walked many blocks to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We mad a very quick run through since we had 30 minutes until closing time!

After the museum, we met the rest of our group at the hotel, then walked to Union Station for dinner at America, then did a little window shopping. I ordered Thanksgiving on a Roll, which was turkey, stuffing, creanberry sauce and gravy on a huge roll. It was delicious! Union Station is beautiful inside. Actually, everything has been clean and beautiful so far, with tons of friendly people everywhere. The cherry blossoms are blooming and they are gorgeous!

Today we're in conferences all day, then tonight we're going on an evening tour of DC. Tomorrow is our day on Capitol Hill. So far, everything has been great!

Leaving on a Jet Plane..

2008-03-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

and I'll be back again on Saturday. I'm taking the laptop, so watch for updates! I may not update every day since I'll have to pay for internet access. This time tomorrow, Ill be in DC! Have a fabulous week!

I'm back!

2008-03-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

I survived the virus. I went back to work today and stayed the whole day, although I did have have a few queasy moments. I'm not really eating yet either, but that should help my weigh-in on Monday. :)

We got our taxes done tonight and we have to pay in yet again. It could be worse, but it's very frustrating to work 3 jobs and still have to pay in each year.

I am working tomorrow, then I'm off until Tuesday when I fly to Washington D.C. for a conference! I am so excited!!! I've never been there and while I'm the only one going from my office, several of my state buddies will be there. I'll be visiting Capitol Hill and delivering materials about the importance of quality child care to my senators and representatives in the Capitol Building. Cool stuff!

I'm exhausted and ready for bed. Have a great Friday!

Sick

2008-03-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

Warning: You are about to be supplied with way too much information.

I have lost 7 pounds since 3:30 am. It is now 11 am. My new diet involves sitting in the bathroom with my head in the trashcan.

I feel terrible.

I'm going back to bed.

Easter..Part 1

2008-03-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had an Easter egg hunt with the kids of all of my scrapbooking buddies. We met for lunch at Delmonico's, then hunted eggs inside at my church since the ground was so muddy outside. The kids had a great time hunting and playing together and the adults had fun watching and visiting.

Last night was our monthly Crazy Croppers crop. I organized our Florida vacation pictures so I'll be hopefully be able to complete my album when I go to Cropical Paradise in May. My buddies and I have rented the entire house for the weekend. We have so much fun at our monthly crops that I'm sure we'll have a blast going away for the weekend together. It's also going to be National Scrapbook Day while we're there. Fun times!

Tonight my friend, Katie, and I are going out to dinner. I haven't seen her since Christmas, so we have some catching up to do. Not sure where we'll go yet.

Tomorrow is church, then to Mom's for Easter lunch. Mom has had some chills and nausea, but has done pretty well with her latest round of chemo. She felt like hosting Easter, so off we go.

Have a terrific Easter!

Cheap Date

2008-03-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

Greg and I had a Red Lobster gift card and some free movie passes burning a hole in our pockets, so tonight we had a very cheap date. We had a lovely seafood dinner and then went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. The movie was ok. I'm glad we didn't take Carson. It's a little too intense for young kiddos.

My friend, Tasha, helped convince me to set up the MySpace page I signed up for over a year ago, so that 's what I've been doing for the last few hours. If you're on MySpace, check it out. I need some friends.

Tomorrow I have 2 babies to evaluate, then I'll be ordering our new cell phones since it's time for an upgrade. I'm excited about geting a camera phone again. I think I need a pink phone. I'm sure it will help me talk and hear so much better. :)

Friday I am hosting an egg hunt for my scrappin' buddies and their kiddos, getting our picture taken for the church directory, then cropping for the rest of the evening. Saturday is dinner with my friend, Kate, and her boyfriend (fiance???? not sure if that's happened quite yet), then Sunday is Easter. Not sure what our plans will be for Easter dinner. We'l have to see how Mom feels after tomorrow's round of chemo.

That's it for now. I need to get to bed!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2008-03-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

It needs to stop raining. We are having massive flooding all over the southeast Missouri area. My parents are staying at my grandma's house because both of the routes to their house are closed. Greg's parents had to go 2 hours our if their way to get home from Nashville. I only had 7 of my 12 students in class tonight. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow too.

My seven-year-old nephew, Andrew, had hip surgery yesterday and he's in a lot of pain. He'll be in the hospital in Nashville, where he lives, for several more days. He has a degenerative hip condition, so he may need more surgeries in the future. Keep him in your prayers.

My mom had her second round of chemo today and had no side effects! Yay! She goes for another round on Thursday.

Greg and I had a great time at the Mark Schultz concert on Friday night. It's always fun to go to a concert when you know all the songs and everyone sings along. Here are a few pics:

Greg looks a little scared. The concert was at a huge church in St. Louis. There were several hundred people there. We had great seats because another couple was nice enough to offer us a spot next to them in the second closest section of pews. Wasn't that nice?

Here's a picture of Mark Schultz. He's funny and just an all around great guy. You should buy all of his CD's. I know you'll like'em. This was our third time to see him in concert.

We stayed at the new Forest Park Drury Hotel. It's very pretty. We slept in and then came home and got ready for our friends, The Moores, to come over for dinner and some Wii games. The boys had fun playing together and we had fun seeing how smart we were on Big Brain Academy.

On Sunday we stayed home and I surfed the internet basically all day. I got caught up on all of my blogs and read tons of info on the DisBoards for our trip. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Yesterday I worked in the office and went to see one of my therapy babies after work. I stayed home today since Greg's parents were in Nashville for Andrew's surgery and I didn't have a babysitter for Carson. We watched the rain and Carson got to watch movies in my bedroom while I worked on prep for my class tonight. He was thrilled.

It will be interesting to see if we can get to work tomorrow with all of the flooding. It looks like we're in for a wet Wednesday. Stay dry if you're one of my local readers!

It's Thursday!

2008-03-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Mom's chemo went well. She had a few side effects, but they were manageable. She was having "ice cream therapy" at Cold Stone Creamery when I talked to her at 4:30. She was finished in far less than the 8 hours they had predicted.

I had a long day at work. I worked in the office all day, then tonight I served on a panel discussion of resources for parents whose children have been newly diagnosed with autism. I have a pretty good idea of what these parents are dealing with and it's not a fun place to be. They still had the deer in the headlights stares and seemed to be afraid to ask too many questions. I'll expect some phone calls next week after the information sinks in. It's still weird to me to be presented as an expert on anything, much less autism, but I am so glad to help these parents get the services their children need.

I completely forgot to stop by Bunco to hand out the prizes after the panel discussion. I didn't remember until I was in my driveway! Greg's mom delivered my snacks and prizes and the girls made it just fine without me. Hopefully I'll actually get to play the next time I'm scheduled to host Bunco. Oh well!

When I got home I had a message from one of my sister's best friends, Marge. She is having Greg's mom make her wedding floral centerpiece and wanted to drop the flowers off with me. She also asked me to be a server at the wedding, which was unexpected, but very flattering. I love a party! I've got exactly three months of Operation Skinny Minnie before the wedding.

Carson and I are hanging out at home tomorrow, with a possible run to the library. I'll be dropping him off at my grandma's house, then picking Greg up at work and rushing to the Mark Shultz concert in St Louis. I can't wait!!!

Skinny Minnie Stats: no exercise today due to blisters from the previous 2 days! Weight watchers points are entered.

Change

2008-03-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I can safely unveil my new plan for reaching a healthy weight. In the past, I've started telling people that I was on a new plan before I was truly committed, and then ended up not sticking to it and feeling like a huge failure.

This time, I've been at it for 4 weeks and can safely say that I'm back in the "loser" mindset. On the way home today, I realized that I was looking forward to stopping at the park for a walk. That hasn't happened in a couple of years. The exercise has been very rough, but I was noticbly less winded today. I still don't "enjoy" the actually act of exercising, but I am starting to get the craving for that feeling that happens when I push a little harder.

I have tracked my Weight Watcher points faithfully for 4 weeks. As of Monday, I was down a little over 8 pounds. I've averaged about 2 pounds a week, which is the way I need to do it to keep it off. It's amazing how my cravings for sweets and snacks have disappeared since I started journaling all my food again. It's so much easier to back away from the Cheetos when I see that one little bag will cost me five points. I could have 5 apples for the same number of points.

I've got several motivators to get the weight off this time. My mom's cancer has been a huge wake-up call. Being overweight and eating a diet high in animal fat are huge risk factors for cancer. I'm also hearing that little biological clock start to tick a little louder and I really want to be on as little medication as possible and have my blood pressure under control before I get pregnant. The last motivator is that I'll be damned if I'm going to Disney World at anywhere near my current weight. I want to be able to walk all over the parks without my feet killing me and I really want to be able to get some cute clothes to wear on our trip. I have therefore decided to call my new plan "Operation Skinny Minnie." Disney World, here I come!

My mom starts her chemo tomorrow, so please keep her in your prayers. She'll be receiving the chemo drugs for about 8 hours tomorrow. It will go more quickly the next time. She's ready to get started and get finished.

Skinny Minnie stats for the week so far:

pounds lost=2.6
Minutes walked=60
Miles walked=3.25

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Weekend Update

2008-03-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

I had a fabulous time at Michele's party last night! We met at her house for predinner drinks, then headed to Port Cape for dinner and some games, then back to her house for dessert. I opted to ride the party shuttle, which was a good thing since I hadn't had that much to drink in quite a while. Those Electric Popsicles and Incredible Hulk cocktails went down pretty well. :) I am so happy that Michele has beaten cancer and is back to living life! Here are some pics from last night:
Michelle and Me

Tasha and me

The Whole Group

Scrapbook pages I made for Michele

We decided to cancel the trip to Springfield until April. It seemed a little silly for Greg to miss work without pay for a nonemergency appointment. We'll go when he gets more vacation next month. My plans for tomorrow are to stay home and get everything in order for our taxes. Fun.

Today Greg decided to clean house. (Are we in another dimension?!?!) I sat and watched him dust, vaccuum, mop, and put the laundry away. It was awesome. After that, he and his dad assembled our new entertainment center. It's actually a hand-me-down from Greg's uncle, Floyd, but it's a lot newer, nicer and bigger than our old one. Floyd is getting a new plasma TV, so he no longer needed it. It looks great and has plenty of storage for my scrapbooks, something I've never had before. I love freebies!

This week I work out of town on Tuesday and in the office Wednesday and Thursday. I somehow literally scheduled myself to be in two places at one time this Thursday night. I'll be setting up for Bunco, then walking across the street to the nursing building to be on a panel discussion about autism, then running back across the street to hand out the prizes for Bunco. Crazy! Friday night, Greg and I are headed out for a little getaway. We'll be going to a Mark Schultz concert, then staying at the newest Drury hotel at Forest Park. I am ready to get away!

That's it for now. I am determined to finish Nineteen Minutes tonight. It's a great book if you're looking for something new to read. Have a great week!

Tagged and Turkey Time

2008-03-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Brooke!

The rules: Link to your tagger and post these 3 rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I would love to be a morning person. I'm just wired to be a night owl.

2. I will not eat wild game of any kind. I know it's crazy, but those animals have not had their shots and may be carriers of some crazy disease. I never said I was rational.

3. I used to have to have perfect conditions to fall asleep. After being in the hospital and living at the Ronald McDonald House when Carson was born, I can sleep anytime, anywhere.

4. I love to daydream about all the people I could help if I won the lottery.

5. If I had the money, I would be all about some plastic surgery. New boobs, butt, thighs, and a tight tummy.

6. I really want to build a house with a wraparound porch.

7. I loaded my ipod with tunes from the Go-Go's. I love'em!

I am tagging Becky, Dawn, Rebecca, Theresa Marie, Heather F, Lilian, and Shannon

I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I slow cooked a turkey breast in the crock pot all day, then made cream cheese mashed potatoes, cheesy vegetables, and hot rolls. Yummy! So far, I've been doing ok with eating small portions of what I want and still losing at Weight Watchers. Hopefully, this will continue to work. Here's what I made:

Tomorrow I need to work on a little gift for my friend, Michele. She has just finished her chemotherapy and has beaten colon cancer!!! She is hosting a huge girl's night out tomorrow night to celebrate. Should be fun!

The ABC's of Amy

2008-03-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: I am blesssed with great girlfriends
C- Cake or Pie: Apple pie
D- Day of Choice: Friday-my day off with Carson
E- Essential Item (s): computer
F- Flavor of ice cream: cheesecake from Marble Slab Creamery
G- Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears.... I'm not real big on gummy anything
H- Hometown: Jackson, MO
I- Indulgence(s): pedicures
J- January or July: July
K- Kids: Carson, age 5 and maybe one more baby next year
L - Last movie seen in theaters/DVD: I can't remeber
M- Marriage Date: May 22, 1999
N- Number of Siblings: 2 Jeremy is 28 and Julianne is 23
O- Oranges or Apples: Apples
P- Phobias or Fears: Open water-I like to see what I'm swimming in
Q- Quote(s): "I get up every morning determined both to change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes it difficult to plan my day."
R- Reason To Smile: I'm going to Disney World!
S- Season: Fall
T- Tag Four: Becky, Rebecca, Heather, Dawn
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I secretly want to be a chef
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I go through phases where meat grosses me out, but sometimes a girl has to have a cheeseburger
W- Worst Habit: Cussing..I'm working on it
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds.. I had them round the clock when I was hospitalized before Carson was born
Y- Your Favorite Food: Fattening Southern Food..Chicken and Dumplings, Kettle Beef, Fried Chicken, Pecan Pie
Z- Zociac: Taurus

2008-03-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

My back finally stopped hurting! I went back to work today and surprisingly didn't have too much to catch up on. I was able to clean and tidy my cubicle and begin preparing for the training I have on Saturday.

Tomorrow is a luncvh meeting, then finishing the prep for my training. My laundry has gotten way out of control since my back was out, so it looks like Friday will be spent at home catching up on the laundry.

On Sunday we leave for Springfield, MO to get a second opinion on Carson's eyes. I just want to make sure he really needs another surgery. We've never been to Springfield, so it should be an adventure. It's about a 4 hour drive from here.

Carson is calling me to the bedroom to watch the Disney Vacation Planner DVD again. He's as addicted as I am! Have a terrific Thursday!

Craziness

2008-03-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Sunday: High of 73. Sunshine. Moderate winds.

Today: Ice on trees. Snow/sleet/freezing rain. High in the low 30's.

The power has gone off 3 times so far today. Right now it's on. Cross your fingers.

Missouri is a crazy place.

I am home today. My back still hurts and it's driving me insane. The heating pad is my friend.

I just cancelled class. My students probably wonder if we'll ever get back on track.

I'm going back to bed.

It's Official!

2008-03-02T19:28:00.001-08:00

Carson and I went to AAA and booked our Disney World Trip on Friday. We will be staying at the Pop Century Resort for 8 nights during the second week of December. We watched the planning DVD that the travel agent gave us today. Carson screamed, "Yeah, Baby! Yeah! I'm gonna ride that!" for every single ride that was shown on the DVD. I think he's a little bit excited.

Our weekend trip to St Louis went well. I got this ipod. I spent this afternoon loading it up with my favorite tunes.I hurt my back this morning and it's still killing me. I went for mile and a half walk, thinking that might help loosen up the tightness in my back. I also didn't want to waste another day of potential weight loss by not walking. It helped for a couple of hours, but now it's killing me. I'm headed to bed in hopes that I'll feel better in the morning. Make it a great week!

B-I-N-G-O!

2008-02-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

My girls and I spent the evening at Bingo World! It was my first time to play Bingo, other than on our cruise. I had no idea it was such a serious game. There was no time to talk for fear of missing a number. We had a lot of laughs over the gentleman seated next to me who had tpo announce to everyone what numbers he was lacking at the end of each game. He was crazy.

We didn't have any winners in our group, but we're ready to go again! Who says there's nothing to do in a small town?!?

2008-02-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Ten Things I'm Thankful For:

10. warm blankets-it's cold here tonight
9. quality lip balm-my new lip balm from BeautiControl makes my lips so soft
8. Greg's parents' willingness to let Carson stay over whenever he wants
7. good friends-I'm lucky enough to have several of them
6. New nightshirts-Greg's mom gave me a new hot pink night shirt that is so comfy
5. a good book-I've read three of them in a row
4. Greg's job- you can't beat getting a $130 hotel room for the $29 employee rate. We made three St Louis reservations today
3. payday-Friday cannot come soon enough
2. maturity-things certainly look different at almost 32 than they did at almost 22
1. flannel sheets-they're calling my name tonight

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.

Tiny Fingers, Tiny Toes

2008-02-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

I took my class on a field trip to a local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit tonight. The students enjoyed the trip, as always. It's always interesting to watch their reactions. I can ususally tell who will continue on in the field and who will realize that this is not the careeer for them. Seeing tiny sick babies for the first time is pretty unnerving. I have been in the NICU many times since Carson was born and tonight was the first time I was able to look at the tiniest babies and think I could do it again if I had to. Hopefully I'll have a normal pregnancy when we try again, but if not, I realized tonight that I could handle it if things didn't go as planned again. We'll see what the year brings. No, we're not ready to try again quite yet. :)

We celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday with a celebratory dinner at Pizza Inn. Grandma treated us all to dinner. My aunt, uncle, cousin, and his girlfriend joined my entire family, and we chatted and ate for an hour and a half. We stayed so long that Greg sampled just about every variety of pizza offered on the buffet. We're done with birthdays until mine in April.

I don't have any travel for work this week, which is a nice break. We'll be taking a quick trip to St Louis this weekend to get Carson some shoes to wear with the braces he is getting tomorrow. I need to pick up the Bunco prizes for March, so some other shopping will be in order too. Yay!

I've been spending lots of time researching our vacation. I think we'll be booking very soon. I have no intention of going to Disney World pregnant, so I'm looking at at least 11 months or so to really get in shape. I've been doing well with Weight Watchers and have reconnected with a friend from high school at my meetings, so I am motivated to become a Skinny Minnie for Disney and a baby! I even snuck in some exercise yesterday. Anyone local want to walk with me?

I finished Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult and it was a great read. I picked up another Jodi Picoult book, Nineteen Minutes, at the library, so I'm off to read a little before bed. Leave me a comment about any great reads you've found lately and I may just have a little drawing for those who share a book suggestion. Thanks for checking in!

Crop, Cake, Capitol, Cabbage, and Clues

2008-02-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

We had a very lazy Saturday. I slept in and then went to see a baby who ended up not being home. I am going to have to seriously consider if I am willing to keep scheduling a 1:00 Saturday appointment for a family who is very unpredictable. I came back home and spent most of the day watching the Food Network and reruns of Extreme Makeover while surfing the net.

Most of my time was spent on the DisBoards, researching info for our trip. I am really considering going ahead and booking the trip next week so I can start making payments. I think we'll do better being forced to pay on it rather than saving on our own and booking later. Something else always seems to come up and I end up transferring the vacation money, then scrounging for it later. Plus, I want to be able to make our dining reservations as soon as possible since we're going to try the Disney Dining Plan this time. I am thinking we'll end up going the second week of December. So far, it looks like we'll stay on the property at the Pop Century resort, unless a good deal comes along for one of the moderate resorts. We're never in our room, though, so it's probably not worth the extra money. Any opinions from fellow Disney vacationers? I 'll take any hints/tips/advice you have to share. At least 10 DisneyWorld commercials came on TV while was looking at the DisBoards, I would like to think that this is a sign that I am indeed going to Disney World in December. (That would be the Clues portion of today's entry title.)

I ran across this thread on the budget section of the DisBoards. It literally had dozens of pages of thrifty meal ideas. It really did make me think about how much money we're spending on eating out. It is really ridiculous when I see how little it costs the people on the message board to make meals at home. I'm actually fired up to eat at home and put the rest of the money into our trip fund. Take a look: Budget Meal Ideas

I had a great time with the girls at our crop last night. I got all of my loose recipes copied onto recipe cards and organized in my new recipe box. I'll have to show it to you later because it's way too cold to get it out of the van right now. Here 's a pic of the girls hard at work.

The Elvis Presley Cake was a huge hit! Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS
Prepare cake according to instructions on package. Bake in a 9x13 inch pan. Allow to cool. Poke holes in cake with fork. Combine pineapple and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Spoon over cooled cake. In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Spread cream cheese frosting over cake. Sprinkle pecans on top of frosting.

I cooked again tonight. Everything was really yummy, although this picture isn't looking too appetizing right now!

I fixed oven BBQ'd pork steaks, baked beans, and fried cabbage. The cabbage was suprisingly low cal for being fried. It was super easy too.

1 head cababge, cored and chopped into bite size pieces

3 slices bacon, fried and chopped

garlic salt

pepper

1 Tbs water

Fry bacon until crisp, then remove, leaving grease in pan. Add cabbage, garlic salt, pepper, and water. Fry, stirring often for 15 minutes or until soft. Stir in chopped bacon.

Only 50 calories per serving!

Not much on the agenda tomorrow, other than church. Here's a picture that I snapped as I was coming across the bridge into Jefferson City last week. The capitol building is pretty much the only attractive thing in Jefferson City. The rest of the town is in serious need of an update.

That's it for tonight. Have a great Sunday!

I'm still here!

2008-02-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I ended up getting sick in my hotel room in Jefferson City on Tuesday evening and I felt like crap on Wednesday and Thursday. I drug myself to the Jefferson City Target and stocked up on medical supplies. I had a humidifer running, Nyquil and Vick's as well as Johnson's Vapor Bath for a nice long soak in the tub. I have severe asthma, so when I get the least bit sick, I have a really hard time breathing. Unfortunately, my room was right by the elevator, so I heard "Ding!Ding!" all night long. I didn't sleep much at all. The drive home on Wednesday was not fun.

Yesterday we got round two of the Great Missouri Ice Storm. Luckily, this one wasn't as large as the first. We still have power this time. Carson and I stayed home all day yesterday and watched the sleet and freezing rain accumulate. Greg got to come home early. The main roads are clear, but the side roads are horrible. I literally had to crawl up the icy steps of my therapy baby's house this morning. I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed seeing that!

Mom had her appointment at the cancer center yesterday. She will begin chemo in a few weeks. They did find that she has a decent size mass in her abdomen, not just the original mass that they found in Cape. She also has a spot in her chest, but they aren't too concerned about that one right now. She ordered her wig today and is ready to get the show on the road. Her doctor told her that this type of cancer has a good prognosis and that she will most likely be in remission after the chemo. She's also signed up to participate in a research study that is showing promising long-term remission results.

Greg's parents returned last night from a cruise to Mexico. It did not go well. They left Saturday, then woke up Sunday to find that they were back in Alabama because someone had a heart attack on the ship and had to be taken to the hospital. They left again late Sunday morning and found out that one their stops had been canceled due to the delay. The next two nights, they were storms at sea. They had water seeping through their cabin window and there were barf bags taped to the hallways because so many people were sick. So far, they are being offered a $25 refund. I don't think they'll sail with Carnival again.

I'm off to finish making an Elvis Presley cake for our scrapbook crop tonight. If it's good, I'll post the recipe. I'll be spending my crop time finishing a super-cute recipe box that I made for myself. I want all of my recipes in one place. I have the box and dividers finished, but I have lots of recipes to copy onto cards. Have a great weekend!

A Mighty Good Man

2008-02-18T19:18:00.000-08:00

A little late Valentines Day Meme: Feel free to use it on your own blog!

What's one physical characteristic that you love about your mate? His smile. He smiles all the time and aren't those some straight teeth?

What's one personality trait that stands out about your mate? His even temper. He rolls with the punches and literally almost never gets upset about anything. His motto for life: Eh, it'll be alright.

How long have you been together? Since June 22, 1996. He took me home to meet his mom on our first date. We've been together ever since. Married? Since May 22, 1998. Almost 9 years!

Would you say that you loved your husband first for his brains, his brawn or his bankbook?

hmmm..I will admit that the red sports car and his insistence on paying for everything was pretty nice...the car has since been sold and I paid for dinner tonight, as usual

Did you pick out your ring or did he surprise you with it? He picked the loose stone himself and had it set in a simple band just like I had always wanted

How did you choose where to be married? It was interesting. There was a time when I was actually thinking about being married in the Catholic church since his whole family is Catholic. We eventually agreed to get married in my church, where Greg can now be found every Thursday and Sunday. He loves being part of our church.

How is your marriage different than it was the day you married? It's very real now. We have been through some pretty rough stuff in the last 9 years, everything from job loss to almost losing Carson when he was born, then working together to give him the best therapies and watching him grow into the coolest little man. We don't get rattled too much anymore. (Unless you count my rants about open closet doors and dishes not being put away.)

What do you love the most about your mate? He is very giving. He would literally give you the shirt off his back if you said you needed it.

What's something that you do to keep your marriage happy? We go away together. Even it's just to St Louis for the weekend, we love spending time as a couple.

List one word to describe your mate for every year that you've been together.

Faithful

Honest

Silly

Smart

Great Daddy

Grillmaster

Loving

Caring

Babies and Birthdays

2008-02-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

I held Riley all through church today. He was bright-eyed until the very end, then he instantly crashed. After church we went out to eat for brunch, then I hurried home to make my friend, Shar's, yummy chicken salad for Brittany's baby shower. This chicken salad has become a staple at all of our wedding and baby showers. Heaven knows we've had a few of those in the last year or so!

Croissant Chicken Salad

(this makes enough for a crowd)

3 cans chicken breast, drained and flaked

1/2 bunch of green onions, finely chopped

3 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 Tbs dry mustard, or more to taste

2 tsp garlic powder

Mayonaise

Miracle Whip

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Use equal parts mayo and mayonaise to get the consistency you like. We like it pretty creamy. Serve on croissants or dollar rolls.

We had about 25 people at the baby shower. Mom's power went out just before the guests arrived, so we had a candlelight snack and the power came on just before Brittany opened the gifts. She got lots of cute things. Juli and I decided that I'll need another baby shower if I have another baby. She pointed out that there may have been many technological advances in baby gear since I had Carson 6 1/2 years ago. I'll go for that. :)

After the shower the husbands joined us for dinner in celebration of Juli's 23rd birthday. Mom made all of her favorites including meat loaf, mashed potatoes, cheesy vegetables, and hot rolls. I took her a bowl of dumplings from yesterday and made Poppyseed Chicken. It was all very good, but I'm dreading my weigh-in at Weight Watchers tomorow! Doesn't Ash look excited about the cake? Happy Birthday Jules!

I'm in the office tomorrow then leaving for Jefferson City on Tuesday. Hopefully I'll make a little further up the road this time! Have a great week!

Hereos, Housework, and Home Cooking

2008-02-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

Around 5:00 Friday morning I awoke to the now familiar sound of a limb cracking and crashing into our newly repaired power lines. The electricty went off immediately. Greg called the electric company and we were assured they would send technicians as soon as possible. I went back to sleep and woke up at 7:30. The temperature was already down to 55 degrees in the house. Luckily, these guys showed up around 10:00. They couldn't get their bucket trucks into our backyard due to all of the downed trees, so they climbed the poll. I have a new respect for these guys. They literally put on spiked shoes and scaled the pole in less than a minute. They had the power back on by 11:30. So far, it's stayed on. I have new hereos.

I spent today deep cleaning the house. I have almost all of the laundry washed and put away. I reorgized my closet and came up with another load of stuff to take to Goodwill. I am liking how much neater things stay when you pare down the posessions.

Tonight I made an all time favorite of the Franklin household, Chicken and Dumplings. These are southern style dumplings, so if you're looking for those strange biscuity type dough balls, you've come to the wrong place. My dumplings are medium thickness. I grew up with my Grandma Mungle's thick doughy dumplings and Greg grew up on his mom's very thin dumplings, so we comprimise. I only use boneless, skinless chicken breasts because I can't deal with dark meat and that yucky chicken skin and residue that comes from using a whole chicken. Here's the recipe:

Amy's Chicken and Dumplings

64 oz (2 boxes) chicken broth, more if you like your dumplings soupy
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 chicken bouillon cubes
salt and pepper
4 cups flour
1 stick butter or margarine

Cook chicken breasts by baking or boiling. I like to cook them with broth in the crockpot if I have time. Remove chicken from broth and let cool. Tear into bite sized pieces when cool.

Add bouillon cubes to broth and bring to a boil.

Cut butter into flour in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup boiling broth and stir until a loose ball forms. Remove from bowl (careful, it's hot!) and knead a few times. Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness on a generously floured surface. Cut into 1 inch strips. I use my big pizza cutter. Drop dumplings one at a time into boiling broth, stretching dumplings as you drop them. Cook for 10 minutes. You can shake the pan to seperate the dumplings, but do not stir with a spoon.

Add chicken and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

I also made corn muffins, green beans, and cream cheese mashed potatoes. Yum!

Mom is keeping Riley tonight, so Carson and I made a run to her house so I could get some snuggle time. He is getting so chubby and chatty!

Tomorrow we have church, then Mom, Juli, and I are hosting a baby shower for my cousin's girlfriend, Brittany. She is due with a boy on March 31. She's a very sweet girl and we're looking forward to having another baby to cuddle.

I'm tired! I'm going to read in bed. I finally finished The Thirteenth Tale about a week ago. It was very strange, but I'm glad I read it. I've moved on to Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. It's about an Amish girl accused of murdering her illegitmate baby. So far, it's very good. Goodnight!

Greetings from the Arctic

2008-02-14T20:49:00.001-08:00

We are alive! This is an epic length post, so good luck! Here's a recap of what we've done this week:

Monday: It literally started sleeting the minute I left the office for my Jefferson City trip. I made it to Enterprise car rental where they had nothing but minivans left to choose from. I get the van, get on the interstate and stop 5 times between Jackson and Fruitland (7 miles away) to clean ice off the windshield. I exit with all the other people on the highway and decide there is no way I'll make it to St Louis, much less Jefferson City. I call my St Louis coworkers and tell them I'm not making the trip, then drive 35 miles an hour home on the now ice covered road. I park the rental van in the driveway and seek shelter inside. Greg gets home 2 hours later and we decide to leave Carson at MeMaw and PawPaw's house due to the weather. We snuggle in to watch TV and I have the foresight to turn on the electric blanket on our bed. It continues to sleet/ice/rain and covers the trees and power lines. The power goes out at 10:17 pm. We go to bed, which is at least warm from the blanket. We do not sleep because the sound of limbs cracking and hitting the roof sounds like bombs going off all night.

Tuesday: It is really freaking cold in the house and we have no power, no internet, and no phone. We live outside the city limits, so we have a well for water. No electric means no well pump to get water. We turn on the radio to learn that 11,000 people are without power, including both sets of parents and my grandmother. My grandma leaves with my uncle to his home, where there is a wood stove for heat, and both of our parents stay home near their fireplaces. The Enterprise van is firmly stuck in the ice in our driveway. Our van is realtively ice free under the carport. We light the gas fireplace, light candles, and eat cereal. I take a flashlight to the basement to dig out scrapping supplies and park my butt in front of the fireplace for most of the day. I light our gas stove and make soup with the stuff that is defrosting in our freezer. Greg takes hot soup to our elderly neighbors and goes for a walk. He reports that the neighborhood looks like a war zone with power lines down everywhere and broken trees and limbs all over the road. There are 5 inches of ice on our driveway. No one is leaving their houses. We use cell phones to report the outages of our phone, internet, and power. I try to convince myself that this is an adventure. At 2:00, I can't stand it and we leave the house. We discover that my office has heat and power and stop there briefly to get warm. We drive around looking at the damage and make a trip to Walmart with everyone else in town. We run into Rob and Becky, who also don't have power. We make a stop at El Torero, which does have power, for some dinner. I really stink at this point, but so does everyone else in town. At 9:00 pm, we decide to try to sleep. I am now wearing polar fleece pants, two pairs of wool socks, a t-shirt, sweatshirt, polar fleece jacket, sock cap and hood to bed. I cover up with 2 fleece blankets and a down comforter. It is 50 degrees when we go to sleep. I am really wishing I had showered Monday night. (It's also Mom's birthday. It wasn't the most festive day.)

Wednesday: It is 42 freaking degrees in the living room when we wake up. I pack a bag, drop Greg off at work, and slowly make my way to his aunt's house where there is power and hot water. I shower then head back to the office, which is supposed to open at 1:00, to use the internet and check the status of our power, phone, and internet service calls. I dioscover that the ceiling has leaked all over two of my coworkers' desks and destroyed everything in their workspaces. I stay for several hours working on odds and ends, then attempt to go see two of my therapy babies, but can't get the van up the hill into their neighborhood. I meet Mom at her friend Marcia's house for some lunch, since Marcia now has power. The university ends up staying closed all day, so I head to Grandma Pat's since she now has electricity. PawPaw is finally able to leave their house, so he brings Carson in to town and drops him off with me. He and MeMaw finish packing for their cruise to Mexico, which they had planned to leave early for today, but decide to wait until early morning. We pick up Greg at work and decide to run home for clothes and spend the night at Grandma Pat's. It is 40 degrees in the house when we stop by. The Enterprise van, which was due back this morning, is still firmly stuck in the ice. We sleep well in Grandma's warm house and awake to aroma of sausage and eggs.

Thursday: I take Greg to work again, then run by our house. It's back up to 42 in the dining room. Still no power or phone services and no way to check for internet service. The Enterprise van still won't budge. Carson and I drive Grandma to the grocery store and hang out at her house. By 2:00 the icicles are rapidly melting and the temperature outside is up to 38 degrees. I decide that I am going to free the Enterprise van if I have to boil water on the stove and dump it on the ice. I arrive home to find the power, phone, and internet back on. Praise sweet Jesus in Heaven! I have never been happier to hear the furnace run! I decide to give the van one more try and it comes right out of the ice!!! I take it back to Enterprise where the guys have to push our car up a hill and out of the parking lot because it's still so slippery. I pick up Carson at Grandma's and we pick up Greg at work. We had a celebratory dinner at Chan's Chinese Restaurant and have been home in our toasty house watching satellite, reading email, and roaming around the house in a sinlge layer of clothing! I love electricty!!!

I am so looking foward to staying home and getting things back in order for the next three days. I can now say with certainty that I hate camping and that if I am ever offered a job in Florida, I will be packing my bags in a heartbeat. Have a great Friday and thanks for checking back in after my hiatus!

Carson's Valentine Party!

2008-02-10T18:35:00.001-08:00

Carson hosted his very first Valentine party today. We were glad that lots of friends were able to come and everyone had a great time. We didn't hear from several people, so hopefully there wasn't a problem with people getting the invitations. I made chocolate play dough and the kids had a blast rolling and cutting the dough. We decorated cookies, made Valentines , had a cake walk,and had a huge Valentine card swap. This may have to be an annual event!

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Playdough

2 cups water
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbs cream of tartar
2 Tbsvegetable oil
3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa

Boil water and salt. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Cool, then knead until smooth.

Tomorrow I leave for an overnight trip to Jefferson City. I'm picking up two very entertaiing traveling companions in St. Louis, so I'm sure some fun will be had! Wednesday I'm in the office, then it's four days off for me. I can't wait! Have a wonderful week and thanks for checking in!

And when you figure out love is all that matters after all, it sure makes everything else seem so small.

Just for fun

2008-02-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Blognapped from Sophia's Blog
One thing I won’t let my husband buy me…clothes. I buy his, otherwise he'd be naked.
One thing I would love to have, but I probably will never have…a home near the beach
One thing you will never find in my closet…high heels. I hate them.
One thing I would choose if I were having elective surgery...a chest reduction and lift
One thing I love about my face…my eyes.
One thing that I love to do…talk to and watch people
One thing I would like to change if I could…nothing, everything happens for a reason
One thing I would change as a mom…I'd relax more, but I'm not wired that way.
One thing I would do if I had unlimited money…get my family outfitted with large, matching , black SUV's (then donate a bunch of money to alternative fuel research to ease my conscience)
One thing I that I will not do again… I never say never
One thing that I would like to do…get caught up on my scrapbooks, I am way too controlling to relax and just scrapbook for the creativity
One thing I could do without...I've already given away about half of our posessions, so I'm good for now
One thing I love to smell…freshly bathed babies
One thing I would do if I won the lottery…start my own foundation to help people with disabilities
One thing that infuriates me...welfare fraud. I see it all the time in my job.
One thing that I love about winter…being inside. I don't like the outdoors a whole lot.
One thing I love about scrapbooking….the friendships I have formed with fellow scrappers
One thing I am addicted to…blogs and twopeasinabucket.com
One thing I pray for…strength to make it through anything that comes my way
One thing I wish I had… the ability to get by on very little sleep
One thing I would do again, regardless of the pain…be a mom
One thing that I absolutely hate to do…match the socks in the laundry pile
One thing that is weird about me…My pants have to go on before my shirt, or I'm convinced I'll have a bad day
One thing that I need help on…understaning how the computer works
One thing I find most relaxing.. reading in my bed under the electric blanket
One thing that could get me in trouble…staying up until early morning reading
One thing that annoys me…open cupboards and closet doors.
One thing I dread; therefore, don’t do very often....go to Walmart
One thing that I have learned, but still sometimes forget…that I am not in charge of the whole world

Brenda's, Bunco, and Buddies

2008-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Today was better! I got a lot done at work and had a terrific time at lunch with three of my work buddies. We laughed and laughed. We went to Brenda's Place which is a little bitty hole-in-the-wall place in the the "ghetto" of Cape Girardeau. Cape doesn't really have much crime, but the south side is a much poorer area of town. Brenda's is reasonably priced home cooking. I had the pulled pork BBQ plate lunch and a ginormous piece of coconut cream pie that I split with Christy. Yum-yum!

Tonight I had dinner at Logan's with my mom, mother-in-law and our friend, Carol, before we went to Bunco. I'm glad Mom decided to go. Our friend, Linda, surprised us by bringing a Gin Bucket to Bunco. It's yummy and doesn't really have enough gin to do more than lift your spirits a bit. :) I ended up rolling 4 Buncos and won the biggest prize-A Red Lobster gift card!

A few people have asked about the music on my blog. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, you can see the music player. It tells you the name of the song and artist. You can even scroll through the list and pick another song if you'd like. It's mostly contemporary Christian, country, a little pop, and a touch of Van Halen for good measure and because sometimes, you just have to rock. :)

Tomorrow we get to sleep in and then head to Cape at 1:00 to finish Carson's speech evaluation. I have to work in Kennett, 2 hours away, all day Saturday. I'm not too excited about that. Carson is hosting a Valentine party for his friends on Sunday and we still have a lot to do.
However, tonight I am headed for bed. Have a fantastic Friday.

Amy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2008-02-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

I am trying to add a little comic relief to today's events through my title. I'm not at all making light of what all happened today, just needing a little stress relief. It's a reference to this book, which is on the must-read list for preschoolers:

I'm feeling very much like Alexander today.

So, here goes:

My mom has cancer. She was diagnosed with follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma of the abdomen. The lemon-sized tumor is not in her intestine, but rather in her abdomen near her intestines. The good news is that this cancer is very treatable. The bad news is that she'll probably need chemo. She is going to a cancer center in St Louis next week to determine a treatment plan.

The other news is that Carson needs another eye surgery. He is seeing very well when looking down to read, but not so well when he needs to look up to watch TV or see a chalkboard (if he was in school). He hasn't had surgery since he was 3, so this could be very different. It will just be outpatient surgery, but he's developed fear of most things medical in the last three years. At least he won't have to stay overnight. He's scheduled for surgery March 11.

I also had some other work-related stress today and just about threw in the towel and gave up. I sucked it up until 4, then went to see my therapy baby. I felt much better after getting some cuddle time and sweet smiles from the little guy.

Tomorrow will be better.

Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.-Mary McLeod Bethune

Auntie Em? Uncle Henry?

2008-02-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

About 35 minutes into my class tonight my Sikeston class suddenly disappeared from the ITV screen. They reconnected about a minute later, just as the campus tornado sirens began to sound. At the same moment, an ITV tech called the phone in my room and said, "Evacuate your students to the basement immediately." We quickly said goodbye to the two distance learning sites and headed downstairs. We waited about 15 minutes until the sirens stopped and we were given the all clear. I let them all go home. It was way too much excitement for one night.

The weather here is crazy. Last Thursday we had 4 inches of snow on the ground and today we hit 72 degrees by lunch time. The storms that are going on now are predicted to be some of the worst we've had in recent years. Tomorrow's high is only 39.

I made it to Weight Watchers yesterday! It was good to get back in the swing of things. I've been drinking my water and counting my points.

Tomorrow I have to take Carson to the eye doctor. I have a feeling she'll say he needs another eye surgery. He's not using both eyes together and is relying heavily on moving his head instead of his eyes. He hasn't had a surgery since he was three. This might not be pleasant.

Mom's appointment is at 10 tomorrow. I'll let everyone know what's going on as soon as I can. I can't post to my blog at work, so check back tomorrow evening. Thanks again for all of the prayers!

Road Trip

2008-02-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

A brief recap of the day:

We went to church. It was rough. They announced that Mom was awaiting her test results and asked the congregation to pray for her. It's great to know that she's got lots of prayers going up. Her appointment is actually on Wednesday, not Friday, so just a few more days to wait.

After church we immediately hopped in the van and went to St Louis Mills Mall for the afternoon. We enjoyed lunch at Chevy's, shopped the entire mall, got groceries at Trader Joe's, then stopped at the Waffle House for a quick dinner on the way home. Chocolate Chip Pecan Waffles. Could there be anything more sinful than chocolate and syrup for supper?

I'm actually pretty freaked out about my weight and eating habits with everything going on with Mom. I stocked up on lean meats, veggies, fruits, and whole grains at Trader Joe's so I can get back on track with Weight Watchers tomorrow. Please scold me if I don't blog about attending a meeting tomorrow. I'm going to have to start treating my meetings like AA meetings and get this stupid weight off.

Alert: I think I may have had some mild stirrings of baby fever at Gymboree today. Those sweet tiny outfits were calling to me. I need a girl to dress up. Reason number two to get myself to a meeting tomorrow.

I got some great deals on candles today. I got Sparkling Cinnamon and Autumn Leaves Yankee Candles and an Indian Summer Colonial Candle. I almost like Colonial Candles as much Yankee. Sure, they're fall and winter scents, but they still smell good and I've got a few more months of cool weather to get through, and they were 50% off. I also got a set of new sheet pans like the Pioneer Woman uses. I've been eyeing those for awhile. You'll also see a new heart cookie cutter and sprinkles for Carson's party, as well as some silicon cupcake holders that I'm using to pack my new healthy lunches. More on that later.

I am off to bed to finish reading The Thirteenth Tale. I've had a hard time with this story and have had to put it down a few times. It's a good book, it just has a disturbing, dysfunctional family history playing out that's a bit hard to take at times. I don't do disturbing well.

Have a fabulous week!

Small Town Mani/Pedi, Frog, and Ralphie's Demise

2008-02-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

I live in a small town. There are two nail salons in town. I can only go to one of them due to a very weird situation at the the other one. Long story short, one of the girls that works at the other salon has the hots for my husband and has made it known to a few of my friends that she would like to bed him. She used to be our hairstylist. Not so much anymore. So anyway, I went to the other one today for a mani/pedi. My feet were wintry and dry and my fingernails had seen better days since I had my acrylic nails taken off last week. They were crowded which meant I got extra soaking time in the pedicure chair. Heaven. By the time I left 2 hours later, I had talked with a girl I went to high school with who I hadn't seen since graduation, figured out that it was my nail tech's birthday, shared my recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip with two ladies, discussed the pros and cons of each St. Louis shopping mall, and left with a fresh coat of "Berry Good Dancer" on my fingers and toes. Ah, life in a small town.

I also evaluated an adorable little boy today. He hopped right up on my lap and snuggled in. I love it when they're agreeable and cuddly.

I've spent the majority of the afternoon and evening surfing the net and watching the tube. AMC has Father of the Bride on now, with Father of the Bride II following. I just told Greg that it's like my perfect channel. He said it's like his perfect Hell. He really is a romantic at heart, but has to put on the tortured husband routine to do his part for the species.

Ralphie is on a downward spiral. It was very warm today and he did not fare well. I think he'll be gone tomorrow.

And now, a picture of Carson and his new frog. He really wanted a picture of the frog on my blog.

I am halfway considering making a St Louis run tomorrow. I feel like a road trip to a big scrapbook store and maybe a Trader Joe's run. So far, Greg is not on board, but the night is young and I've still got plenty of pestering left in me. Gotta go! Part II has begun.

Ralphie the Snowman

2008-02-01T19:18:00.001-08:00

Carson was so excited to get to use the snowman kit he got for Christmas. He and Greg were outside the minute Greg got home yesterday. The snow was perfect for building a snowman. Carson informed us that the snowman's name was Ralph. He's an original. They built him facing our house, so Carson kept going to the window to check on Ralphie until it got dark. Ralphie was leaning quite a bit this morning, but so far, he's still standing. He must have had a rough night.

We ended up venturing out today, even though I had planned on staying home. The roads were fine once we got the van out of the driveway. We went to the university for Carson's speech evaluation and he did great, especially considering it lasted two hours and we're only halfway finished. We'll go back next Friday for the second half.

My mom is home and is feeling fine. She'll get the results of her biopsies on Friday. If it is cancer, it appears to be lymphoma, which is one of the most curable cancers. Keep those prayers coming!

I spent the morning getting the house back in order and surfing the net. We came back home for a few hours after the speech eval, then went out to eat when Greg got home. We went out for Mexican, but I noticed on the way to Casa Mexicana that our new Chinese restaurant is open. We may have to try it after church on Sunday. We only have one other Chinese restaurant in our little town, so this is a big deal. This evening I put together treat bags for the Valentine party Carson is hosting. (Who says homeschoolers don't socialize?) I also managed to get pictures adhered to 2 scrapbook swap layouts. If I just did two a night, I could make a lot of progress. I plan to work on more tomorrow when I get home from work. I have two babies to see. I'm not quite sure how I started taking weekend kids again, but at least I'm done early and the money is good.

I'm actually glad we went out today. The snow is beautiful, and it will be gone very soon. The high on Sunday is going to be close to 60! Southeast Missouri is one crazy place! Have a great weekend!

Tagged

2008-02-01T06:24:00.000-08:00

by Yvonne

Well, so this is the way it goes....
the rules.....1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

E-Extraordinary: the kids I get the honor of working with every day
L-Love: the only reason I can do my job every day
I-Intelligence: a gift I am eternally thankful for since it appears very hard to function without it :)
Z-zeal NOUN: Enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance. AKA What I have for children's issues, women's issues, and pretty much anything else that I feel is not right with the world. It's tiring sometimes.
A- Affection: what my son has been very free with lately. Lots of "I Love You's" are flying around here
B-Beach: One of my two favorite destinations
E- Eggly: one of many childhood nicknames
T-Time: what I always run out of. I like to plan lots to do
H-Health: something I really need to take more seriously

I am tagging:
E-I don't know any E bloggers
L-Liz in Florida, Lilian in Utah
I-none
Z-none
A-none
B-Becky and Rebecca
E-none
T-The Four of Clubbs
H- Heather Fisher, Heather D. White

Update

2008-01-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

Mom is going home today. She ended up having 7 biopsies. We'll know the results in a few days. There is still the possibility that she just has a very infected polyp. She's not in any pain right now, but the doctors say she'll feel like she was hit by a truck after the pain medication wears off later today. Please keep praying for us!

It is literally snowing up a storm outside. I slid off the rode three times trying to get home this morning. It looks like we'll be staying home tomorrow. So much for Carson's speech evaluation.

I think some scrapbooking is on the agenda for this afternoon since I'm snowed in. I feel like doing some cooking, and I'm thinking chicken and dumplings sounds very good for dinner. Thanks for checking in!

Prayers Please

2008-01-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

Please say a prayer for my mom tomorrow. She went to the hospital last night with what she thought was a flu bug and found out that she likely has colon cancer. She'll be undergoing a biopsy tomorrow. We still have hope that there is another explanantion, but the doctor wanted us to be informed that it could be cancer. She's had no other sypmtoms so we're pretty shocked.

Things could get very interesting since we're expeting a snowstorm beginning tomorrow and lasting through Friday. I have been waiting since September for Carson to have a speech evaluation at the university and it's scheduled for Friday. I hope we can get out. Looks like I need to make a grocery run tomorrow. We don't get a lot of snow here and things pretty much shut down when it does snow.

I'm going to take it easy and watch some tv, then head to bed early. I'll update as soon as I hear anything tomorrow. Thank you for the prayers!

Productivity

2008-01-27T20:03:00.000-08:00

I never left the house today. When the alarm went off for church this morning I convinced myself that last night's church dinner counted for the week. I know, that's pretty weak. Greg did make it to church to work the lights. I think I would be much more motivated if we left for church at the same time, instead of him having to be there an hour early.

I ended up getting all but one load of laundry done, which was huge since I had gotten pretty far behind this week. I spent the morning catching up on the blogs I read and looking around on twopeasinabucket.com.

I made the Pioneer Woman's roasted chicken legs for lunch with German fried potatoes and black-eyed peas. The chicken legs were flavorful and very moist, but I just cannot make myself like anything but boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I can't stand the weird tendons and other gross parts of the leg. Oh well, I'll make breasts next time.

This afternoon I was feeling a little overwhelmed by everything I needed to get done and ended up letting myself get into a pretty snippy mood. I ended up spending the afternoon working downstairs at my scrapbook desk. I got all of this done:

13 assorted Valentines

16 invitations to Carson's Valentine party

30 invitations to a cousin's baby shower

Pictures added to this swap layout that Becky made

I'm feeling pretty good about the few things left on my list. I was planning to work on my lecture for class Tuesday night, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I just heard on the local news that Chelsea Clinton made a stop in our town today. That's big news around here. We're not exactly on the campaign path. I'm still undecided on who will get my vote, but it would be very interesting if Chelsea had two presidential parents. We'll see what Super Tuesday brings.

I'm traveling for work on Tuesday and I can't wait. I've had way too many days sitting in the office doing paperwork lately. It's time for a road trip! Have a wonderful week and don't forget to leave me comments. I have a little something in the works for my next giveaway!

Party Squared

2008-01-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a party girl this weekend. The spa party was awesome last night. Good friends, good food, great products and pampering. I had a fabulous time! No pictures though. It was a PJ party and I might have had mutiny on my hands had I busted out the camera when we were wearing eye pads and had mouths covered in exfoliation cream. I can't wait for all of my fun new products to arrive!

I watched Riley yesterday. He is the sweetest little guy. Carson helped me by feeding and entertaining him so I could make my party food. He's just a little bit jealous when Riley's around, but he does pretty well.

Man, how I had forgotten how much time and equipment is involved in caring for a ten-week-old. I felt like such a supermommy pulling up to meet Greg for lunch in my minivan with two kids to unbuckle and bundle up, a bag of toys to keep Carson occupied , the infant car seat complete with fleecy cover, and a huge diaper bag to tote along. The one-armed feeding the baby/trying to eat my own food trick came back pretty quickly, but I must admit I have certainly gotten used to the independence of an older child. We'll have some adjusting to do when we have our next baby.

Today I went to see a baby for work, then we went to the Jackson Diner for lunch. It was yummy. We made a quick stop at the store for some mailing supplies (Dawn-your package is being mailed Priority on Monday. Sorry!) and then to the grocery store for ingredients for my awesome new mac-n-cheese recipe. We had a few hours to relax at home before we headed to church for our pastor's 25th wedding anniversary party. There were several hundred people there and we managed to keep it a complete surprise. Needless to say, his wife cried.

Greg made a great slide show of their married life that made her cry even harder.

Greg has a business making slide shows for special occasions. He mostly does weddings, but has also done retirement videos, and birthday party videos. His website has more info and sample videos if you want to take a look. My brother's wedding video is the Penny/Link wedding.

Several girls asked for my recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip at the party last night, so I thought I'd share it here. I made it for every Christmas function we had in December and there was rarely any left. It's easy and oh-so-yummy.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened
2 cans chicken breast, drained and flaked
aprrox 1/2 bottle of hot wing sauce or regular hot sauce
1/2 bottle blue cheese salad dressing (or ranch, if desired)
1 pkg shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cream cheese, dressing, and hot sauce with mixer until smooth. Stir in chicken and 1/2 of the cheese. Spread in a greased, shallow casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips.

and here's the recipe I created today for baked macaroni and cheese:

Macaroni and Cheese

1 16 oz package elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
2 sticks butter
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1 pkg shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pkg cream cheese
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dry mustard

Melt 1 stick of butter in large saucepan. Stir in flour to make a roux (slightly brown the flour). Add evaporated milk and regular milk. Stir to combine. Add garlic salt, onion powder, and dry mustard. Cut cream cheese into fourths and add to saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in cheddar cheese until melted. Add macaroni and stir until coated with cheese mixture. Spread evenly in greased casserole dish.Melt second stick of butter and stir in cornflake crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs on top of macaroni. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I realize it sounds complicated, but just do it. You won't be sorry. And by the way, don't be afraid of the dry mustard. It doesn't make it taste like mustard, but gives it more depth of flavor. (translation=makes it gooooooood!!!!!!)

Sophia posted a challenge on her blog earlier in the week to list some things that you do well. Not for bragging rights, but more to remind yourself when you're having a rough time that you do have talents and gifts that affect others. At the party last night, the consultant had each girl tell something nice about me. I was thrilled that nobody needed more than a few minutes to come up with something. :)I'm recording what the girls said here to remind myself that the next time I want to have a pity party, I do have gifts that affect others. Here goes:

1. Jayne said that I am an awesome B_ _ CH! (That's a compliment coming from her.) :)
2. My mom said that I fight for the things I believe in and for those who can't fight for themselves.
3. My mother-in-law said that I buy great presents for people.
4. Jane said that I'm very organized and that I've always made her feel included.
5. Amy said that I am an awesome cook. ( I told you I rock in the kitchen!)
6. Jaime said that I was there from the very beginning to support her when her preemie was born and that I was important in helping him his first three years.
7. Becky said that I'm a good friend and that we always have fun together.
8. Dana said that I have always been welcoming to her and that if I'm at the office, fun will be had.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow is church, another new recipe or two, and some scrapbooking and card making! Stay tuned!

The Agony of Defeat

2008-01-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

Our team lost tonight. In what ended up being a close game, the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks lost to the Moorehead University Eagles. We still had fun! It was our mascot, Rowdy the Redhawk's, 3rd birthday, so he had a halftime birthday party. Over a thousand t-shirts were launched with air cannons and mascots from other local sports teams as well as a few restaurants and businesses were at the game to help him celebrate. The Moore and McCoy families joined us for the evening.

Work was uneventful. I'm looking forward to my party and watching my nephew tomorrow. It will be his first trip to Aunt Amy's house. I have the Pack-n-Play and all of our baby toys out and ready to go. I'll take lots of pictures. :) Have a wonderful weekend!

A New 'Do...and No Spew!

2008-01-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

I haven't gotten the full-blown flu, just intermittent nausea. I think the preventative Pepto I've been chugging and the happy, anti-upchucking thoughts I've been thinking have really helped. Ok, probably not, but hopefully I've made it out of the danger zone.

I left work at noon to get my new 'do. The stylist talked me into leaving my hair slightly longer than the Kate Gosselin picture since I had been used to it being quite a bit longer than the pic. I think it looks good! I even walked on the wild side and had some copper highlights added to my normal blond highlights. Here's the before:

and the after:

It's hard to see the reddish highlights in the pictures, but they're there! I'm glad I decided to be daring.

Brooke left a comment earlier in the week asking what my hair was like when Greg and I met. Greg doesn't care much about my hair and would never say anything either way about how it was cut or styled. Tonight I had to point out that it was significantly shorter and red. He's oblivious. I did decide to put a little "hairdo's throughout the years" montage together for your enjoyment and comic relief. Here goes:

Our wedding 1998, shoulder length and in an updo with curly tendrils

Chistmas 1999, big and a little flippy in the back

Spring 2001 shoulder length and layered

Disney 2004 very short and easy

Cruise 2005 longer and very flippy

So, there you have the long and short of it. :) It's definitely easier short and I think I'm just a short hair person.

We went to Red Lobster tonight for Cecil's birthday. It was yummy! I didn't get a great picture because Carson refused to smile once the waiter brought the food. He likes to eat.

Tomorrow is work then a SEMO University basketball game with some friends. Friday is my spa party! I'm ready for some relaxation. Make Thursday great!

Spew

2008-01-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

Today was busy. I had a site visit to a child care facility this morning for three hours, an hour-long conference call about a new research study on obesity that I'll be advising on, a therapy appointment with a baby, and class. I'm beat.

Greg woke up at 5:30 am with the stomach flu. He stayed home. I am feeling more pukey by the minute, but am praying that I make it to my hair appointment tomorrow. It's time for Kate Gosselin hair!

My sister came down with the pukes at 4 pm. We were all together on Sunday. Things really aren't looking good for my chances to bypass this trip to Barfville.

I'm headed to bed with the Pepto. Tomorrow is my father-in-law, Cecil's birthday. That means eating out. I can't be sick. Goodnight.

PS to Disney Dawn: Yes, you won! Send your address and I'll send prizes. :)

And the winner is.....

2008-01-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

Dawn! Greg pulled the name for my drawing so things would be completely impartial. Dawn, please email me the address where I should send your prize. Yay! Big thanks to all who commented. Keep it up, I have another little random giveaway in mind and you never know when I might be looking for a winner!

Yesterday we hung out at home again. It's cold and we're trying to save money, so this will be a recurrent theme. Carson has decided that the best place to watch is a movie is snuggled in our bed under the electric blanket with a bowl of snacks. Life is good.

Last night we went to my parents' house to celebrate my brother, Jeremy's, 28th birthday. Mom made lasagna, salad, garlic bread, salsa, guacamole, brownies, and pineapple upside down cake. It was a multicultural meal and very yummy.

I got so much done today. I would have rather taken it easy for the sake of Dr. King, but I had a lot to do. We did school work this morning while laundry was in the works. Greg came home to join us for lunch, then headed back to work. This afternoon I ironed Carson's outgrown clothes for a consignment sale. I gave up about halfway through. Tonight I created a PowerPoint presentation for my class tomorrow night, typed a report on a child, and worked on Carson's lesson plans. It will be a break to go back to work tomorrow.

I tried a new recipe tonight that was delicious and easy. Greg and Carson agreed. Here it is:

Beef Tips
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
2 cups water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2(.75 ounce) packages dry brown gravy mix

DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet heat oil over high heat. Saute the onion until almost translucent.
Add the stew meat and cook on high heat until meat is browned on all sides; about 3 to 5 minutes.
Pour 2 cups water, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce into the skillet. Stir in garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Stir gravy mix into beef. Bring to a boil stirring frequently until slightly thickened. Serve over rice, egg noodles, or mashed potatoes.

You could also throw it all in the slow cooker on low all day, or just brown the meat and bake it at 350 for 1-1 1/2 hours.

That's it for tonight!

Voyeurism

2008-01-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

I am addicted to reading other people's trip reports on the DIS forums. I am fascinated by how other people spend their time at Disney. Some of their itineraries would drive me insane. I am not big on hopping to three different parks a day or just winging it when it comes to dining reservations. I am methodical in my planning, so as to maximize our time at in the World and see and do as much as possible. I am one of those people who is stressed out when there is too much down time. I can't stand the thought that I might be missing something exciting. I'm also that mom that says, "No way are going to the hotel for a nap! He can sleep tonight." Weird, I know. This is why we usually go on vacation alone. I scare those fly by the seat of your pants vacationers. They literally infuriate me. Greg deals well with my planning and obsessing over details and our vacations are packed full of fun. I love it!

Anyway, I've spent the last 3 hours perusing the boards and reading trip reports. I have so many decisions to make!

We stayed home all day today. I cooked lunch and dinner. The meal theme of the day was, "let's eat what's in the pantry so we can possibly afford this Disney trip." We'll be having this theme frequently this year. Our menu included BBQ chicken bites, potato wedges, and baked beans for lunch and burritos, Spanish rice, and refried beans for supper. Not bad for eating what's left in the pantry.

Several friends asked for the recipe for the potato soup I made for scrapbooking, so here it is. It's originally from my coworker, Syd. It's really easy and really yummy!

1 large bag frozen, shredded hash browns

1 bag shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 cups whole milk

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 sticks butter

salt and pepper

Melt butter in large stock pot. Add onion and saute until tender. Add hash browns and cream of chicken soup and stir until combined. Pour in milk. Heat, stirring often, until potatoes are tender and milk is heated. Stir in cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper. It will need a good deal of salt. Serve with extra cheese and bacon bits, if desired. You can also just saute the onions in butter, then throw it all in the crockpot on high for about 4 hours.

I'm beat! I'll draw the winner of my giveaway in the morning. Thanks to all who commented!

P.S. to Brooke: I'm getting together a little hairdo montage in response to your comment. Stay tuned!

Time's almost up!

2008-01-18T21:53:00.000-08:00

You have until midnight Saturday to delurk and post a comment in order to be entered for my giveaway. Get those comments in QUICK!

Yesterday was interesting. I went to Sikeston and evaluated the baby that I mentioned in the last post. His mother was very young and appeared to either be slightly nuts or on some type of drug. I actually deal with both types of people on a weekly basis, so it really doesn't faze me anymore. I could not understand her speech and she kept leaving the room in the middle of my questions. I finally just got up and followed her around the house until she answered all my questions. After nine years of working in all types of people's homes, nothing really surprises me. You just have to roll with it.

We went out for BBQ at The Branding Iron with my in-laws last night. I was relieved to not have to cook. I love cooking, but it sucks when I work both jobs in one day and get home well after dark. I also talked with Becky for awhile, which is always nice. I spent the late evening/very early morning reading the DIS boards for tips on planning our trip to Disney World. (I talk about it like it's a sure thing. It makes me feel better.)

Today Carson and I picked up my brother and baby nephew and gave them a ride to the doctor for the baby's shots. We all went to lunch, then Carson and I dropped them off and headed for Hobby Lobby and Big Lots. I got some great deals on groceries at Big Lots. I need to shop there more often.

After shopping, I dropped Carson off at my mom's office so he could help her work tonight. He gets to help in the concession stand at the college gymnastics meets. He loves to socialiaze with everyone and he makes $2.50 a night. Big money when you're 6. I then went to my friend, Christy's, house to make some potato soup for scrapbooking group tonight, rather than driving all the way back to my house. It turned out awesome as usual. I rock in the kitchen. I was even a Pampered Chef Lady for a couple years. I've also never had a problem with pointing out my own talents. Can you tell?

Scrapbooking had record attendance tonight. We decided that we need to have a meal every month at the crop to get everyone there. I forgot my pictures, so I worked on baby shower invites for my cousin and talked and ate a lot.

Back to yesterday's post: it seems like I have 5 votes for cutting my hair and 0 votes for letting it grow. I made a hair appointment for Wednesday, so I've got a few days to decide what I really want. I may even throw in some very subtle red highlights. We'll see!

Sadly, I am giving up on reading Love in the time of Cholera. I always finish a book, but I just cannot get interested in this one. I'm moving on to The Thirteenth Tale. I might try the movie version of the Cholera story.

I have no plans for Saturday and I am thrilled. Make it a great weekend!

Who's there?

2008-01-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

I came in a little late on the knowledge that this is National Delurking Week. I think it's time for all of my readers to make your presence known. I am thrilled that I've already had several hundred visitors since I started blogging again and I thank all of you for stopping by. However, it would be great to hear what you have to say, so here's a little challenge for you-Anyone who is willing to to delurk and post a comment between now and Saturday will be entered to win a nice little goodie basket full of surprises. I have a hankerin' for some shopping and I'd love to go shopping for my lucky reader. So, you've got some choices: post a comment just letting me know you stopped by, ask me a question, comment on my crazy life, or share a quote or piece of wisdom that you've been holding on to. That's all. I like feedback and the feeling that all of this time spent neglecting my family and home while blogging is worth something to someone. Thanks!

In other news, I had two meetings this afternoon and feel like I got very little accomplished at work today. Tomorrow we have an office baby shower at lunch, which is always good for 2 hours away from the office. After work I am heading to Sikeston, a town 30 miles south, to evaluate a child and to make a little stop at the scrapbook store there. It turns out we most likely won't get much snow, so travel should just be rainy.

Today I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in a few months. We have the same color and texture hair and she has the cutest short hair cut. I am seriously debating cutting my hair really short again. It's so fine and soft that it starts looking stringy at about the length it is now (see picture in sidebar for current length and style). So here's my debate. Feel free to chime in here. Should I keep growing my hair out into a layerless, chin-length bob as planned, or cut it short and hassel-free like Kate Gosselin?

I love her hair and have actually had mine cut even shorter in the past. It' s a lot easier in the mornings, but I have spent so much time growing my top layers out to try to get to the chin-length bob cut, which should also be cute. So, bring on the opinions. Goodnight!

Lights, Camera, Action

2008-01-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

My class went very well. All of the cameras connected, all of my students showed up, and I could hear everyone. I have a smaller group than usual, with only 13 students total in the three locations. I can't really see any faces of one of the groups, but at least I can tell how many people are in the room and hear all of them. I think it will be a good semester.

I finally have the class website up and feel like I have a very basic understanding of how to add to and edit the website. I hate feeling so illiterate about computers. Yesterday I went to the faculty lab to have a student tech help me put some info on the website and he asked if I was a teaching assistant. I explained that I was faculty and had been teaching for four years. He told me that I wasn't old enough to be a faculty member. I was at least 10 years older than him. I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a jab. He was an interesting guy.

Tomorrow is another office workday. I haven't had to travel much lately, but I do have a few day trips coming up out of town next week. It's hard to work in the office all day when I've been doing home visits and field work for the last 8 years. I should get plenty of paperwork done this week.

There's a chance for snow Thursday. I hope we get enough for Carson to use his new snowman kit. So far we've only gotten about an inch all winter. I'd like a nice, snowy Friday to curl up with Carson and my baby nephew, Riley.

Friday night is my monthly crop, then we have no plans for the weekend and I'm off on Monday. I have baby shower invitations and valentine party invitations to make. I'm set for a cozy weekend inside.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Soup and Scrapbooking on Sunday

2008-01-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

I got a lot done today. Carson and I skipped church and slept in again this week. We're going to have to work on getting to bed earlier and getting back in the church routine. Since I quit working in the nursery, we've gotten way too lax about attendance. I also don't like sitting by myself on the weeks Greg has to run the lights for the band. I need to get over that.

This afternoon I made a big pot of extra yummy vegetable soup and we curled up in the living room and watched License to Wed. It was funny, but certainly wasn't one of the best movies I've ever seen.

I spent the late afternoon and evening wrapping my mother-in-law's birthday presents, making 6 12x12 layouts and three cards for a swap on Friday, and doing four loads of laundry. I feel like I got a lot accomplished. Here are the fruits of my labor:

I still have to get a few things ready for my class that starts Tusday night, but it's going to have to wait until tomorow. I'm taking off early tomorrow to finish up my class stuff and get ready to go out to dinner for my mother-in-law's birthday. Have a great week!

Blessed

2008-01-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling materialistic at all today. It is so hard to understand why things change in the blink of an eye. One of my babies passed away on Thursday. It was unexpected and has completely devastated his family. Please say a prayer for Spencer's family. He was the sweetest blue-eyed angel that you could imagine. I am so blessed to have my own healthy baby boy.

I did not make it to the funeral today because I was 2 hours away presenting child abuse and neglect training. I thought of Spencer often today and realized that spending today training others about how to help prevent abuse and neglect was the greatest way I could have honored his memory.

My training went well. I am so honored when the trainees stay around after dismissal to tell me that they liked the training and wanted to thank me for my time. It helps me remember not to freak out about the little things like when the PowerPoint presentation won't work (today!) or when we get off track talking about what they are concerned about and I don't get to finish every activity I had planned.

Greg rode along and dropped me off at the training site, then went geocaching. He found 16 caches today. That's a lot. He said there was hiking involved and his wild, wind blown hair proved it. He looked a bit like a mad scientist when he came to pick me up.

Yesterday I watched my baby nephew, Riley. Carson wasn't too impressed with his 8-week-old cousin. I got my baby fix and am looking forward to next Friday to do it again.

I also attended a fabulous spa partyand came home so relaxed. I needed the girl time and refreshing eye pads after the sad news this week. I booked my own spa party, so stay tuned for pictures.

I'm beat! My feet are screaming from standing all day and I have got to get back on a better sleep schedule. Have a great Sunday!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

2008-01-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

Today was good. We had a skeleton crew in the office, so things were very quiet. I spent the morning studying several hours worth of Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect training material. I feel well informed about Difficult Behaviors in Infants and Toddlers as well as Building Supportive Relationships with Parents. I hope the participants in my six hour Saturday training are ready for some exciting material.(insert heavy sarcasm here)

Tonight was dinner with my mom, mother-in-law, and another friend, Carol, at Olive Garden before heading to Bunco at the university. We only played 3 rounds tonight but had a great time, as usual.

I'm feeling a little materialistic lately, so I thought I'd share a few of the things that are making me drool at the moment. Just in case anyone wants to chip in a few hundred dollars toward my next birthday gift, you've still got 4 months to save up!

I have been checking out these purses made with Amy Butler fabrics on etsy.com for several months now. I think I may just give in and order one next paycheck. It's so hard to decide which one I want.

I also want a Bosch mixer like this:

It's $300. I've been researching and this mixer seems to outperform a Kitchenaid mixer hands down. And it's red. I like red.

I would also like one of these to get me pumped up and ready for my daily exercise. It's also red. I really like red.

And last but not least, I would like 6 night/7 day package including airfare to here:

It's been three years. I need a Disney Fix. Carson and I are going to the travel agent tomorrow to pick up brochures. I have some dreaming to do.

Some Answers

2008-01-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

Firsts and Lasts

The Firsts...

1. First real best friend

Angie Parker We met in preschool and are still friends today

2. First school

The Primary Annex in Jackson, MO

3. First cell phone

a huge bag phone that I thought was so cool

4. First funeral

who knows? My grandparents owned the funeral home, so I was at lots of funerals.

5. First pet

hmmm, the first pet I remember was a black and white dog named Barney

6. First big trip

Hawaii on my honeymoon

7. First fight

Angie and I had some big ones growing up

8. First celebrity crush

New Kids on the Block

9. First time out of the country

A cruise to Mexico in 2006

10. First job

Cashier at the local ice rink

11. First car

1985 Ford Tempo

12. First myspace friend

don't have any

And The Lasts...

13. Last person you hugged

Carson

14. Last car ride

tonight, home from my inlaws

15. Last time you cried

Monday night watching Steel Magnolias

16. Last movie you watched

Steel Magnolias

17. Last food you ate

Beef stoganoff that my mother-in-law made. It was yummy!

18. Last item bought

My lunch at El Torero

19. Last shirt worn

My favorite green swaeter

20. Last phone call

My brother, asking me to babysit

21. Last text message

A Merry Christmas message from a former student

22. Last kiss

Carson when I kissed him goodnight

23. Last thing you touched

the keyboard

24. Last funeral

My cousin, Todd

25. Last time at the mall

Saturday

26. Last time you were excited for something

I'm excited for Bunco tomorrow night

27. Last person you saw

Greg-he's in the floor eatching TV

28. Last thing you drank

Iced Tea

29. Last person that broke your heart

Hasn't been broken lately

30. Last time you were really honestly happy

Last night Greg made me laugh so hard I couldn't breath and had tears streaming down my face

Top Ten MySpace Quizzes and Surveys

It's Raining, It's Pouring...Let's go for a Drive!

2008-01-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

Today it rained. And rained. And rained again.

Work was uneventful. I arrived at a meeting dripping wet from the rain, but other than that, it was just another work day.

Then, the fun began. While working with this beautiful boy during his weekly appointment, my cell phone kept ringing.

I just assumed Greg really wanted to talk to me about dinner and ignored the phone until after the appointment. When I left the house of the adorable child pictured above who shall remain nameless, I noticed that the phone calls were from my friend and coworker, Christy. She needed help. She was on her way to an evening meeting an hour from home. She was driving our shared work car, which has just about been run into the ground. She had a flat tire and was sitting on the side of a major interstate highway in the dark, 45 miles from home, praying that she did not get plowed by a semi. Her husband is currently working out of town and I was the only person she could get to answer the phone. So, I took a little 2 hour round trip drive this evening to rescue her. She actually told me she was 10 miles closer than she was. I really pissed some other drivers off by driving 50 in a 70 mph zone searching for her car in the dark for 10 miles. Oh the things we do for friends! She's lucky I really like her.

Greg, Carson, and Greg's parents were kind enough to delay going out to dinner and then ordered for me at the new Jackson Diner. My chicken gyro was "eh," but Greg's Chicken BLT Grinder was fabulous. We'll be headed back to the diner very soon.

I have logged my WW points for the day and ended up with a point to spare. I had planned to exercise today, but the rain, unscheduled road trip, and ankle pain from my little tumble yesterday was enough to convince me to skip the walk today. I'll try again tomorow.

Thursday is Bunco and Friday is a Spa Party at friend's house. Good times!

Break a Leg

2008-01-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

So, I fell today. I tripped over my dog in the kitchen while rushing to get dinner ready before my friend, Angie, came over to visit this evening. I had just said, "Spanky! Get out of here!" when I turned and went down. My knee is killing me, my shoulder is aching, and there is blood seeping between my real and acrylic pinky fingernail. It hurts.

Here's the culprit looking rather guilty.

I sulked for a few minutes until I realized Greg was in no way going to be able to get the gravy the right consistency without assistance. I made a fabulous pot roast today, altough I went the crockpot route rather than cooking in a dutch oven for hours like The Pioneer Woman. It was still really good. Browning the roast really does make a big difference. You should try it.

I survived my 4 hour interactive TV training and feel confident that I'll be able to at least see or hear the students, if not both. Luckily, I'll have tech support just a phone call away. Next on the list is learning to build the class website later this week. I'm becoming such a techie.

I got some insider Disney tips from Dawn today. She's the queen of all things Disney World and gave me lots of good info. Check out her blog. (There's a link in my sidebar if this one doesn;t work.) She's witty and posts lots of cool Disney World pics.

I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting of the year tonight. There were no Monday meetings last week due to the holiday. I've logged my points for the day and I'm feeling rejuvinated and ready to get back on track. I had planned to walk tonight until I fell. Hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow. I'd love some friends to join me on this journey! Registration is free right now.

I got the sad news today that my local scrapbook store is closing after 8 years. Now the closest store will be 30 miles away, and it's not that great. Looks like more trips to St. Louis and Dexter will be on the agenda.

I am off to finally finish The Christmas Bus and choose a new book to start tomorow. Make Tuesday great!

Lazy Sunday and Disney Dreams

2008-01-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

We had a lazy Sunday today. I didn't get to sleep until 3:30 am, so we slept in and hung out at home most of the day. I really have to get back in a better routine.

I managed to put together a short presentation for a training a I have to attend tomorrow. My class is transmitted via interactive TV to three other towns, so I have to learn to manipulate the cameras and sound to see and hear all of the students. I had a student camera man last time, but he was eliminated due to budget constraints, so it's all me now.

I'm planning to build a website for the class to keep from having to send papers to all the locations. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some help with the website setup at work tomorrow before the training.

I spent part of the day planning my next trip to Disney World. We are hoping to take a trip while the Christmas decorations are up this November or December. It's going to take some sacrifices to get there, but at least we've got lots of time to save!

I'm off to finish reading The Christmas Bus so I can start something new. Have a great week!

Feeling a little spacey

2008-01-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

We visited the Space: Dare to Dream exhibit at the university today. It was great given that nothing like this ever comes to our rural town. It was certainly not Kennedy Space Center, but Carson enjoyed it.

Never mind that man behind Carson in the first picture. Carson wasn't quite tall enough and I haven't ventured in to the world of Photoshop yet. I'm thinking I may need to learn photo editing this year.

Greg went geocahing in Perryville all morning. Carson and I hung out at home until this afternoon when we all went to the museum. After the museum we headed to the mall to pick up some Wallflowers at Bath and Bady Works. Big mistake. It was like Black Friday in the store, with people waiting in line to check out half way out the door. They were having their semiannual sale. I gave up and browsed the other stores. Finally, I gave in and got in line. My house smells yummy like Brown Sugar and Fig.

When we got home, I ironed all of the curtains I washed last weekend, then finished the calendar I started last night. It took longer than I thought, but I am loving my Cricut. I still have a lot to learn to be able to understand all of the features.

Borrowing this from Heather's blog:

{2007 in review}
1. What did you do in 2007 that you have never done before? hmm..I went to Orlando during peak season...I will never do that again

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more for 2008? not at all. I am starting over this year

3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2007? yes, my sister-in-law, Rachel, gave birth to Riley Todd in November. He's a cute little dude and very cuddly.

4. Did anyone close to you die in 2007? yes, my cousin, Todd. He had been very ill for a very long time.

5. What countries did you visit this year? none

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? patience and financial peace

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? no particular date stands out. We had lots of great days!

9. What was your biggest struggle in 2007? To commit to getting healthy and follow through.

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury in 2007? Nothing unusual

11. What was the best thing you bought this year? Our van. Now we have plenty of room for traveling.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Carson. We have very high expectations for him and he does pretty well given his vision and motor difficulties.

13. Whose behavior dissappointed you? Carson's teachers. I'm not quite sure that they enjoy their jobs.

14. Where did most of your money go? To eating out. This will be changing in 08.

15. What did you get really really excited about this year? Our vacation.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? nothing stands out

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, much nicer or richer? Definitely not richer. I'm working on being nicer and happier.

18. What do you wish you had done more of? Stayed home and enjoyed time wth my family.

19. What do you wish you had done less of? Stressed out about things I have no control over.

20. Did you fall in love in 2007? I realized that Greg and I sure have been through a lot and we still laugh at each other every day.

21. What was your favorite TV Program in 2007? LOST..it's finally coming back on this month!

22. What was the best book you read this year? Eat, Pray, Love. It's good. Read it.

23. What was your greatest musical discovery this past year? The Wicked soundtrack. Made even beter when Becky and I went to see Wicked in December

24. What did you want and get? My Cricut.

25. What was the best movie you saw this year? I didn't see hardly any movies this year. I should go to the movies in 2008.

26. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn? I turned 31. We went out to dinner.

27. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying? If I would have lost at least a little weight and got back in the exercise routine.

28. How would you describe your personal fashion statement this year? Stqandard work outfit (black or khacki pants or capris with a colorful shirt or sweater). Jeans and t-shirts after work.

29. What kept you sane this year? Playing Bunco once a month, croping at least once a month and going on vacation

30. What celebrity did you fancy the most? I don't give a lot of thought to celebrities.

31. Who did you miss this past year? The girls I met in Utah in 2006. I would love to get together with them again soon.

33. Who were the best new people you met this year? I had some great students that I still hear from.

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year: Things really will look better in the morning, no matter what.

Tomorrow is church, then I'm planning to work on lesson plans for Carson and for my college class that starts in a few weeks. I'd like to scrap too if I have extra time. I'm also thinking pot roast may be on the menu after reading this on the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. Yum!

No rest for the wicked

2008-01-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have noticed that you received an email from me at 1:48 this morning. That would be because I was still awake at 1:48am. I was still awake at 4am. This does not happen. I'm usually in bed by midnight at the latest and asleep 30 seconds after my head hits the pillow. My head was hurting and I have a hard time going to sleep when Greg is already sleeping in the bed. He messes up my covers and makes weird annoying noises, like breathing. I'm a little anal about the whole bedtime routine. I go to bed first, or we go at the same time and I fall asleep way before him so I don't have warm, noisy breathing in my face. Aren't you glad to know all this?

Anyway, I was finally asleep around 4, then awakened at 7:40 to the tune of, "Mommy, get up! I want cereal!" My reply was, "Open the cereal drawer and eat it out of the box." That lasted 5 minutes until he returned to inform me that he needed a drink too. So, I was up. It's been a rough day, but I seem to have my second wind at almost midnight.

Carson and I took the day off from school work and hung out watching TV and playing this morning. We had lunch at Casa Mexicana, then headed to my office where he watched movies in the conference room for an hour, then proceeded to move from cubicle to cubicle entertaining the staff.

We stopped at the used book store to make some trades on the way home. Carson got a new Magic Tree House book and several other science themed books. I picked up Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner and Plain truth by Jodi Picoult.

We rushed home in time for me to pack up my scrapbook stuff and head to the local scrapbook store to crop with my buddies. I didn't get much done, but did get paper and pictures matched for an 8x8 calendar. I'll have time to finish it tomorrow. Becky and I chatted a lot and as always got far less done at the crop than we would have scrapbooking at home. The visiting is the best part though!

That's what I look like after getting less than 4 hours sleep. It ain't pretty, but I had to have proof that I got something done tonight. Becky looks cute though. She got 4 12x12 pages done. I got 3 8x8 pages done. Did I mention we were there for 5 hours?!?! Something is not right.

Tomorrow I am hopefully sleeping in. Greg is going geocaching in the morning. We're taking Carson to a NASA exhibit at SEMO University (where I work) in the afternoon. Nothing is on the agenda for Sunday. Thank goodness!

I'm borrowing this from Becky's blog. I think I've still got time for a New Year's List.

2008 New Year's Wish List:
1. One habit you'd like to break totally. Eating out due to laziness. I really need to plan ahead more.

2. One person you'd like to get to know better. I hope to meet all sorts of new people this year. I'll talk to anyone, so it's usually not a problem.

3. One random act of kindness that you'd like to make a habit this year. I'd like to make more time to have friends and family over for dinner just because.

4. Something that you'd like to own by the end of 2008. Completed scrapbook albums.

5. Something that you'd like to get rid of by the end of 2008. About half my body weight.

6. One change you'd like to see in your life in 2008. Actually getting healthy instead of just talking about it.

7. One thing you'd like to memorize in 2008. The freakin' computer keyboard. I still watch my fingers when I type.

8. Something that you'd like to improve on in 2008. Having more realistic expectations of people. Apparently not everyone is as driven to occupy every minute of their time as I am.

9. Something new you'd like to learn in 2008. How to say no to more commitment. This will probably never be mastered since I am so inept at trusting others to get the job done. (this is not without good reason...I've been burned a few times)

10. Something you're looking forward to this year. Vacation...hopefully to Disney World in December

11. One thing you're going to make sure DOESN'T happen this year. Weight gain. It has reached the point of absurdity for me not to deal with this.

12. One person that you want to be closer to this year. Carson. It seems like it's time for bed as soon as we get dinner, baths and school work done. I really want to have more time to hang out with him and enjoy his awesome little personality.

13. One place you want to visit this year. The Smithsonian when I'm in D.C. in April

14. One thing that you'll move from 2007's to do list to 2008's to do list. Getting in shape for baby #2

15. One old acquaintance that you'd like to reconnect with this year. Randy..I haven't seen him since the night of my wedding almost 9 years ago and I'd like to know he's still alive

G,night! I'm off for some sweet sleep.

Smells Healthy in Here

2008-01-03T23:17:00.000-08:00

So, I decided to head back to Weight Watchers. In 2006/2007 I gained back all of the weight I had lost a few years ago on Weight Watchers. They kept mentioning something about a lifestyle change that apparently didn't manage to stick in my brain.

I spent New Year's Eve eating chips, dip, chex mix and bacon appetizers until the stroke of midnight. I was in heaven until about 2 am when I woke up with horrible nausea and heartburn. I guess I can thank God for reminding me that a change to healthy eating is certainly in order.

I've been on the wagon since 12:01am 01/01/08. I cleaned out the fridge, stocked it with healthy goods, and gave up my Coke cold turkey. So far, so good. (Although I did have a minor anxiety attack when the sticky bun episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay came on tonight.) :)

We've also done a major overhaul on the clutter in our house. Greg hauled 2 van loads of stuff to Goodwill and numerous bags of trash to the curb last weekend. It feels great to be living in a clutter free house. It also felt great to deliver a huge box of my scrapping stuff to a single mom on a limited budget. She was delighted with the delivery.

I stayed home with a migraine today, most likely due to junk food withdrawal. This means I will have to take Carson with me to work in the morning while I finish a report. That's always interesting. Tomorrow night I'm cropping with friends, which is always a great time! Have a great Friday!

We now resume our regularly scheduled blog already in progress.

2008-01-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

Hi. Yes, I do realize it has been more than a year since I typed a blog post. Things got really busy over the past 15 months. Not that busyness doesn't happen to everyone, but I really seem to attract it. Anyway, I'm back!

Several big events happened since the last post. Here's a brief rundown.

In November 2006, my sister, Juli got married to Ashley. We were all in the wedding party.

Don't they look cute!

In June of 2007, my brother, Jeremy, got married to my sister's best friend, Rachel. Long story on that one. We were all once again in the wedding party.

In August, we took a really great vacation to Siesta Key, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando, Florida. We visited Kennedy Space Center, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure,and Sea World. It was fantastic! (other than the 16 hours in the van!)

In October, Carson turned 6. We made the difficult decision to take him out of school and begin homeschooling. We have our days, but overall, he's learning so much more.

In November, my nephew, Riley, was born to Jeremy and Rachel. He loves to snuggle with his Aunt Amy.

In December, Carson lost, and swallowed, his first and second teeth. He informed us that he smelled the Tooth Fairy when she visited and that she smells very much like a baked potato. He's nothing if not imaginative!

We also had a great time celebrating Christmas and New Year's Eve with family and friends.

That's the very abbreviated version of our lives since the last post. Greg still works for Drury Hotels and I still teach college courses and work with children with special needs. Our family is happy and healthy and looking forward to a new year of loving, laughing and learning together! Look for more new posts soon!

2006-09-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

Such a busy day today. I started at the dentist's office and walked out with a treatment plan totaling $1100. A cleaning, three fillings, and a crown. We'll begin the procedures in two weeks. Yippee.

After the dentist trauma, I met my mother-in-law for lunch where we swapped Carson and dined on yummy Mexican food. After lunch I took Carson to school, then followed the buses to his class field trip at the fairgrounds. We had a great time with all of the other preschoolers and parents from his school. He and I stayed at the fair and waited for Greg to meet us after work for some fair food and a few rides. We had time to see literally every exhibit in the entire fair. It was a long wait for Daddy. I have never willingly watched a cattle show, but today I was ready to sit down and that's where we ended up. Lot's of mooing. Here are some pics from our day:

Every year when we first see the little monkey in the outfit, I wonder why I didn't come up with the idea to dress up a monkey and take quarters from people all day. That guy is a genius. For $5 you can get your picture with the monkey and an autographed picture. Crazy.

In other news, my plans to apply to the doctoral program have been put on hold. I saw my ob/gyn on Monday and she advised me not to take on too much if I plan on having any more children in the near future. With Carson turning 5 next month and me turning 30 this year, it's going to be sooner rather than later on the plan to expand the family. I am under doctor's orders to get in shape this year so we can discuss Franklin Baby #2 at my next appointment next September. I'm feeling pretty good about the plan, though it's pretty daunting to think about the amount of work I have ahead of me to really get in shape in the next twelve months. I am feeling relieved about postponing school and focusing on my health. I was in graduate school when Carson was born and that ended up being a mess when he came so early. The doctor also diagnosed me with a slight heart murmur. I think I've been given a pretty loud wake-up call to get my act together.

The rest of the week is packed with work and Bunco tomorrow, a crop on Friday, and work all day Saturday in St Louis. That will be my third trip to St Louis in 6 days. I'm thinking it would be cheaper for the university to rent an apartment for me. Next week I have an overnight in Jefferson City and then I'm done traveling for at least a few weeks,, other than my very last Festus class on the 26th. Yay!

A recipe and some rest

2006-09-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe for the first of our freezer meals. The pan is currently defrosting in my fridge just waiting to be popped in the oven tomorrow night. If this all works out, I may just start cooking one weekend a month and filling the freezer. Tonight I came home late from class and had some cheap, yet pretty good, Hamburger Helper ready in 10 minutes thanks to my precooked, frozen ground beef. I'm looking forward to some blueberry pancakes straight from the frrezer in the morning. This is pretty cool so far.

King Ranch Chicken

1 package corn tortillas
2 cups chicken -- cooked and shredded ( I just baked about 5 boneless, skinless breasts)
12 ounces cheddar cheese -- grated
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can tomatoes with green chilies -- (Ro-Tel)
1 1/4 cups milk
1 onion -- chopped

Directions
Shred cooled, cooked chicken meat with two forks. Tear tortillas into 1-inch wide strips.

In a large baking dish, alternate layers of tortillas, chicken meat and cheese (reserve 1/2 cup of cheese for topping) until all the chicken is used. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the layered mixture. Top with reserved cheese.

Cover with plastic wrap, then seal with aluminum foil.

To prepare: thaw casserole before baking. Remove plastic wrap, then replace foil. Bake covered casserole at 350-degrees until hot and bubbly. You may remove aluminum foil 10 minutes before taking the casserole out of the oven to melt cheese.

Allow to stand 5 to 10 minutes, then cut with spatula and serve.

That's it for tonight. I caught a pretty severe head cold from Juli this weekend and I've felt terrible all day. The drive home from class was awful. I'm off to take some medicine and get to bed.

What a weekend

2006-09-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a rundown of our Labor Day weekend. We packed a whole lot into the past three days.

Saturday we slept in and watched TV for a few hours in the morning. We hardly ever get to do either anymore, so it was great to stay in PJ's until midmorning. Greg and his dad finished putting the metal roofing on our front garage. His mom stopped by with some new Levi's for Carson and we all had pizza together for lunch. I cooked the first of my freezer meals, (more on that later), then prepared a scrumptious dinner of poppyseed chicken, broccoli rice casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls, then waited for my sister and her fiancee to get here. We stuffed ourselves, then played two games of Apples to Apples, which was hilarious. They left late and we went straight to bed.

Sunday morning was church, then to Ruby Tuesday for lunch, thanks to a buy one entree get one free coupon. We then bought a birthday gift at Toys R Us for a party next weekend, browsed in Big Lots, then went home to get ready for the Karaoke/Ziti party. I also printed all of the bridal shower invites. Juli came by on her way to Mom's from work and stayed for 2 hours. We assembled the shower invitations together, then left for the party. At the party I ate a little bit of Ziti and a whole lot of marshmallows and cake chunks dipped in the most delicious chocolate sauce pouring from our friend, Missi's, chocolate fountain. Greg wants to install one permanently in our kitchen. I think it might be a good idea. :) Our friend, Barb, also made a small replica of Juli and Ashley's wedding cake for the party. She makes all of the cakes for our family events and her cakes are the best ever. Yum-o! My oldest friend, Angie, and I sang a few songs together (Young Love, Redneck Woman, and Somedays You Gotta Dance). We were quite the hit. I sang a few songs by myself, including a moving rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which of course my mother missed because she was too busy talking, as usual. Carson crashed at my mom's and Greg and I got home around 1:00am. It was a great party.

Today we slept in again. Carson stayed at Mom's most of the day and I worked on invites for the rehearsal dinner. Juli and Mom brought Carson home at 3:00 and all of us girls went to Kohl's to help Juli with her bridal registry. We had a great time and swayed her toward quality cookware and high thread count sheets. I got home around 6:00, made a yummy casserole, finished up my freezer cooking, ate, got Carson to bed, filled out our paperwork for the family dental appointments this week, wrote a note to Carson's teacher, cleaned up the kitchen, checked my message boards, and did a load of laundry. I am beat.

I have decided that we eat out entirely too much and waste a ton of food at home. I've been researching "freezer cooking" recipes and methods in hopes of getting our meals more organized and our bank account more full. So, this weekend I cooked and cooked and cooked and now have all of this yummy food in the freezer waiting to be eaten on hurried nights:

1 King Ranch Chicken casserole
1 Tater Tot Casserole
1 pan of lasagna
1 pan of ravioli lasagna
2 bags of Lipton burgers
3 bags of ground beef starter for tacos, spaghetti, etc
7 bags of 3 pancakes each

I so put my advanced degree in Home Economics to work this weekend! I am feeling like such a domestic goddess. We'll see if I remember to get those casseroles out 24 hours ahead to defrost. :)

Tomorrow is work, then teaching in Festus. Only 4 more classes! Have a great week!

Close Call, Couth, and Karoke

2006-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

I spent Monday at a child care center and saw some very unsettling practices taking place. It's upsetting to think that I've been working with this center for several months and they aren't making much progress. Child care in Missouri is so pathetic. Children are pretty much at the bottom of the list in this state. Our legislators have some pretty twisted priorities, but from what I've seen, this is pretty typical of children's issues in our country. I think that hoping to someday see a change in how we treat our children in this country is what keeps me and my coworkers plugging away at our jobs. We're certainly not there for the pay. I'll step off the soapbox for now!

Monday afternoon I had a very scary moment. I was on my way to an appointment at a home I had never visited before near Marble Hill. I reached forward to set my trip odomoter and when I looked back at the road, I was about a foot away from a traffic sign warning of a drop off on the side of the raised road. I overcorrected, went across the center line and nearly off the other side of the road, overcorrected again and went back across the center line and nearly off the side of the road, overcorrected once more and crossed the center line for the third time, then hit a gravel driveway, spun 3 times and came to rest facing the direction I had just some from. I was about a foot from smashing into a huge brick pillar at the entrance of a park. By the grace of God, no other cars were in sight when this happened, which is truly a miracle, given that school had just dismissed right down the road. A man stared at me from across the street, but never approached my car. No one else saw it happen. I still made it to the appoinment on time. I'm still not sure what I was supposed to learn from this, but I was feeling pretty close to God as I watched the brick pillars spin in front of me.

I had a hard time getting through the child's assessment. I kept getting distracted by this huge, hot pink, wooden sign on the family's entertainment center that said "I Love Sex!" I couldn't bring myself to ask her where she got that fine piece of home decor. There are 4 kids in the house, two of whom sleep in their parents' bedroom. Personally, that would really deter my bedroom activity, but to each his own. Just when I think I've seen it all.

Not much else is going on for us until the weekend. We bought the game, Apples to Apples, on Sunday, so we plan to invite my sister and her fiance over Friday or Saturday to play. They are game nuts, especially my soon-to-be brother-in-law. On Sunday, we're having a Karoke party at my parents' house. Mom needed to see how much baked ziti she needed for the wedding reception, so we're having a "ziti run through" on Sunday. The groom is a huge fan of my mom's ziti and asked for a pan of it to be served at the reception. It doesn't exactly go with the rest of the menu, but I guess they can do whatever they want at their wedding. My family and lots of friends are coming over to eat ziti and sing some karoke. I haven't decided what tunes I want to sing yet. Any requests!?!:)

Tomorrow I visit a Perryville center in the morning and see a little guy for developmental therapy in the afternoon. I am looking forward to getting my house clean and working on Carson's birthday invites tomorrow while Greg is at band practice. Hopefully things will go as planned. Thanks for checking in!

Pirates and Showers

2006-08-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

The grand plan for today got shot to hell quicker than the downpour we had all afternoon. After church we went to Red Lobster for lunch with my mom. Lunch was good and Carson pretty much behaved, which is unusual these days. I think he was too busy peeling all the breading from his popcorn shrimp to get in trouble. He's weird.

We went to Barnes and Noble to pick up a birthday gift for the brother of one of the kids I see for therapy. I'm still debating whether to go to his party or not, but wanted to give a present either way. It's not that I don't want to go, but there is a fine line between being a professional and being a friend when you visit a family in their home each week. I really like this family, but I'm afraid things may seem a bit too "familiar" if I go to a family birthday party. I went to my other client's party, but we know their entire extended family, so that's a little different. I'm rambling.

By this point, Greg and Carson had reached the "we'll just sit in the car and wait" stage of shopping. I tackled Dollar Tree and Factory Card Outlet on my own for the rest of the things I needed for Carson's pirate birthday party. I still need material to make bandana's for the kids. It seems like I keep thinking of "one more thing" that will make the party really great. I should really be stopped. Carson's parties have gotten a little over the top, but oh well. I only have one kid.

We headed home, where the grand plan was for me to make all of the birthday invitations, print Juli's bridal shower invitations, and wrap 2 birthday gifts. It started pouring as soon as I decided to rest on the couch for a few minutes. I woke up at 5:00. So much for today! I'm off to read a bedtime story and watch a little Discovery Channel with Greg.

Time Off

2006-08-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

So I had these big plans to get a lot done today. I always think I can get a ton more stuff done than I actually do. We started the day with Carson's physical therapy in Cape until 10:30. He and I then went to Target to look at my sister's registry list and grab some lunch before he went to preschool. Somehow, we ended up getting out of the store with a package of Cars underwear lodged under his butt in the seat of the cart. Normally, I would have gone back in to pay for it, but seeing as I had just been charged $7 for a bag of Hershey's kisses that were advertised for $3.50, I decided that Target and I were even and threw them in the car. I never thought the day would come when I would willingly shoplift size 3T undies from Target. I am so jaded. The fact that we had 10 minutes to get to school on time had a lot to do with it too. We were still late.

After dropping him off, I got to browse leisurely at the scrapboook store for about an hour. I hadn't been there in almost 2 months and it was like a whole new store with all the CHA stuff coming in. I picked up a few things to make favors for Juli's rehearsal dinner and some paper and embellishments to finish up the New Orleans pictures from our cruise album. I've been stuck on these pics for quite a while and I really want to be finished with the album. Hopefully I'll get to scrap tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow I'm headed to St Louis to teach my child development class all day. We're going on a field trip to several places in South County, St Louis so it should be fun. I'm ready for it to be finished. Only 5 more weeks of driving to Festus every Tuesday night. I am not signing up for this again.

After class I'm looking forward to doing a little shopping by myself. We have several birthdays coming up and I need a few more things for Juli's shower. I really enjoy shopping by myself, especially in St Louis. I like shopping with others too, but it's nice to take my time and go where I want without worrying about anyone else.

I'm off to spend some time with Greg. He put Carson to bed a few minutes ago and I feel like we haven't really spent time together this week. It seems like one of us has something to do every night. Have a great weekend!