My Fantastic Purchase

I had some returns for Gymboree so Tuesday evening Abby and I went to the Gateway, down town. Tuesday they started a great sale, everything on the sale rack was $4.99 or under, I got quite a few things which I am SOOOO excited about.

Charcoal dress coat, reg. price $69.50, $4.99!
Fancy cream button-down shirt with toole and cz accent (christmas), reg. price $34.50, $4.99!
Green, charcoal, and red plaid dress with velvet sash (christmas and goes with shirt), reg. price $42.50, $4.99! I got the same dress for my neice/SIL... also $4.99
Tan and cream two piece rocking horse outfit for gift, reg. price $28.50, 4.99!

I just wanted to share, rarely am I the one to find the steals!

Update: Deliciously Deceptive / Delusionally Deceitful

So in a nutshell, Mike SAW me make him dinner one night and we fought. Not even the nice kind; you know where you just joke your way out of disagreement, this was full blown war. To put it mildly, it was ON! He didn't like the fact that I was sneaking things w/o him knowing. (Even though I told him, he thought I was only doing it for Abby. I had to remind him that I wasn't making her seperate meals from us.) Anyway, long story short, it didn't go well. After two days we finally came to an agreement.

The Rules:
1. If Mike doesn't like it, I can't ask him why. I will no longer be able to make that recipe for him anymore. I will also have to find him a substitution for the crappy meal.

2. Mike can no longer watch me make dinner.

3. He can no longer ask me where I got the recipe.

4. In the event that I have a pattern of making crappy meals, these rules will be subject to change...

Yep, that's right folks. I liked the meals, but I guess I was the only one. Ha ha ha... That being said, I did tell him that the cookbook wasn't going completely away, so if something noteworthy happens, I will let you know. :D

Important: Eyebrows!

All you mothers out there probably know this already; but, everyday I am facinated at the new things I learn about myself from Abby. Today's lesson: Eyebrows.... You can't go anywhere without putting your eyebrows on. I'm not sure why the eyebrows are so important because I really don't wear make-up everyday, but apparently they are. As you can see...

P.S. Yes we still have the pacifier. It's going to be bad around the house the week we decide she can't have it anymore, I am still trying to toughen myself up for that task.

One True Talent!

Did I not write that winters were hard on our family? Well, here we are ONE week later and yes, sick.... AGAIN! I think I am a good nurse until about 4:30pm, then the whining starts to get old, the crying feels like it will never end, and the nose is constantly running. To top it all off, I get tired of the physical fight when it's medication time. (I do thank my mom for the "medication position" she used on me, lately, it has come in handy!:)

So yesterday, I just happened to have my camera and decided to go see what the Abster was doing. This is what I found... (Sorry about the camera being jostled. I had the phone in the other hand.)

Hasn't she perfected the sick "fake" cry? If you notice, she doesn't even change tone when she sees me, no register that I am there. If you ask me, that's one true talent! :))) I sure hope this is the last cold she gets before Spring.

I could't resist!

I just got this email from my mom, and I am still laughing.


Two choices...Life's decisions that people have to make are never simple. The importance of the initial decision should always be examined over the long run. Memories made and cherished are sure to be tempered along the way.Consider the following two choices...


Should I get a dog?

...or have children????

It's a Winter Wonderland!

It started snowing last night and is still snowing now, 2:30pm. I love days like this! If I were working a regular 8:00am - 5:00pm job, I would definitely consider calling in for a "sick" day.

Another Little Update:

I wish I could say, "The reason you haven't heard from us, is because we have been on vacation." Unfortunately, just the opposite is true. The Preas' family has had a full task list for weeks. It seems since the holidays are over, we have had to keep moving or the things to do would pile up and run us over!

Mike is still in school, he is pretty scarce right now, being that he gets home around 6:30p and every night he has at least 2 hours of studying. He has pre-calculus and a criminal justice class right now. The time he is spending with Abby everyday is a precious commodity!

When I decided on three part-time jobs, I realized it could get pretty tough IF all of them needed me at once. I didn't think the odds of that were very great. Well January proved that it definitely COULD happen.

Abby has started requesting movies (Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) to be played during the day. It still cracks me up when she comes in, looks at me and says, "which one", meaning, I would like to choose what goes on the television. Today she had speech therapy and I feel disappointed. She wouldn't cooperate with our teacher and I'm not sure if her cold is making her unresponsive or if she has lost some hearing, but today she wouldn't talk or respond. It bothered our speech therapist so much that she made a point to say that she needed another hearing test scheduled.

That being said, we finally got over the stomach flu and now everyone has head colds. Winter sure gives our household a beating every year.

This last week, a co-worker/good friend's husband died unexpectedly. She lives in Arizona and I wish I could do more for her than what we have done. Cathryn has a tough job ahead of her. Her four kids are still very young. It has really made me think just how precious life is and what an important gift health and being together is.

Well, I just wanted to give you all some accounting of us over the course of these past few weeks. As you can see, we're still plugging along.

My Favorite New Cookbook

Lately I have been having a heck of a time getting the Abster to eat anything healthy, except of course bananas (which she calls bebes), yogurt, and applesauce. That might be all fine and dandy for a day, but this menu is ongoing. So I either play the tough guy and she starves and is very moody and cranky because she is hungry or I play the nice guy and give into the cookies, cheetos, and chocolate.

So last month on all the talk shows Jessica Seinfeld made a huge push for her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. I thought wow, great idea! I decided that I could actually do it on my own. You know buy all the veggies and sneak them into our menu. Well I bought all the veggies, then didn't really know which veggie or how much to put in each. So my real great idea went stagnet.

Last week as I was out and about, I saw her book. I decided I needed more help than I originally anticipated. The Preas family has tried our second recipe and I absolutely love the cookbook. We had the macaroni and cheese with butternut squash and tonight we had the pancakes with beets, ricotta cheese, and apple (I substituted butternut squash, since I had some left for the beets). You totally couldn't tell the pancakes had all that at all. The best part of that was that she had protein, veggies, and fruit in one meal. She didn't eat all of her pancake, but she did eat about five bites. That's much better than other meals. I am having a little harder time convincing my other finicky eater, Mike, that it truly is good and I am not just saying that!

So as I sit here and click away on the keyboard, I am realizing the plaque on my kitchen wall is ringing true.... "Mirror, mirror on the wall, I'm becoming my mother after all!" So I guess I should now say, "Mom, thanks for loving your kids SO much that your pancakes consisted of either whole wheat, potato, or zucchini."

If your interested in the recipe, here it is.

Pink Pancakes
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup beet puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup grated apple
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
Maple syrup or fruit, for serving

Mix together water, ricotta cheese, beet puree, vanilla, and cinnamon. Next add the pancake mix and apple. Do not over mix.

Then just spoon them onto the griddle and cook. Serve warm with syrup or fruit.

Hope you enjoy!

Recipe for Hilary...

Hilary here is the chicken recipe I used when I catered the dinner...

Chicken and Garfunkel
(given to me by Tamara Buck)

6 Chicken Breast Halves
6 Slices of Mozzarella Cheese
Butter
Salt and Pepper
Flour
1 Egg Beaten
Bread Crumbs (I like to use Townhouse Crackers)
2 Tbl Parsley
1/4 Tsp Crushed Rosemary
1/4 Tsp Sage
1/4 Tsp Thyme
1/2 Cup White Grape Juice (I have also used Apple Juice)

Flatten chicken between sheets of wax paper. Spread with a small amount of butter (approx 1 tsp), then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put 1 slice of cheese and roll. Fasten with toothpicks or string. Coat with flour, then egg and roll in the bread crumbs. Arrange in a baking dish.

Melt 1/2 cube butter and add parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Pour over the tops of chicken, trying to keep most of it on the chicken. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven baste the chicken with drippings on bottom. Pour grape juice over the top and bake for another 20 minutes. Then serve.

Everyone that I have cooked this for has raved. It has become one of our favorites!

December in a Nut Shell

Well Christmas was over in a hurry. I can't believe we are now into January! My mom called yesterday to see how our holidays went. She asked me what we did, and would you believe I couldn't really remember? All I knew was that I felt busy, busy, busy.... Here is a little snapshot of what has gone on and why I haven't blogged for a while.

1. Abby got the stomach flu. I didn't know kids could throw-up so much. If that wasn't bad enough, it turned into diarrhea. Sorry, don't mean to be graphic, but man it was bad. I still have a stock pile of laundry to finish.

2. Mike took a Business Math class this term. For as much as I helped, I think I was really the one taking the class. Mike lost his 4.0 GPA this term because he got a B+ for this class. I know, I know what you are thinking, I was the one that made his grade drop. This time, I think I saved his bacon. "My" last project I got an A and I am thrilled!!! :))) It was actually fun for me because it is exactly what I used to do for Motor Cargo, and that was a great job.

3. It's been newsletter weekend again, so I am working frantically this week getting it already to publish. My assistant is on her honeymoon in Jamaica. Wouldn't it be nice to be somewhere warm for the holidays?

4. We got a laptop this Christmas, so we are officially a two computer family. Two years ago, I thought one was more than enough, but since, we have turned into one of THOSE families. Lately, it has really been a must! So we are figuring out how to network the two. By next week we will be set.

5. I am still working at Gymboree on the weekends. I had to work last Sunday and the gal I was to work with didn't show up. I was alone for 9 hours. Talk about needing a break! If you think it was busy normally, try the Sunday after Christmas. Even in this Mormon town, Sunday is busy. I had 61 people just returning merchandise or exchanges.

6. A week before Christmas, I lost my bank card. I ordered a new one off the banks website, since I thought it must be around the house somewhere. I then decided it would be best to report it missing. The bank assured me they WOULDN'T turn it off until the new one came; well, the teller was wrong. They turned both Mike and mine off. Talk about sucking before Christmas... To make matters worse, I went to my mailbox and in opening it with my key, the lock was frozen and in trying to make the key turn, it broke off in the mailbox. So not only did we not have a bank card, but couldn't get to the mail for Christmas cards or the replacement bank card until AFTER Christmas... All I have to say is thank you Amazon.com for transferring funds from our bank account instead of needing a bank card.

Well as you can see December wasn't boring. Oh, I almost forgot... Abby was assessed by Jean, our coordinator for the "Parent Infant Program, (PIP)". She evalutates Abby's progress every six months, she also sets goals with us and our "PIP" advisor, Paula. Well not only is Abby verbally and non-verbally where she should be for her age, but in many developmental areas she is at 36 months. We couldn't be prouder. Abby is definitely not letting her handicap hold her down.

December definitely had its challenges, but it also had many high points too. It will definitely be a good 2008 if it was anything like 2007 or even the month of December. So there you have it, December in a big nutshell!