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Sunday, March 31, 2013

What I Wore: Easter Sunday Edition

Happy Easter! I hope you all had a wonderful day. We got up, opened Easter baskets and headed to Mass. After Mass we had lunch at my parent's house with my best friend and her family and now we are back home resting up.

I don't normally nap but I'm thinking that today might be a good day to start. The weather was gorgeous here yesterday so it as a disappointment to wake up to clouds and rain. But it's like the priest said, "Don't let the weather dampen your excitement over the risen Lord!"

And I didn't let the weather stop me from dressing like it was warm and sunny either.




Blazer:  Wal-mart
Dress:  Target
Shoes:  Target
Jewelry - Target

(Apparently I only buy my clothes at stores where groceries and automotive products are also sold!)

And here are my munchkins.  Aren't they cute?!






Linking up with Camp Patton for Show Us Your Easter Dress! and Fine Line and Purple.
Camp Patton

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Me too.

His dad was already sound asleep on the couch, still on Irish time, so I didn't give him a hard time when he came down the stairs.

"I need to talk to you Mama."

"Okay sweetie."

"In my room."

So together we climbed the steps back up to his room. He crawled into his bed and I sat down on the edge.

"What is it, honey?"

"Some people say that the Easter Bunny isn't real.  Is it? Is it real Mama?"

He and I had a similar conversations about Santa for the last couple of years so I said what I always say, "Well, what do you think honey?"

"I'd like to think that there is an Easter Bunny," was his quiet reply.

"Well, okay then.  There you go."

And then big tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes and he said, "I miss being 4 or 5 sometimes."

I nodded in agreement and ruffled his hair.

He grabbed his teddy bear and rolled over and I realized that at that exact moment he had stopped believing in the Easter Bunny.

As I headed back down the stairs, I fought off the tears myself.

I miss 4 or 5 sometimes, too.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Sometimes the fun is in the mess! (Well, for kids, that's always the case!)

The kids had their BFFs sleep over last night.  This morning we dyed Easter eggs using the shaving cream and food coloring method I saw on Pinterest.

You are supposed to swirl food coloring in shaving cream and then lightly roll the eggs in the shaving cream.  Wait about 15 minutes and gently wipe the shaving cream off to see your tie-dyed effect.

Well, I think the kids had a little too much fun swirling the food coloring around because we ended up with some very pale eggs.  Extremely pale, as a matter of fact.  And not a trace of any tie-dyed effect what so ever.

After lunch we are heading out to a neighborhood egg hunt and then it's off to church for the 3:00 Good Friday service.  I might be re-dyeing these eggs afterwards just to see if I can get them to look a little better.

The shaving cream made a huge mess so the kids had fun even if the eggs didn't turn out quite right!






Wednesday, March 27, 2013

I've been dyeing to show you these....

Haha!  Dyeing?  Get it?

We dyed Easter eggs this past weekend and I took lots of pictures.  I spent the whole time fiddling with the settings on the camera and I still couldn't get it right. Some are washed out, some are too blue, some are blurry. 

But I did get one thing right...I have the cutest egg dyers ever.  Am I right, Grandma T?







Tuesday, March 26, 2013

I'm melting! Surely this is a harbinger of Spring.

Danny Boy's in Ireland yet again and Easter Break starts tomorrow.

Peter wants to know why we aren't going to Hawaii or Florida like his friends from school and Sarah wants to know how many play dates we can arrange over the next 12 days.

I'm just trying to find ways to stay warm that don't involve Jillian's Ripped in 30.  Y'all, the week two workout leaves me drenched in sweat.  Next week I'm moving on to week three.  If week two is any indicator, I'm going to look a bit like this afterwards....




Monday, March 25, 2013

It's just ridiculous.

Yesterday I realized that I had a $10 Kohl's coupon, $10 Kohl's cash and a 30% off coupon (all set to expire within the next couple of days.) And if you are a Kohl's shopper then you know that's Kohls' version of the trifecta and it doesn't come around too often.

 So I dropped the kids off at school this morning and headed to Kohl's. But I decided I better swing into Target first. I really enjoy cruising through Target with a big red buggy and a cup of their coffee.  I  looked at the shoes and some dish towels and grabbed a few things to round out the kid's Easter baskets.

Which reminds me, yesterday Sarah said, "Mom, are you the Easter bunny?" As soon as she said this, my dear sweet scared husband headed out of the room and out the front door to avoid that conversation.

"What do you think, honey?" That's always my go-to response when I'm asked about Santa Claus so I figured it would work for E.B. as well.

"Mom, I want a real answer from you." I tried to change the subject and she said, "Now, you're just changing the subject!"

We went back and forth until she said, "I mean, really? A big bunny that hops around delivering Easter baskets is just ridiculous!" And somehow, I got out of that one without actually answering the question.

 I think she still believes in the Easter Bunny but it will be interesting to see what she says on Easter morning.

Anyway, I was cruising through Target with my big red cart, my big cup of coffee and generally enjoying myself before the craziness of Spring Break begins in a couple of days, when I wheeled out from a side aisle into the big  main aisle. As I was doing this an older woman wheeled out from a side aisle on the opposite side of the big aisle. 

So she and I were both in the big aisle going in opposite directions but driving with our carts on the left side of the aisle as if we were in Ireland and not in America. 

And then she gave me an evil stare and started muttering that she thought you were supposed to drive your cart on the right side of the aisle and she thought it was ridiculous that people were driving their carts on the left  side of the aisle.

So I muttered out loud, "Are you serious?"

But really, I should have just taken her to the aisle where they have these:

 Because needing to use something other than a knife is what's ridiculous!

Well, that and a big giant bunny that hops around handing out Easter baskets.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

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WIWS - Firmoo!

The outfit is nothing special. You've seen all of the elements before. But what I'm excited about today are my new Firmoo's! That's right.  My new glasses! Aren't they cute?





Link to frames style #CP6061

Firmoo is a global online optical store. They have tons of frames and they are cheap. It was so easy to order these.  AND BEST OF ALL?  They have a first free pair program.  Click here to see the details.  All you have to do is pay the shipping and you can get your first pair FREE!

And in case you are worried about how the glasses will look on your face, you can easily upload a picture of your face so that you can "try on" the glasses. Pick your pair, plug in your prescription (your eye doctor is required by law to give you a copy if you ask and should do so without giving you a hassle), make a few other choices and you are done.

It's very quick and easy. If you have any questions you can email their customer service team and they will get back to you by the next business day. If you are in the market for a new pair of specs, I highly recommend Firmoo. And these glasses are so affordable, you can own extra pairs and change them out like you would a necklace or a scarf!

  **Disclosure... I was given a free pair of glasses to review.  Everything I have said here is true and I would definitely use Firmoo instead of my eye doctor for the next pair of frames I need!

For more great Palm Sunday outfits, head on over to Fine Linen and Purple

Friday, March 22, 2013

7 Quick Takes Friday



It's time for 7 Quick Takes Friday.  My takes haven't been quick in quite a few Fridays so I will try to be brief today.  Because otherwise it would be called "Let's Cram As Much Stuff As We Can Into One Post" Friday and that just doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

1.  Check this out:

So what?  Just some Maxwell House, right?

Wrong!  It's an ad for Maxwell House on a gallon of milk.


For some reason, this has annoyed me all week.

2.  Peter woke up on the wrong side of the bed last Sunday.  He had a bad attitude towards me all morning and was being very mouthy.  Finally, in the car on the way to church I could take no more and I said, "If you don't stop being such a smart as - er, uh, um, - smart attitude boy, um you are going to lose computer privileges for a month!"

Smart attitude boy?  Quick thinking is not my forte obviously but at least I was able to stop myself. And he did stop being a smart attitude boy.  And Dan was able to stifle his laughter so it was a win-win.

3.  I read the occasional fashion blog and I have a question.  When did it stop being okay to say "trendy?"  Everyone now says "on trend."  Much like #1, I'm not sure why but I am highly annoyed by this.  So when did it become trendy to say on-trend?  Or, I guess if I want to be on-trend I should ask, "When did it become on-trend to say on trend?" Sounds so pretentious...on trend....

4.  My keyboard was filthy so I got one of those cans of air and cleaned it out.  The gross out factor was high - very high. Which reminds me, as soon as I'm done here, I've got to vacuum a mound of crumbs from the floor right beneath my keyboard.

5.  So unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Google will be discontinuing Google Reader in July.  Whatevs Google.  Whatevs.  I've been reading blogs so long that I was using Bloglines when they discontinued it and I was forced to start using Google Reader.  So switching feed readers isn't that big of a deal except that  the whole world must be trying to  switch to Feedly today because I can't get that site to do anything except say "refreshing page".  Perhaps I should check out bloglovin' in the meantime.

6. Peter is doing fractions in math and this week he was changing improper fractions to mixed numbers or something along those lines.  I wasn't able to help him so that task fell to my husband.  Because every man wants to come home at 7:00 PM and sit down and help his kid with math homework - Well, all the good ones do anyway.

7. Did I mention that three of the four of us had the stomach bug last weekend and early this week?  I probably didn't because no one wants to read a blog post about that. Or the weather.  Did I mention it's supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend? 

Head on over to Jen's place for more 7 Quick Takes Friday!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

John Adams - husband to Abigail.

Yesterday I asked Peter if parents were supposed to come to his Women in History presentation.

"They can if they want to," was his response.

"Well, do you want me to?  I'm free tomorrow morning so I can come if you want me to come."

"Great!" he replied.

So instead of heading out for a run on this clear, sunny and why-is-it-so-cold-in-March-it's-springtime-for-heaven's-sake morning, I went to school.

Peter's famous woman from history was Abigail Adams (wife of John and mother to John Quincy).  He had to read a book about her and prepare a timeline from her life.

And then he had to attend an "interview" where he (since he is a he) had to be a male from her life and answer questions about her. He chose to do the interview as her husband, John.

And, of course, there was extra credit if you wore a costume.

So I did what any good (but lazy) mom would do.  I scoured eBay until I found a used colonial boy costume for cheap.

Please note, I did make the lopsided buckles.  My non-craftiness is apparent in all that I do.

When he walked into the classroom wearing his 1700's polyester blend costume, one of the girls said, "Ooooh, Peter, you look soooo handsome in that uniform!"

Yes, little female classmate, he does look handsome. But please step away from my child.  He currently isn't interested in little girls and I would like to keep it that way for a while.  ...ahem...

The kids were the studio audience and the teacher was the talk show host.

They shook hands and the interview began.  She asked him questions about Abigail's youth and education, about their family, why she's famous, etc.

Telling the studio audience all they will every need to know about good ole Abbie.
And telling them a little more.

At the end of the interview, the class got to ask questions.  He did a great job with that as well.

I'm so glad I got to hear him.

Although, it's supposed to rain tomorrow and you know what that means.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

I think I said "Bite me, Jillian!" at least 20 times. Maybe more.

I just started Week 2 of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30.  I bought this DVD a couple of weeks ago so I would have something to do when it's raining and I can't get outside for a run.

Let's just say I'm hoping it's sunny tomorrow morning so I can go outside for a run.

Last week I did Week 1 and I did it smuggly. 

This is pretty easy, I thought proudly to myself as I was working my way through the different circuits. 

Well, that was Week 1.  Week 2 is a whole different ball game.  Within minutes I was drenched in sweat and cussing Jillian.

Where had smug Beth gone?  She turned into one of the contestants on the Biggest Loser that's over in the corner puking into a bucket, crying for mercy and telling Jillian that they just. can't. do. it.

Okay.  I may be exaggerating just a teeny little bit but I did  realize why all of the people she trains on the Biggest Loser end up in the fetal position at least once on their weight loss journey. (Not sure if you watch the show or not but it drives me and Dan crazy when they call it their "weight loss journey".  And they use that phrase a lot.  A. Lot.)

I have big expectations with this DVD. 

And I'm hoping I can push my shopping cart through Wal-Mart this morning.

And I'm hoping for sunshine tomorrow because a 3 mile run would be a walk in the park compared to Week 2 of Ripped in 30.

Monday, March 18, 2013

We ended up hot pink and purple!

Jennifer and I had a great time at The Color Run!  It's a total fun run.  They don't even give you timing chips so you don't feel pressured to run fast or hard.  The only thing you want to try to do is get colored!

And I think we did a pretty good job of that!

Here we are pre-race.  There were lots of crazy kids in tutus and long colored eye lashes and crazy wigs.  And when I say kids I mean mid-20s.   This was definitely a younger crowd but we kept up in our hot pink high top socks!


Here we are post-race.  We definitely got covered in color!

And here we are back at Jennifer's house.  We wanted to get a picture of the back of our shorts but were too embarrassed to ask a stranger at the race.


And here's a professional photo taken by Andrew Dye of the Winston-Salem Journal.

The Color Run - it really is the happiest 5k on the planet!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

WIWS - Boring is as boring does.

It's What I Wore Sunday and well, here's what I  wore.

Took this first shot outside and as you can see, it was super windy. The flap on the back of my jacket is blowing up and my hair is blowing away. But you get the idea...

We tried a few shots inside but the light wasn't  good and my belt is off center. But at least you can see my mass of bangle bracelets and  my leopard ballerina flats a little better. 

Jacket - Kohls
Tee - Kohls
Cords -  Target
Flats - Target
Ill-fitting belt - Target
Bangles - Kohls
Necklace - Gift

This outfit is a little boring to me.  I think if I wore it again I would wear a burgundy tee shirt. That might give the outfit a little more oomph and would tie in the color in the bracelets.

Head on over to Fine Linen and Purple to see what everyone else is wearing today.  Hopefully their outfits are a little less boring and a little more inspiring. 

Friday, March 15, 2013

7 Quick Takes Friday

1.  The Color Run is tomorrow!  So excited! Except that my husband is out of town so I'll be sending the kids to play at Jennifer's house and she and I will go alone.  The only problem with that - who is going to hold my cell phone and take Before and After pictures of us?  I mean, isn't the only reason we do these things is so we can brag about it to others on Facebook????

2.  Here's a picture of Sarah with her Mars project.  Each of the kids in her class were assigned a planet and had to make a physical representation of it (any way they chose) and include certain facts wtih the project as well as any thing they found interesting.

I forgot to get a picture of her the morning she took the project to school but here's the picture the day she brought it home.  It held up fairly well except for the fortune cookie.  One of the moons of Mars looks a lot like a fortune cookie so that's what we used.  I snapped this picture and as soon as I did, she ripped the three week old fortune cookie off the project and ate it.  I know.  Gross.


The note cards dangling off the dowel rods contain all the important facts about Mars.

3.  Speaking of important facts about Mars.  If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you only weight 39 pounds on Mars.  I'm online searching for cheap flights right now.

4.  Yesterday the ice make blew out in my freezer.  I came home to a fridge that was not working at all thanks to the fact that the breaker also flipped off and a fridge/freezer that smelled like smoke.  Luckily I was able to get the meats and dairy into our fridge in the garage and the repairman was able to arrive and  fix it in just a matter of  two hours. I was afraid I was going to have to make a last minute trip to Lowes to get a new one.  I would love a new fridge with French doors, but I would prefer to do it on my terms and not the ice maker's terms.

5. I have hired one of the teachers at the kid's school to tutor Peter in handwriting.  We switched to our current school last year when Peter was in 3rd grade.  The public schools teach cursive in 3rd grade but the Catholic schools teach it in 2nd.  So the summer before we started, I tried to teach Peter cursive.  He hated me trying to teach him so he "taught" himself.  It is cursive, I suppose, because all the letters are linked together but oh man, is it hard to read.

He gets marked off on things that are correct on tests and papers because the teacher can't make out what he's trying to say.  And, to make matters worse, the teacher that he will have in 5th grade is a master calligrapher and places a very, very high importance on good penmanship.  I have heard this from several people.  So, tutoring starts next week.  I told the tutor to act as if he has never learned cursive and to start completely over.

Peter is thrilled.  HA!

6.  Jennifer Fulwiler had the best article about waiting for the white smoke at the National Catholic Register.  Go read it.  I loved it.

And that's going to be it for me.  I know these are supposed to be quick takes but it seems like every week I end up writing an entire blog post for each take.  So, I'll end at 6 and that will be how I make these 7 Quick Takes quick!

Go see Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Maybe she's ready to join the 1.2 billion?

I didn't join the Catholic church until 2007.  I have vague memories of watching white smoke on the news in 2005 but at that time, it wasn't too meaningful to me.

Yesterday as I was doing things around the house, I would occasionally go into the office to check the Pope Smoke Cam on the computer.  I never keep the TV on during the day so I thought checking on the computer would be a great way to see the smoke as it billowed out.

I checked it again around 2:05ish and then decided I need to finish up a couple of things quickly before heading out to get gas and then get the kids from school.

At 2:08 my phone rang.  It was my mom (a lifelong Protestant) and she was excitedly saying, "There's white smoke!  There's white smoke!  Are you watching?  Turn to CNN right now!  Right now!"

Dang it!  I was watching the smoke cam  mere minutes earlier. I really wanted to see the very first puffs.  I guess I should have just parked myself in front of the TV all day.

So I turned to CNN and watched the beautiful white smoke billowing from the smoke stack of the Sistine Chapel.

I watched for a few minutes but I really needed to get gas and get my kids.

I turned on the radio searching for a channel that would be covering this so I could hear first hand at least, who the new Pope would be.

And of course, I found nothing.  So at the gas station I quickly down loaded the CNN radio app to my phone and listened to the news reports live from Rome as I was driving to pick up my kids.

As they piled into the car, I exclaimed, "We have a new Pope!"  They, of course, already knew since they do go to a Catholic school.

"Who is it?  What's his name?" they questioned.

So we listened to the radio reports until they finally, finally, announced Jorge Mario Bergoglioni! 

Pope Francis.

Peter wanted it to be someone from the US but seemed pleased that at least it was a non-European.
Sarah didn't seem to care one way or the other who it was.

We all liked the name Francis.

After school we went straight to Peter's guitar lesson.  My phone rang and it was my mom again.

"Have you heard who it is?? He's just the cutest thing.  He looks so sweet!  I have tears in my eyes!" sang out my mom's voice.

Quite certain my Mom would make a great Catholic!  


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Wednesday already?

Wednesday already?

Time flies when you are grocery shopping, paying bills, going to the dentist, driving the kids to and from school piano and guitar, going to a PTO meeting, having lunch with a friend one day and then lunch with Mom the next and laundry...there's always laundry.

But as I am typing this list, I am smiling.  I am very lucky to have the life I have.  And I am trying to be thankful for every minute of it.

Even the dirty underwear.

Because there's always dirty underwear. 

Monday, March 11, 2013

Monday Minutia - Where I Babble On About the Trivial Details of My Weekend.

Yesterday afternoon the kids had their first track practice of the season.  I am the coach's administrative assistant which is far different than being the assistant coach.  Basically I keep up with a spreadsheet and walk around the track with a clipboard.

I told Dan I felt very official and just needed a whistle and then I'd be all set.

We painted our bedroom this weekend and of course, by "we" I really mean Dan.  We also rearranged the furniture and now our already fairly big bedroom seems even bigger.  Makes me wish I could simply rearrange my kitchen but alas, short of a renovation, nothing will ever help the size of that small space.

If I get off my rear end, perhaps I might be able to post pictures of my new wall color and new bedspread.  But don't count on it because I'm pretty comfortable sitting right where I am.

Besides, the cat is on my lap and she hates it when I move.  I think she's even lazier than I am.


And speaking of cats, I saw this and had to laugh. These cats resemble my two cats in both size and color. Perhaps that's what the little cat is always on my lap.  She's afraid she's going to be eaten by the bigger one!

Alright, that's enough minitea for one day.

Oh!  Perhaps I'll start a new blog meme!

MONDAY MINUTIA

We call all babble on about the trivial details of our weekend. I'm game!  Who's in?

Sunday, March 10, 2013

WIWS - Another Copy Cat!

Some of my best outfits have come when I have stolen ideas borrowed inspiration from other WIWS participants.  And this week is no different.

I was in Target recently wandering around their clothing department when a magenta dress caught my eye.  Maybe it's fuchsia, I'm not sure because it's been a long time since I've played with the 48 box of Crayolas.  Anyway, it was a bright pink dress and it caught my eye.

"Didn't Dwija recently wear a bright pink dress from Target with her boots and look awesome?" I thought to myself.

I quickly tried on the dress and the angels sang and all felt right with the world and I bought it.

A dress!  A fuchsia dress!  What was I thinking?

I think this dress has lots of potential - especially now that spring seems to be ready to spring so I'm sure you'll see this again with different accessories.

I wish I had realized the jacket was flipped wrong on one side but my stylist didn't notice and neither did my photographer so we're gonna have to go with this:


I even copied Dwija's lime green accents.  I'm such a follower but when something works, it works.

Everything came from Target except the jean jacket which came from Kohl's.

Check out the other awesome outfits on WIWS and maybe you can steal a look find some inspiration for next week!

Also linking up to Lily Among Thorns for the first time.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Because I want everyone to be able to read the hilariousness that is this blog!

I got an email from dcdonaghue who writes at Katie Jean Cooks.  She said she loved my blog and thinks I'm hilarious.  Hilarious?  Well, I think so, but probably only mildly humorous to the rest of the population. (I appreciate the compliment though!)

Anyway, she wondered if anyone else had complained about my font size since I changed up the blog a few weeks back.  She said it was really small when she read it on her iPad.

No one else has complained, but  just yesterday as I was reading my blog on my laptop, I thought to myself, "Geez, this font is hard to read.  It's so tiny."

It looks fine on my desktop where I have a nice big monitor but on my laptop - hard to read.

Since I'm a woman of action and a huge people pleaser, I immediately got to changing the blog font this morning.  It looks much easier to read on my laptop so I hope it works for everyone else.

If not, let me know.  Like I said, I'm a people pleaser and surely, I can find a font to make all 32 of my regular readers happy!

Friday, March 8, 2013

7 Quick Takes Friday


1.  Last fall, Peter got glasses.  He looks so handsome in them.  See? 

I was going to insert a picture of him wearing his glasses here but I searched my computer and realized I don't have any.  And the reason?

I packed them in his book bag right after he got them and sent him off to school.  He was only going to wear them in class and as needed.  For a while, I would ask him if he was wearing his glasses at school and he always replied, "Nope.  I don't need them."

Due to excessive talking (ahem), he was always stationed at the front of the class and could see the board jus fine.  He never complained of headaches so I just let it go.

On Tuesday, he got in the car and I noticed he was wearing his glasses. He said he had them on all day at school and he "could see really well with them on."  I figured his eyes had worsened a little and he really needed them.

He wore them again all day on Wednesday and then yesterday, as I was waiting for the car rider line to move up, I noticed Peter standing next to a classmate who was...you guessed it...wearing glasses!

This boy has always worn glasses but Peter has just recently started playing with him.  I guess he decided if they were good enough for his friend, they were good enough for him.

2.  I broke down and got Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 DVD.  In this DVD, she uses the same principals as the 30 Day Shred which I loved and used for a long time (until I got totally annoyed by every. single. word. out of her mouth). My friend Jennifer said this was a good DVD and I really need to do something other than run.  The running just isn't cutting it.  I think my body is expecting me to run so it yawns through the whole thing.

Today was my third day on level 1.  And by yesterday, I could barely move.  But I'm not complaining because that means muscles are being worked and fat is being burned!  This morning I thought about not doing it because I was so sore but I did it any way and just a few minutes into it, the muscles stopped complaining and started doing their job.  I'm quite certain they will rebel this afternoon though.

3.  Next weekend, Jennifer and I are running in the Color Run!  We are super excited!  If you don't know, the Color Run is a 5k where they throw paint bombs at you at different points during the course.  And I think the paint bombs are really just pods of colored corn starch, but still! How fun does that sound?  And it's not a timed race so we can just enjoy running together without the pressure of getting a good time (which we normally don't get anyway but when it's timed you still want to go as fast as you can).



The kids are bummed out that I'm not letting them run it.  But at $40 a pop, there's no way.  Plus, there was no 1k fun run which is what they normally do. I'm not sure they could even do the whole 5k anyway.  You can buy extra paint pods at the race so I told them I would get them some paint to throw at me.  That seemed to appease them.

4.Last night was Sarah's final basketball game of the season.  It was a snow day make up.  She was excited to see her team one last time and to attempt to make another basket.  The game started at 7:00 so we arrived at 6:45 just like we were supposed to.

Only when we looked into the gym, I saw the two teams lining up and I got a sinking feeling. Uh oh!  The game started at 6:00 and not 7:00 so we got there at the beginning at the 4th period.  Sarah was mortified.  She wanted to go home but her dad said she was going to at least sit with her team.  He walked her to the bench and they put her in.  She played her little heart out and took several shots but missed them all. 


She wasn't mad at me but I felt like a horrible mom.  Oh well!  I guess we can't all be perfect all of the time! 

5.  And speaking of perfect, I'm not going to make 7 Takes but that's okay because I figure these 5 are long enough!

Head over to Conversion Diary where the rest of the ladies always make it to number 7!





Thursday, March 7, 2013

Tastes Just Like Carrabba's Chicken Bryan. I promise!

The other day, I mentioned my husband was giving me a hard time for photographing our dinner.

May I present to you delicious Carrabba's Chicken Bryan:



 Isn't this plate so pretty?  And you know what?  It was delicious!

Whenever we go to Carrabba's, I always get the Chicken Bryan.  Always.  Every single time.

I was excited when I found this recipe at Food.com that claimed to be the original recipe and not just a copy cat version.

I made it once as written on Food.com and then I made it again adjusting the wine and lemon juice and it is just perfect!

I served it with the Pioneer Woman's Crashed Potatoes (which we love and I make all the time!) and sauteed green beans.

Sorry the photos aren't any better but I was in  a hurry to eat up this goodness. (Plus, I added the cheese first, then the sauce.  Next time, I will add the sauce first then the cheese.)

Enjoy!


Tastes-Just-Like-Carrabba's Chicken Bryan

Ingredients   

    • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
    • 1 1/2 to taste kosher salt, to taste
    • 1 1/2 to taste fresh ground pepper, to taste
    • 1 1/2 to taste olive oil
    • 6 ounces goat cheese, divided into 2 ounce slices
    • 9 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I used about 3/4 bottle of sun-dried tomatoes in liquid)
    • 3 -6 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped 
    • 1 medium onion, minced
    • 6 cloves garlic, minced
    • 12 tablespoons butter, divided
    • 1 1/4 cup white wine
    • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Directions

  1. Brush chicken on both sides with olive oil, season to taste with Kosher salt and cracked pepper.
  2. Grill chicken until done (internal temp of 165F) - prepare lemon butter sauce while chicken is grilling. (I just sauteed mine in a pan with olive oil).
  3. Sautee onion and garlic in 2 Tbps butter until soft.
  4. Add white wine and lemon juice, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes to reduce.
  5. Add remaining 10 Tbsp butter, a little at a time, until it melts and mixture is emulsified.
  6. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and basil, heat until hot (but do not overheat or sauce may break).
  7. Top nearly-done chicken breasts with 2 oz each of the goat cheese until cheese warms and softens.
 
Linking up with Cooking Thursday!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

This is hard.

I have a little confession to make.  This is way harder than I thought it was going to be.

I mean, I knew it was going to be hard.  I haven't memorized anything of any substance or length since the 11th grade when I was in the school play. (Being in that play must have traumatized me a little because to this day, whenever I'm stressed or nervous or worried about something, I will dream that I have the leading role in a play and that it's opening night and I haven't even cracked open the script, much less memorized it. That's the stuff nightmares are made of!)

So when I decided to use Lent as the starting point of my journey to learn 3 chapters of Romans in a year, I knew it would be hard but I am really struggling.  I have successfully learned 3 weeks worth (6 lines of scriptures) but I am starting to fall behind.

I should have started the next two verses on Friday but I just started them today.  That makes me 4 days behind.  I was hoping they were going to be easy, quick-to-learn versus but alas, no, they aren't going to be.

Not sure why I thought these two verses might be easy and quick-to-learn because the other six sure haven't been. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble memorizing them.  Advancing Age?  Preoccupation with other things?  Laziness?  The Devil doesn't want me to do it? (Which is the exact opposite of the Devil made me do it!)

I have realized in order to memorize these verses, I have to really concentrate on them and try to understand what they mean as opposed to just repeating them a few times.


 
In doing this last week, Romans 1:6 really spoke to me:

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 

At first, this verse may not seem like that big of a deal.  Paul is speaking to the Romans.  He has told them that it is through God's grace he has been called to be an evangelist to the Gentiles and the Romans are included in this call.

That doesn't mean that much when you are just reading through the Bible.  (Or at least it never meant that much when I've come across these verses before.)

But as I was trying to memorize verse 6, and as I kept thinking about the words and pondering the meaning, the verse suddenly became personal.

God whispered to me that morning while I was standing in the bathroom drying my hair and trying to memorize this verse.

You belong to Me.

And that's what makes this struggle worth it.  God was speaking to me.  And I heard Him.

I've always joked that I'd like my own personal burning bush so I could hear God and know when he's speaking to me.

But standing there in my bathroom blow drying my hair, I discovered that sometimes whispers heard through His word can be just as loud as burning bushes.

I belong to Him.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Just go elsewhere if you're looking for cute, colorful, well-labeled bins.

I used to read a lot of organizing blogs.  I thought the more of those I read, the better organized I would be.

Wrong.

Apparently you have to actually get of your rear end and sort, throw away, move, and reorganize a bunch of junk to actually have an organized home.  Just looking at pictures of other people's organized cabinets won't help you straighten yours.

And then there were the cute colored bins and all the color coordinated labels made in cute fonts and printed on cute scrapbook paper that just made me want to gag.  If that's what it takes to be organized, then I'll just be junky.

But I have found that a closet, a drawer, or a cabinet will get so unorganized that it becomes unusuable and I have no choice left but to do something about it.

Such was the case for one of my kitchen cabinets.  My kitchen is tiny.  I have a lot of kitchen items that I use occasionally that don't fit into my tiny kitchen and have to be located in the garage or in the basement.  It's a pain but I consider myself lucky to have a garage and a basement and if you are only using something once or twice a month then it's really not that big of a deal to go get it.  (Although I do a lot of mental griping and complaining the whole time I'm getting said item out of the basement.  And then I realize what I'm doing and thank God for all the good things I DO have and tell my selfish self to shut up and stop complaining.)

Where were we?  I think I got off track.

Oh, yes!  My cabinet.  The unorganized offender is one I open frequently, probably more than any other cabinet in my tiny kitchen.  It's the cabinet that houses our K-cups and my spices.



And I know what you are probably thinking, What's wrong with that? That looks pretty good to me.
Or you may be thinking, How does she live like that? Call Hoarders!

Look at all the items I had shoved into that cabinet...


That's a lot of stuff.  And my main problem was the spices.  See my cute little Spice Stack up there?  Well, it works great (thanks Cathy!) but I have accumulated way more spices than just one Spice Stack will hold.  So I purchased another one.

And after lots of tossing and reshoving in other places, this is what I now have:


Isn't she a beauty to behold?  I just have to put the labels on the Spice Stack so I know where each spice is located.  I'm just afraid of comittment at this point because I know the minute after I get the labels on this bad boy, I'm going to need another spice, purchase it, and realize ugh, now my labels aren't alphabetized any longer!

I left some blank spots in case this happened so I do have room to expand and I guess I'll just have to deal with the fact that if that occurs the labels won't be perfectly alphabetized.

And one other thing I'm just going to have to deal with...

When I was relocating the other items that had been previously stored in this cabinet I realized that the basement, the garage and all the kitchen drawers needed to be reorganized.

So what did I do?  I grabbed a K-Cup, brewed a cup of coffee, and decided to read an organizing blog...


Sunday, March 3, 2013

What I Wore Sunday - The Too Casual for Church but Too Dressy for the Bowling Alley Edition


So it's Sunday.  The day of the week where I drag my husband outside in the 34 degree breezy, but thankfully sunny,  weather to take a picture of me in a less than stellar outfit.

I guess I need to dig out the tripod because he was less than pleased with having to take my picture this morning.  Much like I was less than pleased with how this outfit looks. It really looked so much better in the mirror.

I needed an oufit that was cute enough for church but that I could also wear to the bowling alley, which is where I will be taking Sarah right after church for a birthday party.

I think it's a little too casual for church and a little too dressy for the bowling alley but it's what I'm wearing and it's too late to change now.



Jacket: Kohl's
Shirt: Lands' End
Jeans: Kohl's
Boots: Target
Necklace: Kohl's



 I do love this little necklace! 

Hope you have a great Sunday and don't forget to hop on over to Fine Linen and Purple to see what everyone else is wearing today!