Healthy Friday

I'm not sure this should be titled Healthy Friday this week. The past two weeks of being back home have been a challenge with my snacking again. It doesn't help that it was a completely crazy week. Today is the first day I haven't had errands to run or somewhere to go. I have just been running like crazy all week. I'm looking forward to a slower week next week so I can concentrate more on my eating.

You know what? I'm tired today, so I'm cutting right to the recipe!

Trying Betty Crocker again. This is the Southwest Grilled Pork Chops with Peach Salsa.

What you need:
3 ripe medium peaches, peeled, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped serrano or jalapeño chile
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 bone-in pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick (4 oz each)

Heat gas or charcoal grill. In medium bowl, mix peaches, bell pepper, onion, cilantro, brown sugar, lime juice and chile; set aside.

Rub chili powder on both sides of each pork chop. Place pork on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 6 to 9 minutes, turning once, until pork is no longer pink in center. Serve pork chops topped with salsa, or serve salsa on the side.

180 Calories. Source.

I've said it before, I am not a fan of pork. This used the last of what was in the freezer, finally! I usually don't like the taste of pork but more than that, it really messes with my stomach. There's a reason why the Bible mentions not eating it. But I actually somewhat liked the taste of this one with the chili powder rubbed on it. I did NOT like the peach salsa however. But the next day reminded me of why I really don't eat pork... ahem, let's move on, shall we?

Superman says...

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic will definitely have to wait until Sunday this weekend. I'm sure we'll be taking pictures until late tomorrow night, which I can't wait for by the way! It's not really recommended to trick-or-treat around neighborhoods here so we are going to our church's fall festival! Trunk-or-treating, snacks, pony rides, bungee bouncing... the kids had a great time last year! AND, Superman's brother and his family are here! This visit is much less stressful on us all. They wanted to stay in a hotel so yesterday and today they're just hanging out and checking out our gorgeous city. They came over last night and it was so much fun seeing our cute little nephew! We're going out to eat tonight and hang out for a while then we'll be together pretty much all day tomorrow.

Gonna be a fun weekend! Hope you have a good one!

Thursday Thirteen - Edition Q

Courtesy of Izzy 'N Emmy. Inspired by Kimber.

1. Q-tips - oh, they feel so good! It's like a massage for your ear in the mornings!

2. Q-Bert - wasn't he the cutest little guy? Did I just age myself again?

3. Quote - Not a day goes by that we don't quote at least 2 movies.

4. Qwerty - most used type of keyboard.

5. Quarters - what I never have enough of for the kids when we go to Wal-mart for the stupid candy machines by the door.

6. Quit - to stop doing something. Work with me here, these are kinda hard!

7. Quiz - I was never good at them in school.

8. Queen - the King's wife.

9. Qigong - A Chinese system of medical exercises. (don't ask me, found it searching for "Q" words)

10. Question - what you ask when you need an answer to something.

11. Questionable - this list.

12. Quiet - I like it. I like it a lot.

13. Quilt - big, warm, cozy.

That was hard. Go check Kimber's blog and see if anyone else had a hard time with their letters today!

Wordless Wednesday - BOO!

(Like his scar across his eye???)

More Brain Fragments

I've had some random thoughts lately and thought I'd share. Welcome to my brain.

It blows my mind that so many of you have never heard of breaded cheese burgers from this post. Do you know what pork or chicken fritters are? Tenderloins? Anyone? Fritters are like tenderloins and breaded cheese burgers are like a tenderloin with a piece of cheese under the breading. I grew up with fritters and breaded cheese burgers. I didn't really realize until we moved away that they were made locally up north. Whenever my parents visit or meet us half way, they always have a cooler filled with breaded-ready-to-deep-fry-goodness!

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Is anyone else totally annoyed with Tracy on The Biggest Loser? Send her home already. If I have to see her run her mouth tonight and get to stay on the ranch, I just might scream.

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I'm not looking forward to Daylight Savings Time. I grew up in a state that didn't spring or fall any which way up until about a year before we moved. It was Eastern Time Zone, 365 days a year. It was super hard to adjust to Daylight Savings Time and especially hard after moving to Central Time Zone where it's dark by 5pm in the winter. Not looking forward to it.

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You know how paint smells when you're rinsing it out of rollers? I bought some cheap dish soap a while back and that's what it smells like. I really can't stand the smell but I still have half a bottle left and am too cheap to buy more until it's gone. Maybe I should check the ingredients before I make that my final decision though.

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I'm wondering if I should take advantage of the one insurance we do have and get an eye exam. I think 3 years might be long enough to wear 3 month disposable contacts. Or maybe not. I just reminded myself of "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?" because I wonder how many years does it take to get an eye infection from old contacts?

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I had no clue Peanut was interested in washing the dishes. She loves it. She jumped right in the other night and claimed that chore for herself from now on! There's never much to wash because, honestly, if something isn't dishwasher safe I usually won't buy it in the first place because I HATE washing dishes. But now I don't have to worry about that anymore!

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Why are the bags inside a cereal box so hard to open sometimes? I don't like it when they rip and then the cereal gets all down in the box. And why do Corn Pops have a foil-like bag that is even harder to open?

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The cartoon Max & Ruby... how old is Ruby supposed to be? Where are their parents? Why is she always watching Max? Doesn't she get tired of it? And how does Ruby, being a little kid herself, have that much patience with Max? I just don't get it.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Our weekend was not so completely awesome and exhausting all together!

It actually wasn't easy waking up early Friday and Saturday knowing what great days we had ahead of us. We weren't like little kids Thursday night trying to get to sleep before something exciting. Rock City was not totally awesome and we aren't thinking about buying an annual pass for next year!

It did not feel amazing to walk a 5K on Saturday! I really can't believe how rejuvenating yet exhausting it was all at the same time. I must've really been swinging my hips because it wasn't my legs that were sore yesterday, it was my lower back sides and hips! Crossing my very first finish line did not give me amazing motivation to try to run it next year!

We weren't so exhausted from Friday and Saturday that when we got out of bed yesterday morning for church and couldn't move, we did not just get right back in bed and sleep in!

Happy Not Me Monday!

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic

Is it really only Saturday? We've done so much yesterday and today that it feels like it should be over by now. And for the first time ever... it's a double mosaic Saturday!

Can I just say I'm tired? Tired and sore.

So our fun day yesterday was going down to Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, Georgia! We spent a couple hours at Rock City then walked/drove around Chattanooga getting lunch and ice cream. And by the way, we've had no fevers here since Thursday night! Here's the first mosaic (better pictures taken with the real camera yesterday. The next mosaic has pics from yesterday with my phone too).

From Rock City

Today was our 5K. So much excitement! We were just walking it so we started at the very back of the line. And I'm not sure why, but they lined us up at least .3 miles from the actual start line. Is that normal? I looked at the time as we were crossing the start line and just over 2 minutes had already passed. Even though we can walk 3.1 miles around the neighborhood with no problems, we were no where close to being prepared for it being 85% uphill. And some times it got pretty steep. Superman, Peanut and Little Dude ran on ahead at the end and Princess and I crossed the finish line holding hands at 48:22. Minus the 2 minutes it took to even get to the start line in the beginning, I'd say we did pretty good!

It was a pretty chilly day though. Yesterday we started out in sweat shirts but after the clouds cleared we saw 80 degrees. Today was completely different. We took our sweat shirts off while walking but I think the highest we saw today was about 53 degrees. After the race the wind picked up and we were absolutely freezing. My nose still feels runny tonight and my ears are aching. But I've never felt that sense of accomplishment before! Find a 5K around you and just do it! It really made me want to work hard to be able to run it next year! Even though every joint and muscle hurts tonight. And even my toe nails. Yes, my toe nails hurt.

We came home today and had some lunch. We were all completely famished. And then we took naps. Nice.Long.Naps. Even the kids took naps and we all slept for about 4 hours! And I can't believe how tired we all are tonight and ready for bed after napping that long. But again, it was so worth it and I can't wait to do it again!

From October 24, 2009

How was your day today?

Healthy Friday

Happy Friday y'all!

I was totally planning on doing my normal post today, but have decided to take the day off instead. Hope ya don't mind!

I think I've spoken my mind plenty this week about the joy of being back home and those mentally healthy tidbits are all I have this week. I know it will be a challenge to get back into the swing of things around here, trying to find an exercise routine. But I've had a harder time not being up and active around the house this week, so I think it will be a little easier this time around!

If you don't mind, say a prayer for my kiddos today. Two of them have had low fevers this week, but we had HUGE plans today. Plans that we did not want to miss out on. The kids are out of school and Superman took the day off for a fun day. The thought of changing plans is heartbreaking since we haven't taken a vacation in 8 very long years. This isn't a vacation, but it's a day we've taken the time to plan because we so need to do something fun as a family for once. Anyway, as of last night, there was still one kid with a low fever and we've decided to go on with our plans. We're risking him getting wore down and worse, but we know that sometimes it makes you feel better to get out and do something. Don't worry, I'll be watching him like a hawk all day. His eyes give him away when he doesn't feel well. I'll show you what we did today in my Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic!

We're also getting up nice and early Saturday morning for our 5K family walk! Wish us luck!

Have a great Friday!

Thursday Thirteen - Edition P

Courtesy of Izzy 'N Emmy. Inspired by Kimber.

1. Purl - a knitting stitch. What my newest pattern has a lot of. And my newest pattern is NOT a blanket. It's something new and I really hope it turns out! (I'll debut it soon)

2. Pink - my new project.

3. Pretty - my girls. And me, of course. Also what I thought our trees would be by now but they're not turning quite yet, Kimber.

4. Purple - My favorite color.

5. Polish - what the girls love to do to their nails.

6. PEOPLE! - See Idiot, Jerk, Knucklehead, Loser, Moron, Nimrod and OH.MY.GOSH.

7. Pucker - as in, pucker up! Kisses rock.

8. Post - what this is.

9. Photography - Superman is awesome and has made me think I'm kind of good too.

10. Pop tarts - my faves are Smores and Strawberry Milkshake!

11. Poo - I couldn't resist, yet tried to keep it a little clean. (that was kind of an oxymoron!)

12. Play - our Wii is on pretty much every day. We love playing games!

13. Pork - I still have some in the freezer that I need to use, but it will be the last time I buy that meat. It's just gross.

Now go check out all the links at Kimber's!

Wordful Wednesday

We made cookies this week.

But not just any cookies. Leaf cookies for fall!

And we decorated them too!

Half of them ended up smiling.

And the rest looked nothing like the magazine picture.

And my favorite comfy shirt is most likely ruined.

So I'm glad we also made chocolate crispy treats this week too!

That was much easier to make!

Thoughts of a (once again) homemaker

You know the best thing about not working again? It's that I actually CAN think and am able to put my thoughts into words.

I became one frazzled woman the last few weeks. I was completely and utterly exhausted. I was falling asleep at night earlier than I ever have and still missing the alarm clock in the mornings. I had a twitch on the upper right side of my nose for weeks. I have a terrible memory anyway, but I couldn't remember anything longer than 2 seconds. My extra memory loss led to extra tension because I was forgetting important things for the kids, like having lunch money or picking up something they needed for school. I had daily heartburn, frequent headaches and more recently, heart palpitations from the stress I was feeling.

When I made the announcement on Friday I didn't mean for it to sound depressing, and please don't feel bad that it ended! Trust me, it was very welcoming and exciting news to me! There were several other stressors, but I enjoyed the job itself. I loved being busy and active all day, making new friends, and even feeling like I was making a difference in someone's life (yes, even in the mail room I had contact with women needing help).

The point is that I feel good being home again. I don't know what the future holds for me in terms of working outside of the home, but everyone's different and making money from home would be my absolute dream job. But since being home again, I have a song in my heart. I hummed "Sing Sing Sing" by Chris Tomlin all day Friday. Superman said my eyes were bright and white Friday night instead of tired and bloodshot like they have been. He could tell I was back to doing what I love. I think that's kind of funny that I love keeping the house running and in order but don't really like cleaning, but for now again, I'm doing what makes me happy.

My love and excitement for knitting returned as soon as my head was clear again. It's a passion, a drive. I mentioned I spent several hours with a blanket on Saturday, ripping out a mistake. It took that long because not a single row I knitted in that blanket over the past several weeks made any sense to me over the weekend. I couldn't even think clearly enough to knit while I worked.

My whole demeanor is more calm, relaxed and happy! I just have a general excitement about life again.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I don't think I've ever said this, but I'm not so glad it's Monday! Call me crazy. I'm just really not excited about things the kids and I will do this week and that Superman hasn't taken Friday off to enjoy the day with us!

Last Thursday, when I wasn't informed that it was my last day as a temp, I did not have to refrain from giggling with joy in front of my supervisor who was trying not to cry! Let's just say I'm not so glad to be home again.

And I did not sleep in this morning and it did not feel fabulous!

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic

What a long, lazy day! So lazy that I didn't even leave the house!

I ended up taking a nice nap yesterday before Superman came home from work, which caused me to stay up way too late last night. That means I didn't hear the alarm clock(s) again this morning. Superman had an appointment to have his oil changed in his car at 8:45 this morning and we were just going to walk next door to the chiropractor while waiting. But we woke up just in time for Superman to get ready really fast and head out. There was no way the rest of us could be ready in time so I let the kids sleep in and took my time enjoying my coffee!

I spent a good amount of time mid-morning through mid-afternoon knitting. Actually I was "knitting backwards", as in ripping out several rows to find one mistake. The blanket I'm working on might possibly be for sale when it's finished (the purple one in my left sidebar) and I knew there was a mistake and absolutely could not let it slide. It would make me insane knowing I was trying to sell it and I didn't do my best to correct a problem! But several rows and several hours later, I found the problem, fixed it and am moving on now! Ah, what a sense of accomplishment for me!

Other than that, it was absolutely freezing here today. The highest I saw today was 46 but the wind was blowing too and it was just plain cold. This is the south for Pete's sake. This time last year we were still wearing shorts, or at least light clothes and didn't need a jacket until night time. But this year the electric blanket is already on the bed and we have a freeze warning tomorrow night. Anyway, it was a perfect day to curl up and take a nap once my eyes were almost bleeding from fixing my knitting problem! And that's exactly what we did!

From October 17, 2009

How was your day?

Healthy Friday

It's Friday!

What happened to this week?! I was messed up all week. Monday evening Princess and Little Dude performed Stone Soup at school, which meant we deviated from the norm, which meant the evening was messed up, which meant I swore all day Tuesday that it was Monday, which was really nice every time I remembered the week was going faster than I thought! And knowing that I had today off work, I thought Wednesday was Thursday and Thursday felt like Friday!

Speaking of my time off work... well, that time has been extended. From 6 days off to forever. That's right, I found out at 2:30 yesterday, when it was time for me to leave that my time as a temp was over. Actually, I was a pretty okay with that decision! Yeah, I got a little sad on the way home but most of you guys have no idea the stress I've been feeling. I've said it before, and if you don't know our situation read here, but every time we've needed a little boost God gives us a way. Our budget was looking better and I knew my time would be up soon because that's just how it goes. I think the thing I'll miss the most is lunchtime with Superman. It was an extra hour together during the day, sometimes we were just quiet together and sometimes we laughed so hard we were crying. But it was my favorite time of the day!

Want some Potato soup?

I don't really have a recipe for this week either. I have a piece of paper with things jotted down but no measurements or anything! That's what you get when you ask your mom for a recipe and she says "Oh, I don't know how much, just keep tasting it!"

Bear with me, I'll do my best.

What you need:
- Potatoes
- 1 onion
- Butter
- Milk
- Flour
- crackers (optional)
- celery salt (optional)
- hot sauce (none for me, thanks! But Superman uses it)

Peel your potatoes and cut them into little chunks. Boil potatoes and onion together until potatoes are tender. I usually only use probably 1/4 of my onion and I dice it but wonder how it would be just sliced. Someone let me know?

Dump most of the water out when the potatoes are done boiling, I'd say leave enough in to cover the bottom of the pan. Put butter in with potatoes, about 1 TBSP per every 2 potatoes used.

Put some milk in a small bowl, I might have used 3 cups this time. Add some flour to the milk to start making a paste-like substance. Don't use too much flour or the whole soup will taste like it. It still needs to be runny and not chunky so just watch how much flour.

Add milk/flour mixture to potatoes. Mix well and add more milk as needed, it shouldn't be as runny as a broth based soup but you don't want it stiff either. That's it! I really hope that makes sense. It will need some seasoning of some sort. I love mine loaded with oyster crackers and celery salt. Superman does the same but also puts hot sauce in his. You just have to see what works for you! Let me know if you try it and what you think or if you have a different potato soup recipe, I'd love to try it too!

But this fall favorite always gets...
Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic.

Tomorrow.

No excuses. Nikki - I need the explanation of why you'll be missing this week in writing. Seriously. Or not.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Thirteen - Edition O

Courtesy of Izzy 'N Emmy. Inspired by Kimber.

1. Off - as in time off. I'm off work tomorrow and all next week!

2. OH.MY.GOSH. - usually the first thing I yell in my car at Idiots, Jerks, Knuckleheads, Losers, Morons and Nimrods. True story, on my way to work on Tuesday I was turning left. My light turned green and some guy started walking across in front of me (there are no walk/don't walk signals there). I slowed down because pedestrians go first but he was taking his sweet time and my light was changing already. I said out loud "Oh my gosh! Come on, Dude!" rather loudly forgetting that my window was cracked. I remembered the window was open when he stopped, looked at me and gave me a sarcastic "after you" motion. So yes, I yell in my car a lot.

3. Orifice - a cavity or passage of the body. Like you needed to know that.

4. Opinion surveys - I try to fill out a few a week and have earned over $100 now!

5. Oyster crackers - they're really just little saltines but something about being bite size makes them taste better.

6. Out - not in.

7. Over - not under. (ahem, forgive these last 2, I got stuck.)

8. One - the "real" first number. Zero doesn't really count, in my opinion, because it means, uh, zero, nothing, nada.

9. OUCH! - another thing I yell quite often.

10. Ovaries - I have some and sometimes wish I didn't.

11. Opera - have never seen one but would like to.

12. Ocean - as soon as we sell the other house, I want to plan a vacation. Beach, ocean, relax. Can't wait.

13. Odd - this list!

Wordless Wednesday - Ready for fall!

P.S. None of those are actually his and he was trembling with fear when we found him like this!

Please don't go out and do anything stupid

You know, like fall in love with another blog more than mine just because I'm taking the day off.

That's right, my brain needs a rest today.

Y'all understand, right?

I'll see ya tomorrow!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Last week while making PB&J sandwiches for lunch, a dollop of jam landed on the top of my foot. I, in no way ever, considered licking it off. That would be disgusting. (Um, hello... it was homemade peach jam. Sweet goodness!) But I would never do that and especially never have a thought like that! (Although, it's not like the top of your feet are as dirty as the bottom.)

The exact day I posted about being extremely clumsy, I did not drop a guesstimated 30 lb plastic tub on my toe at work. And it didn't hurt! (I also do not have very ugly toes in need of some TLC)


On my way to work one morning last week, I was flipping through radio stations. I did not land on Release Me by Wilson Phillips, turn it up and sing along. Loud. And while writing this post I did not look up Wilson Phillips on YouTube and jam some more. Ah those were the days.

Happy Not Me Monday!

Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic

I would say it was an almost perfect day. Just what I needed after a totally hectic, exhausting week.

I completely missed the alarm clock this morning. Didn't hear a thing. I need the vibrating thing under the mattress to wake me up like Nikki has. So we woke up an hour later than we should've which meant we had to skip the chiro. And being a really chilly morning, we decided to skip Lowe's too. It just seemed like a good day to stay in.

Superman knew he had to go into work for a couple hours in the afternoon so he took an early nap and I got the house mostly back in order. After he left, the kids helped clean the last room and we sat down and watched the movie "Imagine That". I think I was dozing off when Superman called on his way home.

Then we loafed around more. I was going to make potato soup for supper but got into watching "Spectacular" on TV with the kids and it started getting too late. So we hit a couple drive-thru's and here we are! I'm in my comfy sweat pants and getting ready to watch "The Glenn Miller Story" with my Superman. I love that movie.

From October 10, 2009

Show me your day!

Healthy Friday and Apple Dumplings

Friday. Sweet blessed Friday. I had a couple really slow days, and I mean pull-my-hair-out-bored-stiff-super-slow type of days at work this week but I'm so glad the week as a whole seemed to go pretty fast!

I had a tough day Wednesday. I got in my car to leave that morning and absolutely nothing happened when I turned the key. Superman had to come home and jump my car to get it started. We let it run for a few minutes and turned it off to go in and get our stuff and leave. Dead again. He jumped my car again and I made it to work (late) and he had to move his car over by mine to jump my car again when it was time for me to go home. It made for a busy evening buying a new battery and getting it in (in the dark. When did it start getting dark so early?) but my car is running fine now. Instead of running fine, I should just say it's running now!

I can't really remember before Wednesday this week, it's all a blur but I know we didn't do Burst training or anything. We were going to take a nice long walk last night to help prepare the kids more for our upcoming 5K but that changed too. If you follow me on twitter, you might have read why. You know Princess and Little Dude had candy bars to sell for school. I've talked about those plenty! They still had over half a box left each so I was just going to let them hit a couple houses in our cul-de-sac and then go for a nice long walk. They only sold a couple and between the 2 of them still had about 60 bars left. The deadline is today. They really wanted to sell a whole box so they could get the prize and got really upset. It was hard seeing them like that. I didn't think it was possible but we decided to let them try. So our nice long walk turned into walking door to door. But can I tell you that they sold all 60 candy bars in 60 minutes?! I couldn't believe it, am so proud of their hard work, happy they get their prize at school and that walk was more rewarding than trying to push ourselves 3.1 miles! I'm sure we got a work out though because we were hot and sweaty and my feet were killing me!

Ready for some apple dumplings? I don't really have a recipe written down for this. It's something we've done with Superman's Mom since the kids were babies. I've watched the kids help their Grandma several years now and it's one tradition we brought with us when we moved.

What you need:
Apples
Refrigerated roll out pie crust (splurge on Pillsbury, Great Value brand breaks)
Butter
Sugar
Cinnamon

Peel your apples

Cut them in half and cut out the core

Roll out your pie crust and divide it into fours (we use a pizza cutter). Place apples in middle of each section.

Put a little butter in the middle of each apple. Maybe half a teaspoon? I've never measured, just put some in the empty core.

Put some sugar in the core with the butter. 3/4 teaspoon? Use your best judgment. I don't really think too much is a bad thing!

Sprinkle some cinnamon on the butter and sugar. Again, depends on your taste.

Fold up each corner.

Like so...

Sprinkle with cinnamon again

Put them on a cookie sheet to bake. Try 10 minutes at 400 degrees. They'll be done when the edges start to brown.

Take funny pictures while you wait.

When they're done, put it in a bowl, pour a little milk in, sprinkle in some more sugar (I like a lot of sugar) and enjoy

Such a yummy, comforting fall treat!

Do you have a cell phone that takes pictures? Do you have a camera of any kind? Tomorrow is Saturday which means Saturday Cell Phone Mosaic! Take pictures, come back and link up!

Peace out.