Hi Y’all!

Here’s a link to a video of Paula Deen’s house on CMT’s Cribs.  It’s one of my absolute favorite houses.  I love everything about it.

New mattress

Our old mattress was in sad shape even though it was only 5 years old- that’s what happens when you buy a mattress from Sam’s Club.  I started doing research on types of mattresses- innerspring, air, latex and memory foam.  We went to a Select Comfort store and were overwhelmed by the 10 different mattresses they offer, not to mention the prices.  Who wants to spend $2,500-$5,000 on a mattress.  Not me-I wanna go on vacation!  First off, I decided against innerspring-it just doesn’t seem logical to sleep on metal coils.  We’d also tried sleeping for several months on a knock-off adjustable air bed several years ago, wasn’t impressed.  I decided Memory Foam had the most allure but  wasn’t about to spend $$$ for the Tempur-pedic.  That’s when I got a 10% off coupon in my email from Overstock.com.  I started looking at the mattresses they offer on their website.  It was overwhelming at first but I love that you can read reviews.  After much consideration, we decided on a Serta 11 inch Memory Foam Mattress.  I ordered it on a Friday afternoon and it was here bright and early the next Tues. morning via my trusty UPS man.  After reading the reviews, I knew to unpack the vacuüm packed bed directly on top of my boxspring because once they’ve expanded, they are a pain to move.  I was nervous at first because it was so compressed from shipping but it immediately started to expand once unrolled.  Now, having slept on it for 2 weeks, I love it.  I’m not a great sleeper but this bed helps me tremendously.  That being said, it is extremely firm.  I knew that going in, we’ve placed a 4 inch memory foam topper we got at Sams on top of it.  It’s perfect.  Time will tell if it gets lumpy or sags but for the price tag of $513.oo, I’m very happy!

Spring Break 2010

At this time of the year, I’m in desperate need of something to look forward to.  Weeks of cold, gray weather have taken their toll.  Each year trying to make it through Winter with a positive outlook gets more and more difficult.  Most days it seems were just trying to survive multiple bouts with cold and flu.    Olivia has finally overcome her most recent 2 -1/2 week bout with it.  When I need something to get through the day, I go to TripAdvisor.com and plan our Spring vacation.  We’ve decided on Cancun because it’s only a short 3 hour flight-and that’s about my max.  After weeks of reading reviews and pouring over pictures, I just made reservations to stay at the Westin Lagunamar Cancun, below are some pictures.  The hotel is pink and purple!  Each room has a washer and dryer, mini kitchenette, dvd players and jetted bathtubs-not to mention Heavenly Beds!!  I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent on the computer trying to make a well informed decision about where to stay.  Especially after our last trip to Cancun turned out to be a dissapointment.  While staying in an All-Inclusive hotel, we discovered we aren’t really All-Inclusive people.  Most AI’s seem to have the mentality of herding guests into various buffetts like cattle while the guests seem to be “drink til you drop because it’s included” kind of people.  Anyway, the Westin is  mostly timeshare and seems to have a laid back vibe without an entertainment crew that tries to get adults to hula hoop to blaring music while balancing a coconut atop their head.  Can’t wait!

Westin-View from Hotel

Westin

Health

Chris and I started eating healthier on New Years Day.  We’d gotten to the point of gluttonous, nonstop eating.  The holiday’s were ridiculous!  I bought a $50.00 box of Fannie May Turtles and they lasted 2 days-maybe.  Then for Christmas, we got another box!  It got to the point where we felt we needed dessert after every meal.  And honestly, I doubt many of those meals had any  recognizable fruits or vegetables in them.  Here we are, one month later and I’m very happy with our progress.  Chris has lost 18 lbs(update that as of tues to 20lbs) and I’ve lost 8(updated to 9).  For breakfast, we are having steel-cut oatmeal with blueberries, high fiber cereal or eggs with english muffins and grapefruit.  Lunch consists of a chicken salad sandwich, whole wheat tortilla wrap with chicken, salad or soup-we eat lots of soup-black bean, white chili or tortilla.  I’ve also found Digorno makes a small 200 calorie pizza that I’ll have with a salad sometimes.  Dinner is chicken, pork or fish with a vegetable.  I try to make breakfast or lunch my biggest meal and keep dinner simple.  Snacks are string cheese, walnuts and almonds, grapes, granny smith apples and natural peanut butter or 100 calorie popcorn bags.  We even survived a quick trip to Disney and managed to eat mostly healthy-I’ll admit I did have some apple pie and a chocolate chip cookie sandwich from the Main Street Bakery-but on the nights I did-I skipped dinner.  I have 0ne 68% cacao piece of Ghirardelli dark chocolate each day as my treat.  Chris likes sugar- free Jello chocolate fudge pudding with sugar free cool whip.  We are only drinking Crystal light, water or tea.  Now that it’s been a month and we’ve gotten into the rhythm of it, it’s habit.  I do cook a lot, we usually only eat out once a week.    I’d like to take it a step further.  I’ve been reading Bob Greeene’s Best Life Diet book and Dr. Oz’s - You-Staying Young.  I’m going to try to incorporate healthier vegetables and the recommended doses of vitamins.  Also, dreaded exercise.  I have 3 dvd’s that I’d like to start using-I’ve always wanted to try Yoga and I’d like to start using the brand new treadmill that’s covered in dust in the basement.  Watching Oprah lately has reinforced our new lifestyle, with her shows on Diabetes and the way we eat.  I plan to watch the documentary Food, Inc in the next couple of days.  I have flirted with the idea of vegetarianism but would miss my Sams Club rotisserie chicken too much.  We don’t eat red meat anymore, replacing it with ground turkey.  Overall, we feel healthier physically and psychologically(aside from my minor case of Seasonal Affective Disorder).  No more bloated feeling from stuffing ourselves.  I am drinking 2 cups of green tea daily, taking Natren’s Healthy Trinity Probiotic and a multi-vitamin.  Dr. Oz has a great breakdown in his book about the supplements you should be taking.  I don’t have the same cravings I used to.  If I’m going to splurge on something-I make sure it’s really going to be worth it-one of my favorite splurges is a recipe I got from WDW’s Wilderness Lodge.  It’s called Chocolate Silk Bread Pudding.  If I do make this, I will eat less that day to compensate for the extra calories.  Here are a few recipes we like:

For lunch or dinner

Turkey Burritos

Whole Wheat Tortillas(I like the one’s from Sam’s Club, they have 7 grams of fiber)

1lb Ground Turkey

1 jar Ortega Salsa

1 can dark red kidney beans

2% Cheddar Jack Cheese

Brown Turkey in skillet till cooked, drain and rinse kidney beans, mash half of beans.  Add entire jar of salsa, and all of kidney beans to turkey-heat through.  Place 1/2 to 1 cup of mixture on heated tortilla and top with small amount of cheese. 

Black Bean Soup

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup chunky salsa

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

Directions

1. In an electric food processor or blender, combine beans, broth, salsa, and cumin. Blend until fairly smooth.
2. Heat the bean mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until thoroughly heated.
3. Ladle soup into 4 individual bowls, and top each bowl with 1 tablespoon of the sour cream and 1/2 tablespoon green onion. 

Artist Point/Wilderness Lodge Chocolate Silk Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding:

1 Quart Heavy Cream
3 Each Whole Eggs
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup Amaretto
16 oz. Sourdough Bread (day old preferred)
4 oz. Chocolate Ganache (refer to sub recipe)
1-2/3 Cups White Chocolate Shavings
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

Chocolate Ganache:

2-1/2 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

Make the Chocolate Ganache:

Shave the chocolate and place into a bowl and set aside. Heat the cream to scalding, remove from heat and pour over chocolate and stir with a spoon until chocolate is completely melted.
Note: If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a warm water bath and stir until chocolate melts. Keep stirring after taking bowl out of water bath to cool.
Set the chocolate ganache aside, along with the cocoa powder and white chocolate shavings.

Prepare the Bread Pudding:

In a 2 quart mixing bowl, combine sugar, eggs, heavy cream and amaretto together and mix well. Tear the sourdough bread into small pieces and then add the bread to the liquid and mix until the liquid is absorbed. Fold in the white chocolate. Divide the bread mixture into two equal parts. To one part, fold in the ganache and cocoa powder.

Assemble the Bread Pudding:

Line a 10″ cake pan with parchment paper.
To make the first layer:
Fill a 1 cup measuring cup half full with the white chocolate mixture – put directly in the center of the pan.
Fill the measuring cup half full with the white chocolate mixture – put it at the 12 o’clock position, another half cup at 3 o’clock, again at 6 o’clock and also at 9 o’clock.
Fill the measuring cup half full with the dark chocolate mixture continue to put half cups in between the white chocolate sections. Gently pat the mixture to fill in the gaps.

To Make the Second Layer:

Follow the above procedure, but put the dark chocolate over the white chocolate. Tap the pan on the counter to evenly distribute the bread pudding in the pan. Place the cake pan in a water bath – do not let water go on top of the bread pudding, and do not let water evaporate completely while in the process of baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until bread feels firm. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into desired portions and serve warm with Edy’s vanilla bean ice cream.

Christmas and January Snow

Christmas Morning

Perspective

I follow a blog called The Nie Nie Dialogues .  It basically started out several years ago when a young mother, Stephanie Nielsen, started a blog about her life as a loving wife and Mom to her 4 young children.  Stephanie and her husband Christian were in a plane crash in August of 2008 that left Stephanie burned over 80 percent of her body.  For the immediate months after, her family stepped in to take care of her children and her blog.  You can read more about her in this article published about her in the Arizona Republic.  I highly recommend it!  Makes me think that instead of complaining about all the homework Olivia has and how much time it takes us to complete it-maybe I should just be grateful that I get to spend time with my daughter and maybe learn a little something in the process

Random Pictures

Sunday's IKEA purchases-on loft outside of Liv's room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black cat on Halloween

Isn't she lovely?

Good times!

 

The Pretty Kitty-Halloween 2009

Our Super Sage

At an assembly last Thursday, in front of the whole school, Olivia’s name was called to come down to the gym floor. There, the Principal gave her the award of “Super Sage”. One student from each 4th and 5th grade class is chosen every month to be a “Super Sage”. What does being a Super Sage mean, you ask? Well let me tell you-To be a Super Sage, one must be responsible, be a hard worker, be respectful, make good choices, be kind to others, and be honest. Can you tell I am a very proud parent? Chris and I both are! It was a real boost to her confidence and just what she needed in an otherwise very gloomy October. Olivia got the flu on my birthday(we do believe it was H1N1) and was sick with that for a total of 10 days. She made it to school for 4 brief days before coming down with walking pneumonia coupled with a nasty ear infection. Poor thing. She’s barely complained through the entire ordeal aside from being extremely dissappointed that she missed getting to have lunch with the Principal(an honor that goes along with being a Super Sage), missing a big slumber party and attending her first Halloween dance. So now you can see why it’s been so long since I’ve updated my blog-I’ve been busy playing nurse and teacher. The amount of missed homework we’ve had to deal with has fried my brain. However, while helping Olivia with her homework, I’ve had the opportunity to learn all about Abraham Lincoln, multiple strategies for solving math story problems and our nation’s government-all things I somehow managed to miss when I was in 4th grade.

Free UGGS.

I love my Uggs! I had to post the pic above to be entered to win a free pair.