This is My Life

Today consisted of errands and more errands. Donations to the church, pit stop at the bank, fabric for a shower gift from Joann's, and then home. Take a little break, feed Baby L, meds from Publix, a return and other purchases from Wal-Mart, and back home for good. And now? My butt draggeth. For supper we had turkey tacos. I've never really cooked with ground turkey (even though I have six pounds of it in the freezer) so I was really unsure of it. But...I thought that we'd give it a try and if it wasn't our thing then at least the taco seasoning would mask some of the taste. Cooking it was a little strange as it didn't brown like ground beef. I actually called Ryan on his way home and told him what I was doing and if I should go ahead and add the seasoning...kind of like a "point of no return" moment. He said, "Forward march." And really, it wasn't that bad. Maybe not as good as ground beef, but it wasn't bad. It was also a lot less fat. ...

Busy day but a good one. I planned out our supper way ahead of time. My niece came over again today for a little while and happened to be here for lunch. I asked her what she wanted for lunch and she asked, "Ummm...do you have a hot dog?" Do I have a hot dog....? Honey, it's your lucky day. I've got three packs in the freezer. I fixed her a hot dog (light, all beef), cut up an apple, and gave her a few chocolate goldfish (although she laughed at them, I did notice she gobbled them up). For supper I cooked a tortellini dish. It was from a recipe card I grabbed at Publix one day. Although I didn't have all the ingredients, I think it turned out pretty good...and...it was something different. Florentine Tortellini 1 8oz package cheese filled tortellini 2 tbsp olive oil (you can probably get away with 1) 1 9oz package fresh spinach leaves (I didn't have these) 2 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained (I only used 1 can) 1 16oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1 ...

Today my niece came over and hung out a little bit while my mom had an appointment. My niece is seven and a ball full of energy. Baby L had a rough night with a cough and the doctor was going to see us in the morning so I told my niece that she'd have to go with us and that I was sorry, but I'd make it up to her. She was up for the challenge. After the doctor we hit Sam's (another story), Publix (for meds), and then came home. Although she's only seven, she was such a huge help to me. She carried my purse, held the door open for me, tried to get me a buggy at Publix (but couldn't because the wheels were up over the curb), soothed Baby L when he got fussy in the back seat, and even kept me in good spirits with the quirky things she said. Seriously, my day would not have gone as smoothly had she not been with me. Here are just a few of the things she delighted me with: E: Baby L is getting really big! He's going to be crawling soon and then walking, and then runni...

Whew! Today has certainly been a day of progress. Not only was I able to get a lot of tasks completed, but I also managed to clear out some items in the fridge and pantry. Woot! Finished off the last two English muffins (with Ryan's help) as well as leftover Ovaltine. Ran to Sam's today and almost grabbed a hot dog combo while I was there but I was good and refrained. Came home and made a turkey sandwich (last two slices of turkey), looked in the pantry and found a bag of honey mustard pretzels (soooooo good), which were more like crumbs. Honestly, why do we keep those last little bits? You almost have to lick them off the plate because they're so small. So I finished those off, too. Was still suffering from a sugar drop so I reached for the bag of crackers (again, the last little bit left in the bag) and finished off those. Ryan didn't have band practice and we were planning on cleaning the house as much as possible so I decided on something simple. Went to the freez...

Most Monday nights include me going to a craft group at a friend's house. We each bring a dish, eat, have a quick devotional, and then...craft. We all do different crafts: quilting, crocheting, knitting, beading, scrap booking, you name it. And talk. We ALL do that. And quite well. Tonight I was signed up to bring a side dish. This morning I went to my freezer and searched for something side dish-y...found some sweet potato patties and thought to myself, "Self, that'll do." I let them thaw, put them in a casserole dish, put a tiny bit of butter on each one and sprinkled some brown sugar on the tops. I wasn't sure if they needed some water on the bottoms or not so I put a little in there anyway. Baked them for 15 minutes at 350 and voila! Side dish ready to go. Not sure how good they were for everyone else, but I enjoyed two of them. I say this because sometimes I like my food bland and sometimes I want lots of flavor...just depends on the food and the mood. Hey!...

When we first married I was still learning to cook. I knew how to brown a chicken and boil an egg...I wasn't a complete idiot in the kitchen, but I was still learning the ropes quite a bit. One day I decided that I was going to cook pinto beans and sausage. Together. In the slow cooker. Sigh...I knew to soak my beans (dried) overnight as I'd seen my mother do countless years. I knew they'd take a good long while to cook, too. I bought a bag (one pound), soaked them all night, rinsed them off the next morning, loaded them in the cooker. Took out the sausage, cut it in slices, and added it to the beans. And let it cook. All day. On high. That night we ate in the living room at the coffee table and dined on crunchy pintos with overcooked sausage. It was horrible. I cried and Ryan tried to comfort me by saying, "No really! It's good! See?" Which just made me cry more. I didn't want to admit failure so I continued to cook them. For three days. Including night...