Week 6, Gratitude

Day 34- Dips! Queso from a jar and Chocolate Chip Dip from here. (2.3.13)
Day 35- Easy dinners! Panini and salad. Not deluxe, but good. (2.4.13)
Day 36- Thaw. Heat. Eat. My kind of meal! Everyone got to choose between 2 different leftover soups we froze over the past month or so. Perfect. (2.5.13)
Day 37- My printer. It copies and does everything that the copy store printer does...only right in my own home! I lu-hu-huv it! I've never used some of it's cool features until recently...like double sided copies, or putting in a stack of papers I need copied into the feeder and have it print my desired amount of copies. Oh yes! It's THAT spiffy. (2.6.13)
Day 38- Books made into movies.*see below We gave Warm Bodies (a book we haven't read, but now we want to) 2 enthusiastic thumbs up! (2.7.13)
Day 39- Not giving into temptations. Wanted to eat out instead of making dinner, but didn't! Good for many many reasons! (2.8.13)
Day 40- Crossing stuff off of to-do list. Such a great feeling! (2.9.13) 


*Can I just say how wonderful it is to have a book turned into a movie? (note: technically I don't need your permission, since this is MY blog, but it sounds nicer if I ask) It's awesome even when you haven't read the book! (in fact most of the time, I prefer it that way) But it's so much faster to watch a movie than it is to read a book. And there are SO MANY BOOKS I want to read, but can only squeeze in about a book a month. If you do the math, that's like 12 per year! So, here's to NOT reading some of them. Go Team Laziness!

Expecting? I didn't expect that

Last year, as I was helping my grandma go through boxes and boxes of old photos, we came across this pregnancy book...from when my mom was expecting Yours Truly. When I brought it home, I placed it on a shelf above my dresser, and there it's sat for over a year! (that's embarrassing).

This week, I went to put the book away, and began looking through it again. I was shocked when I found some old receipts! Babies were CHEAP back then. Yes, I know it's all somewhat relative because minimum wage was $1.60 (I just looked that up. Holy cow!) At any rate, here is what my parents spent on my crib, mattress and bumper pad- $44.00 (the back of that receipt shows my mom's handwriting, stating what it was for) My car seat and high chair were $35.07. Let me say that again... $35.07! 

Me. Nov. 1972

I saw on facebook one day, that one of my friends had spent something like $300 for a car seat! I about had a heart attack! I thought: how in the heck are Ky and Trent going to be able to afford a baby when they have one? How will I afford to be a grandparent? (This, thank goodness, is not a baby announcement for them) But, when our "baby" was born, we bought the best car seat on the market (according to consumer reports) for about $100-150. I remember it was the Alpha Omega. The Beginning and the end. Meaning, it was the only seat you would have to buy. And for the most part, it was. Although we did by a less bulky booster seat when she was about 4 or 5.

OK sorry. Enough rambling. I just wanted to share my findings with you. It's not every day that we run into a financial record dating before we were born!
Almost forgot the song of the day: When You Were Young- The Killers  favorite line: They say the Devil’s water it ain’t so sweet
You don’t have to drink right now 
But you can dip your feet 
Every once in a little while

Favorite Homemade Eats

I just love steaming up the windows in the winter time with these delicious dinners! Here's 10 of my favorite dishes for those chilly evenings. Mmm. Enjoy!

• Chicken Tikka Masala- "Chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and then served in a tomato cream sauce" We serve it with Basmati rice. We do make a couple minor changes to the recipe: we use fat free plain yogurt, we use fat free half and half instead of heavy whipping cream, and lastly, we don't bother grilling the chicken. We just cook it with a little olive oil in a frying pan.
• Disney's Pork with Root Beer Apples. (a dish you can get at the Blue Bayou at Disneyland) It's a jerk seasoned pork loin served with a spiced root beer and apple- sauce (not applesauce) Heavenly. We always cook up a box of scalloped potatoes to accompany this delicious meal!
• Parmesan Broiled Tilapia- Light. Warms up the kitchen. Perfection!
• Sarge's Pulled Pork Sandwiches- We add liquid smoke, garlic and onions to this very simple recipe. Serve with coleslaw ON the sandwich and sweet potato fries on the side, for a truly southern experience.
• Delicious Ham and Potato Soup. Darn near 7000 people rate it 5 out of 5 stars on All Recipes. We've been making it for about 6 years now. It's a tradition for us to do it with our left-over Christmas ham, but don't worry, we make it other times as well.
• White Chili. Yum Yum Yum. Deliciouso!
• Thai Curry Soup- Hubba hubba. red curry paste and rice noodles make this absolutely incredible.
• Chef John's Mac and Cheese- at our house, we call it "Grown up Mac and Cheese" We love it for the kick! Go a little lighter on the noodles that the recipe states though. It's a little too dry if you don't.
• Cheesy Corn and Potato Chowder. Don't be afraid of the gravy mix. I promise it's good. Oh, and we don't use canned corn. My family doesn't like it. We opt for frozen.
• The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World. Since my 16 year old is a vegetarian, we've adapted most of our recipes to be meat free, or of the just add meat variety, but it's very nice when I come across a meal that I don't have to doctor up or strip down to enjoy. This is definitely one of those meals!

 As you can tell, we use All Recipes for a great deal of our cooking. I love that I can read what other people think about the dish and what people changed. I just can't say enough good about such a great FREE resource.
You can play along with Top Ten Tuesday by clicking the button below. 

Gratitude, Week 5

I am thankful for...

• Windshield wipers and snow scrapers! (1/27/13)
• Lunch dates and sushi with my sweet husband (1/28/13)
• Multi-tasking to get me through another Tuesday! I'd explain, but I would seriously need an entire post to do it. I'm THAT amazing! (1/29/13)
• Raising Hope- married with Modern family. Such a cute episode! And I watched it under the electric blanket, snuggled up with Jason and Supe with full tummies from a dinner that no one in my house cooked! (1/30/13)
• Thankful for a forgiving husband...there were moments today that I was not proud of. (1/31/13)
• Able to help in Supe's class & so grateful it's FRIDAY! Also thankful for my SIL- she makes a great partner in crime! (2/1/13)
• Weight Watchers meetings! Love the support. Love the leaders. Love the great ideas and rejuvenation it gives me for the week! (2/2/13)

Week 4, Gratitude

I'm Grateful for...

• Late Church...guaranteed sleep-in, plus, I don't really get dressed until I'm ready to leave, and by the time I get home, it's too late in the day to get into a new outfit- so pj's it is! (1/20/13)
• To-Do Lists...they keep me on top of stuff I need to get done! (1/21/13)
• Dinner Disasters...that turn out delicious in spite of mistakes. :D (1/22/13)
• Hot Food on a Cold Day...made Spinach Quinoa Mac & Cheese. Good but needs much more salt and some pepper and roasted garlic (1/23/13)
• Snow boots and great neighbors...both are helpful in the snow and ice! (1/24/13)
• Electric Blankets...need I say more? (1/25/13)
• Hale Center Theatre  and season tickets...Such great shows! (1/26/13)