Mmmmm. Yummy.



Yummy goodness in the pan...




Crispy whole wheat buns...spray not spread!!!

  

They look good even on a paper plate!!!


We are always searching for new recipes, I like ones that I can adjust with healthier options and not ruin the taste.  I made the Pioneer Woman's BBQ Whiskey sliders tonight with sweet potato fries.  I used ground turkey (2 oz / patty) and whole wheat slider buns.  I sprayed the buns with cooking spray to give them that crisp.  They were delicious!!  I am loving cooking these days...especially when things turn out.  Tomorrow is a nice cured ham, Au Gratin potatoes, because it's a weekend, and no you just can't adjust the potatoes they are one of those things that you just have to suck it up and have a small taste of...there is NO way to make them healthier, it's just not worth it then.

I did get up and yoga for 30 minutes this morning....tomorrow will be day 2 of 20 minutes minimum.  Fingers crossed...one day at a time. 

Ugh, what a bust...

So I figured I would get a jump on my D&E and start before the first of the year...RIGHT!!!  Woke up at 4 AM with Jeff and then fell back to sleep and didn't wake back up till 6:30, which then I decided I had to get into work....sigh....okay first attempt was a bust.  Let's see about tomorrow...I am not going in to work, I have work to do but I'm not actually going in....let's see what happens.  Wish me luck.

D&E...

Kind of sounds like something illegal doesn't it?  I am not looking forward to this....not the day to day anyway.  Diet and Exercise.  D&E.

I don't do well....when I make a mistake and let's face it, getting into a healthier lifestyle is hard and you make mistakes along the journey. You fall off the wagon.  So these first few months are going to be day by day.  I've decided to pick one thing to do everyday of the month at hand.  I should be able to handle that, do one single thing everyday.  I know that it takes 3 months to make a habit stick, but each month I won't be choosing something huge to change.  Like January will be a big one, exercise 20 minutes at minimum everyday before work.  Very specific...because I know myself, I know that if I am not specific about what I want to do...I won't do it or I'll lie to myself and do some half ass version of it.  NOT THIS TIME!!!  January I will spend the month exercising every morning at 5:30AM, I'm up anyway.  I will have some choices but it will be pretty basic.  Yoga, Eliptical or strength exercises.  20 minutes is the minimum...even if I don't feel like it, or if I have woken up late, or I have a hangover (which a single glass of wine seems to give me these days).  20 MINUTES!  It's part of the 30 minutes or more I spend laying in bed with coffee watching TV...waiting to get up.  Ridiculous isn't it....not anymore. 

People are always telling me that they don't have time for exercise or they are too busy or too tired.  NOT me...I have plenty of time in the morning to do it, I am an early riser, always have been, no one in my house is up at 5:30 and Jeff has already gone to work.  I have an uninterrupted hour to do as I please...well I please to exercise going forward.

I will exercise for 20 minutes no less..but certainly more if I am being ambitous.  So there will be no decisions made about it after today...no well I can do it later or I don't have time etc... I can get into work when I get there...for pete sake how can I NOT be the fittest person on the planet with all this time!!! 

 I'm also..as I sit here, contemplating if I should or shouldn't do this, it's embarrassing.  It's bad...it is....a picture of me NOW, today.  Yuck.

But there it is...I've made them small so they don't scare you.  Poor dog, has no idea what the heck I am doing or why....

SO..on with it!!!  I've put this out there for the world to read so no backing out now and honestly in 6 months if I don't say anyting about all this...you can chaulk it up to giving up.  I am determined not to let that happen this time.  Again, sitting here thinking...don't hit publish.

Is it really over?

Wow, really?? it's over?  That's it?  Sigh.  I look around and see all the Christmas decorations, remember all the fun we had over the last few days...and am...am....sad.  Yes, sad.  It's so fun to have everyone home and to not worry about work, to just cook great food and eat, laugh and sooo much more!!!  Sigh, again.



Jason, Kellen and Amber!!!!



Ondrea and Corey!!



The gang at Kelly & Shaneice's



Playing pool....so much fun!!!



Love lego's and a hoodie footie!!  I had a hoodie footie till after I was 18...and now i have one again LOVE THEM.

Christmas was fun.  Now on to the business of the New Year.  They say that blogging can help you reach your goals because you are...keeping a record and being accountable to the world.  I have to agree!!!!  On to the New Year!!!!  What will we do????

Another Tradition is born???

Here we are, Christmas Day...Christmas Eve was a blast.  First we got up went to breakfast at Emily's, a breakfast place here by me that Niece Steph works at, and she waited on us.  Then the girls went back to the house and we made a Pinapple Upside Down Cake for Kellen to take to her sisters....Kellen did a lot of it all by her self!!!

Kellen mixed it....and put the batter in the pan....

 after she placed the pineapple and pecans in the bottom of the pan of course.  It was very funny, she and Jason didn't realize that it really was baked upside down in the pan!!!  That is how the girls spent their Christmas Eve afternoon...playing Christmas songs and watching Christmas movies as well..but the big deal was that Kellen made the Pineapple Upside Down Cake...hopefully another tradition is born???

DORKS!!!

The  Boys on the other hand....well they went to the shooting range..Yup I said it and I believe that I without a doubt belong in Oklahoma now.  It was RJ's first time shooting a hand gun so it will absolutely be a Christmas to remember for him.  Jeff let him shoot the 9mm first, and let's face it that has a bit of a kick!!

The video is pretty funny...it's very short but you see how the kick surprises him and his reaction was priceless...he did really great.Especially for his first time.  It was a great thing for the boys to go do together.  It's funny...while the other families are out playing football mine is out shooting at things.  Whch is A O K with me.  I love them all for exactly these reasons...we don't do what everyone else is doing we do what WE enjoy and to hell with the rest.    Happy Holidays All!!!!

It's not always perfect...

Thank GOD!!!  Okay twice in one day I know is a lot of blogging but, that being said, starting tomorrow it's full on Christmas for me...Kellen and Jason will be here tomorrow afternoon and I have lots to do!! Amber is sick....RJ has been sick all week but we think he is over it.  Jeff is congested and C.R.A.B.B.Y!!  I know hard to believe right?    Hopefully Amber will rest up and be better for the holiday, she has work etc... but better yet we have the Holiday and time together.

My tree is crooked...okay so maybe it's tough to tell in this picture because it looks like it is laying down....whatever!!  My camera skills are soooo lacking as well it's not even funny!!!    okay moving on...

Then in this picture, which is too dark...you can't see it but the stockings that were all hung with care....ya well I didn't get names on the two new ones...(I actually bought 3).....

It seems as though I can't finish it all..of course that is my own fault....I could finish, had i NOT watched 2 Christmas movies yesterday morning, and not gone and had a facial today or...let's see the million other things I did in order to avoid the "work" of the season.  I'm terrible...I really am. 

I can't complain though since I am okay with the imperfections of ME, the things that don't get done or done quite right...I am A.O.K. with that.  I am okay that my husband tries without fail, to be a grinch and pissy...all up until we get home Christmas Eve he generally succeeds but then when it's just us...and his family surrounds him...SUCKER!!!! Christmas Day starts with Mamosa's, now let's face it, on more than one occassion Christmas Day's meal doesn't get done because well..we are too snockered to cook anything complicated...frozen pizza's and snacks always at the ready.  Of course this year, we have planned a beef tenderloin, duchess potato's, green beans and rolls.  Ham is Christmas Eve...that is easy enough.

Funny thing, I had brought up to RJ that maybe we should open the presents on Christmas Eve..he said no he wants to do it Christmas morning...no sleeping in for Kellen...LOL, it's always been the stick in her side...of course it's what she loves about Christmas at home...Heck last year we all were up before he was.

Agh...once Christmas is over...it'll be on to the New Year...oh the thoughts on that..2012 will hopefully be my transformation...HAH!  Who are we kidding...?

Agh...off work...sort of..

Okay so as of yesterday, i am off of work for the rest of the year.  Good luck with that.  I have work to complete before the end of the year soooooo i'll have to spend tomorrow morning catching up on that.   But aside from that I am getting my house ready for the holiday.  Kellen and Jason are home this weekend, excitedly enough Kellen is pregnant, yup I said it, she is pregnant and they are thrilled.  So exciting to open this chapter in their lives.  So excited that I get to share it with them.  The baby is due on June 21, 2012...yup my birthday! Of course I would of had a better change of having the baby actual be born on my birthday had the date been a little before or after, when was the last time a baby actually came on the day the dr. said it would...EXACTLY! 

So today will be spent getting the last gifts and pampering myself...yup ME!!!!  I am getting a mani pedi as well as a facial at Mario.  Tomorrow I will get through the work I need to and then the house.  I'll have to figure out what to cook for dinner...since we'll have a full house.   Saturday...Christmas EVE, do you believe it.  Sigh...years do go by fast.  Saturday the boys will go to the shooting range and the girls will go see....the Muppets probably but a movie none the less.  Then Christmas Eve will be spent with my brother and his family, always a great night.  Brings back memories of going to my mom's brothers house for Christmas Eve.  Those were memories for a lifetime.  RJ has never had that, there are no cousin's his age, he doesn't have anyone at these events.  This year, I am looking to spend time with him at my brothers, see if I can get him to play darts or pool.  We'll see how that goes.

Christmas Eve...I'm considering opening all the gifts....my mom and dad always had us open all our gifts Christmas Eve so that mom didn't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn on Christmas Day.  So I think we may go that route.  Of course with all of us it took till 2AM to get through it all...but it was fun.  We shall see we shall see...

Off to start my day today....have to think about New Years Eve...we don't ever really do anything but I think I'd like to start changing that.  We'll see, I may not be able to do much this year but we can plan for next.

Holiday Season

So, we don't make a ton of money.  We don't live in a big house, we save to buy everything and don't use credit.  It's taken us a long time to get here....when the kids were smaller that certainly wasn't the case.  We couldn't save money to save our lives....you know how it is with small kids every time you turn around you are spending money on them...diapers, clothes, etc.. it never ends.  But that is okay...it's how it is...right?  So now we are able to say if we can't pay cash..we don't need it, which is nice.  I've been saving all year to pay for Christmas gifts...I knew it was coming.  I am very excited about all the gifts I got.  I love to buy gifts so it's important to me to save to be able to do that.  Again....it's not a ton of money..everyone isn't getting an iPad or anything....be serious.

I've never been down or depressed about the holiday....even when we were broke and I didn't know how to save.  I enjoy family and friends and the season as it is.  I'm excited about this year as well.  I will have everyone home for Christmas Eve and most of the weekend.  It will be a blast...I'm excited for a new year.   Excited about another year....of course as always I have goals for the year.  Which of course I have every year and which I never reach my personal goals, my career goals are a different story, those always seem to get met.  So this year is all about balance....but we'll get into that later.

I hope everyone can enjoy the holiday...enjoy and not be bitter about what they don't have or are unable to do.  To not be bitter or angry about being sick or hurt.  To enjoy the days as they are and how they are...regardless of how trying any given day can be.  I want everyone to "Be Happy" as per RER. 

Cookie making was wonderful this year...we had a lot of fun.
Sugar cookies....with lots of decorations....

Decorating a gingerbread house...

Window Pane Cookies...yummy sweet!!

We even caught Jeff on Video decorating gingerbread people!!!!!...but it won't upload....figures.

The kids went to the light display at Cuneo Museum...here are a few of those picts and video....

They waited in line for an hour....for a 20 minute car ride through the museum grounds...and paid $10....they had fun and as brother and sister...it was certainly a great memory!!!

Have a great Holiday everyone.....keep it simple!!!!

Back to blogging

So the last few weekends have been spent shopping, wrapping and baking!! Work hours are longer... No one seems to want to slow down.. I am at work Monday and Tuesday this coming week...then I am mostly off work till the end of the year. Of course I have lots of things I want to get done before the end of the year. I want to start the new year running full steam, organized and easy to win!! To shine!!! To succeed!!