Priorities

I've been absent quite a bit lately.  I had a "heart check" recently.  Not literally but mentally and realized that some things that should be a priority have not been as much and I realized that I needed to change that.  I love blogging and doing things, but I don't always have the money, even the slightest bit, or the time.  Recently it has been a case of both. 
From working a few extra hours cleaning apartments for my husband, then going home to try to get motivated to clean my own house, to school, church activities and so forth I have been busy and emotionally drained.  I get that way when I pack too much in.  So blogging has been put on the shelf for a bit while I get things back in order.  Thankfully the extra work hours will come in handy as I save up for my husbands upcoming birthday present.  It's a biggie.  Although I'm still in the dark on how much it will cost.  That could be a problem!!  But I love the fact that I can actually save up on my own and not ask my husband if I can have some extra money to buy HIS birthday present with.  Please don't misunderstand that.... My husband does not rule over me with a ruler or whatever, but I don't really keep up with the whole finance thing.  I have a basic idea of what we have, where money is going and so forth, but I don't know what is left to pay, what is extra in the account and what needs to be set aside for other things I may be unaware of.  So I ask. 
I have some new ideas that I am looking into and researching and hopefully in the next couple of months we will be working on a major project in our house that we have been wanting to do since the day we bought it.  Can't wait.  It may involve light gray stained carpet...... or not, I guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out.

~Spring Fever~

My birthday celebrations have extended into this weekend.  Am I a lucky girl or what!?!?!  I get to go on a double date with my best friend and her husband.  We actually do this once a month, but everyone decided since my birthday was last weekend that I get to choose where we go.  I look forward to this every. single. month.  As a stay at home mom of four, you can imagine how desperate I can get for conversations that don't involve how many times someone went potty in their pants, or say "no" for the 100th time that someone cannot have a snack 5 minutes before supper.  But something else has got me SUPER excited today.   The weather.

This week has been bitterly cold with temps in the negative digits and wind chills about 20* below that.  BRRRR!!!  So I checked the weather forecast today and saw that next Friday we are predicted to get in the high 50's!!!!!!  I wondered why this morning I woke up and decided to vacuum, dust, get all laundry done, clean bathrooms, wash bedding and so on.  My motivation is sky high and it's because the spring fever has hit, and it's hitting hard.  I'm wishing, and hoping and praying....la la la..... that these temps are not just teasing us.  Last year my dream was to be the first lawn in our neighborhood to have all it's snow gone.  Those were BIG dreams since our lawn seems to get allot of the snow from the street across from us, plus the sun doesn't hit parts of our lawn at all.  Despite all of my best efforts..... throwing snow down the drain at the base of our driveway, dumping boiling water on the huge snow drifts at the sides of our driveway, ( would not recommend that option, neighbors will think you are a CRAZY woman)  we were the last yard to have no snow left.  So my goal this year, to not be last.  I'm not going to do anything crazy ( at least not in the open daylight) but I saw signs of grass next to my house this morning ( cue the angels singing ). 
This winter has not been bad at all, but spring is beckoning me. 

I'm ready to say goodbye to this:

( He's a bit skinnier today )

And say HELLO to this:

                                                          Has your spring fever hit yet?



Recipe for the perfect Birthday

I celebrated my birthday this weekend and it was super spectacular, but it wasn't because I had a big huge party, or got allot of gifts.  It involved:

Non of this:  

A little bit of this:  

with the best mom ever!

A tiny bit of these:

Some of this:

Lots of this:

And the best part......................................................  An entire weekend with all of these:

Must say, that truly WAS the best part.

50's girl

I'm not sure if I am the only one who feels as if they were born in the wrong era???  Anyone else ever feel as if they have been somewhat displaced?  I love the stories from war time.  My grandmother married my grandfather right before he left for war.  Her wedding dress was a simple sheath dress with large purple flowers.  I love the thought of living out in the country hanging my laundry on the clothesline and having my lace curtains gently blowing from the wind coming in the windows, apple pies cooling on the window seal, lemonade on the porch while sitting in your rocking chair, wearing dresses ALL the time, even for cleaning, and aprons.... just love.  Unfortunately my vintage aprons don't look very nice over my black sweat pants and my over sized sweat shirt.  Unfortunately I can't seem to make it the entire summer without turning on the air (funny, I grew up without air).  The music, the simplicity of it, sort of organic in feeling.  And I've already mentioned the clothes, but again......LOVE.  So when I found ModCloth on the web, I was completely, utterly and totally in love.  I have several, ok, more like a list of 25 on my wish list that I have actually sent to my husband in hopes that he will walk in the door someday with a lovely dress box wrapped in a big yellow bow and say "something pretty for my pretty lady."  Then he takes me in his arms, dips me back, looks in my eyes, and then kisses me.  HAH!!!!  Probably not going to happen, but a girl can dream can't she.  So some of my loves.....

I'll wear this one to the beach and watch my perfectly bahaved children build a lovely sand castle, then eat popsicles that never drip or stain. 

The black one I am going to wear as I entertain my many guests and listen to them oooh and aaaah as I bring out the perfectly cooked pot roast that took me no effort at all to make, therefore looking this fabulous is a breeze for me.

This one I'll wear as I volunteer at my children's school.  I'll carry a basket full of homemade sugar cookies shaped like hearts.  They are beautifully frosted and personalized with special valentine greetings for each individual child, then packaged in selephane and tied off with pink and red ric rac ribbon.  All mothers will be asking me how I do it all.

NOT!

Still dreaming, but they sure are good dreams.

Cooking for fun

It's been a LONG week.  From a sick little girl to the snowstorm of the year that shut down pretty much everything and to top it off, I have been trying to eat allot healthier and exercise.  Something I have learned in this process.  Diet and exercise are impossible when you have four kids stuck inside the house all day screaming at each other and another one throwing up.  Actually, that one helped me quite a bit.... Anyway, I seem to do pretty well, but the bitter cold has made me really hungry for some reason.  I'm trying to convince myself that I must be internally shivering, therefore, burning more calories and needing to eat more.... ya....ya...........................probably not. 
Better Homes and Gardens had a dish that I made the other night and it was absolutely fabulous.  It did take a little time to fix and I did dirty quite a few things, but I'm still perfecting my execution.

Frizzled Eggs over Garlic Steak and Mushroom Hash
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups frozen diced hash brown potatoes with onions and peppers ( I actually just made my own)
1 8-oz. pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms
4 3- to 4- oz. think breakfast steaks ( I used a small ribeye cut in half)
4 to 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 eggs
Fresh tarragon (optional)

1.  In a 12- inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil.  Cook potatoes and mushrooms, covered over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm.
2.  Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.  Heat remaining oil in skillet.  Cook steaks and garlic for 3-4 minutes, turning once, until desired doneness.  Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm.
3.  Add each egg to the hot skillet; sprinkle salt and pepper.  Cook to desired doneness.  Place potatoes, steaks, and eggs on plates.  Sprinkle fresh tarragon.  Makes 4 servings.
Each serving:  324 Cal, 15 g fat, 258 mg chol, 397 mg sodium, 17 g carb, 2 g fiber, 29 g protein.

I was pretty careful with the salt and I only made enough for my husband and myself.  Dave loves anything with an egg on top, so I thought this would be a great recipe to try, and since I pretty much look at calories, 324 is a no-brainer for so much food. 
Anyone else have any great recipe's they have tried recently?