A Father's Day Feast

Hello again!  I know, I know, lots of outfit posts.  That would be due to, in part, my new obsession with Polyvore, and the fact that my computer has decided that I don't need wi-fi.  Yeah, not real pleased with my "new" computer right now.  I am alternating between Hubby's computer and the Ipad for all my internet needs.  Thank goodness for a multiple computer household!

In honor of Father's Day, Hubby got to pick what he wanted for dinner.  Filet Mignon, sauteed mushrooms and twice baked potatoes, yummy!  As we were eating this evening he suggested I post this recipe here.  These aren't your normal twice baked potatoes.  I used to make them the old fashioned way - bake the potato, scrape out the inner part, mix up the good stuff, stuff the potatoes, finish baking.  They were great, but took f-o-r-e-v-e-r!  This is more of a short-cut version, but just as tasty!  Hope you try this and enjoy.

Oh, sorry, no pics.  Like I said, Hubby suggested this as we were eating and I didn't think you really wanted a picture of a dish with only about 1/4 of the potatoes left. 

Short Cut Twice Baked Potatoes

1 bag Ore-ida Steam and Mash Russet Potatoes

3/4 stick of butter

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup shredded cheddar (or your favorite cheese), more to top

1/2 cup bacon bits

1/2 cup chopped green onion (optional)

Cook potatoes according to package directions.  Once cooked pour potatoes into a casserole dish.  Cut butter into 1 tbsp. slices and even distribute into potatoes, allow to melt.  Using a fork, mash potatoes and butter, allowing some chunks to remain.  Mix in remaining ingredients thoroughly and top with cheese.  Bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes, til heated through and cheese is melted.  Serve immediately and enjoy.

Hope all the Dads in your life have had a wonderful Father's Day!

Have a great week!

Let's Review

So, since my last visit in

September

Work, work, work

Brody turned 3

Work, work, work some more

Gabe started High School Soccer, on the Varsity Team

October

Work, work, work

Soccer at least 4 nights a week

Work, work, work some more

Celebrated yet another anniversary with my Hubby <3

November

Work, work, work

Start planning for Christmas, finish up soccer, take on more hours at the store

Work,, work, work some more

Thanksgiving at my house, less than a week to plan, shop, clean, and cook - fun times!

December

Work, work, work some more

Plan, shop, hide, wrap, clean, bake, package, cook, label, decorate and all the other good things that come about at Christmas

Work, work, work some more

*Try* to make it through Christmas day without passing out from exhaustion

January

Work a little less ;)

Spend most of the month trying to recover from the holidays

Spend the month trying to keep all the bills paid after the holiday spending

February

Work, work, work more than the last month

Freeze my butt off in the arctic weather

Work, work, work some more

Valentines Day, and 2 hours out with my Hubby for dinner

March

Work, work, work some more

Gabe started managing the High School girls soccer team and being a line ref for recreation soccer teams (yay! his first paid job)

Work, work, work some more

Lindsey joined Girl Scouts just in time to complete their cookie sales, and Brody started a soccer tots class - you know, just because I didn't have anything else going on. :)

So now you are all caught up on what's been going on with my life. I've been wanting to get back to this, but this is the first time in over a month that I've had more than 1 day off a week. I'm exhausted, but at the same time I love my job. I've been promoted to full time, so I guess thay like me too (haha). I'm also going to try to get back to my WIWW posts. When I work I have to wear a uniform - black pants, socks, shoes and either a black polo with the university logo or a long sleeve button down with black tie. I'm getting really tired of all black. It's time for Mom to do something for Mom! Now if I could just find someplace to escape to for a weekend where I could just sleep and relax, life would be almost perfect, well, at least for me.

See you soon!

I've been a little busy

Hi again! I know, not the best way to start a blog, but I promise I have good reasons ;) Life has been pretty crazy here lately, but mostly for good reasons. The day of my last post I was offered a new part time job. While I love my retail job I just wasn't able to get enough hours to help us get by. I had decided about a month ago to see if I could find something that I could work along with my current job. I really lucked up when I found out about this one. I am working in the catering department of my local university. The pay is great and I'm getting enough hours that we will be able to breathe at the end of each month after paying all the bills. I am still working the retail job, so that has made things a little crazy. The first week and weekend I worked was freshman move-in. It was also floor set at the other job. From Friday morning until Sunday afernoon I worked a total of 31 hours and got about 5 hours of sleep. Fun times let me tell you! Luckily that craziness is over and things are starting to settle down a bit and I'm getting used to the new routine. That means I should be able to give more time to my little blog.

Now let's back up just a bit and let me tell you about all the fun stuff going on at home during all the work madness.

Lindsey's birthday was August 20. My princess turned 5, and was treated as royalty all day. She had requested a chocolate cake just like Gabe's except she wanted it to have pink frosting, sprinkles and Tinkerbell. The night before her birthday I baked her cake. I, of course, didn't start baking until about 10:30 at night (most projects around here are like that!) and by the time the cake came out of the oven it was almost midnight. As I was taking it out I noticed it hadn't risen very well. Then I noticed it seemed kind of heavy and the texture wasn't very cakey. When I got them onto the cooling rack I realized something had gone really, really wrong.

Um, cakes aren't supposed to look like that, right?

That, my friends, is what happens when you forget to put the 1/2 tsp. of baking soda into your cake mix. Who would have ever thought that 1/2 tsp. of baking soda could make such a difference. Before this I sure wouldn't have! By the time I had figured out what went wrong it was after midnight, I knew if I started another cake that I would be up half the night baking and cooling and icing and decorating and just the thought of doing all that in the middle of the night almost made me cry. Thank goodness that Harris Teeter is open 24 hours and has a pretty good bakery. I ran there, praying the whole way, hoping they had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing that would be plain enough for me to decorate. I was extremely lucky and found exactly what I needed.

An hour later I had this beauty, with all the requirements:

Chocolate with chocolate icing - check

Pink icing - check

Sprinkles - check

Tinkerbell - check

Not bad for a middle of the night scramble, right?

The best part was that she loved it and never knew I hadn't done it all myself. You won't tell her will you?



Five days after that was the first day of school. It was a big year around here. Lindsey started Kindergarten and Gabe started High School. I can't believe that I have a child in high school! How did that happen? Didn't he just start school like 2 years ago?

So far it's going really well for both of them. Gabe made the Varsity (!) Soccer team (more time now being used for practices and games 2-3 times a week) and likes his classes. He is having to get used to having more homework, but so far I haven't had to nag too much. Lindsey is loving school. She was very dissappointed this past weekend that it was a long weekend and a short school week. She wakes up every morning ready to eat breakfast and go to school. I am so happy that she is like that. I just pray it stays that way.


She was so excited that this was the best picture I could get of both of them. I couldn't keep her still!

Don't you just love the pink shoes? She ended up with two pairs of pink school shoes. I guess it's a good thing she loves all things pink.

So I'm going to try to post more now that things are starting to settle down a bit and I'm getting into a routine.

Hope you have a great week!

Scenes from a Kitchen

Hello again! I thought I would give you a little peek into my life. Yesterday after Brody finally decided to take a nap (he's 2, and really good at it) I made lunch for Lindsey. After she sat down to eat I realized that it was a perfect time to take some pics of the house. But, of course, I had been dealing with a 2 and 4 year old who couldn't agree on anything all morning, and nothing had been done. I did manage to load and run the dishwasher early in the morning, but that was the extent of my cleaning. So don't get your hopes up yet, here are just a few little glimpses.

I've mentioned before how much I love my coffee. I have accumulated quite a collection of coffee cups, but this is my favorite. I got it at Dillard's the day after Christmas, I think I paid about $2.00 for it. That's just another reason to love it!

The kind of "healthy" lunch that my kids love, animal shaped chicken nuggets and cheese puffs.

See, she actually sits and eats when she gets these kind of gourmet meals.

Now this is some of my DIY Dollar Store Art. Pretty cute, huh? See that one on the left, you know, the crooked one? Believe it or not, it gets straightened at least once a day. I just can't figure it out. If they weren't hanging above the pantry doors I would totally think one of the kids was doing it just to drive me crazy.

And just to keep it real, this is my kitchen and how it looks pretty much every day around lunch time, whether it's been cleaned or not. Look at your own risk!

So there is your first glimpse into my home. Exciting, wasn't it? I promise, soon I'm going to clean, hide all the toys, arrange all my little decorating pieces that the kids like to play with and take some real pictures. I'm sure you wait with baited breath. . .

Have a great day!

P.S. I'm linking up at The Girl Creative. Check it out and check out some new blogs.