Another fun weekend!

I had yet another fun weekend! Yay for a good start to the summer! On Thursday night my moms group had their annual banquet. It was at Paddy O'Ryans in hudson.
It was an international theme and everyone was encouraged to dress as if they were from a foreign country. Initially I planned on getting a kimono and being a Geisha. But, I didn't order my costume in time. So, it was a last minute rush to find something local and something cheap. Leah to the rescue! She found us this Hula girl "costume" for only $4.99 and we both went dressed like this:

It was a fun evening. There was silent auction and among other things I "won" (bought) this awesome purse that I LOVE:There was a raffle and I won an ipod case which I will be putting on Ebay since I don't have any use for it. Tommy Ryman, a local comedian who was on Last Comic Standing then did a show for us and was hilarious!!

The next day we went up north to Tofte, MN which is about 20 minutes from Grand Marais. My friend Kathy's parents have a cabin there so we got together for a girls weekend! No kids, no men. It was a lot of fun and just what I needed. We played a lot of cards, ate a lot of food, drank a lot, and went for a hike. At one point, Kristi and kathy ran into town to get a pizza and ran into Genevieve from TLC!!! I can't believe I wasn't there to see her. Just my luck!

Wednesdays

Wednesdays have become a favorite day of mine. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love cooking, menu planning, and creating new, original recipes. I really feel like it's one of the only things that I'm good at...my only "talent", if you will. I'm not exactly sure where this skill came from. I grew with NOTHING homemade :) I guess I just kind of developed it on my own.
Anyhoo, on Tuesday afternoons I get my CSA veggie box. Which means on Wednesdays I get to start figuring out what to do with all of my weekly goodies! Many of the spring veggies (kale, arugula, watercress, lambs quarter, sorrel) I've never used before, so it's been a learning experience.

Today I had some fresh green beans that we bought last week that needed to be used up. So, I created a green bean/kale dish that we'll have with dinner tonight. I sauted red onions and garlic in olive oil, added the green beans and sauted until tender, then added the chopped kale until just wilted. Of course, you have to season well with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Done! I think it would have been good with some freshly squeezed lemon juice too, but I didn't have any lemons.

Next, for the arugula. I've always wanted to try it-its an Italian green with a spicy, peppery taste to it. I also used some ingredients I had on hand and created a summer salad that I'll have for lunch today. I combined the arugula, feta cheese, blanched asparagus, cherry tomatoes, some leftover cooked egg noodles, green peppers, green onions. For the dressing I combined some italian dressing and Dijon mustard. I haven't tried it yet but it looks delicious!

Bon Appetit!

Great Weekend

I had much needed weekend packed full of "me time". Unfortunately, I'm still tired from it :) Friday night I dropped the kids off at my parent's house and went.....to a pole dancing class. Yep, you heard me. Pole dancing. ME! This is something I never ever thought I would do. A new facility opened up in Hudson (http://www.lady-katherine.net/) and the mom's group set up a group class for us. We learned some of the basics of pole dancing and strip tease. It was actually a lot of fun, and I'd love to go back and take some classes! The kids ended up spending the night at my parent's house so I came home and had some drinks and relaxed.

On Saturday I went to a spa party/sleepover at a girl's house that I knew in high school. There were a couple of old high school friends there and a bunch of people I didn't know. I hadn't seen the high school friends in 16 years! This too was something out of character for me-to go somewhere by myself where I really didn't know anyone too well. It was a lot of fun. Lots of good food, drinks, and spa stuff. I drank a little too much and didn't sleep that great, but it was so nice to get away and not have to worry about all of my responsibilities!

Good times!

I ♥ Etsy.com

Have you been to http://etsy.com/? It's a website where people sell their handmade items-you'll find everything and anything there! I LOVE, love, love online shopping to begin with and love the idea of supporting small artisan businesses over large chain companies. Every time I go to Etsy I find more things I want! They also have a great feature where you can post requests for custom items-if you have a specific idea of what you want-and people can submit their bids to you.

Here are a few pieces of jewelry on my wish list:

New Template!

How do you like my new template? Now that I know how to use non-blogger.con templates I think I'll try out some new ones here and there! I like this one for now-I just can't seem to find a font color that you can actually read in the paragraph over the picture....

8 Things

I don't have anything terribly exciting to blog about so I thought I'd do this....

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Going to a sleepover next weekend!
2. Getting our landscaping fixed (hopefully) this summer.
3. Taking the kids to Disney World next spring.
4. Losing weight
5. My garden growing
6. Picking berries from my backyard
7. Camping trip in July
8. Girls weekend away in June

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1. Babysat
2. Played outside
3. Ate dinner at Subway (didn't feel like cooking)
4. Talked to leah on the phone
5. Cried (don't ask)
6. Took my last exam of the semester
7. Watched Prison Break (LOVE Wentworth Miller)
8. Did some transcription work

8 Things I Wish I Could Do
1. Speak Italian
2. Travel the world...Italy, Greece, Africa, etc
3. Live someplace warm with a swimming pool in my backyard
4. Build a log cabin "up north".
5. Be a "super Mom"
6. Be more even-tempered
7. Get more sleep
8. Lose weight easily/have more self control

8 Shows I have Watched
1. Prison Break
2. Lost
3. Law and Order
4. The Office
5. Ghost Whisperer
6. King of Queens
7. Days of Our Lives
8. The People's Court

Play along if you like!!

More veggies!

I have a garden! We spent Saturday clearing out an area of our yard to put a veggie garden and then went to Fleet Farm and stocked up on veggie plants! I'm so excited to try to grow stuff (though I'm not really expecting a lot of it to make it). We planted rhubarb, strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, a few variety of hot peppers, brussel sprouts, celery, asparagus, watermelon, pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, zucchini. I'm also looking forward to our fruit trees this year-we have plums, pears, apples, and the raspberry bushes. I'm turning into a farmer :) Now, if only I could commit to becoming a vegetarian!!!

Bring on the Veggies!

I took the kids to the farm today and picked up our first CSA (see prior blog) box! I must say the box was a lot smaller than I had expected, but I'm hoping that's just because it's early in the season. There wasn't a list of the contents included so I'm still not sure what one item is and it took a while to identify some of the others. In today's box was: carrots, potatoes, onions, red russian Kale, watercress, lettuce, spinach, and a mystery green item??
I made carrot cake/bread with the carrots and it turned out delicious! With the potatoes I made parmesean/rosemary encrusted potatoes which were also very good. Tomorrow for breakfast I'm going to make an egg bake using the kale and onions, the pics with the recipe look really good! For a side dish with dinner tomorrow I'll use the spinach to make creamed spinach...not too healthy but good! I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the watercress, I can't really find any recipes that sound good for that one.
I'm excited about eating more veggies and organic too!

Knock Knock

If I had a penny for every time I hear "knock-knock" during the day.....it started a couple of months ago with Amayah telling knock knock jokes (they never make any sense-example "knock knock, who's there, Mommy, Mommy who, butterfly's are pretty"). It's pretty cute and hilarious though :) Well, Xavier caught on and now they are both obsessed with telling knock knock jokes. I really should get out the video camera and record it!

Week two of daycare down, and all is good. It's challenging at times but Cecilia very well-behaved so I got lucky. I have another interview with a family coming up but I'm still debating as to whether or not I should take any more. Kendall thinks not....

Tomorrow's my birthday...the big 35. What happened??!! So depressing. We have no plans since we have no sitters. We also have no plans for Easter. My dad works and Micah and Sarah will be with her family. So, we made reservations at the St. James in Red Wing for Easter brunch. It's their HUGE brunch that they used to have years ago....the best brunch EVER. So, I'm pretty excited about that. I asked my mom to come but she's still deciding if she wants to or not.

Speaking of birthdays, Amayah turned 4 last Friday. Wow, time goes so fast. She had a birthday party here at home with some of her friends. It was a fairy/princess theme and the kiddos all dressed up so it was pretty cute. She had a ton of fun!

Yesterday I took her to the American Girl doll store (she got 2 of them for her b-day) and we had lunch and did crafts with her dolls then her girl doll got her hair done in the salon. If you've never been to the American Girl store...it's quite the experience!!!!

Mariah and Sylvia

Day one of daycare down, and so far so good! There were a few tears when Cecilia got dropped off, but she was all better as soon as she saw Bosco. A few more tears at nap time, which never actually happened. Her parents say she hasn't been a napper since she was 6 months old!!
It's cute because neither Amayah or Cecilia can say each others names....Amayah calls her Sylvia and Cecilia calls her Mariah. Hehe. I found myself even getting confused and calling them the wrong names after a while :)
It was a pleasant day, the kids played well together, and I'm POOPED!

How Quickly Things Can Change!

Wowzers. I went from having no work, to too much work almost overnight! My daycare is up and running - starting on Monday I'll be watching an adorable little 2.5 year old named Cecilia. Amayah is pretty excited to have another little girl to play with. Cecilia's mom is preggers and due in June so I'll have off from June through August. Then starting back up in August I'll be taking care of both kids. The second family I met with is still deciding on who they want to go with.
Also, a few days ago I got an email from the transcription lady I worked for. I haven't done any work for her since the end of the year when the doctor I was assigned to left. Well, the doc is coming back in April, so I'm getting my account back! AND, they are hiring another doc in October and she wants to give me that account too. With both accounts, I'll be working 5 days a week (and it takes about 3-4 hours to do a batch of work).
This means I'll be watching kids all day (by the way, Cecilia will be getting dropped off around 5:30 am), doing my homework in the evenings when the kids go to bed, adoption work on weekends, and WHEN will I do the typing or SLEEP???
I'm not sure how to fit it all in, but the money will be nice if I can get it figured out!

You're Gonna Miss This

I spent yesterday and today at the MSSA conference in order to keep up with my CEU hours to keep my SW license active. Two days of going from workshop to workshop, butt going numb from sitting so long, and fighting to stay awake! By this afternoon I had had enough and decided to skip out on a session and just sit in the hotel lobby, people watch, and listen to my ipod.

I'm not a country music fan but I recently came across a Trace Atkins song, "Your're Gonna Miss This". As I sat there in the lobby reflecting on life, the song came on. It's about a girl going through all the stages of life, being in a hurry to get to the next stage and people along the way telling her to slow down and enjoy life b/c someday your're gonna look back and miss these times.

It's such a good reminder to stay focused on the present and enjoy and appreciate every moment! Even when the kids are screaming, and dinner is burning, and the house is a mess...someday we'll look back and wonder where the time went. So even if things seem bleak or overwhelming, it's a good message-don't be in such a hurry to get to the next stage in life. It will come eventually and chances are you'll look back and miss the old times.

Here are the lyrics:
She was staring out that window, of that SUVComplaining, saying I can't wait to turn 18.
She said I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said I was just like you

-Chorus- You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her It's a nice place
She says It'll do for now
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says Baby, just slow down

-Chorus-
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
She keeps apologizin'
He says They don't bother me.
I've got 2 babies of my own. One's 36, one's 23.
Huh, it's hard to believe, but ...

-Chorus-
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

Followers Wanted

On a side note....I'm wondering who actually reads my blog besides Sarah?? I mean, blogging is kind of fun...nice to get your thoughts out. However, is anyone actually reading? Let me know by becoming a follower! On the left side of my page, click the follower button and I will show up on your Dashboard so you always know when I've updated my blog-and I'll know someone is actually out there :)

Community Supported Agriculture

So for a while now I've been wanting to 'clean up' our diet....eat organic most importantly. For a few summers I've thought it would be nice to buy a share in a farm co-op. If you don't know what CSA is, here's a summary. Basically there are tons of local organic farms that participate in CSA. People buy a share of the farm at the beginning of the season, and then each week you get a huge box of their fresh veggies and fruit. Most seasons are 20 weeks long, but some farms even have year long programs (I assume they have greenhouses?). You can either pick up your box at the farm or they deliver to centrally located pick up sites. The cost for an average 20 week season is anywhere from $300-600 depending on the size box you get. Most farms are growing over 40 types of produce so you get a huge selection! Fresh, organic veggies. How great is that? I know it sounds like a lot of money but if you divide $500 by 20 weeks it breaks down to $25/wk which really isn't bad. It's even cheaper if you split a box with a friend. I might do just that with my mom if she decides she wants to go forward with it.
Here's a link with the farms that do this:
http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/csa.html#big_river

What Gives?

I finally decided about a week ago to put an ad on Craigslist advertising that I’m available for childcare. We need to make some money, big time so I’m desperate. It’s only been a week, and I realize I live in Somerset so there probably aren’t a ton of people looking for childcare (compared to a large city). But I haven’t got ANY inquiries. I just logged on Craigslist to make sure my ad is still there…and I see that Amayah’s preschool teacher has also put up an ad. Crap, I don’t stand a chance against her and her 15 years of daycare/preschool experience!! Grrr….what’s plan B???

UPDATE: Seriously, as I was typing the blog above, an email popped in from someone asking about my rates! Yippie!! Now I just need to figure out a fair price….this is the tricky part. Wish me luck!!

UPDATE 2: I just got another inquiry! Wow, all it took was writing a paragraph on my blog, and suddenly I'm getting hits! Lets see if they pan out!

Did I miss my calling?!

Maybe I should have been a party planner! I have so much fun entertaining, planning menus, etc. Right now I'm planning Amayah's 4th birthday party and I'm loving it! It's a fairy princess theme and all the kids are going to get fairy accessories, or prince stuff for the boys. There are going to be different activity stations related to the theme. Too cute. With my own parties though, I usually don't have enough money (seems to be a theme in my life) to do things exactly as I would like...but as a party planner you usually work with more well-off people and you get to go all-out. I think that would be sooo much fun!! Well, maybe in my next life :)

Trying to be frugal

With the current state of the economy and the sad fact that I haven't earned a dime in 2009 yet, I'm undertaking a project to be frugal, or cheap as we like to call it. I thought that clipping coupons and trying to save on groceries would be a good place to start. I found a great website, and I think it's going to help us out a lot! I'll attempt to explain, but the acutal website will probably do a better job of explaining.
First, you do have to pay for the service, but it's minimal...especially when you factor in how much you can save on your groceries. They have a 4 week trial for $1 and after that if you want to continue your membership it's $10 every 8 weeks. You enter in your zipcode and it pulls up a list of stores in your area that they follow (in my area it's just Cub, CVS, and Walgreens). Each week, you log on and they give you a shopping list basically-of course you pick and choose from that what you want/need. They scan the weekly ads for the stores and compare those to store coupons and manufacturer coupons from the Sunday paper and tell you after all coupons, deals, etc, how much the item will end up costing you compared to the original cost. The items are also color coded to represent items that are rock-bottom prices and you should stock pile on, items that you should only get if you really need them, and items that are FREE after utilizing all coupons/deals for that product.
It's gonna take a little organizing and getting used to the system. Plus, we haven't been saving coupons from the Sunday papers so we don't have a lot of the coupons we need right now to take advantage of the deals. But, within 12 weeks the website says we should be all 'caught up' if we start saving coupons now.
Check it out! www.thegrocerygame.com
Also, I'd love suggestions/tips from others on saving money!!

Under the Weather

Ugh, it's been a rough winter season for us as far as illnesses go. My theory is that we're picking up more germs now that Amayah is in preschool and exposed to so many other kids. It's been 3 weeks of us (mostly me) being sick, sick, sick. It started with Xavier having a fever of 104-105 for several days plus pink eye and an ear infection. Then I caught the pink eye, as well as severe ear aches, congestion, sinus pressure. I had to wait 10 days before they would give me antibiotics. I seriously didn't sleep at ALL for 4 nights in a row, I was so miserable. I'm at the end of my course of antibiotics and now I feel like I'm getting sick all over again!! What the heck? The earaches, congestion, and laryngitis is starting all over again (oh yeah, I didn't have a voice for like 4 days while I was sick too). Kendall was the next victim but he didn't get it as bad, but had to miss 3 days of work. Amayah got bronchitis. It seemed never ending! Well, thankfully everyone is better now except for me...
I can't wait for spring!!! The winters are just no fun! I can barely find the motivation to leave the house most days b/c it's so cold and dreary outside. Wouldn't it be nice just to pack up and move south!!! Maybe someday :)

Busy Busy Busy...

Let's see, life here has been busy as usual! I'm no longer working my MT job and barely doing any adoption work. However, being in school is keeping me busy enough. I do homework every single night after the kids go to bed (while watching TV :) ) I'm getting an A+ in both of my classes! I got accepted into Rasmussen's LPN program and have my interview with the Nursing Director on Thursday and scheduled to start classes in April there. I'm still not 100% sold that I'm making the right move. I have several options that I'm debating over.

1. Get my LPN at Rasmussen....I'll be done next summer, I can then work as an LPN for a bit, get some experience, and make sure it's really for me before going into a longer program. Then around the same time I'd get my LPN, Rasmsusen has a BSN program starting up. So I could either transition into that or stay on the wait list at WITC and get my ADN there (I'd only have like 8 classes left to take to get my ADN).

2. Just stick with the WITC plan and start in 2 years when the wait is up, which will be around the time Xavier is starting school-so that would be convienant as well as the fact that it's only 10 minutes from home!

3. Get my LPN and then attend an online RN program.

I keep going back and forth on what to do :) But, one thing is for sure....I am really enjoying being back in school (even though I complain about the homework). I think maybe it's just the fact that I'm doing something that's all for ME, and learning again, and working towards a better future. It feels good!

Poor little Xavier is sick. We took him to the Doc today and he has pink eye, an ear infection and a fever. They thought he had pneumonia and influenza as well but the tests came back negative. The chest XRay process was terribly traumatic for both of us, but we made it through. He's on antibiotics now and will hopefully be on the mend.

Amayah had her first sleepover/slumber party this weekend with her cousins. Nisha and Martin went on a cruise and so the kids stayed with us for a few days then went to their grandma's house. They were so well behaved and Amayah loooooved having them here. I actually wish the could have stayed longer! We set up the big air matress in the living room and let the 3 of them sleep there, stay up late watching movies and eating popcorn. It was too cute!

The kids are back in swimming lessons. Xavier does okay. Amayah-not even close. She's been downgraded into a parent/child class....for ages 6 months and up. The other little children (much smaller than her) are all jumping in, going under, blah blah blah. All she does is cry and cling to me for dear life. So frustrating, but I'm determined that she will grow up knowing how to swim. It's a very important skill to have! :)

Kendall is getting a new shift at work-woot woot! Starting mid-March NO MORE SATURDAYS! He'll still be working late-until 11 pm (and will be home around midnight) but it's M-F so that will be nice! I actually hate to say it, but I LOVE my evenings here alone after the kids go to bed. It's MY time to unwind, get the TV to myself, get stuff done around the house, have some wine, surf the net, and do homework of course!

Speaking of which, gotta get going on that.....

New Goals for a New Year

I've never been one to make New Years Resolutions, it just seems like setting yourself up for failure. This year, however, I have a few goals for myself. Not resolutions necessarily, just some things I'd like to concentrate on.

1. Positive attitude. In general I tend to be more of a "the glass is half empty" kind of a person. Luckily, I have a lot of more positive people in my life who keep my spirits up. I think it's time though to try to focus on what I DO have rather than what I don't have. I'm blessed and I need to take time to reflect on that. I've gotten into the Law of Attraction over the last year which kind of goes hand in hand in that you create your own destiny with your thoughts which draw your life experiences to you. It's hard to keep that in mind and live life under that theory but it's something I want to work on!

2. Just say no...to red meat. I've often wanted to try vegetarianism just because of seeing the cruelty that animals go through being confined to cages where they can't move, being pumped full of hormones which we then injest and it causes cancer and other diseases, and just the fact of it not being very healthy to begin with. This is a biggie because I love a good steak, burger, etc...!!! I am not going to give up eggs, fish, poultry, dairy....i just know that wouldn't work for me. I do however think that I can give up or at least cut back on red meats. I'm not going to be over the top about it. If I'm in a situation where I don't have an option, then that's fine. I think just cutting back is a very good start....even if Kendall isn't going to like it :) I'm also going to try to buy more organic foods, particularly poultry and veggies.

3. Try to spend more quality and one on one time with the kids. I sometimes feel like I'm so busy doing things around the house and "taking care of business" that the kids are left to entertain themselves a lot. I need to learn that those other things will always be there, but the kids will only be young for so long!

So, backing up a little bit....Christmas was great. Amayah got a huge, 4 foot tall barbie doll house with an elevator, working lights and such, and about 10 barbie dolls and a bunch of extra clothes. Needless to say, she is in heaven!! Xavier got the GeoTrax airplane set to add to his growing GeoTrax collection. He seems to like it but really didn't get into Christmas this year (again). Maybe next year he will get into opening his gifts a little more.

New Years we took the kids to Aikita, a new Teppanyaki restaurant (or 'Chop-Chop' place as Amayah calls it) in Woodbury. It was good and the kids always love the show that the Teppanyaki places put on. The kids drank sparkling cider -Amayah got to drink out of a champagne glass and loved that. We were going to let Amayah stay up til midnight but it just got to be too much for me :) and we put her to bed. I ended up falling asleep about 11pm, I just can't hang like I used to.

I started school last Friday. I have class M-F from 8-3 for 3 weeks. It isn't as bad as i thought it would be, sitting there for 7 hours a day. I have learned that I definately don't want to be a CNA for a living and will be thankful when this class is over. So far we've learned how to wash our hands, dress someone, move someone using a gait belt, and next week we work on how to do peri care (i.e. wiping butts, vaginas, and penis's). Yuck.

Happy New Year!!