Carwash to a turkey

Monday, Monday!  My alarm went off this morning and I had no idea I went back to sleep until Clint's alarm went off an hour later.  I missed my chance to run, but I did probably need a day off from it.  I did get my 3000 club workout in, 70 pushups, 50 burpees, 2x25 hydrants and 2x20 donkey kicks. 

This weekend was very relaxing and great with Clint and Ava.  Saturday I got up and ran 7 miles and then we had breakfast and headed to the grocery store for a few things.
We desperately needed to run the Murano through the carwash!  It is white, but it was on the verge of being a gray vehicle.

Not so sure about this, mama!

You could visual see the water turn a yucky brown color. 

This was past due!

The rest of Saturday, we lounged around for a bit and then I got to straightening the house. 

I got up Sunday morning and had an easy 4 mile run before doing some prep work for lunch and getting ready for church.

Each Sunday after church, my family rotates house to eat lunch and this Sunday was our turn.

We had bought an extra turkey around Thanksgiving because they are ridiculously cheap.  We put it in the deep freezer for a rainy day. 

Yesterday for lunch was the perfect time!

With the turkey, Clint and I made dressing, Annie's mac n cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls and for dessert was

Trisha Yearwood's

Easy Peach Cobbler

This was a keeper!  I will double the recipe next time, but it was just enough to satisfiy the family without any leftovers for my pregnant self to nibble on!

The rest of Sunday involved laying around, reading, watching the Green Lantern and eating leftovers for supper. 

I hope y'alls weekend was great!

See ya soon!

Cleaning and Balloon game

Hey there y'all!!  Yesterday was a good day for us!  I got up and had my coffee and a piece of toast and let that settle before I hopped on the treadmill.  I knocked out 8.25 miles(6 pee breaks interspersed! Thank God for a treadmill!) I did my 3000 club exercises of 60 pushups, 60 burpees(these are getting harder, not easier) and 200 crunches.

Ava woke up and I got her breakfast and settled while I started cleaning the house some.  A little bit later, I NEEDED a shower, so I took one and then ran Ava some bath water and then I folded some laundry while I watched her.

I cleaned the house, played with Ava, cleaned the house, played with Ava!  We only had to run one errand yesterday to pick up Pekka some dog food and then we were right back home. 

When Clint and Ava decorated the house for my birthday last week, we still have balloons around the house.  Let me tell ya, I don't care how old you are, but when there is a balloon being knocked around the room, you HAVE to hit it and try to keep it off the floor!  We had SO much fun playing "balloon" yesterday between cleaning the house. 

I had put one of the balloons up while Pekka was in the house for a bit because, well he attacks them and they pop! 

Ava tried to reach it, but couldn't and then she looked at me and said, "I'll use my seat!" I had to document this!

Seat is in place.

Ava is in place to reach up to get it.

Almost got it.

SUCCESS!!!

Clint got home and since the house was clean by then I could lounge on the couch with my favorite people!

Yogurt snack time for this girl!

Supper was one of my FAVORITES!

Homemade Hamburger Helper from Kristin over at Iowa Girl Eats.
You will NEVER use the box again!!!  Believe me!!!

Well, time to get to working!

See ya soon!

Cleaning, Kroger, chicken & dumplins

Tuesday morning, I got up earlier that I had hoped.  I  had a bad dream and couldn't shake it, so I just got on up.  I drank my coffee, kissed Clint bye when he went to work and went through my coupons for when we were heading to Kroger later. 

Finally about 7am, my sleeping beauty woke up!  I got her breakfast and got my run on on the treadmill.  8 miles, who yah!  I am having really good runs!  No complaints that is for sure! 

After my sweat-fest, I showered and ate breakfast and got Ava and I ready.  It was cleaning day at the office.  I packed snacks, books and my coupons and we headed to the office. 

I did a thorough cleaning in record time with my fabulous helper and we headed to Kroger. 

Successful trip and money saved!

Um.....can I help you mama!???  I was just rearranging the gum, that's all!

Apparently, her Bible was some upsetting reading!

We came home and I put away the groceries and straightened the house and finally sat down for lunch at 2:30!  Oddly, enough I wasn't all that hungry.

Clint got home and we watched some DVR'ed shows and then it was time to make supper. 

Chicken and Dumplings and green beans!!

I went on the Pillsbury site to look for an easy recipe using biscuits that I had on hand.  This recipe came up and I had all of the ingredients on hand!

INGREDIENTS:

1 carton (32 oz) Progresso® reduced-sodium chicken broth (4 cups) (I used the broth from boiling my chicken earlier in the day)

3 cups shredded cooked chicken (about 1 1/2 lb) (I used hormone free chicken tenderloins, 3 of them)

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning (I used a pinch of celery salt, , 1/2tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp parsely

1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits) (I used the small can of 5 biscuits)

2 medium carrots, chopped (1 cup)

3 celery ribs, chopped

1 In 4- to 5-quart Dutch oven, heat broth, chicken, soup and poultry seasoning to boiling over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high; return to a low boil.

2 On lightly floured surface, roll or pat each biscuit to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

3 Drop strips, one at a time, into boiling chicken mixture. Add carrots and celery. Reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent dumplings from sticking.

Review:

This was really good!!  I would have let the carrots and celery got a smidge softer, but it was such a good, easy comfort food.  That is "to save in my binder" recipe! 

 

Well, work needs to be done!  Have a great day and see ya soon!

Groceries and recipe keeper

Yippy skippy it is FRIDAY!!

I hope y'all had a great day yesterday!

We did for sure!

We got up and I had coffee and got Ava some cereal.  We chatted mama/toddler style and I did my She Reads Truth devotional while she watched Doc McStuffins (fantastic cartoon btw).

I'm pretty sure I have injured my Achilles to the point of a good week's rest from running. (sigh) But I can still Bodyrock...oh yea!

We had to meet a girl at 9am to get a Xmas gift for my sister and then we were off to Kroger and Trader Joe's. 

Ava fell asleep about 10 minutes away from Kroger and I thought she would wake up when I got her out of her carseat.  NOPE.  She slept until about 20 minutes into grocery shopping at Kroger.  I love this, but my arms are SORE today!  Workout and grocery shopping combo...yes please!!

Two things happened at Kroger that were note worthy though.

A guy got my attention and told me I was about to lose some cash out of my back pocket. 

Good Samaritan or a guy checking out my butt?!  Hmmm. I'll go with Good Samaritan!

Next, the guy using the sweepy buffer machine asked if I knew Spanish, when I said not enough he said he just thought I looked like I would speak it.  Hmmm..not quite sure about this one, but it gave me a chuckle!

I saved $55 at Kroger with coupons and store savings!  Woot woot!

Trader Joe's was up next.

"emergency" snack

We got what we needed there and some "fun" new stuff and headed on home.

I got 2 weeks worth of groceries and some things for Thanksgiving and spent $128!  I'll take that!!

It was about noon when we got home and had about 3 hours until Clint got home.  What do you do with 3 hours, when the groceries are done and the house is "semi" clean?

GROCERY SHOP of course!

This section AND the other section of the couch was FULL of groceries. 

Ava made me the BEST "sandwich" ever!

A little while later it was snack time.

Ava and I shares some organcic snow peas and carrots with French onion dip.

(yep, in a cool whip bowl)

Supper, was let me tell you FANTASTIC!

I made Iowa Girl Eats Homemade Hamburger Helper.

It was a family fave!

Ava had 2 little helpings and I couldn't stop talking about it!

I used ground turkey meat instead of hamburger, but follwed the rest of the recipe to a T.

I WILL be making it again...SOON!

It was so easy and healthier than the box hamburger helper.  Plus the ingredient list involved things I could pronounce!  Run over there NOW and make this soon!!!

I hope that you have a great weekend!

See ya soon!

Tuesday = fan-flippin-tastic

Wednesday Wednesday!

I hope all is well on this middle day of the work week for you!!

Yesterday was a great day!  I don't know about you, but I so enjoy where I am super productive and feel like an awesome SAHM and WIFE!!

Yesterday, was one of those days!!

My achilles is still bothering me, so I tested it out on the treadmill and quickly failed that test.  Well, since I can't run I just decided to do a bodyrock workout and it did not disappoint!

I cleaned the house and hung 2 loads of laundry out to dry.

I showered and got Ava and I ready for some grocery shopping.

I had my plan of attack down, 2 week's worth of groceries to get was the plan, my coupons together, and my awesome kid in tow and off we went.

Kroger and Trader Joe's were our errands for the day.  Did you know Kroger has it's own line of Organic, hormone free, no flavorings brand of foods now!?! 

Holy toledo, super excited!  Plus they send you coupons!  EVEN BETTER, YO!

When the cashier rang up all of my stuff it totaled

$121.25!  Way over my budget!

BUT with coupons and my Kroger Plus Savings the total went down to $66.82!!

I was super excited!!

Ava at the checkout doing the "many faces of Ava"!

Trader Joe's was up next!!

I pretty much knew I wanted to get all of the proteins for 2 weeks here and wanted to stay under $50.

 

Ava brought "Piper" with us in the store and was pointing out all of the guitars on the wall.  All of them!

Ava was hungry and a well prepared mama pulled a Clif Z bar out of her purse for this cute kid!

My total for this trip from Trader Joe's was $50.12!  Heck yes!

So for 2 week's worth of groceries that are healthy, organic and under budget, I say I did an pretty fantastic job.

Is that candy I see?  Well, yes!  I didn't say that EVERYTHING was healthy!  But I would say 90% is!

We got home a few minutes before Clint did and shortly there after we went to early

I encourage everyone to vote!  It is such a priviledge!  Plus if you don't vote, you don't get to proclaim your opinion if your person of choice wasn't elected!

(just my $.02)

I don't know if you get the Sunday paper, but this past Sunday, Walmart's ad had a 2 page spread of recipes and how much they would cost per serving.  We tried the Chicken Tetrazzini from the ad last night and Oh M GEE!!! It was fan-flippin-tastic!!

TEMPTING TETRAZZINI CASSEROLE

GO HERE FOR RECIPE

I made Beer Bread from online, I'll have to find the source so I can give credit to where it is due!

Supper was fantastic! 

I cleaned up the kitchen while Clint gave Ava a bath and then we went up to the bonus room to finish the night watching some tv. 

Here is a picture from last week's Building a bear, err dog just because she is so cute.

Oh quick plug for some spiritual goodness!  She Reads Truth is doing the study of Philipians and although I have read it before, this study has already opened my eyes to what joy Paul had even in Prison!  So if you need some goodies for the soul and mind, go look at the site!  I pray you will be as blessed as I have been already!

Tuesday happenings

Well Hello there!

Mid-week! 

Ava and I had a good day yesterday with fun happenings.

We woke up and I got Ava some breakfast and me some coffee and had a sudden desire to clean instead of run.  So clean I did.  I vacuumed the house, finally!  Our belt broke on ours and I broke down and borrowed my mom's until I can find the belt for ours or get a new vacuum! I really want a new one!

I cleaned up the kitchen and then finally got around to running 7 miles on nothing but coffee to fuel me.  I was surprised I had such a great run and could've ran more, but we had a PLAYDATE to attend!

It was at my bestie, Lori's house with her 3 kiddos and our friend, Eva and her daughter.  The kiddos had a lot of fun doing "ring around the rosies", and be "introduced".  I love playdates for 2 reasons.

1. It gives our kids time to see each other and play and learn how be friends and share ( a big one).

After that, we were halfway from home to Food Lion, so I thought, "might as well go pick up a few things."

I ran across this and it cracked me up!!!

DIET DR. PERKY! 

This is the best named diet drink ever!!  I am impressed!  After getting a few things and getting super excited that Purina Dog Food and HORMONE FREE Organic Chicken!!  Score!  We headed home.

Ava fell asleep on the way home, so I put her in bed so she could finish her nap while I put away the groceries and had a snack!

Chobani Black Cherry Nonfat Yogurt with a 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese and 1/4 cup Fiber One Original cereal.  This hit the spot.  I wasn't very hungry yesterday, so it was a random day of foods.

After my snack, I decided to whip up Banana Chocolate Chip Bread.

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray pan with cooking spray.  I used a Bundt pan.

Ingredients:

2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup quick cooking oats

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup pureed pumpkin

2 eggs

1 cup smashed ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla

 Directions:

Mix all together and pour in bundt pan.

(So EASY a monkey could do this!)

Bake for 38-45 min depending on your oven! 

This was Clint and Ava approved!

We went at 6 to drop off the stuff I was putting in the consignment sale for this weekend.  Clint and Ava went with me and we were practically the first people there, so it was quick getting things sorted and heading home.

Today is trash pick up day, so last night was "clean out the fridge" night for supper.  Nothing really hit the spot for me, so I had such a hodge podge of snacks.  Thinking about it now, that really didn't do it for me either! ha

This morning, I woke up bright and early and did 10 minutes of bodyrock and 3 easy miles on the treadmill.  No time to eat breakfast at home, so I grabbed some coffee, an apple, and a Clif Bar Blueberry Crisp. Even though I had to take out the almonds, it was pretty good!!

Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

Tuesday...home all day

Happy Hump Day!

I hope your Tuesday was great.  It was a stay home day for Ava and I yesterday.  We cuddled in bed for a bit and then got up and had breakfast.  I took a few runs (life with a toddler) and ended up finally finishing with 5.5miles on the treadmill.  I put some clothes into the consignment system so I can print them out and tag the clothes. 

Oh and I did a little crafting. 

The one on the left is the one I am making for my brother and future sis in law's rehearsal dinner on Friday night.  The right one is ours!

Finished wreath for my brother's house!  I think it turned out so cute!!  Thank you, Pinterest!

Ava FINALLY wore herself out and took a nap around 4:45pm yesterday.  It looks like she has been studying!  She was watching Curious George on Netflix on the laptop and conked out! 

 I took the opportunity and ran to the store for some needed groceries.  I looked a hot mess, let me tell ya.  It was the first time I had been out of the house all day.  At least I showered ha!  I was thinking, "please don't see anyone I know."  In a small town like where we live, that is IMPOSSIBLE!!  I saw one of our patients. DOH! Oh well.

I came home to a crying Ava and a stressed out Clint.  Ava doesn't always wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed from naps.  Some times she cries, alot!  This was one of the times.  She had been crying for 25 minutes and Clint had tried everything. Usually something works to calm her down. But nothing had,  Except....mama!  Yep, all she needed was me!  Warms my heart.  She helped me put up the groceries and we put the clothes in the dryer. 

We started on supper.  On the menu was Creamy white chili.  This recipe is in our church recipe book and we have always been fans.  I made a few changes though.

No oil.

1-4oz chicken breast, cooked

1-15oz can Northern beans

Broth from boiling the chicken earlier.

1-40z can green chiles

No cayenne pepper.

No whipping cream.

So how was it?

Clint's only complaint was there was only a little left!!!! SCORE!

Apple for dessert!

This morning I got up and did a bodyrock workout and ran 2 miles in 17:10min all before 5am!  Love this!  I feel so productive and proactive!!

Grabbed a Clif bar and banana for breakfast to eat on the way to drop Ava off at my parents' house. Oh and I can't forget the coffee!!

I am ready to face the day! 

Have a great one and I'll see ya soon!

Another day down

Yesterday mine and Ava's day consisted of taking our 4 month old puppy for a walk before it got hot.  He is getting big.  I think he weighs about 45lbs right now.  I'll tell you, he just about broke my hand though!  I had his leash wrapped around my hand while I was pushing Ava in her stroller and he saw a bird.  He was raring to go after that tweeter! 

We came back and we played outside a bit before it was time for me to go run inside on the treadmill.  I got 5 miles in and called it a day.  We had a few errands to run and Ava finally took a wee little nap on the way.

Clint and my dad are smoking pork shoulders on their smokers for Ava's party and I was the lucky one to get to pick these up.  It looked like someone whacked off a pig shoulder!  I know that is what really happens, but geez.  I much rather prefer it cooked.  Although, I just learned that because pigs are scavengers, their bodies don't metabolize things well and they are more inclined for parasites!  Um, yuck!

Clint got home and he went to work out in the garage while Ava and I did a little house decorating....



In her house that is.  Yep, I am in the house.  It is an awkward thing to get in to, but we fit quite nicely.  Although, if she decides she wants daddy in there too we are going to have to up the square footage!

On the weekly menu for supper was Chicken Enchiladas.

My healthy version....

Ingredients:

2 cooked chicken breasts chopped

1 cup salsa, divided

1/4 to 1/2 light sour cream

1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided(can use mozzarella, but cheddar was what we had)

4 large torillas

Directions:

Put a little salsa in the bottom of a baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix chopped chicken, salsa, sour cream and about 3/4 shredded cheese in a mixing bowl.

Take about 1/4 cup of the mixture and put down the center of the tortilla.  Roll it up and put the seam side down in the baking dish. 

Repeat process for remaining 3 tortillas.

Add 1/2 cup or so of salsa on top of rolled tortillas.

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of salsa.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted.

*Clint approved these!!

After supper, I had on my menu to make muffins for the next couple of morning meals.  Brown sugar muffins were on the list.

Recipe is at The Happy Housewife's blog.

Get ready for party pictures!!  Ava's birthday party is Saturday afternoon!  Have to get party-ready!!!

A day in the life....

A day in the life of a part time stay at home mama!

A little house cleaning.

Source

A little treadmill work to log on

My run.

Grocery planning and staying under our $50 budget for grocery shopping each week.

$46.08!!

"Mama, more water, no pic, please"

Afternoon snack!  That is homemade bread by the way!

Look at that beauty!!  This recipe turned out great!!

Thanks Diva!

 

Pumpkin coffee cake with brown sugar glaze

MMM very good!

I LOVE being a part time stay at home mama!!!!