Not Me! Monday.

Oh, boy......do I have the list this week! I'm sure there are many more things I could add to this weeks "Not Me" list, but I've got to pace myself-haha! I'll just share with you a few things that come to mind right off the bat, but I don't even want to dig to deep this week because I know I committed way too many mommy offenses last week while we were on vacation ;-).

-I promise you I have not had lab orders from Judah's 9 month appointment sitting on my computer desk for almost 3 weeks. I HAVE NOT put that on my "to-do" list every week & then ended up scratching those plans because I dread taking 4 kids to a teeny tiny Quest lab where I get to wrestle an angry, screaming baby, and try to hold him still while some incompetent phlebotomist tries in vain 5 or 6 times to draw his blood. No.....I'm a good mommy that cares deeply about getting his CBC and lead levels back.

-I did not go almost a month in between sheet washing days, only to FINALLY strip all the beds this morning after I was tired of looking at all the stains on my kids bed sheets from their dirty little "flip flop feet". Who makes their kids beds every single day for weeks on end knowing the sheets are dirty? Really...that's just gross!

-I did not perfect using the bathroom with Judah still strapped in the sling because it was just too much trouble to take him in and out all the time while we were visiting the zoo. Nope....not me!

-I did not vow to clear the house of junk food only to buy a package of double stuff mint Oreo's, a huge box of kettle corn, and a gallon bucket of jelly beans for our Drive-In movie night. Those calories don't count if your on vacation...right?

-I did not forget to pack a pair of underwear for myself the last time we went to the pool & decide to just change into my clothes anyway and leave "commando style" and spend the rest of the evening that way because I thought to myself : "why dirty a pair of underwear if you don't have to".

-I have not left my child's puked-filled car seat out on the back porch since Saturday because I just can't face the music and go out there and power wash the puke out of all the crevasses. I did not let the car seat get rained on overnight & secretly hope that the rain may have washed away the majority of the puke chunks. I realize this means I may need to purchase a new car seat, but honestly I'm having a hard time caring about that!

-I did not SCREAM at my child to "STOP SCREAMING!!". I lead by example all the time ;-).

-I have not skipped going to the gym for 6 weeks "just because". I also have not tried to analyze my lack of motivation for going to the gym & come to the conclusion that it's just too much work with all 4 kids most days. I mean....that's really no excuse, so I need to think of something better don't you think?

-I did not do 6 loads of laundry yesterday and STILL wake up to 4 more loads staring me in the face today.....(sigh).

On vacation this week...

Sorry I have not been updating my blog this week. My hubby took a week of vacation time this week and we have been enjoying little day trips together as a family. So far we have gone to Warsaw (Truman Lake), and Omaha (zoo), and yesterday we had a pool day. Today we are off to the movies & then the drive-in tonight (as long as the rain holds off!). I'll have pictures, recipes, and fun stories to share next week!

Mandarin Orange Muffins.

Seriously...did I forget to do a "What's For Dinner?" post AGAIN! Well, to make up for it I'm going to post one of our favorite new muffin recipes. Hope you love em as much as my little crew does!

Mandarin Orange Muffins

- 1 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 egg whites
- 1/3 cup reduced fat milk (1% or skim if you as so inclined!)
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 1 Tablespoon Canola oil
- 2 Tablespoons softened light butter
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- 1 11-oz can mandarin orange slices in light syrup, drained.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and orange zest in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. In another mixing bowl mix egg whites, milk, OJ, oil, and butter. Add wet mixture to dry mixture all at once. Stir just until moistened. Set aside 12 orange slices (or 24 if you are doing mini muffins) & add the rest of the oranges to the batter. Stir the batter to blend in the oranges. Coat muffin tins with cooking spray. Fill each cup evenly with batter and top with one orange slice. Bake for 20 minutes (or 12-14 minutes for mini muffins).

**These are a great treat & low in fat. Each regular muffin only has 131 calories, 2.6 grams or protein, 23.3 grams of carbs, and 2.3 grams of fat. Enjoy!

The Bathroom Makeover.

We were pretty busy around our house a few weeks ago & one of the rooms that got a "makeover" was our ugly little back bathroom. I've always hated that bathroom because of it's country blue counter top & powder blue linoleum. It seemed there was nothing I could do to make peace with those blue disasters! But, about a month ago as I was wondering through my favorite store (Target), I stumbled upon a cute little shower curtain & my wheels started turning. What if I married those tragic blue disasters with a more modern twist!! Maybe...just maybe I could make it work.

I bought that shower curtain & several other matching pieces & took them home to do some planning. I hung up the new shower curtain & started trying out some new colors. At first I thought I had struck gold with a $5 "oops" bucket of paint from Home Depot, but when I got the paint home it was all wrong (bummer!). I guess I need to leave those sorts of divine decorating interventions to my friend Karen. Karen always seems to happen upon those kinds of steals every time she re-decorates! The day after the "oops!" paint disappointment my sister happened to stop by our house. She saw my new shower curtain & said "Hey, I bet the leftover paint from Zion's room would match that shower curtain perfectly!". Then she told me it was a Disney color called "pool blue". That sounded just about perfect to me!

Hmmmm....... Looks like I got an even better deal than a $5 bucket of paint after all! I guess if you can't find what you want on the clearance aisle at Home Depot then trolling around in your sisters basement for leftover paint is the next best thing!

What do you think??

View from the door.


















Don't you love the two different colors? I was so excited when I found the lighter color of aqua blue at the bottom of a stack of paint cans. My sister said she has NO IDEA where that paint color came from. It was probably from the previous owners of her home!!














The new rug....so cute!

(FYI-I have rotated this picture about a dozen times and it just won't "stick".....I give up!)















You know you wanted to see the new hand towel too ;-)

I took this picture because I had to let you know about this yummy new soap I discovered! The bar of goats milk soap in this picture is the BEST soap ever! It smells so wonderful!! It's lavender and mint scented & it makes the whole bathroom smell good. It's from a local company, but you can order it on-line if you want. It's from the "ZUM" soap company. Check it out and order yourself a bar or two! It's great stuff!

Talents....

My sister and I were talking last week about how we each feel a little lost when it comes to deciding what our specific talents really are...or if they even qualify as talents. Everybody is good at something...at least that's what I believe! So...how come I have such a hard time deciding if I really am gifted at something? You see, the problem is I'm always comparing myself to someone else who does what I consider my "talent" even better than I do. I realize the whole problem with my system of talent identification is indeed the fact that I compare myself to every single person on the entire planet others when I really just need to focus on what it is I feel like I do well. It shouldn't matter if someone else does it better than me!

This whole discussion also got me thinking about what a talent really is. Why do we only hold up certain "talents" and not others. Is it that it's more appealing to a wide array of audiences to say something like your talent is in music? Because...who doesn't like music? Who doesn't admire that sort of talent? Oh, or if your talent happens to be that you are athletic...now that's a sexy talent! Right?? You know I'm right! I mean who wants their talent to be something lame like "I'm a good closet organizer", or better yet "I'm really good at...cleaning", "list-making", "dinner planning", "problem solving", "creative meal planning for toddlers". Yup, THOSE things don't sound very interesting to most people. HOWEVER, I'm here to tell you those boring things are indeed what I'm good at. The truth is, I may not be the very BEST at those things, but I don't have to be! All I have to do is accept that I AM good at some things, and appreciate & enjoy them.

While I'm certain that somewhere out there in this big world there is a woman that is 10 times the closet organizer that I am , that's OK, because I still like my closets! Seriously, I can't be all things to all people & I don't want to be. I also don't want to constantly compare my life to someone else. That never brings happiness or contentment. So, for now I'll have to bring you stories, tips, and tricks from my little corner of this world. I'll let you know my secrets for organizing your medicine cabinets, refrigerator, kid closets, toy chests, and linen closets. I'll share my favorite dinner recipes, cookie recipes, cake decorating tricks, breastfeeding information, natural childbirth tips, and what foods I love to eat when I train for marathons. THOSE are the areas where I've got a little know-how & a few good years of experience. I'll never claim to be an expert in those areas (except for maybe how to cure mastitis...it's a long story!), but I have to give myself credit for the things I feel like I do well. If you want to know how to keep your plants alive, sew some fancy curtains, or how to deal with your moody teenager....I can't help you there!

I also have to celebrate my small victories every week & pat myself on the back when I feel like I'm getting something right (like my meal planning list this week!). I know it's not going to be as impressive as someone who can run the 100m in 10 seconds, or as neat and tidy as the anal-retentive organizing chick from HGTV who labels all her kitchen spices with a calligraphy pen and puts them in matching glass jars & stacks them alphabetically, but I've never felt compelled to be that person. I'm just "me" & that's what I'm pretty darn good at being. :-)

Not Me! Monday!

Oh....it's "Not Me, Monday" time again! Don't be shy, you can play along too! Or just go and see what MckMama and her 20,000,000 readers are up to!

So, last week I certainly did not giggle out loud when I opened our water bill and noticed it's gone DOWN about $10. That would certainly have nothing to do with the fact that I've been taking the kids to the swimming pool for weeks & considering them "clean" for the rest of the night (thus, negating the bedtime bath ritual) after a quick rinse (and sometimes a shampoo) in the locker room showers before we leave the pool ;-). Who knew skipping baths at home for several weeks would save that much on your water bill? Apparently, not me! I am also not exceedingly proud of the fact that we have not spent one single solitary dime at the concessions stand at said pool. This would not be because I have been packing a ridiculous sized cooler every time we go packed with water, fresh fruit, hummus & crackers, and nut butter sandwiches...oh, and diet Pepsi & Oreo's (for goodness sakes, did you really think I was that healthy!)!

I have also certainly not been obsessed with trying to get a tan for the first time in my whole adult life. Nope....everyone knows that getting a tan is sooooo bad for you and will surely give you skin cancer, so who in their right mind would want to do that??? Certainly not me!

Since we are not really being honest here, and I'm pretty sure my sister does not read my blog very often, I will also not tell you about what a bad auntie I was last night! I promise....I DID NOT let my kids and my 2 year old nephew watch 2 movies back to back last night while eating popcorn, grapes, and sugar cookies for dinner! They also did not go to bed at 10:30 (without baths or brushing teeth!)! Oh, goodness....I would never let that sort of thing happen while watching my sweet little nephew for his first ever cousin sleep over. Hehe! Nope not me!

What's For Dinner, Wednesday's?

Whew! I'm barely getting this one in on Wednesday! OK...this is what we had for Dinner tonight-hope you try it :-).

THAI CHICKEN PASTA

-3/4 Cup Robusto Italian Dressing (Wish Bone)

-1 lb Skinless boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into thin strips.

-2 (generous) Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter

-2 Tbsp Honey

-2 Tbsp Tamari Soy sauce (I prefer Tamari soy sauce, but you could use regular soy sauce if you want.)

-1 tsp crushed red pepper

-1 8 oz bag fresh sugar snap peas (DO NOT use frozen!)

-12 oz pkg of linguine, cooked and drained

*1 Tbsp. Olive oil, and 1 Tbsp. of Mongolian Fire Oil (if you want an extra KICK in the pants!).

1) Pour 1/4 cup Italian dressing over cut up chicken, toss to coat. Cover (or throw it in a Ziploc bag). Refrigerate at least 1 hour (or all day while you are at the pool with the kids!). When you are ready to prepare the meal remove chicken from marinade; discard leftover marinade.

2) Mix remaining 1/2 cup dressing, peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, and crushed red pepper with a wire whisk until well blended; set aside. Next, start a load of laundry....oh, wait- I just do that because my washer is next to my stove! I guess you can skip that part if you don't have the same convenience!

3) Heat olive oil and fire oil in a large skillet on med-high heat. Cook chicken about 5 minutes. Add snap peas; cook and stir for another 3-4 minutes.

*I have the pasta boiling while I do all this & then when the pasta is done cooking I lift it straight out of the boiling water and throw it in the hot skillet with the chicken and peas. The extra heat and steam from the pasta usually finishes cooking the peas!

4) Remove skillet from heat, pour dressing mixture over pasta, chicken and peas, toss lightly and serve!

**Just a hint. Did you know partially frozen chicken is MUCH easier to cut! I usually pull chicken from the freezer the night before (or morning of the meal) & put it in the fridge...BUT it's always frozen after several hours in the fridge! I started cutting it while it was semi-frozen and it was so much easier to slice it nice and thin that way. Try it!