10 Things I Am Just Starting to Recognize Fully...

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Hi friends!  I am sorry about the delay in writing but I have been dealing with many things right now. Too many balls are up in the air so to speak.  This sounds super clique but as I am getting older I am realizing (33 if you are wondering) that I have a lot of crap I need to get back in order or together.  Some of the following things I am sure others think or feel so I felt it appropriate to share because maybe I am not the only one thinking these things...

1. Living a Healthy Life Style is a Daily Struggle
I have been trying for many years to eat, as people call it now, clean.  Clean eating I think is one of the most important parts of keeping your body healthy.  Eating foods that you do not know how to pronounce or drinking nasty sugar filled sodas, juices and even alcohol.  I have tried to live this idea the very first time I heard a very smart chef once say "If you can't read the label, don't eat it!"  Jamie Oliver inspired me that day to be better about what I put in my body before I even knew what clean eating was.  But the reality is I live in a 5 person household (2 of them teens) and it is pricey and next to impossible for me to feed everyone with all natural or organic items.  I buy amazing dinners but I lack every where else.  I am trying to be better but it is a daily struggle because we are living on a very, very tight budget and sometimes we just can't afford it.  Then I read a stupid meme and it made me recognize fully that I am making excuses and I need to worry about our health now and not have to pay for it later.

2. Metro PCS SUCKS!
Wow, that feels good to say! I hate the service, I hate the phones they have and the customer service in store is just awful. Switching ASAP!

3. Sometimes I Just Don't Need to Say Anything
I tend to open my mouth a lot (as I am sure you can tell from some of my posts) and at times it gets me into more trouble than I was thinking it would.  I am a know it all and when I have decided something it is really hard to change my thoughts and opinions.  So on this note I have fully recognized that I need to just shut up sometimes.  Sometimes I just need to shake my head and pretend that I agree or that I understand.  I would get into less trouble.

4. I Am A Good Mom but I Want To Be A GREAT MOM!
I love my kiddos with all I got but at times I find that I am upset or annoyed but today's entitlement that most kids under 18 have.  I feel like some where in life something went horribly wrong and they think everyone owes them something.  Here is the thing... if I continue on this mentality I will only ever be a good mom.  To be a great mom, I have decided, is to set aside this thought (I mean heck they are a product of their environment) and remember that these are my kids and no matter what I would do anything and everything for them.  With that in mind I feel I can make better choices, teach better lessons and help them to be amazing adults one day.

5. Date Night Can Be Over Rated
I am a firm believer in the idea and concept behind date.  But to me, the homebody, I think it is over rated.  I work all day to come home and clean and cook and hang out with the fam, who has time.  I can make time but then I think I am taking away from my family.  Plus when we go out it is the same everytime.  I would much rather sit at home conversing with the people I really love and watching a movie or catching up on some shows.  OH and I save money.

6. I Love My Job But...
I really do love my job.  I am a kindergarten teacher and it really is amazing.  Here is the thing, as I have been getting older I realize that I really wanted to be a meteorologist.  I love weather.  Everything about weather rocks!  I think the idea o being able to predict what is going to happen is amazing.  I think tornado chasers are awesome!  I think that meteorologist are astounding.  I just am in awe and wish I could have done that too.

7. My Co-Workers Secretly Dislike Me...
Okay really I think that we are all good friends but I am pretty sure that this year they may not like me as a co-worker.  I need to step up my at work game and prove to them I am better than they think or maybe really I need to prove it to myself so I can just stop feeling like they dislike me as a co-worker.

8. Chores and I Have Love Hate Relationship
I love vacuuming, dusting, cleaning counters or making my bed, but when it comes to things like dishes, cleaning the tub and folding the laundry I am lazy and just do not want to.  I could clean all day long if it did not include those 3 things.  So I want to clean up more but I just can't and I just won't.  Hehehe.

9. I Will Never Be Rich
And that's okay.  I have realized that I don't care what happens in life as long as I am with Boyfriend and have my kids I am blessed.  I have struggled to try and see the light at the end of the tunnel so many times that I give up.  When the kids are older and move out we can start to really be financially stable and steady.  Until then we will just keep on truckn'. 

10. This Blog May Never Get Off the Ground
I love the idea of this blog and I know that some of you do too (which I appreciate) but here is the thing.  I suffer from sever anxiety.  So much it can be debilitating.  I am working through it but during rough times I may not be around.  I am going to continue this, not as a place to make profit but as a safe place to voice thoughts and opinions.  So if this blog never gets big, that's okay.  I am just glad that get the opportunity to even have this blog and will do my best to keep up with it.

Skewer Sundays

Monday, April 11, 2016

My family has weirdly been begging me for theme dinner nights.  Even Boyfriend was asking why we don't do Taco Tuesdays!  So this week I am doing a theme every night!  Here is how the week looks:

Skewers Sunday--- Chicken and Shrimp Skewers
Marinara Madness!--- Spaghetti
Taco Tuesday :)--- Tacos
Waste- Not- Wednesday--- Left Overs
Thirsty Thursday--- Nachos and Sparkling Strawberry Lemonades
Free-For- All Friday--- Leftover or anything you want to make :)

Last night was of course the skewers and they were a huge hit!  The kiddos loved them and Boyfriend of course did (he loves all my cooking, he can't even pick a fav recipe).
I thought that they were pretty amazing myself.  The thing I loved the most was the marinade that I put on them (click HERE for the recipe).  Sweet and salty, almost teriyaki flavored.

I start by putting all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.  Then I put the chicken into the marinade for at least 2 hours (if you can do it longer or even over night that will be better).  Once they have sat and are getting yummified I start placing them on the skewers.


**HOW TO HINT**
To make sure wooden skewers do not burn while on the grill, soak them in water for at least 1 hr before putting the meat and vegetables on the skewer.

Then I placed these bad boys on the grill.  Yes ladies and gentlemen I know many tricks, including grilling.  I am actually the go to griller in our house. 


I cooked the chicken for about 30 minutes in total only turning them maybe twice.  Too much turning can cook your food unevenly.  On these skewers I used onion, bell pepper and mushrooms.  But I have used cherry tomatoes, pineapple, asparagus and squash before.  Really you can put any veggie you like on there as long as it will hold to the skewer and not fall off into the abyss of your grill.

Then voila!  These yummy guys are ready to go!

We also did shrimp ones, but I didn't take any pictures of those.  
This time I paired this with a pasta salad using organic noodles, broccoli, kalamata olives and mozzarella.  This whole meal brought us a bit of summer on a super rainy day (I guess I didn't mention I grilled these in the middle of a rain shower, I got skills guys!).

5 Things that Made This Week Awesome!

Friday, April 8, 2016

This was one of the busier weeks for me this year so far.  Teenage drama at home, kindergarten drama at school/ work, ice machine broke in the refrigerator, chores piling up, and so on and so on.  I won't bore you with the bad things that happened, instead lets discuss the awesome! 

1. Farm Street

I found a new game for my phone that has kept me quiet entertained this week. When I had 5 minutes to spare I would whip this game out and build my farm and restaurant, since I can't have the restaurant that I really want in really life I figured why not use a pretend one. :)
This one is mine so far.


2. My Daughter

Well of course every week she makes things awesome but this week she came home proudly with her perfect attendance award and honor roll!  She is one amazing kiddo!  I don't even know how she does it.  She is one of those kids that learning, discovering and wanting to know more about life is her passion.  For example she creates speeches, stories and Power Points just for fun.  She keeps me grounded and reminds me of the parent I want to be not the parent that gets crazy because the kiddos aren't doing the chores the way I thought them up in my crazy head. hehehe

3. My Backyard

Our backyard is a hot mess pretty much always but with the weather we have been having we have been spending a lot of time out back.  The reason it made this list is because the flowers from other peoples yards (we don't have any flowers in out backyard because Jax would eat them, see 10 Things My Do Can't Live Without for more, funny, details).  The weather has been so amazing that the flowers are in full bloom!  It makes me feel like I am in paradise!

4. My Floating Shelves

I made an earlier post about my shelves.  I figured they would be done by now and I could post the final pics of them but it has just been more time consuming than I thought and well I don't have time.  But they made this list because they are coming along nicely and I am so proud of Boyfriend and I for making these instead of buying them for some insane amount of money.  My goal of the weekend is to finish them!

5. Netflix

Now I am sure that they have made many lists but for this month and this week they have topped the cake in my world!  Last night I went on to see what new shows or movies were coming in April and butterflies of excitement began fluttering in my stomach because not only do they have many new good looking shows like The Ranch with Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson but they brought it with one of my favorite movies!   The Princess Bride is now on Netflix folks!  Shout it from the roof tops!  Get the kids, hubs and popcorn ready because movie night just got a whole lot funnier!
(pic from Amazon)

So that's it folks!  These are the tops things that made my week just a little bit more bearable.  I hope you all had a better week than I did but even if it was just as crappy try to find the small things because they really do make things better and worth while. 

When Life Gives You Lemons... Literally

Monday, April 4, 2016

We have a gigantic lemon tree in our back yard.  It is at least 10 feet tall so we live a real life, "If life gives you lemons" scenario.  We give many of them away to friends and family but we also like to utilize this awesome citrus!  So for the first batch of lemon flavored yummies this year we went for the simple and made lemonade!
What made this extra special is that my daughter made it, almost all by herself!  This is an organic lemonade that is super simple.  You can find the recipe on my recipe page!
So my daughter juiced the lemons while I made a simple syrup for the ade.

Then we mixed everything together!
Yes the lemonade is not going to be quite as yellow as you as use to seeing but that is because it is from fresh fruit and organic sugar.  This is completely normal.


Daughter says it makes her cheeks pucker which she says is the best part!  So this summer enjoy a drink that is not super healthy but made healthier by the fresh lemons and organic sugar.

*CHEERS*

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Sunday, April 3, 2016

I have been wanting to post this for a bit but have been just completely swamped with life!  
This past week was my boyfriend and my's anniversary.  We have been together what seems like forever and each year just gets better and we just get closer and closer.  I love him with all my heart!

This year we do not have a bunch of money or really any money to get each other something but because we don't like spending money for things we want throughout the year this is one of those times we just buy what we can so that the other knows we are thinking about them and how special they are to us.  Though on a side note we decided that this was the last time we were going to buy individual presents for each other and have decided to buy something for the both of us next time.  Something we can work on together or do together and what not.  

This year I went super simple but still a bit crafty (which I like to do every anniversary).  I made boyfriend a cute bag to hold all of his stuff into.

I found this on Pinterest (of course, hehehe) which lead me to a cool crafting site called  Craftriver.  It was super simple to make and fill up!  I just used a sharpie marker so that the words and the hearts popped, stapled it to the bag, added some of his favorite things and then tied it with string.
Some of the things I put in there were Twinkies, beef jerky and his favorite beer (Stella).

As for what he got me... I feel like that was a bit more excited!
I got home and found him working out back making my present.  He didn't want me to peak so I went creeper and looked through the window.

I still couldn't see but I had a guess because in my bedroom he had left the most vibrant and aromatic flowers I had ever seen or smelled!

The above picture does not even do them justice so I had to take close ups.  Below is one of the better ones.  They are African Daisies and they are suppose to attract butterflies!  


As the evening drew I knew he was building me a planter for these fabulous flowers!
I want to show you all a picture of the flowers in the planter but it is not completely set up yet, so I guess this is a teaser about what it will look like!  But I will hint...  It is huge and it not only holds my flowers but my daughter's wild flowers and there is space for the herb garden that I am going to plant!

Back to the post at hand...
Our anniversary was amazing!  Oh and I forgot to mention that he also got me an adult coloring book (because I am a big kid at heart) and come coconut oil.  The coconut oil is so that I can start oil pulling!  I will post about that here in the future too so stayed for that.  All in all this was a great day and at the end of it I am just blessed to have such a wonderful partner in this life.

I will leave you with one more picture of these cool but simple gifts!

Ba-humbug April Fool's Day!

Friday, April 1, 2016

Something you need to know about me is that I do not like being fooled, tricked, mislead, hoodwinked or any other synonym that means being deceived.  April Fool's is a dumb holiday too say the least, but I do have to say that there are many other things that I think are more "foolish" than this holiday.  Here are 5 of those things (and just in time for Sept Farms Friday link up!):


1. Drivers other than myself: 
Yes I do believe that I am one of the better drivers that I know.  Road rage runs deep in me.  There are rules of the road friends, please use them to keep yourself and others safe.



2. Cooked cabbage: 
YUCK!  Who wants to eat a food item that smells like dirty gym socks a tastes like vomit. Hehehe,... okay maybe that is a little too harsh but it is the truth that is known to me :)



3. Screaming Hairbands and Metal Rock:
Yes I feel like these are the same thing because they are both yelling at me!  I do not do well when someone is yelling at me, even if you are yelling at me about how much you love me.  I may just have to punch you :)  

4. Non-Punctual People:

Are you better than everyone else?  Did your first grade teacher forget to teach you how to tell time?  
This one is the worst of all in my opinion because this tells me that you feel you are the best thing since sliced bread and you feel like everyone should wait on you.  UGH... no thank you.  Plus really how do you even hold a job.  If you can't make it on time to family/ friend events than I can only assume you are always late and that would include work. 


5. Sponge Bob
Why are you letting your little one watch a show that teaches them to be dumb unless it is because you do not think they deserve to learn how to make smart choices in life.  The show has zero point and shows kids that making dumb choices will be fixing and everything is going to be okay.  Sorry folks, that is not how the world works.  Things are not always okay when you make a dumb choice like stealing, hurting someone else, etc.

I hope I wasn't too harsh but these are my truths. :)

Thanks Sept Farms for letting us link up!


 
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