Thankful Thrusday

Thankful Thursday..... Hmmm, what am I thankful for this week. I am feeling really sarcastic today so I am having a hard time coming up with things that I am truly thankful for. So here is my sarcastic list for today:
1. My mom never listens. I tell her something and the next day she totally has forgotten it. I swear she has dementia.

2. My atty is always so prompt at returning my calls. I have been calling and waiting for over a week now....ugh.

3. My sister is a scatterbrain. She and her husband both actually. I don't know how they keep track of their kids let alone their keys...

4. Work--by golly I just work with the most efficient and knowledgeable folks ever. I really don't know how some of these people don't get lost on the way to work.

5. The stray outdoor female cat is in heat. Let me tell you, I have heard enough growling, hissing, yowling and cat noises for a lifetime. Hurry up and get knocked up. I've had enough. Although that seems to be the attitude that the female cat has. She doesn't want anything to do with those randy little basta***. I can't say as I blame her.

So that's it for today's edition of Thankful Thursday. What are you thankful for. Even if it is a bit (okay a lot) sarcastic.

What to Cook Wednesday

i am still stumped on what to offer here. I again did not cook this weekend due to our (draining) family get together. We had potato salad, Italian pork, chips and of course, chocolate. We had pancakes for breakfast. And this week I have not cooked anything. I had pizza yesterday, macaroni and cheese for dinner from a box *gasp*, and I don't even remember what I had on Monday, cereal maybe?....Can't remember. Obviously it was not that great. So for what to cook Wednesday I bring you: Snack Ideas. These snack ideas have gone over well in my house so I hope they work for you.

Ants on a log:
celery, peanut butter and raisins. Wash and cut celery, spread the pb on, and line the ants, ahem, raisins along the pb.

One eyed Sams:
bread, egg. Butter both sides of the bread tear/cut out a circle, and place in hot pan. Crack egg into the middle. Either eat the buttered bread or cook right along side the bread/egg for a toasted circle.

Apple dunkins:
apple, peanut butter. Slice apple, dunk in a bit of peanut butter.

Chocolate:
You knew I had to include this. I could never forget my lovely smooth rich wonderful chocolate.

Iceburgs:
popsicles. We would either use store bought or home made popsicles and call them iceburgs. You have to eat them before they melt and cause a flood.

Home made ice cream sandwiches:
cookies (we liked chocolate chip of course), ice cream, whip cream. Take one cookie and lay it upside down-soft cookies work best, add a spoon of ice cream, top with another cookie right side up, and put in the freezer until ready to eat. Add a dollop of whip when you are ready to eat. And why not have a real sugar rush and add some sugar crystals or sprinkles on top of the whip. Then go run it off with the kids and their post sugar rush....

So what kind of snacks do you serve in your house?

Random Thoughts Tuesday

Go visit Keely over at the Un Mom for more Random Thoughts Tuesday. You can find her here:
http://www.theunmom.com/

My random thoughts for the day:

I have recently started reading the Stephanie Plum series. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard from reading a book. I think I will have to buy one or two to keep around the house in case I need a pick me up.

I am still reeling from this past weekend. I am totally glad it is over. Except now my family is already trying to plan another one. That scares me....

I wish we were having a real summer. It has been pretty cool here this summer. We had like one week of hot weather and that was it. I want some heat!

I had a lot of commotion at my house last night. I was playing on my new phone waiting for the time to call S. I could hear all the kids outside and decided it might be prudent to sit on the back porch for a bit. They were out there yelling and fighting with each other. Then fortunately they all separated. Some of the kids remained on the corner of my block being loud and obnoxious. Then one of the heathens spotted some buddies and took off running. Right through my yard. Now, I have been trying for the two+ years that I have lived here trying to keep the heathens out of my yard. I yelled for him to get out of my yard and got some smart ass remark about being sorry and he would not do it again. My response was yes I can see that. The other boys with him walked around my yard and told him to be respectful and not cut through other peoples yards. I wanted to go and give those boys gold stars or something. Anyway, this continued for most of the evening until it was dark. Then they tried hiding from me on the patio area of the church building next to me. When I started to go over there, they ran. Except apparently learning balance while running is next semester because two of the kids fell and one knocked the gutter off the side of the building. Of course they ran really fast after that. I called to let the church folks know the damage had been done. I went around the front to see which house they went into just for my knowledge. I went back in and started dishes. I could hear the kids yelling outside my kitchen and bathroom windows. I was going to ignore them until I heard them right under my bathroom window. I went outside only to see the police driving in the church parking lot behind my house. I went out to meet them and asked who finally called them. No one called them. The stupid little bas***** stole the window washers/squeegees from the gas station and ran right out in the road in front of the cops. They took off towards the church building and dropped the washers in my back yard. The cops asked me if the the gutter hanging off was new and I told him yes, and I knew which kids did it cuz I watched them. He thought I meant right then and I said no, they were hiding from me over by the building earlier and did it then. I of course knew which kids they were talking about, what clothes they were wearing and what they looked like, and most importantly which house they would be hiding out at. I told the cops what I knew and off they went. They were gone for a little bit and when they returned, I saw all the kids going off in different directions. It was quiet at my house for the rest of the night. I played on my phone-it has internet, so cool, I am really excited about that. Then I went to bed around 12:15. I could not sleep for a while so I tossed and turned. I fell asleep somewhere after 1 which is when I last looked at the time.

Work sucks. I don't really like my job all that much. Well, it is more that there are a couple of key players in my workplace that I don't like. I am annoyed because one co-worker in my office has been coughing and sick sounding for over a week, has not been to the doctor and just keeps hacking all over everything. I think this co-worker went to the doctor today. I hope anyway. The other ones that annoy me are just a couple of those people that are just cruel and mean. They are just not right as some folks would say. They make my job hard to do and make it miserable to come into work. For the most part, my office gets along really well. Just add in the crazy folks from the other offices and things go downhill.

I think that is all that has been rattling around in my brain for today. Now my brain is empty. You know, that is a good feeling for today.

Lots of family drama.

This weekend was fun, but I am not sure I want to do it again. My family from the north did not arrive until after 3 o'clock. We picked up the family from the south at 10:30 am . We all went, my mom, sis and her two girls and me. It was not too unpleasant considering neither of them got a nap. That part all in all was a good time. Most of Saturday evening was pretty good. I missed that there were snarky comments made from one cousin to another. We also had a choking episode from my oldest cousin, we actually had to give her the heimlich to get her breating again. No more celery for her. The adrenilin rush was big and we were really upset by this. Although it would be nothing compared to what happened the next day. We, meaning us "original girls"-my mom and her sister, me and my sister and my aunt's two girls all stayed up together until about 1 am. Then the "old ladies" went to bed. My sister and older cousin were grouped together and my cousin that is my age and I grouped together. Then we dualed on American Idol. We had a blast and were up until after 2 am. Then I drove home and showered. It had been a long day, but mostly fun. I returned the next morning about 8. I did not want to get over to my sister's house any earlier cuz I figured they would just be getting up, and I was right. I had gotten up at 7 but waited so I did not wake everyone trying to get in. That is when the real nastiness began. My "step" cousin started being a pest about what time they were leaving. Now mind you, they got in around three the day before and there she was wanting to leave by 9 am. She was complaining about the drive home and how long it would take. My sister was yelling at her girls who were still tired from the day before and were now being cranky. The kids were having a lot of tears and screaming. My aunt and one of her daughter's were discussing that she would make a deposit for my cousin since there is no branch of her bank in her town and there is for my aunt. Then my "step" cousin started hollering about how she said she would give some money and she will, why is it a big deal. So my cousin came to tell her to chill out, she was just discussing a deposit, not making a deal out of it, and really did her financial situation need to be shouted throughout the whole house. At this point I very very loudly pronounced that I was so glad I came over, every one is so pleasant this morning. That got me some stares, but come on, we were supposed to be having fun and everyone was snarking at each other. I could easily just go back home. Everyone stopped loudly arguing but it continued throughout the morning........Until we had a very BIG BIG problem. We could not find one of the babies. He is about 22 months old and no one knew where he was. We searched the house and no one found him. We went outside and searched and eventually realized the bike was gone. No bike and no baby. We frantically took off in all directions yelling as loudly as we could hoping for an answer. I got around the corner and a few houses up and found the bike in a front yard but no baby.....We kept yelling and looking and as I made my way towards the end of the block I realized someone was waving at me. They were at the intersection of the road I am on the highway. The baby was by the highway. I started running as fast as I could and then my mom went flying around me in her car. I was so intent on the person waving at me, I did not even hear the car coming up behind me. By the time I got to the end of the block, my cousin (the one that is my age but not the mom) had already arrived from the other side of the block. My aunt snatched him to get him back to his mom who we think is walking around my sister's house looking for him. We got there and her car was gone. No one could call her and tell her we had her child because she had loaded the cars already from "step" cousin complaining about leaving and all their purses and phones were in the car. I had my phone, my new one by the way, but did not have her number. And since everyone programs their phones, they did not really know the number either. Then my cousin S (my age) arrived back and found her phone. She is the one that came on the train so her phone thankfully was in the house. My mom is also out driving around looking for the baby's mom. S called her sister to tell her we found the baby and I tried calling mom and discovered she had left her phone in my sister's house. So, now we had no way to contact her to tell her that we called the baby's mom and she was on her way back. Fortunately, she happened to see my cousin drive back to the house and she pulled into the yard and came around the house to where we all gathered. In the meantime, baby was smiling and laughing as if nothing had happened. We were all trying to recover from the heart attacks we were having. That was pretty awful. Based on where the bike was and where he was found, we were figuring he had been gone for at least 20 minutes before anyone realized he was gone. It was one of those everyone is in and out, loading the car, and the folks inside thought he was outside and the folks outside thought he was inside. Most of us were assuming he was with my sister's kids as they had been playing so well all weekend. It was an awful feeling and he was not even my kid. They folks from the north left then. Us gals that were left finished cleaning up the dishes and helped pick up a bit with the toys. Then we watched a movie. Well, the baby napped and Drama Girl watched a movie, I read a book, and my sister, mom and cousin all napped. I really wanted a nap was there was no chance in hell that I was going to close my eyes with Drama Girl still up. If she had napped I might have rested too, but I was not taking any chances. My sister's girls have never pulled anything like that before so it's not likely, but it ain't happenin' on my watch!

So while it was a good time and I am glad to have seen my aunt and at least two of my cousins, I do not want to relive any of that drama again. It was just kind of a sour ending to a morning that had been unpleasant. I am super glad to have found him safe and sound though. We will see if there is going to be another weekend.....And if I have the fortitude to attend.

Site of the Week Saturday

This week for my site of the week, stop by and visit Alaina at Ms.SingleMama. She is a single mama trying, scratch that, doing the best possible for her son. Go and check her site out. She has lots of advice and stories to share for all of us. She has stories to make you laugh and stories to make your heart melt.

Ramblings, Again

Today I am just going to post some random thoughts. I am excited for tonight, but slightly annoyed at the same time for a completely unrelated reason...

We (as in my family) are supposed to have a get together this weekend. We have been planning it for about 4 months total. Then we found out on Wednesday that one of the gals coming down, who is driving two of the other gals mind you, made some other plans and won't be able to leave until late. They won't arrive until after 3:00. We had been planning on an arrival in the morning. So now that screws up the plans that we made for Saturday. Then one of the gals that was going to ride decided to take a train and we would pick her up at the same time we were picking up our pal coming from the south. No can do, apparently she has been volunteered to babysit for the gal driving and can't leave now. But didn't get told she was babysitting until last night. So still only one person coming in out of the four in the morning. We've decided that us three local gals will go pick our southern friend up at the train station and spend the day shopping and end the day by going to the winery. We'll get back when we get back.

Then I've been waiting oh-so-(un)patiently for my atty to call and give me some news from his Tuesday meeting, only to be met with......silence....ugghhh.

On the flip side, I got to have a good conversation with my son the last two nights. On Sunday and Monday he was really moping on the call, well so was I, and they were just sad calls. On Tuesday, he was working on some project. He said he wanted to talk, but he wanted to finish his project before it got dark. I told him I would call him on Wednesday and we could talk longer then if that was what he wanted. He said what he wanted was to talk but he could not get his project done if he did. We only talked for about 5 minutes. But Wednesday and Thursday, the phone calls were fun and enjoyable.

Tonight is the night. This is the night I go to "bargain" for a better cell phone deal and new phones. I will be so glad to have internet access, even if it is on a screen that is 2 inches! At least I can check the weather and movie times if my son wants to see a movie. And get on facebook and twitter. I will have at least a bit of contact with the outside world after work and on the weekends. I am aware of the fact that it will not be the same as a computer, but that is out of my means at the moment. Someday I hope to have a laptop with an aircard to have internet access where ever I go. At this point, I believe that day is far in the future. I wish that I could afford it now. I think my son would love that too. He will think the phone is neat enough. I will just be glad for a phone that is no longer possessed. And does not drop calls. That will be just peachy.

I think that is about all I have for today. What is going on in your world?

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for a lot. I will still keep to my list of five however.

1. My atty is making progress. We have more filed and are getting closer to a court date.
2. Donuts. I am sitting here eating my way through six donuts. I know I will suffer all day from this, but they are donuts, they are on my desk, therefore, they are MINE!
3. I finally got rid of the camper, they picked it up and it is outta here.
4. I finally had a regular full weekend visit with my son. Those short visits are hard, especially when they happen more than one at a time.
5. My dad is going to help me with getting a new car and paying for the GAL for my son. I totally need the help financially for this. My car is dying painfully and I cannot afford an atty for my son, but he definitely needs one.

What are you thankful for this week? Take a moment and think about what makes you smile.

What To Cook Wednesday

I was really having a hard time deciding what to post for today. I have been thinking about it since last week. I could not think of anything that was calling my name: Post me, Post me. Nope, it just was not there. Maybe because I was not really craving anything. Except ice cream, but that is a whole other topic...

So I decided to ask what my co-workers were having. No good ideas there either. Next I thought to ask what sounded good. But I was getting the same suggestions I had; Ice cream. It's always good. Finally I decided to fall back on something I make when it gets cool out, since it is not even 70 degrees here right now.

Mostly home made veggie soup. I usually make it in the crockpot. I like to throw it together in the morning and come home to a delicious smelling house. I usually just add bread and butter to go with it. This is also one of those recipes that you can adjust to what ever you like. There is no right or wrong combination.

If you want, you can add stew meat. Just brown it before adding to the pot. My mom likes to add it because she likes the flavor, me, I don't add it. I think it is fine without it and it makes it cheaper to make.

I use a variety of veggies, mostly depending on what's in my freezer and pantry. I usually use green beans, lima beans, corn, carrots (I like fresh baby carrots), black or kidney beans, cut up canned tomatoes, peas, spinach, onions. Like I said just about anything. I do not use broccoli or cauliflower. The taste is too strong. I throw the veggies in the crockpot. If you are using canned veggies, for added flavor you can leave some of the water it is packed in. I usually use the juice from the tomatoes and sometimes the green beans and corn. Depends on how "soupy" you want it. Next add V-8 juice. You can use which ever variety of V-8 you like. I personally like the reduced sodium. My mom likes the spicy. My sister uses the regular. If I am making a big batch, I use the big bottle and use it all, if I am making a smaller batch I either use a portion of the big bottle and freeze the rest, or just use a smaller bottle. I also add herbs or spices like pepper, sometimes basil or sage. I cook it on low all day, give it a good stir and serve. That is it. Super simple. Easily adaptable. It just hits the spot on a cool day. Especially with some warm fresh baked bread and melty butter.

I Made My decision

I decided to go ahead and get a new phone with internet access. I did my research. I checked out phones, plans, companies, etc. I am going to my current phone company and telling them that i can get a better deal from another company and that I plan to switch unless they will give me a better deal. I am going Friday which is payday. I figured out which plan that I want and will add the second line for my dad. I can actually get both of us new phones this Friday if they give me the deal that I am going to ask for. We'll see how much customer service they have. My contract is up and I can go to a different company if they aren't very cooperative. I am getting very excited now! I will even be able to write about it over the weekend too! WooHoo! This is going to be fun!

Another Great Weekend AKA: The Best Weekend Ever

I went down to see my son again this weekend. It started Friday afternoon on a bad note. I was renting a car and was supposed to be picked up at 3:30. At 3:40, I called to see where the ride was. They were running late, but sorry we forgot to call. So, I continue to wait impatiently. My ride finally got there and the driver said he was sorry and did the guys call? I said no, I had to call them when you weren't here. He was not surprised. Then when I walk inside to rent the car, I kept getting excuses, you know, they were busy. Then I find out that the car that I was supposed to rent was given out and the car they have is not clean, I have to wait while they vacuum it out. That all made me not happy. Plus the car is not very big. I asked for a full size car because they keep giving me small cars that don't have enough room for all the stuff I take for my trips. This one was no different. I like the car and if I did not need it to be packed full for the trip it would have been great. As it was, it was nice to drive, handled well and was overall just pretty nice.

The drive was not too bad. But we did get a late start. I left my mom at the campgrounds while I went to get S for the day on Saturday. The first thing he did was start asking about the car and opening all the little doors and cubby holes. A few minutes later he told me he wants me to not go to court right now and that he does not want to talk to an atty. "Someone" has told him that the atty will go and tell everyone what S tells him. I have already told him that won't happen, but now he is scared. Great. Without S's help, I can't bring him home. I started to tell him all that same stuff again. We continued on that path for a few minutes until he changed the subject. I let him. I basically just encouraged him all day to play and have fun, with a time or two of reminders that he needed to talk to the atty and that he would be safe even if he did. It must have worked because on Sunday morning he informed me that he would talk to an atty and how long before he got one? I had no idea. I told him I would work on it. During the course of the day, he made my mom and I pinkie swear that we would not tell all the stuff he told us. Towards the end of the day he was making us pinkie swear not to tell again, but that time he added that he wanted to be the one to tell. He asked again when he got an atty. On the way to his dad's house he told me that his dad told him to write some stuff down about visits. He told S to write down that S wanted to come home only two times a year for a regular visit like we have now. S told me that he needed to find it and get rid of it because it was not what he wanted. His dad told him to write it. Oh, that is just super for the case. I did not say anything to S because I did not want him to stress about it any more than he apparently already was. He looked like he was crying when we dropped him off. Sunday night when I called him, he sounded like he was crying at the start of the phone call. He told me he did not know how he could keep doing all this. He was tired. He did not think he could do it anymore. I told him not to give up, we can do this one day at a time just like we have been doing it all along. Just one day, I will call him, and then we will mark another day off on the calendar, counting down to our next visit. He did seem to cheer up some by the time the phone call was over. At least he was no longer crying.

I called my atty the next day and told him what S had been telling me, about the letter, being tired, not wanting to talk anymore. Asked what could be done now to help S out. We are going to try to get the atty for S today. I hope that is accomplished while he can still remember what we talked about this weekend. I told him that the atty was his, could not tell anyone what S told him, and that S could tell the atty anything that was bothering him, no matter what or who it was about. This atty would be for S and S alone, not me and not his dad. He would be safe talking to him. I hope he remembers and does talk to him. I hope that my atty gets it accomplished today. He also is going to work on getting a court date. I hope that tomorrow I can post on here that we have a new atty for my son and an upcoming court date.

As for the visit part of the weekend, it was great. As usual S declared it the best visit ever. Every time we have a visit, it is the best one ever. We bought a tent to put up and the directions were awful. Not to mention that it was hard to put together. It was supposed to be one of those pop up tents, but they don't tell you on the outside of the box that you have to be he-man to pop some of the pieces in place. I did finally get it in place. S loved the tent. It had a "doggie door" in it and he had a blast crawling in and out of it. We played in the tent and he set it all up for us to sleep in it. Then we played cars. We had all the race cars and fast cars out so we could race. We took pictures of the winners in the winners circle that he created. We played Star Wars. We made hamburgers that he got to put the seasoning on....A lot of seasoning. They were tasty. We also had fried potatoes and brownies that my mom made. We went for a walk. We played video games. On Sunday, we watched a dvd, played more cars, played more Star Wars. S always wins of course. More video games. More tent playing. That doggie door was a big hit. S informed me that our tent was the best tent there was. Even better than the really big ones. We also played "baseball" in the tent with a little bitty ball of aluminum foil. Then S took two more pieces of aluminum foil and "made" a tannning bed. I have no idea why a tanning bed, but that is what he said. We just had a lot of fun playing on the best visit ever with the best tent ever and the best toys ever. S is just too funny with his best ever's. I personally can't wait for the best ever day - the one where he gets to come home.

Site of The Week Saturday

This week's Site of the Week? It's Scary Mommy. Jill over there at Scary Mommy tells it like it is with her three little munchkins. She puts a humerous take on the life of mommyhood. Go and check her out. You will laugh out loud at her children's antics and her stories of life.

Why my kitties kept me laughing

This week my cats have been pretty funny. They have been getting into everything. When I took the sheets off the bed, they burrowed into them. When I was doing laundry, they jumped into the washer and dryer. I always check them now to make sure there are no cats before I turn them on. But the best one was this:



This was Tiger Crisp hiding out in a box I had saved for putting Christmas gifts in.





Affirmative Sir, I see my target. Count down to pounce...

Thrifty-ness from the Challenge

I did not really spend much money this week. I bought two containers of raisins at Wags this week, and I went to Aldi's to get milk, buns and eggs. That is it. I love having built up a stockpile of food through the challenge that Precious set up. I have plenty of food for meals and the trips. It makes life so much easier in the busy busy summer weeks to not have to keep going to the store. Thanks Precious for the inspiration to get this done! By using some of the ideas shared on Precious's blog, I also got my power bill down to lower than $50 for gas and electricity for the past month. That is great compared to what it has been running. Just goes to show you that all the little things do add up to savings.

So how have your savings been adding up?

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1. My cats, they have kept me laughing this week
2. Getting caught up at work
3. Accomplishing a lot of housework
4. Lightning bugs-fun to catch together with my son while on the phone with him
5. Desserts.

Let me know what you are thankful for this week!

What To Cook Wednesday

Like Annie, I am all about ham. I think pigs are cute and tasty. I love ham, pork roasts, bacon. Yum Yum. So, in the spirit of ham loving today, I bring you another pork roast recipe.

Dill and Garlic Pork
1 pork roast or loin (boneless)
fresh dill - approx 8 tblsp chopped up
minced garlic - I will say to taste as I use a lot more than average folks, perhaps 1 tblsp
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
dash salt and pepper
1 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
1/4-1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

Mix 3 tbsp dill, yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper together and spread over the top of the pork loin. Mix another 3 tbsp dill, oil and panko. Spread this over the top of the pork loin as well.

In a preheated oven (425 degrees) bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce temp to 375 and finish baking (25 to 30 minutes). Let stand for 10 minutes and then sprinkle the remaining dill on the top and serve.

I love panko bread crumbs. They are the best bread crumb ever. I also love fresh dill and grow it in my herb garden every year. Garlic goes with just about everything in my book. I hope you like these tastes together as much as I did.

Hallucinations?

I think I am having hallucinations.

Ok, I am going to share this with you all because I think (now) that it is funny. Last night after cleaning up a litte bit, I was really tired. I called my mom because she was going to possibly stop over after dinner at my sister's house. She said it was late and she was tired as well. All right, I can go to bed and don't have to wait up for her.
I get myself ready for bed, pat the kitties one last time and go curl up in bed. I had a couple of tealights burning in the living room. I know, I know, you should never leave a candle burning without supervision. Whatever, I do it all the time. If my house burns down you can tell me "I told you so". Then I'll probably take a swing at you. Anyway, tealights burning-gives my room a nice comfy little glow. I lay there and promplty fall asleep. That in itself is unusual. Then I do one of those jerky things - you know the one where you are just asleep and your leg jerks? So, it wakes me up and I look at the ceiling. THERE ARE DOZENS OF BUGS CRAWLING ACROSS MY CEILING! Talk about freaking out. I do not usually mind bugs, but they were right over the bed. I fling my covers back, fly out of bed, and race from the room. I turn on the halogen lamp in the living room and peek around the corner. There are no bugs. I look on the bed, on the floor, the walls, the ceiling again. No bugs. I go and get the flashlight from the kitchen, and shine it under the bed, no bugs. There. Are. NO. Bugs. Anywhere.
I turn out the light in the living room and realize the tealights are burning still. I look at the clock. I have only been in bed for like 20 minutes. I do believe that I was still dreaming when I woke up. That has never happened to me before. It was mongo weird, let me tell you. I guess that is what folks mean when they say they are dreaming but thought they were awake.
I know, it was from my tear ducts being overused this weekend....All the same, I think this is one tale I won't share with my ex and his atty...

Time for the diet - again

I have decided that I need to restart my diet. I keep saying that, I know. But now it is time. I am too ashamed to put my starting weight on here. I lost about 30 pounds two years ago on this diet and did really well until this past Christmas. I think I ate too many noodles, and cookies, and cakes, and, well, you get the idea. I actually don't have a scale at home, so I could not put an accurate starting weight on here. I think I will go ahead and put it out there. I weighed in at 190 at my last visit to the health department. That means I gained back everything that I lost the first time. I am going to spend some time today planning out my meals and get started tomorrow. I know that traditionally people start their diets on Monday's. Monday's don't work so well for me. I will try starting tomorrow and see where I go.

Any one out there interested in dieting together? We can either follow the same diet and I would gladly share my materials or try a different diet from mine and we can compare results. Let me know and we can hold ourselves accountable to one another and see if that helps us stick to it!

Wow, My Weekend and Some Rambling

That is all I can say about my weekend. I was home this weekend. I did not go visit my son for the weekend. I went last weekend for just Sunday. Then I also went to see him on Thursday for a few hours for his birthday. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with presents and brownies. He does not like cake, only the icing. So, we had brownies. It is all a chocolate-y goodness, so makes no difference to me. We had a blast. We pretty much just played all day.

Then I think Thursday was my undoing. I totally enjoyed my time with my son. I saved a couple of cards and one present for his actual birthday. We went to the river and the park to play as well. Of course I had to drop him off after just a couple of hours and it was really sad. Not enough time. He did tell me I was the first to sing him Happy Birthday on his birthday, and he said it with the sweetest little smile. Then as I was dropping him off, he said he liked the big van better than all the different cars I've been driving (two rentals and my moms explorer). When I asked why he had the funniest answer. Because the big van has two side doors that open and he feels like a king when we open both doors to let him out. In all the cars, there is just one door and he's just a regular kid. I laughed a lot at that one. I may have to get another full size van to replace my old one just to make my kid feel like a king again!

I also sold the camper (I hope). I am waiting on the title to arrive to my house. A couple came and looked at it on Sunday and said consider it sold, call them when the title comes in and they will come and get it. I was doing the happy dance for hours. I thought I would never sell it. At least for what I wanted to get out of it. I am actually getting more than I paid for it, but not more than I spent on it. I will recoup everything I have had out of pocket from it. That is super news, and more money to put towards the hearing and the court costs if they are soon or a new car if it is going to be months before we get to court.

Back to the undoing. When I had to leave S this past Thursday, it was all I could do to hold my tears in. I am not usually happy to drop him off, but am pretty good at keeping my emotions in check. I think it was kind of a combination of two short visits in a row followed by his birthday. He just keeps getting older, and he is still not home. This is really hard. I am really tired of waiting. I think that it is part of the bad guy team plan (my ex and his atty). Part of MSBP is that the mom's start to get more emotional and stressed the longer it takes to get their children back. Oh, yes cause all mom's would start to relax and get calmer as the time passes without their kids. (can you see the sarcasm dripping off that comment?) Craziness I tell you. I think they are hoping that I go nuts and start raving like a lunatic if they keep dragging it out and make it so they are not available to get dates and times set up. Nope, I will just calmly rip him a new one the first chance I get. Hopefully right after court....Right after the court (hopefully-keeping my fingers crossed) terminates all his rights.

Anyway, I think I am sad about my son getting older and I am missing it. Yes, I realize I do get to see him. But I am missing the day to day things. The discoveries, the playing, the interacting with the pets and other children. The interacting with me. Even the arguing. So I came home from my visit and decided this weekend was as good as any to start getting the house cleaned up. I actually plug in the tv and put in a movie. Now I do not have any new movies. All my movies are either about 10 years old (or older) or Disney movies. I just put it on in the background and by the end of the movie, I had been crying for at least four different scenes and through the whole ending. Not just the sad stuff, at all the mushy stuff and happy stuff too. So I watched a different movie with the same results. The second movie, BTW, was Harry Potter, the first one-Sorcerer's Stone- and has absolutely no reason to cry. At least it did not used to have any reason to cry for me in the past. I got done cleaning in the front half of my house and moved on to the kitchen. I plugged in the tv/vcr combo. I just needed the noise, and usually I don't need that either. I was just weird all weekend. I watched Homeward Bound. That movie is from ages ago, and I have watched it a billion times, I know all the animals make it home. Instead at the point you think one of the dogs is going to die, I cried for the whole rest of the movie, right through the end where he lives and makes it home. I'm talking sobbing, nose running and all.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do wish I knew exactly what is going on with me this weekend. I am feeling better today, albeit catty. I am not really sure what is wrong with that though. Sometimes a gal just needs to be catty and let it all out. I just don't know if I had been holding it all in for too long, and it burst out, or if I am just lonely, or if I am just stressed because I don't like my job, I don't like my ex, and I want my kid back. I am just confused. But at least this week I know which day it is! :)

Here is a pic of us on his birthday, when he did not feel like a king, but did feel special that I sang Happy Birthday to him. Me with my shiny face and S playing his new DS game.

Thankful Thursday

I am not really sure why this did not post, I am totally having scheduled blog post issues. They used to work, but not right now. Oh well, here is my thankful list again.

1. My bday visit with my son.
2. Driving the trip in the daytime and not in the middle of the night.
3. Gas prices not being as high as this time last summer.
4. My cats are always happy to see me when I get home.
5. As always, chocolate. I couldn't live without it.


What are you thankful for?

Site of the Week Saturday

I am going to post this today because for some reason I cannot seem to get the scheduled posts to work. I did not think it was that hard, but they aren't posting anymore. So here goes a day early:





Site of the Week Saturday this week will be Frugal Family Fun Blog. Valerie is the master at coming up with loads of thrifty ways to have fun with the kids. Go and check her site out for great ideas on all things kids and crafty. She even has posted a snack or two that are great fun for the kids. She has even been on her local news with one of her lovely daughters.

What to Cook Wednesday

Healthy Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion chopped
1 cup finely shredded carrots or zucchini or squash
spaghetti sauce
chili powder
pepper
salt (if you want)

Brown the turkey and onion. Drain of any grease/fat. Add the shredded carrots. This is a good way to strecth your meat dish and to add veggies. For the spaghetti sauce, I used one with no added veggies. It was plain sauce. I used about half of the jar. You want the texture to be thick but not dry. Add the spices-I do not add salt to my dishes until at the table if it is needed. I added the chili powder and the pepper. Heat through, stirring occasionally. If you find at the end that you used too much sauce and it is not thickening up, just add a bit of tomato paste as a thickener. The original directions called for this, but I decided to skip this step and just use less sauce. This will not taste exactly the same as regular sloppy joes, however, it is similar and way healthier.

Book Giveaway

Jennifer over at Momma Made it Look Easy is giving a book away! She tells you all about these awesome books on her site and links you to the Usborne page. Go read about it and check out the books. They have a lot of really neat stuff to check out over there. I already checked it out. They have stuff for kids of all ages!

I have been invited to participate in telling my blogging quest by Semantically Driven, so here goes.

My blogging quest.

I began my blogging quest for two reasons. First, I needed to get some of my pain out. I was hurting deeply. My life had been turned upside down by an unjust legal system, a lousy attorney, and an evil ex. I was devastated. I had no one to turn to. I read online where things like this happened, to real people, not just stories, but I could find no one to turn to talk things out. To tell my story to. Even folks I knew for ages, people my sister worked with, they all started wondering if I hadn't done something wrong since I lost custody. It did not seem to occur to people that this does happen. Shit happens to good people. That seems to be the way it works. Sometimes the bad guy wins a round.

Secondly, I wanted to be a source of hope for other moms in this situation. I made plans to use my blog as an outlet, but also to reach people to give them hope. If I can make it through my situation, then you can make it through yours. I also want to change the laws. I want to do my best to help other moms keep their kids. No one should be diagnosed with MSBP. It is a witch-hunt*. It will take a strong person to change these laws. I want to be that person. If I can help save one child and mother's life and prevent this kind of emotional turmoil, then I will feel that I have done my part. There actually are cases of children dying after being removed from their mother's care after losing custody from being labeled MSBP. I want to stop this from happening. Ever.

My blog then changed course a little bit when I started trying to save money. I was posting deals that I found from fellow "hounds" (from the Grocery Challenge on MSN money). I was spending less time focusing on my story and more time on the "deals" I was getting. I do still post about my son, but as I don't get to see him everyday, I don't have the daily stories to tell.

I don't know exactly what I expected for blogging. I do know that what I get out of it now is far different than what I got out of it originally. I have read from many bloggers that the comments are what you want. I won't lie, I enjoy comments, but what I like more is watching the counter go up. I like to check the stats and see how long people were on my site to make sure it was not an accidental click and that they left immediately. I just like knowing that people stopped by. Comments are always appreciated, but I am always just thankful for a visit.

I have not really had any adversity, but I keep my blog anonymous, and I only recently took it public. It began as private and was not found by search engines. I did not want my ex or his atty to stumble on it. Now I don't care if they find it or not. I do not use our real names anyway. I think coming up with new topics is totally an adventure though!

The one thing that I did not expect was the expanse. I have had visitors from all over the world. This just blows my mind. I don't advertise anywhere about my blog, I just listed it with a few other blogs and next thing you know, the whole world is visiting. Not really. My numbers are no where near what a lot of other blogs get, but it is still amazing to me none the less.

I will continue to blog for the foreseeable future. I want to continue to chronicle money saving ideas. We all could use those, especially these days, but especially struggling single moms. I also will continue to chronicle my journey in getting my son back, and the little joys that we get right now. I most definitely will chronicle my journey to changing laws. This needs to be done, and why not me? I want to continue learning about blogging and all that it entails. Maybe even getting my own domain someday.

I don't know where I see blogging going. I have had the site for a while, but have only recently gotten more interested in frequent posting. I have a lot to learn about it in the meantime. Hopefully, it does not change faster than I can learn!

I chose my title, Life is hard-just keep swimming because that is the essence of life. It is hard, but do not give up. We all have to get through it, and we can. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....Now you have that song and Dory stuck in your head, don't ya?


*I was going to say it is a witch-hunt by a bunch of men, but that makes me sound like a man-hater. I am not a man-hater, just a "hater" of folks who use made up medical jargon to hurt another and benefit themselves. If one researches MSBP, you will discover that the man that "discovered" it has been discredited and cases in which he testified against women-BTW, women are the only ones labeled with MSBP-are now being re-heard and the women are getting their kids back. MSBP is not even allowed any more in England and Australia in court cases.

Home Made Food

I am really getting into this whole home made bread thing. I made another loaf of bread, rolls, and a pita bread last night. I got home and decided to make the bread and it is so easy, I get to multi-task while making it. I am still getting ready for my weekend trip, but got basically three loaves of bread made. And it tastes so good. I am glad I found that book. I also have been enjoying all the other stuff I made on Sunday. I did a lot of batch cooking again. I made tuna casserole, taco stew (usually called soup but I don't make mine that thin), hard boiled eggs for egg salad, pasta salad and healthy sloppy joes. I just had a really good time making everything from scratch. It all tastes better and there is no added salt to anything, just good for you herbs and spices.

I am guessing that it is also a lot cheaper than buying stuff at the store. For example, the taco soup that I make, I used a pound of turkey ($1), one bag of kidney beans ($1), two cans of corn ($1), one can of tomatoes ($.50) and then homemade seasoning mixes (guestimate of $.25). I will get at least 7 meals out of this. I packaged them individually and then stuck them in the freezer. That means that for just over $.50 each, I have just made 7 main courses or total meals. I may add bread or some other veggie if I am really hungry. All in all, even if I add something else to the meal, I can't beat a meal with a cost of around $1. And since I batch cooked, I do not have to keep turning on the oven and stove, I can just microwave it when mealtime rolls around.

I have not calculated for every meal what the cost is, but I am confident that it is cheaper than prepared food from the store, with a whole lot less salt.

I also wanted to add that in many of my dishes, I use shredded carrots. You cannot tell they are in there, you don't taste them, and you will get an extra serving of veggies. I added them this past weekend to the pasta salad, the tuna salad and the healthy joes. Instant serving of veggies for those picky eaters.

Thursday's Edition of What to Cook Wednesday

Apparently, I am really confused. I thought all day yesterday that it was Thursday. Soooo, I posted my Thursday post. So today, I will post my Wednesday post. This whole long weekend and day off thing is really messing with my head, especially after missing some days last week. I just don't know what day it is!



Without further ado: What to Cook Wednesday:



If you are like me, you still have oodles of potatoes left over from the sales a while back. I may never get through them all. So how about some potato salad?

I use whatever potatoes I have. If I am using the red potatoes I often leave the skin on for a pretty color contrast in the salad. I peel the brown ones.

6-8 potatoes
3-4 hard boiled eggs
celery
onion
mayo
mustard

Boil the potatoes until mostly done. You do not want them to be too soft or they won't hold their shape. When they are cool enough to handle cut them up into cubes. Dice up the hard boiled eggs. Take one celery stalk and dice it up or just slice into thin slices. How much onion you use will depend on whether it is a sweet onion or not and how much your family likes onion. I try to use sweet onions, and then will use about half or just a bit more but we like onions. Dice the onion. Throw in a bit of mustard, I use around 1 1/2 teaspoons. Then add the mayo. I just use a big tablespoon (not a measuring spoon though) and dump two in. Mix it up. It should be a creamy texture. If it seems too dry, just add a little bit more mayo. When you are done you should have a bowl of creamy yellowish-white potato salad.
I like to use the red potatoes, red(purple) onions, and the celery because then you have a wonderfully colorful salad.

Now someone enroll me in kindergarten so I can learn which day is which!

Thankful Thursday

We all spend time talking about what has bothered us and what annoyed us. Today I want to talk about what makes us happy! Tell me what you are thankful for!



Today I am Thankful for:

1. I have a job

2. I have a wonderful family

3. I had a good shopping trip on Saturday and got stocked up on several items

4. My phone calls with my son

5. Dreams- I have them and never give them up



If you have a blog, post what makes you happy or what you are thankful for and link back here. Leave a comment so we know to check out what you have to be thankful for!