favorites.

I'm snowed in again. Well, iced in, I suppose. I did drive to Publix to get food so that we didn't starve. I drove on 2-3 inches of solid ice the whole way! It was crazy. I am so jealous of the kids sledding all over the neighborhood today...it is perfect, packed down, make you go super fast, sledding snow. Would it be creepy for a mid-twenties girl to ask the neighborhood kids if she could play too? Probably.

Since I am stuck inside again today, I have nothing exciting to write about. So here are a few of my current favorite things:

HGTV's Rate My Space. Not the show, but the website! I am addicted to this website. Thousands of people have uploaded pictures of different rooms in their house & you can search through them and get ideas. I am wanting to tackle the 2 guest rooms this spring...I have been gathering ideas from this! Seriously, check it out. It's amazing.
Yesterday, I watched Friends all. day. long. I will probably do the same thing again today. I got the box set for Christmas...makes me a happy girl.

Sharpie pens! I got so many of these in my stocking this year! These little pens are awesome. Fine point tip...lots of color...and they don't bleed through paper. Perfect.

My Mountain Hardwear "Monkey Woman" fleece. This has been attached to me since yesterday morning. It is my own furry paradise.

html what?

Today is a snow day. Our 3rd for the month. I was supposed to be in Memphis right now getting ready for Whit's shower with Cathleen. However, Tennessee is covered in snow and ice...and the shower is postponed:( I am so sad I can't see my friends!!

To make myself feel better, I have trying (with no success) to change a few things on my blog. I have been reading other blogs where people say "oh, I just kinda figured out HTML codes & can things myself." Hey, if other people can do it, why can't I? I don't have an answer for that. I have been wasting way too much time trying to change the fonts on my blog...and when I google answers...it is like reading chinese! Seriously html, could you BE any more confusing? (Friends has been on in the background...)

Do any of my 5 readers want to help? Any takers? I'm a bloggy mess right now.

hello there, mcfatty monday

McFatty Monday is going to be short and sweet today..

Still working out. Still cut back on the snacking.

Here is my recipe...spinach and mushroom calzones from WW.

YUMMY!

What ya need:

1 pkg. pizza dough (I use Publix brand because they make theirs fresh)

1 pkg. frozen spinach (thawed and drained)

1 pkg. small button mushrooms sliced

1 small onion chopped

2 garlic cloves minced

1 small container of ricotta cheese

shredded mozzarella

How ya cook it:

Preheat your oven to 350. Saute spinach, onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Put in mixing bowl and add ricotta cheese and about a handful of shredded mozzarella. I'm precise, can't you tell? Flatten out your dough and seperate..our dough made 2 big calzones. Put in some spoonfuls of your filling...be careful not to overload. Fold dough over and do an egg-wash along the sides to kinda "glue" it together. Pres the edges with a fork. Brush the egg-wash over the top and sprinkle some parmesan for a little extra touch. Cook for 25-30 minutes. ENJOY:)

squeak.

Squeak. That is what I hear right now.

I really dislike squeaky dog toys. REALLY dislike. However, on a special day like today, I made an exception. You see, today, we are celebrating Hudson's "birthday!"

Huddy does not have a real birthday since we found him. He was about one when we decided to keep him at the end of January 2008...so, he is now THREE! We had a mommy/son date at Petsmart and he got to pick out a free toy (thank you pet perks card!) & roam around the store sniffing like a mad man. We tried out a lot of toys. This was the winner:

A squeaky basketball.
A very squeaky, very loud basketball.

A boy and his toy.

We are SO thankful this sweet boy walked into our lives 2 years ago! He is such a good boy and gets compliments all the time from strangers. People say that he is lucky that we kept him...I think we are just as lucky! Happy Birthday sweet Hud...squeak away:)

McFatty Monday

Welcome back to McFatty Monday! I am still feeling "mcfatty!" I did not stick to my workout plan this week as I had intended...it was a stressful week at school.



The good news is that it ended well...with the birth of a tiny little girl named Addie on Friday!



Kristy showed me the ropes on the leg weights again...next up: arms. That will be tough. I have no upper body strength. I will say that one thing I have improved on is the snacking thing...I just don't really do it anymore! It is amazing that I actually feel hungry without snacking all day.



Here is my recipe for the week: Weight Watchers chicken salad



what ya need:

2 cups of cooked chicken

2 celery stalks chopped

1 small onion chopped

1/4 cup plain yogurt (I like greek)

2 tbsp dijon mustard

3 tbsp lowfat mayo

1 tbsp cider vinegar

*I added a handful of chopped walnuts & a sprinkle of celery seed



How ya do it:

Mix all the wet ingredients first. Add chicken, onion, walnuts, celery, and celery seed. Chill in the fridge for atleast an hour before you eat. This will be my lunch this week on top of some lettuce.



Remember, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. (Except maybe mexican food)

Okay, here is my menu plan for the week:

Monday(tonight) : Wight Watchers calzones. Spinach & muchroom for me...pepperoni for Ben. Will definitely share if I approve!
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Chicken Stew (also a WW recipe!)
Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan bites & garlic broccoli
Thursday: Crab Cakes
Friday: Leftover soup. I have lots in the freezer. Chicken Chili or Enchilada...?

i'm getting to know you....

I am feeling very lazy this Saturday morning. I am slightly dreading cleaning the house...but I am happy my husband is home to help. For a lack of things to post, I am copying Becca. Hi. I'm Laura. Nice to "meet" you.

I am- a wife, an only child, mama to precious furbabies, 1st grade teacher, friend, granddaughter, niece, an ATLien for life.

I have- more than I deserve, a great family, friends that make me laugh ALL the time, a fun job, a love for llamas, a colorful house, amazing footie pajamas.

I want- a houseful of kids. oh, and petty drama to end.

I fear- losing people close to me.

I search- for ways to better myself.

I wonder- all the time about our family and where we will be down the road...will we have lots of kids? buy land? have the same jobs?

I regret- nothing. i have learned from all of my mistakes.

I love- being off in the summer, animals, Christmas, blogs, diet dr. pepper, Jim Halpert, mexican food, driving through the country, laugh so hard my stomach hurts.

I always- try to remember to see the good in people.

I usually- don't take myself too seriously.

I am not- a person who seeks revenge. Not my style.

I dance- all. the. time. only to rap...

I sing- in the car, shower, my house...

I never- thought I would have 3 dogs.

I cry- during ANY movie where an animal gets hurt/killed. Even Bambi.

McFatty Monday

Welcome back to McFatty Monday!!

I am a bad McFatty Monday-er because I forgot to step on the scale this morning. However, I did cheat a few days ago and step right on that evil electronic nemesis & it told me I lost 4lbs. Hold the applause, people. I don't think I really lost 4lbs...BUT, I think I lost something.

Right now I plan on working out right after school on Monday-Thursday and then workout on Saturday. I have been doing cardio but Kristy (her husband is like a macho body bodybuilder) is going to show me the ropes with the weights. I call the weights area the "Men Only" section. All those juice heads (shout out JERSEY SHORE!) intimidate me. This is what I did this past week:

Monday: cardio

Tuesday: cardio

Friday: Cardio (so cold that when I left the gym, my sweaty forehead got a brain freeze. I kid you not)

Sunday: cardio

Do you see a pattern? I like cardio. I need to also like weights.

I did pretty good with my food this week, too. We only ate out once. I used some Weight Watcher recipes/other lowfat recipes. I am trying my hardest to not drink my calories with diet coke. Yikes. That is hard. I did drink a TON of water every day. Go me. Every time I crave an entire bowl of queso OR 5 oatmeal creme pies, I just have to say to myself: Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. Right??

Okay, I plan on posting a yummy lowfat recipe each week. I found a recipe on AllRecipe for a mexican pizza and I tweaked it a bit. It turned out so yummy!! Definitely satisfies my Taco Bell mexican pizza craving!!

Menu Plan (almost) Monday

To say that I am loving my new Weight Watchers cookbook is an understatement. Seriously, I love it. Almost all of the recipes for this week come from this cookbook...I am excited to try new things!

Tonight: Baked dijon chicken with roasted rosemary sweet potatoes

Monday: Mexican Pizza...yum! I love Taco Bell (don't hate) but I rarely go because I hear it is not very good for you..ha! I got this recipe from my All Recipe app on my phone...so technologically savvy, right? I am subsituting ground beef with ground turkey...something I have been doing a lot lately. I will share the recipe if I approve!

Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken Stew

Wednesday: leftovers...mexican pizza or chicken stew

Thursday: Shepherd's Pie...with chicken

Friday: Provencal Chicken Strips over whole wheat pasta

There is some big news in our house!!!

This news has nothing to do with something that will cry, eat, and poop in the next 9 months.

Ben got a NEW job!

I am so excited about this I can hardly stand it. He got an offer yesterday & today...he got the job! He will now be working at the Susan Cannon Cancer Center in downtown Nashville (where his heart is..of course!) and it sounds like a great opportunity!

Perks:

• Downtown where he wants to be
• Basically the same pay
• Better insurance
• NO MORE WEEKENDS!! cue the Hallelujah Chorus...
• NO MORE NIGHTS!!!! He will work Monday-Friday 8:00-4:30. Perfect.
• I get to see my husband!!!

Cons:

• I can no longer text him and tell him to pick something up from Walgreens before he comes home.
• Hmmm...no Walgreens discount.

He starts in 2 weeks and I am so looking forward to having him all. weekend. long. This will also help us get more involved with a church home. Right now he works every other weekend which just is no fun at all. I'm glad he will be able to go to church every Sunday! That's our news...we are pretty excited!

snowed in. again!

We woke up to snow again! It has officially been snowing for 3 days now. Today it is snowing harder and sticking more...I love it! Come on Leiper's Fork...ice those roads so we won't have school on Moday! :) Hmm..I just had a 3 day week...am I being selfish?

There is a really big civil war era house in our neighborhood (random, I know) and I love that we can see it all winter long. It is right behind the treeline that is in front of our house. Doesn't it look pretty in the snow?

Casa de la May!
I am SO excited because the package I have been expecting arrived yesterday! I ordered some dog stockings off of Ballard Design's website after Christmas. They were in the clearance section AND they monogrammed them for free! I am so excited for our furbabies to have cute stocking next year.

They turned out great...only 350 something days until I get to use them! :)

Stay tuned for some exciting news for our little family!

baby, it's cold outside.

Look what we woke up with!!!

This boy loves the snow!

Like our port-a-potty? It's our 4th bathroom.

Ellie's first time with snow...she loved it, too!

Making sure he doesn't eat any yellow snow.

Some action shots of the "biggies" playing like maniacs!

If only he had a mug of hot chocolate...:) Smart dog!

How did I miss this???

Somehow I missed the memo about a blog that is hysterically funny and REAL. Yesterday I discovered http://www.theheirtoblair.com/. This girl is great! She just had a baby and is wanting to shed those extra pounds so she started something that makes me laugh. I'm totally hopping on her bandwangon. I missed it yesterday (forgive me) but allow me to welcome you to...

McFatty Monday!!!

I need to lose weight. I need to be in shape. I would like to do both of these before we have a baby...because while those babies sure are cute & cuddly, I hear they also contribute to some weight gain! I absolutely do not need any more of that. I recently bought a Weight Watchers cook book and have been cooking most meals from that. I am also going to be working out at the gym 4 days a week. Oh, and drinking a ridiculous amount of water. I'm not putting a number goal in my head because I don't want to disappoint myself. BUT, I do plan on shedding some poundage. Every McFatty Monday, (I laugh every time I think about this title) I will update on my progress & share if I have lost any weight. WISH ME LUCK!!!

Ringing in the New Year!

Why hello there, 2010! (Two thousand and ten...NOT twenty ten...I refuse to hop on that bandwagon!) I have to let you know, first of all, that it is 24 degrees right now. Oh, 24 degrees and windy. And miserable. So I am literally 12 inches away from the fireplace as I type this.

My parents came up this weekend to celebrate the new year. Ben was working so it was nice to have someone to hang out with! We rang in the new year with dinner and scrabble. How old am I? 96? Who cares. It was fun! Yesterday we ate at the Loveless Cafe in Nashville. It was my parents first time...well worth the wait! I absolutely LOVE their biscuits. Carol Fay (biscuit maker extrodinaire..did I spell that right? Please pretend that I don't teach children how to spell on a daily basis..) had a throwdown with Bobby Flay because of her biscuits!

Now, I am sitting by the fire sulking because I am a) cold and b) I don't want my house to be de-Christmasfied. Don't spell check that one. I made it up. It is indeed in Loma's dictionary. I hope everyone is having a much warmer 2010 than I am having!!