My Tuesday (ME DAY)

Today I am off work.  I am being selfish and having a “me” day.  So far, I got to sleep in until 8.  As hubby was getting ready to walk out of our bedroom to wake up Cooper, I woke up.  So, I went with him to wake up our boy and get him ready.  Then I thought about going back to bed, but thought better of it.  I got up and went downstairs with the guys and got Cooper breakfast. 

When the guys left, I watered some flowers, called our cable provider to get one of our cable boxes fixed up an then started reading blogs.  I am determined to not spend all day blogging and reading blogs, because I know it can become addicting!

My plans for today aren’t great, I plan on finding a couple of new recipes that I’ve been wanting to try and make them.  Other than that, I’d love to catch up on my project 365 page.  I’ve got all of the pictures, it’s just getting them organized and put on the site that is daunting!

What are you up to today?  Did you all have a wonderful weekend?  I loved having the long weekend with my family.  I just cannot wait for our vacation.  We’re not going anywhere big, in fact, we may not be going anywhere at all, but I welcome having 11 days off of work in a row! 

Have a great Tuesday ladies, I hope to see you more often from here out!

WILW

It's Wednesday again!  Time for another rendition of WILW, link up with Jamie and tell us what you're loving today!

I'm loving..........

Stride Sweet Peppermint.  I am a big fan of this gum.  I am known at work to always have gum - I buy the multipacks at Sam's Club and this is my new favorite.  It's sweet yet still got the breath freshening qualities of peppermint!

Mulch.  I've been spreading much each night this week when Cooper goes to bed, still light out at 8pm, and I'm using it!  This year we decided on bagged mulch and chose this beautiful brown color.  We bought an overwhelming 56 bags, and so far, I've spread only 22.  I've got a few more nights ahead of me, but it's looking so nice already!

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Picky Palate's - 15 Minute Warm and Hearty Taco Soup.  I made this soup last night, oh.so.yummy.  It's pretty simple - requires several ingredients, but it's worth it folks.  Try it.  Glad the weather was still cold enough here to enjoy a nice bowl of soup last night.

Cooper.  The boy that brings me much joy!

My Hubby!  How could I post a WILW post without some sweet love to my partner in life & crime?=)
 

Happy Wednesday Ladies!

Oh Monday, Monday......

Link up with Carissa and give us some random-ness!

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1.  I love weddings...... I didn't have a big one, with a white fancy dress and a big crowd of people.  I had a ceremony with 12 people in attendance including me, my hubby and the minister.   We wore tshirts and jeans, got married in the middle of a snow storm, it was about 10 degrees outside.  This is what I wanted and I don't regret it for a minute.  But.  I.love.weddings.  Sunday night we attended a wedding, it was a quickly arranged because the groom was in the military and they didn't know when he would be home.  When the family learned when he would be home, they threw the wedding together, but, thrown together as it was, it was gorgeous.  The bride was gorgeous, the entire thing.  GORGEOUS.  I just love when two people who love one another and give themselves to one another for life.  The look in their eyes, the smiles on their faces.  Awesome.  I look forward to seeing my Stephanie and her Ryan next June. 

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2.  Recipe testing.  Saturday was spent doing some testing for Stephanie & Ryan's engagement party next weekend.  I made Kevin & Amanda's Mini Lasagna Cups.  They turned out wonderful, but as it turns out, they are too much work and more than an apetizer.  More of a dinner and I highly recommend trying them!  I really needed something smaller and less time consuming to make.  We hare having little smokies in bbq sauce, fruit kabobs, relish kabobs, a veggie tray, cupcakes and a cake, and then the last thing was a question in the air.  Should we have meatballs or something else.  I loved the idea of fried ravioli, but I cannot seem to find a decent recipe for that either.  Then Amanda posted that recipe for the Mini Lasagna Cups and I thought YES!  I've found just the thing.  But.... now, after making these on Saturday they aren't meant to be either, so we'll be having meatballs.  Which is fine.  We'll also be adding little smokies wrapped in crescent rolls, but that's our menu. 

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3.  Weekends are the best!  No matter if we're just hanging around the house or going somewhere.  Time with my boys and stop ins from the rest of the family.  This weekend, my mom and her husband visited for dinner on Saturday night.  We ate those lovely mini lasagna cups from Kevin & Amanda.  They picked us up our new patio table and chairs and brought them to us.  THANKS MOM & THANKS SHAWN! :)   Sunday we went to breakfast, then came home for a bit, took naps while Tim worked on the hall bath.  Then Steph, Ryan, Steph's mom, Cooper, Ryan's mom and me went to shop for decorations for their party at our house next week.  After that we came home, had lunch, played and Cooper had a short nap, then we got ready for the wedding.  I had a great weekend.  Loving it and I cannot wait for the next weekend! 

That's all for me, I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

I’m so glad it’s Wednesday!  We’ve made it to another hump day and this starts the downward spiral to the weekend, yay!

I’ve got many loves to share with you today!

Today, I’M LOVING….

First off, the below watch in brown.  My awesome Stephanie got this for me for Mother’s Day.  I plan on wearing this beauty tomorrow!

Second… I’m loving these special people.

Third, the necklace from the vintage pearl that I just ordered!  It won’t be here for a few weeks, but I cannot wait to get it.  I’ll be so cute, simple but cute!

Fourth….  Pizza King!  The hubby and Cooper took me to Pizza King for Mother’s day.  I don’t get Pizza King very often so it was a great treat!  YUM YUM!

Last but not least…..  I’m loving Jamie for hosting WILW every week!  Thanks Jamie, you’re a lovely lady!

Happy Wednesday Ladies, have a great day!

A Recipe......

This past Saturday I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen so I thought I would share one of the recipes that I made.  If you like peanut butter, if you like cheesecake, you'll love this PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE!

It is delicious.  At least I thought so.  I'm not sure the boys in my house liked it much, but that could be because they aren't fans of peanut butter unless it's on a pb&j sandwich.  hmph.

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This recipe comes from Taste of Home.  I stole the picture they took too, lol.  It's super yummy!

Ingredients


CRUST:

• 1-1/2 cups crushed pretzels
•  1/3 cup butter, melted

FILLING:

• 5 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

TOPPING:

• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted peanuts

Directions

 

In a small bowl, combine pretzels and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a greased 10-in. spring-form pan. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 5 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

 

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Stir in chips. Pour over the crust. Return pan to baking sheet.

 

Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from the oven; let stand for 15 minutes (leave oven on).

 

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the sour cream, peanut butter and sugar; spread over filling. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake 5 minutes longer.

 

Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12-14 servings.

 

Check out the recipe here!

HMD

Wishing all you Mom's out there a wonderful Mother's Day!!

FRIDAY!!!

I'm so excited that it's Friday!  The last two weeks have been hectic, but I'm so thrilled that I've made it through.  I'm looking forward this this weekend, we'll be working on the new dining room table on Saturday and I'm not sure what else we'll be doing.  Hopefully Tim, Cooper and I will have a nice lunch on Sunday, and I hope that I can make this wonderful peanut butter cheesecake recipe that I found. 

What are your plans for the weekend?  Are you celebrating Mother's Day by doing something special?  I celebrated with my Mama last weekend, and I'll miss her on Sunday, but she's going camping and to brunch with my brother and his family.    Happy Mother's Day to all of you MOM'S out there!

See you all next weekend!

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm linking up with Julia over at black tag diaries for Thankful Thursday!  Link up and tell us what you're thankful for today. 

I'm thankful for.....

....Bananas, yes that's right, I said bananas.  My son is obsessed. He eats one for breakfast and dinner everynight.  and I don't mean half a banana, I'm talking the ENTIRE THING.  He's my little monkey boy and he's crazy obsessed with bananas.  I am thankful for them because they are healthy for him, they make him happy and that makes this mama happy!

...my iPhone.  Yeah, it's old, yeah it was refurbished when I got it, and yeah, it's slower than the 2G one that I had before I got his one.  (I will never buy refurbished again!)  BUT, on the other hand, it's a great tool, it allows me the ability to creep on people on facebook,twitter and whatever other social network I desire, lol.  I get to take pictures and share them easily with my family (albeit not the best pictures but still) and it keeps me occupied when I am waiting, whereever I am waiting.  Dear Apple, thank you for this wonderful invention, I cannot wait until iPhone 5's come out, I'll be one of the first in line to toss my old iPhone out and bring a precious new gadget home!

....on to less material items to be thankful for.....



Me and My Mama when I was 8 months pregnant :)



...my Mom and her husband, Shawn.  This weekend, she's coming to Indy to go to the Indianapolis Air Show, and when she and her hubby are all finished with the show, they are going to pick up our new patio set and deliver it to our door and visit with us.  I appreciate Mom and Shawn doing this for us, since we do not have a truck, we often have to borrow in order to haul things and now we won't have to borrow!  Yay!  Thanks Mama!



My Mom holding my monkey boy :)



...Cooper.  That little man brings such joy to my life.  I am one lucky Mama!  Each day he is growing and learning and becoming such a little man. 

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.....God's GRACE.  I do not deserve everything that God has given me, but with his grace it is made possible.  I am so thankful to have such a loving God and Savior in Jesus.  I am blessed beyond measure. 

I hope you all have a good Thursday.  Remember to link up and tell us what you are thankful for today!



A list a mile long..... & family updates. (no, I'm not pregnant yet)

Does anyone ever feel they have a to do lis that is endless???  I certainly do.  I've been working so hard to get things knocked off of that list, but week after week, things just keep piling up.  And piling up much faster than I can get things checked off. 

So, to distract me from all of this even more, I'm going to catch you up on my family.

• Andrew  will have finished his first year as a college student as of this afternoon!  YAY Chuck! :)
• Stephanie is done with her 4th year of college, she has this summer and one more semester until she graduates!
• Cooper chipped his front tooth in early April and so we will all have to live with funny pictures until the tooth falls out and he gets his permanent tooth.
• Tim and I (mostly Tim) has finished our bedroom rennovation and it is wonderful!  I am hoping to get a post written up for this early next week!
• We still have work to do on the hall (kid's) bathroom upstairs.  The new bathtub has been installed, but we need to get the new floor put in as well as new light fixtures, toilet and get the walls freshly painted.
• Cooper has officially turned 19 months old.  Oh I cannot believe how fast he's growing up.
• Andrew is working this summer at the golf course as he's done the last 2 summers and he's also interviewing for another job to further supplement his income, yay!
• Stephanie is working two jobs as well, a jewelry/accessories store and the hotel banquet serving job that she's had for a couple of years.
• We bought a new to us dining room table last summer at a garage sale.  Tim's project right now is rejuvenating it!  He's sanding and we'll restain, add new table legs, new chairs and voila! A new dining room set! :)  Yippie.

I think that's it for now.  I'm so thankful for the wonderful family that I have, thankful that I have a never-ending checklist even if it requires me to constantly be busy, it's all worth it in the end.  And I know, that if we have another child, it'll only grow from there, so I praise God that I am fortunate enough to have all of this!

Happy Thursday Ladies, have a great afternoon!  OH HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO! :)

Here's a cute picture to make you laugh =)



WILW

Link up with Jamie for WILW!

Ladies, let's just say, times are busy, and I've been slacking at blogging.  I hope today's WILW will by the kick in the butt I need to get back with it!  How have you been?  Have your days been as busy as mine?

I have several posts that I need to work on for you, one that I'm 1 month late on posting already!!!  I hope to get this specific one done soon and get it out here.  Life, it has its priorities and I must admit, blogging is not among my highest, it is a hobby, something I LOVE though, and I will be back and more consistently at some point, (hopefully soon!)

Today, I'm loving this wonderful lady below.  That would be my Mama.  She's wonderful.  Such an inspiration to me as a mother.  She's been there for me through life's ups and downs and I'm so thankful for her.  We celebrated Mother's Day last Saturday with a nice lunch and shopping trip.  Oh how I love shopping with my mom.  That's another story. 



I'm also loving that I've finally gotten back on the treadmill.  While I'm not running yet, I hope to soon re-start the couch to 5k that I had previously started before life took over and I had no time or energy to get on that dreaded treadmill.  I so missed my alone time on that darn thing though, and I'm glad I got back on it, finally.

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I'm a big fan of ink pens, they have always been a passion of mine.  I know, ink pens, passion, huh?  Well, it's true, I just like ink pens.  Recently, as I was digging through the supply cabinet at work, I found these wonderful pens, and I'm loving them!  While I'm not normally a fan of fine point pens, this particular kind has become my friend.  Try them out if you too have a passion for ink pens!

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As usual, I'm loving my wonderful family.  They really do make life worth living.  Stephanie and Andrew are finishing up this year in college this week with finals, Andrew will be moving back home Thursday night.  Steph is working two jobs and is excited about the summer to start planning for her wedding.  Cooper is growing like a weed and learning so many new words, impressing his mommy and daddy.  Tim and I are the same, plugging and chugging at work and home.  Loving and thankful for each minute of this precious life!

Happy Hump Day Ladies!