Friday, September 28, 2007

Food for Friday

It's been 2 weeks so here is another edition of Food for Friday. I'm already hungry thinking about the coming weeks menus...maybe I should go eat lunch.

Monday - Cheesy Volcano Meatball Subs (I'm making them for my weekly hobby night as it's my turn to cook.)
Tuesday - Bacon, Cheese and Potato Chowder (didn't get to make this one yet)
Wednesday - Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers and Fries (didn't get to make this one yet)
Thursday - Game Night - Dinner to be determined later
Friday - Hamburger Helper (I'll be at a wedding rehearsal/dinner so I won't be home so dinner will be up to Darling Hubby)

Monday - Weeknight Lasagna Toss (didn't get to make this one either)
Tuesday - Turkey Burgers and Tater Tots
Wednesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thursday - Ham with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies
Friday - Pot Roast or Beef Stew (depending on what meat is cheapest at the grocery store)

Oh, and of the recipes I made during the last 2 weeks, the ones that were hits in our household were the meatloaf, the meatballs (obviously, since I'm repeating this week) and the Rosemary Chicken. Those will all make it to the recipe box.

Siggy

I decided to add a signature to my blog. Something new...and I figured it out all by myself. (pats herself on the back.) Off to do my laundry and a grocery list for tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Wild, Weird, and Wacky Wednesday - Update Edition

It's been such a long time since I posted a non giveaway related post and since Bug and Baby Girl are playing relatively nicely with the circular saw and drill (don't worry, they are just toys! No need to call CPS!) I figured I'd sit down and type up some stuff and share some pictures. It's been a while since I did a Wild, Weird and Wacky Wednesday post, too.

Things in my life are going well. Last Friday Darling Hubby, Bug and I went to the local apple orchard and picked several pounds of fresh apples. It was so super hot (nothing like a nice fall apple picking day) so we didn't stay too long, basically just picked our apples and headed home, so I didn't get too many good pictures. Oh well...Now I have 2 huge bags of apples sitting on my kitchen floor just waiting for me to make them into pies, crisps or just to munch. I hope we eat them all before they start to spoil. I do have to say Bug is in heaven. He's eaten an apple for breakfast for the past week. It will keep him regular and keep the dr away, too.


Tuesday, Darling Hubby had a root canal for the tooth that he broke last month. He said it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't pleasant either. At least that portion of the process is over. We ended up having to pay $580 out of pocket because the insurance company took their time getting back to the dentist office about the request they submitted regarding what would be covered. So, after DH had the root canal, the dentist office called saying that they insurance would cover the whole root canal so the money we paid out will go toward the core build-up and crown at the next few appts. Hopefully we won't have to spend anymore out of pocket. Fingers crossed.

Here are just a few pictures I've taken recently of Bug. He so enjoys playing Daddy's Nintendo DS. The only thing is that he can't play Puzzle Quest. He managed to delete both mine and DH's characters...we were like level 30! Now we have to start all over again.


And Bug also decided that we still needed to paint our porch (which we'd finished last month.) Here he is with a paint brush and a watering can. He was having a grand ol' time "painting" the window frames with invisible paint from the watering can.

He was even jumping up trying to reach higher up and saying "I reach, Mommy." It was too cute to watch.

I hope you've enjoyed this rendition of Wild, Weird, and Wacky Wednesday. Off to feed the kiddos lunch before they waste away to nothing! lol

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

More Giveaway Goodness

Ok, how can you not enter this giveaway? 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a pink Dyson vacuum. Yep, you read that right...a pink Dyson vacuum. And, even better, Dyson has decided to donate the whole retail price to the Breast Cancer Research Fund! That's $400! So, head on over to this post and leave a comment. Maybe you can be the lucky winner of that scrumptious pink vacuum! Winner to be chosen October 1!

Another great giveaway by 5 Minutes for Mom is an external hard drive. Never worry about losing all those precious pictures and mommy files during your next computer crash. I would die if I lost all my pics! Go here and check out the giveaway for a Western Digital Passport Portable Hard Drive! Click here to comment for your chance to be one of 3 winners! Winners to be drawn October 5th

(Oh, and just as a side note, I've been having trouble with the 5 Minutes for Mom Dyson blog post during loading. It totally bogs down my computer because it has a ton to load, so just be prepared to wait a wee bit...but it will totally be worth it if you win!)

Oh, and there's one more giveaway! Over at Bloggy Giveaways, Shannon is giving away a set of 2 burp cloths or a mini quilt from Peas and Carrots, a mom owned online store. Go here and enter for your chance to be the winner of burp cloths or a mini quilt. Comments open until 9/29 so hurry!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Yet Another Giveaway!

I must be on a giveaway binge lately. Here's another one that I really hope I win! Fingers and tose crossed! Go on over to Bloggy Giveaways and check out the Arte Bebe giveaway. Then head on over to Arte Bebe and check out all the fun things they offer, from kids clothing and shoes, to fun stuffed animals to things for grown-ups. My favorites are the Junglie and Truffle animals (I must have one Bug would love one) and the alpaca blanket. Don't forget to hop on back to Bloggy Giveaways and post a comment. Open until 9/24.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Jewelry Giveaway

Head on over to Bloggy Giveaways and check out the Bella Grano Jewelry give away. The winner will receive a $12 gift certificate. The owner of Bella Grano is a stay at home mom of 2 boys and make lots of beautiful jewelry. Just check out her earrings (the deep purple pinwheels and shades of purple are my favorite (and only $7 each!)), necklaces and rings. Then comment on Bloggy Giveaways for your chance to win! Ends 9/23.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Web Monikers

OK, so it's official. Both my husband and son's names shall no longer appear on this blog. My son will be referred to as Bug (as this is what I call him most of the time anyway) and my husband will now be Darling Hubby (or DH on a lazy blogging day). I will still be Sara. I like my name. :D

Thanks again to Corey for lighting the fire under my butt about protecting the innocent from Chester Molester.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Food For Friday

I know that many bloggers whom I read follow the Menu Plan Monday sponsored by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. Unfortunately, I could never jump on that bandwagon. Why you may ask? Well...I don't do my shopping and planning at the beginning of the week like most. I plan out my meals on Friday. Having grown up always going grocery shopping on Saturdays, that's what I've always planned for. Sometimes we go Friday and sometimes Sunday, but it's always on a weekend...so, I can't plan out my menu on Monday...Therefore, I'm going to try to start my own thing. Food For Friday. I'm going to plan out my menu and post it here. This week, many of my recipes are coming from Kraft Food & Family Magazine that I got in the mail the other day. If you don't already get Kraft Food & Family Magazine or even their emailing of recipes, go here and sign up. You won't be sorry! Oh, and since we got shopping once every 2 weeks, I make a menu for 2 weeks.

Monday - Homemade French Bread Pizza
Tuesday - Rosemary Roasted Chicken & Potoates
Wednesday - Glazed Stuffed Pork Chops (Although I'm not going to stuff them) with roasted potatoes and mixed veggies
Thursday - Game Night - dinner to be determined at a later date
Friday - Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder served with artisan bread

Monday - Hamburger/Tuna Helper/or Mac-N-Cheese
Tuesday - Cheesy Volcano Meatball subs
Wednesday - Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers and Fries
Thursday - Easy Pleasing Meatloaf with smashed potatoes and veggies
Friday - Weeknight Lasagna Toss

Now...off to figure out how much of everything I'm going to need and see what I already have.

Bloggy Giveaways

Go on over to Bloggy Giveaways and check out the Ciao Bella giveaway. They have some yummy products at their site - www.cioabellabody.com so go check them out and leave a comment with your favorite product. Comments close today so HURRY!

Next up is a give away featuring Loop de Lou's personalized stationary. Go check out their site (and have lots of fun personalizing your cards, etc to see how the design would best fit you. Then, hop on over to comment on this post with your favorite items for your chance to win! Hurry, ends Saturday the 15th.

Oh, and for my friends with girls, go check out this giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to Madie Jane's. Ends Monday the 17th.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Technical Difficulties

I just want to apologize to those who use Google Reader or any other subscription program for reading blogs if you were subjected to an additional viewing of my Vacation to Vermont post. I was having some issues with pictures not showing up and accidentally removed and posted it again so it may have shown back up as unread in your reader. I humbly apologize...oh, and the pictures should now be fixed, too.

Yummy Smelling Goodness

I stumbled onto a fun contest this morning at Heather's Brain. She's giving away a Home & Garden Party Pack with your choice of candles. Go check it out and enter. We all know we can all use more yummy smelling candles in our houses, right?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Our Vacation to Vermont

Warning! This is very long so make sure you've had a potty break, refilled your drink, gotten a snack and have a few minutes without interruption...

<--Just so you know, that's me with a dime-store Indian.

So we had a pretty good time on our vacation. We left early Friday afternoon after getting into a minor fight about something so trivial. I hoped it wasn't going to ruin our trip. We had directions printed and a pretty decent map of Vermont and despite the printed directions, we got inevitably lost (and it wasn't because I can't read a map...I can't, but that wasn't the reason.) So, we made it there in about 3 hours including a stop at the Vermont Country Store. The hotel (Econo-Lodge in White River Junction) was a decent place. They had an indoor pool and a hot tub. The rooms were clean and didn't smell of smoke like many non-smoking hotel rooms I've been in. Bug immediately liked jumping on the beds. He would have his own queen size bed for 2 nights.

After getting checked in and settled, we decided to get something to eat. We debated for a while on having something delivered and when we asked Bug he said he wanted fries which only means one thing...McDonalds. There was one down the road so we headed off. We got about half way there and the car started making a very terrible noise. Darling Hubby pulled over and we had a flat tire. We ran over a bolt (complete with washer). Easy fix, right? Nope. Darling Hubby got the car jacked up and the lug nuts off (we were missing 2, by the way) and the darn tire just would not come off for anything. Long story short, after an hour of kicking it, tugging on it, hitting it with the tire iron, a quick walk to the service station just back up the street (who couldn't send anyone for at least 45 mins) and 2 nice passer-byers later, the wheel came free and the donut (yes, our car only has a donut) was on and we made our way to the McDonalds. Then it was back to the service station to drop off the tire so it could be repaired first thing in the morning. Sigh...some vacation this it starting out to be...At least it didn't completely set the tone for things to come.

We had a tough time getting Bug to go to sleep that first night. He was so wound up from being some place new that he just couldn't settle down. Plus all he wanted to do was jump on the beds and watch baseball. He finally settled down in his own big bed around 10 and we all crashed after that to be well rested during the night. That would have happened had the bed Darling Hubby and I chose been comfortable. There was a severe dip in the center (and no, I was not sleeping in the middle all night) that was causing us to lean and sleep funny. Needless to say, Bug was the only one who got a decent nights sleep.

In the morning we showered and got ready to go. We went down to breakfast where we dined on cheerios, danishes, and orange juice. We met a very nice family with a couple kids one was almost 2 and the other looked to be about 4. We talked briefly (well, the little ones talked) before everyone set about their business. Our first mission was to get the tire from the service station. They had patched it and it only cost us $10. Not bad...then it was to the Toyota dealership (oh, and I should note, White River Junction is mainly comprised of Car dealers, hotels, and gas stations.) so we could get replacement lug nuts. In total, it only cost us a little over an hours worth of hassle and $15. Then it was back to the hotel to put on the new tire and clean up. While Darling Hubby was fixing the car, he found 3 more lug nuts that were loose on the car. We are beginning to think that the dealership did a shoddy job of putting them back on after the last tire rotation...

Then, it was off on our day of fun. Our first stop was to the Quechee Gorge. It's nothing spectacular. It's a gorge. Just a mountain with a river running through. They say it's like the Grand Canyon...except it's smaller and has trees. It was pretty anyway and a long way down from the bridge we were standing on.

After that we went to Scotland by the Yard, a little store that sells all sorts of Celtic items. It was a cute little store that had a lot of great stuff, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend $150 on a sweater...even if it would keep us warm in -800 degree weather. After that we went looking for the scrapbooking store I wanted to visit, but we couldn't find it anywhere...oh well...less money I'd spend, right. Then we went to the Quechee Gorge Village. Bug enjoyed eating all the cheese in the Cabot Cheese Store as well as pushing the buttons to start the model trains in the toy museum, riding the train (and pretending to be the conductor) that went around the property and playing video games with daddy. They had some beautiful stuff in the antiques and craft sections. There were lots of old things that I would have loved to have bought, but just couldn't bring myself to pay the asking price. It's funny, we saw an old Schoenhut child's piano that they were asking $125 for. We picked up the same thing (in better condition) at a garage sale this summer for Bug for $20. There was a lot of beautiful things in the Danforth Pewter store and the Glassblowers Studio, but they were really pricey, and I just couldn't pay that much for something that would possibly get broken.

After a filling lunch at the Farmers Diner, we went over to Vermont Country Iron (the Blacksmiths shop). We were hoping they would be forging things, but with the heat, I can't blame the guy for not. We met the owner, Rich Franklin, who is a very nice man. We were looking for something that we could use as a door stop for one of our doors in our house and not seeing anything that would fit the bill in the shop, he's hand-forging us something to our own design. It should take a couple weeks to make and then he'll ship it out to us. I can't wait to get it. I'll post a picture of it when it arrives.

After leaving the village, we made a quick stop at this kids clothing and toy store (I figured there had to be something Bug could play with there since he hadn't been able to touch much) We found out upon entering, that Muddy Duck Kids was going out of business and we talked with the owners for a little while. They were very nice people. Bug liked playing with their wiener dog, Gypsy. And to make things better, they were selling the clothing for 75% off and everything else 50% off. Of course none of the clothing would fit Bug, but we ended up with a cool Melissa and Doug picture frame, a book, and a bag of rocks (it's what Bug picked out) for $18. After that, it was another quick stop at McDonalds for dinner and then a quick swim in the hotel pool where we met up again with our friends from breakfast whom I learned were named Braden (older) and Malachi (younger). The three had lots of fun wading in the 1' deep water and pouring water over unsuspecting mommies. (Unfortunately, I don't have pictures as we didn't want to take my camera down to the pool and risk it getting damaged or stolen). Back in the hotel, Bug had a bath and then we all curled up and watched Shrek 3 which we purchased from the hotel for our in room movie. We'd heard lots of bad things about it, but Darling Hubby and I actually enjoyed it.

Our final day there began rain and before we left White River Junction we took another trip to the village and another tour through the antiques place, the Glassblowing Studio and the pewter store before having another round of tasty Cabot cheese and heading home. We stopped for lunch at Burger King in Rutland and then went to Bennington Potters in Bennington, VT. The store front was cool. There was this moose statue wearing galoshes and it was through the glass. They had lots of cool things inside, too. Of course, I never want to purchase anything at full price so you could find me browsing the shelves of "seconds" (things that are not aesthetically perfect) where I found a cool mixing bowl with pour spout in blue agate and a set of mugs in green for discounted prices. After leaving Bennington, we headed home to our dogs who had been cared for by our wonderful neighbors. I'm so glad we had a good vacation. It was fun to get away from the things at home and do something different, but, I'm happy to be home.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

New Look!

I had a few extra minutes and thought I'd change my header and colors. What do you think? I took that picture of the flower when we were at the park yesterday. It's very fall-ish.

What Have I Been Up To Lately?

So it's been a week since I last posted. Wow, I'm a slacker when it comes to blogging all of a sudden, but I have reasons, really, I do! Anyway, things have been good...things have been bad. The good is, my dad is doing well. No more heart episodes and I guess he's decided against the open heart surgery. Just keep those fingers crossed and prayers coming that nothing else happens that will make him need the surgery.

Another good thing is Darling Hubby and I finished the backyard. Woot! I don't remember if I said here or not, but we decided to tear out part of the driveway - there was a section just off the driveway, between the driveway and the lawn, really, where there was enough room for a picnic table, but since we didn't have or want a picnic table it really only served as a place for Bug's slide and he was always scraping his knees up on it when he fell down. Plus, it really cut down on the side of our yard...hardly any grass at all.

We also decided to take out an unused flower garden along the fence (we also installed bamboo privacy fence to hide ourselves from the neighbors...lol) and put in a patio. It looks great. Now if we can only get grass to grow where the driveway part was, we'll be in business. I think we'll be using it for the first time tomorrow when our game group gets together to roll up new characters for a new campaign and grill some burgers and dogs.

The bad news is that Saturday while we were working in the backyard I had my camera outside taking pictures of Bug who was being a very cute helper. I put my camera up on the roof of the car out of Bug's reach and away from the dust from the dirt we were moving. We went inside for lunch and I must not have grabbed my camera. I realized that it was missing Sunday morning when I went to upload the pictures of Bug helping so I could edit them to share. I searched all over and we came to the conclusion that either someone had the balls to walk up our driveway during the time we were inside for lunch and take my camera off the car or Darling Hubby didn't see it when we went to Home Depot for the first of many trips that weekend and it fell off the car. I hope it was the latter. If I can't have it, I'd rather it be smashed to smithereens in the street so no one could use it. Since we are going on vacation this weekend I wanted my camera and I was devastated (and Darling Hubby was pissed and thankfully wasn't yelling at me for being a stupid idiot cause he knew I felt bad enough already.) On top of losing the camera itself, I lost my 128Mb SD memory card and a set of 4 rechargeable batteries. Monday we ended up going all over in search of a replacement camera. Since I was already familiar with where all the buttons where on my old one, I knew I wanted the same type camera. I ended up getting the Canon Powershot S3 IS, which is the next step up from the one I had. I wanted the S5, but Darling Hubby put his foot down on that one since it was more expensive and I wasn't about to argue...he was letting me get a new camera. I ended up paying more for it in Target than I would have on Amazon, but I wanted to get it sooner rather than not have it for the weekend. I'm sure Darling Hubby is going to ask me a zillion time where it is so I can keep track of it.

Oh, and Darling Hubby said that since I was getting a new toy, he had to have one, too. He ended up getting a Nintendo DS (in black) with 2 games. He's already logged a good amount of time playing it (and I'll admit, I play it too during nap time when Darling Hubby's not home.)



Bug is really into it, too. He likes to play with the pictochat feature and try to help daddy when he's playing Puzzle Quest. I took these pictures while we were outside on the new patio, Monday afternoon. Bug is just such a cutie! Isn't he just the sweetest thing, too, leaning on Daddy like that?



Yesterday Darling Hubby decided to come with us to the park. I was going to take Bug on Sunday, but was in such a funk over my camera that I didn't want to go. So, now having a new camera I got to take lots of pictures of Bug doing all his favorite things (swing, slide, climb and teeter totter. Daddy is really excited because he's planning to install a tire swing in our backyard for Bug since we don't have room for a big swingset. We just have to get a tire (which will hopefully be tomorrow) and it's go. I'm sure Bug will be excited once he figures out what we are doing. Don't worry, I'll post pictures here. :D



So, all in all, things are going well. I'm happy that we got the patio and yard done. I'm mad at myself for losing my camera, but I'm happy that I got a new one. I'm looking forward to taking lots of pictures this weekend in Vermont. I hope it's a good anniversary. I'm glad I got to take some pictures of Bug having fun at the park. It always makes me happy when he's happy.