So Thankful...

We hung out with our great friends, The Frost family last Saturday night.  Let me just say, they are some of the very best friends that we have... we may only see them once every three months or so, but it is almost like we see them weekly when we get together.  There are tons of laughter, tons of smiles and tons of hugs.  Those tight hugs that you can just relax in and feel the love.  Brandy and Stephen live in Tuscaloosa.  They have two children - Lucas (4), Abby (15).  When I moved to Tuscaloosa, Mark introduced me to Stephen and Brandy.  Stephen was one of his sisters very best friends.  I was thankful to know two people that I could call if there was an emergency.  Little did I know that they would become some of our very best  life long friends.  We shared so many special times - tailgating at Alabama football games, going to the games, lunches, career developing, baby showers, wedding, new mommy questions, accepting that our children were not sleepers and we continue to share special times.  Our boys are growing up together and I'm deeply thankful that Stephen and Brandy share the same values and beliefs that we do.  Our priorities are the same as their priorities - they make me feel normal!  I'm deeply thankful for the little boy they are raising... Parker is at that age where he plays alongside other kids, but not with kids.  Last Saturday night, he played with Lucas - and our hearts were warmed like a toasty fire in the winter. Lucas is living by example and exemplifying the love, openness and joy that define his mommy & daddy.  We don't see Abby as much as we would like - she is a teenager and doesn't hang with the old crowd too much... but she is the same as Lucas - full of love and happiness.  Even when we don't see her, I drill Brandy and Stephen on what is going on in her life.  She is a great kid with a strong head on her shoulders.  Here are pictures of our boys having fun... yes, they got to jump on the couch, yes they stayed up past their bedtime, yes, my child popped Brandy's bra strap, yes they were kids - just what they are suppose to be... and it makes me so thankful that my little boy will grow up with another kind hearted little boy that knows the importance of friends and hugs and laughter.

Another thing we are thankful for is that the Frost family provides us hand-me-downs.  I can't say how much I love hand-me-downs!  They save me money, but they are also pieces of clothing that mean something to someone else... and that someone else trusted me to put my baby in them too.  Parker has worn Lucas's clothes and Lucas's cousin's clothing since he was born.  He has also played with many of Lucas's toys.  We sent back six totes last Saturday night and took in two.  I cannot wait until winter, because there are two totes of precious clothes that will keep him warm and snug.  Specifically a two blue pea coats - one for church and one for school, a Christmas outfit and a Thanksgiving outfit.

Really... we are more than thankful for our sweet friends, The Frost family.  How did we ever get so lucky??? It was a God thing - He had it orchestrated so beautifully... and I'm not sure if we were even lucky - blessed is more like it.

Thank you Frost family!  We love y'all!

8/29-9/2 - Weekly Menu

Here is my  menu for the week:

Mon. - chicken stir-fry with brown rice
Tues. - enchilada casserole
Wed. - pintos with ham, mac & cheese
Thurs. - left overs
Fri. - left overs

So, not much cooking on the back end of the week... but as of today, we are going to be loaded down with left overs.

Miss Pissy Pants Irene

I once wrote a story about a young lady on Ocracroke Island, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was a beautiful story... one particular part I remember writing about was a 20 something in a white cotton gown serving drinks to her husband and his college buddies before she went to sleep for the night.  The cottage was on Ocracroke Island.  The woman owned a bookstore there with her husband and were hosting his college buddies for the weekend. Her husband dearly loved her and the buddies winked at him as he told them that he had to "tuck her in for the night." I painted a classic romantic picture of love for the husband and love for the island and love for books.  Have I ever been there? no. So does it even make sense for me to be a little upset tonight? No. Do I even have that story saved anywhere by my little brain? No.  BUT I feel a tug in my heart tonight knowing that this force of mother nature could tear the island up - and even though I have never been there and will never know what it was before, my heart is saddened and my fingers are crossed that Miss Pissy Pants Irene will not even touch Ocracroke or the Outer Banks.
 

The hardest part...

of being a working mom has to be trying to fit it all in!  I swear, it is seriously a juggling act every.single.day to get everything that HAS to be done in - never mind the things that NEED to be done or that I WANT to get done!  As I sit here at 9am thinking about all the things I need to do before we go to sleep tonight, I'm overwhelmed.  Being a working mother isn't just something that I am.  To be honest, I enjoy working. I enjoy the fulfillment that I get.  In a perfect world though, on days like today, I would only have to work about four hours (and be paid for eight).  In a perfect world, I would only require 6 hours of sleep per night.  In a perfect world, I would have gotten up at 4:15am for my workout so I wouldn't be sitting here right now trying to figure out how I'm going to get that in!  But instead, I must figure out how to: pick up meds and run by the grocery store, work out, cook birthday dinner for my dad and spend quality time with my parents, work out and pack for a beach vacation. These are the things that HAVE to be done tonight - between the hours of 4pm and 9pm (because the Casey household shuts down at 9pm...).  Plus the normal every day stuff - unloading/loading the dishwasher, bathing Parker, folding a load of laundry and putting a load in... If I had more hours in the day, I could easily get it completed... but since I don't, I will make the best of it - so this is my plan...
4p-5p - drive home, run by grocery store, run by CVS and change clothes
5pm - 5:45 - workout
5:50 - 6pm - shower
6p - 8p - cook dinner and enjoy time with my parents, clean kitchen and laundry
8p - 9p - pack like a maniac! 

Truth is... if I had gotten my hiney up and worked out before work today, the schedule would be more manageable... but I won't get into the fit that was pitched from 2am - 2:45am about wanting animal crackers... or the fact that my husband didn't go back to sleep after the 2am fit and I felt that I needed to stay in bed with the little one in case Mark did fall back asleep and Parker did decide to rise and shine at 4:45am - like he is prone to do when I escape the bed so early in the morning...

just another day of juggling it all! 

Deep Dish Taco Pizza

I have had this recipe for years, but am just now trying it out.  It is actually a Cooking Light Recipe from 2003, but I modified it so much that there were only three ingredient that remained in the main recipe.  Actually, I made it lighter than Cooking Light did!  I knew that it was going to be a busy afternoon and that Mark would need to put it in the oven, I actually did the prep work while I was getting ready yesterday morning, so all he would have to do was spread out the pie crust, dump the filling in there and sprinkle the cheese on top.  This is def. a quick meal and I'm sure that it would freeze well too.

1 pound ground turkey - 97% lean
1/2 cup frozen chopped onion
1 can rotel - drained (I would only half drain)
1 can mushrooms - drained
1 can diced green chilies
2 TBSP taco seasoning
1/2 C shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 C shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 refrigerated pie crust

Salsa (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 425
Saute onion until tender
Brown turkey meat
Stir in tomatoes, mushrooms, chilies and seasoning
Cook on high heat until thoroughly heated

Unroll pie crust and place in a pie plate
Spoon mixture in plate
Bake at 425 for 20 minutes
Take out and top with cheese and bake for 5-10 minutes longer.
Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.
Top with salsa and sour cream if desired.
Serves 6!

Calories - 264
Carbs - 19
Fat - 11
Protein - 21

Yumm!

Counting Down - Week 23

Loss - 0.6 pounds

I'm counting down the weeks until our 4 year anniversary.  I want to be fitter, healthier and more self-confident by this date.  It is the date I'm shooting for to just feel better about myself.  So, each Thursday I will be blogging what I did right and wrong during the week and the things that have helped me get closer to my goal and the things that have pushed me further from the goal...

Things I did right - EXERCISED!  Like hard core!  I'm so proud of this.  Here was my log for the past week:
Saturday - weights & 2 mile walk
Sunday - walk/run - 3 miles
Monday - elliptical
Tuesday - weights
Wed - weights

Things I did wrong -
I ate TERRIBLE!  Like binged a couple of times.

For the next week, my reason for wanting to lose weight is to wear my grey and black dress pants with the matching tanks and cardigans this fall OH and wear my purple sweater dress!

Play Date

Since Parker has been old enough to "play" with other kids, I have been sad that we couldn't participate in "play dates."  All the single moms make it sound like so much fun, and I felt like we were missing out on something important.  THEN, I got the bright idea to have a play date - just later in the afternoon after I got home from work.  Parker has a friend named Gavin.  They are the same age (both born in July) and the same size and interested in the same things - trains! And his mommy is helping me to get into shape.  Parker only sees Gavin on Sunday mornings in the nursery.  I decided that there was no reason Gaving couldn't come over and play with Parker... So, he did!  They had fun, We had fun and it was a success - Here are the things that I feel made it successful:

• I  had cleaned up the house the weekend before, but didn't worry about the house looking "perfect."  Parker's toys were kind of scattered, but that was okay.
• I had prepped dinner the night before, so I knew when the play date was over, dinner would be easy.
• I invited someone that Parker knew well and I knew well.
• I did not have high expectations... I just wanted the boys to have fun.
• I came home and changed out of my work clothes and into comfy clothes and didn't feel obligated to get dressed up again.
• I let the boys set the pace - they played with trains for a while and then they played outside... I didn't force them to play in a certain area.

So, all in all, I was VERY proud of myself for being a working mommy and hosting a play date during the week.  No, I didn't have fru fru food. No, I didn't look all that cute.  No, I didn't have a super clean house.  BUT the boys had a great time playing with each other and really, isn't that what a play date is suppose to be about? 

New Toy!!!

I've been playing with my new toy this afternoon!  A new washing machine!  Mine has been torn up for about six months.  We have already paid $100 to have it fixed and it still didn't work right.  Sometimes it wouldn't spin the water out of it... to make it work I had to jerk the agitator back and forth violently and beat on the panel where the knobs are.  It was quite a site.  We were hoping to wait until September because it just made more sense money-wise, but after an intense fight with it on Saturday, Mark decided to go ahead and order one.  Let me just say the fit that I pitched and the fight that I had would have convinced anyone to give me anything I asked for.  I had beat on it and jerked the agitator back and forth and then re-started it about ten times.  Left it alone for an hour and then went back for round two.  For the first time, it kicked my butt... I was kicking it and screaming and crying when Mark and Parker walked in the laundry room.  It scared Parker and obviously convinced Mark not to wait until September.  He picked it up today and I LOVE it!  It is amazing and washes A LOT of clothes.  I've already washed a load of darks and a load of towels are in there now.  I was amazed at how much drier the clothes felt going into the dryer.  My brain is full of the user manual and I'm looking forward to washing a lot more loads of clothes AND not having to fight with it to work.  Now I wonder how long it will take my dryer to quit working...  ha ha!  I'm a sucker for matching sets!  And here is my new washer... Yes, I love it that much that I had to hug it.  I plan to keep it looking shiny and new for a long time... unlike the old one that looks like it set outside in a hail storm from all the hitting and kicking it took.

The First of Many

Parker is two.  In the two years of his life, he has stayed at home with sitters and with his grandparents.  I know most mothers deal with this long before two years old... but I believe that we have just ruined a perfectly good shirt.  When I picked him up this afternoon, I found that he had GREEN paint on the front of his shirt and the back!  I have no clue how to get the paint out.  I'm soaking it in cold water and dish detergent hoping to be able to salvage it.  It is only one of the few new outfits he has gotten this summer.  We do a lot of hand-me-downs at our house - and are very thankful for them!  Guess I better brush up on my stain removing - I have a feeling arts and crafts will ruin a lot of clothes if I'm not careful!  On the other hand, he had the most awesome time  painting his frog and told us that was his favorite part of the day...  Isn't he a cutie?

My Mommy promised me sidewalk chalk so I would be still!

Monday, Monday!

Why are Mondays so hard?  Parker has just started day care - we are in our second week and he goes on Mondays and Thursdays.  That is the first reason it is hard!  The second reason is that by Sunday afternoon, I'm just moving into that "I'm relaxed because it is the weekend" mode.  The third is that I have high hopes for Mondays... big plans that never really come to fruition... So, how did our weekend go??
Friday night - I cleaned the whole house while Mark helped. 
Saturday - painted the gates on the porch, worked out, went to Section for a birthday party and then home to eat China House after driving through a huge down pour and listening to Parker scream.
Sunday - Parker tricked Mark into letting him stay home instead of going to church and that is when I entered my "weekend mode"  All the cleaning was done.  All the cooking was complete.  I actually set down on the couch for longer than five minutes.  AND I took a glorious nap! 

Monday, Monday came too soon.  My alarm went off at 4:20 to work out.  I rolled out at 4:40 and found Parker standing in the living room at 4:50.  After he was settled then I hopped back on for a 30 min. workout!  It was nice to get a good thirty minutes in, although I was shooting for 50  minutes (should have gotten my butt up when the alarm went off!).  Packing lunch, school stuff for Parker and then leaving the house was accomplished by 6:30 - I was so proud of myself!  It is shaping up to be another Monday though - I've eaten too many calories already - so I've got to burn off 300 more when I get home - but hey, maybe the little bug wants to go see the donkey's down the road again??  There are perks to living in the country! 

Weekly Menu

The one thing that I do each weekend to make my life much smoother during the week is plan our dinner menu, snack ideas and breakfast ideas.  I only shop for groceries once week (or at least I try).  We have a lot of food in our house, so I'm trying to coordinate our dinners around food that is already in the house so that we do not have to buy more than necessary!  Especially this week when we have a lot of "non food" things on the list!

Below is what we will be eating for dinners, snacks and breakfasts next week!

Dinner
Monday - Turkey Spaghetti w/ Whole Wheat Noodles
Tuesday - Sloppy Joes & Sweet Potato Fries
Wednesday - Chicken Stir-Fry & Brown Rice
Thursday - Deep Dish Taco Pizza
Friday - Left Overs

Snacks
Apples & cheese
Bananas & Pistachios
Granola Bars
Greek Yogurt and Frozen Strawberries

Breakfasts
Cereal, blueberries & turkey bacon (the hubby)
Green Monsters or eggs with bacon (me)
cereal or cereal bars (the love bug)