800-588-2300 EMPIRE!!

Take a listen to Preston's favorite new commercial. It's actually scary to think that a 2 year old picks up on commercials!!

Our Weekend Getaway---SO FUN!!

I posted earlier that Wes and I were going on a romantic getaway this past weekend. We had so much fun!! This was our king size bed that was oh so nice!! We also had an LCD TV in there.

Here's the bathroom, with granite counter tops and marble floors. Now, I'm sorry that I am obsessed with this bathroom, but it's just so nice! Note to self though, the marble floors are waaaay cold to walk on. I guess I'll stick to my linoleum that looks like fake tile! :)

Okay, here's my favorite part! This tub was just awesome!! It filled up in like a minute and then the drain was like from the space program or something because it sucked the water down super fast. And yes, this tub does fit two people, but you know Wes and I would never do anything like that.............:)

(HACKED) We had a nice little set of free Appetizers and drinks in the afternoon.

We did have a wonderful time!!

Taste Test Tuesday- Can Betty Crocker Save Me?

For the past 2 months, I have been having a strange craving for those big sugar cookies with M & M's that you can get at the mall for like $10 a piece. So, I thought being the frugal gal that I am, I could easily recreate them and be happy!

I had my first attempt a few weeks ago, and I don't even know what happened!! I am usually pretty good at cookies, but these were the worst looking bunch of cookies I had ever made! You know when the cookies spread and become paper thin? Yeah, that's what these looked like! I will say that Wes and I still ate them, but they were far from what I was wanting. A friend suggested I just try the Sugar Cookies from Betty Crocker and put M &M's on them. So, here's how that turned out:

I did two different types, one with the M & M's on top and some with them just in the batter. The ones with the candy on top turned out better, but they weren't exactly what I was hoping for. I may just have to shell about $1.50 for a cookie and get it over with!! If you have a recipe that might work for me....let me know!!

On a final note: The funny thing about this cookie obsession is that the M & M's give me terrible heartburn! I don't know why! So, everytime I eat one, it's a sacrifice for my unborn child. Oh fine, not too much of a sacrifice! :)

Hurry...Free Photo Valentines

A sight I love to frequent, www.moneysavingmom.com has a link to a great deal to get 6 free photo valentine cards! Here's the post:

Six free Valentine's photo cards

Get six free Valentine's photo cards with free shipping when you go here and use the coupon code Valentine at check out. Valid through February 1, 2009.

The cards look really cute and easy to make. Let me know if you make some! Now, I just need to take a cute picture of Preston for the card!!

It's Finished!!

Yeah, the nursery is finally done! Preston junk is all moved out and the room is ready for Baby Cook! I am still speechless about how many clothes this kid is going to have (thanks to the generous grandparents and my garage sale obsessions from Preston!). Both sides are filled with clothes and those only go up through 3 months. I haven't done the math, but I don't think he's even going to be able to wear that many outfits in 3 months!

Ahhh....but I did forget about the pooping and the spitup. My bad. Those things are so nice to be able to put out of your mind! So, anyway, take a look at the nursery! Looks good to me! And for those who see all of the diapers up there and say "I thought she does cloth diapers!" well, I do, but not for the first few months. I can hardly say my own name let alone do laundry in the first few months. That is why I force my mom to stay with us as long as possible. For some reason though, she's happy to stick around!! (as long as I'm not biting her head off, which I've been known to do...oops.)

Until Later.....

Sorry I haven't written too much lately. Not so much happening around these parts. Our internet has also been on the fritz off and on for a while! But now it's working...yeah! This weekend, Wes and I are taking off to go to a hotel for a night and just relax and enjoy ourselves without Preston! I am soo excited I can't even contain it!

I have been working hard on the nursery, but you wouldn't believe how messy it is! I will post pictures because I have no shame, but you have to promise not to be judgemental! I am about 3/4's of the way done, but not quite there yet. Probably on Monday I will be able to post the finished results. I think you will be impressed.

*Warning:* To my friends and family who can't stand messes (you know who you are!!), you may need to take a seat and take some blood pressure medication before viewing these photos!!

Okay here's the pics...................

Yikes! What a mess, but it looks 100 times better now. Keep tuned in......

Steak and Shake Chili and Corn Bread- Taste Test Tuesday

I thought since the weather has been so cold outside, it's time to have something to eat that warms our hearts and stomaches. So, chili and cornbread it is! Before I give you the recipes, I forgot to take pictures of the prep of the chili!! But really, once you get the meat browned, the rest is all about dumping and simmering! :) I did get pictures of the cornbread (my first time making it) and boy was it yummy! We had Wes' uncle over for dinner and four of us ate almost the whole thing!!

Here's the recipe for Steak and Shake Chili: (and Wes said it's pretty close, but not quite)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (10 1/2 ounce) can Campbell's French onion soup

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons cocoa

2 (15 ounce) cans hot chili beans

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

10 oz. Coke (not diet!)

Directions

Brown ground beef and salt. Put soup in blender, blend for 1 minute. Add all ingredients to the drained meat and heat thoroughly for 45 minutes. Stir frequently.

See, easy as cake!

Here's the recipe for the Golden Sweet Cornbread from www.allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

This recipe is also sooo easy and very yummy!

Here's some pics of the cornbread...........

The ingredients...pretty basic pantry staples.

Ready to go in the oven.

You'll want to check it with a toothpick to make sure it's ready or else it will collapse a little in the middle.

Mmmmm.......I wish I still had some left!

Awww...isn't that cute?

I've been wanting to share this picture for a long time but I keep forgetting....that's why it's all the way back from Christmas! When I look at it, I'm just so thankful for my guys!! I just love them both so much. And now we get to add another one to our family and I'm so excited!! I couldn't have asked for a better family than these guys!!

Well, things have definitely settled down around here since my last post. Our heat is back to keeping up, my rash has gone away significantly and my cold is lessening each day! Each day that goes by is better and better! I've only got about 6-7 weeks left before Baby Cook's arrival!! At times I feel like I've been pregnant forever and other times I can't believe how fast time has flown. My next clean-up project is the nursery. Hopefully I can get to that today or tommorow! Today I also am going to be posting a Taste Test Tuesday for Steak and Shake Chili and cornbread. Perfect for a cold day!!

We're still here.....barely.

What a week it has been! I started off the week getting a really bad head cold and ended this week with a still kinda bad headcold plus a plugged up ear and a giant rash on my huge 'ol pregnant belly! Now, normally I can handle being sick alright, but there's something about being pregnant and sick that I just HATE! I turn into a huge whiner. Just ask Wes!

Also this week, the temperatures have been freezing!! The past few days have been below zero (I know you MI people are saying suck it up!!). Well, our wonderful heater has decided it's way too cold to be able to keep up with the temps so it's settled for mediocrity. Which means it's been between 57 and 63 in the house for the past 3 days. So, I have either holed up Preston and I upstairs where it's a little warmer or stayed at friends/families houses for a really long time. So, needless to say, it's been a little crazy! I hope that everyone is staying warm and happy!!

Here's a quick funny/gross Preston moment: This morning his diaper decided to fall off and go down one leg of his sleeper. Well, when it was time to do his daily "business" that ended up going down the other leg of this sleeper! Poor guy was traumatized as were we. Thanks to Wes for taking care of that one! Way to take one for the team!

What in the world is a jicama???

I am signed up for weekly emails regarding this new baby. Each week they say something like your baby is 2.0 pounds, about the size of ________ (usually a vegetable of some sort). This week's email just cracked me up! Here's how big Baby Cook is: He is the size of a large jicama. Well of course he is.....why didn't I realize that!? Now, to the business of what a jicama is!! Maybe I'm the only one on the planet who doesn't know...but I doubt it.

Well after much research (okay 2 seconds) I managed to get a picture of what our baby Cook resembles:

He's so cute, isn't he?? Well, at least I now know what a jimica looks like. A badly formed potato. I can die happy now.

Project #4- The bookshelf

It's funny to me that I have to do a whole project on just our bookshelf, but if you look at the pictures, you will see why. Also, look at who I recruited to help!! Wes loves the top of the bookshelf and had created the ultimate clutter zone. To his credit, he did it with almost no complaining once I told him he was fibbing when he said he had to leave for his basketball game an hour early to warm up. Haha. Does he think I was born yesterday??? And yes, that is a flag that he has behind his ear. He must have been feeling especially patriotic.

Here's the before pictures:

YIKES!!

Not too bad, but I just had a lot of books that I didn't need to keep around.

And here's the after:

Pretty good huh? So this is my last thing to organize downstairs so I will be moving upstairs and start on stuff up there. Oh the mess that awaits me..........

Braised Herb Chicken Thighs with Potatoes- Taste Test Tuesday

Sorry for the delay in doing Taste Test Tuesday! I feel my energy starting to wane and cooking can sometimes get lowered on my to-do list! But I did come across a really yummy recipe to share. We really liked it and it's from Cooking Light, so that's also a good thing!

Here's the recipe from Cooking Light:

Choose red skin potatoes that are similar in size so they'll be done at the same time.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 2 thighs and about 1 1/3 cups vegetable mixture)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), skinned
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups (2-inch-thick) slices carrot
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered

Preparation
Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken; seal bag, shaking to coat.
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken and remaining flour mixture to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly brown. Add carrot and onion; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add broth, wine, and potatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

Stacy's Notes: I halfed this recipe since we couldn't each eat two chicken thighs each, but I did make a full batch of the coating for the chicken and it was just enough! I also used boneless skinless chicken thighs for this so it was easier for me not to have to worry about the bones! I also didn't use wine, I just used extra chicken broth. My potatoes were little russets and not red potatoes, but I'm sure red potatoes would be just as good! All in all, it was a good recipe that ended up yielding a really yummy gravy!

Here's my pictures:

The Ingredients

I tried to not mess with these too much so that the spice would stay on there good.

This is what it looks like while it is simmering for 35 minutes....and it smells delicious!

And here's the finished product! I actually liked the carrots and the onions in there. It gave it really great flavor!

Under the Weather....

Because being almost 8 months pregnant isn't enough to slow me down, my body decided it was time to get a really really bad cold! I mean, I haven't been this miserable for a long time! For the past few nights, I've been waking up every hour either blowing my nose, having heartburn, or having to go the bathroom! And now my voice sounds like I smoke about 8 packs of cigarrettes a day! It has not been fun. But thank the Lord, Preston is still sleeping at 9:20am! There is a silver lining. I just hope I can beat this thing quick. Thanks for listening to my gripes! Hope everyone else is feeling a lot better than I am!

Project #3- The Laundry Room

I'm loving this decluttering thing. I love having a place for everything to go!! It also makes me think twice about bringing anything new into the house because I have to ask myself "Do we have a place to put this?"

My next project was to tackle the laundry room. Since Christmas, this room has been a catch-all. Now it's looking pretty good!

Here's the before pictures:

And here's the after pictures:

I hope you can tell the difference! I sure can everytime I walk in the room. More to come.......

Need Financial Help??

Oprah's new financial guru, Suze Orman is giving away a free download of her book, Suze Orman's Action Plan 2009. Go to www.oprah.com and get your free copy. The only downside is you have to read it from your computer, but hey, I'm not complaining! Hurry because the download is only available until January 15th!

Project #2- Declutter Island

Around this time last year, Wes and I bought a kitchen island which has been sooo wonderful for the kitchen. It comes with a large storage area underneath that I haven't been utilizing very well so it was next on the declutter agenda. Oh, by the way, if I have any male readers, I apologize in advance for all of the girly posts....maybe I can get Wes to do a post about how to trim nose hairs or something!

Anyway, here's the pictures of before.

So, my goal was to purge all of the recipes I had printed out over the last few years. I also had too much clutter in there, like scrapbooking stuff and pictures books. So, those had to move elsewhere.

Here's how it looks after!

Deal Alert: Fazolis!

This month, Fazoli's is giving out some great coupons to be used if you join their website. If you sign up, you will automatically get a coupon for free spaghetti with the purchase of a drink! Each week, it's rumored that they will send you new coupons. Here's the link to sign up!

http://www.freespaghetti.com/

Here's a list of the other coupons that they are rumored to be sending soon:

WEEK ONE: Free Small Spaghetti with Drink purchase

WEEK TWO: Buy One Small Spaghetti Get One Free (Spaghetti Marinara or Meat Only)

WEEK THREE: Kids Eat Free in January with Adult Entrée Purchase

WEEK FOUR: Buy One Small Pasta Entrée Get One Free (Spaghetti, Penne or Fettuccine) WEEK FIVE: Free Small Spaghetti with Drink purchase

WEEK SIX: Buy One Small Pasta Entrée Get One Free (Spaghetti, Penne or Fettuccine)

I found this deal on www.slickdeals.net. It's a kinda complicated website to find deals on but they are usually the best place to find the deals. This is where I found out about the Old Navy movie ticket deals.

A Close Call.....

My dear boy almost gave me a heart attack on Sunday night. Earlier in the day, we had been over at his best buds house (Kaleb) and Wes was giving Kaleb a bangs trim. Preston must have been watching pretty close because later that night, we were sitting at the kitchen table and I was using scissors to cut something. When I wasn't looking, he grabbed them and took a big chunk of his bangs and opened up the scissors!! I knew if I freaked the scissors would snap shut and down would go a huge chunk of his hair! So, I calmly said "Ohhh, Preston what are you doing? You want Mommy to see that?" and he kindly handed them over. Crisis averted for now. I do forsee some brother haircutting in the future!

Declutter Project #1 The Pantry

As part of my declutter resolution, I decided it was time to clean out the pantry. It wasn't as scary as I expected....the oldest date I found was 2006, which I'm sure you wouldn't die from eating! :) Also something funny I found was a big canister of Peach Tea that Wes got from Costco about 2 years ago. Last year, I remember threatening him that I was going to throw it away because he wasn't drinking it so he promised he would. Well, guess what? The tea canister was still full but hard as a rock! Shhhh....don't tell Wes that I pitched it finally.

I don't have any before pictures, but I will for my next projects. This project did cost a little money. We bought a hanging shelf for the door and a little shelf for the floor. But those two things helped out a bunch!

Here's the pics of the finished pantry:

New Year's Resolutions.....

I usually don't like doing New Year's Resolutions, mostly because I'm one of those people that give things up by February! But this year is a little different just because we have some big life changes coming, most notably another member of our family. I feel like I'm going into this "having two kids thing" pretty blind, kinda like when I first had Preston, so I'm trying to prepare myself as much as possible! So, that leads to some New Years Resolutions that I hope I am able to keep:

1. I am resolving to cut down the clutter in my house. I have been trying to do this for a couple of months, but there are still ways that I can improve. This weekend I cleaned out the pantry and it just feels so much better to have an organized place where I can find food when I need it. The problem with this resolution is I want to get all the clutter under control by March. We'll see how it goes. I will post before and after pictures of projects that I have been working on so you can shake your head at how we attempted to live this way! No shame here!

2. As a family, we are resolving to get our finances under control. In years past we have tried sticking to a budget but we just haven't been able to. We don't ever go over the amount of what we had in the bank, but sometimes we put ourselves in stressful situations that we didn't have to if we would have been more careful. The good thing is our only debt is our house so that really gives us a lot of freedom. Last night Wes and I sat down and had our first monthly budget meeting to set things up. We allocated every dollar of what he makes into the budget. It's so weird because you feel like you are really poor after that conversation, but oh well! Nobody said it was going to be easy! So, without going into all the details, I will keep you updated on how we are doing on our budget.

That's it for New Year's Resolutions for now, because too many can be a bad thing! So, I hope you will find our experiences helpful.

Christmas Memories

Hi Everybody. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your families. We had a great time here. Our last houseguests just left yesterday so we have been busy tearing down all of the Christmas stuff. Wes has been up in the attic like a trooper, even though I keep fearing he's going to fall through the attic floor and end up in the loft. :) Here's some pictures from our celebration:

This is Preston hanging out with Lindsay and Gabe. He just recently learned everyone's name and was so cute at saying them. He also loved running into our upstairs bathroom while people were taking showers. SOOO SORRY!!

This is one of Preston's big presents from Mimi and Bapa. He got a Elmo Live which suprisingly does a lot of things! Yesterday Preston thought it was funny to make Elmo fall over because he is so helpless just laying there. He says in the little Elmo voice "Could someone please help me up??" Apparantly Preston likes to see him suffer. :)

And don't ask me who he thinks he's talking to on the cellphone....your guess is as good as mine.

Here's Aunt Mandy (which now he refers to as Mikey), Uncle Mike and Aunt Sara.

This is another one of his favorite toys from Mimi and Bapa. It's a CAT truck that goes forwards and backwards, dumps loads and plays music. How cool.

Sorry there are no pictures of Wes and I....we really didn't leave Preston home with my family and fly to Tahiti.......although, the weather could be nice this time of year!!