S'Weekend

S'Weekend is how MonkeyGirl says "This Weekend". Whenever anyone in my family says this weekend, it's now s'weekend.


I got so spoiled this weekend... My hubs was off work, we all had such a good weekend, and I didn't want it to end.


I have recently discovered how much I love our backyard. Ever since we moved in, I've always been scared to go back there because we have alligators in that waterway. Saturday morning, I went out there just to stand on the dock since it was absolutely gorgeous out, and I saw SO many turtles. We probably have 20 of them at any given moment back there. Like huge ones, hubcap sized turtles. Because of the gators, we're very uneasy about having the kids out back, even with us right there with them.

But this Saturday morning with no gators in sight, we brought out a cup of fishfood and the kids and let MonkeyGirl throw the fishfood in the water to feed the turtles. 

And then we went inside and MonkeyGirl made Daddy's hair pretty...

And during naptime, I got to relax in bed and catch up on my guilty pleasure... reality shows...

Saturday night HockeyStud and I went out on a date! It was so nice, and I even broke out my special perfume just for him... Eau De Baby Puke...    Not kidding, I smelled like baby puke on our date. We had sushi and then went to see Just Go With It. Very cute and funny movie!

On Sunday we went out to breakfast and then to Barnes and Noble, which from my previous post, you know I LOVE bookstores. While I was strolling around, I came upon this old man...

I had to make this pic huge so you could see it in full effect... Thank me later.

OMG! Ok... if you're going to read trashy books (which I am so guilty of), PLEASE do not display it for the whole world to see. Especially if you're like 70 years old.

- Jessica

A HodgePodge of Books

I'm linking up to HodgePodge Friday! When I was younger, and even into high school, I did not like to read, I actually despised it, and when I did have to read for school, I just skimmed through because I thought of reading as a chore. Now that I have gotten older, I LOVE to read. It's an indulgence for me now... Just to curl up with a good book and get lost in the pages. I love browsing through bookstores. I literally could spend hours upon hours at a bookstore, and I have. My husband and I go off in different directions... he heads off to the political or history section, and I to the fiction/chick lit, cookbook, or magazine section. My little MonkeyGirl is an avid "reader" too. She flips through the pages, making up a story based on the pictures. She reads to me and loves to read to LittleMonster.

We have a bookshelf in our bedroom. Most of those are HockeyStud's books. I have a Kindle, and read most of my books on there.

I hardly ever get to read now though, sadly. When I was pregnant with the boy I read quite a bit, but now when I have a spare minute or two at night, I just want to either spend time with the Hubs, or sleep. I really should find more time to get lost in a book...

Here are some of my faaaaav books...


Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner. Appropriately, I read this when I was pregnant. It's about Mommies and I loved it.

Jemima J by Jane Green. I love Ms. Green's books. I've only read a few of them and this one is the best, in my opinion. This is definitely chick lit.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This is the only Picoult book I have read, surprisingly, since I love those sappy books. I had a hard time putting this book down. I read this on a trip to North Carolina to visit my grandparents with my mom and MonkeyGirl and I had such a hard time putting it down. I cried during several parts of this book. Also, I haven't seen the movie because I was told the ending is different and not as good as the book, so I didn't want to spoil how AWESOME this book was.

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. This book is pretty emotional. This male author did an amazing job talking and "acting" like a female. Awesome book, plan and simple.

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen. Poignant and touching. My heart broke for this mother and son. I had a hard time putting this one down as well, anxiously awaiting to see what this woman's next step was.

Sink Reflections by Maria Cilley (The FlyLady). This is my current book that I'm very slowly reading. Since I'm obsessed with learning about organization, I wanted to give this book a go. So far, so good.

Some of MonkeyGirl's favorite books (and my fav Children's Books)...

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. This is so stinkin cute. We saw a play about this book a little while back. MonkeyGirl LOVED it!

On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman. I bought this book when I was pregnant with Monkey. It is SO sweet and beautifully written and illustrated. My favorite lines in this book are: "Not once had there been such eyes, such a nose, such silly-wiggly little toes." and "Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn, on the wonderful marvelous night you were born." Very special book.

And, of course Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. This is such a classic. I have this memorized from front to back. In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of... The cow jumping over the moon...

I would love to know what your favorite books are!

- Jessica

Tasty Thursday - Soy Chicken Wings and Update on Coffee Rehab

I made these Soy Chicken Wings last night, and got halfway through and thought Damnit! I forgot to take pictures for my Tasty Thursday post! So, I took ONE picture. Because after that picture, I completely forgot to take more pictures, plus I was just too hungry to even think about stopping to take pictures.

Soy Chicken Wings

Ingredients

1 package chicken wings (I always use drumettes)
1 bottle reduced sodium soy sauce
Garlic Powder (No clue on measurement of this)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread out chicken wings in a pan and sprinkle liberally with garlic poweder. Pour entire bottle of soy sauce over chicken wings. Baste wings with excess soy sauce that's in the pan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Baste wings again. Bake in oven for another 10 minutes, and baste again.

This is my only sad picture.

Bake for another 10 minutes and baste wings, but this time pour off excess soy sauce and bake for 25 minutes. The wings will get nice and dark.
I usually serve this with sauteed squash with onions and brown rice.


As for my progress with the Coffee Rehab... I'm sloooowwwwly getting there. I'm down to 6 sugars, instead of 7 (yeah, see... slowly) and I switched to Low Fat Coffee Mate creamer.   This past weekend (like 2 days after I wrote my first coffee rehab post) when I was at my mom's, I asked her to make me a cup of coffee and said you know how I like it... She looked at me with a smirk and I said "Yeah, ignore my blog post." So, she made it light and sweet... She's an enabler! Not her fault. I failed.

- Jessica

A Perfect Date

I feel like today is Tuesday. I was off work on Monday (WOOHOO!) But now my week is off by one day. So, this posting is pretty late...

Saturday I had an AMAZING day date with an extremely special person. This person and I went to the movies, shared popcorn and a drink, and halfway through the movie, snuggled together in one seat.

MonkeyGirl and I had an awesome time! We saw Gnomeo and Juliet, which by the way is very cute! I think this Mommy/Daughter date was more special for me than her. It was so nice just for her and I to spend some alone time together. I definitely want to do this more often.

Sunday the kids and I went to my mom's for a family get-together. LittleMonster loved being outside, just sitting in his highchair and smiling...

And making silly faces... What up with this face?!

- Jessica

I Heart Coffee

I loooovvvee me some coffee. BUT, the way I like my coffee is not so healthy... I love half and half and lotsa sugaaa.

I have to have at least one cup a day, in the morning, or I'm a monster. It's my drug. I get withdrawls by the afternoon, if I don't have my morning cup, I get a migraine, and can't function.

I don't want to give up my coffee completely, since coffee by itself isn't bad for you. But I do want to give up my unhealthy cream and sugar habit.

So... I've created a plan... Muuhhaahaahaa...

Consider this, my Coffee Rehab.

Reduce, Replace, Eliminate

Step 1: Reduce the amount of sugar I put in coffee (I put in 7 packets of Raw Sugar... I know... BAD!)
           Start with 6 packets (which I did today)  and gradually reduce each week.

Step 2: Reduce the amount of half and half (this is the hardest part for me). I usually put in about 1/2-3/4 cup
            of half and half (I know... WHOA!) Start with only putting 1/4 cup in (I didn't do this today).

Step 3: Once I get used to the lesser amount of half and half, replace with Whole Milk, do this for a week
            straight.

Step 4: The next week, replace Whole Milk with 2% Milk. This one may take a while to get used to.

FINAL STEP: Once used to 2% Milk, replace with 1% Milk.

I will be completely satisfied if I can replace my half and half with 1% Milk and my 5 million pounds of sugar, with 1 packet. I would REALLY like to learn to love black coffee. We'll see...

Happy Friday, Loves!

- Jessica

Tasty Thursday - Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie and Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy

This recipe is for Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie. Sounds kinda... Weird. But it's got that sweet and savory taste to it and it's SUPER easy. Also, I made biscuits and chocolate gravy for Valentine's Day dessert, which was AH-MAY-ZING!


Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients


1 lb ground beef or turkey (I use turkey)
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 bag frozen mashed sweet potatoes
1 jar fat free gravy
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Boil water and add frozen veggies. 

Cook meat thoroughly in a pan that is sprayed with cooking spray. 

Cook (in microwave) and prepare sweet potatoes according to package directions. In a casserole dish, mix together cooked meat, cooked veggies and gravy. 

Spread mashed sweet potatoes evenly over meat mixture. 

Cook in oven for 15 minutes. Add cheese on top during the last 5-8 minutes.

I had to take a break while cooking to feed this ravenous beast... and to enjoy watching miss thang "cook".




Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy

Ingredients


Refrigerated biscuits, preferably the big and flaky kind
8 tbsp butter (yep, that's a whole stick o' butter!)
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Melt butter in a saucepan. 

Stir in cocoa powder and flour until well blended and a little bubbly from the heat. Mix in sugar, making the mixture very thick. Slowly add the milk, whisking consistently. Continue to cook on low-medium heat, whisking constantly. 

The mixture will take about 5-8 minutes to become gravy-like. Mix in vanilla and salt, remove from heat. Spoon over biscuits while hot.




- Jessica

Menu Plan Monday and V-DAY!

On the Menu for this week...

Monday: Sweet Potato Shephard's Pie

Tuesday: Pork Fried Rice

Wednesday: Baked Chicken Drumsticks, Red Potatoes, and Sauteed Squash & Onions

Thursday: Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs over Brown Rice, with Asparagus (This was on the menu for last week, but I didn't make it)

Friday: Pork, Black Beans, and Brown Rice


Since HockeyStud has to work today, he and I celebrated Valentine's Day this weekend by going to Ikea and Z Gallarie. We went to Ikea about a month ago, right before we moved into our new house, and we got A LOTTA stuff. We found this awesome glass table top to use as a desk. It was our favorite purchase of that day! So... we got moved in the new house and when it came time to set up our office area, the hubs opened the desktop box, and guess what... ?!?! It was the wrong effing desktop. It was just plain black wood. UUGHHH! I guess we grabbed the wrong box out of the warehouse. This Saturday we had a day date (just the 2 of us, no kids!) and drove the hour and 20 mins to Ikea to return the stupid hunk of wood, along with a barstool that was chipped, and some shelving that we just couldn't use. The return process was a breeeeze. From the return area, we were on a hunt for that damn desk! So... la la la, we're strolling through the 2nd floor, looking at all the awesome-ness of Ikea and we spot OUR desk! There it is... rush over to it to write down the aisle and bin number, accurately so we make sure we don't mess up this time... but instead of the aisle and bin number, there was a sign that said "OUT OF STOCK"... WHAT THE HELL?!?! Of course this happens. We talked to someone who worked there, they checked the computer and it showed they had 4 in stock. We rush down to the warehouse area, skipping the Swedish Meatballs (which is a sin) so we can get our desk! Nope, none there... of course. One of the workers said there must be a mistake in the computer, he suggested we go to the "As Is" section in hopes there's one over there. Nope, none there either, but one of the guys in that section suggested we talk to a manager to get one of the floor models, since there are 2 floor models. Long story short, my hubs told me just to sit down, while he ran around like crazy trying to find a manager on a Saturday afternoon in Ikea. He got turned down by a couple people saying there was no way we could have the floor model. A manager just happened to overhear, and HockeyStud gave a sob story of how we drove all the way over here just for this desk, we have 2 kids, we had to borrow a truck, it's not easy for us to get over here... blah blah... he said take it! ... WOO HOO... we got our desk, plus we got $25 off because it was a floor model! It's beautimous and oh so worth the trouble we HockeyStud went through.

He and I also went to Z Gallerie on Sunday and got an awesome piece of art to go on the big blank wall that runs from the Living Room to the Dining Room. I will definitely be posting pictures of that baby once it's hung up.

Happy Valentine's Day!

- Jessica

Show Us Your Life: Beauty Secrets

Sharing my beauty "secrets" over at Kelly's Korner. Well, mine aren't really secrets, it's more like my daily routine... Exciting?... Eh, not really...

This is my everyday makeup bag. I don't use all of these products everyday, but they're in there because these are my most used products. I also have a make-up drawer at home, which has products (MAC eyeshadows mostly) that I love, but don't use everyday.

I swear by this Pur Minerals foundation, bronzer and blush. It's so light, but has amazing coverage.

I just use basic brushes. The first one here is a MAC eyebrow pencil. I have naturally thin eyebrows, so this helps define them and fill them in. The next is a simple eyeshadow brush, then a blending brush, and a fine flat brush that I use to put eyeshadow on as eyeliner. I also swear by MAC Paint Pot (not pictured). It's an eyeshadow primer and makes my eyeshadow stay on all day, no creasing or smudging.

These are my favorite eyeshadow palettes. The first one is Urban Decay Ammo Palette. It's pretty basic, but the colors are wonderful, and blend very nicely. The other one is a MAC palette with purple shades... I use this one quite often. I have green eyes, and purple compliments them.

I almost always use 2 different mascaras. Usually one that thickens, and one that lengthens. My current ones are Maybelline's Colossal and Stiletto. I was blessed with very short eyelashes... so I do whatever I can to make them longer and fuller, without going the false lashes route.

As for my hair...  I usually blow-dry and straighten my hair. I have an A-line bob hairstyle, and it looks best when it's straightened. My hair is naturally curly, which I liked when my hair was longer, but not too fond of my curly-ness now that it's short. The hubs loves my curly hair... He calls it my "bad girl hair" Ha! I had to go curly today because it's rainy and humid here, and if I straightened my hair, it would puff up the second I stepped outside and I would look like a frizzball. Not good.


- Jessica

A Weighty Issue and Tasty Thursday

I miss excercising. Before my husband and I started dating, and even in the beginning stages of our relationship, I was so dedicated to the gym. If I missed a day, my whole day was thrown off. Some days, I would drag myself out of bed at 4:45am to get to Spinning class at 5:30am.

I also was addicted to Kickboxing class and BodyPump. O.M.G. I miss BodyPump. It's a class where you lift weights.

Like that. I got such a rush lifting weights and sweating my ass off... sweat pouring off of me, dripping down my elbows when I did squats with the weights. Sounds gross, huh? I LOVED it. The music pumping in the background just made me push myself even harder.

Kickboxing just made me feel strong and powerful. Something about watching myself in those huge mirrors in the class, kicking and punching, with the bass-pumping music in the background, made me get a rush too.

I would love to get back into it again. I would have to do some serious planning with my schedule and family time in order to squeeze one of these classes in. I have lost all of my baby weight, plus more. I am in no way bragging about this... I'm just happy to be the size I am now. I went from a size 10 before I got pregnant with LittleMonster, to a size 4/6 (depending on what store) five months after I had him. Just last week I had to go buy new work pants because my pre-pregnancy size 10's were literally falling off of me. When I went on a hunt for new pants, I really had no idea what size I was. I came home with New York and Company size 4, and Express size 6. I gained 40 and some odd pounds with MonkeyGirl, and exactly 30 pounds with LittleMonster. When I came home from the hospital, I had 15 more to lose. That came off within 3 months. The next 2 months, I lost another 10 pounds. I'm pretty happy with my weight now... I would like to lose another 10. But, I know that won't happen without working out. Is it weird that I'm divulging all of this info about my size on the internet?! Ahh, well...

Now, on to a contradicting topic... FOOD!

Every Thursday, I would like to post a new recipe... preferably, a healthy one. Tasty Thursday!

This recipe is my go-to stir fry. I usually make this about once every 2 weeks, just because it's pretty healthy and VERY easy and quick, which is always a must for me during the week.

Stir Fry

1 pound of chicken (cubed), or pork or beef (both in strips)

1 package of SteamFresh veggies (I usually use the kind that has carrots, broccoli, edamame, etc.)

Whole wheat thin spaghetti (I use about 1/2 a box to feed 3)

3/4 cup of Light Asian Toasted Sesame salad dressing (Kraft brand)

3 Tablespoons teriyaki sauce, divided

Start by boiling the water for your pasta. Depending on what meat you chose, cut the chicken into cubes, or cut the beef or pork into strips. Coat a pan with cooking spray (I use Crisco Canola Oil Spray). Place meat into pan and cook on medium-high heat. While the meat is cooking, add the spaghetti to the boiling water, and cook according to the package directions. Also, place the bag of SteamFresh veggies in the microwave and cook according to the package directions. Once the veggies are done steaming in the microwave, add them to the meat in the pan, and reduce heat to low. Add 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce to meat and veggies in pan and mix throroughly. In a mixing bowl, mix the Light Asian Toasted Sesame dressing with 1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce (add less or more depending on your preference). Drain the spaghetti. Add spaghetti to the Sesame dressing and teriyaki sauce mixture, and coat the pasta with the sauce (I use tongs to mix). Add meat and veggie mixture to pasta, and mix. Serve hot!

I need to add pictures to go along with my Tasty Thursday recipes! Pictures always make a recipe look more yummy.

- Jessica