Another year has come and gone (almost)

I have met some amazing women. I have made some friends. I am still missing old friends and my Vegas.

We are having a NYE celebration tonight. Just a few friends and their families. Appetizers, wine, and champagne punch.

I have a good easy peasy punch recipe. Ready?
1-2 bottles of Champagne. Get the cheap stuff, no one will know. 1 bottle of ginger ale. 1-2 bags of semi frozen strawberries. Yum. Fast. Inexpensive for a crowd and people gobble it up.

I was planning to wear a fun sparkly cocktail dress that hasn't seen NYE in about 5 years... but then my husband said that I would be silly to do so. A friend said that might be silly. So, I will be in a sparkly top instead with some jeans or pants. Gotta add sparkle. It is NYE after all... even if I am cozy in my house.

I have seen some debate on Pinterest. Does it cause stress to regular moms to become Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart and Heidi Klum. No, IMO. I think it is great for ideas, inspiration, pairings. I like to keep tips, recipes, and the like together. I think that it is genius. What do you guys think? Do you get overwhelmed? Does it make you feel like you are less than a woman because you might not make your own play dough, cookie dough and dresses?

Tish

Football and Recipes

It has been so hard to not constantly have my tiny man in my arms. I have been really good at not lifting him much. I sometimes just cant take it and swoop him up--carefully of course.
I can hold him, just not lift him, so that makes my heart a little better. The upside is that the husband is doing most of the diaper changes these days :) Silver linings.

I have my 2 week check up at the Dr. tomorrow. I am doing pretty good. the disaster that is now my stomach is healing. It is still fairly swollen though.

I have been reading a lot. Finally read several Emily Giffin books-- she wrote "Something Borrowed" that was turned big screen. Cute books. I have a couple more to read. I have been utilizing the library. I must say, I do prefer my kindle though. It would be ridiculous to buy all of these short reads IMO. Do you guys have a kindle? Do you do the borrowing thing? I need to learn about it. Tell me if you know...

Football season is here and I love that! ASU and the CARDINALS. Now-- if they aren't playing each other, I will also root for Mizzou and The Chiefs. However, when push comes to shove, let's go Arizona!

I tried out a new spinach dip today.
8oz softened cream cheese
maybe 1/4-1/3 cup each of sour cream and mayo
garlic salt to taste
chili powder--beef it up since there is so much to balance it.
can of drained artichoke hearts
a cup or so of frozen spinach
mozzarella
Mix. Broil till cheese is bubbly and browned. Serve. It was pretty tasty.

I haven't cooked too much lately, but did whip up these things:

Baked Rigatoni with Spinach adapted from this skinnytaste recipe.

Olive Garden's Pasta Fagioli soup adapted from a pinterest recipe I found. I only had one can of kidney beans. I didn't have any tomatoes on hand and it still was pretty good. Next time I will fully cook the pasta before adding it to the soup since it sucked most of the juices when I cooked the pasta in the actual soup. Other than that, this soup will be on a rotation for me. Was really good.

My next new thing to try is hummus. I couldn't find any of the tahini that many of the recipes call for, so I will try it with out using that little guy. Some people say that you can use PB but that it is then not real hummus. Other's say that you don't need it at all. Who knows. What I do know is that my baby loves hummus. Hummus is pricey and Maddox would eat his weight in it if we let him. Beans, olive oil and garlic are cheap. Mama will try this way.

Am thinking about what to do for Halloween. Trick or Treating kind of scares me. I watch too much television. I know there are some good places. I will ask around at the mama group. Which brings me to his costume.... Good Lord. What a task. Your child's (first) Halloween costume! Plus I kind of am toying with the idea of a family theme... Geeky? Maaaaybe.

Gotta go. The Cards are playing.

Post-Op

Had the surgery Friday. Been recovering since.... feeling better now but on the mend.
To let you know that I still am around-- here are a few pictures of goings ons.

The last picture portrays part of our new backyard we had done. Took out all the rock:

and added this:

The other side of the yard is the pool. I can't find a recent picture of it with all of the new things the husband added on this computer so, you just have to take my word for it :)

We went patio furniture shopping today. Who knew that those sets were so pricey? BUT, gotta get a nice conversation piece to go with the chiminea we want! Arizona has beautiful winters. Perfect for cozying up with the fire and cocoa.

Are you following me on Twitter and Pinterest? You should :)

Catch ya later babes.

Tish

Mom, Recipes and Smash Cake

My mom is in town! MY MOM IS IN TOWN!
I am beyond excited. Over the moon.

We have been just hanging out. Cooking, baking, shopping, playing Phase 10, watching little boy.

It has been so good y'all.

Some recipes:

*I made the Zucchini Boats again. So yummy.

*Also made Chile Colorado again. Made a couple extra and threw them in the freezer for next week.

*I tried this chicken. Good,  comforting, lots of leftovers. Will be good to unfreeze next week after my surgery.

*Made this cake. Was pretty good. I started with a box of Golden Vanilla. I am still working on my butter cream recipes so last night I used a can. Whoops.
I am starting to practice a smash cake for Maddox's 1st birthday. This cake was my first try. It is 2.5 six inch round cakes stacked on top of each other.
I found out that adding those sprinkles around the bottom of the cake is much harder than it looks and I also found out that I am a crappy froster. I must practice. Which means a lot of cake. I don't need a lot of cake in this house. Help. LOL.

Off to go be with my mom.

Tish

Cinderella and her bad luck

I have lots of Cinderella things to do today. Cinderella things are what I call my chores :)
It sounds better to me. I will say, "Cinderella has things to do today". Ha. I am a weirdo, I know.

I finally emptied the dishwasher. You guys, it has been clean and full since last week. Whoops. And i know that it has been, I just didn't FEEL like emptying it. LOL. I opted to just wash the dishes instead. How lazy. I can't even tell you WHY I didn't want to do it.

I cleaned the master bathroom. I need to wipe up and scrub toilets in the other baths as well today.
I cleaned the fridge shelves and drawers. Something was sticky. I have no idea what. I didn't have anything old or sticky in there. I clean the fridge every week. It was odd.

Then the standard, sweep, mop, vacuum, dust, clean the sliding glass door, wash the dog linens. Woo! Are you excited yet?

I was reading some other blogs today and Kelly's Korner had a post about a rep asking her (and other bloggers) to come to an all expense paid weekend to try out the resort and to bring her favorite child. I was appalled. That was certainly not a mom who thought that idea up.

OH NO!! NO NO NO.
I was eating a cheese stick as I was typing this up... and my temporary bridge just came out. Are you serious with this? Sigh. I am so unlucky with my teeth these days. I called to tell them and get in.. I was expecting, "just come when you can get here and we will fix it". Nope. She said 3:20. Almost 5 hours away :(

I guess that means Tropical Smoothie for lunch. Even though... I still feel like crying. Plus, the husband will not be back in time to leave Maddox home, so I will be that mom with her son at the dentists office. Sorry in advance to all.....

I am off to sulk and shower.

Tish

Guess who is EIGHT MONTHS old?!

Guess who is EIGHT MONTHS old?!

This happy boy, that's who! I just love this boy to pieces! He really is just the best little thing that could have ever happened to us.

He is wearing a size 3 diaper. He has had to be in night time diapers now overnight. He wears 6y-9 month clothing. Some of the pants are too big still, but that is ok. He wears some 9-12 and 12m clothes too. Especially if there is feet involved. He is so long. we bought him 3t-5t socks the other day and my husband about fainted. He has ginormous feet.

He loves to eat table food. Grilled cheese, hamburger quessadillas, yogurt, you name it.

He is just a joy.

I love you little one.

Mom

Unorganized Brain Dump.

This will be an unorganized brain dump.

*Last week I was on a watching Sex and the City kick. I love SATC. It is such a girl classic. I popped season 1 in. I though that I had all the seasons, but I seem to be missing 4-6. Maybe they didn't survive all the moves, maybe I am mistaken and don't own them, never did. Who knows. But I think I need to invest in 4, 5, and 6.

*All of last week I had no meal plan. I hate not having a meal plan outlined for the week. We winged it  and that was fine but I much prefer the organization. I sit and plan it out on Mondays usually. It takes a long time to figure out what we have, what we need and then go to the store to get said things, but it seems to make it easier on me. I always have an answer to the dreaded "What's for dinner?" question.

*My son had a full screaming tantrum at Target. I was "that mom". He just screamed and cried. I rushed to get what I came for and left. I think he was overly tired and maybe is teething again because he has been a bit edgy lately.

*We went to Babies and Books at the library per the usual. He loves the "Going to Kentucky" song. If I start singing it at home (since the friggin tune gets stuck in my head ALL DAY) he just starts laughing and smiling.



*I downloaded Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin on the kindle. I had seen the movie when it came out but A. I am forgetful and B. Books are always better. I read it pretty fast and then got a library book. GASP. I must say, I am spoiled with kindle. I prefer it. BUT for such fast reads, it makes sense to check them out and return them. I checked out Something Blue and am nearly done with that since Monday. Fast reads, even with a little guy on the go. I will see if the next in the series is at the library next week when we go.

*This weekend was a low key one. We swam and just hung out. It was nice to not have to do anything.

*My husband is out of town on a business trip. He has two per year and I hate being alone. I used to not mind, I did buy my own house and live there no problem. I feel like I used to be much more independent. Now, married and mommy me does not feel that way. I feel awkward going places as just TISH. Not the wife, not Maddox's mom. Terrible.

*ADT called me to say that my alarm was activated by the motion sensor last night on my way home from the grocery store. Awesome. Second time it has happened and both times sans husband in the state. I had left 2 of our 4 dogs out and I assumed that was what happened. The sensor goes to 100 pounds. Well Zoey is 85-90 pounds and Sam is 55pounds, so they must have stood in the beam at the same time.

*I met the mommy group at Arrowhead yesterday. I had planned to go already, but that was a bonus since I wont get to many meetings the rest of the month. Maddox wanted to play so badly. He would start crawling and pulling up on the toys and then big kids would race by him chasing each other and my little love would sob. It happened about 8 times. No parents around to discipline their children. I wanted to yell at them and tell them to have manners and inside voices and feet but I didn't. I cant believe how ill-behaved children are. It is their parents fault I believe. TEACH your kid how to act. WATCH your kid when they are playing. It is pretty simple. We left and went shopping after that. I doubt i go back unless it is pretty empty. They need to have a designated baby area.

Tish

Chick-Fil-A

Have you guys been hearing all of the comments and backlash toward Chick-Fil-A?

What are your thoughts on that?

I saw this letter today and couldn't help but smile.

I just can not wrap my head around the fact that Christians are spreading hate and close mindedness. Shouldn't their message be "treat others the way you want to be treated" and "God loves all the little children"?

If you don't like same sex marriage, don't dwell on it. Continue on with your life just as you did yesterday. What does someone else's spouse have to do with you? Marriage is hard. Straight or gay. I do not see how denying an entire group of people is a "good thing". How would you feel if it was your cousin, your sister, your uncle, your mom.

Christianity should equal forgiveness, grace, and love... not promote segregation and hate.

What's going on 'round here

We had a lazy weekend for the most part. Saturday was a pool day. I need some sun on these legs. Sunday we cleaned and napped and then I had to watch like 87 hours of TV Sunday night. Whew. Bachelorette was on, then After the Final Rose, then Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives. My husband was in TV hell.
Did you guys like Jef with one F as THE ONE? I think I do. Arie was such a smooth talker. I wonder if they would have had more than kisses...

I planned out all my meals last week. I should have planned them around coupons, but I didn't. I haven't got that far yet.

Monday: we had "my" spaghetti. I don't have a recipe for it, but it is pretty delish.

Tuesday: Pork Chops with pineapple fried rice. It was very easy. Good.

Wednesday: we ended up going out.. whoops. Thank you Macayo's.

Thursday: we had yummy zucchini boats. I saved the sauce I used for my spaghetti, see how that plan worked out?

Friday: I had chicken: this I have made twice now. It is yummy. So rich though.

Saturday: I was using something from Pioneer Woman again. I need to quit that because so many of her recipes are Fattening with that capital F. Crispy Steak Fingers.
I paired it with a cool salad. Recipe:
Cut up one avocado into small chunks and drizzle with lemon juice. Dice up a few green onions. Dice up a whole nice sized cucumber, and slice some cherry tomatoes in two. Sprinkle with sea salt and course black pepper, and then mix with some balsamic vinegar. YUM. Easy. Fresh. Delish.

Sunday: I made pork tenderloin with zucchini grilled on the stove with a little evoo, s&p and a bit of oregano.

Today we had the electrician back over to finish up a few projects. My husbands office didn't have a ceiling fan, so we put one in. The front room didn't have any lighting, and that wont do. Based on some old pictures before we bought this house, the previous owner had our sitting room as their dining room, and our formal dining as nothing.
He also only put two lights on the three garages. We were the only house in the neighborhood with 2 lights. Plus it was really dark. So now we have 2 lights on each garage like a normal house.
This is our dining room:

We are contemplating a rug beneath the table. I am not sure now though if I want it or not. We need a vase to put these lighted branches in to finish this room. I have one more small picture that needs framed and that can go in here. When Maddox and the other future babies are bigger, our china or something fun may go in the shelves of the buffet. We shall see. On the opposite wall there is this horizontal red piece.

Up close view of the art you can see:

We have kind of a country, modern, earthy thing going on I guess.

Today was a meetup for the mom group. I had a good time meeting some new moms and seeing some moms I have hung out with before. Maddox had such a good time too. He loves playing.

Am contemplating watching my first ever Bachelor Pad. Hmmmm.

Tish

Aurora and the President

Things are normal here. They are the every day things. Maddox was awake and playing in bed with us this morning. My husband and I were just laying in bed listening to little man. We were in our own little world of happiness.

We turned the news on and saw the massacre in Aurora. My heart dropped. I couldn't even imagine what would possess someone to go into a theater and just kill people. I just really can't imagine. I can't imagine being in there, just minding my own business with my family, ready to watch the hot summer release and BOOM. So scary. So sad.

I am glad that the President decided to just let the day rest and not keep on the election trail. That was a well planned thing in my mind. Speaking of election, have you guys taken the isidewith quiz? It shows you who you really side with for the election. My results shocked me. See if yours do...or maybe you are really in touch with who you want.

Tish