Liebster Award!!!

My dear friend over at Keeping Up With Kelsey nominated me for a Liebster Award! Isn't she a doll?! NO, no, Kelsey is not a doll, she's a rambunctious 20 something year old who has too much on her plate and somehow doesn't go crazy with it all...or maybe that's why she's rambunctious, its the only way she can keep caught up with everything :) Either way, I <3 her. She's one amazing chiquita banana.

Anyhow, Liebster award...Ive gotta answer a few questions and list 11 random facts about myself, then I have to nominate 11 more bloggers with less than 200 fans. I don't follow a ton of blogs with low rate so I'll start out with a few nominees and then add to the list as I find fantastic peeps who deserve the honor, give them a list of 11 new questions, and then they must pay it forward and do the same!

Ok so here's my 11 random factoids....

1. I'm obsessed with nail polishes. I have pretty decent natural nails and I like to keep them purdy!
2. I live in an uber small town with 1200ish people in it, sometimes it wierds me out since I've always lived in the city and not used to people saying hi, or knowing my kids' names, etc.
3. I love to cook. I really do. I love sugar and salt, and all things yummy.
4. To make up for my need to cook all the time, I workout 5 days or more a week. I'm a Beachbody Coach still working on my journey to a better me. 6 months have done my body good! Follow me on Facebook!
5. My favorite time of year is winter. I know, it's weird, but I like snow, I like to be bundled up, and I like cloudy days. Maybe I'm part vampire but the cloudier the happier I am.
6. I get random cravings for Mac and Cheese with garlic salt. It was something my dad always did, maybe those days are the days he's really looking after me.
7. I really wanted to name my youngest, Seamus. I'm Irish, hubby is Irish, made sense to use an Irish name...now I just want to buy a Golden Retriever and name him Seamus :) (pronounce Shay-mus for those who can't read)

8. Speaking of reading, I'm on my third book for the month...well the first one I just finished this month, it took me 2 months to finish.
9. Cant freakin wait for Christmas!! Favorite holiday of all time!
10. My favorite foods are french fries, mashed potatoes and gravy (from KFC), and nachos
11. I would rather die in a fire than drown.


Kelsey's QA!
1. What tv series are on your DVR list?-Oh gosh...Sleepy Hollow, The Walking Dead, Grey's Anatomy, Cheer Perfection, The White Queen, Tosh.0, Louis C.K., Son's of Anarchy, and a few others I can't remember. But those are the one's I keep up with. 2. Main reason you began blogging-I think it's easier to get my feelings and thoughts out when I write them down and Facebook has too short of a box lol. No but really, if people wanna know my business, they can know it all. If they don't then they can be satisfied with social network status'. Plus, I have a lot of good stuff to write about so I do :) 3. Where do you see your blog going in the future?-Ugh, I don't know. I've got so much going on, it takes me weeks to get to the blogs I want to do. I'd like to have a decent amount of followers but not sure if I want to get so into it that I start doing reviews and what not for others. Just want to inspire creativity and self respect for my readers. I'd like everyone to have the "if she can do it, I can too" mind set. 4. Ever played an instrument?-Yup, I can play the flute, sax, baritone sax, piano, and kind of the trumpet. Flute and b sax I actually played in school though. I still have my flute, still can read music but I don't think I sound as good as I used to :) 5. Which social media site are you the most addicted to? ....facebook and instagram
6. Any guilty pleasure's you'd like to air out?-Jersey Shore and chocolate chips (I have bags of them in the cupboards for a quick chocolate fix) 7. How many fbook pictures are your profile?-As in how many I have on fbook? or how many times have I changed my fbook profile photo? I'll list the both...I have 28albums, one is my instagram which has almost 700 photos alone lol. and i have 36 profile pics. 8. Reasoning behind your blog name?-My last name is Sullivan and we live in Nebraska, The Good Life. and since my blog is about my family and our life...well you get the picture. 9. Have you ever tried to sue someone?-nope, been sued for an apartment issue way back when, but never sued anyone 10. How did you find my blog? (Keeping up With Kelsey)-ugh...you link it like 20 times a day :) lol you know I how I found you! 11. Bath or shower?-Shower. I don't like baths, I have 4 kids who take baths and I get weird about it and have to completely scrub the tub before sitting in it, and that's too much work lol. I'd rather just sit down under the shower water.

sheesh...that took a lot of thinking! But now its the following blogger's turns!

My nominees!

Stefanie @ Husak Household
Julie @ Savvy Homemaking

And my Questions to the bloggers:

1. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
2. If you had $50 to spend on something you wanted, not needed, what would you buy?
3. Are you closer to your mom or dad?
4. If the giraffe is purple and the sky is orange, what color is the tree? (ya seriously, thats my question)
5. Popcorn or Potato chips?
6. What is your best talent?
7. When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? Did that happen?
8. What's your shoe size?
9. Who's the hottest guy on tv?
10. What do you currently consider "your jam"?
11. If you celebrate them, whats your favorite holiday?

Steak Fried Rice

If you don't know, I'm Irish, very very Irish. Pale skin, freckles, a little red in my hair, IRISH!! But I hate Irish food, unless it's potatoes, omg I love potatoes, Fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, potato boats...getting a little Forrest Gump-ish on yall huh? Anyhow, I don't like Irish food, but I do love Mexican and Asian. I'm not huge on veggies but I will eat it if included in one of these dishes. Unfortunately where we live there isn't a single Mexican or Asian restaurant for 50 miles. It's wonderful...not. So I have to make my own food all the time. But there's only a handful of Asian dishes I can get most of the family to indulge in, and those dishes only include rice or noodles (duh...). So I had this veggie medley and a flank steak...and some rice! so voila, Steak fried rice!

Oh you want the recipe now do ya?! ok....

Here its:

1 flank or skirt steak (i don't know what the ozs were but it was about $14 so decent sized)

marinate (for a few hours) in 2tbs balsamic vinegar, 1tbs soy sauce, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 minced garlic clove (real garlic is so much better than the jar stuff fyi) 

I cooked my steak out on the grill this time but I have done it in my cast iron skillet before too and it was perfect.

Fried rice:

Boil 2 cups of brown rice according to directions and let cool or use cold leftover rice

Heat 1/4 cup of coconut oil in a large skillet (cocnut oil has a low melting point, make sure you watch it so you don't burn it)

saute frozen veggies

add rice, 1tbsp soy sauce, and 1/2 tbsp sesame oil. 

Let that all get nice and toasty and cut your steak into strips as thin or thick as you'd like.

Scoot rice to one side of the skillet and add 1-2 eggs to the other half. Scramble.

Once eggs are cooked stir the rice and eggs together and add your steak.

And BAM! steak fried rice. So yummy. I fed myself and all 4 kids and still filled a ziplock baggie up to shove in the freezer for another time.

Now, I may not have made it REAL Asian, so don't blame me if I'm way off, I like my American Asian food so you should too :) Enjoy and please let me know if you make it, I'd love some feedback!

Small town living-2months

Well life is certainly different here in Fullerton compared to living in Lincoln or Omaha. Being a "city girl" there's a lot of things that are hard to get used to but for the most part I'm actually happy to live here. It's so incredibly quiet and I never spend money because I don't have anywhere to go! lol I mean we do have a grocery store, but it closes at 6 as do most places other than the bar or Subway. But then again that is it's downside, there's nothing open, no where to go shopping unless I want to drive an hour to get there. Some days it stresses me out, like the other night when I had a horrible stomach ache and desperately needed some Tums and nothing was open to get some so I cried myself to sleep. Bleh, no more Pizza Hut for me I guess. (Oh ya, we can get Pizza Hut but it's still 20 minutes away).
Anyhow I decided to compile a list of things I'd like to call ....

You know you live in a small town when:
1. The high school parking lot is full of dirty pickup trucks.
2. You have to stop yourself from waving while driving at everyone when you go to the city or you look like a freak.
3. You drive with at least one hand on the top of the steering wheel so you don't look like a jerk because you cant get a wave in fast enough.
4. You leave you house unlocked pretty much every time you leave unless you plan to be gone all day.
5. Your groceries get carried out to the car while you pay for them.
6. You can get groceries on credit!
7. Pay day is the only day you go to the store because the cost of gas doesn't make it worth it to go any other time of the week.
8. You have to ask around for things like "where can my kid go to dance? is there a place for karate? when do sports start?" because there ISNT places like that. You have to go to the town 20 minutes away that has a population of 300 more than yours does.
9. Families walk in clans. As in there are 5 families around here directly related to mine and I live right next door to my father in law and his wife. In some ways it's weird to show up places and all sit in our group, but in the other its nice because you're automatically accepted as part of the town.
10. My kids have 2 cousin's in school with them, and a handful of "step-cousins" as well.  Next year my older boys will both have a cousin in their classes. Why? because there is only one class per grade!
11. Speaking of school, when I was in high school there were not AG classes available. You did not take crop science classes or learn how to raise cattle. Nor did you aspire to do any of these things.


Im gonna have a lot more coming up so stay tuned. This small town weirdness is only 2 months in, I'm sure I'm in for a lot more!

T25, NAILED IT!

Finished my second Beachbody Workout a couple of weeks ago!! T25 is definitely my kind of work out. It's tough, it builds muscle, has cardio, and it's short! Seriously, 25 minutes! Granted its non-stop, literally, ShaunT never ever says "go get a drink". Insanity, as hard as it is, there were all kind of breaks and people dying out. Not T25. Its tough, not Insanity tough, but it's tough. And I've definitely built my stamina up and have developed a lot of muscle definition. I kind of quit weighing myself though because it just frustrates me to not see the scale move despite smaller measurements and I end up just crying about it even though it doesn't matter.
So here's my results: Starting weight: 187.5 waist:32.5   hips:37  arms: 12.5  thighs: 20.5  calves:15.5 chest: 35"

   

 Final results: I haven't actually weighed myself since my mental break down around week 3 of Beta because J threw out my scale lol. so ending weight: 181.5" waist 31" hips:35.5" arms:11 3/4" thighs(I have 2 measurements here because I realized I was measuring in the wrong spot to begin with):19 and 22.5 calves: 14 3/4" chest 32"

 

SEE!!! I have abs now!! and my legs don't touch as much. I've never had "the gap" but hope to see it soon! My legs have ALWAYS been my least favorite part. I still look in the mirror and have a really hard time seeing any changes, but I suppose thats the way it is for everyone. I keep telling myself that eventually I won't be upset with how I look, but I don't know if there's any woman out there who is completely happy with herself. If there is, well then...more power to her lol.

Anyhow, there's results for the first round of t25, just started my second round which is obviously a crap ton easier. I can't wait to see my results in two months. Now I'm off to go apply for my tshirt (and maybe some money :))

Smartphones effecting our society?

I watched a video today which really made me think about this. Like really, how are we as a society going to improve if we continue to think that life is about texting and social networking every moment of our lives? I'm not saying I'm not guilty of this. I'm a stay at  home mom, my only source of communication is with children or Facebook but isn't that sad?! I've literally gotten to the point in my life in which I don't call anyone. I text or if you don't have a cell phone...well I guess we won't talk. That's pathetic. Like I should really be a better person and call people and if not write a letter. Like Louis C.K. says in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c, we've lost our empathy and our ability to be alone by having smart phones. I agree. There's many times I wish I didn't have one, I'd get a lot more done without it. I'd blog more, I'd spend more time with my kids, my house would be cleaner, etc. I know this for a fact because I went without internet for days last month and my house was spotless! And when my phone is dead I play with my kids, have a conversation with my husband, get some of my work done. I'm so guilty of needing some sort of social interaction it's ridiculous, but I don't call anyone? Somethings wrong with this. And if I, as a 29 year old who grew up without a computer (until I was 12), bought a cell phone after high school, and spent my summers chatting on the cordless phone to my best friends on my front porch, find the need to be on FB all day, what are my kids going to do when they're introduced to it all? Granted I think a cell phone for calling home is necessary, there's many many times I had to walk home because my mom or someone didn't pick me up, or times I was gonna be late and couldn't call, and I ended up in trouble for it. But my kids wont have a smart phone, or Facebook for that matter, until they are older.

We need to teach our kids how to sympathize and have feeling for other human beings or we won't survive as a society.

Not only for the fact that I think they need better sources of socialization, but because I see all these teen suicides in which kids are killing themselves over whats being said on the internet. If you move your kid to a different school to avoid the bullying, that should be the end of it, but when you give your kids access to the internet in which they can easily be found, they have no chance. The bullying continues. Not to say I don't have sympathy for these parents, because lord knows if one of my children took their own life I would be more than devastated, but a lot of these suicides could possibly be avoided if the teens didn't have access to everything they have access to. Again, as Louis mentions, when you say "you're ugly" to someone's face, you see their reaction, you see that it hurts, and you rethink what you did, hopefully never doing it again. But if you go to someone's profile photo and say "you're so ugly", you get nothing from it but a response, whether it's a defensive or sad response, you won't feel it. You won't even begin to understand how that person felt when you said it, all you know is you said it and it made you feel good for the moment so there's nothing stopping you from doing it again. It concerns me that our children's futures are going to be surrounding with hate because of this.
On another note, with all these social networking sites, what's the point in high school reunions anymore? I went to mine with the thought that "I know everything about anyone I care about because they're on my facebook". I went to see how people I didn't like were fairing in life. In the end, I didn't even care. A lot of people were still the same and some people were still alone but they still think they're better than me, whatever. But the point is, there was no element of surprise, no "hey, so what do you do now? are you married, do you have kids?" Everyone who cares already knows the answers to these questions. However my husband who graduated 3 years prior, his reunion was a little "pre-socialized" because Facebook had pretty much just made an appearance, and he really didn't get on it (he still doesn't). People were actually interested in your life and how it was going. If that's how different it was in a 3 year time span, what's it gonna be like when my kid's have their first reunion's? Its scary to even think that some day they'll be that old, but even scarier to know that there won't be any point in going other than to have a few drinks.
There's days where I wish I could just exclude all this crap from my life, but without the internet my businesses would go nowhere, I have a hard enough time competing for people who can spend the whole day on the computer, no way I'd accomplish anything without it. However, I do know that I'm not setting my kid's up to be bullies, or be bullied. I'm not letting them go without learning how it feels to hurt someone, what its like to call someone instead of texting. How to spend an evening devoted to spending time with the family and not chatting with friends on the internet. I'm officially going to start taking two days off a week. I need to in order to set a good example for my kids.

Who wants to join me in this?!

I'll make my husband hide my phone and give it back to me in the morning because I have no self control at all. And if there's something I think of that I need to do, I'm just gonna write a note and do it the next day. We've gotta start somewhere right?

TLC, pick me!!

I've been living on basic cable for the last year, and before that we didn't have anything. We lived on Netflix and movies, which I was ok with but missed a lot of shows that everyone was always talking about. And tons of "do you watch 'yada yada', oh wait, you don't have tv." oy, sounds like we were hillbillies, but really we are just on a budget lol.
Anyhow, I've finally got DVR! yay! and "on demand" which is next to awesome! I swear I went a week straight watching HGTV and when I was bored I started watching "Honey Boo-Boo" and "Cheer Perfection". Both are completely pointless shows but the entertainment factor is way up there. Especially "Honey boo-boo", lol, how can you not laugh at their ridiculousness. And I'm not criticizing them in anyway because they mean well, they're just...different. HAHA, the constant lack of class is ridiculous, but they all seem like very sweet people just trying to make it in life. And they're real, you can't make that kind of stuff up. A bunch of immature teenage daughters, a step-dad who just does what everyone wants, and mom who loves them all no matter what. It's cute and funny. BUUUUT what I'm really excited for is "Alaskan Women Looking for Love". NOT!! Why the hell are they making a show about this? Seriously, why? Every other channel has a show about match making, why does TLC need one too? Like seriously, they need to come to my house, we have way more entertainment value than that of a bunch of Alaskan's who can't just move away on their own and need TLC to do it for them. I mean in my house you've got 3 boys of different ages, one is a pain in the butt 2 year old, one is a timid 4 year old , and a 6 year old who is not only a clutz, but a whiney brat as well. Then you have a girl who's pretty flippin smart and knows it so she tries to rule the house and has quite the attitude. Next you have dad who's gone all day at work comes home and continues to make mom be mom because he either has other stuff to do or just doesn't care to fuss at the kids because he doesn't want to be the mean guy. And lastly, mom, me, supreme ruler of the house with one too many jobs, not enough sleep, and stressed out 90% of the time because I'm the only one who listens to myself. Did I mention we just moved to a super small town and there's notta to do and I live next to my in-laws in a house that needs a crap ton of work done to it before we can call it "home"? See, there you go TLC. Whole entire plot laid out for you.  I've been saying for years they need to come visit us, however I see the tabloids not liking me and I'm pretty sure I'll come across as another Kate Gosselin because I don't put up with the crap that most people let their kids get away with, and I don't let my husband get away with being half attentive either. Maybe this isn't such a good plot after all lol. Nevermind TLC, don't come hunt me down, aint nobody got time for that!

My semi-organized life

Honestly I suck at being organized. I have tons of ambition and then I get suckered into FB news feeds (which can be super boring most days) or Pinterest, a life long addiction I think. On a good note, Pinterest does have a ton of organizing tips that I either a)plan to use in the future, b)have attempted to use and never followed through, or c) really do work out to my advantage. Currently I'm hunting down storage ideas because our new house literally has no closets worth storing anything in and it's driving me nutso!! Also, as we live in a super small town and the nearest Walmart or super center of any sort is 45-55 minutes away I have to plan meals for 2 weeks or more before going. I've always had a calendar available and a white board for weekly reminders but I came across this incredibly cute set on Pinterest, every month has a theme. I love it and it keeps things fresh and festive. Best part, it's free! Is she not awesome?! http://www.creativideeworkshop.com/share.html   I'm on the second month of using her printable's. She has tons of other cute festive/monthly printable's available too, which I look forward to using as the holidays come up. I've seen so many other bloggers and websites that have their own but I really like her styles. Just darling and I don't mind having them on display.

So the way I use these is pretty simple. The meal planner I literally spend hours planning meals, mostly because I get so sick of eating the same thing all the time, but then I also have to consider that not everyone likes the same things and we have picky eaters around here so I try not to have two meals in a row that not everyone will eat. This can be a very daunting task. Then on the side of that I have the shopping list. Granted I usually use a major shopping list like this (sideways sorry), to take the store for major shopping days. So the fridge list is generally used for items we run out of and will need replaced. Most things like milk or veggies are replaced at the local store weekly.

Includes Price matching that I find a Pricematcherz.com (lists local store deals so you don't have to look for hours in the papers) 

 The Weekly Planner I use for reminders because for whatever reason it's easier for people to see a list of things to do than actually look at a calendar (these people include my one in only husband who needs multiple ways of telling him something is happening so he can't say he didn't know about it!) And the monthly planner is, well, a monthly planner. Permanently written on it are things that happen every month. This includes spelling tests and what days the kids have P.E. so they know what days they have to wear tennis shoes and what days flip-flops or dress shoes are ok to wear. And each month I go through the school calendar as well as my own personal scheduling book and write down things on the paper itself. If things come up I can easily add to the calendar because these are all in the plastic sleeves you can buy for like $1 to use in binders, and I tape them to the fridge. Makes it easy to switch out monthly printable's this way too. Also I keep Teagan's dance calendar and the school calendar behind the monthly so I always know where it is and can use it for the next month.


On a non schedule based organization topic I use a lot of flipping Thirty-one products in my house. I have a million totes I swear. But for my kitchen I have this family organizer which I love. Currently it's kind of a mess and doesn't match my kitchen at all, and actually won't match when I repaint either, but whatever lol. Each kid has a pocket for their school things, spelling lists, memos, weekly news,etc. Then one pocket is for bills, and then I have a few extra spaces for the kids who aren't in school yet. I have plans of organizing life enough to do activities with them a few days a week here shortly so they will get filled, but for now they're empty. The organizer is only $25. Seems pricey but Thirty-one makes quality products from a Christian based company, you can't go wrong with that! (I am in no way affiliated with the Thirty-one Company past or present, and am not in any way being asked or paid to say this, I truly love their products).

Oh ya, I have a cleaning list that I printed off from somewhere, I'm horrible at following it. Those marks are from 2 weeks ago lol. Anyhow, there's a glimpse of my semi-organized life. It's a work in progress but some day I'll have everything down.

Maddox's surgery

Before, all he cares about in watching cartoons

My little monkey, thumbs up for all the Popsicle's and crackers you can eat!

A lot of people didn't know, but Maddox had surgery last Friday to fix and umbilical hernia that he'd had since he was itty bitty. Literally itty bitty, the kid spit up everything his first 12 months of life so he weighed next to nothing. The spit up and the constant crying had played a big roll in this hernia issue. And for years the pediatrician's have said "well if it's not gone by two" then "if its not gone by time he's in school" and so on until I put my foot down and his current pediatrician agreed it was time to take care of it. She was slightly worried that the closer of the two doctors in the area wouldn't do the surgery because it was small but he did. He said the fascia was tight so there wasn't any chance of it getting worse as he got older, however that also meant that it wasn't gonna get any better. Ultimately it was never gonna cause any long term effects but for peace of mind I didn't want him to get hurt playing football or landing on something wrong and damage the intestines that were sticking through the hole. That, to me, seems like something that would be way worse and more traumatizing than the minor surgery (that took like 25 minutes) it took to correct it. Currently hes doing good, and was actually up and moving around quite a bit the day of. 4 days later he's back in school (Labor Day weekend worked perfect, he had a few extra days if he needed it) and yesterday we were at the fair all day and he seemed to be doing great. I'm quite proud of my little guy. He's a tough cookie and even came out of anesthesia without any issues. The nurses were all quite surprised at his nonchalant attitude the whole time, and even happier that he didn't freak out when he woke up. He wasn't able to look at the incision for the first few days because that did freak him out a little, he just didn't want to see the blood, but now he's cool about it and happy to have a "normal" belly button for once. He's a great kid, proud to call him my son!

Baby shower!!

Before moving I was given the honor of hosting a baby shower for my oldest and dearest friend who is due to have her second baby, A GIRL!!! on Sept 5, however she will be induced on the 28th of this month. I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am to meet Baby Shaye and love on her :)
For this baby shower I wanted to do something incredible! Being on a tight budge of course I had to limit how extreme I went with this. I ended up choosing a vintage shower theme, mostly because I love vintage anything, roses, light pink colors, etc. This ended up actually costing me less than $100 for everything, including the money her loving grandma ended up sending me because she just thought it was so sweet of me to host the shower for her and she wanted to help out. Most of the items I bought were from a garage sale or left over from other parties. Probably the most expensive were the drinking glasses which I decided to use mason jars for and lucky me, caught them on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, making them less than $1 a piece. I added chalk board sticker, ribbon, and bottons(which I had on hand), and found some pretty light colored straws to drink from. I also bought bottled water and tied pink ribbons to them for those who don't care for juice or punch.

For food, the mom to be offered to bring a meat tray despite me telling her she didn't need to, and her mother in law brought the veggie tray, I ended up purchasing cupcakes, made cream cheese/feta/cranberry roll ups, chip dip, bought animal cookies (because we had just discussed how yummy they are) and making a fruit pizza. The cupcakes were made by an old friend at Cakelicious based in Lincoln, NE https://www.facebook.com/Cakealicious28 and they were absolutely amazing! They had slid around in the car but I didn't have time to fix them before setting them out, didn't matter, they were yummy regardless!  My mom let me use her silver platters as they fit along with the vintage them and added something special. I also had found a cute wooden doll cradle for $5, a vintage baby scale for $20, some pillowcase dolls, and a very old copy of Mother Goose to use as table decor. The roses were cut from my own front yard (I worked all summer to try to keep them from drying up lol). 

All and all I think it turned out wonderfully and everyone had a great time. I'm glad I was able to pull it all off and make it look presentable. Thinking I may have to plan another party sometime soon for someone else, it was rather fun!

Nomads

Well it's that time of year again where we move...its really starting to wear on me but we gotta go where we know we can save money. So small town Nebraska here I come. Part of me are really excited to move, I've lived in Lincoln about 90% off my life and honestly sick of it. Minus my mom and a few close friends I'm not missing out on much. I sit at home with 4 kids all day and don't do anything so living in a small town with nothing to do really isn't gonna be that big of a change for me.
Why are we moving? because Josh got an amazing new job at the Aurora Coop which will pay him more, as well as pay for his cell phone and our internet. Among other yearly perks and bonuses. Being the largest agricultural company in the state I guess they have the money to be able to do that.
Where are we moving? Fullerton, NE a town consisting of 1306 people...1312 when we move in. That's a huge leap from the 225,000+ population I currently live in. We'll have family there and Josh's dad bought the house next door. Which I'm hoping he will let us completely renovate and call home but that's kind of up in the air and Josh doesn't care for the layout, which isn't optimal but it has a lot of potential if you have the right mind set. Josh isn't one who can see outside the box unfortunately.
I think the kids are gonna love it though. With grandpa next door they have a pool and the four wheeler, grandpa has an air boat too so there's always gonna be something to do in the summer. In the winter they'll have tons of land to just run around on and do whatever kids like to do in  the snow. They'll also be going to a school with one classroom per grade, which is fine, I know especially Maddox will benefit from the smaller class setting and teacher to student ratio. I fear Teagan may end up bored though if they are teaching at the same level she was learn her in Lincoln. But I can't judge too much, they're a little more modern of a school then their current school is so I may be pleasantly surprised.

Anyhow, that's our life story. Moving our clothes and small things this weekend so we can get the kids prepped for the next school year which starts on the 15th, and Josh starts his new job the 12th. Fun times!

Disappointed

Its been an incredibly stressful last couple of months, financially thinking we were ok and everything all at once happens. We've been fortunate enough to receive benefits form the state up until last month when they were sending everything to a non existent address so I wasn't updated on anything. When I finally do get updated and everything sent in for re-submission we are informed that we make too much money for assistance. We can survive of course but it means absolutely no free money, no buying kids toys, or random items we don't really need. I saw this coming, I really did just hoped it wouldn't be too soon. On top of needing to buy brand new tires because we have so little tread it's illegal and blew a hole in one tire last week...ya we need new ones! its been a rough time for sure!!
This month I'm going to Indiana for Scentsy convention, which has been paid for already so it's not like I can not go, I'd lose the money. But I still have to pay for part of the gas and be able to eat decently. When I get home I get to purchase plates for my car, being a huge SUV it's gonna be around $200...that I don't have. OY! Just can't win...ever.

Wish my 35,000 in school loans would've provided me with a career for my kids. But now they're trying to get rid of Medical Assistants all together so its a worthless degree to boot...so flipping awesome. Wish I would've seen this coming too. I pushed to graduate with honors and I did...for what reason? WAAAAH!!! crying mode here....

Anyhow, I'm back on the money saving bandwagon...I have to be. We'll never get out of this slump otherwise. I've spent three hours or more on my computer today looking for coupons, sales, samples, etc. Kids are incredibly bored because I'm not doing anything with them, and I have to get to the store soon to buy some dinner. Being broke bites!!! Hopefully I can get good at this money saving stuff and not have to worry about it too much. Just need a flippin financial miracle right now is all.

Insanity

I've been sooo busy lately I haven't had time to post anything. I was standing in my kitchen just now making dinner...specifically http://www.mostlyhomemademom.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-salsa-chicken.html...and thinking I needed to blog again (you know, since she blogged the recipe...). so here I am. Kids are out of school now so I should have more time to blog. That makes no sense, I know. But for me it means I'm not on any kind of schedule so I can sit down at the computer while kids are playing and make a nice little post more often than I have been. Get it now? :)

If you know me, you know I've progressively gotten bigger since high school, even more so after kids, and even more so after my father died last September. I've been trying to get in a few work out a week just to make myself feel better I guess, but it wasn't getting me anywhere. I never eat a ton of junk food but I never eat really well either so in March, after many tears, I told my husband "Well I guess I Have to do Insanity in order to lose any weight!" kind of joking because Insanity straight up scared the hell out of me!! But he said he'd do it if I did. The fact that he's never wanted to work out with me in the past gave me the kick in the ass to do it. So the week before Easter we started it up. And I tell ya, I hated it for like 2 weeks straight, I was soooo sore all the time. (before pics below...hubby is gonna shoot me for posting his)

                               


As you can see, I had a lot to change. Keep in mind I have had 4 kids so my belly is obviously not pretty lol.
We never did J's measurements, he didn't care to anyhow so whatever.
After one month, and many additional rest days (some out of just being too busy), we finally had a good flow going, not so sore anymore, and starting to see definite muscle definition through our arms and legs. My clothes fit better and I was down a pant size. The pics below are the first day of month 2 Insanity, J, being a guy, has more noticeable definition than me...wish girls didn't have to work so hard for good lookin bodies!!!

We Finally finished the program up at the end of May. It was probably the longest 2 months of my life!! seriously, I've never worked so hard ever...hell I never worked out other than doing some Zumba or pilates once in awhile, so this was a huge change. I also want to mention that we did not take any supplement, or drink Shakeology, etc. I'm sure if we did we'd notice a bigger change, but we did both change our eating habits quite drastically so that's helped. (side note, J  never tells me one short leg is riding up and the other isn't in pics...sigh)....here's the last day pics. I weight 194.6 when I started and only lost 2lbs. buuuut Muscle is more dense than fat so I'll take it even though I still would like to lose pounds too. Josh on the other hand lost like 4 or 5lbs. (waaah!!).  the only thing I vise ably see a difference in is my arms. Now if I take a pic on my iphone...for whatever reason you can see more definition in my body overall, but not my nice $500 Nikon..sigh. 

So now we're working on Insanity Asylum's Vol. 1, which is sooo much more fun. Can't wait to post results!! 

*side note, I recently started the 24 day challenge with advocare and have lost another 4lbs. I also started a running program last night which I hope helps progress my results a little faster.

side by side comparisons

blah, so much bra strap fat in the first one!!!

A&F says I'm fat

And I don't really care. This guy who looks like he was the creation of an elephant and pit bull really can't make me feel bad about myself and it's annoying how many people are effected by this. Here's the deal, work out,get fit, go wear his clothes if you want. It's not a surprise that they carry clothing meant for the perfect and the skinny so I don't see why his statement has anyone in an up roar.
I wear a Large shirt, I've even gone into the store because I had a gift certificate and bought a large jacket, that large was too small for my shoulders and I gave it to my more petite mom. I never went back assuming they cut their clothes differently. I didn't care for multiple reasons. One, they're priced outside my lower middle class income. Two, its not my style anyhow.

Abercrombie and Fitch is not the first company to refuse to sell bigger sizes, just the first to give such a blunt reason, however there's no hidden innuendo behind the other store's decisions in the matter. Heck Lane Bryant only carries plus sized clothes, can I cry now because I can't find a store that carries in-between fat and skinny clothes? And Victoria's Secret carries only women's underwear, why not men's too? Get over people. Go shop somewhere else, like you already do. The majority of the people complaining are over weight anyhow. As am I, but I work out 6 days a week to change that and I'm not sulking over a company's reason to not cater to my clothing size needs because they don't think I'd market their clothing well. To each his own. Hell even Mike Jefferies doesn't represent his own clothes well. Ugly people usually aren't popular either unless they have something other people want, like money....just sayin.

Fire Starter

To begin this blog I'd like you all to know that I am an amazing cook and I have no idea how this happened considering I followed direction so don't laugh!!!

So every day at noon The Chew comes on http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew...if you've never watched the show you're missing out. They make some amazing foods, always have a great guest on the show, and can make me laugh, things I like in a cooking show :) Anyhow so Monday they had this amazing dish and just in watching the previews C said he wanted me to make it http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Ginger-Orange-Chicken-Coconut-Rice-Clinton-Kelly I finally picked up everything on Wednesday and told him I'd make it. So last night, after having to adjust because I don't own a dutch oven and didn't have white wine on hand (i used chicken broth), I got this baby in the oven and cooking. When all that was done I had to toast my coconut for the rice...TOAST my coconut, not scorch or fry, or start a fire with my coconut, TOAST!!!

Here's what happened. First I spread a thin layer of coconut on a small baking pan, turned the oven on broil, and popped it in there. The directions said for 3-5 minutes so I went about rinsing my rice with cold water like I should, when I turned around i could smell the burning, when I opened the stove flames evolved. Ya...flames. So many flames that the alarm on the oven went off notifying me of the said fire that I already knew was going on in my stove. I wish my phone hadn't died or I'd have at least gotten some pictures of the catastrophe. Josh ended up smothering it with another baking pan after a few minutes debating what to do since we may be the only family without an extinguisher, and all was well, but I avoided trying to toast it again and just threw the darn coconut into my rice as it was....sigh

In the end it was still pretty good. I would use wine next time because the broth ended up making it taste too chicken-y and I probably wont use the coconut milk again, the kids didn't like how sweet the rice was, actually I didn't either.

So there you have it, my first ever kitchen fire.

Loaded Meatloaf

We'll say this, I LOATHE meatloaf. But more than that I LOATHE onions. And seeing as my mother thought onions belonged in such food, along with tomato sauce which I've sense come to like, I vowed to never make it for my kids...well why would I if I'm not gonna eat it myself?

Well being the pinterest freak that I am and since Josh and I are half assing a paleo diet I went through the beloved Pinterest for recipes. I found this recipe over here http://fedandfit.com/2013/02/07/paleo-meatloaf/
and it inspired me to create my own similar veggie filled meatloaf with veggies my children and I would actually enjoy.  And I tell you what, the pickiest of my eaters ate it, ate his ENTIRE serving with absolutely no complaints whatsoever and told me about 15 times how much he liked it. If I accomplish anything in my life getting him to eat is at the top of my list.

Anyhow, here's said recipe that I created:

1lb ground hamburger
1whole shredded carrot
1 whole shredded zucchini
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
2 eggs
and some Mrs. Dash (season as you'd like)

sauce:
1 can of tomato paste
1 small can of tomato sauce
1/8 tsp of parsley
tbsp of Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp of minced garlic
and pepper to taste.
oh and if you'd like to add a kick to it, I added some red pepper flakes I may add Tabasco sauce the next time.


Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all loaf ingredients in a small bowl with your hands and then put into a loaf pan (I sprayed cooking spray on the sides)

Heat in oven for 45 minutes and drain when finished. I just held a spatula over it so it wouldn't fall out of the pan.

Raise oven temp to 450. Smother sauce mixture all over the top and down around the sides of your loaf, it will be a thick layer. Put loaf back in the oven for another 10 minutes. If you want it to be more like a crust leave in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy.

Like I said, my kids loved it, I loved it. And considering there's pretty much a serving of veggies in every slice I'll be making it more often.

Yay! goodies

Last month's freebie spree has finally started to roll in!! I really need to do this more often, I love free stuff. I think hubby is annoyed by it all though because it's slowly piling up in a corner on the counter until I do something with it all.
Today however I was slightly annoyed because I opened a package from P&G which I'm pretty sure I signed up for a Tide Pods sample and got warning stickers to put over the top of the containers.  I don't have A container, let alone many containers to necessitate multiple warning stickers to keep kids out....I'll get a container when I get that sample and like the results of the darn soap!

On another note, earlier this week I received 2 types of safety latches from P&G which hubby rolled his eyes out saying I'd never install them. Watch what happens tomorrow dude!! WATCH!!

I also receive Centrum Flavor Burst samples and a $2 off coupon for more. I havent tried them yet though...fail me!! I'm a horrible vitamin taker, maybe these will change my mind?! maybe? (bsavings I think is where this one came from)

A couple weeks ago I believe is when I received 2 stay free pads, which I threw in my purse because lord knows trouble starts while you're out and about! and the same day I receive 2 samples of L'oreal Paris Color Vibrancy shampoo that went to my "soap drawer" (I'll have another post on that some other day) since I haven't colored my hair in awhile I thought it'd be a waste if I used it up. I'm trying to grow out the color some so I can lighten it up without it pulling too much red. I got these from liking their facebook page and clicking on one of the apps below the timeline photo.

And the most awesomely needed this month was the coupon for a free (up to $13.49) Shick Hydro Silk disposable razor!! I wish I could remember where I signed up for this one at because it's a heck of a deal, those razors are pricey!! So excited to use it! (and then tell ya all about it of course).

and that's it..for now. I'll list more as they come in and do little reviews on these that I have now once I get around to using them!

Eat out...Eat cheap!!

First I'll start by saying we are probably the worse about eating out...I mean we eat at home most of the time but once it comes to the weekend we don't want to deal with the kitchen so we go out. It's bad, I know, but I'm stuck at home most of the time anyway and that hour or two out for dinner frees me a little and I'm not adding to my schedule by making another meal.

With that said, we eat as cheap as we can. It's rare that we spend over $35 even at a sit down restaurant. If it's fast food we keep it between $15-20. Here's a few rules/tips I follow.

1. go where you have coupons to. many many places have coupons off 2 entrees, or bogo's off cheeseburgers, etc. Use them! they come in the mail for a reason.

2. Got kids? find out who has free or .99 kids meals. Here Carlos O'Kelly's is Tuesday night ($1.99 mugaritas!!) and Applebee's is Wednesday night. 

3. Get the most amount of food you can for the cheapest price. Use that dollar menu. You don't need a big mac, a cheeseburger will satisfy you just fine! We buy a 20piece nugget and split it between kids, then they have applesauce or something as a side when we get home. 

4. Share adult meals. In reality 1 meal should feed 2 adults. The proportions at restaurants are generally blown out of proportion (hahaha I made a funny!!) We actually usually buy 3 meals and share between the 6 of us, get the kids a milk and usually get a water for ourselves. 

Using a few of these tips we actually had the cheapest bill a table of 6 has probably ever had at Red Lobster (endless shrimp days don't count) the other night. We bought one appetizer of mozzarella sticks, 2 adult meals, 4 milks, a soda, and water...$43!!! We had a $4 off coupon so that helped. And we had leftovers!!!...of course we forgot them on the table and I didn't realize it till hours later.  

But seriously, if we can make our RED LOBSTER bill that cheap with our big family, anyone can. There's no reason not to spoil yourself once in awhile with a pricey dinner, find the savings and use them.

Happy EATING :)

Open for Business

Last night after lots of debating, learning new tricks and tips to add to the arsenal of mental notes I already have in my "photography" brain folder, I decided to post an add on Craigslist advertising my photography business. I'm by no means a professional, I'm definitely still considering myself and amateur and just wanting to put my name out there. In less than 12 hours I got a phone call from a local golf course looking to use my work as an advertisement on their score cards. After a few phone calls to check out the legitimacy Josh and I decided this was a smart move. I will be placed as their featured photographer!! I'm pretty stoked and maybe they picked me because I'm new and they knew I'd jump on the opportunity to get my name out there...I dont know. But for $400 I kind of held back for a few hours. I wasn't sure this was worth the money, and still am not 100% sure, but they are currently advertising 40,000 golfers a year, 40,000x5 hours of golf=200,000 of advertising, I can deal with it. Best part is I can pay in payments!! I'm ecstatic and over joyed by the opportunity and the possibility that soon I'll have a decent amount of income coming in to my house. It'll be a lot of hard work, I realize this, but I'm ok with it. A job isn't supposed to be easy.
I've opened up a facebook page for my followers (the whole 6 of you right now) to follow if you'd like https://www.facebook.com/pages/Navillus-Photography/504492819596887?bookmark_t=page

I'm currently offering $50 mini sessions to start building a bigger portfolio. So its a great time to get a few new family portraits at a great price. You also get a cd with edited pics and copyright! Check it out, bring your friends!!

Below are some pictures I took using umbrella's and flash this weekend, courtesy of my mother and sister in laws who have been amazing in helping me with my journey into the photography world. I'm debating whether its worth buying them or just umbrella lights or a few soft boxes....oh decisions.

Peanut Butter chocolate Slimfast bars

I love Slimfast. It may be old school weightloss, but it's yummy IMO. However I get tired of drinking shakes and hate to spend money on the bars all the time. So after looking at a few recipes I came up with my own bars. Here's your super easy, 2 minute recipe.

2cups whole oats
4scoops Chocolate Slimfast (use any flavor of chocolate you want)
1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter


Mix ingredients in large bowl (I used my hands, it was much easier). Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and press mixture into bottoms of pan. Sit in fridge for 45 min and cut into 8 pieces. Great for a quick snack or have two for a meal.

Crochet 4 leaf clover

Excuse the rough draft and tell me if you need a better explanation. I just made this up after searching for a perfect clover that wasn't too big for what I want it for. These will make cute embellishments or you could connect multiple clovers for a cute St. Patty's Day garland.


Need a size h hook and worsted weight yarn.

Magic loop, ch.1 5hdc in loop join with slst.

Row2: chain 4, slst all in first hdc. Slst in next st, ch 4, slst in same stitch(repeat 2x), slst in next stitch,( ch8. 2sc in second chain from hook, 2sc in next chain, 1sc in next 5 chains), slst. Do not join.

Row 3: in loop formed by ch4 (2sc, hdc, 2dc,hdc,sc,hdc, 2dc,hdc, 2sc) repeat3x. slst to first sc in this row.

Finish off. Leave a tail if you plan to use as an embellishment.

Snow Storm!!!

I'm actually semi-excited to see a downpour of snow over the next 24 hours. Most people aren't. Most people are mad they canceled school. Most people don't think it will snow that much. And Most people are idiots. Then you get those of us who PREP for the snow storm. Our main need was flashlights...just in case. We have one flash light and the ones on our phones, which if electricity goes out we don't have car charges so that won't do us any good after a day or so. The likely hood of no electricity is slim, but I've seen it happen due to snow and it sucked!! However, my kids will quickly learn what life without the Wii, Xbox, or Playstation is like. (spoiled brats!)

But back to the main subject. Here's how we prepped, because we're cool people who do that sort of thing. First we packed kiddos up and headed to Wally World, the store that has everything right seemed a legit place to be. Here's what we bought...

4 awesome glow stick/flashlights which are ultimately for the kids
Bread (which we were lucky there was any left, apparently everyone thinks its Armageddon)
Candy (lots of it because... well, lets face it, who knows when you'll need candy in your life)
Milk (@ 2.48 a gallon I might say)
Sunchips(@1.96 so we bought 4 bags :))
batteries (duh)
breaded greenbeans that you bake and are amazing and cheap (I think they are called crispers? frozen section, they're yummy but not enough in one box for our family)
bagels
peanut butter captain crunch (NECESSARY!)
Bubbles (for pinterest idea I'll post about)
and random other items I can't think of. But for the most part, nothing anyone really needs to be prepared for the storm....We do have quite a bit in the house as it is so I guess we didn't need to buy too much but our grocery list looks pretty pathetic to the outsider and I have to laugh at it. oooooh yea, and we bought beer. Leinenkugals Holiday something or another bundle. Beer is essential when stuck at home forever with 4 kids right?! of course it is!
Anyhow, if you'd like to have more ideas on how to prep for a storm...don't follow me, I'm terrible at it :)

I'm in Lincoln, Nebraska...right on the edge of that 10-12"/8-10" line. I don't doubt we'll see that much at all. The weather men aren't that far off!