Dewberry

For a limited time only the Body Shop is bringing back some retro scents!!! Whooop!

Ok, I must warn you... When they say a little goes a long way, they mean it! 

I showered with the body wash.  Then I lotioned up with the lotion.  And now I cannot even stand the smell of myself and I am pretty sure when I go to bed that my husband is going to kick me out.  He has a very sensitive sniffer.

I still love the scent, but HOLY OVERLOAD batman!  Layering scents = bad idea.

But really, why do companies discontinue products then bring them back 15 years later and call them "retro".  I very clearly remember being in junior high, probably later junior high because I was old enough to go shopping at the mall by myself, and being absolutely devastated that they discontinued my favorite scent!

So I stocked up. And now that I know how much to use, it should last me until next time they bring it back!

Tasty Tuesday - Right Side Up Stuffed Pork Chops

I got this recipe out of a great cookbook by Sandy Richards.  It's part of the "Cooking for the Rushed" series and it is fabulous!  It's called Right Side Up Stuffed Pork Chops and it was a huge hit in my family and will definitely be getting put into the mix more often!

1 package (120 g) Uncle Ben’s Stuff ‘N Such Traditional Sage dressing mix (4 oz)


1 tablespoon brown sugar (5 mL)

8 half inch thick boneless pork chops, trimmed (680 g or 1 1/2 lb)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (284 mL or 10 oz)

1/3 soup can of water

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (30 mL)
 
Directions


1.Preheat oven to broil.

2.Prepare stuffing in a pot following package directions and add brown sugar.

3.Meanwhile…

Place chops in a large oven-safe cake pan and broil at close range about 1 to 2 minutes per side.

4.Remove chops from pan and drain excess grease. Reset oven to 350 F (175 C).

5.Return chops to pan. Mound stuffing on top of each pork chop.

6.Combine in this order in the used stuffing pot (no heat): soup, gradually stir in water and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until well blended and spoon equally over stuffed chops. Bake in hot oven. Set timer for 25 minutes.
 
I served it with roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.  I just cubed my potatoes, tossed them with a little olive oil and some Mrs. Dash seasoning mix (original) and put them in the oven next to the pork!  It would go great with rice too though.
 
For more Tasty Tuesday recipes, check this out!
 

New Blog!

A few girlfriends I met while planning my wedding have started a blog and I am joining in!  Every Sunday a new challenge will be posted and throughout the week we will all blog about how we met the challenge at hand.  The purpose is to better ourselves and we will be focusing on random things such as budgetting, cleaning, taking time for ourselves, and whatever else we can think of!

Please check in once in awhile to see how a bunch of Canadians across the country (And one American!) with completely different backgrounds, problems, and values tackle each week's challenge from their point of view!

http://newwivesnewlives.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

No Love...

Some days, as a mom and a wife, I just want to run away from home.  I know I am not the only mom and wife that has felt this way!

Let me explain...

My darling husband has been working his butt off lately to finish a job that is about to get turned over and is behind schedule.  He has been onsite working 12 hour days then coming home and doing 4 hours of paperwork, then he goes to bed and does it all over again the next day.  This means: No family time, no couple time, just a grumpy, tired, sore, hubby that just wants to be left alone.  NO LOVE!

My darling son did something so revolting and disgusting yesterday that he is lucky he is on planet earth today.  He tricked me into giving him a hug and wiped boogers in my hair.  Yes you heard me right.  BOOGERS!  My daughter told on him, but I was so grossed out I went for a shower and he is grounded for the weekend.  Here is my dilemma... Now I don't want to hug him because I am afraid he will wipe boogers in my hair.  I think he learnt his lesson though.  I explained to him that it hurt my feelings that he would trick me like that and that it was not funny at all and I asked him if he likes it when I hug him.  He said yes.  I told him that by doing that he makes me afraid to hug him.  He has apologized profusely.  I let him out of his room but he is still grounded from video games and the computer.  NO LOVE!

My darling daughter decided that it sounded fun to have mom afraid to hug you.  (probably not really, but that's how it feels!) She gave me a hug today and pulled my hair.  She says it was to show me how it felt after I accidently pulled her hair.  NO LOVE!

So.... Mexico anyone?  I hear the beach is really nice at this time of the year!

RIP Skeeter

Our family dog passed away today. We adopted her when I was a teenager, so it was surprising she has lasted this long (14 years I think? And she was not a puppy when we got her). She was rescued from an abused home and was dirty, skinny, and stinky when we got her. She was a cockapoo. We named her Skeeter after the muppet.

She was a pretty good dog. My kids are devastated. E says she won't go to grandma and papa's house until they get a new dog named Skeeter that looks exactly the same.

My parents are pretty upset too. I guess she had a seizure this morning and her heart stopped and by the time they got to the emergency vets their was nothing that could be done.

RIP Skeeter. I am glad you aren't in pain anymore.

Works for Me Wednesday - Cleaning away a grounding

Every Wednesday I go here to read a blog carnival called "Works for Me Wednesday" during which a bunch of bloggers log in and write down tips that keep their lives working! Everything from stopping temper tantrums to cooking tips! I have found many new ideas over there for many aspects of my life! I suggest you check it out.

I usually join when I think I have something to say.

This week my tip is: Use cleaning as a form of punishment! Yep, you heard me! I will ground my kids for a weekend, then when they whine and cry and tell me all the wonderful things they are missing out on by being grounded (usually "but my webkinz will die if I can't feed them!!!"), I let them work off a day of their grounding by giving me 2 hours of service. I get mean too! They have scrubbed dust off baseboards, swept and mopped kitchen floors, cleaned out closets, etc. Plus this is on top of their regular chores like putting away their own laundry and emptying the dishwasher! Working off groundings works for me!!!

Update

Ultrasound and blood tests confirm it is crohn's related. My doctor is talking to the gastroenterologist tomorrow to discuss the next steps. Sigh...

Something is wrong...

I don't know what yet. But I have an emergency ultrasound booked for tomorrow. I am crossing my fingers it is nothing serious, but living with crohn's means you can't take anything at face value. Excruciating Cramps + mid cycle bleeding = something not right. Especially when you are on birth control.

I am trying to distract myself by reading other blogs, surfing the internet, watching "Hoarder's" etc.

How do you distract yourself from stress? Do you have any links you to share with me to help distract me? :)

Checking in with my resolutions!

Well, I managed to go to the gym on Wednesday, worked out with my wii on Friday, and went and played in the snow today! So far so good! I am definitely trying to eat less and better. I really need to lose a couple of pounds!

As for the cleaning... The tree came down yesterday and I rearranged the living room and vaccuumed under all the furniture and I have been keeping up on laundry pretty well, so hopefully my hubby is noticing the efforts! In the meantime, I have not been as good at keeping up on the dishes. I have been baking a lot lately and it seems to dirty a lot of dishes! In my attempts to keep the junk out of the house I have been baking a lot from scratch. Bread, buns, stuffed breadsticks for lunches, etc! It is a lot cheaper than buying bread products and healthier because there isn't any preservatives to give them a longer shelf life.

I am still working on the job situation. I applied for a bunch more the other day. Hopefully I will get some interviews and get something good! I just want something that makes me happy, where I enjoy going to work everyday, and that will be the type of job that stays at work. Where I am not bringing my stress home with me. Know what I mean?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2010 is here!!! It sure seems like it was just yesterday when we were all panicking about Y2K. The last 10 years has certainly flown by!

I made a couple of resolutions:

1. Lose 30-40 lbs by this time next year. That works out to be only 3-4 lbs a month. Very do-able!
2. Be a better housekeeper.
3. Get a job I love that will take me through until we are ready to start trying to conceive #3. (about 2-3 years away)
4. Be more patient with my kids.
5. Save enough money to finally go on my honeymoon.
6. Either sell or get a long term renter for my townhouse.

We started working on number 2 already. Today my kids were told to clean their rooms. They told me when they were "done" and I had to go up to inspect. All they had done was clean a bare spot on the floor. So I spent most of my day helping the kids sort and purge in their rooms and it is amazing how nice my daughter's room looks! My son's still has about an hour's worth of work left in it tomorrow. I need to get the house to a manageable level of cleanliness so that it isn't such a big chore to clean it! It is amazing how much 4 people can accumulate in six months! That's about the last time I did a good deep purge, cleaning out cupboards and reorganizing. I had to make room for wedding stuff!

I think the Christmas stuff will hang out for a few more days then it will all get packed away too so that I can rearrange the living room again and hang up my new pictures!

What are your resolutions? Do you ever manage to keep to them? I don't really, and they tend to be the same every year, but for at least 4 weeks I do really well!!!