Fresh Hot Bread

I am so excited!!!  I just bought a bread maker for $10 at one of my favorite thrift shops.  The sales clerk and I plugged it in and it works!! She even commented on how it looks brand new and unused.  Hurray for me...why???  Well last month at Relief Society we had a potluck with the instructions we had to make and bring something using our food storage items.  Kassie Rogers brought this wonderful wheat bread.  I have never in my life made bread...store bought is running through my veins.  I know...my poor deprived children!!  Kassie said she just throws all the ingredients into her bread machine and then puts the dough into pans and bakes.  It really was the best bread I have ever tasted!!  She suggested that I look for one during my thrift store romps.  I took her advice and now I can make bread - cooking has never been one of my specialities.  I am trying to find some really great recipes to master - fortunately there are recipes with pictures so I can tell if I am doing it right!

This weekend we are going to have fresh home-made bread!  And if I am really ambitious I might even have my mom or sister teach me how to make the freezer jelly everyone is raving about.  Geez, sometimes I think I am in my own little world - an alternate reality...freezer jelly.  Who woulda thunk???

Here is my first and second attempt:

So remember, I never said I was a domestic goddess!!  I am not sure what happened...I took it out of the bread machine and placed it in the pan and it rose up all nice and pretty until James touched the first one and it fell.  The second one though fell during cooking.  I am going to try my mom's recipe, this one just doesn't work for me...yeah that's it!!!  However, the bread tasted fine, my daughter's friend Andi loved it.  Hunter has to take the Sacrament Bread for church all month in July so I have one and half weeks to get it perfect!

Pick It Up & Get Moving!

So this morning I am fighting off the urge to skip the gym and just keep sleeping.  I finally dragged myself up, read my scriptures, and headed out the door feeling pretty cute in my bright red work out shirt.  It was arm day so I did my usual 15 minutes on the stair climber to get my heart rate up and then worked out my arms till they felt like were going to fall off.  Then I headed upstairs to run for 20 minutes.  I love running...actual running - never on a treadmill!  So I am going at a slow pace running a mile (9 laps at the fitness center track - working up to 2 miles).  When this older (70's) gentleman about 6'3 to 6'5 catches up to me and he is walking a brisk walk with his long legs.  I have my earphones and music on so I don't really pay to much attention as he is striding along at my side....when all a sudden, he interrupts my thoughts and says, "If you don't pick it up I will walk faster than you can run."  I must admit I was alittle taken aback by his brashness and tried to be friendly by explaining I was new and am working my way up to a faster pace.  He replied, "WELL PICK IT UP AND GET MOVING ALREADY!!  I was thinking...are you serious????  So I did what any kind human being would do in my situation...I RAMMED HIS SKINNY BUTT INTO THE GYM WALL!!    



 

  Just kidding - hahaha,  I picked up the pace and sped a good distance away from him,  wishing I had rammed him into the wall - people these days, can't a girl get a little RESPECT!! 

By the way Rachel at Pink Peonies is giving away a Fabulous Kelly Green Bag!!  To enter, click the link and follow the instructions.

http://www.thepinkpeonies.com/2012/06/giveaway.html

Divorce Sucks!!

Last night I went to a baseball game with my ex-husband and his family.  We are still good friends.  His other two boys are here visiting from Las Vegas, Dylan 8 and Anthony 6.  I was holding Dylan on my lap and Anthony was sitting next to me.  Dylan was asking if I remembered when they used to live with me and bringing up memories he had with me and my own kids.  I told him I still remember and will never forget!  He said you will always be my step mom and Anthony said, "She isn't our step mom anymore."  To which Dylan raised his cute little voice and said, "YES SHE IS!!"  I quicky assured him I still am.

Although I know Hector and I made the right choice to divorce, it kills my heart that I lost Dylan and Anthony too.  And then to see the my son James having such a wonderful time with his brothers and knowing it will end in a few days...really sucks!!

I am grateful for the knowledge and assurance I have received that one day I will have an eternal marriage.  I know that with work, sacrifice, and love my future marriage will never end....I just haven't met him yet.  (I love Michael Buble, I swear that song is my theme song.)

Sweater:  Thrifted $2.00, Button Up:  Thrifted $2.00
Skinny Jeans:  thrifted $5.99

 

Purse :  Thrifted $1.50, Shoes:  Payless $27.99

I have to admit...I am LOVING these kelly green skinny jeans.  They are my first pair and now the question is do I really want to pay full price to get more colors???

Blog Refashion

After paying my bills this weekend, and seeing how much I over spent trying to be impressively dressed for this blog, I decided I need a blog refashion!!  No more shopping for me!!!  I have so many clothes already and with the amount of money I spent this month adding new pieces, I could have gone to Albquerque to the Temple. 

I was getting so caught up in how I looked, I felt like I was letting what is most important to me slip...my kids and my testimony.  I was so worried about losing weight to look better in the pictures, I put my scripture studies on the back burner and would work out instead.  Then at night I would try on alteast six different outfits when I should have been reading my scriptures and praying.  This is where the refashioning comes in - I don't want to spend my time on the internet comparing myself to all the other fashion blogs out there.  I don't want to blend in, I want to stand out because I am different.  I have my own funky, unique style and I am proud of that.  I love the strong person I have become and I cherish the relationship I have developed with my Savior and Heavenly Father.  For the first time in my life I KNOW  I am a daughter of a King, a child of God, and it's time that I give up my wants to fultill the plans He has instore for my life. 

Please don't get me wrong, I love the fashion blogs out there.  Those women have amazing talents and insights and I enjoy reading them and will continue to do so.  But I have a focus for me...I have a goal and because I over spent I am not sure I will able to fulfill that goal of going to the temple every other month. I was supposed to go this month and forgot all about it.  I am not going to spend anymore (let's be realistic, I am addicted to thriftstore shopping...I admit it) than $10 a week on thrifting.  Which means I will have to really use my imagination to put together outfits from the items already in my closet.  This will be a whole new dimension in fashion for me. 

In a way this experience has been good for me.  I will ensure for the future that I sacrifice first for the temple and that I never again take my eyes away from what is really important to me.  I decided this Sunday after getting up early to read my scriptures.  Then today on my break I went to read in Lds.org and on the front of the webpage is this article: 

Turn Toward the Temple

“Why are so many willing to give so much in order to receive the blessings of the temple?” President Thomas S. Monson said, and then he answered his own question: “Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings.”

ttp://www.lds.org/study/prophets-speak-today/unto-all-the-world/turn-toward-the-temple?lang=eng

Gym update:  Skipped Friday and went to see Men in Black III instead.  Good Movie with a great ending.  Saturday helped my mom paint her kitchen from a gorgeous apricot flower color to sanitarium white.  (I say sanitarium because I would go insane living in a completely white walled house!  My walls are a taupe color and they are so relaxing to me.)  Then we had Makayla's 20th birthday party (my oldest daughter).  Lots of sopapillas, enchiladas, laughter, cheesecake...I am still full!!  This morning I headed back to the gym to work off all the eating I did on Saturday.  I am pushing myself alittle harder this week so I am sure I will be sore again.  But it is paying off already.  Two weeks ago I bought a pair of capris that I couldn't get buttoned.  I figured I would work into them.  Well this morning they fit!!  I love when I see results, it motivates me to keep moving and helps me get up sooooooo freaking early, plus with my new found muslces, I can fight off the bed monster that tries to grab me and pull me back to sleep.

Sweater:  Thrifted $2.00, Shirt:  Thrifted $2.00, Capri:  Thrifted $3.69

Gym + Gardening = Butt Spasms

I swear my mom is trying to kill me!!  Last night we went to my Uncle Dave's house to plant a garden.  He has graciously give us the plants, space, and free water.  All we have to do is weed  and maintain.  I am so excited about this because I am wanting to develop some new talents.

Anyway, after 2- 1/2 hours of planting green chili plants in a garden the size of a football field, I could barely walk!!  I have been going to the Fitness Center at the College and so I was already sore from squats, lunges, stair climber, running, and weight lifting.  When I got home last night my lower butt cheeks started spasming.  Now that is the creepiest feeling ever - lol! 

I was afraid that this morning I would have to roll off my bed onto the floor and crawl to the shower.  Initially the walk to the bathroom and bending onto the toilet seat was painful, but after that my muscles loosened up and I was able to do a good stretch.   I am (can't believe I am gonna say this)...ready for more - we still have 3-5 more rows to fill with zucchini, squash, pumpkins, broccoli, green beans - well you get the idea!

This is Tinkerbell one of our dogs.  She is half Yorkie and half Chiwawa.  She is the scamp of the family - something gets stolen off the table - it is always her!!

Shirt:  Thrifted $2.00, Jeans:  Calvin Klein - Thrifted $5.99

Shoes:  Thrifted $5.99, Purse:  Thrifted $4.00

 Bracelts:  They were some I found at Big Lots and combined together for the finished product.  $5.00

Necklace:  Thrifted $1.00

Have a Relaxing Weekend!!

Complicated Me!

  



She is a Feisty One!!



 Lately I have been doing some self reflecting.  I am a feisty girl, I can when angered, tear you to shreds with my mouth and justify it with ...it's your fault for making me mad because I try to be nice and I am pretty mellow until you lite my fuse!!  Then WATCH OUT...I am on fire!!   - I actually hate this about myself.  I see these women who don't react emotionally when caught off guard and I respect their ability to stay level headed and look at the whole situation before judging and acting irrationally.  Am I making any sense??  So on to my point...I have been praying, I mean really praying and pleading with the Lord to help me change, to be softer and see the good instead of being on the defensive and thinking only about myself.  I can honestly say, I think it is starting to work, which excites me and is enabling me to keep pursuing this dream of mine and developing it into my new reality!!  Want to know the secret?  Pray before you speak, act, or fly off the handle.  I ask for help and then wait a few seconds and thoughts come rolling in and new ways to approach things come to light.  It truly has been amazing to me the power given and the love shown to me from my Father above.

 

Geez I really need to smile more!!

Jacket:  homemade by Me, Capris:  Thrifted $4.00, Shoes:  Thrifted:  $5.00

Coral Purse:  Payless on sale $16.00

I am trying to learn new styles with my hair so I did a braided twist.  Came out alright for my first try.

 

Cat Claw Shirt:  Thrifted $2.39, Maxi Skirt:  Free - hand me down from a friend

The shirt is amazing, the colors are actually more vibrant than in the picture.

Purse:  Thrifted $1.50, Shoes:  Thrifted:  5.99

Have a Wonderful Day - See ya tomorrow for Jean Friday!!

Jazzer-Jammers

I know the picture is blurry but I couldn't resist posting it.  Last night I took James to Jazzercise with me.  He climbed up on stage with Alia Dire (instructor) and danced his little heart out.  He eventually laid down on the stage and busted some break dancing moves - kicking his leg up in the air and twirling around on his back.  I have never seen him be so bold before.  Usually he will get up there with Alia or myself when I teach, but after a few minutes gets pretty shy...it must have been the superman cape - gave him nerves of steel!

Interested in a new fun way to jazz off those last few pounds?  Check out Jazzercise.com for a local Jazz Class in your area.
We had these Southwest Chicken Wraps for dinner last night, they were SUPER yummy!!

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
Printable Version
Printable Version with Picture
*Makes 6 wraps*
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of monterey jack and sharp cheddar)
Sour cream (optional)
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
DIRECTIONS:
Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla. (Optional: on some of the wraps, I dotted the cheese with about 1-2 tablespoons of reduced fat sour cream before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center – it made the wraps delightfully creamy.) Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open. Spray the tortillas all over with cooking spray.
Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange 2 wraps, seam-side down, in pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve.

Here is the website if you would like to check out more recipes.  I added her to my favorites!
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/