sucky blogger

I'm not the best at blogging. Ok, I mostly flat out suck at it. I like reading other blogs, mostly about coupons and saving money, but I never have anything to see in my own. I have a "journal" on a message board that I've pretty much abandoned as well. I've been sucked into the quicksand that is Facebook, and I rarely come up for air. Want an update? Here it is in a list!! Like you're surprised.

• Put our house up for sale a few weeks ago. This involves much less computer time as I clean, organize and pack stuff away.
• Looked at a few houses for rent. Loved one, but didn't get there quick enough. Was swarmed by fleas in another. Didn't love that so much.
• Looking at a house across the street from our house today. That'd be really convenient!
• Planning Joey's 2nd birthday party. I can't believe he's almost 2! Well, actually I can, because the terrible twos are in full effect!
• We're having a Sesame Street party for him at my parents' house on the 20th. I'm gathering up ideas right now and will do most of the shopping in the next week.
• I'm annoyed at people who don't RSVP. I need to have some numbers to work with in the planning process!
• Speaking of RSVPing, I'm super-bummed that I can't make it to my BFF's wedding in San Antonio next month. With our living situation up in the air, I just can't justify the airfare, hotel and car rental. Joel'd kill me. Sorry Suze! I love you!
• My Avon biz is like a freakin' roller coaster. I had next to no orders last campaign, but the one before that was HUGE! I hate the lack of consistency, but it's my own fault for not putting the necessary effort into it.
• Another roller coaster of note is my emotional state. Yes, we all know this is nothing new, but the house stress is driving me insane, and not slowly!
• Today marks 8 months since I quit smoking. 8 months, people!! that's 2/3 of a year! I'm impressed. It hasn't been easy.
• Kids are back in school, and I love it. I like the easiness of just me and Joey at home. Also, it makes running errands less chaotic.
• I need to do some fall clothes shopping, but I also need to spend as little money as possible. Sounds like a fun challenge to me!
• Joey and I are doing a 5K walk for Via next Sunday with some friends from my MOMS Club. Feel free to donate here.
• I've gotten a bit of Christmas shopping done already. I ordered some awesome stuffed animals from my good friend Alison. She does amazing work!
• My front teeth hurt. Not cool.

That's all I got, friends. Things are crazy here, but I don't know any other way, so it works. Have a great Labor day weekend!

Jillian tried to kill me

Jillian Michaels is evil. She's hurt me in places I didn't know existed. There's an armpit muscle. It hurts. Is it a good kind of pain? Maybe, if I wake up skinny again.





I caved and bought the 30 Day Shred DVD. My wonderful UPS man brought it yesterday and I popped it right in. It's hard, and it hurts, but I kinda like it. I'm sick like that. I probably didn't need to go to the gym today. Ouch!





So, I'm walking out of the gym and get a text message from Joel, telling me how awesome I am (see below) and asking me to run next store for beer. I hate doing that for many reasons. I shall list them below.

• I'm sweaty and gross when I leave the gym.


• I feel like people are going to look at my chub and think it's a beer gut.


• My arms were sooo sore today that I wasn't sure I could lift a case of beer. Thanks Jillian.


• This particular beer distributor has some very, ummm, hygienically challenged customers, and not because they were working out. Icky.

Whatever. I sucked it up and bought the beer. I did refuse to buy Pabst or Busch or anything else cheap and yucky. If I was buying, and lifting with my very angry arms, I was buying something good.

Samuel Adams Summer Styles:

• Boston Lager
• Samuel Adams Light
• Summer Ale
• Blackberry Wit
• Hefeweizen
• Pale Ale

Freakin' awesome!

In other news, I loved being a SAHM today. I made muffins (awesomeness #1) first thing this morning. Kim came over to chat for a bit with Darin & Christian. It was nice to sit and have some girl talk, also known as venting about these men. After she left I had an online focus group chat. I earned $10 @ Amazon for that. When that was done, I threw a roast in the crock pot with some quartered red potatoes and baked a loaf of beer bread. (awesomeness #2 & 3)

All of the kids liked dinner tonight! I almost fainted. Now, I'm not a short order cook, so they eat what I make, like it or not. But tonight? The all ate every last bite and 2 of them asked for seconds. Mama did good!

I'm always surprised that I'm a good cook. I didn't really start cooking until I was 25. I never thought it could be fun. Now I know better!

Ok, time to go watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Later!

feeling listy, and random

• today's entire post will be in list form. i need it to keep any semblance of sanity. list making soothes me. i also don't feel like capitalizing.
• today would have been day4 of drinking nothing but water, but i caved. i have coffee in front of me. it's for the good of all those who cross my path, trust me.
• i'll be doing my first book review here on the blog soon. i was so excited to be asked to read and review this book! more on this soon.
• joey is cutting molars. it's been, um, not fun.
• joey also decided we needed to be up early. i disagreed. he won. hence the coffee drinking.
• ethan has straight A's on his midterm report. did i mention that last week? i don't think so. i'm too lazy to check.
• ethan also has a problem with talking back lately. i'm not amused.
• i've had the chance to spend some really good one-on-one time with both josh and darin in the last week. i'm really glad, because that rarely happens.
• i'm so bummed that 3 of my friends are having serious relationship trouble right now. it's sucky, i know, as i've been there. we all have.
• ethan and josh have less than a month of school left! i'm so glad that summer is almost here. remind me of this when they're driving me insane, please.
• i really need to put more effort into my avon biz. i've been lazy.
• i really need to put more effort into cleaning. i've been lazy.
• i really need to stop spending so much money on little things. they add up quick!
• i really need to stop eating so much at night. my belly is expanding like i'm pregnant. i'm not.
• since joey just went down for his nap, i need to get off my butt and do something around here.

messy

Ha, my day was off to an interesting start. But first, I'm still smoke free after 3 whole days! Woohoo!!!

So, I hear Joey laughing in the crib at 9. I go in there and he has no diaper on. Not only is it missing, but there are pieces of it everywhere, including in his hair. Yuck! So as I'm taking all of this in, He stands up and friggin PEES through the slats of the crib! I yelped and jumped back, because he was awfully close to peeing on me. He of course thought this was hysterical. Me? Not so much. So I had to bathe him, change his sheets, move the crib out so I could clean up behind it, clean the floor and wash the bedding.

I knew this would happen one day, which is why I always put him in a sleeper, or something one piece, so he can't get the diaper off. Of course, Joel put him to bed and conveniently forgot that we had previously discussed this.

Anway, I'm doing an experiment for dinner tonight. Joel wanted chicken pot pie, but I don't have all of the ingredients and money's super tight, as usual. So I'm baking a roll of Pillsbury Grands biscuits and topping them with chopped chicken, chicken gravy and a can of mixed veggies. Should be similar enough, I think. We'll see.

Ethan also conned me into baking cookies last night at almost 9pm. I used a bag of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix, and added some Reeses peanut butter chips and some mini Hershey kisses. They were super yummy. In fact I believe there's only a few left after Joel and Ethan took some for their lunches.

ice day?

Ethan's school is closed today, thanks to the icy roads this morning. Unfortunately, the automated system called to let me know this at 5:03 this morning and I never got back into a good sleep after that. It was especially sucky since I was up until after 12:30 last night. I lazed around watching news and playing Animal Crossing on my Nintendo DS in bed. Now I'm just killing time on Pogo until Joey's nap time in about half an hour. Then I neet to do a quick workout, shower and do some cleaning.

I just finished last night's leftovers for brunch. It's my absolute fave Bisquick recipe! I added my tweaks for you.

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup) * i also add 1/2 cup of chopped green pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt *i use 1 tsp seasoned salt
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs


1. Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.

2. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in salt. Spread in pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese.

3. In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.

4. Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean




Oh, and over 49 hours with no smoking! Go me!

new to this

I'm new to this whole blogging thing. My general plan for this is to have a place to just ramble away. Some days I may post recipes, others might be thinly veiled rants against those that have pissed me off. Overall, I just want a place to get everything out of my head.

About me and mine:

I'm Amanda, about to be 30 in a few weeks, SAHM, love to cook and try out new recipes.

Joel, my fiance, 29, truck driver, skateboarder, tattoo artist

Ethan, mine, 10, video game junkie, tech deck collector, big help to me

Josh, his, 7, also into games and tech decks, budding artist

Darin, his, 5, loves to help clean, cook, decorate for the holidays

Joey, ours, 15 months, cutest baby ever, smiles at you beautifully while destroying everything in his path

We also have a dog (Sheena) 2 cats (Tigerlily and Stormy) and 2 ball pythons (Snake and Number Two)

My house is full and it's messy. For the most part I'm ok with the mess. We live here. It's not a model home, but it's ours.

I think that's enough for an introduction. More later. I need to feed Ethan and Joey lunch, then get Joey down for a nap.