Lunch with My Girls

After Church the girls and I decided to go to Olive Garden for Lunch. Our waiter was pretty fabulous....kept us entertained!..I have a feeling he was hitting on my girls..LOL! but Hey, who wouldn't?


We filled up on Salad and Breadsticks.......
But made sure to save room for Dessert.......three spoons!

Be a Company Girl

Joined a New Site....check it out!

And So I Make Quiche

I was surfing blogs again today and came across one where the blogger posted about quiche....which made me think hmmnnn quiche...I could do that..so I did.....Unfortunately I didn't take note of exactly who's blog I was on at the moment and can't seem to find it...I could have sworn it was someone in my blogroll but I just can't find them again!! ARG!!

Update: Found it!!! It was Here!

I don't know.....

...I'm finding my blog kinda Boring now....

January Changes...

In accordance with NaBloPoMo's theme of Changes I decided to make a change to my blog...I've been wanting to make a change for a while....I wanted something a little less busy...something simpler. It took me all morning to figure out how to get rid of that background...I know NOTHING about HTML..LOL

But...I finally got it figured out...I might tweak things further...still not sure if I'm totally happy with the end result...

Late Night

A late night snack and reading in bed.....

Shopoholic?

Ok , so it's only the second day of the New Year and already I've blown my resolve to be more mindful of my shopping!! What WAS I thinking heading to Target today? That store always does me in, I always find TONS of things I just HAVE to have....so ......I spent $324.28. Now some of it was Grocery items and cleaning supplies....Our Target isn't a Super Target...but it does have a pretty decent Grocery Section and I love their Archer Farms Foods. I also like the Method Cleaning supplies that can be found at Target.

You know how I've been craving color though..I mentioned it a few posts back....well....Target has what cures those cravings..LOL. I did get a set of King Sheets that I've been meaning to buy for a while and which was my main reason for going in the first place. They are Rachel Ashwell, the pink Rosebuds. Here's a look at most of my haul:

We start out in the Kitchen with a cute little Valentines Mug, I couldn't resist the Birdies. And these really cute Green and White bowls....
With matching mugs.....


Then these Melamine Dishes.....

and adorable Birdie Tea light holders....Then we move upstairs....some bright stripey knee-highs to brighten my day...the Rachel Ashwell Sheets....this cute Wedding Couple I couldn't resist( I miss CDR so much) and I found this awesome BRIGHT Tropical Pillow that is to die for!! and this cute little matching sign...Enjoy Life...I think I am going to make that my Mantra for the year....Enjoy Life!Moving over to the right....these adorable mustard yellow Flats....I have been looking these over every time I go to Target for months now..and I keep talking myself out of them...the other day I saw them on a cute blogger out in blogland and thought to myself " Man, I shoulda bought those when I had the chance!" Well...today I had the chance and those babies are mine! Then I saw this cute ruffly green cardigan....love it.....and finally a comfy long nightie and some bright red long johns.....I have a pair in pink Stripes that you can see over here.....I was wearing them all morning until I finally had to get dressed to go shopping..LOL
And so here is my new pillow in it's place of honor......It makes me smile every time I walk into the room....and last but not least I thought I'd share one of my food purchases..it caught my eye over on the clearance rack....I'm not exactly sure what it is..I 'think' it the cake..at first I thought it was pudding ..then thought maybe just the chocolate to make either the pudding or the cake...but I'm pretty sure it's the cake.......the girls and I will find out when we open it I guess.P.S. I also spent $6.91 at Wendy's on my way home for a grand total of $330.49

The Results

As I suspected the yeast was old and the bread didn't rise like it should have, but it still made a decent edible bread...it was actually quite tasty. I'll pick up some new yeast the next time I hit the Grocery and I'll have to have another go at it.

An Old Friend

I decided to reacquaint myself with an old friend..............................My Bread Machine......gosh it's been forever since I used it......possibly over a year??!! It was a Christmas gift oh so many years ago....like a decade or so? When I first got it, I made bread every day...sometimes more than one loaf.....it was heaven and we all enjoyed fresh bread. Sometimes it was our evening meal....and our Breakfast too. Then slowly it dwindled down to maybe a loaf a week, a loaf a month, and then just an occasional loaf during the year...like I said I'm not sure I've used it at all during the last year...maybe once?

I've been wanting to bake my own bread again for a while now. Just never got around to dragging the old machine out of storage......So..Today's the day.....I decided to try this recipe over at AllRecipes.com. I'm not too sure it's going to turn out right , though, as I'm not sure how good my yeast is....I found a yeast packet in my pantry but it is probably rather old and may not work. So we'll see in a few hours whether we have 'bread" or not.

Here are a couple pictures of Ambie...lately she's taken to crawling in beside me as I blog or surf...this one was yesterday...she usually likes to drape a paw over my arm...but this is also a favorite position.....

and this is today...right now, as I typed this post....LOL....sometimes it's kind of irritating as she interferes with my freedom of movement while typing. But it's nice to be loved......

New Years Celebration

I know I said Co-ed and I didn't really have any plans for New Years Eve...we were just going to spend a quiet night at home.....and we did for the most part. But, yesterday was Choir Practice for Church, and since we had to go out anyway for that, we figured why not go out for Dinner. We just went to Ruby Tuesdays..nothing fancy.




We both ordered a drink( she's 21 now), she had a Mojito and I had the Ruby Relaxer... and a bunch of appetizers and dessert and had a nice little celebration of our own. Then we went home and had a nice quiet evening of video games(her) and blog surfing(me)....we're pathetic ...I know.

I managed to stay up until midnight....actually I was up until 2:00am then I remembered we had Church in the morning and hightailed it to Bed. Then I got a phonecall at 3:00am...a bunch of partiers wishing me a Happy New Year.....I think it was the Recruit...as 3:00am my time would be Midnight His time....but he never identified himself..and I couldn't quite make out the voice.

Happy New Year Everyone!

The Spending Track

Ok..so to go along with my last post....one thing I am starting today is to track my spending for the month of January..I'll try to track it here..so everyone can see....and which will hopefully make me a little more 'mindful" ..maybe I'll think twice before I spend so I don't have to post it here and let everyone see how frivolous I REALLY am...LOL

I just really want to see how much I really spend and see where I can cut back or how much I can cut back and still be happy. It will give me a more realistic view of where exactly we stand in regards to our 'new' salary.

A Fresh Start...

So today is the First day of 2009!! Wow how the time just flies by faster and faster every year...

so in accordance with the NaBloPoMo I am going to post about Changes I'd like to make this year. One thing I've come to realize with CDR's new job in the Frozen Tundra.....is wow....Navy Pay is WAY better than I thought....all those people who think military pay is crappy compared to civilian??? I don't know...maybe it's a lot different on the Enlisted side? ..but as an Officer....CDR was bringing home WAY more money in the Navy than with this new job in the civilian world....and the yearly salary is almost the same....but the TAXES....OYE( actually that's something he needs to check into as he thinks they might be takling way more taxes out than necessary).....I guess we don't realize how nice it is to have so much of your salary UNtaxed.....anyway....there's a point to all this......and that is that the amount being deposited into our bank every two weeks is WAY WAY WAY less than I expected!! like barely more than HALF of what he was making before......which means we are going to have to tighten the purse strings a little from now on......now granted with over 28 years of Military service under his wings.....we'll have a sizable retirement check coming in each month as well, that I'm hoping will make up the difference. We'll see in February when we get the first check.

Now don't get me wrong even with the new MUCH smaller paycheck we'll be doing ok financially...it will still be more than what most of America brings home each month...and if they can make it on less so can we....and we may not even realy HAVE to if the retirement makes up the diff......but......I'd still like to be a better steward of our money and downsize our lifestyle a little.....I'm not talking Extreme Frugalism or anything.....I'd like to be more conscious of our spending though....and more purposeful.

I'd also like CDR to be able to retire for good whenever he wants....and the more we save now the quicker he'll be able to realize that dream. I've been wanting to live a greener more sustainable lifestyle for the last few years and have taken a few small steps toward that end...I'm hoping our move to WI will be a jumpstart into that as well.....and I'd really like to make that my focus this year. Like I said I'm not going to go EXTREME or anything....at least not right away....I've come to like this lifestyle we have now....and I do like to have nice things.....I want to find a way to mesh the two lifestyles. I used to read a blog called Sustainable Style which is now closed. She had a really great take on things. Living a stylish life, and enjoying the good things in life but doing it simply and sustainably. There were certain things she wouldn't skimp on ...and she made up for it in other places. Kind of a Quality vs Quantity thing. That is what I'm after.

Perfection

Yesterday was the most Perfect Day...
it started with my girls at one of the local Sushi places. As we ALL should know by now...Drama Teen is NOT a fan of Sushi....but she's a good sport. Normally I would have taken C0-ed alone....but we planned to hit some Thrift Stores afterward and I didn't want Drama Teen to miss out that part of our plans...so she tagged along...and managed to find something on the menu that was edible to her....


We did talk her into trying a couple Rolls though.....this first one , a Honolulu Roll,she just did NOT want to try....we spent a good 15 minutes talking her into it....

After finally swallowing it down I don't think she totally hated it....she didn't really 'like' it but it wasn't THAT bad.....then we had her Try the Buffalo Roll..this was made with Fillet Minion instead of Fish....she didn't totally hate this one either....we also got her to try one of the appetizers we ordered, Tempura Fried Soft Shell Crab.....she kinda liked that.....

Afterwards we stopped over at Salvation Army where the girls found a few cute outfits and I found some cute Pottery....and linens...

We bought both of these Dresses for Drama Teen.....there will be plenty of opportunities for her to dress up as a Princess...and the next one she actually plans to a New Years Eve Party tonight....

Co-ed likes Vintage Style dresses...especially Shirt dresses...this one was actually pretty cute....cuter in person....

and this was just a cute little Tweed Sheath Dress...it looks cute as a top over jean and will be just as cute worn alone...

and then here is my STASH......found another Pyrex Bowl to add to my collection....I LOOOOVVVVVEEEEE Pyrex.....

and these cute Yellow cups and bowl.......they are much brighter than the picture shows...

and is this not ADORABLE!!! It says Japan on the bottom....they were just too cute to pass up....I'm kind of in a Retro ...Bright Colors Mood lately.....I think I'm finally starting to have withdrawal from all the neutral decorating we've done to try to sell the house.....I need COLOR again!!!

Later we hit another Thrift Store and I found these.....I've been looking for a cute pair of 'nude' colored shoes.....these are perfect!

and some vintage linens....I'm being inspired by Jeks Flickr Group : Making the Bed....she changes her Bedding every month...for a fresh vintagy look.....these will be washed on my Washer's Sanitary Mode...which uses SUPER HOT Water....I think the sheet is twin sized and will be used on C0-eds bed..... the Pillow case is Queen/King....so this one will rotate around thru-out our other beds in the house....2 queens and one king...

I also got this set...I think it's probably a Queen...it will probably go on Drama Teens bed or maybe the Guest bed..

Oh and I got this cute Shower Curtain....I don't really have a use for it yet..but I liked the pattern....It will be nice to have it if I feel like switching the other ones out.

I also found this nice Lands End long Cardigan....it'll be comfy on cold days...
and I've been in a rugged flannel mood...maybe in anticipation of our move to the Frozen Tundra of Wisconsin??? So I got these two men's flannel shirts to wear around the house on cold days...maybe with some wool leggings? and thick wool socks!

After the Thrift shopping we stopped off at the Grocery Store.....Co-ed and I don't really have any GREAT New Years Eve plans...we were invited to a couple of Parties but we really don't feel like going to either...one was the Daughter of one of my Best Friends who moved to NY a couple years ago...she was trying to convince her Parents to come down for her party, and if they had, I would have gone....but alas, they refused....and it's mostly going to be a bunch of REALLY young youth group kids......not really my cup of tea......

the other party was a couple in our neighborhood...and while I DO enjoy hanging with our neighbors....I'm really not into it this year without the Commander, who left for the Frozen Tundra last Sunday....and Co-ed definitely doesn't find the idea of spending New Years with a bunch of old fogies, who are probably older than her mom even, all that Thrilling.....

So we've decided to spend the evening quietly at home.....we have plenty of Champagne( from CDR's Retirement) and stopped off at Farm Fresh to pick up a few New Year Eve Snacks....a cheese log...a beef stick....and a few other items....while we were there she remembered we had some overly ripe bananas at home and thought it would be nice to make Bananas Foster.....we just needed some Vanilla Ice cream so we bought that too....

Here was something funny we came across at our local Farm Fresh!! LOL
Choco Something Body Paint!!

Finally, we got home and after a little Video Game playing( Genius Boy surprised his little sister, the Co-ed, with a New Version of one of her favorite Video games...it just came out yesterday I guess), she broke herself away to make Bananas Foster for us....it's one of her specialties....while attending Va Tech she worked in the Dining Hall and was in charge of the Desserts...Va Tech is known for having a really Great dining hall.....they serve things like Bananas Foster and Cream Brulee( which is another of her favorites to make....she gets to use the Blow Torch.....LOL) come to think of it, both involve 'fire', which is probably why she likes them sooo much....

To Die For........Yumm

This is what I wore on my Perfect Day....I really liked this outfit....it made me feel 'thin"..

NaBloPoMo?

I've seen other bloggers participating in this over the last year or so...and today as I was blog surfing at SITS I came across Joan from Joan of All Trades and she had a post about NaBloPoMo for the month of January so I figured ...why not join her??? NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month....The idea behind it is to get bloggers to post everyday for a month...and each month usually has a "theme" ...January's is appropriately CHANGE....

Resolutions

So it's that time of year again....that time when you look to the year ahead as a clean slate and make resolutions to do better, be better....

Last year I tried to keep things simple and just concentrate on being Happy...and being myself...being less negative..

I have to say ...this has probably been one of my happiest years ever...and I think alot of that has to do with attitude and choosing to be and do what makes me happy. I still struggle with knowing what I want and following thru...

One thing I want for this coming year is to really take care of myself...take charge of my weight...my health.....my time....my creativity. I need to concentrate on being and doing what "I" feel is important and not let what OTHERS think I should be or do interfere so much.

Update: I was just reading over at HomemakerAngs blog, and she had this quote by Rhonda Jean :

"Imagine your own life, and how you want it to be, then work to make that vision a reality. Don’t be put off, don’t listen to the naysayers, go with your heart and do what is right for you. I’m a non-conformist and I don’t fit in the 60 year old woman pigeonhole. I have always walked to the beat of my own drum and I have never looked to those around me for validation. That has helped me build this life I live. If I’d listened to all the advice I got when I wanted to change, I’d still be running a red hot credit card and wondering “is this all there is?”.One of the great wonders of this world to me is that we’re all the same but all so different. Celebrate your difference and custom-make a life that fits you perfectly. Forget the blathering of women’s magazines, don’t do what your next door neighbour is doing, don’t copy your friends – or me – unless it is exactly what you want and need for yourself. Make your own version of this simple life. Life is never a one-size-fits-all condition, pick and choose the portions of other people lives that suit you and custom make the rest of it so that your life fits you perfectly. If you try something that doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to get rid of it, or modify it to suit yourself. Do it all slowly, take small steps. You will never build a simple life quickly – it’s a slowly evolving process that never ends, but one thing is for sure, if you dare to be different, if you are mindful of your choices, if you downsize, declutter and get back to basics, the rewards are there for the taking."


This is exactly how I want to spend the next year. I want to be true to myself . I feel there are so many different facets of who I am...and I want to find a way to mesh them together into one great ME. So this year I'm goin to start experimenting with who I am and what I like to do and see what works...I'm going to worry less about what I 'should" be or do and just
BE and DO the things I really want.

Coffee Coffee Coffee

Those amazing girls over at SITS are having the most awesome contest.



In January they are giving away :

a Keurig Platinum Brewing System and $50 worth of K- cups





So head on over to SITS and enter to win this amazing Prize!!