12 Random Things for 2012

12 Random Things for 2012

 

-12- Random Things

1. Ever since I learned how cheap, easy, and tasty it was to make homemade pizza... we have had it once a week.

2. I think my husband thinks since I work from home... I don't really work... but I do.

3. I always buy crafty things to make... but never make them right away.

4. My new favorite snack is almonds and a cheese stick.

5. I drive Madison to the bus stop.

6. My elderly neighbor calls Madison by the name Morgan.  I don't have the heart to correct her.

7. I swear as soon as I clean my kitchen... it is dirty again.

8. I am working on a super fabulous Pinterest inspired project for my mom.

9. If I am at home... my hair is pulled up in a pony tail on the top of my head.

10. I drink a glass of water every night when I get in bed.

11. I am newly obsessed with anything chevron.

12. After failing to do my 2011 family album until the end of 2011, I have already started my 2012 and vow to keep up with it.  My 2010 book is amazing because I worked on it several times each month.

-11- Things I Do Every Single Day

1. PEE a lot
2. Watch TV
3. Check Facebook
4. Play Words With Friends
5. Read blogs in my Google Reader (usually from my phone)
6. Clean the kitchen
7. Cook or bake
8. Wear my black flip flops
9. Drink diet coke
10. Send text messages
11. Use my Erin Condren planner
    
12. -10- Most Recent Purchased I Have Made (with 1 being the most recent)

1. a 32 oz. fountain soda

2. our rent payment

3. groceries at Stop & Shop

4. some craft supplies at Michaels

5. McDonalds for Maddie

6. parking at the airport

7. groceries at Trader Joe's

8. lunch at Chipotle

9. scrap wood and paint at Home Depot

10. lunch at the Coddington Brewery

{I have bought nothing fun or exciting since before Christmas}

-9- Future Vacation Destinations

1. To my parents' house

2. To my sister's house

3. To Cape Cod

4. To Boston

5. Back "home" to Virginia Beach

6. On another cruise

7. To Disney World

8. To New York City

9. To Hawaii (hopefully)

{I realize nothing is really overly exciting... we live a simple life}

-8- Things Currently in my Living Room

1. My Christmas Tree

2. Chris with his iPad

3. Maddie with her iPad

4. Lots of blankets on the couch

5. a bowl of gummy bears

6. Our TV

7. Chris' Red Sox sweatshirt hanging over the couch

8. magazines I need to read

1. Something on TLC related to having babies

2. Teen Mom 2

3. Any season of Real Housewives

4. Something on the history channel

5.  Top Chef

6. House Hunters

7. It may be turned on to the Xbox for video games for Chris and/or Madison

-6- Of My Favorite Foods

1. almost anything from Panera

2. my homemade enchiladas

3. most Mexican food

4. Cherry Coke Zero

5. chips and salsa

6. buffalo chicken anything

-5- Things in My Purse

1. My matching wallet

2. Random change

3. hair ties

4. receipts

5. pens

{My purse is so big a small child could fit inside of it}

-4- Things I Would Love to Buy Myself

1. New sneakers

2. New winter boots

3. Some new workout clothes

4. some new cooking utensils

-3- Things I Did Today

1.  I worked out. 

2. I worked a 7 hour work shift.

3. I made dinner.

-2- Things I Can Reach From Where I am Sitting

1. My cell phone

2. flyers for next week grocery store sales

-1- A Picture That I Love

My favorite wedding photo-

I "borrowed" this idea from Emily's blog, Live a Charmed Life and tweaked it just a bit.  I wrote it Wednesday evening to post on Thursday morning.

-7- Things the TV Would Likely Be on If You Came Over

So What Wednesday

I'm linking up with Shannon for one of my favorites...

So what... If today was my first workout in YEARS...

So what... If its been so long since I've worn sneakers... that they didn't fit this morning... and instead of skipping my workout (which did cross my mind) I put on a pair of my husband's sneakers. Yes... I have huge feet.

So what... If it was at Curves. It's better than what I've been doing... Nothing...

So what... If after I left Curves I picked up a diet coke fountain soda...

So what... If our Christmas tree and all of our holiday decorations are still up...

So what... If I go back and forth each day on if I'm ready to try again for another baby... I mean we definitely want a baby... We are only going to get one by trying... But I'm terrified and I think that makes me go back and forth...

Recipe - Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Last week Chris and I went to Walgreens to pick up some free
photos I ordered.  We picked up a bag of individual Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on clearance with the plan of making cookies out of them.  Sunday evening I whipped up a batch of peanut butter cookies using the recipe (tweaked a bit) off the back of the bag.  These turned out great and were very soft.  I used a small ice cream scoop for the dough and baked them inside liners in a mini-muffin tin!!

Here is the recipe

You will need -

40 mini peanut butter cups (which is incidently...more than one bag)

1 stick of softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup of peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpse flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

Directions -

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. Unwrap your candies.  Fill a mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners.

3. Beat butter, both sugars, your egg, the peanut butter, and vanilla until nice and fluffy.

4. Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda in a seperate bowl.  Gradually mix it into the batter.

5. Use a mini ice cream scoop to portion out the dough into the cups or roll 1 inch balls and place them in the muffing cups.  Do not flatten them.

6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown.  Remove from the oven.

7. Immediately press a peanut butter cup down in each dough cup.

8. Once my pan has cooled, I place it in the fridge for 15 minutes for the peanut butter cups to set before I remove the cookei cups from the pan.

__Here is what the dough looks like in the pans before baking when you use the mini ice cream scoop___

January 1, 2012 Was a Great Day

Sunday January 1, 2012 was a great day.

We slept in.

I made breakfast.

Maddie and I went to Michaels and wandered around for a bit and picked up three things we needed/wanted.

Then I took her grocery shopping with me.  I brought my reusable bags and let her use the scanner they have where you scan and bag as you go, then check out with your scanner at the end.  She loves doing it... So today I let her.

I stayed under budget... although not as low as I would like it to be.

When we came home I made a recipe inspired by Pinterest that I will share this week.  I made Baked Beef & Black Bean Chimichangas.  They were fabulous.  On day 1 of the new year I've already made one new meal... which was one of my January goals. 

After dinner I made Pumpkin Butter Bars.  They are one of Chris' favorites.  We picked up a jar of pumpkin butter at Trader Joe's this weekend and he requested that I make them. We each had one and are saving them for today when his brother and niece come over for dinner.

Then I made homemade peanut butter cookies...using the recipe on the back of the holiday peanut butter cups I picked up for 60% off at Walgreens last week... also to serve for dessert tonight. I used a mini ice-cream scoop to portion out the dough.

We spent lots of good quality family time together yesterday. 

Chris and Madison are both off today.  I have to work.  I am thankful I work from home and can still be here.  My brother-in-law and niece will be coming over in between my two work shifts today for dinner.  I am making baked buffalo chicken wontons for appetizers and my brother-in-law is making his grilled pork tenderloin, rice, and beans.  I am serving the bars and cookies for dessert.

Yesterday was a good day.

I am hoping all of our days continue to be so great.

January 2012 Goals & Plans

Instead of making yearly resolutions... I decided to focus on monthly goals that I know are attainable.  Some are things I want to do and some are things I need to do.  I am hoping to keep up with it and to report back throughout the month when I have met my 6 goals.  

 What are some of your goals, plans, or resolutions for 2012?

This is NOT a 2011 Year in Review

I will spare you from sharing my top 10 recipes, projects, posts, etc... although I have enjoyed reading everyones.  It's mostly because I just don't feel like going back through and re-sharing them.

2011 hasn't been the best year for us... but I still want to remember the things..both good...and really bad that happened in our lives in 2011 - especially since I neglected to begin my annual Shutterfly album until two days ago.  I am happy to say I finished it last night...and it is patiently sitting in my shopping cart until I get a coupon for a free book... because I just KNOW if I go ahead and order it the free coupon will come the next day.

Madison comes home this evening after spending a great week with her grandparents.  I am happy she is coming home.  Chris and I have really enjoyed some alone time this week... but our house is just not the same without her.

I am HOPING like hell that 2012 is a better year for our family on every level...

financially
physically
emotionally

and that we end 2012 with a healthy baby...finally...please.

What We've Been Up To...

Madison has been gone since Monday morning visiting her grandparents in Virginia and Chris and I have had a great week together.

Chris and I both worked on Tuesday.  When he came home we headed to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner.  Afterwards we went to the Christmas Tree Shops for a little shopping.  I got a frame I needed and a heart shaped cookie pop pan for just $2.99 which I cannot wait to use for Valentine's Day.

Chris took off Wednesday and after sleeping in we got in the car and headed to Massachusetts {which is actually really close to Rhode Island}.  We stopped and had lunch at Tropical Smoothie Cafe {one of Chris' favorites from Virginia} and then went to A.C. Moore.  I am on the hunt for mini 2x2 canvases... which I cannot seem to find anywhere.  Then we headed to Target.  We came home and did laundry and went through some boxes in the basement looking for a frame I wanted to reuse for another photo.  We ordered Chinese food for dinner and hung out and watched movies.

Yesterday I worked until 3.  Chris and I ordered a pizza for dinner and watched Our Idiot Brother which had come from Netflix.  We stayed up way later than usual and Chris watched football and I finally uploaded all of my 2011 photos and started my 2011 Shutterfly family album.  I am just about finished and will finish later tonight.

This morning I went and signed up for Curves. It really killed me to pay the sign up fee... but I figured if I was motivated now, I might as well do it now instead of waiting until March when they have the no joining fee. Of course they are now closed until the 3rd.. but I will be going then. I chose Curves for a few reasons... (1) it is super close to our house (2) I have gone there before so I am familiar with the equipment (3) I am hoping it will give me some socialization.

Afterwards I came home to get Chris and we headed out for a date day lunch.  We went to one of our favorite local places here, the Coddington Brewery and enjoyed a great lunch.  Then we picked up some photos I ordered from Walgreens {that I got for FREE}, went to Home Depot {to get paint and scrap wood for a new project I am working on}, to the Dollar Tree {for something else for the project}, to BJ's for a few things, and then to a local coffee shop for smoothies before heading home. 

We miss Maddie but have really enjoyed spending a lot of quality time together this week.  It has been really good for our marriage.

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

I saw this link posted on Facebook and thought it was well worth a share on the blog.  It is 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself.

Here are some that really stood out to me.

4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner

I think too often as mothers we put everyone else's needs before our own.  I am definitely guilty of this and need to start taking some time for just Melissa... this does not mean I will stop making my family's needs a priority... it just means I will realize I have needs too.

6. Stop trying to hold onto the past

You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.  This has been hard for me...especially recently.  I definitely want to work on this.

There are more that I think I can work on as well.... what a great article.

Which of the 30 do you think you can work on?

So What Wednesday!

I am linking up again with Shannon for So What Wednesday.

So what... if it is almost 2012 and I haven't even started my 2011 Shutterfly Family Album.  I was ready to just not do it this year, but then I figured one year my kid(s) will look back at the books and wonder where in the heck the 2011 one is? I was talking to Chris about this last night...and he said well 2011 was pretty crappy... Well I have decided to work on making a 2011 one anyway... it may not be very big (many of the photos I took this year from May on were on my iPhone), but I've got to do it.

So what... if one of my new absolute favorite guilty pleasure shows is TI & Tiny - The Family Hustle on VH1.  It airs on Monday nights. 

So what... if I recently discovered (no exxageration) that we have at least 100 picture frames...in all sizes, colors, styles, etc... that are not on the wall... and I bought an 8 x10 black frame last night.

So what... if when I checked Madison in at the airport on Monday and was trying to tell the ticket agent that she was flying alone... that I could barely get the words out.  Not to mention I teared up when she was getting on the plane...and then again when the plane was in the air.

So what... if I swear way more than I should.

So what ... if it's almost January and I am still wearing my flip flops.  I have yet to buy any boots.

Last Week...

Last Friday I was forced to come to terms with some things that have been going on in my life...

This has been pretty much the most difficult year of my life thus far...

2011 has included our second year of marriage, a job I wasn't happy with, leaving that job, moving far away where I know nobody, a new school and struggles for Maddie, struggling to conceive, conceiving...finally,  and then the loss of our unborn child. 

It has been A LOT.  I have cried A LOT.

Add that to spending about 95% of my week inside the house... and you could say I am not the happiest person.

My husband has noticed and commented.

My daughter has noticed and commented.

I have some changes I need to make.