Hey good lookin...

What am I cookin'? I used to listen to Anthony Bourdain and thought that Rachael Ray was a lame chef/cook whatever you want to call her. Bourdain might know a lot about cooking, and food, but does he know how it is to cook a yummy meal on a budget with a toddler running around? Probably not. I was recently in a slump and had Food Network on TV and Rachael Ray was on. I admit her voice is a little annoying but I thought, what the hey...I'm gonna check her out. SO...I watched her and lo and behold she had an awesome recipe that used pretty much everything I had. Mind you, this is when I was watching my friends kids and I wanted to make something healthy and good, something I'd want my son to eat if he was at someones house. Anyway...she had this recipe and I made this simply by watching what was on her show.

Mind you...I didn't do the whole thing verbatim. I substituted the white wine with chicken stock, and I made instant mashed potatoes minus the apples and brie. For one, I didn't have brie and I didn't add the apples because I didn't have apples LOL. But I followed everything else the way it was written. I got glowing reviews from all at the table and it was a very simple dish. And yes...I am a Rachael Ray fan now.

And on to everyday life...I have been super busy training for a new position with Westathome. If anyone is looking to work from home, feel free to click on that link and check it out. Now that I work at home, lots of people are asking me how I do it and that is how! It's wonderful that companies like these give moms like me an opportunity to actually DO some work from home so we can be home with our little ones. I remember being small and wishing my mom stayed home with me and sometimes faking sick just to be home with her. I know she did what they had to do and I appreciate it all but I have always wanted to stay home and be with my kiddo no matter what age he is and now that he's going to start school, I feel it's double important that I am here when he gets home. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to bring in much needed money AND be home for my son. No one to answer to if he gets sick or just needs extra attention and NO office politics!!

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to help any way I can.

MAMA DRAMA!!

Okay, for anyone who has been following the Real Housewives series, you KNOW how much drama they have! Well right now, I'm following two LOL ( Call me a Housewive Whore) and Holy Estrogen Batman...these chicks will fight and argue over ANYTHING!! I swear a chicken wouldn't walk on all those eggshells they've got set up!

I don't think I could ever live like that and have those "friends". Seriously, this is why I enjoy having the friends I do, because you don't have to walk on eggshells or be scared every little thing is gonna piss them off and you certainly don't have to be worried they're gonna call you out in front of a crowd! LOL Oy vey....for some reason Jill Zarin comes to mind. I'm happy in my little middle class neighborhood and yes it sucks to not be able to spend $20,000 on a shopping spree but I'd take Target any day over Saks if it means I can have real friends and real relationships!

I started posting something about this yesterday but had to promptly shut down my computer because of some nasty storms we got. I found a JOB!! Like a JOB JOB, like one where I'm hired and stuff! I still have my gig with LiveOps but I found one with more stable income and I'm so excited! I'm telling anyone who will listen!! WWW.WOMENFORHIRE.COM is awesome!! They have a lot of legitimate work at home jobs and some have small fees but none will ask you to give a considerable amount of money (to me, a considerable amount is over $100) and I have found great success with them. I'm always hearing women talk about how they'd love a work at home job and then nothing happens...well you can work at home if you don't look!!! Anyway...I'm off to make my coffee, my day is just getting started and I foresee Sams Wholesale Club in my future.

Life in general

I was in such a slump the last few weeks and I am slowly forcing my way out of it. I'm really not meant to stay indoors for a long period of time, so this is unusual for me. A few great things that came out of this is I have been cooking like a champ, which my husband is super happy of and I've also been able to work some (although not enough) but now I'm ready to venture out in the the world of the living!

I have Simon's fourth birthday coming up next week which should be fun. My whole family is coming in to celebrate with us and of course we'll have a fabulous cake made from our own cake baker. I have to be honest, I'm not much of a child's party planner. I tend to forget things and someone always has to pick up my slack, but not this year! This year I'm making it simple and orchestrated. My husband and I agreed on a date ahead of time and agreed on the menu. What's on the menu? Hot Dogs, Chips, and cake. That's it. I'm slowly learning the people don't always judge you and what you give them, they'll likely accept and with pleasure! I know if I were to go to a party (and I have) with just hot dots and potato chips, I've been as happy as a clam and so has Simon!! So why in the world in my mind, do I feel the need to have a buffet of food and then I get so overwhelmed I do nothing?!? Not this year, I'm finally realizing that it's okay to have something simple yet delicious and that the parties are for the kiddos and to stop being so self conscious! It's a party, a celebration and I'm sure people will just have fun when their kiddos are having fun ;o) And the cake...ahh the cake. That is surly the piece de resistance! I'll be sure to post a picture of this masterpiece before it's completely devoured.

So what's in store for today? Making a traditional English roast. Roast beef, steamed brussell sprouts, carrots, peas and zuccini with roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding and for dessert? Custard pie!! My family will certainly be happy as will I!

Other than that, I'm gonna lay low. I went out with some friends last night to just have a couple of beers and relax. It was REALLY nice to be able to go somewhere that wasn't a grocery store or run errands and it was especially good not to have to worry about anyone but yourself. I LOVE being a mom but sometimes you just need those down time with friends that you can just hang with and not have to worry about stepping on toes or pissing off.

Ugg...how do you say "I'm sorry" enough?

My apologies to my readers (even if there is only 1 or 2 LOL). I have been a super BAD blogger. I'm sorry!! Life has been happening and what can I say? I had to deal with it. There has been A LOT going on in my life right now and it's been pretty hectic, crazy, exciting, and tiring to say the least. First off...my mother in law left back to the UK. It was a sad couple of days for me and I cried like the big baby that I am and had to learn a new routine so I did. I have to keep in mind that she will return and we'll go and see her, I just really hate goodbyes.

Okay so then...I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!! It's a work at home job which is awesome because I never have to leave my house (like I do a lot anyway *rolls eyes*). I just go upstairs to my office, sign on and start working. It can be done. I hear a lot of people say that they wish the could find a job where they can work at home and there really is NO SECRET, you CAN find one if you truly want to!! I work for a company called LiveOps and so far so good. I won't go too much into detail as I'm sure there are some confidentiality rules to it but I can say that it is a great way for a SAHM like myself to earn some real money and never have to leave your kiddies.

I'm very fortunate enough to have met some great women & men on there that have helped me tremendously and are true inspirations. Some earn a little, others earn a lot, it all depends on YOU and what you want for yourself and your family. As of this moment, I'm earning a substantial amount but plan on working more when my son goes to school in August. I work some nights and weekends while my husband can look after Simon and it seems to work well for us. I really wanted to contribute, pay off some debt, save some money for vacations or emergencies and just have something to do and this has really been a God send.

Okay and what more? Well I've been baking my own bread since about March. I bake about two to four loaves a week (sometimes more, sometimes less) and it's been a real money saver. Not to mention the wonderful taste and smell that only homemade bread can bring. I know what the ingredients are and feel great about giving it to my family. I have been dabbling in bread making for about 2 years now and never found a recipe that worked for me. FINALLY, one of my good friends gave me this recipe that kicked ass! *Shout out to Dori!* And since then, no more store bought bread for us. I use my bread machine of course, but I just use that for the dough bit and I roll out the dough when it's finished, and put it in bread pans and bake it. Wanna know this recipe you say? It's Amish White Bread and it's delicious. If you're looking for a way to save some $$, make healthier foods for your family and want something delicious, try this! I do make some very slight modifications so if you want to know just let me know and I can give you my little mods.

Family is all good, the boy is growing every day and is using words I never thought I'd hear him say. Like "Mom, that man is awesome!!". He's really into super heros these days and his birthday is coming up so fast I can't even wrap my head around it. He'll be 4 years old! Where did the time go? I love him more and more each day and can't imagine what life would be like without him to brighten up my life. He's truly a blessing which makes me so glad that we named him after an Apostle.

On a sad note, my dear grandmother Francis is not doing so well. She's had some issues with falling a lot lately and this last fall really took her out. She's a very strong woman and has held on with all her might through congestive heart failure, a blood infection, AND pneumonia. She's doing okay right now but is a bit confused but she's amazing held on tight and still fighting! We keep her in our prayers every night and pray that she pulls through this tough period.

Anyway...I gotta cut my boys hair (another money saver). I've been cutting it since he was a year old but now that he's getting older, I need to brush up on my technique so I'm watching a Youtube video of how to cut hair and I have to say it's pretty cool!

Till next time friends! And I promise I will try not to let next time come sometime in the fall!

My pup has been sick

My poor son has been sick for a little over a week now. He'll get better, and no fever, then he'll get fever again. I don't know what it is, but we're going to the doctor on Monday (hopefully they can get us in!) just to see what's going on. He's rarely sick, in fact, I think this is the first time in a year or over a year that he's been sick so I guess we were bound for an illness at some point. I feel bad for him because I can tell he's getting cabin fever and ready to be out and about and if he didn't have fever, I would take him out for a bit.

Not sure where he got it from or when but you can never tell with kids. They're always passing around germs even when we don't know it. It's amazing when you think about all the surfaces that they touch that we don't know about. Not to mention coming into contact with kids with runny noses and coughs. You just can't keep them from getting what they're going to get. I used to get all vexed when Simon was around a child that "could" be sick, you know the kids with the snotty noses and coughs that seem to always be there, but no matter what, the germs will still be there. Okay now if someone brought their child around with a KNOWN illness, yeah, I'd be ticked off, but ALL of us parents, and I don't care who you are, have taken your children out with runny noses, and coughs when you don't think they're contagious or over their illness, you can't help it sometimes!

So our week and part of last week was dealt with fever and now we're dealing with cough. I have a slight cough myself but I know for a fact mine is due to the weather change, I always deal with this. I think I have really bad allergies and probably should be on a daily allergy medicine, but I hate taking medicines, especially one you have to take daily. My pup on the other hand, never has anything so I'm not convinced his is allergies. I feel bad for my MIL though because she's been stuck in doors for weeks it seems and even she got a little bit of a head cold.

On another note...my job is almost up and running. I'm waiting on our phone line to be completed. They came over here and semi installed it but something else needed to be done. Also, I need a few more accessories then I'll be ready. I have to say, right now, I'm not too excited because I'm getting very little sleep waking up checking on Simon and checking his temp so I'm not all that thrilled at working right now, but I gotta do what I gotta do!

I'm bored.

I'm so damn bored. I finally got my WAHM job that I wanted and what the hell am I doing? Looking at crap on the internet rather than completing my background check and checking what I need to install. I'm so pathetic. I think I'm really waiting for my real break. You know, when I win the lottery. I know I'm so lucky that I don't even have to buy a lottery ticket but once and I'll win, I'm just putting it off so I can live in no money hell.

Speaking of money...how the hell can these people on HGTV afford $500,000 1200sq. ft. homes? Does everyone outside of Texas make a huge amount of money? They say it like it's no big deal..."Well I know our budget is going to limit us. Our price range is between $400,000 and $500,000 so I know we're going to have to make some compromises." Seriously?!?!? What the hell!?

One person

Ahhhh this blog is going to help me get out a little bit of frustration so here it goes.

I'm really tired of ONE person being able to ruing things for everyone else. Whether it be a mood, a way of doing things, prayer in school whatever, it sucks that ONE person can bring it down. There are many examples I can give of this personal and not but one such example is in our little towns elections.

We have a wonderful Gmail group for our neighborhood. It's run by a gentleman that can be a smart ass but is hilarious and he's taken it upon himself to start this group for us. It's always a wealth of information regarding upcoming community events, lost animals, a place to sell your things, crime etc...and I consider it invaluable to our small community. Unfortunately ONE woman who seems to have taken things the wrong way and has thrown a hissy fit has threatened to unravel the group. She is a mayoral candidate and the man who runs our unofficial HOA website had put up for all of us to go and meet the candidates. This chick didn't include herself so when she heard that we had a "meet and greet" she accused our little group of being a PAC and that we can be penalized.

Of course this changed everything and a disclaimer had to be added. It really ticks me off how ONE woman can take things completely the wrong way and start bitching and threatening. I have little to no patience for people like that because it's their own insecurities and issues that they reflect on everyone else and ruin things. This woman did no favors to herself or her campaign. Rather than just takes things on the chin and say "Hi, sorry I wasn't apart of the last meet & greet, but I'd like to introduce myself" she decided she was going to throw a hissy fit and make herself look like an ass therefore, she's losing votes. I sent her an email telling her so and why.

Okay...off my high horse.

Poor little Simon & I have been sick but we're on the mend, I'm just taking it easy this weekend and we're going to have to postpone the rodeo and family thing till next weekend. Next weekend is going to be a party the whole time!