Friends

I saw this on Open Seven Days a Week. Closed Sundays blog and thought I would share it because it is very true.

We should thank the friends that:

• made promises that they didn't keep
• broke our plans or stood us up because something better came along
• abandoned us every time she got a new boyfriend
• excluded us when planning a girl's spa weekend, or a ladies' night out, or choosing her bridesmaids
• smiled in our face, then stabbed us in the back
• sneaked around behind our back to date our ex
• provided plenty of backhanded compliments, and loved to tell us all the nasty things other people said about us
  
• continually hijacked the conversation to talk about her life and her problems, but changed the subject when we needed to vent
• told us they'd be there for us, but made themselves scarce just when we needed them most
• conveniently forgot when she owed us money, or when it was her turn to pay

Because without them, we wouldn't have learned to appreciate the friends who:

• went out of their way to be helpful in times of need
• looked out for us when we couldn't look out for ourselves
• always treated us the same, in happy and unhappy times
• always pointed out what was best for us
  
• were always sympathetic when the chips were down
• were the first to rejoice at our good fortune
• stood up for us and stopped others who spoke against us
  
• always gave more than they needed to

And without them, we wouldn't have learned that:

• a good friend is worth more than all the world's purest gold, platinum and rhodium combined
• in order to have a good friend, you need to first be a good friend
  

"Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget." - unknown

Menu Plan Monday

I am getting back into the swing of things by Menu Planning, it feels good to be back :)



Monday--grilled New York Strip and roasted potatoes. (The steaks are generally out of my budget. However, after I dragged my sweetie to The Fresh Market, he couldn't resist buying them.)

Tuesday--leftovers since my sweetie won't be getting home til 11:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Wednesday--white bean chili.

Thursday--leftovers

Friday--going out to eat.

Saturday--Mexican night (tacos and margaritas)

Sunday--grilled subs.

Stella and Blue

On Friday I was thinking this weekend would be like any other. Do some chores around the house, run some errands, spend time with mini-me and my sweetie. My mother went to the beach this weekend, so that meant on top of running after my brood of 6 dogs, I also had to go by her house to feed and check on her 3 dogs. Really no biggie. Saturday morning the 3 of us head over so I could check on them and give them a cookie (ever loved Milk-Bone). To my surprise, my mother's electric gate was wide open. I start worrying already and see no dogs anywhere. We pull up to the garage and out comes Speedy, 1 dog, check. Then Dawn comes running, 2 dogs, check. Hmm where is Stella? I yell and yell, walk all around the house and backyard in the awesome Georgia heat and humidity to no avail. Stella is MIA. So I tell my sweetie let's go drive down the road and see if we see her (and hoping we see her running down the road, not the other way to find her on the road). We do this and still, no sight of Stella. So I call the pound to see if they happen to have her, and thank goodness they do. I go bail Stella out of doggie jail and we take her back to our house so Blue (our lab/shepherd mix) can have a play date. Stella is 14 months old and Blue is right at a year so they would be perfect for each other. My sweetie fills up Blue's kiddie pool, yes Blue loves her pool and before we know it (with a little coaxing) Stella is laying in the pool with Blue. I think all they were missing was a nice margarita or a drink with a little umbrella in it :)

Is That A Post? Why Yes It Is :)

I apologize for being gone for SO long. My life was turned upside down for a little while and now I feel as though I have more of a steady grip on things.

I am now a divorced, working mother. I found out my now ex-husband had been cheating on me and when confronted with this, he did not want to work on things. He now lives in Oregon with his new girlfriend. He just came last week to see Sophie, which he had not seen since September.

This would be the other part that has been difficult to deal with. Sophie hurts and misses him and I can understand that. She gets upset and acts out because he's not here and has no contact with her. It got to a point in school where other kids would ask her if she had a daddy and she would say no, which myself and her teacher would quickly reframe for her. As much as she has frustrated me this past year and a half and tried my patience, I am amazed by her every single day. Sophie is such an awesome and wonderful child that I cannot thank God enough for.

I have missed blogging and will be back here much more often now. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to catching up :)

Wordless Wednesday

I am definitely lucky

Why do you ask? Because I do not have a picky eater for a child. My DD has never been a picky eater and each time I hear another parent talk about how their child won't eat this or that, I thank my lucky stars. The deal I have with DD is, take one bite, if you don't like it, you don't have to eat any more of it. Guess what my 3 year old ate tonight. Lobster and shrimp (unfortunately she does have expensive taste lol). The waiter at Red Lobster looked at me like I was nuts, until he saw her eat it. This was the first time DD had lobster and will probably be the last for awhile (it was my grandfather's birthday, so dinner was his treat. Lobster usually does not make it on our shopping lists).

There is one thing about picky eating kids that does get me. It's not so much the kids, and I know not all picky eaters come from parents who say this, but it grates my last nerve when I hear a mom (or dad for that matter) say "No, you won't like it, but here try it". Yum serve me up some of that. Who in their right mind would eat something after hearing that? Like I said, I know not all kids who are picky eaters come from parents with this mindset. For some kids it's a texture or a taste thing and let's face it, as adults we all don't like everything out there so why should our kids, right?

Oops, sorry I got off on a tangent. Anyways, I'm very glad and lucky my DD will try almost anything, at least once.

Wordless Wednesday

How I'm feeling today.

Menu Plan Monday

I'm trying my hand at getting back into monthly menu planning, so doing the menu plan on Monday's will become even easier :)

So for this week:

Monday--fried rice.

Tuesday--Rouladen and spaetzle.

Wednesday--Hamburger Steak, fries and a veggie.

Thursday--Bird's Eye Viola Frozen Meal (they were BOGO this week)

Friday--Roast chicken and German potato salad.

Saturday--Pizza.

Sunday--Leftovers.

View more menu plans at Organizing Junkie.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday--Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas.

Tuesday--Gries Suppe

Wednesday--Hamburger Helper.

Thursday--Rouladen, noodles, potato salad.

Friday--Pizza.

Saturday--Grilled cheese, tomato soup.

Sunday--Leftovers.

My daughter will never lack personality or a sense of humor

Tonight while I was putting her to bed, she told me she needed a new pullup. After that, this is how our conversation went:

Me: Finish your nutrigrain bar.

DD: What did you say?

Me: Mommy said to finish eating your nutrigrain bar.

DD: Did you call me grandma?

Me: No (trying to hold back laughing), I said eat your nutrigrain bar.

DD: grandma?

LOL, such is life.

The negative about having 6 dogs....

I wrote the other day about the positives of having too many dogs, like cleaning up spilled powder strawberry nesquick. Here is a negative, your 2 boston terriers decide they want to start taking vitamins too, when you're not home. I came home yesterday to find my small bottle of B12 missing all of its pills, well I'll give the little buggers credit, they left one for me (how generous huh?) I looked it up online and found that a side effect could be an increase in appetite, just what they need, maybe that was going on when they were trying to eat dirt outside lol. They seem to be doing fine, I just have to buy more B12. Who knew dogs made New Years Resolutions too? LOL.

Wordless Wednesday

Beef Stroganoff Using Leftover Pot Roast

I can't remember where I found this recipe, so in case this was yours, please let me know! :)

You'll need:

Leftover pot roast meat

about 1/3 cup of sour cream

Leftover gravy from pot roast

Egg Noodles

Bring water to a boil for your egg noodles, cook noodles according to package instructions. Cut the pot roast meat into bit size pieces, add meat and gravy to a pan. Stir in sour cream and bring to a simmer. Done! How fast and easy is that?!

Gebrannte Gries Suppe

This is such an easy and delicious soup, perfect for the winter months.

You'll need:

3 tablespoons butter

3 cups of Cream of Wheat

Approximately 7 cups of water or beef broth

2-3 beef bouillon cubes (you don't need these if you use the beef broth)

Salt to taste

2-3 eggs

Melt butter in a soup pot. Add cream of wheat and stir until it becomes golden brown (toasted). When it is browned, add your beef bouillon cubes (I usually smush these up so they dissolve easier). Add your water. When it comes up to a boil, lower it to a simmer and let it cook for about 5 minutes. If it becomes too thick like a porridge, add more water. It's very easy to adjust and a forgiving soup. You do want this soup to be semi thick, but not enough where your spoon could stand on it's own in it lol. Taste and add salt if needed. Then scramble 2-3 eggs in a separate bowl and stir into the soup. You want little wisps of egg going throughout. Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday

My DH is traveling again, so Menu Planning becomes a little more difficult when it's just DD and I. So, I thought I would do something different this week for you guys. Instead of posting my menu plan, I'm going to post a different recipe for you each day during the week. Please check back for new recipes :)

The Perfect Breakfast On A Cold Day

In Georgia, we're not used to waking up to a frigid 20 degrees in the morning. I was trying to think of something for breakfast that would be filling and warm, so I decided on a favorite of mine and DD's, milch rice. Milch rice is sort of like oatmeal or rice pudding, except it's eaten warm. I've been lucky to use a mix for it and I've been trying to find an old family recipe for it. The mix I use can be found at The German Deli. When using this mix, all you need is 2 cups of milk. You bring it to a boil, stir in the mix, stir for about 1 minute. Then turn off your burner and let it sit for 10 minutes. After that you're done and you have a warm and filling breakfast waiting for you. I hope you guys will try to make this sometime for breakfast for your family.

One positive of having 6 dogs...

They can help clean up when your 3 year old spills the powdered Strawberry Nesquik. They do more than just drive me crazy on a daily basis :)

Wordless Wednesday

Menu Plan Monday

Monday--Grilled cheese, tomato soup.

Tuesday--Roast Chicken, rice, cauliflower.

Wednesday--Lasagna (didn't make it from last week)

Thursday--Goulash, egg noodles.

Friday--Ranch chicken, butter noodles, peas.

Saturday--Roasted noodles.

Sunday--Leftovers.

Can I blame the mess in my house on a tornado?

I guess only if the tornado is my lovely 3 year old DD and her accomplices, the dogs. I'm always proud of myself when the house is really clean but it only seems to last for, uh maybe a day or two? When I was pregnant with DD I had a system of what got cleaned on what day. This really helped me keep up on housework but things seemed so much easier then lol. I tried to go back to this old system; however, it doesn't seem to work for me like it did before. I don't know, I think I'm in a cleaning funk. During the week when I work, I feel so tired by the time I get home and I just want to spend time with DD and make dinner, etc. that I don't have the time or the want to clean the house after a long day. I try to do my housework on the weekends but then it gets ruined during the week and we're back to square one. I guess I just have to experiment with different techniques and strategies and see if I find something that works. Anyone have a plan that works for them?