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Family Movie Night Starring Tinkerbell

Woo hoo! We made it through the week. I can’t believe it’s Friday! I’m looking forward to having a nice relaxing weekend at home with the family. I noticed that the new Tinkerbell movie is on television. I added it to our queue while I ate my lunch today. I think we’ll do a family movie night tonight when I get home.

I’ve been wanting to see this movie ever since I found out that it was coming out. I found out by stumbling across videos on YouTube one day and then got hooked. I’m a huge Tinkerbell fan. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m a big kid at heart.

Anyway, family movie night tonight. I think it would be fun to order pizza and make banana splits. I’ll have to run by the grocery store really quick on my way home to get some ice cream and bananas but I think I can do it and still get home at a reasonable time.

What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have anything fun planned or are you just going to take it one day at a time and see what life brings your way? I’ll love to be inspired for plans next week. Share away.

 

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Save Space with TV Wall Mounts

We have three big flat screen televisions in our home.  One of them is in our family room with a big entertainment center.  I’ve been thinking of taking the entertainment center out to give us some more floor space and getting one of the crimson mounts to mount it to the wall. The kids have a lots of toys int he family room and I’m thinking it might be nice if there is more room to walk around all of the toys without having to avoid the entertainment center too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love our giant entertainment center, I’m not getting rid of it. I’m just moving it to another room and getting another television. I was thinking of getting one of those really neat mounts that swivel and can come out from the wall to face different directions. My neighbors have one and they love it.  They have it in their living room and use it to turn the television toward the kitchen and dining room when they want to watch television at the table. Some times I’ll allow this, sometimes I won’t. It would be nice to have that option though.

Come to think of it it would be nice to use to watch cooking programs while I’m in the kitchen. Hmm, I might be having my husband pick up more than one of these for our home.

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Exercise and Workout Update

Well, it’s been a few days now since my husband and I started on our journey to exercise and work out three times a week. To be fair this week was short because we decided that we would only work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings before work. This week we only had  Wednesday and Friday.

It hasn’t been that bad really so far. I wasn’t thrilled about waking up an extra hour early to work out at first but I’ve realized that it will ultimately force me to try to get to bed at a decent hour. I suppose that this New Year’s resolution will ultimately be two in one because if I don’t get enough sleep I won’t be able to exercise well in the morning. I’m always saying I need to get more sleep or go to bed earlier. Well, this will help me get that goal accomplished as well.

So we have one week down only fifty one more to go. I wonder how I’ll feel the closer we get to the end of the year. I’m also wondering how long  it will be before we slack off on accident or if we will be able to stay focused and on track.  I really hope that by us doing this together we don’t’ lose our momentum and fall off the wagon. Just a few weeks in and I’m sure it will become our natural routine.

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An Early Morning Start by Accident

I thought I would sleep in a little bit this morning, but my body thought otherwise. I still got up bright and early like it was a week day. And not just any ordinary weekday, one of the weekdays where I have to get up even earlier to work out with my husband. That’s right I got up at 5:30 am this morning.

I thought I could at least sleep until maybe 8:00 but nope. I suppose my internal clock is off by a day. Since I’m up early anyway I thought I would get some blogging done and maybe do a little research for Jill about her wedding.

I also thought I could make the family a nice hearty homemade breakfast. I think I’ll make some kind of starch, I can’t decide if I want to make pancakes, waffles, muffins, or coffee cake. In addition to the sweet starch I will add in some eggs of course. The kids love to eat cheesy scrambled eggs. I don’t want to over load everyone with more fat and calories than they need so I’ll try to round everything out with some fresh fruit, a glass of milk or orange juice, and some coffee for my husband and I.  Now to get to it!

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Mac & Cheese Makeover

Mac Cheese by jspatchwork
Reproduced under Creative Commons 3.0

Mac & Cheese is a favorite comfort food of many.  I love to eat eat plain with just macaroni and cheese, but I also love to give it a little makeover and change things up a bit.  Just a few additions and you’ll have a new dish to sink your teeth into.

Here are a couple of ways to give your mac & cheese a makeover:

  1. Add some chicken.  You can slice it, dice it, grill, or bake it.  I like to mix in chunks of grilled chicken or serve it in slices along the top of the dish.
  2. Add some broccoli.  I usually steam the broccoli until it is just tender and toss it in with the mac & cheese at the last minute.  I’ve even been known to blanch the broccoli in the same water the macaroni is cooking is in.  I just scoop it out after a minute or soo and let the macaroni continue to cook.  It saves time and an extra pan, and adds a little flavor to the pasta water.
  3. Add some tuna.  I think about 5oz. per cup of mac & cheese is a nice ratio.  It gives a nice protein portion and really fills you up nicely.  It kind of reminds me of a tuna melt sandwich and I love it.
  4. You can really go wild and add some lobster.  It’s nice to go fancy sometimes and add a tasty treat like this.  Trust me, you’ll love it.
  5. Add some pureed winter squash.  You won’t even know it’s there and you’ll be getting loads of added nutrition.  My kids and husband don’t know that I regularly sneak in butternut squash to our mac & cheese.  It’s the perfect color and is nice and creamy.  To make it easy on you try adding a few containers of baby food squash, it’s the same thing and all of the work is done for you.

I hope you’ll try out some of these ways to make over your mac & cheese.  What’s your favorite way to eat macaroni?

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Horrible Head Ache Won’t Go Away

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! My head hurts and I’ve tried everything to make this stupid head ache go away. I’ve had a horrible head ache for the past two days and all I feel is yuck. My head is pounding and aching. It’s starting to make my back hurt and my eyes hurt.

I’ve done all of the normal things that you can do to do to get rid of a head ache but nothing has seemed to work. I wonder if it’s brought on by stress. Seems as if more and more people are demanding my energy and time, and as many times as I say “NO” some people just refuse to take “NO” for an answer!

Maybe all I need is some time for peace and relaxation.  Maybe a nice hot bubble bath with some beautiful scented aromatherapy candles lit in the bathroom.  I think lavender would be great for just the occasion  Lavender is supposed to be calming and soothing.  Well, I need it to calm and soothe my head ache away.  It might be nice to have some relaxing music in there too with me.  I’m not sure if I want jazz or just some nice classical.

I’m off to try to rid myself of this disgusting headache.  If you have any cures that work for you let me know.

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Day Trip To Go Hiking As A Family

My husband told me he would like to plan a day trip where we can all go hiking as a family, I think that sounds like a great idea. He has some really nice lowa renegade hiking boots that he got for Christmas that he has been dying to break in. I can’t blame him, if I got something like that as a gift I would want to use it right away.

We like to get outdoors when the weather is not too cool and not too hot which is exactly what the weather has been lately. Well, it has been kind of crazy some days but that’s besides the point. Maybe we can go next weekend or weather permitting maybe even tomorrow. We don’t’ have anything else planned really and it could be a lot of fun.

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Things To Consider Before Accepting A Facebook Friend Request

I posted about Facebook earlier on in the week. I personally use it to stay in touch with friends and family. But a few of my readers e-mailed me with their thoughts and I thought I would share.

One reader asked me how I feel about friending in-laws. Do I do it and where does the line stop?

Yes, I have accepted my in-laws as my friends on my Facebook page.  I currently have my mother and father-in-law and then my sister-in law. I also have a few of my husbands aunts. It might seems like a bit much to invite your extended family that you personally do not know to be your friend on Facebook.

Another reader asked about accepting the friend requests of people I barely knew in high school.

If I really didn’t know them then I probably am not going to accept their friend request now. I’m happy to let them send me messages and then maybe if I feel the need to accept the request I might do so later but I think it’s pretty stupid just to want to add me just because we went to the same school.

Finally, another reader asked about friending people from work.

Well, that’s a tricky subject. I suppose it depends on what you post on your wall. If you posts things you wouldn’t want your co-workers to see then don’t friend them. My wall does not have anything I would be ashamed of showing my grandmother on it so I’m pretty safe in that department.

What are you thoughts on what you consider before adding someone as a friend?

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I Can’t Sleep, So I’ll Write

I couldn’t sleep, so I got up to watch some television. I flipped through all of the channels and couldn’t find one interesting infomercial.  I’ve seen them all or I already own what they are trying to sell me.  I’ve been known to occasionally call in an order those things as seen on TV. Well, it didn’t seem to help at all tonight so I flipped through the magazines on my night stand.

Magazines weren’t much help either.  I finished all three of the magazines in about 30 minutes and still couldn’t sleep.  I thought for sure trying to read and being soo tired would help me fall asleep. Nope, still awake.  At this point my tummy started to grumble so I got up and poured myself a bowl of Cheerios and milk. I like the multi-grain kind, they have a slight sweetness but they don’t taste like I’m eating sugar cubes.  I wish they had them when I was a kid.

Now that I have a full belly, have caught up on my magazines, and flipped through all of the television channels, I thought I’d pop online and work on my blog a bit.  Don’t be surprised if I crank out a bunch of posts today.  If I can’t sleep I might as well write.

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Choosing Your Wedding Garters To Make Lasting Memories

Wedding garters are a neat tradition to celebrate at your wedding. I have always loved watching all of the single men gather around the bride and groom as the groom carefully removes the wedding garter from his new blushing bride. It’s always exciting when they make him do it without the use of his hands.

I suggest getting a wedding garter set that contains two wedding garters. This way you have one for the groom to toss and then you get to keep one as a precious memento from your wedding. Wedding garter sets make it easy to have coordinating garters to keep and toss out among all of the eligible bachelors.

When selecting a wedding garter set it’s important to remember the design and quality. Of course you’ll want to choose a wedding garter that is worthy of seeing. Why choose something that you wouldn’t want anyone to look at. Pick something special that matches your style. An excellent choice would be to coordinate your wedding garter to your wedding garter belt.

Wedding garters now come in a variety of sizes too. Make sure you select something that not only looks great but that is comfortable to wear too. You don’t want your bride itching and scratching because her wedding garter is uncomfortable.