Lands End Canvas Fall Line

Have you checked out the new Lands End Canvas fall line? Great basics! I can not speak enough of how wonderful Lands End is. Such awesome quality, and they always have a good sale and free ship code. The two items above are items I will soon be buying when I catch a good sale =)

So far the diet has not killed us....

The hubby and I have survived the first week of dieting. We are doing weight watchers. We didn't sign up and we are not doing meetings, we both just downloaded free applications on our phones which makes doing weight watcher a million times easier. The application for my phone is called the WW Diary. I can even use the barcode scanner on the phone to load nutrional content. It's just genius. We have both done weight watchers in the past online and in person, but we feel like we know the plan pretty well enough to do it without being all official. Plus, I don't feel like paying someone to weigh me once a week. I can humilate myself at work in front of all the patients for free on our scale in the treatment area.

So menu planning for this week will go like this- breakfast consists of Special K cereal or Special K protein bars if I am running late. WW or Lean Cuisine frozen meal, and either some cucumber slices or some other snack.

Dinner is the more exciting area...

Monday- Garlic Chicken on the grill- and corn on the cob, Green beans

Tuesday- trying out a new recipe- Cilantro and Lime Shrimp found it here :http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/03/cilantro-lime-shrimp.html with salad

Wednesday- doing the Panko crusted pork chops that I did last week- we really liked them (even the kids which never happens)

Thursday- kids night at our local chickfila. We skip the fries and get a side salad with the sandwich. (side note did you know that damn chickfila sauce is 4 points for one freaking packet??? Umm heart breaking...)

Friday- PF Changs frozen meal (those are awesome! It's a frozen skillet meal that Dave and I share and it the point value is pretty low. I was pretty psyched to see they were not a million weight watcher points. They are really tasty, and do not taste like a frozen meal.

Weekends are not planned cause we have our extra points to splurge on.

Book Club

I love to read. As a little girl I would stay up late under the covers with a flash light reading the Baby Sitters Club series. It's something I have always enjoyed. About 5 years ago, during my lunch hour I stopped for lunch at this hippy food place that is no longer in business. While I was eatting my lunch I noticed that there was a group meeting for coffee, and discussing a book that they had all read. This was the first time I had ever heard about book clubs. I was totally jealous, and I just don't know anyone around here that does that in my area.

Thankfully, Erin from blueeyedbride.com and another blogger have the same yearning, and thought why not start a blogging one? They created a site with the info check it out: http://bookendbloggers.blogspot.com/

The first book that they are going to read is on there. I purchased it today. I attempted to find it at my local library, but they don't have it, so I have found for me it was cheaper to buy it from walmart.com and get it shipped for me for .97 I also went through ebates.com to buy it from walmart so I will be getting back a whole whopping 1.0% back on the total purchase. (Hey I made sure I was going to get this book for the least amount possible). PS check out ebates.com and start saving some money if you buy stuff online.

I am excited about this book club and think it would be a great way to ready books I might not have otherwise thought about.

Back to School Shopping!

It's still summer, and my girls will not be starting back to preschool until September, but it's time to start getting ready. I made it by my favorite consignment shop ever for kiddos- Sugar and Spice, in Williamsburg today, and I found a lot of wonderful items. I have been shopping at this store for 4 years now, and it's been the best consignment shop for kids that I have seen. Great brands, great prices, and very organized.

The top two jumper dresses are adorable! Very well made, and perfect for school. Of course, I have already ran them over to my mom's to be personalized. The halloween/pumpkin sweater is for Emily. This is by Gymboree, and I really really wanted to buy this sweater last year for the girls but it was very expensive for a seasonal item so I passed. Luckily, this shop had it in Emily's size and it was $6.75 ! The owl shirt I thought was just cute,and then the last red shirt is Land's End and already was personalized with an E and was in Emily's size! Can't beat that for $3. I am already gearing up and plotting some purchases like some jeans and shoes during the tax free holiday in August in Virginia.

*in other non kid news I am going to join a online book club that is just starting up. It's open to anyone and I will post some more details tomorow.

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Deep sigh of relief. My computer is fine, I am just an idiot and need a new battery. Thankfully the geek people at Best Buy do not charge to tell you this. Nothing else exciting to write about because pms/dieting/being angry with the husband/feeling sorry for myself just isn't very positive to write about. Will be back when I am out of my funk.

Having some computer issues... crossing my fingers and hoping it's a easy fix. Will be absent again for a while until.

Started the diet today...

My menu for this week isn't all that excited in our household. Hence a household diet has taken place. I am stocked up on Special K protein bars, shakes, and their cereal to have for my breakfast options, and the WW frozen meals were on sale, so lunch is set up. For the hubby I got him lots of those 100 calorie pack snacks, and some pita bread and lean lunch meat. Dinner is always a struggle with time, and pleasing the kids too. Also, I feel like chicken is pretty much the only healthy entree, and that get's super boring fast.
Monday night- Skillet chicken (I use alot of seasonings and just pan sear it) will eat it with corn and salad

Tuesday- going to attempt a new pork chop recipe that is WW friendly that involves wheat breadcrumbs. find out more here http://crepesofwrath.net/2009/04/13/panko-crusted-pork-chops/ hopefully it wont suck. Will also have green beans.

Wednesday- I am making the husband grill some chicken for himself and the kids, and some salmon for me. Butter beans too.

Thursday I clueless any suggestions?

Friday- is going to be a cheat day cause Dave and I are in charge of Family Night at the pool so we will be cooking and eating some hot dogs and hamburgers.

Have not thought much about the weekend yet either... it will just be a miracle enough for us to get through the week day.

Back to the real world....

We are back from vacation, and everyone is zonked out. We had a lot of fun, ate way too much food, got lots of sun, and just completely zoned out for a week for the most part. I posted a billion pictures on facebook, but above are some that I really liked.

We are glad to be back home, cause there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed, and feeling the comfort of your own house.

One huge let down was we have been eating like pigs all week, and I went grocery shopping this afternoon and got a bunch of healthy stuff for us. It's depressing to go from eating all you can eat crab legs dripping in butter, to a weight watchers frozen meal at a desk at work. Totally not looking forward to Monday for when this begins....

The end of my 20's...

On Saturday I turn 30. I am going back and forth between being calm about this, and then freaking out. How in the world has 30 years gone by so fast? I am sad to see the 20's go. So many great life events occured....

Most importantly in my 20's I met my husband....Ok technically I met him when I was 19 in biology class, but we began dating after meeting all over again in psychology class. This is a picture from New Years Eve/Day 2000/2001


Let's all have a moment of silence for how skinny we both were.

We went on to both graduate from college together in 2002, I was 21.



A few weeks later Dave proposed, and I began a Masters program at VCU. I graduated the following year at age 22.



We were married in 2003 when I was 23 years old, we built a house, and began making a home.


We decieded to start a family, and had some trouble getting pregnant. We finally conceived and when I was 25 we had out first beautiful girl Laura when I was 25.


Apparently, all infertility issues are resolved because baby number two, Rachel, comes a year and two weeks after Laura. I was 26.

That picture cracks me up every time I see it. That was taken the first day I came home with Rachel. I laid them on the ground beside each other and thought, I should have just had twins.

We got into a good routine, and then as everyone already knows, wham- baby three is on it's way


I was 28 when Emily was born. This was an easier transistion, as Emily has just fit right in.


Though my latter 20 years have been extreamly busy, sometimes stressful,they have been the most rewarding. As I enter my 30's I am scared that these years are the make it or break it year in child rearing as I attempt to teach them right from wrong, sway them from the bad crowd, etc. Pray for us =)

Back To School Shopping has begun....

While running some errands this morning I noticed that Target has their back to school section out already. I think each year they start earlier and earlier... Much like every big event/holiday in retail. I don't need to get much for the kids as far as school suplies go since it's just preschool, but I have been doing some online stalking on clothing websites....

Today begins Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale, which is always pretty good. I took advantage of getting two cute cardigans for the kids for a good deal. I tried to post a pic, but it wouldn't let me. One is in a cheetah print, and the other a pink and black zebra print. So cute! I also went through Ebates to get to Nordstroms, so I will also get 6.0% back from my purchase. Not bad. Do you Ebate? I recommend checking it out if you like to buy online.

Saturday, and it's too rainy for the pool....

My pretty Fostoria Ice Tea picher inspired me to make a batch of sweet tea this morning. Confession- I have never made tea before. I KNOW! Shame on me... In all seriousness, it's mainly because Dave is not a fan of it, and so if I get it, I get it for myself when we go out to eat. Also, growing up in my parents house, my mom is not a fan of sweet tea, she likes it without sugar, so she always made it non-sweet, and then we had to just sweeten it on our own. This is how I made it- and I may or may not have googled it to find out how... I got the family size lipton tea bags, and put 3 them in a pot with two cups of water and brought to a boil. As soon as it came to a boil I put in my pretty picher with 1 cup of sugar and stired, and then I fill the tea jar to the top with regular cold water. Perfection!

This morning I have been attempting to go through the kids clothes, do some laundry, clean their rooms and what not. I had to practice some deep breathing to not freak out, cause their rooms are crrazzzy, and I had to unpack what Laura had packed for the beach a few weeks ago. Crazy kid had all kinds of random stuff packed. Hilarous enough she had a toiletry bag with some toys and some tampons. I unpacked everything, and explained to her the tampons are not for her. What a trip.... My grandparents also gave Laura these older items that I think are from Avon or something... one item is this thing that looks like an old phone but it holds some perfume powder. Laura has dumped all of the powder on the carpet in her room, so now it smells like a old ladies house. She thinks it smells wonderful. Crazy girl.

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seeing how to blog from this phone....

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Friday Fragments....

*My kids and I ate out first cucumber from our little garden. I use the garden word loosely because it's really just a little row on the side of our house. Last year I did 2-3 green pepper plants, this year I have a row of various peppers, cukes, and tomatoes. Next year I might have an acre lol. It hasn't all been a sucess though... I planted a cilantro herb plant, and it died pretty much right away. Bummer cause I love cilantro. My parents used to have a large garden, and seriously I have no idea how they did it, or for that matter why it was so big as I remember my mom making me take baskets of produce around to the neighbors because we had too much.

*My work car has needed an allignment, and I didn't think it was THAT bad, Umm apparently it was really bad, as it caused one of my tires to be worn down and go flat, and then when we took it in to get a new tire put on we found out another one needed replacing too. I had it in my head that small car tires would be about $60. Nope, not even close. There goes my vacation spending money.

*We leave for Nags Head next Saturday. Woohoo! We all need a vacation very badly.

* Dave got my new phone hooked up, for my early Birthday present. How have I survived with out this smart phone before??? I have the same phone now as the hubby, so we are all happy now. Did I have a t-total fit about getting it? You betcha, but it's all good. This phone is so cool! Very useful, let me tell ya! I am just amazed by technology. I have not downloaded a lot of apps yet, cause I need some time to find some, but the ones I do have are all freebies. Of course it already comes with the facebook app, but I have an app for twitter now, a barcode scanner app that when you scan it, it will tell you the cheapest places to buy the product,and a few others. The camera on it is pretty decent too, so I have been the biggest nerd with taking lots of pics and uploading to facebook.

* My grandparents are all moved into the retirement community, and thought I know this is a HUGE change for them, I think everyone feels better about them being closer to family. My grandmother was so excited to give us the tour of the apartment, and it looks like there are a lot of social activities, outings etc. I hope and pray that this works out for them and that they are happy. I can't even imagine how hard it must be to leave your home after all these years.

* Ballet camp for Laura has ended, and this week we started back with gymnatics, and next week the girls go to vacation bible school.

* I am going to be 30 in 1 more week. How crazy is that? Bring on the wrinkle cream.

Next thing you know, I will be wearing Mom Jeans

I have been way too excited about the Fostoria Americana crystal I have gotten from my grandmother. Seriously, I know it's just glass, but I am just obsessed with it. There is a antique mall near my work, and I spent my lunch break there yesterday there browsing to see if they had any. They had a ton! I didn't buy anything, but I thought it was fun to see all the different items, and to get a feel for how much the items go for. Some are reasonable, and some are expensive. To make matters complicated there are other brands that look exactly like this pattern that are cheaper, and I am not sure if those brands are still in production or not.

So I have plotted some items in the pattern that I would like to purchase, if I come across for reasonable prices. Pictures above in case anyone finds any and wants to tell me all about it. First off, I would like some dessert/salad plates, to go along with my awesome square cake stand. Those seem to be priced well. I also would like a creamer- as I have the sugar bowl, but it looks lonely. That is also affordable. A huge item that I would love, but only would be able to get if I came across it at a garage sale and someone just didn't know what they had would be the punch bowl and glasses. Ok Ok, how many times do you really use a punch bowl? Not many, but it's nice to have, so I just know one day I will find it affordable somewhere. I actually own a nice punch bowl that I bought at a auction for $5 dollars back in my college days. (why yes I spent a friday not partying, and being super boring by attending an auction with the locals) I have in fact used it, so I have gotten my $5 out of it.

So I know this post is pretty boring, and everyone is wondering now if I am actually turning 50 rather then 30, because young people are not supposed to get this excited about things like this.

Book Review- Heart of the Matter

I finally finished up Emily Giffin's new book- Heart of the Matter on CD. I loved it. I was a bit apprehensive, because I had seen horrible reviews about this book, and I was nervous I was going to hate it too. This book is the story about a woman who has been married for a number of years to a doctor, and they have two young children, and seem to live a perfect happy life. I don't want to give to many details, but ultimately, the book is about adultery. It's told by the wife's point of view, and the other woman's. What I liked about the book, was how I learned to see things from another angle. I have never understood why men sometimes cheat, and I didn't understand why some women take back husbands who cheat. Honestly, some women that I know in real life I just viewed as idiots for taking their spouses back. This book though helped me kinda see the situation from another angle and made me feel kinda bad for thinking so badly of these women. Side note- if my husband cheats on me I WILL CUT HIM, so don't think I am saying cheating is ok. The book just really helped me see how it can happen, and how I guess people can get past it, or at least try.

As for the bad reviews, I think that some women didn't like the fact that the main character had became a stay at home mom, and the character was forwarned by her mother that if she becomes a stay at mom, she wont be interesting anymore, and would become boring. Of course being a stay at home mom wont make you that way, but I think a lot of people got offended. I also think this author nailed the "desperate house wives" cliques and how crazy we all can tend to get about gossip, and what other people will think or say about us. The author made me think about how I need to not buy into that crap. But that's just my humble opinion.

Happy July 4th!

Right now I am in between pool trips/cookouts as the kids are catching some quick naps. I hope everyone is having a great 4th, and enjoying the pretty weather! this weekend we have been busy with helping my grand parents out some, as they are preparing to leave there home and move to a retirement community. We are happy that they are going to be closer by us, but it's sad they are leaving their home. I know this has got to be very hard for them to do, and I know it makes me almost tearful to think about, and I know they are going to miss the house that they have lived for at least 50 years. They are giving away some items they wont have room for at their new place to family, and I am happily the new owner of a really cool crystal collection- called Fostoria Americana. Honestly, I really wanted this crystal, because for one I remember my grandmother always using the glasses when we would come over for dinner, and serving ice tea. It's really thick glass, and is has a neat ice cube like pattern. My grandmother had a pretty nice collection, and after looking around the internet, I think I am going to keep collecting these pieces. I have the square cake stand on display on our kitchen table with a jar of flowers from my grandmothers garden. The other items are out away, but I really need to organize it.

I learned that this pattern was made here in America- West Virginia- from 1915- 1986. It was called the Crystal for America. How appropriate for the 4th of July!

First trip to the movies...

Last night Dave and I finally got around to taking our older two to see their first movie ever at the movie theatre! Holy Moly- batman- it's going to be a while before we go again, cause man, the movies are not cheap! Grant it, we could have saved money by seeing an earlier show, sneaking in some snacks instead of purchasing whatever out munchkins wanted, but we wanted to make the first movie special. Totally worth it too.

We saw Toy Story 3, and it was really good. I am going to embarrass myself by admitting I was in tears by the end of the movie... ***Spoiler Alert*** The movie is about these toys that come alive when no humans are around, and they have belonged to this little boy named Andy. Andy has taken good care of them, and playing with them lovingly, but when the movie begins, Andy is 17, and heading off to college, so they are not played with anymore, and have been in a trunk is his room. His mom tells him to either 1. put them in the attic, 2. donate them, or 3. throw them away, and I can not tell you anymore without giving to much away. Anyways, I got all misty eyed thinking about how kids grow up so darn fast, are only little kiddos for just a little bit. I mean heck, I remember my 16 year old nephew loving Toy Story 1, and now he's almost a man... I have to remind myself this, when my own kids are driving me insane, that one days these days will be long gone, and I will look back and miss this.

Baby Cohen

Please take a moment to remember baby Cohen today. You can read his story here: www.inthiswonderfullife.com