Fun news.... I am.........

So its been some time since I have posted... And I have a pretty good reason... I AM PREGNANT!!! I am 10 weeks and due on March 27th. Hubby and I are SO excited.

I probably won't be posting much because we just have so much stuff going on but just wanted to let all my bloggy friends know I didn't fall off the face of the earth!

My favorite time of year...

Summer is just around the corner and I couldn't be more excited. I love this time of year...

My favorite things about spring/summer:

- birds chirping in the morning
- sunshine
- eating dinner on the deck
- grilling almost every night
- sitting on the deck for hours chatting with my hubby
- seeing flowers grow and everything turn green and beautiful
- vacation to the Outer Banks, NC (two times this year)
- my wardrobe - I always like my summer clothes better than my winter ones!
- daylight lasting until 9:00pm
- picking veggies out of the garden and eating them for dinner
- taking my precious dog for walks

What are some of your spring/summer favorites?

Thanks Mom!

The older I get, the more I appreciate my mom. I would guess it is like this for most of us... As we grow, we realize that moms are "real" people... they make mistakes, have feelings, and yet most of all, love their kids more than life itself.

As I get older and become closer to becoming a mother myself, I feel a new appreciation for Mother's Day. How wonderful it is that we all take one day out of the year to honor our mothers... What a blessing to them and to us, their children, as it makes me reflect on my mom and what a wonderful person she is...

To all the mothers out there I would just like to say "THANKS" - "thanks for a job well done... I believe you have the most difficult job on earth and I would hope most would say the most rewarding one too".

Happy Mother's Day to all!

The Red Box

I am not really a movie watcher... However, this weekend we rented and watched 3 movies!

"Why" you may ask? Well, we discovered The Red Box. Do you have one of these in your area? It is great... Most are located at grocery stores. It is literally a red box that you walk up to, select a movie that you want to rent, slide your credit card and wah-lah, a DVD pops out. And the best part, they cost $1. Yes, that is $1 (as long as you return it by 9:00pm the next day).

My movie reviews:

Bride Wars - really cute, fun movie. Total chick flick but hubby watched it with me!

Pride and Glory - hubby picked this one. It was ok, but not the greatest movie I ever saw... And the language was horrific - like really really bad!

7 Pounds - good story/plot but the whole movie was kind of slow and it wasn't until the end that you really knew what the whole movie was really about.

My favorite for the weekend was Bride Wars!

Have you seen any good movies lately?

List of 8's - I got tagged

Thanks Lori for the tag!

Here are the rules of the game...

Mention the person that tagged you. Complete the following lists of 8's. Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends. Go tell them you tagged them!

Eight Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Being a mommy someday
2. Going on vacation to the Outer Banks 2 times this summer
3. Meeting Jesus someday (hopefully a long time from now)
4. Getting to know hubby more and more every day
5. Dinner tonight - I am starving!
6. Babysitting my niece and nephew on Saturday
7. Watching 24 tonight
8. Planting the new holly bush I bought today

Eight Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Went to church
2. Went to the grocery store
3. Did some yard work
4. Painted the frame of a large mirror I got at a yard sale
5. Babysat my sister in law (8 years old)
6. Ate leftover noodles - added garlic powder - MMM
7. Laid in bed and told hubby not to touch me because it was SO hot
8. Watched House Hunters before going to bed
(I wrote this on Monday so this list is what I did on Sunday)

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Sing
2. Travel
3. Heal the sick
4. Take hurt and pain away from people
5. Never be in a "bad mood"
6. Love everyone like Christ does
7. Sing (that gets 2 places because I am a REALLY bad singer)
8. Run long distances

Eight Shows I Watch:

1. 24
2. American Idol
(those are the only 2 that are "must sees' for me... The rest I just watch when flipping through.
3. House Hunters
4. John and Kate Plus 8
5. Hell's Kitchen
6. Anything on HGTV
7. Seinfeld (hubby watches this which means I do to)
8. Two and a Half Men

If you read this, then I tag YOU!

Warm days...

The weather was amazing this weekend... and I mean AMAZING!!! It was 90 degrees Saturday, Sunday and even today. Those temps are NOT the norm for PA in April!

We took advantage of the nice weather and got lots done outside.

Saturday morning we were up at 6:00 a.m. to go to some garage sales. We hit several and came home with some fun stuff.

On Saturday evening we had our cousins and their little boy over for dinner. It was the perfect night to be out on the deck, enjoying the warm weather.

Check out my place settings... I picked these up at Dollar General last week. They are perfect to use on the deck and best of all, they were dirt cheap! The plates were $1 and the cups were $.75 - you can't beat that! I think I may go back and get some more... I only got 4 of each...

I LOVE serving dishes/plates and that sort of thing... Where have you gotten some inexpensive pieces that you just love?!?!

Snoozer

Are you a snoozer? I am BIG TIME!!! I never snoozed until hubby and I got married. He was a snoozer, now I am also a snoozer. I usually snooze for one whole hour - I am pathetic but I digress!

This past week, for some reason, I have been turning my alarm OFF instead of hitting snooze. This poses a problem when one has to arrive at work ON TIME!

Whoever designs alarm clock is not too smart. Why would you put the snooze button beside the OFF button and make them almost exactly the same. And at 4:30 in the morning, all of the buttons look and feel the same to me!

Maybe it is just my alarm clock, I don't know but the design of it is just dumb! Last night I actually got some course athletic tape and stuck it on the snooze button so when I feel around in the mornings, I can tell which button is which.

Does anyone else have this problem?

What other pieces of technology make you question who in the world ever designed it?

2 Month Goals

I don't know that I should be doing this... putting this in writing that is... But here is goes anyway...

I have set a goal... I want to start running!

I know, I know... many of you are probably looking at your computer screens laughing right now but running is definitely NOT my forte.

Let me explain -

I was always in shape growing up. I danced ALL my life on a competitive dance team. I went to college and danced... then I got married. The dancing stopped and the eating started! ha ha

Seriously, I am by no means overweight but I have gained a few pounds since getting married 2.5 years ago. Everyone warned me about the freshman 15 when I went to college but no one warned me about the marriage 10!

So here are some of my goals:

- No snacking at work - eat lunch and that is it
- Exercise - do at least something every night (lift small weights, walk, eventually run, etc.)

I love walking after work so I figure if I start walking and gradually work my way up to jogging half/walking half , I will be able to build my endurance. We leave for vacation June 13 so I have about 2 months... In those 2 months I hope to loose about 6 pounds and be able to run 2 miles.

Is scares me quite a bit to put this in writing but I hope it will help me to stick with it.

Have you ever decided to get your butt up off the couch and do something?
Did it work? How did you do it? How did you stay motivated?
Any advice?

Diffuser anyone?

I love to pass along something great when I find it... And ladies, I have found something great. I have had this product for months but for some reason have neglected to blog about it.

Have you seen these? They are diffusers and I am in love with them. They make your house smell good without the danger of fire. I am a fire freak... I work at a place that deals with fires on a weekly basis and my parent's had a house fire about 2 years ago. I will sometimes burn a candle but it just gets my anxiety up! And those plug in thingys are great but they can start fires as well. Word to the wise... they can get very hot and burn!

So with all that said, when I found these dandy little things I was on cloud 9. I have several of these sitting around my house. I have found that some are way better than others when it comes to scent and the strength of the scent.

I just bought a new one today and am excited to smell it all evening long!

So go out and get yourself some diffusers and get rid of those fire hazards laying around your home!

Chicken Lo Mein

What is this delectable delight? Well, this is Chicken Lo Mein and it is oh so yummy. I made it the other night and it was a hit with myself and hubby.

Unfortunately, I cannot take any credit for the recipe because it came from Kraft. I love Kraft's recipes. They are so easy and have "normal" ingredients. Nothing irritates me more than when I look at a recipe and it list 20 ingredients and I have maybe 2 on hand! GRRR!!

Kraft is NOT like that. Their recipes use many ingredients that one already has in their kitchen and the list is no where near 20 items long! And that is my kind of recipe!

Hope you enjoy!

What You Need!
1/2 lb. spaghetti, uncooked
1/4 cup KRAFT Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen bell pepper and onion strips, thawed, drained
1/2 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp. peanut butter
1/4 cup lite soy sauce
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp. chopped PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts

Make It!
COOK spaghetti in large saucepan as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic; stir-fry 3 min. or until chicken is no longer pink. Add peppers, onions, broth and peanut butter; stir-fry 3 to 4 min. or until chicken is done.
DRAIN spaghetti; return to pan. Add chicken mixture and soy sauce; mix well. Spoon onto platter; sprinkle with cilantro and nuts.

Blank slate - I need your help!

Calling all interior decorators!!! I need your help.

Recently, I decided I did not like what I had on my one kitchen wall so I took it down. So now I have a bare kitchen wall and this is where you come into play.

Below is a pic of the wall. What would you do with this wall? What would you hang or decorate with? Please keep in mind I am on a BUDGET!!! I am looking for something inexpensive and simple... What are your ideas?

Breakfast of champions

Do you eat breakfast? If so, what do you eat?

For the last "gazillion" months, every morning, I have eaten this...

... a cup of dry Kix and a cup of chocolate milk!

You would think this would get boring, old, monotonous, after awhile but it doesn't. Sometimes a night when I am getting ready for bed, I get slightly excited to get up in the morning to have this fun breakfast.

Sure there are other things I sometimes would like to eat for breakfast like a waffle with half a bottle of syrup on it or a pancake with a stick of butter but I don't want to weight 500 pounds so I stick with my good and faithful Kix and chocolate milk.

While I eat my breakfast every morning, I blog. I check out what I missed from the day before and if I am lucky get a post up (like this one I am typing right now).

So, what do you eat for breakfast?

Same thing every day?

Healthy? Not so healthy?

Do you like variety?

Letter to the one sent packin'

Dear Megan Joy,

What were you smokin' last night on the results show?

In case you don't remember, you looked into the camera with the "fakest" smile ever and waved like a goof, you were told you were in the bottom 3 and you flapped and "squwaked" your way across stage like a bird and last but not least, when you sang your last song and danced around on stage, you made a complete fool of yourself.

Please know you were one of my favorites when the show started but every week you have disappointed me more and more. You never picked a good song for your voice and that weird dance thing you do... well, it is just weird!

I am sorry to say that after last night's shenanigans, I am glad to see you go. You acted so weird, it made me feel uncomfortable sitting on my couch watching you.

Megan, you are a beautiful girl but you just are not the American Idol. Best of luck to you.

Sincerely,
America!

Idol Recap

Can I just say - I LOVE Adam Lambert!!! Is he not amazing?!?! Not only can he sing but he is an amazing performer too!

Chris also impressed me last night. I feel like he gets better every week and he is so darn cute!

So who goes home tonight? I think Anoop needs to go - he is so weird to me - sorry!

What do you think? Who should go and who should stay?

And are you a voter? I have watched the show for many years and not once have I voted for anyone. I just enjoy watching them perform and don't really get into the frantic voting - do you???

These are a few of my favorite things...

On Saturday night we had another amazing HOMEMADE sushi dinner. Hubby did a wonderful job once again. We had hubby's parents over and his mom brought an Asian Salad and this wonderful dressing - Marzetti Asian Ginger Dressing. It was oh so good. I recommend you all run out and buy some today!!!

I am actually sitting at work eating lunch as we speak and and eating what other than an Asian Salad with Asian Ginger dressing - are you taste buds watering yet?

Another favorite thing that I have discovered recently is L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Tanning Lotion.

I read a blog recently that recommended this product so of course I ran out and bought it. I LOVE it!!! It does NOT make me orange or any other weird color, just a nice tan look. It is perfect and I highly recommend this lotion!Another "suggestion" - if you are a salad eater, sprinkle some honey roasted sunflower seeds onto your salad. IT IS DIVINE!!! The little extra crunch and sweetness is just what any salad needs!

What are some of your favorite products or food quirks that you just can't live without?