"The List"

So ever woman has one, you know the famous "list" of men that if the opportunity presented itself we have a free pass to "explore". Here are some of the men on my list.

Matthew McConaughey

David Beckham- Yes, I know his wife is gorgeous too, but this is my list.

Country singer, Josh Turner- yes I would go with you.

Hugh Jackman- the accent alone is a grabber and then his look.
Of course I can't forget about my men from General Hospital
Jason Thompson- Patrick Drake

Steve Burton- Jason Morgan

Who is on your list???

Claire

The mind of a almost 5 year old is so fun to me. Claire has been telling me lately that she wants me to have another baby and will rub my stomach and talk to it like there is already a baby in there. I know this is mainly do to the fact that everyone around us seems to be pregnant with a baby or just had one. A lot of her friends from preschool have just had a baby brother or sister and her aunt Lauren is pregnant with her first baby and due in 6 weeks. I tell her that I was willing to have another baby and her daddy just didn't want anymore (and for this I am truly sad). Her response to me was this "just break up with daddy and go find a new daddy to have a baby with". I of course explained to her that it doesn't work that way and she would be sad if we had a new daddy, she agreed, but still hasn't given up hope of having another little sister or brother. Cory and I were trying to figure out where she would have come up with the idea of just breaking up with someone and moving on, who knows, like I said the brain of a almost 5 year old is fascinating.

Claire will have to give up on that hope just as I did because Cory has his vasectomy scheduled for this coming Thursday. I have mixed emotions about this, it is really hard for me to know that it will be final and I will never have another baby. At times I just don't feel like I am done having babies, if Cory would have agreed we would have already had another one as I was more than willing to try again once Paige started getting out of the baby phase and becoming a toddler. Some of my friends joke and say that if I want another baby I could have one as the women has the final say and this is true, but I would never want to trick him into having a third. We are totally out of baby mode around here no more diapers, in big girl beds and life is easy, but I will always wonder what if we had a third. Cory tries to tell me that I am getting older and we are past the point of having babies, I will be 33 the end of March and to me that is still plenty young. Oh well, needless to say Thursday will be a hard/sad day for me, I just hope it is the right decision.

Following in daddy's footsteps....

When Cory was a little boy he somehow got a bead stuck up his nose and his mom had to get an ice pick to get it out. I know I thought the same thing an ice pick, hey ya gotta do what ya gotta do right? It worked and no hospital visit was required. With keeping that in the back of your mind I will continue on with what occurred in our house tonight.
Claire was given some Pixos for Christmas (yes, you can probably already guessed where this is headed). The girls love to make things on Tuesdays and Thursdays with their baby sitter out of the Pixos and today was no different. When I got home from work Paige greeted me and showed me the "turtle" they had made today. It was still a little wet so it was drying on the counter. Flashing forward to bedtime, Cory and I have tucked both the girls into bed and are settled in on the couch for some American Idol and Lost when we hear Paige through the monitor. Paige-"Dad, I need you", Cory-"what do you need Paige", Paige-"I just need you to come up here", Cory-"Go to sleep Paige", Paige-"I really need you", Cory-"If you need something that badly you can come down here". I should clarify that Paige has been a stinker to get to bed lately and it seems like every night she needs us for one thing or another so Cory thought she was just crying wolf. Anyways, Paige hops out of bed and comes bouncing down the stairs looking all cute with her p.j.'s on. First, she came to me in the kitchen, but I was on the phone with my mother in law seeing how Cory's grandma's surgery went today (she had to get her gall bladder taken out which I am all too familiar with as mine was taken out 2 years ago this past Jan, everything went very well and she is recovering nicely). Next thing I know Cory is telling Paige to blow, blow harder, blow like you mean it and bringing her into the kitchen. When I ask what is going on he tells me that Paige has stuck two Pixos up her nose! Well great, I don't have any ice picks. :) Also, how did the "turtle" get from drying on the counter to up in her bedroom on her nightstand? After Cory plugged her right nostril with his finger and had her blow hard a few times, sure enough a black Pixo bead came flying out. We had her blow a few more times and all seemed to be clear, but Paige kept saying it still felt like something was up her nose. I had Cory grab a flashlight and we tipped her back to see if we could see the other Pixo that she said she put up her nose. I could not see any other beads and was almost positive that what I was seeing was a straight shot of her nasal cavity up to her brain......... So off to bed she went.

We are not use to so much excitement in our house. Way to go Paige, there are many ways that you can follow in your daddy's footsteps and he and I would both be very proud of you, but lets not do something like this again.

Tuesdays Tasties

First of all I would like to say thank you for all who had such kind words for me after my blog yesterday. I figured I was not the only mommy out there who feels the way I did over the weekend, but it is always nice to hear you all confirm it. Even if you couldn't relate I thank you for listening and for the hugs that I received.

Also, I am not sure if I have posted this recipe before or not, so if I have I apologize, but it is so good and easy that it is a must have for your recipe box! :)

Easy Mexican Casserole

3-4 grilled chicken breasts, cut into but sized pieces
1 jar of your favorite salsa
2 cups of cooked noodles (choose your favorite shape)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Grease a 9" X 13" dish. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Mix chicken, salsa, noodles, sour cream and 1/2 of cheese together. Pour into prepared pan, Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

2. Remove foil, top with remaining cheese and bake an additional 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and it's bubbly in the middle.

You can also add a can of corn or black olives to your taste. Or top with crushed tortilla chips. I always have Cory grill some extra chicken breasts when we grill and freeze them so I have some handy. This is a really easy to make and so good that even my girls will eat it and that is saying something! :)

Read at your own risk

Sunday was not a good day for me, for some reason all of the sudden I felt completely overwhelmed. I was fine until about 11am or so an then it is like a switch just flipped inside me. All I feel my life consists of lately is cleaning and picking up all the time. I tried to explain it to Cory (not very nicely or so I have been told by my husband) that when he leaves work it is all left at the office. When he is home on the weekends he is "off" work and gets to enjoy his time off. I on the other hand don't feel like I ever get time "off", no matter what day of the week it is I am still picking up the house, making meals, and being mommy the always on duty caregiver. Cory actually told me that I need to do something or go somewhere because all I was doing was yelling at everyone. Where exactly am I suppose to go and why should I have to leave the house? He suggested that I go to the gym, oh yeah that is exactly where I want to go on the weekend? Shopping, no we are trying to keep the credit card bill down not make it go up again. Again I come back to the question of why in order for me to be able to be left alone and not be on mommy, clean up duty should I have to leave my house? Why can't I just stay home, relax and not feel like the house is closing in on me? I know it is partly due to the weather, we are all stuck inside on top of each other, making messes to stay entertained and then the cycle of cleaning up starts all over again.

Am I the only mom out there that is feeling this way? How do you all do it, stay sane and not yell and go crazy on your family? I can't wait for spring to get here so we can start playing outside again with the neighbors. Going to the park with friends and the to zoo for the day. It has been so cold and snowy here lately that I am pretty sure this weather has gotten me down in the dumps I just need some warm weather and sunshine and hopefully things will start looking up.

VIP Day

Tomorrow is VIP day at Clarie's school and she is taking.......... daddy of course! While I was at school this morning dropping her off one of the other moms pointed out the cute drawings that were hanging on the wall behind me, when I turned around I noticed that they were mostly of everyone's daddy's. I had to find Claire's and take a peak before she brings it home after VIP tomorrow. The picture was of Cory and had short spiky hair all over his head along with these short lines coming out from all around his face. At first I couldn't figure out what the lines were all about and then once I read the description she had written about him I quickly realized those short lines coming out of his face were his beard (which he no longer has, but whatever). After I read what was written I was seconds away from tears streaming down my face! I had to quickly pull it together as I didn't want to start gushing in front of the other moms and teachers. I turned to one of the teachers and told her that I just read what Claire had written about her daddy and was almost in tears, I then told her that if it would have been about me I would have been. She told me your turn comes at the end of the year for our Tea in May, oh great I am going to be a mess I just know it. I can't remember exactly what Claire wrote about Cory as I read it quickly so I would not disturb the class, but here is some of what she said.


My dads name is Cory, he has black hair, a black beard and his eyes are blue. He works at Purina and can get coupons for free dog food. His favorite drink is Pepsi and his favorite food is Ramen Noodle Soup. In the summer time he gets us tickets through work to go see baseball games. I love to swim with him in the pool and get on his back. I also love to sneak into bed with him in the mornings and snuggle.

OMG, it still gets me choked up it is so sweet to hear all the things she remembers about him. I know that they are all good memories and things she loves to do with him. As for the Ramen Noodle, it isn't really his favorite food, but when he does make it along with grilled cheese on a cold Saturday afternoon for lunch, she loves to sit with him and eat the soup together. I will take a picture of her drawing of him and post it along with her exact words about him later this weekend of beginning of next week. I still can't believe she is getting ready to start elementary school, where did my precious baby go??

One Month Later

Well it has been one month since I started my diet back up hard core. I go to the gym 5 times a week with Friday and Sunday being my days off. My workouts are just about an hour and I have really been pushing myself. You gotta love it when you go the childcare to pick up the kids and your oldest says to you "mommy your face is all red and really wet". Thanks honey for making everyone within ear shot now turn and look my way.
I have been starting my workout by doing 30-40 minutes on the Precor machine, burning anywhere from 350-400 calories. This machine is great because it is like you are running, but you don't have the stress on your knees.

After I do the Precor I move on to the StairMaster. Wow, does this baby make you sweat. I love it though if I am going to the gym and am going to workout then I want to sweat I want to know that what I am doing is working.

When I first started on the StairMaster I could do about 5 minutes and then could barely breathe. Now a month later I can do a good 20 minutes and burn about 200 calories.

So between the Precor and StairMaster I am burning between 650-700 calories a day and then I go over and do some weights and ab crunches. I have heard from so many personal trainers that you really should do weights as well as it makes your muscles have to work hard therefore causing you to burn calories for another day without even having to work out, gotta love that.

Since it has been a month I am starting to get a little bored of the same old routine so I decided to try something different. The last three times I have gone to the gym I have shorten my time on the Precor to 20-25 minutes and then head over to the treadmill. I haven't tried running on the treadmill in forever, but I thought why not I will give it a try. I was amazed on how easy it was for me, in the past I would run for 5 minutes and my lungs would be screaming at me and I felt like I was going to pass out. I went to the gym on Saturday and ran for 16 minutes and then started to feel the burning from within my body, screaming at me. Yesterday I went and ran 1.5 miles in 17 minutes, that is a record for me and something I am very excited about.



It is also exciting to get on the scale and see the numbers getting lower. I have lost 10 lbs which means I am half way to my goal weight. I am hoping to get there within the next month to month and a half. After I get to my goal weight I am going to set a new goal and try to lose another 10 pounds on top of that, we will see wish me luck, I will keep you all posted!

Tuesdays Tasties

Chocolate Chip Blondies


1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla just until blended. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to brown sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.
Yield: 3 dozen

I forgot I had this recipe and they are soooo good! Enjoy!!

Snack or Friend???

In Claire's class at preschool they have a Guinea Pig named "Patches". You can sign up for a weekend to let him come home with you and this weekend was our turn. Here is Killian's first reaction to this rodent in our house.

He hears something moving around in the cage but can't quite figure out what it is...

Ahh, now he sees that it is something that resembles either a rabbit or squirrel and he is ready to bounce. His tail was wagging like crazy and he kept whining, poor guy.

Being the sweet dog he is he decides to become friends with Patches instead of having him for a snack.
Just to let anyone out there know that doesn't have one of these little guys, they are messy. We kept him in our office on a towel on the floor and he still managed to flip the pellets of the cage all over the place. That is why he just comes for a visit.....

Happy Valentine's Day

Claire with her bag all decorated for her Valentine party at school.
Claire got a pink bean bag and some Valentine books for V-Day!

Paige giving me a good smile with her eyes actually open!!
I love these pictures of her, she was in such a good mood and actually cooperating with me and the camera. This dress was a hand me down from when Claire when she was 2 and I just LOVE it!!
Paige got another Zhu Zhu along with a new bed for "pinky" and a few Valentine books as well.

What did I get for Valentine's Day well the one thing I have been nagging at Cory for the past month to do.

Yes, the beard is gone and I can once again see that handsome face that I married, aren't little things sometimes the best presents!!

Tuesdays Tasties Slump

Hi All,

Well it has finally happened and I knew it would eventually, I am running out of recipes to share with everyone. I know I can dig through my cookbooks and find some, but I don't like to post a recipe unless I have tried it and know first hand that it is good. So what I thought I would do is turn it over to you all for a little while. Send me some of your favorite recipes through my email and I will post them on my blog, with credit to you of course, we will kind of have a guest writer recipe style. You can send your favorite recipes to 3againstone@gmail.com and I will share them with everyone. I am excited about this as I love to try new recipes and hope to have a good turn out with responses from all of you. If you would rather I didn't post your name or website that is fine just let me know and I will keep it anonymous. We all have some great recipes we have gathered over the years from our moms, friends, neighbors etc. let's share as I don't know about you, but I can never have too many great recipes. It can be anywhere from appetizers to soups or salads to main dishes or even desserts, the sky is the limit.

I have gotten to know so many of you through all of your blogs and truly feel like I have gained several hand fulls of new friends. I love being able to hear about your families and gain some really creative ideas from you all as well. I originally started my blog as more of a diary/memory book for the girls and am so happy I did now because not only will I have this time with the girls in writing and pictures, but I have met a lot of great ladies that I am happy to call new friends.

Tuesdays Tasties- Valentine's Style

Chocolate Martini
What you need:
4 oz Godiva Original Chocolate Liqueur
1/2 shot Vodka
Chocolate for melting

Preparation:
Prepare some martini glasses the day before by dipping their rims in
chocolate and refrigerating them. The left-over chocolate was spread on a
sheet of wax paper and also refrigerated.
When you are ready to serve, fill the glass with Godiva Original Chocolate
Liqueur and add a 1/2 shot of vodka. Crush the left-over chocolate (in the
wax paper) and sprinkled it on the drink. The smaller pieces will stay on
top, while the larger pieces will sink to the bottom, giving your guests an
extra sweet chocolatey surprise, just when they thought their drink is
finished. Top with either a rose pedal or strawberry.

I saw this cute idea when I was at the gym yesterday, on one of our local t.v. stations they had a valentine's segments. The point of the segment was things you can do at home for your valentine to keep it on the cheaper side, but still keeping with the valentine theme and romantic. For those of you who aren't big martini drinkers they also had an idea for champagne. They said that after you have poured your champagne into a flute, take a sugar cube and add it to the champagne to give it a little more sweetness. They actually took some granulated sugar, added some pink food coloring and a little bit of water and formed it into a heart shape. One last thing they suggested is to serve strawberries covered in white chocolate verses regular chocolate to eat with champagne again because white chocolate is sweeter than regular chocolate.

I think we have a problem....

The problem that Cory and I have in our household is that we LOVE to watch T.V. I am not talking a few shows a week I am talking a few shows a night bringing our total of t.v. shows that we watch to at least 10 shows a week. What are they you ask well let's discuss them.

Mondays are are lightest night of t.v, but I have to watch The Bachelor. The thing is that I don't even really like Jake, I think he is a total cheese ball, however, I am totally sucked in to this show. It is one drama after another which is to be expected with a house full of women. Cory watches 24 and if I have nothing else to do I might watch it with him, but usually I pass. I really enjoyed watching Trauma on Mondays, but it hasn't been on in awhile so I don't know what is up with that.

Tuesdays we watch American Idol, LOST and NCIS Los Angeles. Yes, we watched the auditions for American Idol, however, I am glad that they are over and we are moving on to LA. I am not sure about Ellen being the new judge, someone please explain to me what she knows about music? I hope that she actually gives them advice and criticism and doesn't try to be funny all the time.
LOST started this week and we were very happy with the first episode. It answered a lot of the questions that we have had since the beginning of the show. I was also happy to see, at least from the first episode, that it doesn't look as though this season is going to be so confusing. Only time will tell though and as we saw they do somehow end up getting off the island and having no memory of each other, which I do have to admit made me a little sad.
NCIS Los Angeles is also tivoed on Tuesdays and some weeks I watch it and others I don't. I like the fact that it isn't a show that you have to watch every week to understand what is going on.

Wednesdays we watch Modern Family and oh my is that show great! My sister told us about the show and said we had to watch it and now we are addicted, it is a fun/easy show that allows you to laugh and enjoy the characters.

Thursdays oh my Thursdays are CRAZY for us..... We started watching The Deep End and it is okay, but I could definitely do with out it if I had to. We will see how it progresses over the next month or so.
Grey's of course as we have been watching it from the very beginning and I can't see myself giving up on it now. It is like an E.R. where you continue on with it even when the story lines have their ups and downs.
The Vampire Diaries, one of my favorites, it is kind of like a 90210 show for me. I got hooked into the Twilight books and then the House of Night Series which are also about vampires and I truly thought V.D wouldn't last, however, I look forward to watching it every week.
Burn Notice on USA, we LOVE LOVE LOVE this show!!! If you all don't watch this show you should definitely give it a try, the characters are GREAT and every storyline is good. I can honestly say that I haven't seen one episode that I didn't like.
Private Practice, this has been a great spin off of Grey's and I love the characters on this show as well. They have some great drama on this show too.
Project Runway, I know this show has been on for a long time, but I just started watching it last season and really enjoy it. It is unlike any other show I watch and I love to see what the designers come up with on their assignment. It is one of those shows you can read a book and watch at the same time because it doesn't take a lot of concentration.

Fridays, can you believe we don't watch anything on Fridays, I couldn't even tell you what is on. We use this night as a roll over/catch up night from the show we haven't watched during the week yet.

Saturdays-nothing

Sundays- Brothers and Sisters, love this show too, those Walkers crack me up!!

I also have to mention that I watch General Hospital daily as well so add that to my list of shows to watch throughout the week. This week has been really good to with Sonny shooting Dante and then finding out that not only is he an undercover cop, but his son!!! Any other GH watchers out there?

I can't wait for Royal Pains and In Plain Sight to start back up on USA along with Army Wives on Lifetime. See I told you we have a problem and I am sure some of you are wondering how a mom of two can find the time to sit down and watch all these shows. Well it is called get the kids by 8pm and stay up to about 11pm watching at least 2-3 shows a night. I know that it is crazy, but it is how we relax and unwind every night, how about you, what are you favorite shows???

Yes, I am alive

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately, but honestly I have nothing new and exciting to blog about. Our lives are pretty much going along very smoothly right now which I love. It is official I went and signed Claire up for Kindergarten yesterday and I couldn't believe the feeling that I had in my stomach as I drove to her "new" school. I had butterflies and my tummy starting getting all upset. I still can't believe that my baby is turning 5 in May and starting elementary school. How can they go from this:

to this:

so fast? Everyone always says enjoy every minute with them as they grow up too quickly and now I know exactly what they mean.

Paige is turning into quite a hand full lately. Wow, she definitely is miss independent and when she has her mind made up about something forgot changing it. We have had several days where she has been sent to her room and many tears have been shed. I didn't think that she could be as stubborn as her sister, but I am quickly finding out that she is and she might even be a little more so in that direction.


Cory still has his beard and let me tell you I am so done with it. It was fine at first when he was first starting to grow it and it was nice and short. Now it is getting all full and really hairy and it is SO not my thing. I don't understand why men feel the need to have hair on their face, especially someone in their 30's it just looks ridiculous. I would post a pic of him with it, but I haven't taken any of him lately.

Only thing new with me is that I got some new glasses. Claire wanted to take a picture of me with them on, so here you go. Don't I just look lovely with no makeup on and in my work out clothes.