Birthday weekend recap

Hey, look at this! Two posts in just a few days! Aren't you lucky readers?! :)

Yesterday was Brian's 29th birthday so we spent the weekend relaxing together and seeing some friends.  Saturday we had planned on taking a day trip somewhere but changed our minds pretty early and just had a lazy day. We were on our way to lunch at the Hitching Post when I saw that our friends Sarah and Mark Killian were stranded at Cabala's (20 minutes for our house!) until someone could come help them haul their car home. We quickly called them and canceled our lunch plans and headed straight to entertain them. They had been there for about half an hour before we got there, but it was nice to grab a drink with them and catch up.  I don't think we had seen them since our wedding in 2009! It was also a good excuse to hit Red Robin for some milkshakes <3!

After the Killians hit the road with their car in tow, we headed back to our apartment.  Mark and Sarah Aldrich showed up soon there after to borrow our saw to trim their Christmas tree.  While the boys caught up on their techy stuff, I caught Sarah up on my dental adventures...

About fifteen years ago I had to have a route canal on one of my molars.  The tooth they worked on had always been a problem, starting when I was in 3rd (?? I think ??) grade.  The dentist we were going to at the time had tried to drill into it to fill what he thought was a cavity to have the entire middle of my tooth drop out. I distinctly remember the severe pain and how scared I was because he didn't give me any Novocain and was screaming at me to stop crying. Needless to say that was the last time we went there!
Dr. Pascoe <3 had fixed the tooth shortly there after and we thought everything was fine, only to have it abcess a few years later. The route canal seemed to work for quite some time, but then two years ago when my crown fell off, Dr. Pascoe noticed that there was some decay around the tooth. He sandblasted it a little bit and then put the crown back on.  Two weeks ago, I started having pain and a reallllllly nasty taste in my mouth.  We went to a dentist down here and (much to my chagrin) took an x-ray.  That dentist agreed with Dr. Pascoe's assessment that there was some decay there.  He thought that we could solve any issue by redoing the root canal and getting a new, better fitting crown.  Because he was not my regular dentist, I decided to visit Dr. Pascoe's office back home over Thanksgiving.  He's not there anymore (sad) but the new practice that took over said that there was so much decay on both sides AND between the roots that we'll have to pull the tooth :( and put in an implant. Yuck. Their assessment was that if we took the post and filing out from the previous root canal that the tooth would crumble. At first I wasn't on board with this decision.  Implants are expensive and very time consuming.  Best case, I'll have the new implant by this summer.  That's a LONG way off and I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to that much dental work. While we were in the office, they decided to remove the crown because it was so loose. I didn't realize at the time that they weren't planning on putting anything back over the tooth. Now that the crown is gone, the tooth has started to, for lack of a better term, fall apart. There's now a pretty substantial hole in the front of the tooth now. Soooo I am no officially on board with getting rid of this tooth. :( The price is going to suck, but I'd rather do this now than have more issues down the line. Yay. I'll have the tooth pulled on December 30th and then we'll go from there.  I think that appointment will also include filling the area where the roots were (a.k.a bone graft).  Then after that heals, they'll put in the post. Once that heals, I think I get the actual implant. It's going to be a long and oh so fun process!

Sunday, Brian's actual birthday, I got up early and made oatmeal pancakes. We tried to go out and get Brian and new phone, but the phones you can get for free on Verizon's website are NOT free at their stores. When we got back from our failed shopping trip, I took a short nap while Brian played Skyrim then we were off to dinner with Mark and Sarah. We went to Union Jack's where the boys enjoyed several beers. :) The food was SOOOO good.  I had crab cakes and french fries for dinner there last night and for leftovers today.  The wings we had as an appetizer were amazing as well.  We'll definitely have to make a trip back there again!

The rest of this week looks pretty decent. We're hoping to get out to Harrisburg to visit with the Sheffields, Sarah and I are going to go see Breaking Dawn and stuff ourselves with popcorn. :)

Back :)

Hello Internets! Yes, I realize it has been MONTHS since I last wrote so I figured today is as good a day as any to restart. :)




Things in our lives have been looking very good. Work has been great for me. I have had a student teacher for the last 6 weeks and she is AH-MAY-ZING! I honestly don't know what I would have done if she wasn't so great. The first week she was here, she started teaching. This is not the norm. Usually, student teachers observe for the first week or two and then slowly begin taking over classes. Katelyn took 5 of the 6 sections in the first week. And did an amazing job! I can't believe how quickly our time together has gone! She only has two weeks left (sad) and then I'm on my own again. :(



We had a great visit to the Adams and Aldrich families over Thanksgiving. Other than the killer allergies, that is! I always forget how bad my allergies (not to mention B's!) get when we're in Susquehanna County for more than a few hours! Benadryl was definitely my best friend for those five days. We didn't get to go Christmas tree shopping with the Aldrich family like we've done in the past because Miss Annalyn June got baptized on Sunday!



I don't think we'll be home between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it was nice to see everyone. :)


Now for something totally different.... I read a blog today that really upset me and I need to comment on it.  Because the author/mom that owns the blog is going through a really tough time, I won't comment directly there, but I do need to get something off my chest.

In August, Brian and I had a miscarriage. It was horrible and we had no idea what hit us. It took us months to come to peace with the fact that there was nothing we had done wrong and that this pregnancy was just not meant to be.  Neither Brian nor I are overly religious, but we do both consider ourselves Christians.  One thing we needed to realize was that this was NO ONE'S fault, not even God's. The blog I read today said, "we believe that our God is a God of healing, health, and long life. Death and destruction are never the Lord's will. Plain and simple, they are works of the enemy." I agree with PART of this, in reference to miscarriages. I do believe that our God is a God of healing and health and long life.  However, I think that my body and God knew that the baby I lost would not be healthy nor would that baby have a long, happy life. 

Thinking that death and destruction are never part of God's plan just sets you up for disappointment and questioning of your own beliefs.  What is that poor mom going to do if she loses that baby? Sometimes things that we want are not meant to be in our time. We need to let go and realize that there is someone bigger, stronger, more knowledgeable than we are. I trust that this pregnancy for me was not meant to be.  That does not make this situation any easier, but what is the alternative? Thinking you did something wrong to cause this? Claiming it was your "enemy" that caused this? (Who is this enemy anyway?) Thinking that because you did not believe steadfastly enough or pray enough to save your child?

Miscarriages/pregnancy losses are hard. No one who has not been there can understand how hard they can be. I just can't help but think that the attitude of this blogger will hurt her more than she knows is possible.



Annnnnnd... rant over :)

Word Splash...

No real update today... but here's a cool word splash of all the words in my blog :)

Menu SUNDAY!! :)

That's right, I'm posting one day early this week :) These WILL be the meals we have this week, they might just be slightly shifted depending on our mood at the end of the day...

Sunday: Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken and veggies

Monday: Minestrone Soup and biscuits. Brian needs to help a teacher out with her home machine, so this crock pot soup should be ready for us when we come home <3

Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas with salsa and whole wheat corn chips

Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken Nuggets and a green salad or something healthy-ish... I think that I'll add some Frank's red hot to the mix :)

Thursday: Dinner with Mark and Sarah for Mark's birthday :)

Friday:  Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese


Have a great week, everyone!

Sorry 'bout that...

So I know I haven't updated in over a month. And I'm sure you've missed my updates HORRIBLY.  The truth is, I just haven't been in a place where I wanted/needed to blog. 

Weight watchers is going well. I've lost around 8 pounds :) My new pants I bought for the new school year are WAY to big so I've got to run back to the Outlets to return them. Yay :) We've been eating lots of good WW recipes. I do love cooking, so I've been so happy to get a chance to do so.  Tonight we're having Cleveland Style Pork Chops (Cleveland as in Emily and Brandon, not the city), Tiny Potatoes with Rosemary, and a veggie :)

We're in week two of school. Things are going well.  I really like my kids this year and even the ones I thought I might have trouble with have been great. :)

The only sad part about this being the second week of school is that this is the week I thought I'd be telling everyone I was pregnant.  Our baby would have been around 13 weeks this week. :'(



Hopefully next week I'll get back to posting more often :)

Menu Monday

A day late.... :)

Monday

• Chicken Quesadillas--> SOOOOO good! We cut down on the portion size though. The recipe calls for you to use two whole tortillas, we just used one and folded it in half. Brian even ate the peppers and onions!!!

Tuesday

• Tortellini Soup and Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

Wednesday

• Grilled Chicken and Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, minus the red peppers and onions!

Thursday

• Baked Chicken Parm and a green salad (unless my dear husband is all salad-ed out...)

Friday

• Baked Ziti and Spinach

We're doing very well so far with the Weight Watchers diet. We were both really surprised how much we are allowed to eat for so few points. I'm trying to get into the habit of planning out the whole week and making enough so we have leftovers.  That way things will be easier once school starts!

WW: Day 1!

Inspired by my dear sister in law, Sarah, I've decided to start Weight Watchers.  When I graduated from high school I was around 110 pounds. College, 120.  Now, not so much! I'd love to get back down to around 130 or so, but we'll see how this goes.  :)

Brian and I decided that there was no sense in both of us paying for WW.  We're trying to save money for a house, etc so I signed up and paid the $65 for three months. Since I do all the cooking, Brian will be doing the program by proxy. :) We had talked about starting yesterday, but I used all of my points at breakfast. So, we're starting today!!! :)

I made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins last night.  The recipe calls for them to be the standard muffin size, but I decided to make them mini. This cuts them down from 5 points each to 1 point.  We also bought lots of fruit, but need to go out and do a massive Weight Watchers grocery trip later.

For breakfast today I'm having sliced strawberries, two muffins and 8 ounces of 1% milk.  This adds up to 5 points.  I get 29 points per day, so this seems like an okay start.  I haven't been eating big lunches lately, so I'll have plenty of points for dinner and such later.


Now for some pictures!! :)

Cookies :)

I decided to make oatmeal cookies today because I've been craving them like crazy! I didn't have any raisins or I would have made the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe that's on the lid of the Quaker Oats Quick Oats container.  Instead I found this recipe online.  We're 10 minutes into the 15 minute baking process and I noticed that one of the cookies is expanding like CRAZY! I think it was the last one out of the bowl, so it might have less oatmeal than the others.  I guess I'll just have to eat that one :)

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 325° F.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in egg then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 18 (after 15 they still looked raw, 18 looks good) minutes then remove sheets from oven and cool cookies on sheets for 5 minutes then remove to rack and cool completely.


And now the great reveal!!! :)

See! There's the one that tried to take over the whole pan!!

mmmm.... :)

Feelin' like Jack Johnson...

 ... and makin' banana pancakes! :)


I've been craving a real breakfast lately and since I'm totally not a morning person, it's hard to get up early enough to look presentable and go out for breakfast. I had planned on making oatmeal waffle pancakes yesterday, but realized I left the recipe at the lake. Sad.

So instead I found this recipe for 5 Spot Banana Pancakes. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. If you're going to make them, make sure you put the bananas on AS SOON AS YOU PUT THE BATTER ON THE GRIDDLE/PAN! Otherwise they won't sink down enough and you'll end up burning the banana.


Now for some pictures :)

The batter looked a little thin, but it all worked out. :)

and baking...

mmmmm.... :)

A must for pancakes! None of the fake syrup crap here.

Inspired

Good morning! My dear sister-in-law, Sarah, has inspired my breakfast this morning. 

I also had a whole bunch of fruit that it threatening to turn so making smoothies was a must. :)

Mock Orange Julius Three Berry Sensation Smoothies

strawberries

raspberries and blackberries

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup yogart (I used Bannilla)

3 tbsp white sugar (since the yogart was so sweet, I used less but if you're using plain yogart you might want the full amount)

2 tsp vanilla extract

8 ice cubes

Blend everything but the ice until smooth and then add the ice and blend again.

Not quite as good as the Orange Julius experts, but still good :)

I know, I know...

Yes, I admit it.  I have been slacking on the updates.  Sorry oh so faithful readers... aka, Sarah :)

No pictures tonight, but I'll share my recipes. Tonight we had roasted green beans, teriyaki chicken and Japanese rice.  We like Japanese rice better than regular white rice because it's more sticky and you end up chasing fewer grains around your plate. :)

Baked Chicken Teriyaki
2/3 cup teriyaki marinade, I used low sodium Kikkomon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a good shake of ginger
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp peanut oil, or better yet, sesame oil-which I didn't have

Combine all that and brush on chicken in a 13x9 pan.  I used boneless skinless chicken tenders because that's what I had. I had A LOT of extra marinade even after I brushed it on the chicken so I poured some in the bottom of the pan. Cook at 425 for 15-20 minutes and enjoy :) We put more marinade on the chicken as we ate, too.

Roasted Green Beans
1 to 2 lbs fresh green beans, topped and toed (that means cut the top and bottom off)
4 tsp olive oil
fresh ground pepper
sea salt

After the green beans have been washed, put them in a bowl and then toss them with the oil and salt & pepper.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 425.


And there you go! :)

Good morning!

Today's breakfast is brought to you by scrabbled eggs with bacon and extra pulp orange juice (in one of our beautiful wedding favor glasses) :)

BLCA love

Somehow this isn't how I expected this series to start out... but here we go :)

Tonight's dinner was supposed to be BLTs, but we don't have any tomato (and were too lazy to run all the way out to Giant) and we had A LOT of avocado.  BLTs are kind of a big deal here in the Aldrich house, because they're ALWAYS made with home grown bacon.  You have never had bacon until you've had Stepniak bacon. 

+ + + + +  =

Soo good :)

This summer's project...

I've decided that it's time to make this blog a little more exciting.  Or at least give it some sort of purpose.  :) My goal for the summer is to cook way more and hopefully go out a whole lot less.  SOOOOO... I'm going to start blogging mostly about food that I make for my darling husband and possibly some apartment projects. :)

Of course, I've made this decision at 10:30 on a Sunday night so I have nothing to post yet... but there will be pictures coming soon!!

I'm sure you're DYEing to hear this one...

Last night, my darling husband held a poker night.  Boys only.  Unless, that is, there weren't enough people around and THEN I'd be allowed to play.  As long as I didn't beat them too badly.  It turns out that Steve, Steve, Mark, and Frank were all available and ready to play, so Sarah and I were dismissed from our poker playing duties to eat scads of veggies (by the way, I could totally go for a sugar snap pea right now. kthnxbye) and the DYE MY HAIR!!

A little background... when I was a wee lass, I had bleach blonde hair.  And I miss it.  Anyone who knew me at the time knows that I went through a period during high school and college where I tried to regain this lovely color.  Or lack there of.  Lemme just say, it didn't work then.  After at least five years away from the hair dye, I decided to try again last night.  Sarah and I picked out a lovely shade of light natural blonde.

And then we set to work.  Combine the bottles, apply and wait... 30-ish minutes later we rinsed.  Just as I started to rinse the color out, Sarah says something along the lines of "OH DEAR GOD! WE MUST GET THIS COLOR OUT NOW BEFORE YOU TURN INTO A CARROT!!!"  Okay... maybe it wasn't THAT dramatic, but we definitely rinsed with haste.  Now of course, I could not see what the color looked like because, um, my head was in the bathtub and Sarah was rinsing VIGOROUSLY.  Ladies and gentlemen... my hair was the scariest shade of strawberry blonde with a hint of the devil.  Okay.. more than a hint.  It was all out devil, scary, nasty, breathtakingly BAD.  Sarah, my dear sister-in-law and official hair dyer/life saver, managed to keep her cool and not let me panic. Instead we went to Giant and purchased this...

 Light ash blonde.  Probably the shade I should have gone with in the first place.  And let the fun begin again!! Mix, apply, hope, pray, rinse...

By the time the 25 minutes had passed, it looked like someone had taken a container of Hershey's syrup and dumped it over my head.  I thought for sure that we were going to rinse the color off and my hair would be darker than it was when we started. 

But it's great now. :) Perfectly blonde and lovely.  Lesson here? Bleach blonde is NOT the way to go for me!

Noticing a trend?

There's another new baby in the extended Adams family!! :) My dear sister, Lana, had a beautiful baby girl on Friday, May 6th.  Her name is Lorena Jeralyn, she was 9 pounds 5 ounces.  Her parents and big sister, Lillia, are adjusting well and we can't wait to get Lorena and Annalyn together. :) In the mean time, here are some shots of the newest baybee...

New Baby!!

My darling little seestor gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this morning at 1:55.  7 pounds 9 ounces, beautiful red hair. :) We'll travel north this weekend to see the little family.

End of the Quarter!

Ladies and gentlemen, as of 3:00 today we will be officially in the FINAL QUARTER of the school year!! YAY!!!! :-D Seriously, I couldn't be happier. :) I love my kids, but I am ready for them to go away.  I will miss them when I start with a new crew next year, but I'll think about that then.

I'm FINALLY getting around to eating at least slightly more healthy.  For the past week, for lunch I've had a cup of fat free vanilla yogart and fresh strawberries.  Then later in the day I eat a handful of almonds or pistacios.   I kind of assumed that I'd be starving by the end of the day, but so far so good.  Our scale is broken so I haven't weighed myself in f.o.r.e.v.e.r. but I feel better.  I'm still totally slacking on the going to the gym thing though.  Small steps, right?

Today is officially my little seestor's due date.  No sign of little Annalyn yet but any day now. :)

Birthday Resolutions

I am well aware of the fact that most people make resolutions for New Year's and in the past, I have been one of those people.  Yes, Internets, I have been that person who resolves at the start of the year to go to the gym and then for the next two weeks takes that treadmill you use everyday.  But my resolutions are lucky if they make it two weeks!  This year I kind of tweaked my resolution and said that I was going to go to the gym more often.  And yes, I know twice a year is an improvement over NEVER.  So far, B and I have done fairly well with the whole getting healthy thing.  He's much better at it than I am though.  The thought of leaving work at 3:00 and then running on the treadmill for an hour makes my stomach turn. 

Because I've done SO well with my New Year's resolutions, I've decided to make some birthday resolutions!  I am going to be twenty-eight in eighteen days.*  This is a little bit scary for me for a plethora of reasons, some of which I hate to admit. My mom was 28 when I was born.  I am the third child.  Lana was born when mom was 21, Raymond when she was 24.  Don't get me wrong, I was NOT in the right place to have a baby when I was 21 or 24 but it just seems like she had achieved so much more than me by this age. Besides, 28 is almost 30!  Numbers don't usually bother me, but for some reason the thought of being 30 is scary. Maybe I'll feel differently about that when I get to 30, but it looks scary now. And realizing that turning 28 means that I have been out of high school for 10 years makes that whole close to 30 thing even worse.  I remember when I still had 10 years to go in school! 
... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.  :sigh:

SO here are my goals/resolutions for the next year (or so)

1. I am going to read more intellectual books and fewer just-for-fun books.  I love my science fiction/fantasy books, but it's time to be a grown up :)
2. I am going to keep my house/room at school more organized **
3. I am not going to let the things people say to/about me get me down.  I am far to sensitive and I let people get to me way too easily.

I think three goals are enough for now, right?


*Yeah, I started this post on the 8th, and finished it on the 28th.  AFTER I turned 28.  Deal with it.
**Totally failing out on this one already!

Happy Valentine's Day!

In the midst of wanting to bitch-slap certain people, I'm trying to take a little time out of my day to kick someone's ass be thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. :)

(Here's where it gets sappy...) Be good to yourselves and the people around you (unless they outright insult you, in that case it's okay to slap a bitch)!  Have a great lovey day! <3

GRR

I just thought you should know, I am in mega-bitch mood today.  I need it to be the weekend and I need certain people TO GO AWAY!


What do you do when everyone is either pissing you off or making you cry?

Oh, hai internets...

Bet you think I forgot about you, didn't you Internets?  Well I didn't.  I just didn't have anything exciting to say.  I started this blog thinking that exciting things were to come but obviously that hasn't been the case.  :( Sad.  But I like lists, so I'll make you a catch up list....

• The new school year has started...
• ...and is already half way over.  
• Both of my seestors are pregnant :)
• Emily's due at the end of March with a baybee girl
• Lana's due at the beginning of May and isn't finding out if she'll be adding a niece or a nephew to the fold
• Brian and I are still living in the same complex and loving it.
• The weight loss idea has kind of crapped out and then been resurrected
• No big plans yet for summer vaca, probably just sticking around at home to save moolah
• Emily and Brandon got married in October ... beautiful :)

• We've been spending our time working, working and more working
• I had been feeling bad about not writing anything here and had written a post in my head complete with extensive details about how I hate waiting for things: capturing B, getting engaged, planning the wedding, starting our "real" lives, etc.  Bottom line, I decided that I wasn't going to write it out because no matter how much I want to rush things, I can't.  There are a lot of things I thought I would have done by the time I was 28 that I haven't but that's okay!  All in good time, right?
• Hopefully, good things are to come. But I'm not holding my breath or counting my chickens before they hatch :)