Can I do it?

So I've been horrible with keeping up with my blog. I think that in every 4 or 5 blogs I might repeat this statement. YUCK! I don't know what is with me really. How hard is it to really sit and blog? There is always somethig going on that I could write about. A picture I could post. A survey I could take and make you take too. There is ALWAYS something, yet I sit here and think about blogging but never do...

Until Friday :-). I have a New Years resolution. I am going to blog EVERY SINGLE DAY for an entire year. It might just be a picture, a quote or a whole rambling rant, but I am going to do this. I've never stuck to anything in my life (just check out my 101 list.. UGH). But I am determined to stick to this.

So keep reading. Hopefully I'll be able to keep you all entertained enough to come back and comment, but even if I dont - I'll look at this next year and know that I CAN do anything I set my mind too.

Wish me luck....

Friend Makin Monday ~ All I want for Christmas

So it has been a couple of weeks since I've done the friend Makin Monday thing. Between traveling back east and then sending my oldest son back east, and Christmas and everything else in the world it has totally slipped my mind.

Today, Amber over at {aefilkins} is hosting Friend Makin Monday once again. Today she wants to know what you want for Christmas.

I could state the obvious (Peace on Earth, Health, Happiness, etc) but today I am going to be materialistic. There are plenty of things that I would love for Christmas. Here is a short list for you...

1. A Garmin Nuvi 255W GPS System

because lets face it, since moving to Phoenix I am ALWAYS lost. I can find my way on roads that curve and make no sense, but on a grid - forgetaboutit..

2. A Kitchen Aid Mixer

and this is mostly because I have a love of trying out new recipes and this would come in super handy.

3. Beatles Rockband

mostly I want this because really.. who doesnt want to jam out to some beatles music?

That s pretty much all I want. I wouldnt say no to a few other things (Coach Purse, Jimmy Buffet Margarita Mixer, laptop computer) but those three things will do this year!

Now what about you? What do YOU want for Christmas??

Aquafresh Iso-Active review..

So, about two months ago, I signed up to be a "tester" for a company called "She Speaks". What the gist of it is, is that they are partnered with big name companies. These big name companies give "She Speaks" many samples to send out to every day women to try out and give a review on.

The first sample I received in the mail was a bottle (best way to describe it really) of Aquafresh Iso Active toothpaste. My first thought was OK, who doesn't need toothpaste, right? Before I tried it out, I assumed it was going to be like every other tooth paste in the world. You put it on your toothbrush and brush.... Spit, rinse, repeat. Well, this toothpaste was not so much like that.

I absolutely LOVED it. Now, I'm normally a Crest girl. Been with them since the good old days (listen to me talk like I am 100 or something). Anyways, this tooth paste was great. When you brush, it makes a "foam" type something in your mouth. I guess mostly that is because the paste isn't a paste with this stuff. It is a "foaming gel". My teeth felt a heck of a lot cleaner. YAY! No, they are not paying me to say this either. This is the honest to gods truth. Even my husband enjoyed it.

So if you are looking for a new toothpaste try this one out!! It'll TOTALLY be worth it!

Friend Makin Monday ~ A Survey

It's Monday, again! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I know we sure did. I am staying with my In-laws (while my husband and oldest son are back in Arizona). Thanksgiving dinner was yummy, but when I woke up Friday morning everyone was GONE! They left for Disney World. So now I have the house to myself and could not be happier..

Anyways, since it is Monday I figured that I should jump over to Amber's {aefilkins} blog to find out what this weeks question was. This week, she is doing a survey. So here are my answers, and I hope you hop on and post your own in your blog!

1. Favorite website
This is a hard one. I love going to thenest.com and a message board I am on. Facebook is on ALL DAY on my computer (even if I am not at it). Then there is people.com for my gossip.

2. Favorite color
Pinks.. All different shades of pink. I hated pink growing up, but have realized as an adult that there is SO MUCH you can do with it.

3. Facebook? {Post a link or share your name if you want some new Facebook friends!}
Im not much on putting my whole name out here, but if you are really interested let me know and I'll pass it along!

4. Favorite Christmas song?
The 12 Pains of Christmas. I used to hear this song so much living in Maine. I hope I can hear it in AZ as well. If you want to go with the classics though, I would say that I love Silver Bells...

5. Christmas tree: Real or fake?
As much as I love the smell of a real tree, a fake one is so much easier so that is what we've had for the last 4 years.

6. Hottest celebrity?
I LOVE David Boreanaz.. I mean, what is not to love about him?



7. Favorite restaurant?
For chain restaurants, i love TGI Fridays and the Olive Garden. I have not been to either since moving to AZ but hopefully soon. Then there is this little whole in the wall Chinese place in Tewksbury, MA called Longs that I love.

8. Favorite magazine?
People magazine is great. I also love Better Homes and Good Housekeeping. I love the recipes that come out of there.

9. Favorite thing to drink around the holidays?
Vodka? Lots of it :-) Haha! No really though... I dont get into the whole eggnog thing. My big splurge is coffee with peppermint creamer. Boring huh?

10. Favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Story and The Santa Clause. I love both of them the same

So now it is your turn. Answer the questions and go back to Ambers blog to add your name to the roll, and hop around and read other answers.. Happy Monday!

Its Friend Makin Monday...

Yep, it's friend makin monday again! I love how Amber is willing to do this every week. It gives me something to blog about. So this week, Amber wants to know everything about Thanksgiving. How exciting.... So here we go..

1. Turkey or Ham?
Turkey.... Do people really eat Ham on Thanksgiving? For me that is a Christmas thing :-)

2. Favorite side dish?
Stuffing. My mom used to make the best stuffing ever! I miss having my mom here to make it for me.

3. Favorite dessert?
Warm apple pie with french Vanilla Ice Cream... or Brownies...

4. Black Friday: Are you going or not?
Not this year! I love getting crazy but im home in New England and have nobody to watch the boys.

5. If so, what's on the top of your list?
N/A

6. Going out of town or staying close to home?
Im out of town this year. We live in Phoenix but I am staying with my inlaws in MA for a few weeks.

7. Hosting or helping?
Helping.....

8. Name one family tradition at Thanksgiving.
The Parade in the morning. Then after dinner we all pile into the itty bitty living room and we watch a movie...

9. What do you do after dinner?
Oh, I already answered this but we watch a movie in the living room

10. What are you most thankful for this year?
Im thankful for the amazing friends i've met in Arizona that have helped make the transition a lot easier for our family...

So, tell me all about your Thanksgiving?!?!?!

Friend Makin Monday ~ Favorite Winter Recipe?

YAY! It's Monday again! Now that I am coming down off my high from the Colts somehow pulling off a win in last nights game, I'm ready to blog again! Since it is Monday, I figure a good way to start is to jump on the Friend Makin Mondays bandwagon. Today, Amber {aefilkins} wants to know, what your favorite winter recipe is...

I'll start by saying that Winter is very different here in Arizona. Growing up in New England, winter was ALL ABOUT cooking in the oven. Making your house smell amazing. Im not saying that I dont do that here, but if more people actually saw what we like to cook and how involved it is and how long it cooks for... I'd probably be told I am crazy, haha!

Anyways, Im off track again. I had to think about what one meal is my absolute favorite to make in the winter time. I've decided to go with Chicken Corn Chowder... We had this last week and I could not get over how tasty it came out. Here is the recipe.. Oh yeah, I cook it in a crockpot!

2tbs butter
1 1/2 lbs of Chicken Tenders or Chicken Breast (cut into 1/2 in cubes)
1/2 C. chopped onion
4 celery ribs (sliced up)
4 carrots (diced up)
2 C. frozen corn
2 Cans of cream of potato soup
1 1/2 C. chicken broth
1 tsp. dried dill weed (i use a little more)
1/2 C. half and half (I use a little more then that... probably 3/4 to 1C. Depending on how the soup is looking. I like it thicker.

In large skillet, melt the butter and brown the chicken. When that is done, put it into the crockpot.

Add the onions and celery to the skillet and saute' for 3 or 4 minutes or just until tender.

Add the onions and celery to crockpot along with the carrots, corn, soup, chicken broth and dill.

Cover and cook on low for 5 or 6 hours until chicken is fully done and vegetables are tender.

During the last 10 minutes of cooking, stir in the half and half..

I dont have any pictures of the soup I made. I've just recently started taking pictures of the food I make, but I did not do that the last time I made this dinner. I"ll be sure to take a picture another time and post it up. Maybe i'll make it tomorrow.

Now, I am going to ask you, what is your favorite winter recipe? Happy Eating!!

~MckLinky Blog Hop~ Ask a Question

So, thanks to a new blog that I am following, ive decided to join in on the fun. MckLinky has a weekly blog hop where there is a theme / question asked every week and then other bloggers can hop from blog to blog reading your answers, and leaving you comments.

The Blog Hop theme for this Week is "ASK A QUESTION".

Ask your readers ANY question and invite them to leave a comment with their answer. ANY QUESTION.

So after giving it much thought (OK, probably not as much as I should have but enough to make it interesting) I've decided to ask myself, and also my readers :

~If you could know anything about the future, anything at all... What would you want to know?
I think that the only thing I'd really want to know is did I personally do a good enough job as a mother that my four boys grew into really great men. I'd want to know that the morals and beliefs that I taught them helped them along the way. If my kids turned out to be sad/depressed/crazy/arrogant/etc then I'd want to be able to have time to rethink the way I teach them things so that they could have the amazing life they so deserve...

Now what about you? If you could know anything about the future, anything at all... What would you want to know?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies, anyone?

Ok, seriously... these are the most delicious things EVER! I have never really been a fan of pumpkin so I was a bit scared when I tried this recipe. Holy crap... i think they should be tried by each and every human on the planet. These things are DELISH!!!

Brownie Batter
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder - I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake Batter
6 oz cream cheese, softened - I used 8oz
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar - I used 1/2 cup
2 tbsp flour - I used 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp
1/2 cup pumpkin puree - I used 2/3 cup
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract - I used 1/3 tsp
1/2 tsp cinnamon - I used 2/3 tsp
1/4 tsp each ground ginger and ground cloves - I used 1/3 tsp

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8" square metal baking pan.

Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. In separate bowl, beat together cheesecake batter ingredients.

Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan, and spoon cheesecake batter over. Dollop remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. Swirl the batters together by running a butter knife back and forth through the pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely on wire rack and chill before cutting and serving

I found the recipe on Beantown Bakers Blog. She has a TON of yummy ideas that you should go and check out.

I chilled them overnight before I cut into them and man oh man... I think I am going to have a hard time with my 101 list because I think I gained 10lbs in my left thigh alone, haha! If you make them, please tell me what you think...

Friend Makin Monday

It's that time of the week again! Wait, did I use that line the last time I joined in the Friend Makin Monday theme? Possibly? Who knows.... Well anyways, it is that time again. Today, Amber over at aefilkins asked

What are your favorite candles/scents?

Banana Nut Bread.... YUM!

Vanilla Pumpkin

Almond Cookie

Christmas Wish

and last but not least.... Cookies and Cream

So I think that you can see a pattern forming here as to the kind of scents that I personally enjoy. Anything soft and not to over powering. There are a few more that I love as well, but these were the first that came to mind. The list is much longer if she would have asked what DONT you like.

Now I ask of you, what is your favorite candle/scent?

Was it worth it?

Every once in a while, while I am sitting here in AZ, missing my friends and family back east, I tend to ask myself.... was it worth it?
Was it worth moving 2600 miles away from everything I have ever known my whole life? Was it worth leaving Kaleb and Christian with their father for the year to come out here? The decision was solely put on my shoulders. Carl would never ask me to move 2600 miles away from everything I've ever known.
It's been a bit of a financial burden for me to come here. Not so much moving here but all the money I've spent to go back east when I get sad. I've been home 2 times now and am going again in 2 weeks. For as much as I've gone home you would think that maybe we made the wrong decision.
But then I step out onto my patio off my bedroom and I see this:



The change of scenery is absolutely AMAZING! It's new, its refreshing, its peaceful. So when I sit and wonder if we made the right decision, I just look out my window to the amazing things that I see.



Taken from my favorite Musical Artist: "Life's a journey, not a destination... you just cant tell, just what tomorrow brings"

So while I miss things in New England. My family, my friends, my old house on the lake.. I wouldn't trade what I have for the world. The experience of seeing new things, of meeting new friends and starting a new life.. For now, i'll enjoy this journey and i'll see what tomorrow brings!

Friend Makin Monday

Yes everyone, it is Monday again. It is killing me how fast these weeks are going by. Anyways, since it is Monday, it is Friend Makin Monday again. This week, Amber (aefilkins) asks "If life were a movie, which movie would you want to live in?"



Now, I've looked around at other people who take part in FMM and like many of the others, I couldnt come up with an easy answer. After giving it a bit of thought, I decided to go with





I mean seriously... Who wouldn't want to live in the 70's with an amazing soundtrack? You'd get to listen to tunes like Slow Ride, by

Schools Out by the Amazing

and Tuesdays Gone by the one and only



Not only is the soundtrack amazing, but the way these kids lived it up and didn't have a care in the world except for going to the concert.



Now, would I be as much of a smoker as these kids? No, probably not.... but I love their attitudes, the close friendships that they all had and how much fun they had as a group! Oh, and I think i'd like to be David Wooderson's girlfriend. She'd be a new roll in the movie. He would not have as much interest in Cynthia because he'd be too busy being focused on ME! hahah! I mean come on, who would not want to play Matthew McConaughey's girlfriend??

Friend Makin Monday

Yes, it is that time again where Amber (aefilkins) does her weekly friend makin monday. Today, her question is : What makes you happy?

I suppose there are a TON of different ways I could answer this question. I mean, sleeping in makes me happy, pedicures, chocolate, etc. etc. etc. But honestly, those are just things that temporarily make me happy. After giving it about 2 seconds thought, I decided that these things make me happy.

1. My husband

2. My amazing little boys; Chad, Kaleb, Christian and William

3. My wonderful family


4. My BEST friends


Some of you might think that this is a pretty lame list, but honestly... they are the only things constant in my life. There are some days that someone in my family, or my husband or one of my friends might make me mad, but they are ALWAYS there for me...

So that is my list..... Now I ask the question of you... What makes YOU happy?

Day Zero Project

So I've been very interested in reading other peoples blogs lately and noticed that a few girls from the Phoenix Nest board started doing the 101 things in 1001 days blog. This was started a while ago by Triplux. Anyways, before I get too off track, the girls (Julie, Jaye, Kirstin and Shelly) inspired me to create my own list of things to do. So here we go...

The Mission: The Mission:Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific ( ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 101 Days?: Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

I'm putting my start date as October 16th, 2009 which makes my end date July 13th, 2012.

And here is my list:

Family
1. Bake a cake for each Family Members birthday (0/6)
2. Celebrate each family members birthday on its very own day (0/6)
3. Take a family vacation to Disneyland
4. Make each family member a dinner of their total and complete choice 3 times each (2/18)
5. Buy 30 new books for the kids (2/30)
6. Have a family Yard Sale and donate the money to homeless children in AZ
7. Recycle more as a family
8. Bring in a new family member (a puppy)
9. Get passports for all the boys (0/4)
10. Update my passport
11. Throw a fabulous Halloween party

Financial/Legal
12. Have $1000 in Personal Savings
13. Have $2000 in Personal Savings
14. Pay off our Durango so I can trade it for a new truck
15. Pay off bad debt so we can purchase a house
16. Begin the house buying process
17. Get our Will in order
18. Set up a savings account for all 4 boys here in AZ (0/4)
19. Set up a trust fund for the boys in case something should happen
20. Change our banks over from a NH bank to an AZ bank

Personal
21. Go to individual counseling
22. Go to marriage / family counseling
23. Blog 1 time a week for 143 weeks (3/143)
24. "Follow" at least 20 new bloggers (4/20)
25. Have 30 people follow me (13/30)
26. Forgive 5 people who have hurt me (0/5)
27. Find a church to go to, and get involved in it
28. Volunteer for school events
29. Change my hairstyle... completely
30. Go to bed by 10PM one week a month (0/32)
31. Get a new tattoo
32. Treat myself to 4 spa days (0/4)
33. Get 12 pedicures (0/12)
34. Dye my hair a new fun color
35. Laugh when I feel like crying

Physical
36. Lose 15lbs
37. Lose 30lbs
38. Lose 45lbs
39. Go to the gym 2x week for 8 weeks (0/16)
40. Go for a walk with the boys 1x a week for 20 weeks (2/20)
41. Enforce the No more babies rule by making sure one of us is "fixed"
42. Lose 4 sizes in my jeans (0/4)
43. Tone up my arms
44. Find a doctor here for myself
45. Find out why I have migraines every single day


Household
46. Paint the walls in the boys room
47. Finish unpacking
48. Get some art for the walls
49. Clean the garage out with help of my family
50. Go through all the boys toys and get rid of the ones they don't play with anymore
51. Put our bed up on rails so it doesn't look ghetto in our room.
52. Buy new couches
53. Buy a new bed
54. Turn the empty room into a home gym
55. Replace the ceiling fan in our bedroom
56. Replace the ceiling fan in Wills bedroom

Organizing
57. Buy a file folder for all our bills
58. Get plastic bins for all of our seasonal clothes and put them away
59. Get dresser's for Kaleb and Christian's room
60. Get a bookshelf for all of our books
61. Get a coupon holder and put my coupons in them
62. Clean out the junk drawer

Friendships
63. Make 3 new friends in Arizona (0/3)
64. Talk to my friends back east at least once a week for 143 weeks (3/143)
65. Go to NY over Memorial Day Weekend two times (0/2)
66. Go out to dinner with just the "girls once a month (0/32)
67. Let 3 "friends" go (1/3)"
68. Go out of my way to surprise a friend with something he/she has always wanted
69. Go to Vegas with a group of friends

Travel
70. Go somewhere for a weekend, that we've never gone before (instate)
71. Go somewhere for a weekend that we have not gone before (out of state)
72. Drive to California
73. Drive to Colorado
74. Pay for a friend to come visit me in AZ
75. Take two vacations to New England in 2 years (0/2)
76. Get a new bike and ride it to new places

Food/Cooking
77. Eat at 20 new restaurants (0/20)
78. Create 20 new recipes for the family to enjoy (1/20)
79. Find a food blog every week and post a delish recipe from it on my blog (1/143)
80. Try 20 new foods (1/20)
81. Bake a cake for a friend
82. Bake cookies for a friend
83. Host 5 dinner parties (1/5)
84. Host a murder mystery dinner
85. Get a new "expensive" set of cookware
86. Find a wine I actually like
87. Have a wine tasting party
88. BBQ every night for a week (0/5)
89. Make a meal plan every week (3/143)

Misc
90. Pay for the car behind me in the drive through lane
91. Decorate for the holidays better
92. Adopt a Christmas family
93. Set up a fundraiser for Thanksgiving for a family in need
94. Walk in the breast cancer walk for a cure
95. Tell my husband I love him every day (24/1001)
96. Go see 5 bands live (0/5)
97. See 3 bands that I've never seen before play live (0/3)
98. Don't touch my laptop or cell phone for a week
99. Write on a public restroom wall
100. Thank a soldier for an amazing job that they've done
101. Send a message in a bottle (in the ocean)

BONUS
~Inspire 5 people to make their own list (1/5)

So, that is my list of 101 things to do. I hope that I can get them done. Wish me luck and feel free to follow along in my adventure. I will update this list as often as I accomplish something.

Friend Making Monday

So today is Friend Making Monday. I missed last weeks assignment because I had a ton of stuff going on, so I am back on track to try to keep up with her.

This week, Amber - from a.e.filkins wants to know what you are going to be for Halloween. Well, I am not going to be a whole lot of anything... but the boys are dressing up. So far Will is the only one who has a costume.

Here are my boys last year. I had quite the little show going on. Chad was ummm a Grim Reaper type of thing? Help? Christian was Spiderman, William was a Caterpillar and Kaleb was Indiana Jones.

This year, William is the only one who has his costume so far. Here he is....

Yep. He is going to be the cutest little pug, EVER! Chad has NO IDEA what he wants to be. Kaleb either wants to be Darth Vador, a Jedi Trooper or a Clone Trooper. Christian is going to be a Transformer, but has no idea which one. I"ll post pictures as soon as he gets his costume!

Now... What are you going to be?

Weekend in a Nutshell

So we had quite the weekend in the Momma V house. It started off very slow with movies and relaxing on the couch. That quickly turned into laundry and dishes and picking up after my little Tornado (better known as William). And all of this was just on Saturday.

On Sunday, we watched a lot of fooball. I was happy to see that the Patriots lost to the Broncos. Nothing better then picking on my husband when his football team fails! But, he is the first to say something when the Colts or the Giants aren't playing the way they should. I guess I did not have to hear all that much from him this weekend as both of my teams went 5-0!

After the game, we went to the park. William LOVES the parks here. It was a beautiful Sunny (but when is it not sunny in AZ) day. I think it was in the mid 80's. Everyone had a blast.

After the park was done, we went to BRU and got Will a few new things. He had a gift card from his birthday and we figured why not. Then when we got home, we had the most amazing dinner. I had put a pork loin in the crockpot in the morning with some BBQ stuff. Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Roasted Red Ranch Potatoes... WOW!!! If that isnt orgasmic, then I dont know what is...

Here is the recipe..

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast, well trimmed
1 package McCormick® Slow Cookers BBQ Pulled Pork Seasoning
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS
1. Place pork in slow cooker. Mix Seasoning, ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar until blended. Pour over pork. Cover.

2. Cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Remove pork from slow cooker.

3. Shred pork, using 2 forks. Return pork to slow cooker. Mix and heat with sauce before serving. Serve on sandwich rolls, if desired.

Tips
Test Kitchen Tip: Use 3 pounds boneless pork loin roast in place of the pork shoulder roast.

Slow Cooker Tip: For best results, do not remove cover during cooking.

And for the roasted potatos.... SIMPLE

1 package of hidden valley Ranch
1/4th cup Veg. Oil
2lbs small red potatos - quartered

Shake Well, bake at 450 for 35 minutes..

Tonights dinner...... Stuffed Shells! I'll try to take some pictures in the assembly process! They are fantastic and delish!

I know I said I would... but I still haven't decided

Ok... so here it is. Monday night. I am still thinking on if I really want to put the effort into a NEW blog for just my cooking. Part of me says, who on earth wants to read about me and my cooking? How it turned out? What I did wrong? What I did different? Anyone? But on that same note, what is the point of dedicating a WHOLE blog to cooking if I am not even sure anybody is going to read it. See the circle? It goes around and around and around....

So, since I dont have any decisions yet, I will just continue to post things here. Both cooking and not cooking.

Tonight, I made Spaghetti and meatballs. And the meatballs were from a bag, so there is nothing to blog about there. BUT, for dessert I made caramel apple bars (thanks to Nichole's recipe). I must toot my own horn when I say that they came out AMAZING! I wish I would have taken pictures along the way. Kind of a step by step process. The end result was AMAZING! I used a little more caramel then the recipe calls for. I also put in a tad bit more brown sugar. The whole family loved it. Even Will enjoyed a bite or two. Two major thumbs up for mommy! Here is Nicholes recipe.. Enjoy!

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats ( I used the old fashioned and it turned out fine!)
1 teaspoon salt (You may want to cut this in half, I thought there was a little too much in the end)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 cups coarsely chopped, peeled tart apples (3-4 medium)
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 bag (14oz) caramels

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Mix brown sugar, butter and shortening in a large bowl.
3. Stir in flour, oats, salt and baking soda. Set 2 cups of this mixture aside.
4. Press the rest of the oat mixture in an ungreased 13x9x2 pan.
5.Toss apples in 3 Tablespoons of flour and spread over the mixture in the pan.
6. Heat caramels over low heat, stir occasionally.
7. Once melted, pour evenly over the apples.
8. Sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture.
9. Bake for 25-30 min, or until topping is golden brown and the apples are tender.
10. Enjoy with some vanilla ice cream while warm....YUMMY!

Time to cook?

For a while, I've been thinking of starting a cooking blog. As Will is getting older, I've been trying a more "crazier" approach to the cooking at night. Our meals have been changing and the family has been loving it.

So the question now, is do I start a new blog, or do i just kind of transform this one? I dont think i'll blog enough about my personal life to keep interest but I cook every day. Maybe I can combine the two together? Check back with me before the weekend and I'll be sure to have an answer for you.

xoxo
-momma v

Warning: Statements below may offend - Apparently I should have a private blog?

I guess nothing is personal anymore. With ALL the things to do on the internet, and all the websites to go my blog has taken on personal interest of someone that I really cant stand. I mean, I guess I had assumed that if you didn't like someone, and knew that someone did not like you, you wouldn't really be browsing around on their blog. Why would you? I mean, they wouldn't be saying anything interesting to you? Would they? I guess at this point it is a matter of nosey-ness vs. actually giving a crap.

So tonight, drama hit a message board I am on. Again. And surprise surprise, it all had to do with the same person it ALWAYS has to do with. Things were wonderful until she came back. Then again like a ticking time bomb.. it blew up. I was good with keeping the drama off the board. I did not post what I felt. I didn't say STFU... nobody cares when I wanted too. I vented here. I mean, why oh why would SHE look at my blog. And honestly, I did not much care that she did. But I figured if I could leave it off the board then maybe, just maybe she would as well. I don't talk to her she doesn't talk to me, all peace is stable. Butttt nooooo... She has word vomit and there she goes again....

So here I am now, posting on my PERSONAL yet PUBLIC blog. I don't really care who sees it. If you don't want to see it, don't look at it. I'll be as real with you as you are with me. End of story!

Friend Making Monday

While looking at my friend Beth's blog , I noticed that she has follows this blog. Being new to this whole blogging thing, I am always trying to think of ways to stay "updated" and not so lame. To get back to my point, I noticed that Beth decided to join in the Friend Making Monday fun. This week's theme is favorite things... Hey, that is something I can do. So here are a few of my favorite things...

1. My Boys

2. My Husband (well, most of the time)

3. Margaritas.. always Margaritas

4. My family, as crazy as they are

5. My Friends

6. Chocolate

7. My PINK Laptop Computer

8. House

9. COACH

10. TGI Fridays

Now, these are in no way in any particular order... Well, except for maybe 1 and 2. Those are always going to be pretty close to the top. Now tell me, what are your favorite things?

Is it just me....???

Or is it getting old? And by it, I mean the need for some people to always HAVE to one up everyone else. I am about ready to dig my eyeballs out at this point. No matter what I say, she ALWAYS has to one up me. Not that I say a whole lot lately, but when I do, I can count on a response that is so much better then my on thing in less then 30 minutes. It reminds me of the old Domino's commercials... You know, if it is not there in 30 minutes or less then it's free?! Well, if I dont see the one-upedness in less then 30 minutes I can praise Jesus... *eye roll*

Normally, I try not to let things get to me. At least not too badly but this... well, I've had enough. I have so much to say on the issue and I dont even know where to begin with it honestly. I cant stand fakeness. AT ALL. In any form of the word. I can read through any amount of it. Why do I let myself sit around and see it going on all the time, I dont know. I guess I lack amusement here sometimes. I smile, I put on the fake face. I am exactly the person that I cant stand. All because I am waiting for a show. I think things are going to explode soon. Before the end of the year is up. I think people are going to start seeing through the fakeness and the snarkyness and all hell is going to break loose... again. And as a friend of mine said, i'll be waiting in the wings... popcorn in hand... to laugh!

Easy like a ...... Monday morning?

So this weekend was a great, long, but fast one. I swore to myself that today, Monday morning, I would do NOTHING. I am not cleaning, I am not cooking, I am not even going to leave my jammies today. Will probably wont either, well until bath time that is.. but we are not leaving the house. Want to see how long I stick to this plan?!?

So, details on the weekend. We went shopping on Saturday. On our way out the door, i checked Craigslist one last time. We've been looking for a decent priced mower, for our 5x5 lawn (ok, so it is bigger.. but not much). Well, as Carl was putting Will into his seat, I found a great deal. Called the guy up and threw a fork into our plans. We now had to go track down this man to get his mower off of him. After going the wrong way because my husband is directionally challanged we found the man (in a GREAT subdevision mind you) and brought the mower home. Then it was time to shop. We went to walmart to find my Itouch. They didnt have the 16gb there, so we went to Target instead! Scored my Itouch and picked up a few other things, including a gift for Lilly. Made dinner at home and had an amazing dessert thanks to Lauren A.

Yesterday was good as well. We went to Lilly's birthday party. I have to say, I feel like I am fitting in a lot better out here in AZ then I did back in New England. I mean, I liked my friends back home, but after knowing a lot of them for a long time, nobody ever just called me up and said "hey... lets get lunch", or "hey... want to come to a birthday party". I've been here all of 2 months and I've been on more lunch dates / play dates, etc then I had when I was back in New England. It's nice to have some new friends. In fact, I think I am going to lunch tomorrow, and a playdate on Wednesday. I'm also hosting a GTG here at our house and people are *gasp* going to actually show up!!! How cool is that???

Did I mention how much i love AZ????

Happy Birthday to me

So, it is my birthday!! I guess a happy birthday to me is in order here.

If only today was a happy day. I guess each day is what you make of it, so I should get off my butt and make something good, correct? Eh... we'll see.

Im thinking I might take myself out to lunch. Well, not exactly MYSELF but I'll bring Will with me. He loves getting out of the house. I missed him (and Chad) when I was back east last week. I missed going on adventures with him, even though they might just be target adventures. He likes to see all the new things and I like buying him things! Strange how that works. Before you are a parent, you buy a lot of things for yourself. After a baby is born... it's not about you anymore. Everything you do is for the little one.

So, back to my birthday rambling, I am thinking of going to lunch today. I met a pretty cool chic here named Shannon and her son is absolutely ADORABLE! I think they are going to meet up with me. Gatta love local friends. Even when i was back east, I had to go 3 hours to hang out with ANYONE so this is great! Tomorrow, we're meeting up with a bunch of moms for a lunch type of thing at Red Robin! Yum! Haha!

So, we'll see what tonight has in store. Probably just me cooking dinner per usual. Making Hamburgers and Fries. I was supposed to make them last night but by the time I got back from Soccer sign ups, it was late... 10 minute skillet meal it was.

Ok, enough rambling for now. I'll be back. Today i am sure! Time to put the baby to bed!

XOXO - momma V

It's so hard... to say goodbye!

Well, I guess this is as good of a place as any to just let myself go. I got a phone call this morning informing me that my grandfather was in the ICU and that they were gathering the family and taking him off of life support. He had a living will, and did not want any extreme measures done to save his life. Keep in mind that my grandfather is living in Maine (with the rest of my family). As much as I wanted to jump on a plane and get home, I knew that it was not the right thing to do to my family here, in Phoenix.
I waited all day long for updates on him. Everyone kept saying that he was not going to make it through the day. That they took him off life support and he wasnt being responsive. That he was retaining fluid and they thought his kidneys were going to fail. That if that was not the case, at best his heart would have too much pressure on it from the fluid and his heart would fail. Either way it was lose lose. The doctors did not have hope. They had him on a morphine drip up until the very end.
My Aunt Vicki had been with him since Monday at the hospital, along with her step mother and her foster brothers/sisters. Brittney was the only one who almost did not get to say goodbye. Well, except for me of course. Luckly, she got there in time. Shortly after she arrived in Sanford, he passed away. At 12:16 A.M. to be exact. I got the phone call not 15 minutes later. Both from my Aunt and my Brother. I've been on the out and out with the both of them, but am so happy that they pushed the maddness aside to pull together for me.
I have not had the best relationship with my grandfather since my mother passed away in 2005. Before that, I was his little princess.... His wife, my grandmother (and i use that term loosely) managed to get in the middle of things due to her pushyness and needless to say, I dont have much of a relationship with him anymore. I feel bad that the last time I talked to him was before my wedding when he just didnt even care to say two words to me. I feel bad that I did not get to tell him that even though I thought he was being a big jerk, that I still loved him and looked up to him. I did not get to tell him goodbye.... That is the hardest part of it all.
So, in the morning, I am flying back to Maine for a few days. I am going to take the time to give everyone an extra hug. Tell everyone how much I love them. Because honestly, we dont know how long we are going to last. Could be a minute, could be an hour, could be a year... who knows, could be a heck of a lot longer then that. All I do know is as much as I thought i was ready for him to pass on because of how sick he'd been the last 5 years, it still hit me as hard as it would have if it were a sudden thing.
That's all for now! I'll be sure to update everyone in the nest few days.

xoxo - Momma V

Labor Day

This weekend has been sort of a crazy weekend. Our friend from the Army and his new girlfriend came for a visit. I wasnt too sure how I was going to feel about her because, well.. she came here from over seas. Now, I have no problem with people coming here from anywhere but it was very fishy at the time that my friend is getting a divorce then all of a sudden this girl is getting one and is all in love with my friend. I was worried that she was attaching onto him for a totally wrong reason, but I think was wrong.
She is a very sweet girl! She seems to care a lot about my friend so that is a good thing. I really hope this is it for him. He'll be working on his third marriage at this point and I really hope for his sake that it doesnt end badly. Our friend is a great guy but he sometimes can be a bit much to handle. I guess we'll see.
So, onto bigger and better things. We had a blast this weekend. We did not do a whole lot over the weekend. Which was NICE! We hung out here on Saturday and then on Sunday, we went to the lake. The lakes out here are very strange. Very rocky and hard to walk into. I will say, they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Here, look for yourself. I did not get a ton of pictures but these few do speak words.

So yeah, as I said.. the lakes are great. The water is just right and the scenery is amazing. After a bit of "irish tanning" we came home and made dinner. After dinner, Apples to Apples and drinks! I must say, it felt pretty good to be able to drink again. Not that I love drinking by any means, but I have not done it in so long. Is it bad that I look forward to drinking every once in a while.

Our friends went home today! They left this morning. Time to get my life back in order I suppose. The house is a big fat mess. I haven't done any laundry all weekend and now that it is Monday, I am in my peak hours so I cant do it until after 9PM. Good thing Carl has clothes for tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of tomorrow, William has to go get his shots and Pest control is coming. Granted, it couldnt be soon enough since we are finding little bugs more and more in here. Time to kill them all off! Woohoo!

That's it for now! More later! Much love to everyone..

xoxo - Momma V

Dentist appointment and Margaritas

So today was an eventful day.. I say that and it is only 11:15 A.M. Chad had a dentist appointment this morning. Based off the report, his canine teeth have issues. The poor kid has not lost his baby ones yet, but his adult ones are growing in SUPER weird. So he has to go back next week and have his baby teeth extracted in order to HOPEFULLY save his adult canine's from killing his other teeth. Oh the joy. Try explaining to a 12 year old that he has to have his teeth "wiggled out". *Shakes head*

In other news... Guess where I am going tonight? Guess... Guess..

Yes, pictures say it all. I am going to Margaritaville tonight for a much needed drink with some pretty cool ladies. Jimmy Buffet watch out. When I start sipping a fruity 'rita the real CRAZY mom comes out! Poor Carl. Doesnt know what he is in for tonight. I think that Margaritaville HAS to be the best place on earth.. Well, maybe not the BEST place, but pretty darn close.

Ok, so I guess that is it for now. I am going to see a man about a horse today (or a dude about a pool.. but how is that in any way random???). I'll be sure to post tonight!

Update 2

I guess it seems like it's been forever since i've posted a blog! I've tried and tried yet nothing I typed seemed fitting enough to really post. Oh well! Here I am now. Trying to get better at this, but who wants to read what I type out?

Ok, well for an update. We made it to Phoenix! It was a long few months of not seeing my husband or having help and support from him. Luckly, my IL's are great and were always there when I needed the support.

Here is a picture of my new house! I LOVE it here!!!
There is so much room in this house, sometimes I want to put in an intercom system, so I can find my husband and my children. We're doing work on the inside of it, so i'll be sure to post before and after pictures once it is done. So far we've updated Chad and Will's bedrooms.








Speaking of Will's bedroom. Last night we put him in there for the first time. We were really worried that he would not sleep well being in his OWN room, but to the contrary, he slept longer then he ever has. I am hoping it is more comfortable for him and that this pattern continues. Also, it's nice to have my room and my husband back!!

Ok, so updates on the kids. Chad is loving his new school. I was worried that he wouldnt make any friends but he brought a kid home the other day to play. That was nice. He's added a few kids from school onto his IM. Hope he keeps up the good work. Will has been great as well. He is WALKING now! It is super funny. I"ll add the video later on. He's just about off his bottle (only has it during bed time) and is sleeping through the night. Kaleb and CJ are back east with their dad. I am getting antsy for them to get out here. I miss them so much, but we chat on the SKYPE network a few times a week as well as on the phone! I'll be heading back east for Columbus Day and Thanksgiving weekend and they are coming here for Christmas.

OK, that is it for now. I promise not to make all my blogs as boring as this one. I'll try to think of new funny ways to update. To all my friends back home... I miss you guys... A LOT!

xoxo
Mamma V

Day 1

So I guess since I am new to this the first few postings might be a random jumble of words. There is so much going on in my head that I dont know where to put it all, so here is a good start.

Carl left for Phoenix today. He's taking over the company site tomorrow morning at 8am sharp. He had to leave us for the time being as the job could not wait. So now I am sitting here, in my living room watching "Mother May I Sleep With Danger", as I listen to the seagulls outside, the kids running around and Will sleeping.

It's going to be a huge adjustment to get used to; Carl being gone and all. I went into our bedroom when we got home from the airport and it felt like my lungs were just falling apart. I was not even thinking about him, but it just happened. How I am going to make it until the middle of June before I see him again is beyond me. I know he is doing the best thing for the family but it is still not easy. I broke down like a bubbling baby at the airport.. I mean, what 28 year old does that? It's not like he is leaving forever!!!