I'm finally able to drag myself around......

Good morning everyone, and yes it IS a good morning for me, I'm able to walk around without being bent over and in pain. It's been tough this week, and even tougher trying to keep up with the kids and get Jasmine to school. Who knew that driving could be so hard when you're so sick huh??? LOL

Not just the feeling of nausea but my body was soooooo sore from being so weak.

But thankfully, with the Lord's help and YOUR prayers, I'm feeling a lot better this morning, can't say 100 % but I know it will take a few more days for me to jump back into my normal routine. Thank you all so much for the well wishes and the prayers, you ladies are just amazing and always there ready to jump in and help in any way :)
I'm truly blessed to have found such amazing friends online!

I'm SO scared of eating now, isn't that something you never thought you would hear me say???? ME, afraid of food!!!! I'm watching everything I eat, not overdoing it and not going right back to eating everything and anything.

Thanks to those who participated in the Slow Cooking Thursday, I've saved all the recipes and can't wait to try them. Sorry I didn't get to go around and personally comment on them, but I promise next week I will be more than up to it.

It's cold here, even though it's 39 degrees, we have tons of ice everywhere, it's like you look outside and everything is white but instead of fluffy snow it's sheets of ice covering everything. Makes driving a pain, I tell you.

Oh and speaking of driving, I'm SO SO excited. While I was sick this whole week, my wonderful wonderful hubby went out and bought me something for christmas....you won't even know how much this means to me unless you've known me for a while because I've talked about how for the past 8 years my dream vehicle has been a Dodge Durango. Yeah yeah, you know where I'm going with this..........HE GOT ME ONE!!!!

We get to pick up my baby tomorrow, I'm THRILLED beyond words, I will probably start crying when I actually drive it home, I'm such a wuss like that. But isn't that just the most wonderful thing??? I will take pictures to show you of course.

I have so much christmas shopping to do, I have bought nothing. Yes, I know, it's a disgrace, but isn't always like this??? You make all these plans and think things will run a certain way and then out of nowhere a wrench gets thrown in. Next weekend I'll be out both saturday and sunday getting all my shopping done....can't put it off anymore or my poor children will be getting nothing for christmas.

Speaking of christmas and presents, I'm either a very unlucky person, or my kids have very expensive tastes. You remember the whole Butterscotch story, the Fur Real Pony that costs $300??? Well I think we've dodged that bullet, but then yesterday Jasmine comes running to me and saying "Oh mommy, I really really want a Zoombox"....yeah, little confused there because I have no idea what it is. After she explains to me what it does, apparently it's a projector or something, I go online to look it up. *drumroll*

$299...........

ok NOW I've had it, what is going on with toy prices these days???

Seriously, what are these toy people smoking??? Unless you live in Hollywood and are an actor making tons of money or either married to Bill Gates or Donald Trump, there is NO way that people can afford this, especially when you have more than one child.
What happened to great toys at reasonable prices???

I know I'm going to be stressing when it comes to getting their gifts, it's hard not to fall into the "overspending" habit, I mean you want to give your kids everything they wish for right??? Oh well, I'm sure things will work out.

Anyway, I would love to stay and chat for a while longer but I really don't want to overdo it, and I also have to get my car ready to be traded in tomorrow, I'm going to miss it though, it's been my baby for almost a year :)

Enjoy your sundays and stay out of this cold.

Oh I can't believe I almost forgot....Kathy, Jenny and Sarah, I got your christmas cards and I LOVE them, thank you all so much, you girls are just the best :) Made my day!!!



I'm about to go start brunch right now and then for dinner we're having Crockpot Rigatoni, it was one of the great recipes shared by the wonderful Eagles wings in my slow cooking thursday. Can't wait to try it :)




7th Heaven

Eric is late coming home but Annie refuses to look for him, relying on her faith that he is fine, so she continues to decorate the house for Christmas and keeps the rest of the family occupied while waiting for him to arrive.

Brothers and Sisters

The holidays aren't so happy when business troubles continue to plague Sarah, Tom and Saul; and Nora tries to distract her family from a difficult year.

Laundry
Finish Christmas Shopping List
Getting Car ready

Slow Cooking Thursday!

Morning Ladies, I'm just doing a quick drive by post, I've been in bed since Tuesday night with Food Poisoning and needless to say that I feel awful, it's actually really hard to walk around because my body is killing me. I didn't want to leave you without the Slow Cooking Recipes because I so enjoy collecting all the ones you share, so here you go.....

There won't be anymore posts from me this week, hopefully on saturday if I'm feeling better. Have a great week everyone :)

Welcome to my weekly Crockpot Recipes Exchance. It's such a great way to share your favorite dishes or to learn some new ones to make for your family.

What do you think??? Do You have some great recipes to share, or perhaps you're looking for some delicious ones to give you a reason to pull out the ol' crockpot???

Time to pull out those crockpots and put them to good use. If you want to join in, just grab the banner and add your name to Mr Linky :)

The recipe I picked for today is one of my family favorites, hope you enjoy it too :)

Crockpot Stuffed Chicken Rolls

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
6 slices cooked ham
6 slices swiss cheese
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth

Preparation

1. Flatten chicken.
2. Put ham and cheese on each slice.
3. Roll up and secure with toothpick.
4. Combine,flour,parm cheese, sage, paprika,salt and pepper.
5. Coat chicken, chill for 1 hour.
6. Heat oil and brown chicken rolls.
7. Put in crockpot.
8. Mix soup and broth, pour over chicken.
9. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

It is SO good, and you can also do it on the stove top too, takes about 25 minutes that way.....but both ways keep the chicken nice and moist which is just delicious. Enjoy!!!

SPORADIC POSTING AND A MEME!!!

Uggghhh I really really hate doing this, but it seems that with the holidays my posts are going to be all over the place, I may post a few days straight and then I may miss one or two.

I'm trying to be consistent, but consistency went out of the window a few weeks ago, I think it started at Thanksgiving and now it's pretty much non-existent, though I've been reassured that it should return sometime after New Year's Eve. I can't wait, can you???

Thank you all for being so sweet and continuining to comment on my blog even though I haven't had the chance to come by and see you....I do plan on visiting you all this morning, I set some time aside JUST for that.

So it's 14 degrees today, and I'm not going to complain, seems that some of you are in the negative temperatures and now you just make me feel bad for whining LOL
Oh and to my newest friend Mcewen, I won't slap you for being in California and having nice warm temperatures LOL

Anyway, yesterday the kids decided to make their Christmas Wish List....that's all fine and dandy but then I realized they both want the same thing, a Fur Real Pony........ummmm unless I rob a bank (which ain't happening), or my money tree starts working overtime (ain't happening either), there is NO WAY that I'm going to shell out $260 for each pony. That's enough to feed a small village. Ridiculous!!!!

So Jasmine asked me this morning if she can get the pony for christmas and I said "well you know it's really expensive Jasmine, it's like almost $300".....yes I like threatening my kids with dollar amounts because in their head $2 is like a bazillion and they're rich (they chant as they run around in circles)......so she calmy looks at me and says "You KNOW mommy, Santa MAKES toys, he doens't have to buy it".
What the heck do I say to that??? I think I mumbled something about him being too busy and not having enough time, I don't know, I lost myself in the "makes toys you know"....*sigh*

THAT right there is the core of the holiday stress. Not wanting to disappoint your children but trying to find your way around the ludicrous cost of toys these days.

Well ladies I'm keeping this post short, I have tons of errands to run and I want to quickly drop by your blogs and say hi....right now I have over 300 new posts in my bloglines, I can't possible wade through all of that in 10 minutes. Did I not tell you to STOP posting? LOL (just kidding, post away post away).

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone,


The wonderful Eden, over at Air Force Family, tagged me for this meme, so here goes. Consider yourselves tagged if you read it LOL
And you better not read it and then say you didn't ok? LOL

A - Available or single: Neither, happily married
B - Best Friend: Hayley
C - Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of choice: Diet Coke
E - Essential Item you use everyday: Stove
F - Favorite color: Pink
G - Gummy Bears or worms: Sour Worms
H - Hometown: Lourenco Marques, Mozambique
I - Indulgence: Caramel Treasure Chocolates....*drool*
J - January or February: Ummm August???? (my b-day lol) ok ok, I will say January lol
K - Kids & Names: Jasmine and Nicholas
L - Life is Incomplete Without? The Lord and my family
M - Marriage Date: August 1998
N - Number of Siblings: 3 brothers and 1 sister
O - Oranges or Apples: neither
P - Phobias or Fears: Claustrophobia
Q - Fave Quote: Don't have one sorry
R - Reason to Smile: My children
S - Season: Spring
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: I said wasn't going to...so just consider yourselves tagged lol
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I'm a HUGE fan of anything paranormal...shocker huh?
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: Beets
W - Worst Habit: Annoying my husband
X - Xrays: Chest and Wrist
Y - Your Fave Food: Seafood
Z - Zodiac Sign: Leo, but I don't pay attention to horoscopes or any of that astrology mumbo jumbo

16 DEGREES PEOPLE....IT'S 16 DEGREES!!!!

I can't believe that it's THAT cold outside. Well yeah I can but I choose not to, guess that it's the denial thing you know. If I didn't see it, it isn't true???

Unfortunately I went outside to put out the trash and almost ended up on my toosh. There's a thin sheet of very slippery ice covering my front porch. It's really sneaky isn't it? I mean at first glance it looks like nothing is there and then you set your foot down and are suddenly transported to an ice rink, just that you're wearing slippers and sweat pants instead of Ice Skates.

Anyway, come on in and sit with me. I have some Hot Caramel Truffle Coffee (it's so good) and I have some Butter Croissants too. I always feel like I'm sitting at one of those French Patisseries, watching the people walk by while I sip on my wonderful coffee and bite into the flaky crust of the Croissant. Well, there's nothing french about me or my house but we can still daydream right??

So yesterday I went to get groceries and then we decided to pick up a Christmas Tree. Now remember I had said we had decided on getting a real one this year because our artificial one was so old and falling apart??? I've always preferred the real ones anyway, I just love the smell of pine and the look of a real tree.....but we ended up picking up another artificial tree, prelit with white lights, and I have to tell you I'm really happy with it, it's beautiful.

We spent the rest of the day decorating and listening to Christmas Music, just hanging out and enjoying the warmth of the house and the Christmasy atmosphere.

I always get melancholy around the holidays and in one minute I am smiling and excited and then I'm down and holding back the flood gates. It's just a hard thing to to be away from family during the holidays and it seems that we never get to celebrate with anyone. Well last year we had Curt's mom and brother here and that was great, but this year, we're back to just us four, at least Curt isn't deployed right now and I don't have to spend it alone with the kids again.

But moving on, I plan on doing laundry today and some housecleaning, I also have this awesome Crockpot Lasagna planned for today. It's a recipe that was shared by Mary Ann over at "Two Many Cooks In The Kitchen", can't wait to try it.

I know there's a lot of new happenings in Blogland, some Christmas Tours of Homes and other fun stuff, and I so wish I could participate, but I am not even going to say I'll try, I just know it won't happen. Hopefully I'll get some time to go visit and see everyone that is participating, but as things stand now, I'm not sure.

I wish I had time to chat more, but I really don't, my house needs attention and besides that, I'm freezing, I can't even feel my toes. Boy it's going to be a cold winter.

Hope you're all staying warm and having fun, wish I was back in South Africa, they are having a wonderful hot summer, I still remember for Christmas we used to have BBQ's....how fun is that???

It's getting Christmasy in here.....you feel it???

So what do you think??? I want something Christmasy but I'm not really a big fan of the red and green and stuff, makes it seem too dark. Right??? LOL

I thought this was perfect and it's definitely getting me in the mood for Christmas, hence what I'll be doing this weekend, decorating and putting up the tree.

Is it just me or do some of the Artificial Tree prices seem ludicrous??? I mean, have you all seen the commercial for that RETRO tree, just because it's colored lights it costs $199....say WHAT?!?!?! I'm sorry but I would rather buy one of the 7' tall with the white lights on for $75 and use the rest of the money for gifts. I'm just saying!!!

I love the holidays and I love Christmas in particular, nothing like baking cookies and hanging decorations and wrapping presents, remembering the real reason behind Christmas and talking about Jesus with the kids. BUT, I can't stand how everything has become so commercialized, it's crazy how much money people spend during this season. I mean, I've seen people spend $500 on each kid. Why is my question???

I understand if you have the money for it, by all means do it, but I am talking mostly about the people who get into debt just to spend thousands of dollars on stuff that within the first week after christmas, the kids don't remember exist. I'm talking from experience people, I know what it's like. I've also been sucked into the big spending and tons of toys and then sit there quietly and *in shock* while the kids are more distracted in playing with the empty boxes these toys came in. Isn't there a place that makes just pretty boxes that we can buy for them??? Someone point me in that direction please!!!

While we're on the subject of presents, let's not forget to take our annual "How to open a toy package 101", believe me, if you are new to parenting, this is a MUST TAKE CLASS!!!
Yep, see all the parents nodding their heads yes??? There's nothing worse than having the kids all excited about a new toy and then making them sit there for 30 minutes while you pry and prod and cut and chew on the little twisty things and then you can never find the screw driver to remove the screws. HELLO?!?!?! Why are there even screws on these things??? LOL

Anyway, moving on. We have had some real snow here, it started last night but unfortunately by this morning it was melting again....come on now, can we just have some good snow for Christmas?? Is there anything better than a White Christmas?

Even though things have been so crazy here, I have managed to send off the first batch of Christmas Cards, I still have some more to mail, but at least I'm doing it. It's not the first year that I end up not sending a single one and then I feel awful.

Well I have tons of laundry to do and mopping and that fun home stuff, so I better skidaddle on out of here. I hope you're all enjoying your friday....I for one get giddy at the thought of sleeping in tomorrow. Isn't it funny how our perspectives change when we become parents??? Sleeping in is a GOOD DAY for the parents LOL

God Bless,