Books in my nook library

I thought it would be fun to list all the different books I have been reading since getting a nook. I swear I have been able to read more since having this, even if I am not saving $$ by buying them I still get more read.

Here is my "done" list - Along with little reviews of each (I have read others but I deleted them from my nook so I will have to start from here)

I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali --- Very good book! Looks at a girl age 10 who is forced to marry a much older man. She finally gets the courage to stand up for what she believes and runs away to the court house for a divorce (which is really un heard of in her land) I would totally read it again!

Little Earthquakes- This is a book from the same author as "good in bed" and "in her shoes". This book is about a group of women who meet in a yoga class (pregnant) and become really good friends-Each lady goes through a "little earthquake" in her life (loss of a baby, job loss, etc) Well written and an easy read

No Wonder my parents drank by Jay Mohr- This book was ok, I didn't finish it because it was rather slow moving for me.

The Obama Diaries by Laura Ingraham- Ha! Funny book!!! Loved it

Theodore Boone by John Grisham- My very first Grishman book I have ever read. This was pretty good, an easy read for me. So far I like him I think I will try reading his others.

Links I Love!

Great cool ideas!!! Sometime in all my free time maybe K and D will have lunches like this ;)http://www.anotherlunch.com/

Everyone needs a good deal! I check this daily (yes I admit it, I am a deal lady)

http://www.southernsavers.com/

This is the second one that I check daily, she always posts great finds in our local area :)

http://www.mybatonrougemommy.com/

I have signed up for this a couple of weeks ago and so far so good! (there is also a coupon code *DAVE that will save you more $$ off of it) The kids seem to enjoy 99.9% of the meals

http://www.e-mealz.com/

Life

Things have gotten really busy around here! I am trying just as fast as I can on finishing up my pre-req's so I can finally start some real nursing classes. :) Both kids have been doing really well at school! They both have a 4.0 GPA! Woo Hoo!!!! J and I are so proud of them.

The Baby

So here she is Miss America AKA Scarlet as of today she is a little over 8 months old!

My Fave Things

Here are a few of my fave things-

The first one is my Scentsy Warmer-First it was really fast shipping (which is a good thing) and Second it makes the house smell great for having a circus living here (dogs and cat, not the kids or J) It is worth its $$ in gold! And the great thing about it is I don't have to worry about catching anything on fire unlike candles (or leaving them on at night- Not that I have ever done that) This one in the kitchen I have a grape scent in it, I have another one in our Master Bedroom that is Orange Dreamsicle (YUM!)

Lastly I just got this book in the mail from Amazon this week~ I can't wait to try all the new dishes! I really didn't have high thoughts about this, I mean come on she is on a Bravo TV show, She isn't a chef or anything But I have read it and it is really a good book! So don't knock it until you read it!

Star Wars Cookies Before Decorating

Good Eats!

New Cookie Cutters~ Making some Dough (not the kind you spend)

Because I am the nice person that I am (and because I really wanted to have a reason why I needed to use my new cookie cutters) I have decided to bake and decorate some cookies this weekend to take to our GS meeting on Sunday afternoon.



About 2 weekends ago friends of ours were nice enough to babysit D and K so that J and I could go out alone for a nice meal and some alone time. ( J surpirsed me, I had no idea we were doing anything that day - It was a great idea! Bravo to J (extra brownie points) ) So we went out to the place called

Which by the way is good! In case you have some $$ to blow - Anyway after that J and I went to the mall and I really wanted to go into Williams Sonoma because if you know me you know that I love kitchen things. So I found the Star Wars Cookie Cutters there.

I just got done baking several batches of sugar cookies and I can't decide which ones look best. They are all so cute!

Things I have learned

It has been a little over a year since we moved our family down here from up North.
It has taken some time to adjust, learning some new "words" (southern talk) and just getting to know the south or LA at least.
Here are a few things that I have learned (good or bad...ha!)

• There are 2 Seasons here- Hot and Hotter
• If you think Ohio has pests problems come move to the south, where we are greeted by Snakes, Frogs, Lizards, Spiders, Earwigs, Cockroaches, Wasps, and our family fave Fireants (NOT! K stepped into a nest of them on the playground at school)
• People don't "buy groceries" down here- they "make groceries" instead
• Also in case you need to write something down don't forget to bring along your "ink pen" feather not included
• It is normal to wear shorts and short sleeved shirts in October
• Allergies- Don't have them yet, you will get them when you are down here
• It is always important to watch were you are walking when you are outside in your grass and always good to wear shoes! Yes, it is normal to see some big snakes in the middle of your yard and no people down here like snakes since they kill other animals and insects
• You can solve all your problems by bringing food to something...(This is a joke) A lot of things down south involve food (Which can be good until you look at your expanding waist)

I guess my point to this post is yes, living down here is different. Just like Ohio there are some good and some bad things about it but it has been nice to be able to find a great church to go to and to be able to meet some new friends. That I would not want to change for anything.

Menu Planning Friday

Yes, I know I am a day early on this...Busy times call for fast thinking and with the way this week has been it makes me feel good knowing that at least the menu is planned out for next week...

1. Chuck E Cheese (promised the kids we would take them there....Pray for us!)
2. Bolognese, Bread, Veggies and Fruit
3. Tacos, Rice, Fruit
4. Egg/Cheese/Ham Bake, Fruit
5. Crock Pot Taco Chicken, Veggies, Fruit
6. Pizza, Raw Veggies, Fruit

Pictures from the weekend Part 1

Making the twinkie yummy layers- Mix Cool Whip, Pudding mix and Milk

Kitty is always watching you

The best part of making it is cutting the twinkies in half and trying not to eat them all

Our 2 dogs who stand guard when I am cooking

Weekend Time!

Wow another weekend came and went fast!
This weekend has been an interesting one-

First on my way home from class on Friday I was pulling into the subdivision and I guess I must of ran over something b/c my tire started acting funny and making a weird noise. So come to find out I ran over what looked like either a box cutter blade or a piece of sharp metal. J being the nice husband that he is took D with him on Sat morning out to the Cooper tire place in P'ville to get it fixed. Thankfully it must not have gotten into to the tire too deep b/c now the tire is fine and isn't leaking air or anything. So that was our first "crisis" that was solved :)

I got to have another wonderful visit to our urgent care (down here unless you want to wait 2 weeks to see your normal family doc you have no other choice than to suck it up and pay the extra $$ for the urgent care people) This time it was for K, they put her on some med's and she is doing much better! Praise God for that :)

On Sat we had the Ham/Brocc roll ups that I had posted in this weeks menu. Here are our (mine mostly) thoughts on them

1. D liked them even with the cheese sauce on top, he wants me to make them again
2. Since it took K a long time to finish her food I don't think she liked them that much
3. J said they were good (hopefully he is telling the truth..lol b/c i will be making them much more in the future..lol)
4. I thought they were pretty good, but the deli @ winn-dixie cut the ham wayyy too think so I couldn't roll them up- instead I just cut them up.

I also made the twinkie tiramisu yesterday. It was fun to make! What is better than cutting twinkies in half ?! It was pretty good, the only thing that I would change next time is to use less coffee (it was almost overpowering). D seemed to like it though, K did not and I dunno about J.

Pics to follow soon - As soon as I upload them

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Last night we had a movie night with the kids and one just J and I.

With the kids we watched Furry Vengeance. I have never heard of it before, I just saw it in Blockbuster and figured how bad could it be? Well pretty bad! Now I know why it was never in movie theaters...At the end of the day I guess what was important was that the kids liked it

J and I watched Date Night..It was funny! I really liked it

Hope my week is smooth sailing with little stress! (A girl can hope can't she?..! )

3 Easy Ways to Save Some $$

Doesn't it feel good to be able to save some money, and have a little extra cash on hand for just an extra special treat? I think it feels great! So here are a couple of easy ways we save money for our family

1. Join the site http://www.swagbucks.com/ Use this site just like you use Google/Yahoo/Bing when searching anything on the web. As you search things you earn Swagbucks which you can use to "buy" gift cards,etc. You can also take surveys and polls on the site too to earn more. So far I have used my Swag Bucks to get some Amazon.com gift cards (Which I am saving to use at Xmas time)
2. Use coupons when you can, there are several different websites that gives you a list of coupons that match up to what is on sale in your local store. (Today at Winn Dixie I saved $78.00 just in using coupons! The 5-10 min it took me to get them ready was well worth it!)
3. Another good website to save $$ on is http://goodreader.com/ This is a site which lets you buy a monthly package for X number of $ and you get to download a ton of books to your ereader (Nook, Kindle, Sony, Etc) So far I have downloaded at least 25 books and I have not even been a member for a month yet. Anyway if I would have gotten them from Barnes and Noble or Amazon they would have been around 10.00 per book. Great Deal!!

Hope they will help you as much as they have helped us out! :) Have a good weekend Everyone

Menu Planning Friday

Here is the menu for this upcoming week. Hopefully everything will be good and tasty

Beef/Cheese/Quesadillas, Chips/Salsa, Baby Carrots, Fruit

Baked Ham/Broccoli Rolls, Rice, Fruit
http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/03/baked-ham-and-broccoli-rolls-with-swiss-cheese-sauce.html

Spaghetti, Green Beans, Fruit

Stromboli, Veggies, Fruit
http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/08/stromboli.html

Tacos, Fruit

Sweet for the Weekend- Twinkie Tiramisu
http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/08/twinkie-tiramisu.html#more-2917

Its Friday

Woo Hoo I can finally see the weekend! We are so happy that Jim is coming home, its hard during the week without him.

A thought for the day-
Today I am proud to be wearing the color Red, in honor of Baby Tressel who we are praying for. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

First "Real" post

Woo Hoo! I finally was able to figure out how to make my blog look better without spending any $$ (Which is always a good thing!)
I am determined to write in this blog, I don't know how often yet but I hope to at least once or twice a week...So kick your shoes off, go get a snack, and sit down for a wild ride.