Competition

Is competition good for the soul? If it is Mark and must have the healthiest souls in town. Mark and I are very competitive, in fact, before we had children we use to bet on everything. We made large bets with each other too. Now, keep in mind this was before kids and we were both working. We always participated in football pools, basketball pools and we would bet on dumb things too. Neither of us likes to lose either. I thought I saw one of my Sunday School students at a local basketball game and Mark said it was not and of course I said, "You want to bet on it?" He said, ok what do you want to bet? Of course I said a new Coach pocketbook. He said ok what do I get. I said something you want for the same price. Needless to say, Mama has a brand new bag. Coach bag that is. HA HA!! He just thinks he knows everything.

Now that was the last BIG bet we made. Now we have the kids and cannot squander our money like that. So when we bet now it is just for the sheer knowledge that I know more and am smarter than he is. HA HA! Knowledge is POWER!

Resolutions ? ? ? ?

How many of you have set New Years Resolutions? We all do them and usually all poop out by March. Well, my New Years Resolution is to do better by my self and my family. I do want to lose weight but every year I try and don't. So this year my goal is only to live better, eat healthy, and be a better person. Yeah, I know BIG goals, but I am taking baby steps to get there. I tried a new recipe last night and surprise the kids like it.

It is a Pampered Chef recipe with a twist. I had to improvise, now before everyone gasps, this improvisation actually worked.

I used frozen chicken breast (3) I dipped them in flour then egg white then a mixture of bread crumbs, asiago cheese, and oregano. Baked these at 425 for about 30 minutes.

Then fixed whole wheat angel hair pasta, and a home made marinara sauce.

Sauce is diced tomatoes with basil, peppers and onions. 1/2 of large can of tomato sauce, 2 tsp sugar, garlic powder, a little white wine and bring to a boil.

Now when the chicken and pasta is done. Here is how we served it:

Jack: Pasta, no sauce and 1/2 chicken and 2 tsp of brummel and brown on pasta with grated asiago cheese.

Thomas: 1/2 chicken, a little pasta topped with grated asiago cheese.

Mark and I did it all: 1 cup pasta, 1/2 cups sauce, grated asiago cheese and a chicken breast.

This is very filling and I had pasta and sauce left over for lunch today. This was a very quick recipe. From start to finish about 45 minutes. Not to bad.

I will tell you about the Slow cooker chicken taco stew later. It was yummmy!!!!
I will keep you posted on my resolutions through the year. Ya'll keep me honest.

Wii !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, first I do not own stock in the Wii company. I do have to do a little advertising for it though. I do hate video games I know I have said that before. I always felt they dulled your brain and made you stupid. Before everyone gangs up on me I know they are good for some things. I do love the Wii. It has made my kids be more active, not that they were very sedentary to begin with, but they did have a habit of sitting on the couch a vegging out to the TV. Jacks' favorite is the Guitar Hero. He thinks he is something because he is playing in bands and "rocking" with Ozzy Osborne. Thomas likes to golf, bowl, and now box. He beat Mark tonight boxing. That is pretty funny.

The one thing I do not like is this Wii age stuff. Mark did his again and is now at a Wii age of 24. Do you know what that can do to a man. Well, let's just say he is impossible to live with now. He thinks he is the stuff. He came upstairs and asked, "When was the last time you kissed a 24 year old?" Wouldn't he have had a duck if I had replied, "Not since yesterday while you were out." HA HA Just kidding. He just makes me so mad sometimes I could scream. It would not be so bad except my Wii age is 57. That stinks!!!
For those that do not know us He is not 24 and I am not 57. I am a young 39. He is an old 42!

Any way sorry for the blathering but I just had to get that out of my system.

I do love the Wii though. I enjoy the tennis, bowling, boxing and even the golf. So if you ever had doubts about whether it was a worth while toy. It is. We love it. Mark and I do have competitions after the kids go to bed. We bowl or golf against each other. It is fun.

Happy New Year ! ! !

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year. My kids got a Wii from Santa. I think my husband has been using it more than them. He has been off for two weeks. One of my friends that has a Wii said, "Oh Page you need to find your Wii age." I asked how to do that and she explained how. The first one I did put me at age 67. I am no where close to that for those that don't know me. Needless to say that did nothing for my self image. I was telling my husband about it and he decided he wanted to do it too. The first time he did it he was 37. He is older than that really. This yet again did nothing for my self image. The next time I did it I was 57 again I am not that old. Other than this Wii age stuff we have enjoyed this game. It does keep you moving. I have enjoyed playing tennis, golf and bowling. Those are my favorites. My rearend is so sore from lunging with bowling I can barel walk this morning. HA HA!!

If you do not have one I would recomend it. It is a lot of fun. I would not have one if it were not for Santa. I do not encourage video games. This one is different. It keeps you moving.

Merry Christmas to all. . .

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. My children of course got too much stuff. They had a wonderful time at both grandparents. We are still at Moms and I have eaten entirely too much good food this wonderful Holiday season.

We did the Christmas pickle this year. For those of you that may not know, the Christmas pickle is a German tradition where the pickle was the last ornament hug on the tree on Christmas Eve. When the children woke up on Christmas morning the searched for the pickle and the one that found it got an extra present. Thomas got the extra present this year. He was so excited! We then opened our gifts from each other and played with what Santa had brought.

Jack picked out the cookies to leave for Santa and he left a snackie cake and a peanut butter cookie. Then he also left a sign in pad for Santa to sign after he ate the goodies. We had new tree lights this year. Seems our tree lights don't last very long so Mark bought the new LED lights. They are really bright! They glow neon purple. I don't really like them that much but, that is not my job.

We have had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all did too.

What a great kid. . .

Ok, I am going to brag a little but not on my child but my sisters' youngest. She is such a good kid. She is very smart and from the time she was in the 4th grade when you talked with her it was like talking to an adult. She is far more advanced than her years. She is in the 8th grade and has never made below an A on anything. She took the SAT as a 7th grader and scored in the 99th percentile. Which is wonderful. My sister called me today and was telling me about a raffle that was being held where her other daughter works. The oldest daughter is also very smart and has yet to make below an A as well, she is a junior in High School. She wants to be a Pharmacist and works in a pharmacy after school. The pharmacy was holding a raffle to raise money for a little girl that needs a kidney transplant. She has had one transplant and it is failing and she has been put on dialysis. For the raffle, you bought tickets and they were giving away $500 to the winner and of course the ticket money went to the little girl. I will give you three guesses who won. Yes, my sisters' youngest. She got the call yesterday that she had won the money. I am sure you know where this is going, but I feel the need to brag anyway. Most kids age 14, 15, or 16 would say yeah, I can buy . . . well you know what they would say. This great kid said, "Mom, do you think we should give the money back to the little girl to help with the transplant?" My sister of course said it was up to her because it was her money. It only took a split second to decide. She and her dad took the money by today. How cool is that? This is what Christmas is all about. I don't think at her age I could have made that decision so simply.

Here's to my sister her husband and great kids!!!!!!!

Holidaze. . .

I started out really good this year with buying for Christmas. I had my tree up before Thanksgiving and actually had some gifts wrapped and under the tree. Wow!! I have never done that before. I love Christmas so I keep getting started with gifts and decorations earlier and earlier each year. It drives Mark crazy! The kids are all excited they have seen Santa and given him their grand list of wants. I started some baking yesterday. I love to bake at Christmas, now baking, is different from cooking. Baking means sweets. I try to bake and give things to my neighbors at the Holidays. I bake an assortment of goodies from cookies to bars and cakes and Jack makes fudge. He does a really good job too. Me, I don't do fudge. I have tried a few new recipes recently to try to change up what I give. I don't want people to get bored with my goodies.

My sister used to make the best butter cookies. She made them a lot when she was in college. They were the best! So I have been searching for the recipe. I had one written down and I thought it was hers but this one was terrible. It ran all over the place. So I began my quest for the perfect butter cookie recipe. I searched the net and called a few people ect. . . I think I may have found the one. I am going to try it tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes. I did make a really easy Pampered Chef Holiday recipe. It is a Toffee Praline bar. I think I will do it again, it was so easy and good. The kids liked it.

I guess I will start full throttle tomorrow with my baking. I am going to of course make the Hello Dollies and Pecan Sandies my Mom always makes. They are a favorite, and it just is not Christmas without them.