PW's 16-Minute Meals: Chicken Fried Steak

Or Fried Round Steak as P-Dub calls it. :)

I decided to start giving the Pioneer Woman's 16-Minute Meals a try. With our hectic schedule, there are many nights when I'm lucky if I'm even home to have dinner with the family, and even more nights when I leave work at 5, run home quick to change and eat something fast and then out the door again to some place I need to be.

Last night was one of those nights. I volunteered to help at out a program at our school/church and was asked to be there 'around' 6 o'clock. So an hour from the time I left work til I needed to be there with a stop at home to change and eat in between.

I needed something fast and more substantial to eat then PB&J or Leftover Pizza. So I decided to test this recipe out on the family. When I saw it I knew the hubs would love it; he's a big fan of Chicken Fried Steak. If its on the menu anywhere we go, I can safely bet that's what he's going to order. So when I did my grocery shopping last week, round steak was on my list.

Picture below is courtesy of the Pioneer Woman...I'm not talented enough to cook and snap pictures of my food at the same time. :) You can find the recipe here:

I paired it up with Knorr's Fettuccine Alfredo Pasta:

And a side of steamed fresh green beans. The kids even liked it...despite the 'yucky green noodles". :) Probably not the 'healthiest' meal, but it sure was good! Next time I might kick it down a notch with the pepper...the kiddos did complain that it 'burned' their mouths a bit...but nothing a big glass of milk couldn't fix. All in all, the meal was a hit! And I walked out of the house at 5:58 P.M.

I've Never Wanted A Mini Van Until Now...

Your Turn To Shop!

Take a look at some of these amazing new pieces of jewelry from Cookie Lee! In our first ever "Look Book" for Summer...sort of an 'in-between' catalogs catalog, if you will. :)

Now is a great time to host a catalog show!! It's simple and easy and works with your busy Summer schedule..all you have to do is pass a catalog around to your friends/family/co-workers and sit back and earn your free jewelry!

You know you want to!!! :)

The Three C's

Cardigans. Cami's. Capri's.

I've pretty much decided that this is my go-to outfit and three must haves for my closet.

I was never much of a cardigan person. And then I had kids. And turned 30. Now I'm pretty sure a cardigan is a mandatory part of the official "30-something Mom Uniform".

I even wear fake pearls with them.

Who is this person I've become. :)

I may or may not have bought three of these and five of these , too, today.

No worries! Because I definitely had a fourth, and the most important C of all...coupon!! ;)

Our "Random" Winner

Courtesy of Random.org

Lucky # 11:

Congrats Robyn!!! I'll be emailing you soon!!! :)

My Very First Giveaway...I think

I don't recall having done one of these before, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I know there's only about a dozen of you out there that actually read this blog, so your chances of winning are AWESOME!! ;)

I posted the other day about the bracelets I'm including in my teacher's gifts this year, and I decided that they would be perfect as a prize for my first little giveaway here on Confessions.

I'm new at this, so bare with me.

We've gotta have a few rules here:

RULES:

1. One Entry per Person please.

2. The giveaway is open to anyone (all 12 of you)

3. It runs from Today, Friday April 23rd through the Weekend (11:59 P.M. Sunday, April 25th). Winners to be announced on Monday morning.

4. One winner will be randomly selected by one of those random number picker thingy websites (as soon as I figure out which one and how to use it)

And now on to the good stuff!!! Drum Roll Please! ddaadadaaadadaaaaadaa....

Here's the 'Chart of Choices":

The winner will get to pick up to THREE letters/symbols of their liking. Each a seperate bracelet. The possiblities are endless, I tell ya! If you you're new here and didn't catch the other post about them, take a looksy below to see what they 'actually' look like...

If your initials were LEM, or EML or your name was MEL that's what they'd look like!!! :)

Your Initials. Your kiddos initials. "I 'heart' U". SNL..my initials B.M. (before marriage)..I used to think I was so cool. SNL...like Saturday Night Live.

I digress....

You get the point!!

Just leave a comment with your name, your email address so I can contact you, and go ahead and tell us which three you would pick and why!!

Because I would love to know why random people I don't know make the choices they do. :)

And most importantly.....

GOOD LUCK!!

No, this isn't an episode of 'Hoarders'...

Sorry to disappoint.

This would be what 7 years of junk thrown into the attic so "I don't have to look at it" looks like.

A much needed purge of the attic took place this past weekend. EVERYTHING came out of the attic and was placed in the living room.

Obviously the huge piles of 'stuff' strewn about didn't phase Christian...as long as he could still see the T.V..........

Everything was sorted through and was either tossed, donated, given away, or but back in an orderly fashion.

We must of donated 100 books.

I'm not sure why we did that now...kinda puts a damper on the 'library dream' Scott has....

Oh Well.

I can't believe some of the things we've accumulated over the years of living here!

I found a bunch of stuff that "I have been looking for forever!!"

Every roll of wrapping paper, package of tissue paper, and gift bag I've ever bought or received is now present and accounted for.

Wedding things I haven't seen in years. :) Including the letter Scott wrote to me on our wedding day..the one he was convinced I didn't keep until I pointed to a plastic container and said "Its in there..folded up, at the bottom, in the corner." Then I proceeded to pull it out, unfold it, and read it to him just to prove him wrong. :) I had forgotten what it said. :)

I love that I found that!

It was a much needed 'Spring Cleaning' project, seven years in the making.

Can't wait to do it again in another seven......

Teacher Gifts

I've been trying to decide for quite awhile what exactly to do for the kiddos teachers as 'end of year' gifts.

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE these ladies, and how lucky by boys were/are to have such great teachers this year. They have been a wealth of knowledge, a huge support system, and just down right great gals!!

Between the two youngest boys, we have SIX teachers!! In Noah's preschool he has his teacher, his speech pathologist, and two Para's (teachers assistants). His Preschool Teacher Miss Amy, and the Speech Path Miss Laura have just been AWESOME for the past two years. At his school he's able to stay in their class the entire time he's at that school (usually two years) So I'm really sad that he'll be leaving them at the end of the year! :(

Christian has his Kindergarten teacher and an "Associate Teacher" for his class. His teacher Mrs. E has been teaching at his school for over 20 years! All three of the older boys also had her for Kindergarten and I was so happy that Christian had her and was crossing my fingers that Noah would end up with her as a teacher too...but she's decided to retire this year, and it breaks my heart!! I'm sad for Noah! But she's been such a wonderful teacher to Christian and has worked with us from day one will him. The TA Mrs. H is also wonderful! Hopefully someday we'll be lucky enough to have her as a TA in another class!!

Anywhoo....

I've decided for something fun for them, I'd do the "Express Yourself" bracelet from my current Cookie Lee Catalog.

I cannot tell you how cute these are!! The picture DOES NOT do it justice, and everytime I where my bracelets I get so many compliments on it! I've sold a lot of these bracelets, so I thought it would be a good, fun little gift for all of them.

I have the "S" and the HEART and I wear them together. :)

I think I'm also going to get the four 'main' teachers (Noah's 2 & Christian's 2) each a gift certificate to the spa. The all deserve it so much!! I think I'll throw in some fun spa items for the Para's too with their bracelets!

Its so hard deciding what to give! I feel like its not enough. Teachers are so underappreciated, I think!!

I'm hoping they enjoy these gifts as much as we enjoy them!

Pink. Flamingos.

His favorite color is pink.

He has an obsession with Flamingos.

His favorite color is pink BECAUSE of his obsession with Flamingos...

Have I mentioned this before??

I'm not sure how it all got started. He saw them at the zoo, maybe? I know they talked about them at school one day. I bought him "Pinky" the beanie baby for $1 at the school craft fair.

Did you spot "Pinky" in the hospital photos below?

He had to come with us...

He comes with us just about everywhere.

He has to show me how they stand and sleep on a daily basis. "Mom, this is how a flamingo stands when he sleeps..see mom! Like this! One one foot!"

I probably contributed to his obsession by buying him the slippers....

But he really wanted them.

When he saw them in the Old Navy ad he asked me to buy them. Right now. He wanted them now. I told him I ordered them online (not that he knows what that means) and that the mailman would bring them...I lied. I just wanted him to stop asking me for them every 5 minutes..instead he asked me if the mailman was here yet...every five minutes. I broke down and sent Scott to the store for them. Hoping to wrap them and put them under the tree for Christmas.

I broke down again and gave them to him the next day...he had already asked if the Mailman was here for the 50th time.

Santa brought him "Splits" instead.

So did my sister after his surgery.

He didn't get to go to the hospital with us. Limit one flamingo per child at the hospital.

The day we went to see the ENT before surgery..we got put into a room with Flamingo pictures in it...

What are the odds?

He could barely control his excitement...

He loves Pink Flamingos and I love him!

If You Give a 4 Year Old Popcorn....

He will stick an unpopped seed in his year.

Or at least my kid will.

My poor little guy! :( After an unsuccessful trip to Urgent Care, then another unsuccessful trip to the ENT, we ended up scheduled for Outpatient Surgery at the Children's Hospital earlier this week.

Third times the charm.

He was a trooper and 'surgery' took all of about 20 minutes once he was asleep...that was the hardest part for me. :)

He was back to his old self by the time we left the hospital exactly an hour after they wheeled him away to the O.R.



Hopefully being "back to himself" doesn't mean he'll try this again...EVER! ;)


We think he learned his lesson.

Yellow Houses

Apparently it's the in thing now to own a Yellow House.... :)

My Sister and the love of her life recently bought and renovated an Old Yellow House...I mentioned that here.

Also, My BFF and her new hubs recently packed up their city lives and moved into an Old Yellow House in the country...they started chronicling their experiences here.

Our house is 'sorta' yellow.....but I think that's from fading....and dirt.

Lisa Leonard...how I love thee!

Do you know Lisa? :)

She make amazing handmade jewelry and I just love it all! And I love reading her blog. Its just so uplifting to me. I think she's such a beautiful person inside and out!!

I'm not sure how I came across her blog. (I say this about alot of blogs I find! I need to start keeping track of this!)

But I'm sure it was probably a post from another blogger about her jewelry that caught my eye...What I do know is that it was THIS necklace that made me fall in love with her jewelry! Have I posted about it before??

Oh, how I love it so!!

I've debated back and forth for months about just buying it for myself.

I asked for it for Christmas...twice. It wasn't in my stocking, though. :(

I've customized in several times...added it to my cart...haven't bought it yet. Need to do that.

The other day on one of my many trips over to her site to read the blog and to check out the goods, there was a new post about a new necklace that included a GIVEAWAY!!

Of course I entered...I always do...but I never win...

UNTIL THIS TIME!!

Hollar!

Isn't it the cutest!?!?

I love it! I feel so lucky to have won it!! And cannot wait to wear it!

You can check it out here! Have fun! I'm sure you'll find something to love there too!!

Christmas....

Two Six E For This House

My Sister has entered the blogosphere and I do believe that she and her "S.O." could give John and Sherry a run for their money here pretty soon.....


http://twosixe.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Patches!

Both of the 'little guys' had fields trips this month to the Pumpkin Patch and I was lucky enough to have some vacation time saved up to be able to go with both of them and their classes on the field trips.

First up was Pooley's Pumpkin Patch with Noah's class:

Unfortunatly my camera died and I didn't have any more batteries charged up, so I didn't get very many pictures at all. :( But we still had a great time despite the very cold/rainy day that we had. Pooley's is a cute little place, especially for the little ones. They have alot of animals they can pet, and a little trike track where they could race around driving tricycles. There was a corn maze and a 'sandbox' that was actually full of corn instead of sand. We had a good time.

Next Up was Christian's field trip to Vala's:

Let me tell you, this is one serious Pumpkin Patch. I don't even think we saw half of what was going on there. Apparently they too have a corn maze, race track, and corn sand box...they also have train rides, hayrack rides, haunted houses, pig races, stage shows, a mechanical dragon that eats pumpkins, haunted forest, a billion little cut outs you can stick your head in and take your pictures and tons of little shoppes where you can buy anything from caramel apples to snow cones. Way too much to see in one day.

Needless to say we had alot of fun:

The Power of Prayer

Just about two weeks ago I heard the story of Evie Jayne from another 'friend' on a local networking board I frequent. She had posted a link to Evie's blog and I had went on over there and read her story from the very first post and was just amazed at the power of God's healing.

This morning Evie and her parents were on a local radio station for a segment called " Thursday Morning Praise". I can not find an audio link on the site to post so that you can listen to their story (boo!) but if you have time to read about it on their blog, you should.

Really makes a person stop and think about how grateful they are for the things in their lives!

Feliz Cumpleaños!

My Baby is no longer a baby anymore. Yesterday my little guy turned 4.

To celebrate we went out to dinner on Saturday night to one of our favorite Mexican establishments here. We just love this place!! (I could literally eat their cheese dip with a spoon...and probably would if my husband wouldn't give me dirty looks about it. :) )

Noah had a great time at his birthday dinner!

There seemed to be lots of birthdays on Saturday night, so every time the wait staff would start clapping and singing on their way to another birthday table, the boys would clap along with them.

Noah was sure surprised though when they clapped their way right over to him and placed the sombrero on his head and that HUGE ice cream sundae in front of him!

Mama was looking forward to sharing that sundae with him too....but he decided to try the cherry on top first...and didn't like it...so he spit it right back on top of the sundae..and suddenly it wasn't so appetizing....

I Saved Three Lives Yesterday

Yesterday we had a blood drive at my work place and since it was my idea to do it, I figured it would be a good time to donate blood for the first time.

I'm not sure why I've never done it before.

I'm not 'scared' of needles...but it was a decent sized one. :)

The finger stick wasn't all that bad either...I think that is what I was dreeding the most!

The most time consuming part of it was answering all of the health questions...and I won't even go into some of the questions they ask. :)

I think by the time they hooked me up to the line and I started squeezing the ball, it took maybe 15 minutes to fill up my blood bag.

And I did pretty good until the very end..after all the blood was drawn and I was getting 'unhooked'...that's when the light headedness kicked in for me. ;) I had to be reclined back in the chair and move my legs up and down like I was riding a bike.

After a few minutes of that I started feeling better and so they let me move on to the 'canteen' area for juice and a snack.

Five minutes into that I started seeing stars. So back to the chair I went for another 10 minutes or so. :)

I'm just glad I didn't faint! Didn't want to be the only one to pass out.

If you'd like to find out more information about donating blood in your area, check out the link below and save a few lives, why don't ya!!

https://www.givelife.org/index_flash.cfm?thisHB=09/15/2009%2008:39:40

Are You Ready For Some Football!?

One of my very favorite things about fall: FOOTBALL!

Doesn't matter if it's high school, college, or pro. I love going to games. Watching it on TV. Listening to it on the radio.

And when fall rolls around up here in good ol' Nebraska, well that's all anyone (me) cares about...at least Husker Football. :)

In honor of that, I'm posting a hideous picture of me in my newest Husker t-shirt. 'LOVE' it! ;)

Please ignore the fact that my face is the same color of my shirt...little tanning bed mishap. :)

We also get pretty excited about High School Football in our house. My oldest step-son plays for his high school and will be starting nose guard (? or something like that) next week due to another player pulling a hammie...or something. :)

Here's his 'Sports Illustrated' cover picture. :)

At least that is what we like to refer to it as in our house. :) This is one of his Senior Pictures compliments of our friend Jason.

Also, next week begins PeeWee football for another one of our boys..no pictures of him yet, but I'm sure I'll add one when I get it!

My husband refused to let me take a picture of him all decked out in his Miami Hurricane gear last night as he was watching the game. That's the college team he roots for.

He's a NE 'transplant' so he still hasn't fully jumped on the Husker Bandwagon..but I'm slowly dragging him on board!

He also 'bleeds purple', so when the Vikings are playing he trades in the Miami gear for the Viking duds...still trying to locate him a new pair of Viking Zubazs....oh yes..he had a pair of striped ones. They finally gave out on him. :)



So are you a football fan?? When the weekend finally rolls around, who are you cheering for? Who's flag are you waving?