finally!

It's been nearly a month, but it's official (at least I think)

I'd like to introduce you to...

Kacie, or Kacey, one can't be too hasty about these kind of decisions!

I am still madly in love with her and every time I get to see her beautiful face I get butterflies and reality sets in that I really do have a horse again!

Life is great!

I STOLE TRASH!

Literally, I STOLE trash! But LOOK at this trash! Could you have left it just sitting there for Defenbaugh trash company to crush it in that horribly stinky truck? I think not!

So above is the "before" picture...

drumroll please.....

finished product is below!

I have been looking for something fabulous to put toilet paper in since there are no cabinets in this bathroom.... isn't it perfect?

This the door frame for the top piece that was broken. I think it will make a fabulous frame. I need to find an equally fabulous photo to go in this and then I'll hang it in the bathroom.... there's the hole at the top but I'll find something to go in it so that you won't even be able to tell!

So I'll admit, this was horribly embarrassing for me to go get this trash. I live in a nice neighborhood and there I was in my hot pink jogging pants with a nasty tank top on, sweating, face as pink as pants cause I was so hot, I had just finished walking an excrutiating 3 miles, but I HAD to have this!

So what did I do you ask? Well my friends I picked it up, sat it on the umbrella part of the stroller and continued to walk the final 2 blocks with my head held high. Not really, it was actually bowed in shame and I prayed no one would notice me. But now that I'm home with this baby I couldn't be happier!

summer is here!

This morning I went into school and took my last test of the semester! I passed it and summer is now officially here! I will miss my friends but am thrilled to have some time off! I've put in for a position at a local hospital working in the ER, everyone please keep your fingers crossed that I can get this! A job would be fantastic right now! My husband is still working but it's all become a week by week thing, we never know when he's gonna get the bad news that his job is over. This economy is really blowing right now!

Today I went and grabbed some hair color and tomorrow my friend is going to make me & my sister beautious! Can't wait! I'm getting a few inches cut off....

Oh yeah I almost forgot! Ya'll have heard me complaining for months about my weight. I finally got some answers! I started taking Seasonique about 19 months ago. Ironically that is about the time that my weight started increasing. It's a shame that it took me this long to put 2&2 together. According to my OB bcp always has a chance of making you gain some weight, but this one in particular if you actually do get hit with this side effect it's an ugly one! Meaning not only are you gaining weight but you will continue to gain it! Are you freaking kidding me! So this coming Sunday I'm switching to a different type of pill and will continue to try and lose some weight but this go around I should finally see some results! Can't wait!

Also on Friday I visited with my pcp (primary care physician) and had some blood work done. For nearly 6 years I've had issues with a rash and some swallowing problems (medical term: dysphagia). Between being diagnosed as having arthritis many years ago and some other things my doctor decided to test me for Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and some other random things. I'm not much of a prayer -whole other topic- but for those of you who are, keep me in yours please....

And finally! I signed up to participate in a bracelet swap that Maria over at twoheartsmadefour hosted, my partner is Kate over at southernbellesimple check them out! Kate I've got your bracelet and it will be in the mail tomorrow! I'm so excited! :-)

busy busy busy!

This was a busy weekend! Friday night we met some friends for a birthday at the Outback... yummy tilapia with crab meat, oh how I love that! Saturday we were up bright & early for mini #1's soccer game at 9 (which he scored 6 goals!) and then he played a second game at 10am with the next league up. He held his own! I was sooo proud of him! You can imagine we had one pretty worn out kid after running for 2 hours straight! Then came home to get prepared for our BBQ, I made a delicious shrimp dip & a 7-layer dip... along with fruit salad & burgers... nothing makes it better! Oh wait, the beer did! ha ha! Sunday Logan and I were up early to head to church for his promotion sunday, he is so excited to move up to the 1st & 2nd grade classroom! Then the two of us hopped in the car & drove out to do some riding and muck out a stall. Oh the humidity was horrible! I'm not kidding, last week it was in the 50's, rainy, and gross out. This weekend, 80's and humid as heck! I hate the sticky weather! Though I'll admit I'm pretty stoked about being able to head out to the lake and do some swimming!

I've got one more test on Tuesday and then I'm done for the summer. My sister is getting married on the 4th and we have relatives staying in our house for that long weekend so I've got some serious cleaning and painting to do! Wish me luck, anyone want to come help? :-)

Also I want to shout out to my pregnant blog friends; new Miss Baby G, MrsEyeCanSee, and Liz! I've done a lot of thinking about them lately, I just love babies and am getting envious about you ladies! I had to go for my annual yucky doctor visit last Friday, walls are thin and I could hear the baby's heartbeat on the doppler, oh wow, talk about BABY FEVER!!! The hubs and I talked and I think we're going to be TTC come October! Yippee!!!!

Upside down broccoli pizza

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced (about 1 cup)

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 tbsp italian seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 c broccoli, chopped

1/3 c hidden valley ranch dressing

1/2 c white alfredo pasta sauce

2 c mozzarella cheese, grated

1 package refrigerated pizza dough

1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400 F

2. Heat oil in a 10" or 12" metal-handle skillet. Add onions, seasonings and ground turkey; saute until turkey is browned

3. Stir in broccoli, hidden valley ranch dressing and alfredo sauce

4. Sprinkle cheese over mixture and remove from heat

5. Unroll dough and lay over top of skillet. Stretch dough over rim of skillet and cut off corners of dough. Create a crust by rolling any excess dough around the rim and then stuff along inside of skillet. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let rest a few minutes before cutting and serving.

stove top ziti

stovetop ziti

1lb ziti

1 bag (12oz) broccoli florets

1 jar (26oz) marinara sauce

1 c skim ricotta

4 oz part-skim mozzarella, diced

1/3 c chopped fresh parsley

1/4 c grated Parmesan

1. Cook pasta as box directs, adding broccoli 4 minutes before pasta is done

2. Mix marinara sauce and about 1/2 the ricotta in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until hot.

3. Drain pasta and broccoli; return to pot. Add sauce mixture; toss to mix and coat. Immediately add mozzarella and about half the parsley and Parmesan. Stir until mozzarella melts.

4. Transfer to serving bowl; sprinkle with remaining parsley and Parmesan. Top with dollops of remaining ricotta.

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! ENJOY!!!!!

stupid weight

This is what I feel like when I go to the store....

Honestly, normally I can be proud of myself (just ask my kids & husband!)

There is NO snack food in our house, I just don't buy it, saves me

on money and also saves me on temptations!

This is what I've looked like for the past week.... taking my pudgy butt

downstairs and using the treadmill - though I don't run, shins just hurt too bad for that!

However I walk a minimum of 3 miles each time I go down.

As of today I've walked 11 miles this week, good for me right?

Wrong! I haven't lost a single pound, instead, I've GAINED 2 lbs!

Please don't try and comfort me and tell me that it's muscle weight, this body

is still way too flabby for that to be the problem!

oh how I despise weight!

graduation weekend

On Friday night my sister graduated from Pitt State University (Pittsburgh, KS) with a bachelor in Interior Design. Not only did she graduate in 3 years but she did it making Magna Cum Laude. For those that don't know that means her GPA was between 3.9 - 3.94

How awesome is that?

She gets married in less then 3 weeks, what a busy time in her life!

Congrats Em, super proud of you!

Then Saturday morning my brother graduated from high school! He graduated with a fairly decent GPA too but I forgot what it was so I can't brag about him quite as much! He's leaving in the fall to go to KU for a degree in secondary education, ROCK CHALK!

Way to go Billy!

This little guy did fabulous through these graduations, and he had a blast applauding for everyone when their name was called! Too cute!

And last, but definitely not least!, my bestie graduated from KU on Sunday. We got to celebrate with her and her family on Saturday night. Enjoyed some great food and yummy wine, maybe a little too much wine for me! This girl has worked her butt off to graduate and I'm very proud of her for sticking with it!

Way to go Jen!

Tasty Tuesday

Texas Ranch Chicken

2 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken parts (I used 4 chicken breasts)

1 1/2 cups ranch-styled salad dressing

2 c shredded mozzarella cheese (I used 1c mozz and 1c cheddar)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread the olive oil in a 9x13 casserole dish (I just sprayed olive oil in it)

2. Arrange chicken in the dish, and cover with the dressing. (first I seasoned the chicken with garlic & onion salt) It's best to place chicken pieces close together so that the cheese and the dressing do not burn on the bottom of the pan. 

3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from heat, top with mozzarella cheese, and return to oven.  (I also sprinkled with italian flavored breadcrumbs)  Continue baking for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Nutritional Information:

Servings: 6

Calories: 543

Total Fat: 45.8g

Cholesterol: 103mg

Sodium: 863mg

Total Carbs: 3.5g

Dietary Fiber: 0.2g

Protein: 27.6g

Review:

Pay attention when cooking this else it will look like mine, brown and crispy on top!  Even with that, the topping was the kids favorite part.  It looked delicious but I was waiting for one other part of the dinner to finish cooking so I left it in the oven on warm, except I forgot to put it on warm and left it at 350!  Oh well, chicken was still delicious!  I didn't use the entire 2 cups of ranch cause lets face it, that's a TON!  I just used what I thought looked appropriate.  When you pull this out of the oven there is a lot of grease in the dish!  Ignore that and it tastes fantastic!!!!  There were no leftovers of this meal at my house!

horse friends, I need help!

As you know I'm the proud owner of a beautiful red dun mare.... she's awesome, I fall in love more every time I'm with her! My 1st problem is that she still has no name! She's a Zippo Pine Bars mare.... but other than that the past breeders haven't been very creative with naming their horses. This mare has the cutest ears.. I haven't spent a lot of time with duns, I've seen a lot of them but I guess just never paid much attention. She has markings that I thought were mainly grulla markings... the stripes on her legs, and her ears!!!! They are golden on the top half and then her body color on the bottom half, so cute! And the 2nd problem!!! She is freshly trimmed, ears, bridle path... I'm guessing maybe she was twitched to get the clippers up there cause she really doesn't like me messing with her ears. I've spent plenty of time with horses so getting her used to me playing with her head isn't the issue, the issue is she's soooo tall! It's getting tough to get a bridle on her cause she can hold her head up so high... any advice on how to break this issue? Any advice on names? I was thinking "Lexi" but I'm not set on it yet....

I can scratch something off!!!

my goal of a 5K has finally been accomplished!

This Sunday I ran in a Mothers Day 5K

My dear friend Jen ran with me (and made me look bad! lol)

Please excuse the fact that I look pregnant in this picture... I had just crossed the finish line and was obviously too exhausted to remember to suck it in! Rookie mistake!

I personally have never ran a mile at one time my entire life....

on this day I ran about a mile and a half straight, walked for about 3/4 mile, and then ran the rest of the race.

My time was 41 minutes and some odd seconds... I finished in the first half of the contestants so that makes me happy!

Jen rocked it and placed 149th and finished in 26 minutes or something amazing like that. She rocks! Maybe next time I'll hang a little closer to her... yeah in about 5 years I know....

I like this picture because I remember exactly what was going through my mind. I could see the finish line, I was "running", and I knew that I was really going to finish this!

While I do not look amazing at all in this photo, and actually it doesn't even look like I'm running, I am sooo proud of myself for accomplishing this goal.

I went into this expecting to run maybe 1/2 a mile total and walk the rest, but I pushed passed my weaknesses and proved myself wrong!

I fully intend on running a few more of these this summer!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Life is Great!

Life is fabulous! My husband is such a good man and my boys are great. I know I say this type of stuff a lot but that's good right? Happiness couldn't feel better! I stayed up late last night studying and baking a cake. My son's school is having a end-of-the-year carnival tonight so they do a cake walk. Basically it's like musical chairs, you walk around while the music plays and when it stops you stop on a number. If that number gets pulled out of a hat then you win a cake! (this was my favorite game when I was little!) So I made a cake in the shape of a #1 and wrote "GO LIONS" on it... mini #1 thinks I'm the coolest mom!

Then I woke up this morning, went and took a test (which I passed!), went and rode my fabulous horse, picked up mini #2, went and watched mini #1 at his field day (man that wind was cold!), came home to enjoy some yummy avocados & tomatoes for lunch, and now catching up on my DVR.

Tonight we're heading to the school carnival and then off to my parents house for my older sister's birthday dinner. The rest of the weekend is bound to be a blast, I can't wait to share photos and all the exciting details but you'll have to wait until Sunday (at the earliest!).

Don't you just love this time of year? The sun is out, everything is green, we can all work off this spring fever! Any winter blues are finally gone!

I leave you on this beautiful Friday with some of my favorite pictures of my husband and I!

the new lady

any thoughts for a name?

YES!

My excitement for the weekend..... where to start.... new patio set; new swing set; and as of today new HORSE! The auction was pretty hectic so I wasn't able to snap pictures but I'll be heading out to the barn tomorrow to get as many pictures as I can. My "little" mare is 15'2H, and she is massive! I can't wait to climb on her back!