Last night we went to Chris and Rob’s in Fridley with some of our friends. When we walked in the door, Chris handed Punky a gift… a brand-spanking new NFL Chicago Bears t-shirt….in his size! Punky was so excited! This morning, he HAD to wear it. So, here is Punky, showing off his new shirt…posing for his “Thank You” photo to send to Chris…
BTW, we had Chris and Rob’s pizza last night. Delicious! 
I highly recommend it!
Thanks for a great evening, Chris! We had lots of fun and enjoyed all of your scrumptious food! 
I got me some bling yesterday! I was able to pick up my new glasses.
Check them out – Versace with swarovsky crystals…
Yep…that’s my bling….
Sweeeeeeet, eh?
I even took a picture of myself (while I was at a stop sign – Please don’t tell Oprah!)
I love them! (And I can see better as my prescription changed!) That always helps!
Remember my trip last year to Friends Forever Scrapbooking Retreat? Well, I went back there this past weekend. I had a blast with twelve amazing women… we scrapped, laughed, talked, drank, ate, slept a little bit, and had an an awesome time! Here are some of my favorite page layouts from my crop this weekend:
(the above pages are from that incident last year when Punky informed me of his lack of toys around our house?!?)
(oops, that’s kinda blurry……sorry.)
(oops, that’s kinda blurry……sorry.)
Yep….isn’t that one cool? Let’s take a closer peek…
So, which do you like? I got a lot done this weekend….and I can’t wait to get more done in the weeks to come!
The IUMC Children’s Choir (aka The Hallelujah Singers) performed again this weekend! Enjoy!
Here is their first song…
Hallelujah Singers from Melissa Schad on Vimeo.
and then they added instruments and sang, “If you’re happy and you know it…”
Hallelujah SIngers – If you’re happy and you know it… from Melissa Schad on Vimeo.
Love.
Love.
Love.
I love so many things.
I
love
rain
thunderstorms
time with hubby
morning hugs (from Punky and Hubby)
jeans
sweet potato french fries
a busy classroom
babies
going out with friends
buttery nipple shots (i had quite a few of them last night with friends)
coke Zero
piping hot pizza with sausage, green pepper, mushroom, onion and lots of gooey cheese
a quiet classroom
scrapbooking
bulletin boards
watching Modern Family
not leaving the house during snowstorms
snuggling on the couch with Punky and Hubby
the “daycare pick-up HUG!”
shopping
fresh veggies from our garden
blogging
reading
Hubby’s laugh
a buzzing classroom
books
writing
merlot
bread with oil
dark chocolate
fresh flowers
candles
fresh brewed iced tea
Chicago-style hotdogs
watching How I met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men
curling up with my cozy soft red afghan from my parents and watching my TV shows after Punky goes to bed
movies
my iPod
phone calls and texts from friends and family
inside jokes
a new spiral notebook
playingboard games as a family
Punky’s giggle
going to church
Jodi Picoult Books
art projects with Punky
flannel jammies
super cute stationery from Gina at A Touch of Whimsy
toasty slippers our fireplace
playing Boggle
watching Grey’s Anatomy
reading my magazines (Real Simple, All You, Simple and Delicious, and Hubby’s Entertainment Weekly)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
watching Punky write his name
seeing Punky hold hands with Hubby
trying tasty new recipes
coloring with crayons in a coloring book
our down comforter
nights at the cabin around the fire
dinners on our picnic table in the summer
visiting family
sending birthday cards (when I am on top of upcoming days!)
girls’ night out with my friends
listening to music
taking pictures
I will add more later today….
Ok, I will let ya in on a little secret. I am an impulsive shopper. (I know, I can hear you all gasping?!”) I recently bought one of those magaine-like cookbooks while standing at a check out at a grocery store. Southern Living – Comfort Food. 126 recipes. It was worth every 1,099 pennies that I paid for it. So, here is yet another scrumptious recipe for you all to enjoy!
Homestyle Ground Beef Casserole
1 lb. ground round
1 (14½-oz) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
1 (10-oz) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. dried Italian seasoning
¼ tsp. pepper
3 c. uncooked medium egg noodles
5 green onions, chopped
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 c.(4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 c.(4 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
1 c. (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook ground round in a large skillet over medium heat 8 minutes, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Stir in both cans diced tomatoes and next 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil: reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.
Preheat oven to 350º. Cook egg noodles in boiling salted water according to package directions; drain. Stir together hot cooked noodles, chopped green onions, sour cream, and cream cheese until blended.
Spoon egg noodles into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch or other similar-size baking dish. Top with beef mixture; sprinkle with shredded cheeses in the order listed.
Bake, covered, at 350º for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 more minutes. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Yield: 6 servings
Again, super easy and yummy!
Enjoy!
Wow. This is fabulous.
1 (3-to 4- lb) pork shoulder roast
1 (18 0z) bottle barbecue sauce
1 (12 oz) can cola soft-drink (I used Coca-Cola Classic – my fave)
Place pork roast in a 6-qt slow cooker; pour barbecue sauce and cola over roast. Cover and cook on HIGH 6-7 hours (Being as though I was going to work, I cooked it on LOW for 10 hours) or until meat is tender and shreds easily. Serve pork on buns with cole slaw or over hot toasted cornbread. (I also made sweet potato fries with it…delicious!) 
This recipe delivers big flavor. (Hubby likes to put additional BBQ sauce on it when it’s on the bun…I like it just the way it is.) You could totally reduce the fat but not the flavor in this recipe by making it a day ahead. COol the barbecue by refrigerating it overnight. Remove and discard the solidified fat before reheating.
Enjoy!
After eight days of shots with the cool Follistim pen:
after a week of looking at ulatrsounds that resemble this:
(Those black spots are follicles/eggs growing in the ovary) I had about 15 eggs, 4-6 of which will be ready to be released at ovulation. Today, I do feel like my ovaries may burst. they are huge. I can barely stand up. It’s crazy how much those gals can grow!)
I had my insemination appointment this morning. (See post below)
My doctor is really concerned about multiples. really concerned.
multiples.
yikes.
now, we hold our breath for 2 weeks…. to see if it worked.
keep your fimgers crossed and keep us in your prayers!
After a round of shots, this is my favorite part of my infertility cycles…the insemination appointment.
I know. I have a twisted sense of humor.
I just find this HILARIOUS as I sit on the table and wait my 10 minutes before I can get up and get dressed.
Punky has his Blue, the blue blanket made for him by Aunt Jeanne. Last February, Blue needed to be washed, but we couldn’t tear it away from him. So, Hubby and I told him that on President’s Day, we were going to wash Blue. Punky agreed that was ok. President’s came and passed….and we washed Blue. Since then, we’ve never had to make a deal with him about washing Blue…. he just lets us.
Yesterday, when I was picking Punky up from daycare, Kelly and I were chatting about plans we had for President’s Day. Punky chimed in, “Hey Mama, President’s Day!!!! That means we need to wash Blue!”
How does the boy remember EVERYTHING?!?!?! I wish I could borrow a bit of his super-memory!
I am haunted…Haunted by glowing pregnant women who seem to be everywhere these days. Sometimes, I try everything to avoid them….sometimes I can deal with them being around. I don’t hate them. Really. I don’t. I just want to be one of them. I REALLY, REALLY want to be one of them. And my envy is deep…really, really deep.
Five short years ago, I was one of them, with my enormous belly that everyone wanted to rub. ( I hated that! I didn’t like people touching me unless I asked them if they wanted to touch it!) After 41.5 weeks, 11lbs and 4 ozs of that huge belly was gone. I had little time to obsess over the rest of my belly that stayed and the missing abdominal muscles because I was overwhelmed with an insanely intense love for my “little” (I know, by no means was he ever “little!”) amazing newborn… Punky.
After I had Punky, I couldn’t wait to be pregnant again! I loved every second of it (well, after the first trimester!).
But who knew, that I was able to experience this once (so far). I have one super gorgeous little boy…who is growing faster than one can imagine. I know I am lucky. In fact, I feel lucky. And sort of greedy. Because I desperately want a second….and a third. And a part of me feels like I should be satisfied with the one healthy child. But my family just feels incomplete. Really incomplete.
I grew up with two siblings, and I loved it! I love it now, too! I want Punky to experience that. But at the same time, we’re going on a pretty huge age spread here, so I’m sure it won’t be the same as what I experienced growing up. Punky wants to be a big brother. I want to be a mommy to more. I can’t wait for big family dinners, sleep overs, movie nights and lots of giggling children bouncing around the living room.
I keep a lot of this longing buried inside because I have felt judged….People say the rudest things sometimes. And not just one person… PEOPLE say the dumbest, rudest things. I am pretty good at burying it, but it hurts nonetheless. I just want to scream out that I have no lack of gratitude for my son. Does that mean I can’t wish for another baby? Can’t I feel grateful for my child and yearn for another? Can’t those two emotions coexist within a person? A mother?
And this time around, biology is irritating and very stubborn. My miscarriage nearly two years ago almost crushed me. Didn’t God know I had HUGE plans for that big ol’ plus sign on that pregnancy stick? I had nearly a month of dreaming and planning… and then it was gone. All gone. Taken abruptly and cruelly from us. (Ok, maybe not too abruptly as the whole miscarrying process lasted over a month! Remember here and here!?!?) Cringe.
I still think of what would have been..in fact, the thought crosses my mind quite often as Punky inquires “why he not a big brudder yet?” Where would I be with two kids? Would I feel my family was complete or would I now be longing for a third?
Don’t get me wrong, there are very funny moments along this journey that make me laugh… and laugh some more!
Who knew that I would have to drive to the clinic for the ever-hopeful insemination, with Hubby’s little blue cup…tucked between my legs to keep it warm on the way there? Who knew my friends or my sister would unknowingly call me RIGHT during the insemination process?!? Who knew that my best friend would be willing to give me daily shots in my ass for 2 weeks? All of these bring smiles to my face.
But mostly, it’s been a long, stressful, disappointing road.
I haven’t given up hope. I still envision and pray… and long for my bigger family ….of five. (I’m still holding out for at least 2 more!) (Who knows, the drugs could make that happen in ONE shot! No pun intended! Really.)
A special thank to a friend from church who sent me her Baby Dust which was given to her. I love it, and it makes me smile! Thank you!
Delicious Chicken Pot Pie recipe from a special edition Southern Living magazine. Yum.
Chicken Pot Pie
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups half-and-half
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 T butter, divided
1 (8 oz) package sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup frozen green peas
3-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 (15 oz) package refrigerated pie crusts
1 T whipping cream (I used half-and-half here too!)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
- Melt 1/2 cup butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Whisk in flour, whisking until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually add chicken broth and half-and-half; cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in salt and pepper.
- Melt 1 T butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper to taste; saute 10 minutes or until nicely browned. (Do not over stir!) Add mushrooms to white sauce.
- Melt remaining 1 T butter in skillet. Add onion; saute until tender. Stir in peas. Add vegetable mixture, chicken, and chopped eggs to white sauce.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fit 1 pie crust into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate according to package directions. Spoon filling into crust; top with remaining pie crust. Trim off excess pastry. Fold edges under, and crimp. Cut slits in top of pie crust. Combine cream and egg; brush egg wash over pie crust.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until browned and bubbly.
ENJOY!
As I promised, here is my mom’s meatloaf recipe (which I think came from my dad’s mom). It’s so tasty, I won’t even eat any other kind…and I would NEVER think of ordering it in a restaurant… because it’s never like this!
Enjoy!
Sweet and Sour Meat Loaf
1 small onion, minced
1/4 cup crushed crackers
1- 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard (prepared)
1 egg
2 lbs ground beef
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
In a mixing bowl, mix tomato sauce with sugar, vinegar, ad mustard until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
In another bowl, slightly beat the egg with a fork, add onion, crackers, ground beef, 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce mixture, salt and pepper. Combine lightly.
SHape meat into shallow baking dish. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce mixture over the top of the meat loaf.
Bake, basting occasionally. 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Tasty, tasty, tasty!
I usually double the tomato sauce mixture and keep 1/2 of it to serve over the meatloaf (heated). It’s delicious!
I have been meaning to blog. Honest, I have. I just haven’t sat down to write for awhile. What have we been up to? I thought I’d catch you up…random style, because THAT’s how I roll! Random… my favorite word these past few days. I seriously think I need medication… I am lacking focus!
- Punky has been continuing to amaze us…. he is growing like a weed and he’s learning things at the speed of light! The other day he informed me that he had a “hypopesis!” Last year, I made him a notebook (with my amazing Zutter – Bind it All!) with his name on it (although as you can see, some of his letters have fallen off). He carried it around all day yesterday pretending to be investigating something on the Electric Company. He was looking for clues around the house and then writing them down and consulting his list as he walked around. It was pretty cute.
- On the infertility front, I started round 3 of straight shots this past weekend. We’re going with a different drug this time – Follistim. I went in for an ultrasound today and my ovaries are producing multiple follicles, so we’ll cross our fingers that this cycle works! The nice thing about the Follistim, is it comes in a “pen” form. So, I just dial up the dosage and then inject it into my tummy…..no more mixing, swirling, acting like a mad scientist each morning. Easy – peasy!
- I’ve decided to get back into the groove of menu planning, so this week’s menu looks like this:
Sunday – Meatloaf and potatoes (I need to add this recipe on here…..it’s delicious!)
Monday – Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
Tuesday - Shredded BBQ Pork Sandwiches and Homemade Sweet Potato Fries
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday - Gourmet Ground Beef Casserole
Friday – Cheesy Potatoes with Ham.
Saturday, I am scrapbooking all day over at church, and I can’t wait!!! I have tons of ideas to get on paper! I’ll bring a few snacks, but then Hubby and Punky swing by with food for everyone.
- Here’s a peek at a project I am working on for Valentine’s Day:
I’ll keep you posted!
Tootles!
Alright, so I am finally jumping on the Swagbucks bandwagon! From what I’ve heard there are FREE Amazon.com gift cards to be made, so I’m jumping in and am going to start swagging –whatever that means!
Do I have any readers that don’t know much about Swagbucks? If so, don’t feel bad because you’re definitely not alone…I’m right there with ya!
So the first order of business–What is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is a site that lets you earn Swagbucks (points) by literally just searching the web… something we do on a daily basis anyway! They also have an excellent referral program! If you refer someone over to Swagbucks and they earn a Swagbuck, you will earn a Swagbuck too–up to 100 Swagbucks! So you could potentially earn 100 Swagbucks from each friend you refer! Plus, once you accumulate enough Swagbucks, you can cash them in for various rewards, including Amazon.com gift cards! Yay!
So, how do you get started, you ask?
- Go here and register on Swagbucks by creating an account You will get 3 Swagbucks just for signing up!
- After registering, you can immediately start searching for anything you want on the web just by using the Swagbucks search engine.
- Periodically, while searching, you may see a pop up that says you’ve won anywhere from 1 to 10 or more in Swagbucks. From what I’ve heard, the best time to search is in the morning or the evening.
- Another way to earn Swagbucks, is by entering the Swagcode that is released almost everyday. This is a special code that you can enter in the swagcode box and you will instantly earn Swagbucks without having to search for them! How do you get this special code? Go to the Swagbucks homepage, click on “Ways to Earn” in the top left, then click on “Special Offers” and then click on the “No Obligation Offers” blue box on the right.
Once you get to this page, it will state this:
Welcome to Swag Bucks Special Offers. Sign up for the free money-saving offers you like,
feel free to skip the rest, and find a special swag code reward at the end.
Skip ALL the offers by clicking the skip button or the See Next Offer button beneath the advertisement. Finally after about 7 pages you’ll be awarded with a Swagcode! Enter the code in the box provided on the homepage to see how much you’ve earned.
After you’ve earned enough points, you can click on the upper tab labeled “Prizes.” Scroll down and under the categories section on the left hand side you should see “Gifts and Rewards”–click there. Now you can start scrolling through all the gift cards they have available. The Amazon.com gift card is by far my favorite reward! You can score a $5 Amazon.com gift card with just 45 Swagbucks, so literally in a month (possibly less) you could earn a $5 Amazon.com gift card! Another favorite of mine is $5 gift cards to ProFlowers. Sweet!
I am so excited to start using Swagbucks on a daily basis! I’ve heard from other bloggers and readers that they were able to pay for all of their Christmas presents last year by using Swagbucks! Can you beleive that? They had earned so many Amazon.com gift cards, that the gift cards covered the full cost of their purchases! With that being said, my goal this year is to pay for all of my Christmas presents with gift cards I’ve earned through Swagbucks! I’m so excited about this challenge of mine and I hope some of you are up for the challenge too! How cool would that be?
If you are already using Swagbucks, then please let us know your thoughts below! And if you’re new to Swagbucks, I’d love to hear if you’re going to start swagging with me! (Click on the SWAGBUCKS button to the left on my sidebar!)
Punky and his children’s choir at church singing “Praise Ye, the Lord”
Punky’s children’s Choir singing what Punky calls the “I am a C; I am a C-H” song! Enjoy!
school is over. i need to go pick up punky from daycare. what a day. i know it’s tuesday, but it sure feels like a monday. yuck. my back is killing me…have to work on getting punky to sleep all alone all night in his own bed. i can’t keep sleeping on a twin bed. speaking of that, who ever taught him to sleep touching someone…he must always have a body limb touching a part of my body, so if i so much as move, try to get up, or whatnot, he flies up, “mama!” this reminds me of my cat, nala. she slept like that too. i cannot get the song, you’re gonna miss this” outta my head this week. especially when i get so discouraged and upset with punky’s sleep habits. finished the book “the girl who played with fire” excellent! third book of this trilogy comes out in may 2010. i can’t wait. scrapping this past weekend got me so in the mood to keep going; so i scheduled another saturday 12-hour crop at our church in february. at the end of february, i return to the friends forever retreat center where we scrapped last year….talk about heaven. i loved that place and i cannot wait to go back! major cramps today means that i will most likely be returning to my reproductive endocrinologist in 3 or 4 days for another round of injections. (took last month off as my insurance ran out for the year – reset on jan 1!) i’ll keep you posted. i can’t wait to walk in the door at home and smell that aroma of a roast in the crock pot. yummm….. i hope to spend some time with hubby tonight – we taped dvr-ed “i love you man” and i want to see it! off i go.
ciao!
So, I love the photos posted below from our outside excursion in the snow.
I am torn between the antiqued photos and the bright bold colors.
Here are the antique photos in the last post with some color added to them. Because these were taken under the shadow of our house, many of them were super dark. I purposely overexposed a few of them to blur out the background.
What a smile! Can’t ya just pinch those cheeks?
So deep in thought…
Poor kid, all anyone is ever going to want to do is pinch those rosy big ol’ cheeks!
Punky and I had the day off yesterday, so I went about cleaning and organizing stuff from the holidays (it’s been busy around here!)After spending much of the morning in Punky’s room going through clothes, toys, books, stuffed animals, etc, he turned to me and said, “Mama, I had big plans for us to do today…not just clean! I wanted to play outside, color wif you in my colorin’ books, and play games.” Talk about a guilt trip! My heart sank. Of course, he was looking forward to a day with me! Duh!
So, we bundled up and traipsed outside through the snow. We had lots of fun! We knocked down huge icicles from the roof. Of course, Punky had to eat them! Then we built a large snow fort, and I watched him play “Demo” for a whole 30 seconds, eliminating all evidence of our hard work! He also made some beautiful snow angels.
I got tons of cute pictures. (And then I can never wait to play with the photos once I’ve uploaded them!) So, enjoy the only evidence I have left of our fun afternoon in the snow! Some of these are truly priceless!
I love the antique – washed out tint of the above photos, but then there are some pictures I just had to boost the color…
I was just having fun playing with the tints. I cannot wait to get a new computer at home so I can try my brand new Photoshop Elements. (Thank you to my fabulous siblings for getting it for me for my birthday!) (It won’t run on our current archaic machine!)
Do you like the antiqued pictures? or the bright boldly colored ones?
What do you think?
