Things I've Learned Since The Blizzard

I've had a full 4 days to sit in this house and think. 
-Think about warm beaches in the carribean.
-Think about how nice it is to be able to jump in your rear wheel drive car and drive on clear roads, not icy ones.
-Think about how I would like to go walking down the nature trail when it gets warm this Spring.
-Think about how hard it is to not snack all day when you are trapped in your house with a ton of snow outside.
-Think about how I'm probably not going to get a paycheck for the month of February at the rate this month is going. 
-Think about how long the kids are going to be in school this summer since they've missed 7 school days so far with a foot more snow coming this next week.

I've learned a few things during this "relaxing period" at home:

1.  My menu planning is really a great thing.  We already had the groceries for the week because I bought them last Sunday before the blizzard hit.  I had planned to buy them for meals anyway.  I cooked exactly what I had planned and we were great with our grocery supply.  Well, not really-see #2

2.  When you forget to buy toilet paper before a blizzard hits and you run down to just two rolls in the house, you will start to panic.  We have two little boys, not a great thing with a small supply of toilet paper.  I even resorted to asking Mr. H to bring some home from his office building when he finally got out to work on Friday.  He actually came home and took me to Walmart though.  What a great guy!

3.  When you don't wear makeup or do your hair for 4 days straight, your self-esteem will plummet.  Sitting around the house with just sweats, a t-shirt and a hoodie on will destroy every single confidence you have in your appearance.  A woman can only sit in her house with no bra on for so long. Ha!  By Friday, I had to get dressed and do my hair.  I could feel the low self-esteem hitting me like a ton of bricks.  Hence, the great thing The Pleated Poppy has done with What I Wore Wednesday-you have to check out the postings.  Great outfits!

4.  If your puppy dogs only get to go out to the back porch to poop and pee, you will be amazed at how long they will hold it.  I think our boxer Allie held her poo for a good three days.  It was a doozy when she finally went out and did her business.  I think the dogs were feeling a little depressed so we took them out to walk them for a little while.  They were so excited, it was actually sad.

5.  Even if you adore your husband and children, after four days of looking at them, you will get sick of them.  They will get on your nerves and you will start separating into different rooms to watch TV.  Yes, we turned into the "separating into different rooms" family.  I hate that feeling, but you can only stand so much togetherness.  Just being real.  You know you would feel this way too! Tee-hee!

6.  I've spent the time at home trying to be crafty to make myself not panic due to cabin fever.  I made a few super cute flower pins to wear on my cardigans. 

7.  When your kids go in and out all day to play in the snow....your entryway in your house will end up looking like a war zone.

8.  When your baby comes down with a low grade fever, you will feel terrible that

a. he doesn't get to go outside to play in the snow anymore

b.  that maybe you made him sick by letting him play in the snow

He's trying to look sick in the pic

9.  Even blogs, online shopping and facebook get extremely boring when thats all you do for days on end.  We live in a small town and everyone is posting the exact same thing everyday.  My entire facebook photos page is of snow.  Yes, I've seen the record breaking snow that hit the Tulsa area, 200 pictures of it has definitely confirmed to me that everyone got snow!

10.  After griping in #9, I will say that I appreciate the Wal-Mart postings on Facebook.  You know it's bad when people start posting on FB that the milk truck just arrived at our local Wally World.  This is probably the reason why there was ZERO bread, beef of any kind or eggs when we went yesterday.  Oklahoma is definitely a meat eating place.

11.  Last but not least.....I hate Wal-Mart.  They are our only option for food and I feel like they control the world.  Ugh.  Wal-Mart ticks me off everytime the weather gets bad.  There...I feel better...I reiterated my dislike for the monopoly that is Wally World!

Housebound

It's been three days since the Blizzard of 2011, which dumped 2 feet of snow on the Tulsa, Oklahoma area.  We spent yesterday shoveling snow off of the driveway, all the way to the ruts in the streets so that Mr. H could try to get to work this morning.  He's an accountant and he needs to be at work to pay bills.  He works in the middle of downtown Tulsa, which can be really tricky in snowy weather because all of the skyscrapers cause shadows on the streets and the snow doesn't melt easily.  He did make it this morning but said there was still a ton of snow on the streets in downtown.  My back wheel drive Jeep would do horrible in that.  Luckily, his Honda Accord drives really well in the snow. 

The horrible thing about today is that its -18 degree windchill right now.  The actual air temperature is -3 degrees.  That stinks because the boys are out of school and now they can't even go outside to play in the snow.  Guess what that means. 

A lot more of this:

Playing XBox Live.  I have a rule in our house that the boys can't play XBox unless the weather is bad.  In other words, if the weather is nice outside, they need to be playing outside in the sunshine.  I've always been scared the boys would turn into those kids that never leave the TV and only play video games.  Not in our casa!

But when the weather stinks like it does, they get sooo bored.  At least this way, they can play video games with their buddies who are also stuck at home.  They've also been playing with a kid in Kansas and a kid in Chicago.  The kid in Chicago was telling them that the other night they had a blizzard with thunder and lightening.  It said it was crazy!

Small Fry has been working on the state report he was assigned the last day they had school.  He thought it was awesome that randomly his teacher gave him the state of Alabama.  We live in Oklahoma but absolutely love the state of Alabama and anything associated with it.  See, my Momma is one of 12 kids. She  was born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, a small town just south of Birmingham.  She was the 10th child, which means I have aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins all over the entire state.  My Momma even has a nephew older than her. Big families are so funny that way!  Anyway, we are huge University of Alabama fans and our dog is even named Alabama Tide "Allie" for short. 

So, we've had fun researching everything about Alabama.  It's even the place we always vacation, Gulf Shores, Alabama.  If you've never been there, you have to go.  It is unbelievably beautiful.  I could sure use a beach vacation after sitting here stuck in the house with 2 feet of snow on the ground all week. 

I've actually been really good about being stuck.  The only thing I'm starting to panic about is the toilet paper.  We are down to 4 rolls and I've warned the boys about wasting it if you know what I mean ;).  It's the little things you take for granted.  Also, my fat free half and half for my coffee is running out.  That could result in a dire situation.

Apparently, our Wal-mart has been closed and its the only grocery store we have here in smalltown, Oklahoma.  A lot of people here in town work at the Wal-Mart distribution center 30 minutes from here and it is closed until Friday, which means no new deliveries until tomorrow.  Ugh.  You don't realize how dependent you are on Wal-mart until the trucks can't get here.  I hate that feeling of being dependent on one store for everything.  I wish small towns would thrive again with stores each offering different things.  Our Wally World is the only store with anything at all here.  Scary.

I'm not about to ask Mr. H to drive even further than he has already.  There is nothing between our small town and downtown Tulsa.  Well, there is north Tulsa and I don't care to send him to a store there as its not the best area of town. 

Guess, we'll make due with what we have here in the house.  It's a good thing I'm a freak about having enough food at all times.  We're pretty covered in the food department.  We'll just have to use some creativity! HA!

SNOmeggedan Oklahoma 2011

Yesterday we experienced the second blizzard ever in Oklahoma.  Our little town was inundated by 20 inches of snow.  If you know anything about Oklahoma, you know that we never get that much snow.  I think the most I've ever seen is 12 inches and that paralyzed us for a week.  Now we have almost 2 FEET of snow and it's horrible.  They think our schools will be closed for up to 7 school days.  My neighborhood has six foot snow drifts and there's no way my back wheel drive Jeep Cherokee is going to get through that kind of snow.

Most of the snow fell overnight Monday and we woke up to horrible 40 - 50 mile an hour winds.  Overnight about 8 inches fell and it continued to snow throughout the day Tuesday.  It only stopped last night at about 7 or 8pm.

The kids think it's great but Momma is starting to panic.  We are down to 6 rolls of toilet paper!!! Help!

Our back porch- we have the coolest snow drifts.

Outside our front door

Notice the snowdrift almost covering the neighbors van

Allie, our white boxer, is not liking the snow.  She refuses to go out into it to use the bathroom-she's a spoiled puppy

4 ft. snowdrift covering our front flowerbed

The kids made snow tunnels for the first time in their lives...we've never had this much snow.

A lot of Xbox Live is being played while we are housebound. 

Thats a 10 foot basketball goal!

4th Grade Struggle

Oh how fourth grade is killing me!!!!

Small Fry is struggling so much with his fourth grade year.  Last year we had the teacher nazi and this year I really like his teacher but he is not making the grades I'm expecting.  He seems to be having a hard time grasping the concept of organization.  He hasn't been bringing papers home and has missed several assignments resulting in a zero. I have to go to his school every Thursday to pick him up so that we can actually walk back to his classroom and check his desk, making sure he didn't forget any papers or homework.  I write him a note every week telling him to wear his glasses in class.  His teacher says she hardly ever sees him wearing them.  I feel like I need to sit down next to his desk to watch him all day long.  Ugh. So frustrating!!!

His grades were what I would call middle of the road and his math grade was a D last nine weeks.  It breaks my heart that he knows it's not a grade that we want to see in our house.  I think in his mind, he really is trying and he might be, just not in a way that is resulting in good grades and turned in assignments.

You see, Small Fry is my laid-back, easy going kid.  He doesn't worry about anything.  He is the epitome of my father.  My father was a charismatic, easy going guy.  Never saw him mad a day in my life.  My sweet 9 year old is the same way.  I've always thought this "no worrying" gene was a blessing for Small Fry because  Tater Tot, the 12 year old, is a complete worrier like me.  He worries that he won't make an A on everything.  He puts a tremendous amount of pressure on himself and it shows, as he makes straight A's. 

I don't like to compare my kids because while they are two peas in a pod and best friends, they are complete opposites.  I want them to be individuals and grow into their own person, even if it means holding one of them down and making him do his homework. Ha!

I just can't figure out what to do about Small Fry.  Besides paying $500 to $700 a month on Sylvan Learning Center, I don't know many other options.  By the way, I only work part-time and that's almost more than I make in my little pt job.  Add to that the fact that I very rarely receive child support from the ex.  Not to air my laundry but it's life and what I have to deal with in making financial decisions.  Granted Mr. H and I would spend any amount of money to make sure the boys are successful in school, but my gosh, that's so expensive.  If I do go that route, it better work!

I'm going to spend the next week talking to the teacher, scanning the internet for solutions and racking my brain for ideas.  Help!

Great new chicken recipes

pic courtesy of What's For Dinner?


Grilled Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
3 four oz. boneless skinlesss chicken breasts
3 T Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing

Directions:
Marinate chicken breasts in dressing for at least 30 minutes. 
Grill on medium high heat, about 5 minutes per side until chicken is done and juices run clear.

Grilled Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:
4 4 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 T Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing
1/2 cup Hunts Pasta Sauce Garlic & Herb
3 oz. Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Preheat grill.
Marinate chicken in dressing for at least 30 minutes. Grill chicken 5 minutes per side. Transfer to baking dish.
Heat sauce in microwave until warm. Top each breast with 2 T sauce, followed by cheese equally divided. Bake the chicken for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Number of Servings: 4

Busy Fun Coach Filled Weekend

This past weekend, Tater Tot was scheduled to attend a soccer referree class on Friday night and all day Saturday.  Well, it snowed 3 inches here in Oklahoma, which means everything was cancelled, including the ref class.  I think he was super disappointed because he was really looking forward to the fun of ref'ing 4 and 5 year old little kids in soccer.  We're hoping they reschedule the class soon.

Instead of taking him to class as we had originally planned, we headed to the mall to buy the boys some jeans.  They are quickly outgrowing their other pairs and Abercrombie and Hollister were having some great sales.  Tater Tot is 12 years old and officially declared at the beginning of the year that those were the types of clothes he wanted to wear.  Ugh.  I've created a monster but really can't get mad because he comes by this naturally.  He's actually so much less spoiled than I was at his age.  I know, it's not something I'm proud of now that I'm married to a penny-pinching accountant.  Ha! 

Anyway, we found that the jeans were 30% off, which made them very reasonable.  I likey!

On Saturday, Mr. H had planned to go to a beautiful shopping area in Tulsa called Utica Square.  I love Utica Square because all of the higher end shops are there!  Mr. H loves Jos. A. Banks, the menswear store.  He is so  much like a routine-loving accountant that he looked on the internet and wrote down everything he wanted to buy on a big list.  It made me laugh at him, but I really love all of his accountant like ways.  It's so cute!

After Mr. H bought his clothes, he told me that we needed to walk over to the Coach store to get a purse.  I was thrilled!  I'm a typical mom and everytime I think of spending a ton of money on myself, I think of my boys and would rather spend it on them.  Well, I've wanted a Colette collection Coach purse for a very long time so I didn't feel guilty at all!  I love it and can't wait to carry it around!  It holds so much stuff...even my adorable pink breast cancer awareness daytimer!

I had them tie the scarf on the handle of my purse and it's so adorable!

The boys smelled this in the Coach shop and told me it smelled just like me so I bought a little purse perfume!

After Utica Square, we headed back to the same mall we were at on Friday night because we had our niece with us and she had a Hollister giftcard from Christmas.  We took her and helped her pick out some cute shirts.  I think she was thrilled to get some new clothes.  She's a beautiful girl and would look cute in a potato sack! 

Now I just have to deal with the Mommy guilt of having spent money on myself.  I'm completely lying when I say I felt no guilt....oh motherhood, how you kill me with the guilt!

~Swish~!

Tonight Small Fry had his basketball game against the Catoosa Indians and his team did terrific.

They all hustled and worked together to beat the Indians!

During the last minute of the game, Small Fry got the ball and took a chance, shooting it from the 3 point range....

AND HE SWISHED IT!!!

I screamed so loud he said he could hear me on the court! HA!

I just get excited and can't help it.  I told him he would understand when he had children playing sports.  It's a thrill like no other!

It was the best moment of the season so far!  We beat them 10 - 4!!! You have to love fourth grade basketball!

Life In Grace

Please keep Edie and her family in your prayers.  Their house caught on fire and they lost all of their belongings the Tuesday before Christmas.  Thankfully everyone in her family is safe.  I can't even imagine the hurt.

Merry Christmas!

The boys woke up to a bounty of Santa gifts and some new games.  Nana came over early (7:30) so she could see the boys unwrap their gifts. She actually called at 7:20 and we were all still asleep.  You can tell we now have a 12 year old and 9 year old - no more getting up at 6am because the little guys are so excited.  They like to sleep in too much. 

I put the breakfast casserole in the oven to cook for an hour while we opened our gifts.  The boys got a Big Hunter game for the TV, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit for the XBox 360, a ton of Abercrombie and Hollister clothes and a couple of books.  Also yo-yos, which seem to be the latest obsession of the boys.  All the kids at school have yo-yos and the teachers let them bring theirs to class.  I guess its a way to let them pass time when they are done with their work. 

Santa brought me a set of Paula Deen pots and pans-love everything of hers!!!  I really needed them since the pans I have are about 15 years old.  They are becoming very non-stick.  Someday I'd love to have her furniture too!

Nana got a new robe, some cute slippers and a Scentsy warmer for her house.

Mr. H got a slate rock with a buffalo painted on it by a Muscogee Creek Indian artist.  Since Mr. H is Creek Indian, I knew he would like the original artwork by someone in his tribe.  Mr. H is part of the Bird clan (kind of like a family within the tribe) and the artist, Bill McCully is part of the Sweet Potato clan.  Mr. H also got an XBox Live membership for a year so he can play Black Ops with his buddies that work at the fire station here in town.  Apparently, when there isn't anything exciting happening in this little town of ours, the firefighters sit around playing war games on the XBox.  Not a bad job if you ask me.  The Live membership will let Mr. H play a live game with the guys at the station.  Technology, it kills me!

I'm getting ready to go lay back down for a little while, then take a shower and get ready to go eat at Mr. H's parents house at 2 or so.  We decided this year, we were going to eat a little later so everyone could sleep in some.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and enjoys their time with relatives and friends!!!!  Jesus is the reason for the season!

Thankful Tuesday

 Today was the first day the boys and I stayed home together.  I've been working for my insurance agent answering phones part-time three days a week to earn some extra spending money.  Today was the first day I was off since the boys got out of school for their Christmas break.  I am so thankful to be able to stay at home with them and enjoy the Christmas break.

After sleeping until 9:30, I knew we had to start the day off right by drinking a Green Monster.  If you haven't had one, you are seriously missing out on a yummy way to take your vitamins. 

Here's the recipe:

1 cup spinach

1 cup frozen mixed berries

1 small container vanilla yogurt

1 or 2 tbsp. agave nectar or splenda, whichever you prefer

1 to 2 cups ice

1/2 cup milk, depending on the texture you want



Can you tell I had chili ingredients on the counter too?! HA!



You seriously cannot taste the spinach in the smoothie and my kids love it.  The spinach is just a great way to sneak in a few more nutrients.

I also like to use the agave nectar in it.  It's a great way to add sweetener but in a natural way.

We drank our Green Monsters, then headed out to run a few errands. 

After a crazy trip to the bank, the cleaners, Dollar General and then Walmart, we went to Nana's house to make some goodies for my co-workers.

We decided that almond bark pretzels would be the easiest and yummiest to make.  Nana and I have always made almond bark pretzels since I was a small child.  I've always loved them.



Nana getting ready to get her bakin' on!



Google image-Yummy almond bark pretzels



When we got back to our house, Tater Tot practiced his yo-yo skills.  He looks up Youtube videos on yo-yoing and tries to perfect the latest tricks.  He's getting pretty good at it too. 

He's the type of child that gets stuck on a new "thing" and works really hard to master it.  Cute!

We cuddled and took a nap with this sweet dog.  She was eating the rest of my ice cream cone the other night and I had to get a picture.  She's simply spoiled and the best cuddler in the world.

  

Tater Tot & Small Fry (with a silly look on his face) with their best bud Braden

While I cleaned up, the boys went outside and shot baskets.  Small Fry is playing booster club ball and loving it.  He's actually doing terrific and hustling like crazy. 

My sweet basketball player Small Fry

We ended the day with homemade chicken and dumplings.  I didn't have very much Bisquick left so I used the rest and also some canned biscuits to make the dumplings.  I have to say, the Bisquick way is simply the best.  It tastes like a real dumpling.  I could eat chicken and dumplings every day of my life.  So good when it's cold and rainy outside like today.

I'm just thankful I was able to spend Tuesday with my guys!

I'm worn out

These last 2 weeks have been the busiest I've ever experienced in my life. 
First, it was my hubby's 40th birthday, which involved a birthday dinner and then meeting friends at one of the local small town bars to listen to a really great band, Imzadi.  We don't usually go to bars at all but had heard that the band was great.  And...they were terrific!  I can now go a very long time without ever sitting in a nasty smoky bar.  Ugh.  I'd rather be home with my babies.

The family birthday dinner was actually a dinner for my hubby and our oldest, Tater Tot, who turned 12.  He invited his best friend Braden to go to Dave and Busters with us.  The food was really good, although super expensive, and the kids loved playing the arcade games.  We met all of Mr. H's family and had a great time.

Mr. H with his sister, brother, Momma and Stepdad

Mr H with his Dad, sister and brother - we are blessed that Mr. H's whole family celebrates together, Dad and Stepdad

Mr. H and Me!  What a cute 40 year old!

The whole table

Tater Tot, his buddy and his little brother

A couple of nights after the family dinner, we celebrated Mr. H's Masonic Installation as Worshipful Master, which means he's the President of the organization.  In other words, he's going to be a very busy man in the next year.  They are in charge of tons of charitable activities involving the public schools, etc. 

For the installation, we were in charge of putting on a dinner for 100 people.   Instead of stressing out about it, we just had it catered by a local bar-b-que place called Mac's.  They were so good and there was hardly any food left!  I'm just glad it all went smoothly, including the actual installation ceremony.  I know Mr. H was proud it went well.

The Worshipful Master

The Officers

I'm now spending my time trying to get everything mailed, wrapped, and ready for Christmas.  First, I need to take a nap!