Our Valentine's Day

 

It was easy and simple. Gymboree class for the baby, and dinner at home for us.

We bought Jack the book 'Love You Forever' and he also got some new shoes from great-grandma and pa.

Our dinner was delish - all from Whole Foods. We had a NY strip, spinach salad, truffle mashed potatoes, crab cakes, and asparagus.

Dessert was chocolate covered strawberries and lots of cuddling.

Perfect :)

Pepperoni Rolls

Pepperoni Rolls – My favorite appetizer ever are the Pepperoni Rolls at Old Chicago. At 900+ calories per plate, they are a big splurge. I decided to make them at home and they turned out amazing.

Here’s what you need:

• 1/2 Package of Low-fat Cream Cheese
• 1 tsp. Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
• 1/2 Cup Low-fat Mozzarella
• 1 Package Reduced-Fat Crescent Rolls
• 1 Can Tomato Sauce
• 10 Slices of Pepperoni
• Olive Oil Spray
• Salt, Pepper, and Italian Seasoning

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Start by softening the cream cheese in the microwave – about 20-30 seconds. Then mix in the hot sauce and the seasoning to taste.

 

Next, set up the remainder of your ingredients in an assembly line in this order: cream cheese, sauce, pepperoni, cheese.

Unroll your crescents and begin to layer in that order. 

After you place the cheese on top, roll the crescent from the biggest side to the smallest.

Spray each roll with a little olive oil spray and place in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Friday Brain Dump

Blair (or Beth Anne or BA or Harrison’s Momma), my all-time favorite blogger ever (like EVER), has been hosting a Friday Brain Dump Link-up for a while. Until this point I have been too chicken to post a link-up to it because I’m all, “well what if she actually reads it and thinks I suck”, and I just think I would pee my pants if she commented on anything I post. She could probably tell me I should stop blogging because I’m a lunatic and no one cares and I would still rave to my husband (and let’s be honest, post it all over Facebook and Twitter) that the author of The Heir to Blair actually spoke to me directly.

So anyway… here’s my Friday Brain Dump:

• I had a moment this week where I vomited in my mouth a little because I found my child with the grossest thing ever (besides poop) in his mouth – a piece of my dog’s nail. So disgusting. I’m just happy I found it in his mouth instead of when he started choking on it.
• I cannot seem to kick this head cold/virus 100%. I feel like I am almost better and then a new wave hits me. I now have a bad sinus headache and a runny nose. Not to mention I feel so run down. Lame.
• I am so excited to go to Vegas in a few weeks. It’s going to be so fun and I can’t believe that this couples trip is actually going to happen. I feel like I have been putting a bug in everyone’s ear about this for years. Now I need to start planning my wardrobe and activities. And get my tolerance level up :)
• Why does Starbucks have to be so expensive? More importantly, why I am so addicted to Starbucks? Why do I go there all the time? I never get normal coffee so you can’t tell me to make it at home, and you are crazy if you think I am going to learn how to make a tall vanilla latte with extra foam and a petite vanilla scone from scratch. Ha.
• I think my child is officially a toddler. Just this week we have crossed the threshold into temper tantrums and he is trying to break the world record for how fast he can destroy a room. Not to mention he loves to push my buttons. No joke, he laughs when I tell him no. He thinks it’s a game when I pull him away from something he isn’t supposed to touch. I keep trying not to smile and laugh back at him. Is it wrong that I sort of love absolutely adore his rebellious personality??
• I watched Smash this week and I was horrifically disappointed. Stupid grown-up Glee. Get over yourself.
• I keep having these dreams where I’m 8 again and I am acting out Annie with my childhood friend Heather. I think it’s because I keep playing Words With Friends against her as I’m going to sleep. And maybe because we actually did that when we were 8. Bet you’re impressed we were so into Annie and not so into Cinderella or Aladdin. Cause we were awesome like that.
• And, my name is Tabitha and I am an HGTV addict. I lived without it for over a year and I don’t know how I survived. I’m obsessed. It’s my Pinterest.

So there you go. Nothing super interesting, but that’s okay. My life has been pretty full of crap and drama lately, so I’m good.

Mornings

My son is NOT a morning person, much like his momma. You do not even think about interacting with him until he has had his morning bottle and diaper change. He goes from a cranky, crazy little monster to the precious child I know and love. It’s pretty amazing to me some days to see his dramatic morning shows, but I quickly realize he may be mirroring someone else who isn’t too happy until she has her morning coffee and breakfast.
It looks like our children pick up a lot more than our eye color and nose shape. Makes you wonder what other personality traits he will pick up from us in the future!
As an angry little guy:

And as a happy little clam:

He loves to hide under the counter by his highchair and thinks it’s hilarious. I love it!

Randoms and A Recipe

Happy Tuesday all! How about that Superbowl? I am extremely sad that my boyfriend (Tom Brady, duh) did not come out victorious. At least he still has his good looks and his supermodel wife. I won’t cry for him too much.

This morning I have so many random thoughts running through my crazy head and I need to get them out!

• I watched 5 minutes of I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant this morning and I am now thoroughly convinced that I am most likely 8 months pregnant and about to go into labor at any moment.
• I have no willpower. Baking brownies this weekend was a bad choice. My breakfast this morning consisted of Lucky Charms and a buttercream brownie. Diet fail.
• I am in a style rut. I have decent clothes, but no where to wear them and I don’t spend a lot of money on the clothes I wear all day every day – workout wear. I think I may have to save some $$ for cute workout clothes. Because I either look like I’m a 14-year-old girl or a 40-year-old man. Yikes.
• I can’t watch violent movies because I have terrible dreams. I just watched Drive the other night and this morning I had a dream that Trevor and I got into a bar fight with another couple and had to flee the scene. We won the fight though.

 

For the Superbowl I made a layered dip. I can’t call it 7-layer dip because it’s really more like 9-layer dip. Anyhow, it was delish. Enjoy!

9 Layer Dip

Yummy… I love layered dips. A lot. What’s not to love about cheese and guac? I’m not giving you measurements because it really depends on how much dip you want to make. I eyeballed everything based on how thick of layers I wanted. Sorry for going all Rachel Ray on you and not measuring.

Ingredients:

• Sour Cream (I used low fat Daisy)
• Cheese (I like Kraft 4-cheese Mexican blend)
• Refried Beans (I love Bush’s black refried beans)
• Guacamole (Wholly Guac is the best!)
• Cream Cheese (I use a mix of 1/3 less fat and non-fat)
• Shredded Lettuce
• Diced Tomato
• Diced green onion
• Salsa
• Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

Here is the order I layered in:

Beans, cream cheese, salsa, guacamole, lettuce, sour cream, hot sauce, tomato, cheese, green onion.

Refrigerate until serving time and then go crazy.

 

Valentine’s Day Decor

I am still working on getting a stash of holiday décor for every holiday, so this year I decided to make a few items to decorate with.

I got everything from the craft store and it was super easy!

Love Frame

Super easy to make. Here’s what you need:

• Piece of scrapbook paper
• Wooden frame
• Wooden heart
• Alphabet stickers
• Glue
• Mod Podge

Position the scrapbook page on the frame how you want it and glue it on the frame (you can also use mod podge for this is you want).

Cut the excess off with an exacto knife, and cut out the middle. I glued the middle part onto the back of the frame to look like it was all one piece, but you can put a photo or whatever in there. It would also look cool with a contrasting piece of scrapbook paper.

Paint a coat of mod podge on the frame and allow to dry.

Take your wooden heart and place stickers on it in any way you wish. Paint a coat of mod podge on the heart as well.

Then glue the heart into the middle and you are done!

Hanging Heart

This project is even easier than the frame! I bought the heart at JoAnn for 50% off ($6, woohoo!) and then decorated it.

Supplies:

• Heart
• Heart Stickers
• Alphabet Stickers
• Felt
• Hot Glue Gun

First, I made some rosettes using red felt. I hot glued them to the heart.

Then I simply decorated with stickers and that was that!

Total cost of both projects was about $15.

Linking up with:

 

,

Tabitha

Decisions, Decisions

I have been contemplating for a long time quitting my job and being a full-time stay at home mommy. I feel like it would be easier for me not to have the stress of the part-time job I have. Stay-at-home-mommas – I am NOT saying that staying at home is easier than working. I’m saying that it would make MY life simpler.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job – most parts of it. I love coaching the girls, I love helping them improve, and I love it when they leave the program in a positive way. I love taking them to competitions, and I absolutely adore my assistant coach (I would have left already if she wasn’t in this with me).

But……. I hate the stress. And the drama. And I keep thinking, this complaining isn’t worth me taking so much time away from my child and husband.

I would have so much more time to do things for me, more crafts, more sewing, maybe take a dance class for myself.

I feel lucky that we don’t need the money (because it’s basically like a volunteer position). I do worry that I may get bored (ha, with a one-year-old?!) or regret my decision or miss it a lot.

I’m so conflicted between liking the majority of my job and being sick of the nonsense. I keep bouncing back and forth about staying or going.

What are your thoughts working and stay at home mommas? I know the grass is always greener, but I do value your opinions. What do you think?

 

Tabitha