Happy {2011} New Year!

2010 ends in mear hours! 2011 is obviously just around the corner and I'm always so glad to start a new year. I might be a a small few that actually had a good 2010. Back in November I did 30 posts of what I was thankful for, so go check it out and you can see a few reasons why it was so good.
Don't get me wrong I had some moments that sucked but I'm moving on and focusing on the people that matter most to me.
I hope everyone has a wonderful night celebrating tonight. Be safe and have so much fun!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Deal ALERT!

Are you one that likes Free Samples? It's kind of a pain to enter in your name, address, and email address over and over again, but sometimes the free samples are worth it.
I usually get samples of new products that I am not sure the boys and I will like. I have gotten quite a few that are really good. The other day I got a Jergen's night repair lotion with a nice primrose smell. I cannot wait to get a coupon for it. I love it!
Here is a site that lists all the free samples, kids eat free, BOGO deals. I have gone to it a few times.
http://www.heyitsfree.net/
Friday Freebies (not sure the website, I just google it every time).

For the mom's out there with babies in Diapers, if you are not shopping at diapers.com you are missing out! They run several specials a month! Diapers.com also has paper coupons in Parent Magazine.
Also become a member of Pampers. Pampers does a points system from what I've done a quick read on. Get enough points and get free diapers?
Join enfamil.com They email you $5off coupons for formula.  They also send toy appropriate suggestions and much more.
You can also get cheap and sometimes free diapers if you clip coupons and match them up with Rite Aid, CVS, or Walgreen's. (usually Huggies, sometimes Pampers).

Savings Tracker 2011

Some of you may know that I am such a frugal person, living on a budget! I belong to several blogging sites that tell me when to use my coupons. Yes, I clip coupons and a lot of them! The only thing I don't do is keep track of my savings after I look at the receipts. I also don't have a good coupon organizer, still working on getting a good one together.
I did find this today if you are interested in tracking your savings. I downloaded the FREE excel template. It's complete with a full year calendar and how to get started tips.
Let me know if you download this!

Under the Overpass

Under the Overpass is about two christian, college men who give up everything to live homeless in 6 different cities around the U.S. Very few people know that Mike and Sam are coming from a fine living to scum of the earth as an experiment. They supply themselves with a sleeping bag, guitar and backpack. These men go through a lot during there months on the street. They go without food, showers, money and more. So much more we can not even imagine! They get dirty looks, kicked out of places and treated poorly and not once do they give up on there religion. They pray constantly and become friends with almost everyone they run into. I found this book to be one of the best I've read in a long time. The book really captures what was important during there journey..GOD! These men are very brave to do what they did and it's very inspirational. I kept thinking while reading this, that this should be a book churches should give to youth groups. This will change the way people think and open a lot of eyes. I highly recommend people to read this book.
1st Chapter download

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review."

Merry Christmas!

It's that time again! Wake up early and run downstairs to check all the presents Santa left under the tree! The screams, smiles and laughter coming from my boys never gets old. I checked to see if we were going to have a white Christmas and we were blessed with a warm and sunny 50 degree day...Just beautiful!

This is probably the one and only time I can tell this story. I was up at 7am as usual, I came downstairs to find...no kids awake! I started coffee and breakfast. The husband came down shortly after me.....still no kids. 7:45 finally D comes down and is so excited but I tell him we need to wait until T wakes up to do our stockings. He checked out 'Santa' gifts and made sure the milk had been drunk and the cookies had been eaten. I held him off until 8am and he begged to wake up T. T came down very sleepy and not so happy he was woken up. I couldn't help but laugh a 7 year old who can WAIT to open gifts. At this time breakfast was done, we ate our traditional scrambled eggs, and cinnamon rolls (yes, store bought, I forgot to do the homemade dough). I even finished coffee, checked facebook and cleaned the kitchen. I was waiting by the tree for the kids to come open gifts.
D was very happy with his large amount of toys. I think he was more spoiled this year than T. T got less gifts due to not being into 'toys' and that his 1 major gift was a GC to the Apple store to get his Ipod Touch.
Rog got his 8gb Ipod Touch, Pampered Chef Gravy Separator and an herb keeper. He was very happy, he got everything he asked for.
I got a pair of Under Armour training pants, a UA gift card and a grey pea coat. All which I will be exchanging. He says he couldn't find the exact pant, sweatshirt and coat I put on my list, but he tried and that's what counts.
We also got very blessed with money from the rents! We went to the in-laws and the boys got lots of outdoor toys, including an electric scooter!
With a few hiccups here and there, we are now all settled in our pj's, full tummy's, toys and directions to be read before bed.
Until next year!

Christmas List

I hardly make a Christmas wish list. For a few reasons really but mostly cause no one ever gets me anything from it! Last year I had to actually drive my husband to the mall to buy me UGGS, he knew if he got me anything but that I would kill him.
This year I made a small but simple list of things:
1. Grey pea coat
2. UA Pants and sweatshirt
3. Running shoes
4. KitchenAid mixer...(I wanted it so bad I bought it myself)
5. Coach purse

We were at the mall the other day and I pysically pulled him into coach and set 3 bags on the table and said any of these 3 are fine, do not deter from this no matter what the sales people tell you! We will see what I get. Of course I didn't pick anything cheap so I will be happy with any of it, I don't expect all of it. In due time I will work hard enough to save for some on my own.

Today though I think I would have to add these two to my list:

Merry Christmas!

Winter Break 2010

We are on day 4 of something like 16 days off school. Since I have the boys I've been absent on the blog, sorry. I have had a few quiet moments and I spending them doing chores, baking, and reading! I think I've got like 3 books going right now.
The boys have had so much fun. They got to have a sleepover at the grandparents house and from what I hear it was a blast. They got 3 huge cinnamon rolls for breakfast, cookies and taken out to dinner. Roger and I spent out time without the kids playing games with our friends Saturday night. Sunday we went to our favorite wing place for beer, wings and the Bronco's game. It was a great mini date, we needed it. We skipped our anniversary last month and haven't been out alone since last November I'm sure.
Monday we took the boys and T's friend to Skate City for a few hours. It was so fun watching them skate. Brad won the light game, that was pretty exciting for them. T went to have a sleepover last night and came home at midnight with a migraine. We were up for a while with him screaming, crying and throwing up. My poor baby!
Today we all went on a family outing to the bowling alley. D won the 1'st game by a few points, he wasn't humble by any means. I won the second game by at least 10 points. I was happy cause I sucked bad today. I got a few gutters! On our way out we noticed they had laser tag and none of us had ever played so we went for it! It was so much fun. We were all on the same team and we worked well with each other. Rog got in the top 5 players and I was just under him. The boys loved it, something we will probably do again before break is over.
We still have to go swimming, play dates with school friends, of course the holiday celebrations with the family and a few parties to attend. We are slightly fighting colds but we are not letting it slow us down. I have a few projects I'm working on and pictures to post as soon as I can.
Happy Holiday's!

Christmas Jars

My friend, neighbor and fellow blogger over at At Altitude let me barrow Christmas Jars by Jason Wright. I went into the book not having a clue what it was about. It's about a young girl who is an aspiring journalist who is being raised by an adoptive mother. Hope takes on a project that she lies about and ends up creating a friendship with this family. Hope learns there secret, can she keep this secret?  I cannot say much more without ruining the book. I have to say this is one book that had you surprised at every chapter, I smiled and I cried while reading this book. It was truly amazing and it will change the way you think about a lot of things! Maybe you will even create your own Christmas tradition.
I highly recommend this book!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Confessions of a Shopaholic  is pretty self explanatory but it's about a girl who loves to buy clothes, and accessories galore. She hates her job but can't quit cause she's in such debt. Not much else to the book. I thought I would hate this book but it turns out it was pretty good. I love to shop and at one time in my life didn't care how much stuff costs.  Never to her extreme did I shop but I wish I could! The ending was the best part of the entire book. I thought this was a fast, easy read. I do plan on reading the other shopaholic books. I really don't have much else to say about it. This will appeal to some audiences but I don't think many. I don't think the movie will be as good as the book, but I will find out.

Homemade Christmas Wreath

Every year I want a new Christmas Wreath for my front door and my front windows, but I refuse to pay the prices! I mean really a fake wreath is $20+ that's way out of my budget. So being frugal I decided I'd take a stab at making my own!
First start with a plain ol' wreath. I got this one with an ugly bow on it at Goodwill .99, I cut the bow off.

 Went next door to Dollar Tree and got a bird gathering with snow capped pine cones and a bunch of white Lillie's. I also picked out a nice silver ribbon.

 I warmed up my blue gun and hot glued the bird gathering on first then attached a couple of the flowers to the sides. I then put on the silver ribbon.

I then hung it on my front door and took tons of pictures trying to get the right shot while it's 19 degrees and barefoot outside. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was a freak! But I don't care cause I'm happy with my $4 wreath! Yes in all I estimate I spend no more than $4 and I still have flowers left over for another wreath. By the end of the year I am going to make 2 matching wreaths for my front windows.

Try 2 with Royal Icing

I ran out of powdered sugar in the middle of making my second batch of Royal Icing. I even went and bought the Meringue powder. It didn't turn out the way I wanted so I let the boys decorate when I was done.

I will be trying here again with the royal icing and Christmas cookies. I am determined to figure it out. I see so many pictures of other cookies and they look fantastic!

The Runners Rule Book

I was walking through an isle in the library last week and ran across this book:

As most of you know I pick books by the cover! So I grabbed it mostly because I had endured severe Shin splints over Thanksgiving..A very long couple weeks of pain, not running and recovery. I thought that this book would give me a little insight on how to improve my posture or foot movements to become a better runner. I was way off!
This book was actually pretty funny! It had a few helpful hints for the everyday runner but it really was geared towards people who are running marathons/races.  I am so not close to running a marathon! I'm still trying to beat my time doing 5k's! I do know that while I run to blow my nose and fart! One thing is the author a multiple marathoner states that you shouldn't run with music....I would die without my music, I run 10 times better with great music. I was even thinking on the treadmill the other morning that I was going to make a running track on my ipod to make me run faster!
Anyway if anyone reading this blog is a serious runner, trying to run a marathon I do recommend the book.

Sunday's at Tiffany's...The Movie

Just over 1 year ago I started a book club. Our first book was Sunday's at Tiffany's. I picked that book because of the cover (I do that a lot) and because I heard James Patterson was a great author. This is like 1 of 3 or so that are not a murder mystery.
Sunday's at Tiffany's the Movie was filmed in 2010 starring Alyssa Malano who I love and Eric Winter who's HOT!

Sunday's at Tiffany's is about a young girl who has an imaginary friend Michael. At the age of 10 the rules state that all imaginary friends have to leave. They are told that they will never be remembered, so no pain will be endured by either. Wrong in this case Alyssa Malano (the young girl) remembers Michael and is heart broken.  As the character grows up, Michael reappears! This is all I'm going to say because I don't want to spoil anything.

I enjoyed the book and the movie, I even cried at both. I have to say the book was better than the movie. The movie really left out some good parts like them eating ice cream at the hotel and that was a huge part of the ending. They captured the meeting up again as adults differently. I didn't like that either. I had forgotten the ending of the book so it was a nice surprise at the end. I don't read much love/romance novels or books but this was very nice and a very easy read.

What did you think of the movie or the book?

**This has been my highest viewed post, what makes people google Sunday's at Tiffany's?

What are you looking for? I'd love to hear what your thoughts are!

Expand your Icing

Here is how you can expand your icing to actually cover an entire cake! I usually buy Betty Crocker icing, place entire jar into your mixer. Place on slow to medium speed and whip for about 5 minutes. Your icing will now be thinner and almost double in size. Try and use right away. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Homemade Beignets

I had my first Beignet a couple years ago in New Orleans at  Cafe Du Monde I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I smelled just an aroma of deliciousness and coffee. As a Small plate piled high arrives at our table, the boys and are in Awe! The first bite is like heaven. I could of eaten them all day everyday of our trip.
 I wished I had bought some of there mix while I was there because over the last couple years it would be nice to enjoy a nice Beignet at home with the delicious latte.
Since a nice Nola beignet isn't just a hop skip and jump away I had to think of an alternative...Make my own! I really wanted them to turn out for not only my sake but my husbands.

I hit a home run on my first try! I couldn't believe how well they turned out, my husband was so proud of me. So whenever I'm craving a NOLA Beignet I'll just head to the kitchen!
For all my Denver friends I hear that Nonna's Cafe in Littleton is now selling Beignets.

Beignets
Recipe here. I am glad you all are excited to try my recipe. If you plan on blogging about this on your blog please link me to it. Please make sure you give credit where credit is due :)
Enjoy!
xoxo
-N

December?

OK, it's already December 7th and we still haven't seen snow. Well a dusting but that's it. Seattle has seen more snow then us. I'm so nervous we haven't gotten snow yet cause I feel like we are just going to get dumped on in a few weeks and we will be snowed in for days.

Homemade Donuts

I have finally started getting better ideas on my cooking and baking lately, so the first one I have ready to share is the Doughnuts!
I knew this would be a good start with the boys.

These were fun to make but I need to adjust the recipe. I also need to come up with some kind of glaze and toppings to go with these doughnuts. I used cinnamon/sugar mix for a few and powdered sugar on some as well. My boys thought this was so awesome!
Anyone have a good doughnut glaze or topping they would like to share?

xoxo
-N
I'll post the recipe very soon!

Fleur De Lis bucket

My new kitchen decor! I just love Fleur De Lis anything, if it wasn't so hard to find and expensive I would own more of it! But I found this one 50% off at Hobby Lobby last week.

Spicy Black Bean Soup

I went out on a limb last weekend with a new recipe. Some of you may have read I just love black beans, so I thought this would be perfect for me! I cannot remember which book I got it from but it turned out good.

                                                              Spicy Black Bean Soup:

                                                              1/2" thick piece of ham

                                                                1 tbs Vegetable oil

                                                        1 small red onion finely chopped

                                                        1 Jalapeno Chile finely chopped

                                                              4 Garlic Cloves minced

                                                             1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

                                                             1/2 tsp Dried Oregano

                                                 3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

      (I actually purchased dried black beans and soaked and cooked them for a few days)

                                                        4 cups water (add more if needed)

                                                  1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro-garnish

In Large pot, cook ham over medium-high heat until browned on both sides. Transfer to a cutting board. Reduce to medium and add oil, cook onion, stir frequently until brown. Add Jalapenos, garlic, cumin and oregano, cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add beans and water: simmer 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in cilantro. Puree mixture until smooth. Add more water to thin soup.
To Serve: ladle into bowl, cut ham sprinkle over soup. Optional to add more jalapenos, cilantro and sour cream.

I used my crock pot and cooked the soup on low for 10 hours.

Soup can refrigerate up to 3 days.

Do you have a favorite soup recipe to share?

Family Holiday Card!

I got my 50 free holiday cards from shutterfly for blogging about them! Here is a peak at our 1st ever holiday card!

Elegant Snowflake Holiday Card

Shop hundreds of holiday photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.