Making Progress

We have been hitting the “financial makeover” hard now for almost a month and the biggest change that we have made has been our eating habits. As a part of my commitment to the financial makeover I am really trying my hardest to eat breakfast at home and before I leave the house. Well this means that I get hungry at like 9:30 am!! So I am doing my best to bring healthy snacks with me to work so that I can eat before I go to lunch.  I am proud to say that I have been meal planning and cooking at home pretty much every night and then taking the leftovers to work the next day. We have only went out to eat twice since the beginning of the month and it is amazing how much money we have already saved! Just for kicks I added up just my total spent on eating out for the month of January and I seriously wanted to cry when I realized how much money that I “ate.” I knew that I was spending a lot, I just didn’t realize how much was a lot!! Plus that wasn’t even counting what Brian spent. I think my next goal is going to be focused on how to save money at the grocery store.


The food thing is the my biggest weakness, especially being pregnant. One day last week I really wanted this yummy Oreo Mousse stuff that I make and of course I don’t have all the ingredients in the house to make it, why because it wasn’t on the meal plan for this week!! Of course not!! So I broke down and begged Brian to run to the store. Yes I know that was bad and it isn’t in our budget but I HAD TO HAVE IT!! But it was delicious and we had desert left overs for a few days and that was well worth it!

We got our tax refund check last week and I am so very happy to say that we PAID OFF BRIAN'S CAR!!!!!!  {had to put that in caps because that is so stinking awesome}  So check one debt off our snowball and now onto my car!  Hope to have it paid off by the end of April.  The rest of our tax refund went into savings for use either while I am on maternity leave or to buy baby items.  This weekend I am going to a consignment sale that is really big in our area.  I have never been to it so I am hoping to find lots of great deals on boy stuff. 


 

Puerco Pibil

Have you ever seen the movie Once Upon A Time In Mexico with Johnny Depp?  In this movie Johnny Depp's character is obsessed with this pork dish called Puerco Pibil.  At one point he even shoots a cook because well, it is just THAT GOOD!!  I come home from work one day several years ago to find Brian watching this movie and then tells me he wants me to find the recipe for this dish.  Well he was in luck because there is a tutorial at the end of the DVD that tells you how to make it!  So I watched it about a million times to write down the recipe and then we set out in search of all the ingredients. 

Ingredients
5 pounds pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
5 tablespoons annato seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole black pepper
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
2 habanero Peppers, fresh or dried, cleaned and minced
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
8 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons salt
5 lemons
1 shot of tequila
banana leaves (optional)

Directions


Grind the annato seeds, cumin seeds, whole peppercorns, whole cloves, and whole allspice in a spice grinder or coffee grinder.

Blend the cleaned and chopped habanero peppers with the orange juice, vinegar, garlic and salt.

Mix the dry spices with the liquid.

Add the juice of 5 lemons and a nice splash of tequila.

Place the cubed pork butt in a large zip lock bag and add the marinade. Soak 4-6 hours, in refrigerator, turning several times. I often let mine marinate overnight.  I find that it soaks in so much more of the flavor this way.

Line (8x13) baking pan with banana leaves. Pour in pork along with the marinade. Cover with Banana leaves and seal the pan with foil. Bake in a 325 F degree oven for 4 hours.

UPDATE:I guess that I should have said how much that we LOVE this dish.  As a matter of fact my entire family loves it and it is a request that is often made by my brother and my dad, not just my husband.  :)  I even bribed my brother to help build us a fence with the promise of making this dish for him when it was finished.  Guess what it worked and we have an awesome fence around our yard now!  We have even had this for Christmas dinner more than one year. :) 


I have included the You Tube video for the cooking tutorial that is on the DVD.  It has scenes from the movie in it. 

Things I Never Thought I Would Hear Myself Say

Last night I was getting ready to give Lauren a bath and she said she had to potty.  I said you want to pee on the potty and she said NO in the bathtub!!  So today I bring to you, Things I Never Thought I Would Hear Myself say!!

No Lauren you cannot pee in the bathtub!

Honey, your butt is not broke…it is supposed to have a crack in it.

Get your finger out of my belly button…you cannot see your baby brother that way.

Does my butt taste good? No? Then stop pretending to eat it.


I am going to try and keep track of these and funny things that Lauren does so that I can look back and remember these times.  What funny things do you find yourself saying to your kids?

Happiness Is...

Last week I was on an emotional roller coaster. I was in a funk and not a good kind either. :) I am not a huge Valentine’s Day fan, I don’t think that I really ever have been so when Brian and I decided not to spend any money on each other I really didn’t think that it would bother me…until I bought him a card and all I got was a text message. I thought that it was sweet to buy him a card and I also tried to clean up a bit around the house, something that I don’t normally do. So when he gets home from work, with no card and complains that what I did around the house wasn’t the way it should have been done I was a little bummed. Ok not a little, a lot. I didn’t say anything until the next day and then when I brought it up Brian told me that cards are a waste of money and we agreed not to spend any so I should be happy that he did something for free. I was hurt and offended and horribly upset by this. We have since talked and hashed a bunch of stuff out but the initial sting is still there.

And then I have a friend who is going through a difficult situation and has been on my mind all week. Without divulging her personal information I would just ask that you pray for her and her husband. I take so many things for granted with Lauren and my pregnancy and I am just truly thankful for all of the blessings in my life, so today I am doing a Happiness Is post to remind myself.


Happiness Is…

Snow, yes I said snow. This is the first snow of the season that I haven’t been dreading and wishing it away like it was the plague. I even had to work all weekend and get out in the snow but I still didn’t mind it as much as I did all the other times it has snowed this year. Usually I like snow, it makes everything look so clean and bright…at least for a little while. But every time it has snowed this year it has been on an important holiday or I had something very important to do that I didn’t want ruined by the weather. This time was different and I hopefully will be able to enjoy it and get Lauren out to play in it!

A garage to park my car in. I am so thankful that we live in a house, with a two car garage, that I can park my car in. I love not having to warm it up, clean it off, or trek out into the elements to get into the car.

Hugs, snuggles and kisses. From Brian or from Lauren. Saturday morning Lauren has just woke up and I was holding her sitting on our bed and she gave me a great big squeeze and then kissed me not once but twice. The first one was just normal everyday smooch but the second one caught me off guard and really made me take a step back, she grabbed my head with both of her hands and pulled my head down towards her so that she could kiss me on the forehead. Suddenly everything that I had been worrying about and fretting over and upset about just melted away from that one simple act of love from my two year old! Even now as I think back about it, it brings tears to my eyes.

Feeling the baby move inside my belly. I love it. The feeling is so indescribable. It is truly amazing to feel him kick, punch, so flips or whatever is going on inside of there! Each and every movement is special no matter how many times I have felt it or even if it feels like he is trying to push his way out!

Getting the mail and finding an amazing gift from an awesome blog friend. I came home Saturday to find a beautiful necklace from Kim. I had to immediately put it on and send her a thank you email! It is a picture necklace with little baby feet on it and a blue charm. Such a perfect gift! Thanks Kim! You have been such an encouragement to me and I am so glad that we have “met”!

Getting up and going to work because that means that I have a job and am bringing in a paycheck to help support my family.

This week is going to be a better week I just know it!!

Baby Bump - 21 Weeks

I can't believe that I am at the half way mark already.  It just doesn't seem possible!  We are elated that we are having a boy!  We are coming up with ideas for his nursery and are of course thinking of names.  If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. 

I have started to get some heartburn, well not some, MAJOR heartburn.  I remember it when I was pregnant with Lauren but it seems to have started much earlier this time around.  My belly is really out there and Brian said to me in the most loving way "Man you are really getting big" I could have punched him!  Only I know that he loves my baby bump so I didn't. 

At my ultrasound last week they said the baby is measuring right on track and looks great.  He sure is a mover.  He loves to kick and jump or do whatever when I lie down at night.  Lets hope this doesn't mean he is going to be a night owl!

These are the most recent bump pics.  I am 21 weeks today!  Sorry for the bad lighting and the spots.  It is hard to take pictures of yourself in the mirror and I just realized that it needs to be cleaned.  :)

I ♥ Faces Week 7 - “I Wanna Dance!” Photo Challenge

It's "I Wanna Dance" week over at I ♥ Faces. This shot is from Aaron and Mollie's wedding back in September. I don't remember if this shot is from their first dance as husband and wife or not but I love it because of the look on Aaron's face.

If you want to see more dancing pictures head on over to I ♥ Faces and check out the other entries for the week.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Wishing everyone a happy and romantic Valentine's day!

Lauren also wants to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

Financial Makeover

Brian and I are embarking on a new experience this year. And I {we} are so excited because it completely aligns with our financial goals for 2010.

This is the basic of what we hope to accomplish with our finances this year.

1. We need to pay off.
- Brian’s Car
- My Car
- Credit Card/Personal Loan

2. Prepare for the new baby and having two children in day care

3. Start saving for retirement and build our savings

So now to the exciting news. The company that I work for does what they call a Financial Makeover for 4 families in our community and they compete to reduce debt, increase savings and get financially fit. This year they have decided to do an internal financial makeover with 4 employees and Brian and I were selected. As I have already mentioned, Brian and I don’t have a lot of debt. We have a mortgage, two car loans, one credit card and one personal loan. We have set pretty lofty goals to hopefully be debt free, with the exception of our mortgage, by the end of 2010. A goal that should be 100% achievable and we are so excited to get started.

Our biggest budget leak is eating out and if you remember one of my other goals for 2010 is meal planning. I have been hitting it pretty hard the last couple of weeks and it is going great so far. I have been so much better about bringing my lunch to work as well. Eating out is a huge expense and I was doing it every single day. So my commitment to myself and to my husband is to cut back, way back! Along with meal planning I am also trying to make a conscious effort to pack snacks to eat throughout the day. Being pregnant makes this a difficult task! Somedays I am hungry all day long and other days I am not. Plus I crave things that I don’t necessarily have on hand. So I am working to manage all of that. :)

We are tracking our spending on the biggest spreadsheet that I have ever seen. Everything that we spend goes onto this spreadsheet, including bills, groceries and misc items. This way we can see exactly where our money is going every month and make adjustments to the areas that need improvement.

I look forward to sharing this journey and what we are learning with everyone and would love to hear any tips, tricks, and advice that you all may have!

Baby # 2 is a..........

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really wish that I had pictures from the sonogram to share however I don't have a scanner and the DVD that they gave me won't let me transfer still shots for some reason.  I will have my mom scan the pictures and get them up soon.  But I wanted to share that Lauren is going to have a baby brother.  Brian and I could not be more excited!!

I ♥ Faces - Week 6 - “We Heart Kisses” Photo Challenge!

It has been a while since I have entered a photo into an I ♥ Faces photo challenge but this week I thought I would give it another try.  This is from the engagement session that I did last fall with my friend Jen. She and Corey are getting married in June and I will be shooting their wedding!!!!  8 months pregnant!  :)







We have our sonogram this afternoon and I cannot wait to get our first look at Baby #2 and find out whether Lauren will be getting a brother or a sister!!!

Get To Know Me A Little Bit More

Hair Color: dark brown
Eye color: Hazel
Profession: Assistant Branch Manager at a Credit Union
Relationship status: Married to my wonderful Husband Brian. 5 years in August

My Favorites:

Favorite color: Purple
Favorite movie: Beaches although I cry each and everytime I watch it and sometimes I will skip the end just to avoid blubbering like a baby!
Favorite store: Target because I seem to go there ALL THE TIME
Favorite childhood memory: just hanging out and getting my brother's in trouble
Favorite hobby: taking pictures and editing them
Favorite song/singer: Garth Brooks
Favorite school subject: Photography
Favorite vacation destination: Ireland
Favorite food: Mexican
Favorite restaurant: The Melting Pot

This or That

Coke or Pepsi : either. I don’t really care. BUT it does have to be fountain
Beer or wine: wine
Coffee or tea: tea
Apple Juice or O.J.: both
Summer or Winter: Summer
Cats or dogs: Dogs
Salty or sweet: I like a mixture of both

Plane or boat: Plane
Morning or night: Night
Money or love: Love
Breakfast or dinner: dinner
Forgiveness or revenge: Forgiveness
House or apartment: House, we have owned for about 4 years. I love it.
Like to cook: I LOVE TO COOK!!!

Have You Ever:

Got a speeding ticket: Yes
Wished you were someone else: yes
Cried during a movie: Yes, I like chick flicks and they tend to do that to me.
Biggest mistake: not having more drive and ambition
Your proudest accomplishment: my daughter
Dream job: I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up!

Most recent desire is: to be finanically stable enough for me to stay at home with our children.

Special talents: photography, I think, some may beg to differ
Where would you rather be at the moment: righ now I am at home and there is no place that I would rather be!  Later I will be at work and BOO for that!
Famous person you want to meet: Patrick Depmsey although my husband would say no to that one! 
Song to be played at your funeral: Amazing Grace

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Well I seem to be on a roll with my book reading goal for 2010. It is amazing where I find time to read but I carry a book in my purse so that whenever I have down time, like waiting in line at the pharmacy, or am on my lunch break at work I read and it has been so relaxing. Actually I have been feeling pretty good about stuff the past few weeks. Things at my job have changed and they are so much better. Unfortunately we had to let someone go in order to achieve this but it has benefited my entire team. It is amazing that one person can drag everyone else down. Since that person has been gone though it seems like a giant weight has been lifted off everyone. The mood and the tone are so much better.

 

Anyways back to the latest book that I have finished, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards. I really enjoyed this book. It is set back in the 60s and travels through this couples life after having twins, a girl and a boy. The husband, a doctor, delivers his children and discovers that the girl has Down syndrome. After having flashbacks to his childhood of his sister who died at the age of 12 due to a heart condition combined with her own Down syndrome he decides to tell his wife that the child has died. Can you imagine…going through life feeling this emptiness, this grief for losing a child, only for them to still be alive. Well as you can imagine this did not work out so well for the doctor. It caused his wife so much grief and pain and carrying the guilt of lying around with him for all of those years did not fair well in their marriage. As I was reading this book I just kept thinking of my friends that have lost children either at birth or shortly their after. All that grief and pain and sadness. How selfish of this man to think that he was going to spare his wife the pain of raising a Down’s child. Instead of sparing her he created a wall in between them and caused her so much pain, not to mention what he did to his son who thought that his twin sister had died at birth, his birth as well. This book is also a movie that aired on Lifetime a while back. I DVRed it with the intention of watching it right away but then I just never got around to it. While I was lying in bed all day yesterday from having the nasty stomach flu I decided to watch it.  I am glad that I read the book first, the book of course was so much better.  The movie left out so many things and the timeline was a little off.  It was still a pretty good movie though the book was WAY better!

Lauren's 2 year checkup

Man it is still so hard to believe that I have a 2 year old. When she was born it seemed so far off. It is amazing how much that she has grown and changed in the last two years.

We went to see the pediatrician for her checkup and she is right on track and even advanced in some areas. The doctor said that she talks like a three year old and was very impressed by her. As he was leaving the room she said "bye doctor!" He stopped and turned around and repeated what she said and was like that is cute and then he said "very impressive" Yeah that is right my kid is a genius! :) Maybe I shouldn't go that far but she is pretty dang smart. What can I say she gets that from her mother. :)

She is 35 ½ inches and she is in the 90th percentile for height. She is one of the biggest kids in her class and now that she has moved to the 2’s class she is also the youngest…at least for a few more weeks till a couple more get moved up.

She weighs 30 pounds and is in the 75th percentile for weight.

I think she is going through a growth spurt too because her appetite has gotten better and she is eating all kinds of stuff and asking for seconds!

Cream Jello

When I was trying to think of what to serve at Lauren's party, Mollie showed me this idea for cream jello.  She said she tried some at the deli in the grocery store.  I thought it was kind of weird at first but it actually is really good!

ingredients:

2 large packages (6 oz each) Jell-o (any flavor)
1 packet of unflavored Knox gelatin
4 cups boiling water
half of a container of vanilla ice cream about 3/4 quart

Directions
In a large bowl combine the Jell-o, unflavored gelatin and the boiling water. Whisk until dissolved.

Now quickly add the ice cream until it is melted and combined.

Once mixed well, pour into a 9″ x 13″ pan. Refrigerate overnight, cut into squares and serve. If you are doing this for a party, I suggest putting the cut pieces into cupcake liners.


The ice cream will magically float to the top of the jello and leaves this yummy creaminess on top.  Delicious!  If you look closely in the picture you can see the dark red of the jello layer and the the lighter creamy layer on top.  Looks like it took a lot of work doesn't it!

Baby Bump

My mom took this picture of me at Lauren's birthday party.  In fact I was looking through the pictures and found several of my belly.  :)  So here I give you my first official belly photo for baby #2 at 17 weeks 2 days.  I am currently 18 weeks 5 days.  We go for our sonogram one week from today and I can't wait to see the little guy or girl!

Lauren's 2nd Birthday

I am extremely late in getting these pictures posted but I guess that better late than never!  Lauren turned two last Monday and we had her party on the 23rd. 

I did a lollipop theme if you remember from the invitations that I posted a while back.  This is what the centerpieces for the tables looked like.  Lots and lots of lollipops.

The food.  We had lots of candy with the lollipops and I wasn't really in the mood to do lots of appetizers or a meal so we just had desert.  We had Red Velvet Cake pops, Marshmallow Pops, Oreo Ball Pops, and Ice cream Jell-O. With Cherry Limeade Punch to drink. 

Lauren eating one of the cake balls.  Poor thing, she wanted one so badly while I was getting them ready and I kept telling her she had to wait for her party! That is my dad that is holding her.

My mom made the cake and did a fantastic job!

Lauren was so concerned with the suckers on top.  She wanted them off and wanted to eat them!

Grandma and Aunt Mollie getting Lauren to take a bite out of the cake.

We are teaching Lauren to share...so Aunt Mollie and Uncle Aaron kept getting licks of her suckers.

Aunt Mollie even got it in her hair.

Lauren and her daddy.  Isn't he handsome??  I think so.

And the whole family!

Lauren's party went over so well.  We are so blessed by all of our friends and family.