Big, BIG news!

Hello Friends!! 

We have big news...HUGE!! Ready!? ......Jesse starts full time at the mines on Monday, January 23rd!! WOOOO!! This means... double in pay and no more contractor!! :) We are beyond excited!! Originally, we were told that he would only have to work for the contractor for about 3 months... however, that was wrong. So, we've been waiting patiently..ok, maybe a bit impatiently... for this to finally happen! Hello, MONEY!! 

Some other big news... Do you all remember a few weeks ago when I told you about that job I interviewed for had reposted and how I never heard anything back from the company I interviewed with. Well, I FINALLY sent an email to the president of the company and I literally received a phone call from the director of the so. ill office within an hour! I was shocked! She was very nice and assured me that the situation would be handled appropriately and that they would help me find a full time job! Also, the job I applied for had reposted because the company decided to wait to hire due to changes in their budget. So, since the job is still posted, my resume and application FINALLY got sent to them. I heard from the lady this morning and she said that she sent it all over to the company! yayy! I also received several phone calls from them today asking how they could help me and assuring me that they were eagerly looking for a job that would suit me. I guess a little bit of complaining can go a long way! :) Needless to say, I'm very happy that I sent that email. Maybe now I can find a full time job in my field! 

Well, tomorrow we are going to visit Jesse's Granny, Great-Grandma, Dad, Stepmom, and little brother. We're super excited! Jesse's Granny is up for a visit from Florida, so we're definitely excited to see and spend some time with her! 

That's all she wrote folks... Have a great weekend! :) 

No heat and diaper rashes!

Well, last night our heat went out. Yep, that's right. In the middle of the night and in the middle of winter... we had absolutely NO heat! AHHHH!!! I woke up to a house that was 54 degrees! Jesse tried everything this morning to try to fix it... but nothing was working. Luckily, our landlord came over and fixed it. In the meantime, I got a few space heaters from my parent's house and we made due with those. It got quite a bit warmer during the day though...it got up to a whole 60 degrees in this house. Needless to say, I had Gabe all bundled up. hah! He was wearing socks, a sleeper, and a hat. He was definitely warm. 

With that being said, I frantically started cleaning our house today since our landlord was coming over. I don't like our house being messy when we expect company... so this was just the boost I needed to get it clean. I managed to finish the little area for Gabe's toys in our living room and hang a few more pictures up! :) I must say, our house is starting to look better... slowly but surely! 

So, today I realized that Gabe has NEVER had a diaper rash...and he's 6 1/2 months old! I don't know how common this is or if it really is a big deal... but for us, it is. I made it a goal when we had him that he would not ever have a diaper rash. So far, so good! :) What's our secret weapon!? Baby Powder of course! I baby powder his little butt all the time.. and when he had diarrhea this past week, I also used some vaseline to keep it from getting too red and dry! Works wonders I tell you! :) 

It's a Pinterest kind of day!

Today I want to share some of my favorite home ideas from Pinterest. These are all things that I swear I will get around to doing eventually! 

Enjoy! :) 

Love this...going to do it in black and red! 

Such a cute idea! :) 

This pictures says it all! <3

OK.. when we get a bigger house.. I am totally going to find curtains like these.

Definitely matches our living room theme! :)

With an "S" of course... This past weekend I hung up some pictures...and I have the perfect spot for this! 

I LOVE this! I think it's a very classy, yet modern style for a front door "wreath" 

So true! I'm definitely working on Gabe's schedule these days!

How stinkin' cute is this!? I love this idea!

"Time Spent with Family is Worth Every Second" 

Love this twist on a wall clock! :)

Don't forget that you, too, can follow me on Pinterest. Just click ...

HERE!

Happy Pinning Friends! :)  

Bacon wrapped potato skins

I realized that I haven't posted a recipe on here in quite some time. So tonight, I want to share a new recipe that I tried recently. I got this recipe from Rachael Ray... I LOVE her! Her show always makes me want to cook some good food! :) 

Anyways, the other night I made us a steak and potato dinner. Nothing special about the steak...but the potatoes are what I want to share with you all. They're bacon wrapped potato skins...yummm!!! so delicous!! I mean, anything with bacon is good, right!? 

So, here's the recipe from Rachael Ray's site. 

Ingredients

• 2 large baking potatoes
• EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for liberal drizzling
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup super-sharp white cheddar
• 8 slices bacon
• 
  

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Rub potatoes with a little oil and season skins with salt and pepper. Roast about 40 minutes until just tender when poked with tines of a fork. Remove potatoes and cool.

When potatoes have cooled enough to handle, halve potatoes lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh, season with salt and pepper, and mash with sour cream, butter, cheese, horseradish and chives. Fill potato skins with mashed potatoes and wrap each potato entirely in bacon, overlapping slices a little as you wrap around the skins. Arrange on baking rack over baking sheet and roast until bacon crispy, 15-20 minutes.

Ok, so I made some slight variations. I didn't use sour cream in my potato mixture and I also used some fresh shredded sharp cheddar cheese instead of the white cheddar. I also added some fresh minced garlic! However, they still turned out totally delicious. I do suggest cooking them on a baking rack.. Unfortunately, I don't have one...but I do think the bacon would have cooked more evenly if I did! :)

Speaking of Rachael Ray... I am absolutely obsessed with all of her cookware! I've decided that when we move and get a nicer house, one of my first steps is going to be swapping out all of my current baking pans, dish pans, cooking utensils, etc... for all Rachael Ray things! I also have a slight obsession with her EVOO bottle that she uses on the show to pour it! I am for SURE getting one of those soon! Here's a few pics of the items on my wish list! 

Happy Cooking Friends...Have a Great week! :) 

2012. New Year. Fresh Start

Well, I just realized that I hadn't posted my goals for 2012. I'm not big on making new year resolutions...because most of the time I never accomplish them or I forget about them 2 months down the road. But, I'm going to post them...so just in case I forget, you all can remind me. I made my goals fairly simple for this year. Some are personal goals and a few are goals that we have for our family. 

We're determined that 2012 is going to be a great year for us. We've had our share of hardships this past year...so it can only get better. Jesse's getting ready to get hired on full time at the mines, and I've been applying for all the jobs I can in my field. So, with a little bit of hope and lots of prayers...I'm determined that something will come through. 

So, yes, 2012 is going to be even better for us. We're staying positive about this. :) 

Now, here's my top 12 goals for 2012. 

Cold, Hard Truth

Hello Friends... 

I have a sleeping baby boy on me right now...so I thought this was the perfect time to get some blogging time in! 

I hate to admit this but I've never been too good at forgiving or forgetting. Just ask anyone I know... I'm not proud of it and it is something I'm working on. But, with that being said.. there are two truths on this subject: 

1. My husband is quicker to forgive than I. 

2. He's teaching me to expect less of people I expected more from... and to realize that some people are just plain selfish. 

Now... I don't want to be a downer or anything...but like I said, truth is...my husband can forgive and forget easier than me. Something I've realized a lot lately. And with that in mind...  here's a little lesson on respect, forgiveness, and family. 

I was blessed enough to be adopted by a loving family that I know will do anything for me. I have great set of people that I love to call family...and I couldn't ask for anyone better. I know that they will always respect me and forgive me for anything...because that's what family does. I'm also blessed to have a few good friends that I basically consider family as well. The same goes for them as well... I know they're always there for me and that they'd die for me if they had too...and they know I'd do the same for them. 

Now, I think it's important to know that we should ALWAYS respect and honor our family. I mean...they're the ones that are always going to be in your life...like it or not. However, respect goes both ways... if you want to be respect, you gotta show a little respect in return. I mean, seriously...it's not rocket science people!! You love, honor, and respect your family members no matter what. You don't let others talk about your family and get away with it. And you certainly don't let them think it's ok to do so. Show a little respect. 

Anyway... on to another subject. Gabe was sick for about 4 days this past week. Thankfully, he's a lot better now. We had him on pedialyte for 24 hours... my little guy couldn't seem to keep anything down and he had diarrhea. :( I'm so glad that's over. He's getting so big and talking so much more these days. He's been trying to sit up a lot more too. Such a big boy! 

Did you all see that story about the young widowed mother that shot and killed an intruder? How amazing was that? Good for her! When I thought about it... I figured that I would have done the exact same thing. I mean, seriously, you do what you have to do to protect your children. If you can prevent harm in any way... you go to extraordinary measures to do so. You don't sit around and wait for something to happen...you get up and do something about it to prevent it. That's a lesson I think some should learn from this brave, young mother. I think she shows us an important part of being a parent. :) 

Now, here's some pics of my favorite little boy! 

A look back on 2011... Cheers to 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone! 

Hope you all had a great night... 

I spent my new years with my 2 favorite boys... 

Of course, Gabe passed out well before midnight! :) 

Looking back on 2011... I tried to think of the perfect way to describe our year. 

and here it is... 

"I love this crazy, tragic - sometimes almost magic- Awful beautiful Life" 

-Darryl Worley

Now, here's a look back on our year... 

We got married on January 22, 2011!

We went to Lumiere Casino in StL for our Honeymoon!

We endured a very, very hard pregnancy!

We went to Orlando, FL for our first vacation! 

I worked on decorating our home! 

We spent 2 weeks at home on bedrest...and another 2 weeks in the hospital!

We welcomed Gabriel Lee on June 20, 2011!

We spent 2 months in Carbondale hospital and Cardinal Glennon

Gabriel finally got to come home on August 20, 2011!

First days at home...

We went back to Cardinal Glennon for 2 nights for Gabe's hernia surgery...

Gabe celebrated his 1st Halloween... as a PUMPKIN!

Of course...we didn't forget about our baby girl, Rylee Grey!

We celebrated our first Christmas as a family of 3! 

And that's our year in pictures... 

Hope you all had a great 2011 as well! I'd say our year was pretty great, despite all of the hospital stays. We have a beautiful, healthy, baby boy...life is great! 

Cheers to a New Year! 

We know 2012 is going to be even better for our family!