New Year's Gift

My friend Kai has had a tough year. He's such a great positive guy but he and his family have been hit with a lot of hard decisions this past year. By the end of the year he was feeling pretty down and not being his usual positive self. Just before New Year's Eve we were chatting and he turns his attitude around and tells me I'm gonna make 2011 my bitch.

We often exchance positive quotes to pick each other up when were having a bad day and to hear him say that, he's really kicking some butt and taking names this year.

I thought of a great way to remind him of his new 'rule' and to keep his positive attitude.

I saw this gorgeous pix on The Pioneer Woman

Makes me think of Kai so I stole borrowed it and uploaded it on picnik.

I added a bunch of text boxes and with different fonts I put on some of the quotes we share with each other.

Had to add in his new 'rule' on the bottom.

Then I printed it at Costco.

Bought an 8 X 11 picture frame at Walmart

And put it all together.

It's really hard to take a picture of a picture.

Darn flash and reflections.

I really hope he likes it and it can help him to remember to stay positive this year no matter what he faces.

Photo editing: free

Printing of photo: $1.50

Picture frame: $3.00

Total: $4.50

(sorry Kai Im not trying to be cheap)

I'm linking to these parties {here} and joining the line up is this new party

Its Blog Hop Time!

Are pigs flying???

Seriouslly, I had to go outside and check.

The hubs made dinner tonight.

(well by the time youre reading this it'll have been last night)

He seriouslly doesnt cook and if he does he'll cook saimen, hot dogs, portuguese sausage, vienna sausage or spam.

Out of nowhere yesterday he tells me hes gonna cook dinner. I know it was rude of me but my reaction was, "hun, Im not in the mood for hot dogs"

And he said No! Im really gonna cook dinner. I honestly did not believe it, we've been together for 14 years and other than the items I mentioned above, he does NOT cook. He's even been banned from the grill since he over cooks everything.

Here he is getting started. Im making fun of him and telling him I need to document this historic day.

He started out by frying some chicken.

Then my son started getting in the way and wanted to know what daddy was doing.

So after another pix for proof that this is actually hapening I let him be alone in the kitchen, so he could concentrate... hehehe

and I went to give my son a bath. We had fun and played that sneeky lil bugger!

While giving him a bath I smelled something..... yes.... burning!

I went to peek on what was going on and I saw all this smoke!

I know Im not that great at taking indoor/night time pix but this is not the case in the above pix.

All that fuzz in the pix is really smoke all over the kitchen.

No to fear though the chicken was out of the pan and he saved the dish!

He added white wine and butter and then some heavy cream then some capers and simmered a bit before putting the chicken back into the pan.

Pretty fancy suff eh for his first time.

(btw this is the same guy that swears he wont eat cream sauce on anything and tells me I dont eat capers!)

Ok so here goes.... time for dinner and the REAL taste test.

A bit salty but OOhhh Very Good!

I am truly impressed!

AND... to top it all off... after a great meal... check this out...

He washed the dishes.

Oh how I heart him!

Im linking to:

Resolutions and a LINKY PARTY

I find making New Year's Resolutions very hard.

Several years ago I made a resolution to loose 10 lbs. Sounds reasonable in 1 years time right?

By the end of the year I gained 10 lbs.

So the following year I made another resolution to loose 10 lbs.

Guess what? By the end of the year I gained another 10 lbs.

Well 20 lbs and a few years later I still have those extra pounds, but I also have a child and I'm healthy and happy. Was my resolution unrealistic? No

So what was my problem?

I had no plan, no goals.

Will I be setting myself up for disapointment if I make New Year's Resolutions again this year?

I decided to do things different.
I am not making any New Year's Resolutions
instead I will be making GOALS.

In 2011 I plan to:

Not procrastinate
Live more positive
De-Clutter, De-Stress & Simplify
Love my family and spend as much time as I can with them
Find more balance
Organize
Update my Blog
Work on my Esty shop
Learn PSE8

Those are just a few of the things that I plan to work on this year.

What are your goals or resolutions for 2011?
How do you plan on keeping them?

Share your ideas!
Link up and visit others and help encourage each other to stay on track.
Cause we all need a buddy sometimes.

Who are You #27

Its time again for another edition of Who are You?

Wow you guys are sure learning a lot about me recently.

So you know the drill, if you want to participate copy the questions and link up too!

Here are this week's questions!

1. Did you make any New Year's Revolutions?
2. What are some goals you have for 2011?
3. What is something that you got for Christmas?

4. Did you see any good movies over the holiday season? 

5. Do you do your own taxes or have someone do them for you?

Here are my answers!

1. Did you make any New Year's Revolutions?
I am not making New Year's Resolutions rather setting goals for myself throught the year. See my post about this coming up later this week.

2. What are some goals you have for 2011?

Well as I mentioned in answer #1 I'll be posting my "goals" rather than resolutions later this week.
But I will mention that one of my goals is to have my blog re-done.

3. What is something that you got for Christmas?

My favorite gift was actually just a little something my hubs put in my Christmas card. It was a coupon book with all kinds of goodies like a foot rub, full body massage, dinner, etc. I honestly cried when I got it.

4. Did you see any good movies over the holiday season? 
I havent seen a new movie since before my son was born! Pretty sad yea? But I did watch Definately Maybe with Ryan Renolds. Good movie, very cute and who can resist anything with Ryan Renolds in it? 

5. Do you do your own taxes or have someone do them for you?

My MIL used to to my taxes which is embarrassing since I have a degree in accounting. We got audited for our 06 taxes and ever since I do my own, with the help of turbo tax of course

 

Monday Night Dinner

Ugggh. Yesterday I was suffering from the Monday Blahs.

I had defrosted some ground beef before leaving for work in the morning and I got home without a clue what to make for dinner. We just had loco mocos not too long ago, meatballs and mushroom gravy followed that and I had also made spaghetti recently too.

Of course, what else does anyone do in a time like this.... head for the internet!

I looked all over for inspiration and then I remembered over at Kevin & Amanda there was a recipe for  Ultimate Baked Beans. Hey why not I got everything in my pantry and I need something different.

So here's the line up thank you for the photo Amanda, which I borrowed from her post.

Photo courtesy of Kevin & Amanda

Of course I cant just leave things alone. I put in two cans of pork n beans, well cause we like our beans.

I also had no bacon defrosted so I had to go without. Boo.... would have been really good with the bacon, well next time.

I put everything in a bowl, mixed it all up and put it in the oven for baby and me... oh wait sorry, I got carried away there. So I put the bean and hamburger mixture in an 8X8 baking dish and baked for a total of about 45 mins.

Since I didnt have the bacon, I went for the tried and true... the one that every local can count on

SPAM!

Now, now dont be hating!

Spam is good stuff.

And so while the beans were in the oven and the spam was on the stove, what did I do?

I have to share this part cause Im so proud of myself and I dont care if it's my OCD side.

I wash all my dishes.

Yup, I really do.

That way we dont have a sink overflowing with dishes after dinner and thats more time to hang out as a family. Actually it doesnt really work out in my favor. The rule in my house is whoever cooks doesnt wash dishes after dinner. But when I cook I wash as I go which means the hubs hardly has any dishes to wash afterwards. Maybe I should re think my strategy???

Alright so dinner is ready... time for the taste test...

Really good with the Spam, prob would have been even better with bacon.

I could really taste the ketchup and the sweetness of the sugar so I would probaby cut back on those two ingredients next time. Other than that, oh this was such a life saver!

Thaks Amanda fo another great recipe.

Here's what her's looked like, waaayyy nicer than mine.

Photo courtesy of Kevin & Amanda

What is your go to recipe site or life saver recipe?

And dont forget, if you like what you see, please vote for me

Im linking to some of the parties {here}

Ringing in the New Year!

This New Year's was a nice mellow one spend with friends, eating, drinking and just kicking back.

We potlucked and BYOB and enjoyed eachothers company.

So those burgandy mushrooms I made came out fab! They were a hit! I picked up some french sourdough bread to dip in the juices, yum-o!

Here's our spread...

The star of the show was this pig.

They cooked him in one of those Cuban cook boxes.

He was yummy, especially his crispy skin which we cut off and threw into the wok to cook again!

Here's a little close up of our dinner

My son was loving it, he kept saying piggy piggy.

Here's the kids table... what a mess?! All those fireworks and wait... why is there pliers and duct tape?!?!

Evil lil pyros I tell you.

Here are some of the guys manning the cooking box.

And my hubby manning the wok, frying up some won tons.

And heres what my son thought about all the noise...

He just couldnt handle it.

Sat in his chair and kept quiet for most of the night, which is TOTALLY NOT like him.

Sit still? Stay quiet? Not my son!

And of course boys will be boys....

It's all fun and games till someone gets burnt.

And hows this kid? Just like his father I tell you. (my boss's son)

He's 11 I can understand why boys at 11 would duct tape a fountain to the seat of his bike and ride around.

But my husband did that when he was 30.

Luckily no one was harmed in the making of this post or for the rest of the night for that matter.

Just then my camera battery died, damn, should have doubled checked that one before we left the house. Oh well, my friend got a great group shot of us at the end of the night.

2010 is over and done and I cant wait to move on to better things. Cheers to 2011.

Hope you all had an amazing new years and a safe one!

See you in 2011