making laundry detergent

I have been making my own laundry detergent for a few months now...it saves me SO much money, and works really well for our household.

 These are the ingredients....Washing SODA, Borax and Ivory Soap bars (although I am sure you could use any soap bar depending on your fragrance desired--we use Ivory because I can get 10 bars at the dollar store for $4)

Recipe

1/2 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1 grated bar of soap

I usually triple this to make at one time to fill the jar below.

Grate bar of soap and combine with other ingredients. Then, I put it all through the food processor to grind fine. ( I find this helps for the soap flakes to dissolve in our washer ).

 Finished product

I usually use 2-3 teaspoons (and keep a spoon right in the jar) per load. 2 for a medium load and 3 for a large load, but you can adjust as needed.

Next I want to try making my own dishwasher detergent (but I have some store bought to finish), and then move into making my own cleaning products. I have this book that I bought in Philadelphia that tells you all products to make using natural items and essential oils. LOVE it!

menu for the week

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I know we did! We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws...Christmas Day with our friends, John and Laura...and enjoyed talking to my parents and Nick, Cory and Lucy on Christmas Day too!

I am off this week...so it is a lot of days spent cooking, cleaning and organizing closets...it is SO nice to be home. I have been off since last Tuesday, and I know this Monday will be hard for me to go back.

So, better late than ever...

Monday-Shrimp and Crab Creamy Pasta (Williams and Sonoma)
Tuesday-Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie with baked potatoes and rolls
Wednesday-Tacos (hard and soft)
Thursday-Rockfish (thanks to Todd's cousin Nick), red potatoes, salad
Friday-lamb, twice baked potatoes, creamed spinach and salad
Saturday-Chili
Sunday-Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, broccoli and asparagus

Today, hubby and I went up to Kent Island to look at a house for a job bid (paint and carpet) and then we stopped at the outlets on the way home...I scored a new Coach wallet for $46 (including tax!), and we exchanged a sweater that I bought Todd the wrong size. I was so mad that I did that, but he ended up getting something different anyway...so it worked out.

We stopped at Blockbuster to use a gift card we got (thanks Mike and Krista) and are going to curl up tonight in front of the fire and watch Knight and Day....and the new Wall Street Movie.

Have a great week!

Meal Plan and weekend catch up

We had a great weekend...Todd got some winterizations done for a few houses, and I got the house decorated for Christmas. We went Saturday afternoon to cut down our own Christmas tree. I think this was a first for me, it was so much fun. $40 for any size tree, and we got a beauty! (pictures to follow...)

Yesterday, Todd went to work on his duck blind for hunting...and I stayed home in my PJs ALL day. It was great. I cooked a roast port, and we just vegged out in front of the fire in the evening. Today, I am home sick and after a trip to the Dr. , I have a sinus and ear infection She wrote a script for a Z-pak and some ear drops...should be good as new soon!

Mon-Spaghetti
Tues-BLTs with fries
Wednesday-Book Club/pizza
Thursday-pork chops, mashed potatoes, baked beans

Then we are on our own for Friday and the weekend. I am leaving work early to meet Laura and go to the Philadelphia airport to pick Cory up from the airport, and head to King of Prussia Mall this weekend to shop, shop shop!

Happy Holidays!

LID!!!!!!!!

It's official.....we are paper pregnant!!! Our log in date (LID) is 11/8/2010. Now we still have a long road to go, but this is a huge milestone and we couldn't be happier.

I'm off to www.etsy.com to find the most perfect hand stamped necklace to mark this specaial date, and to enjoy a glass of wine to celebrate!!

Menu for the week

Monday-Chicken cordon Blue with rice

Tuesday-Sausage, tomato and arugula pasta

Wednesday-sea scallops with brussel sprouts and bacon

Thursday-tuna with mashed potatoes and salad

Friday-steak and baked potatoes

This weekend I will be decorating for Christmas. We are staying home for Christmas this year...so we are getting a real tree, I am putting the train set up around the bottom....and looking forward to a relaxing holiday season. Next weekend I am travelling to King of Prussia Mall with some girlfriends to go shopping, and we can't wait! We are also going in to the city (Philadelphia) for dinner that Saturday night...it's going to be so much fun! 

Thanksgiving 2010 in the Southern Caribbean

 We took a 9 night cruise from Miami to the Southern Caribbean this Thanksgiving...it was wonderful! We travelled with Air Tran from Baltimore to Miami then with NCL cruise line. Our ship was the Norwegian Dawn.

Our ports of call were Samana, Tortola, Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts

 What a view in Antigua

Max, my new friend!

 Me and my wonderful hubby one evening before one of the fantastic shows on board the ship

On Thanksgiving, we were in St Kitts. This was our lobster lunch...then it was turkey and all the fixings on the cruise ship that night....delicious!

It was a chilly arrival back home to 30 degree weather...and we are expecting to get some snow this weekend! I miss the 80 degree weather and sun already....next trip is to England to see my parents in February, we can't wait!

Weekly Meal Plan

I've been slacking with this recently...and am back on the band wagon, and my checking account thanked me! I only spent $68 at the grocery store this week!

Monday-Cheeseburgers and Fries
Tuesday-Chicken picatta with fresh stuffed pasta
Wednesday-shrimp with basil and tomato pasta
Thursday-Leftovers
Friday-Steak, mashed potatoes, salad
Saturday-Scossa-it's Waterfowl this weekend
Sunday-Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Have a great week!

Shutterfly

It's almost that time of year....yes, you guessed it, it's time to start thinking about Christmas Cards....I was blog hopping and found this link:

http://bit.ly/sfly2010  to receive 50 FREE Christmas Cards....what?! 50 FREE?! I Love Shutterfly for almost all of my picture needs...and I LOVE the idea of beautiful Christmas photo cards...with no fancy note, just pop in the envelope and mail them off...easy peasy!

Head over using the link above and get your FREE cards too!

Lucy's baptism

We had the honor of being asked to be Godparents to our best friend's baby girl, Lucy in July....Lucy was born August 13, 2010 and this weekend we travelled to SC for her baptism.

 Lucy and I before the baptism...all dressed up and ready to go!

 Lucy in the car with her pearls on--the perfect baptism gift! I had to start her out right.

What a special day...we can't thank Nick and Cory enough for asking us to be part of Lucy's special day and her life....we love you guys so much!!

Today is the day!!

After nearly 2 years....our Dossier is heading to China today!! Yahoo!!!

Dossier COMPLETE

Wow...what a day yesterday was! We FINALLY received our paperwork back from the DC Chinese Consulate with the final authentication stamps before everything can head to China in the form a of our dossier! Of course there was a hiccup along the way...but Todd stepped up and really showed me what a wonderful Father he will be to our baby girl. I think I fell in love all over again....

So, last night, we packaged everything up and make 2 photocopies of all that paperwork and got it in the last Fed Ex pick up to head to TX to our agency for review and submission to CHINA! I can't believe this day finally arrived. We started the paperchase pn December 17, 2008. There were some reasons it took us so long...that I will discuss one day, but mostly it was our agency we used for the home study. (Slow as a snail) But now, we are hopeful for Friday. Dossiers leave our agency and go to China every Friday. I really hope there aren't any errors and we make it this week. That would be the best gift to us ever right now.

Keep posted...next up....LID!! YAY!!

We are headed to Charleston this weekend for our God-daughter's baptism and to celebrate our Best Friends Birthday....what a fun weekend to one of our favorite places. : )

Adoption Update and more

Today we sent all our paperwork off to the necessary Chinese Consulates. What a relief! They say the turn around time is 4 days, and don't you know I included an overnight Fed-Ex envelope for each consulate to mail back to us! Ha! Once these papers return back to us, we can submit everything to our agency in TX to be reviewed, translated and then it will be submitted to China. We are SOOOO close to receiving a Log In date, I just can't stand it!! This weekend we are going to sit down and try to decide on some lifestyle shots to send with all our paperwork.

Work has been AWFUL recently. We are so busy and there just doesn't seem to be any relief coming soon. Thankfully my boss did let us all leave at 4pm, and they are going to look for a temp to help me out in the lab for 8-12 weeks...what a great plan!

Tomorrow, I am going to enjoy an hour massage that my wonderful hubby got me for our Anniversary last weekend. I am going to LOVE every minute of it.

Have a great weekend!! The weather here is beautiful...I can't wait to get some pumpkins and mums to decorate outside. : )

Happy Birthday to ME!

Husby bought me a K*ndle and I am one happy Lady tonight curled up in my PJs while all the new tv shows are on. The dogs are sleeping, laundry is done, clothes are unpacked from our trip to Georgetown for a beautiful wedding....and a nice dinner was had after a really sh*tty day at work. Yes, they chose today to tell me I didn't get an internal position I applied for. But you know what, who cares...because I have a K*ndle....at last!!

SHOW US YOUR LIFE---LIVING ROOMS

This week over at Kelly's Korner, Kelly is hosting Show Us Your Life-Living Rooms. I participated last year, and it was a lot of fun. This year, I have some new items in my rooms...and still have some pending....Enjoy!

This is our formal living room at the front of the house. I HATE this furniture!! I just recently made the curtains to go in this room, which has helped a little bit...

I'd really like to add some pictures on this wall between the windows...I think it will be a small collage of some adoption lifestyle shots we had taken at a local park with gold frames.

The family room at the back of the house...I am going to order some frames from PB soon to make a collage on this wall above the sofa also. There are some really great burlap matte frames that I know would be perfect!

This is our Loft area above the garage. The plats inthe frames are projects that Todd has developed over the years.

View of the loft facing the stair case. We have the fooseball table and it never gets used, but we like how it looks in here.

View from the stairs facing into the Loft. This will one day become the playroom since it is upstairs and hidden from the entry of the house.

Hope you have enjoyed the tour! Come back again next week!!

Hope

The Vintage Pearl is helping bring babies home!! Check out the blog and website for more details...I received my necklace in the mail yesterday and am in LOVE with it.

Day 4

Day4-Favorite Book

I am part of a Book Club that I started last year...we haven't read this book, however this is one of my favorites that I have read in a long time. Check it out, you will enjoy it!

Meal Planning for the week...

A day late....but none the less here it is!!

Monday: Grilled Fish, baked potatoes and cuke and tomato salad

Tuesday: Chicken Pesto Pasta with tomatoes

Wednesday: On your own...out to Martini's with the girls for dinner

Thursday: tuna, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Friday: Fisherman's Inn with some work colleagues

What's on your menu this week??

More Lifestyle Pictures...

Maggie Gowe from Doodle Beans Photography took these shots of us this weekend in Oxford...I am so happy with the way they turned out. We are going to have many shots in addition to vacation pictures from the past few years to choose from.

Thank you Maggie for taking time to do this and being such a special part of our adoption journey!!

30 Day Blog Journal

I saw this over on this beautiful blog here , and I thought it looked fun!

Day 1 (Aug. 1) - your favorite song

Day 2 - your favorite movie

Day 3 - your favorite television program

Day 4 - your favorite book

Day 5 - your favorite quote

Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things

Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy

Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 9 - a photo you took

Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you

Day 11 - a photo of you recently

Day 12 - something you are OCD about

Day 13 - a fictional book

Day 14 - a non-fictional book

Day 15 - your dream house

Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)

Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding

Day 19 - a talent of yours

Day 20 - a hobby of yours

Day 21 - a recipe

Day 22 - a website

Day 23 - a youtube video

Day 24 - where I live

Day 25 - your day, in great detail

Day 26 - your week, in great detail

Day 27 - my worst habit

Day 28 - whats in my handbag/purse

Day 29 - hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days

Day 30 - a dream for the future 

Will you join me??? I've missed the first few days....but here is Day 3 for me!!

My Favorite TV show (s):

• Bachelor/Bachelorette
• Real Housewives
• Bethenny Getting Married
• Desperate Housewives
• HGTV
• Food Network (Giada & Barefoot Contessa are my favorites)
• Law and Order
• Greys Anatomy
• CSI

Just to name a few....

Florida bound for the weekend

I am off to Jacksonville, FL this weekend to see this pretty lady....Krista and I have been friends since middle school. She is pregnant with TWINS, and in this picture she is at the end of 21 weeks. She is due at the beginning of October. She is expecting a BOY and a GIRL and right now they are known as Sweetpea and Peanut since the names are a secret.

I mailed all the items for the shower this weekend since I am flying down for the quickest visit ever...arrive tonight at 10:15pm them home again on Sunday afternoon...and thankfully everything arrived intact--even the diaper cake!

Be back next week, have a great weekend!!

Adoption Pictures

These were taken by a friend of mine, Lisa who I used to work with....thank you Lisa for such an amazing gift. There are many more, but these are some of the highlights!! We can't wait for the day when we get to take our daughter to play at this park.

Winston

Was introduced to this blog today....http://www.jessicaclaire.net/ ...and wish we had the same 'baby' pictures to share.

Meal Plan Monday

It's Monday, again....here is our plan for the week!! I am excited to have a few meals where we are eating out, then hubby is on his own while I am off to Florida for the weekend to help with the baby shower for my best friend!! She is expecting twins (boy and girl), and we are all ready to shower them with love.

Monday: Rockfish and tomatoes in the oven with rice and broccoli

Tuesday: Out with Deb (hubby on his own)

Wednesday: Dinner with Adele

Thursday: Spaghetti with meat sauce

Friday: I leave for Florida : )

Saturday: Florida

Sunday: Hope to make it home for a dinner date with hubby after my weekend away

Have a great week, it will be nice and easy cooking here!! :)

Adoption Update

Our I-800A application is officially in the mail and off to Texas!! We received our approved and notarized homestudy in the mail yesterday, and I wasted NO time getting everything put together to be sent via Fed-Ex this morning. I mean after all, the form was filled out, the check was made out, and the certificate copies were made....I was more than ready! Right now they are telling us the wait time is 35-40 days for turnaround time. I have a photographer scheduled for July 31st to take some lifestyle shots of us, and something to document our journey. We had our passport pictures taken on Friday, and I need to remember to pick them up...there are a few forms left to update, but we are very, very close to having everything we need for our dossier. I can't wait to be DTC!!!

Feeling a little OLD...

I have seen a few blogs over the past few days posting '30 before 30', where you post a list of 30 things to do before you are 30 years old....I thought wow, that sounds like fun. I wonder what I would post? Travel to Asia, tour a west coat winery, advance in my career?? Then wait, it hit me....I am 32....does this mean I have to post a '40 before 40' list?! UGH....

Meal Plan for the week

Monday: GNO---Ava's with Brooke

Tuesday: Shrimp and tomato and feta cheese salad

Wednesday: Shrimp and fresh pasta with pesto

Thursday: BLTs with tater tots

Friday: tuna with mashed potatoes and vegetables

Saturday: Charthouse with Bennett and his wife....a FB reconnection from Elementary School!! : )

Sunday: spaghetti with meat sauce

Have a great week!! We had a nice weekend....enjoyed a ~10 mile bike ride up on Kent Island on the Cross Island Trail. It was beautiful riding along the water and in the trees. Much prettier than we anticipated. This is a new find and something we will go back to for sure! I wish I had my camera with me to post pictures....next time!

Adoption Update...

We have been in the process of gathering paperwork to adopt a little girl from China for a little over a year now...it is a LONG tedious process but I know that it will be worth it in the end when we are holding our daughter in our arms one day. However, that day seems to be further and further away every day. It's hard for me. Todd and I are the type of people that we will analyze something to the nth degree...then once we make up our mind we are READY! When we started the paperwork process we were told 3-5 years...we then went to a conference that told us they were hopeful that the wait time would shorten to 18 months again...now we are being told 7-10 years. Really?! 7-10 years???!! That's just insane to me. And, to make matters worse our home study agency is taking their sweet little time getting this home study complete AND the international agency is being very picky about the wording they would like to see...I am trying to stay level headed and calm...but really I just want to bang both of their heads together and tell them to just get this done.

We've been working on our homestudy since September 2009...it's just the 2 of us in the household...nothing fancy to us either....now I have NOT met the dossier submission log in date with my international agency and have to go 'on hold' until I have all the paperwork gathered. Once we get the homestudy approved we can apply for the I-800A...but in addition to that I have other paperwork that has to be updated....this is a long journey, it's heartbreaking, and there are times I don't feel like I have anyone other than Todd to turn to....I long for our daughter from China. I feel this is what we are meant to do in life....we are fortunate enough to supply a warm, loving, caring home for a child in need....but why does it have to be this hard????

Good news is that today the social workers have communicated and they hope to have some resolution to the home study by the end of the week..fingers crossed!!

Meal Plan

This is a little late in the week....but I will be linking up with Meal Plan Monday....check it out for other meal plans!!

Tuesday-Taco night
Wednesday-leftover roast chicken with fresh pasta and marinara sauce
Thursday-St.Michaels concert picnic...tomato, mozzarella, basil and proscuitto sanwiches and fruit
Friday-shrimp and heirloom tomato salad with feta cheese and balsamic dressing
Saturday-spaghetti with meat sauce
Sunday-shrimp with fresh pasta and pesto sauce

Have a great week!

Our weekend in Charleston

The other weekend, we flew to Charleston to stay with Nick and Cory who are expecting their first baby in August. It's a GIRL and her name will be Lucy Ryan McBee. We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend with such good friends and their families...here are a few shots from the festivities...

The Tearoom in Summerville, SC that had the BEST Sunday brunch

Todd and Nick escaping cleaning inside and spending some 'quality time' together

Presents for baby Lucy

The delicious food and diaper cake by the fabulous hostesses and Cory's Mom

Nick and Cory...the happy parents to be!!

Todd and Whitney...friends from college. Whitney is getting married in October, we can't wait!!

Nick, Cory, Me and Todd

Dinner at Magnolia's in Charleston....right after they asked us to be Lucy's Godparents. We were so honored and Nick brought tears to both mine and Todd's eyes when he asked us. We were very happy and shocked all at the same time. Lucy...we can't wait to meet you and share such a special part of your life with you. You will be one loved little girl!!

Thank you Nick and Cory for a great weekend....

Girls weekend

I am travelling to Tulsa, OK this weekend to see this beautiful lady....Susan and I have been friends since we were 3 years old when we lived across the street from each other. We were side by side all through Elementary School...then my family moved us to Maryland, where I live now...but we continued our friendship through the years, through highschool, through college....and I am finally making the trip back 'home'. She has a wonderful weekend planned for us and I can't wait!! We are even catching up with some other girls we knew from Elementary School....and I haven't seen them in 21 years!! Can you believe it?!

I leave Thursday and will be back Sunday....I hope Hubby will miss me....but with a fishing trip planned I am not thinking he will so much ; )

HUGE catch up

This is the wonderful chalkboard that y hubby made for the hallway downstairs that leads to the garage and half bath.

This is the finished project with chalk!

These are the curtains that I MADE!! And....without a sewing machine! My friend Sara had a link on her blog and it inspired me!! Just a little no sew hem tape...an iron...some pre-bought panesl from Wal-Mart ($13 for 2) and 2.5 yards of fabric fro Wal-Mart at $5.88/yard....it was the cheapest project ever and I am so happy with the way they turned out. They are hanging in our office and look great!

My beautiful Golden Retriever, Marley in our backyard the day after Todd cleaned things all up. Marley has her 'summer-do' here and my house is so much cleaner without the dog fur!

Thanks, Daniel for sending out such a yummy piece of cake for dessert!

April and Todd....brother and sister who share a birthday one day and five years apart!! We met at Mason's for a delicious lunch to celebrate their Birthdays.

For Todd's Birthday this year, we ended up eating dinner at Scossa and then went to see Date Night together. It was a wonderful evening. Then, on Sunday we had a brunch with 10 of our closest friends and their kids down in Cabridge at Clearview. It was a delicious all you can eat and drink champagne brunch and of course I left my camera at home!

Relaxing weekend

Friday night we went to In Japan--the new Japanese Steakhouse restaurant in town--with some colleagues from work. It was a great night!! Then, Saturday we stopped by the Open House our realtor was having on the flip property we just finished in Denton. She had a lot of people threw the house and there were 3 showings today. I hope we get a contract soon!! We were then able to relax that afternoon and took a 2 hour nap! Wow, that felt great. We ate dinner at home then went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and Red Box to rent I Love You, Man.

This morning, we surprised a friend for brunch at Clearview in Cambridge to celebrate her Birthday. It was a delicious Champagne brunch, that I look forward to going back to again soon!! Her husband did a nice job of surprising her with our company...we had a great time!!

Now, I am relaxing, AGAIN, finishing up my Book Club book. This month we are reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. I am near the end and love how it is all starting to come together. We neet Wednesday night, and I can't wait. We don't stay on the book topic too long ; )

Hope your weekend was just as relaxing!!

Meal Plan for the week

I have been really SLACKING recently with posts....but for now, here is our meal plan for the week. I have been so good with the grocery bill (more on that later), that I haven't had to shop this week, at all!!

Saturday: Chicken Georgia with mashed potatoes

Sunday: crockpot pulled pork, Stouffers mac & cheese, cucumbers and onions

Monday: grilled tuna steaks, mashed potatoes, salad

Tuesday:pork chops, stuffing, green beans

Wednesday: On your own....BOOK CLUB

Thursday:stuffed chicken breast (tomato and mozzarella),brown rice, green beans

Friday:shepherds pie

**Shepherd's Pie Recide**
This is the easiest recipe ever....
1 lb. ground beef
potatoes
Vegetable Beef Soup
Milk
butter
Salt and Pepper

Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain any excess fat (depending on what kind of ground beef you buy). Add the vegetable soup and simmer. Cook potatoes in seperate pan. I ususally use 3-4 medium sized for the 2 of us. Mash...we love our Kitchen Aid mixer for this...lots of butter, salt and pepper and some milk. Put the ground beef mix in an oven safe bowl....top with mashed potatoes and take a fork and drag across to texture the top. Bake in the oven at 400°F for about 30 minutes (or until the top of potatoes are just a little crusty).

ENJOY!

The ABCs on Friday

A is for Apples. I love the fall when you get wonderful varieties, apple cider, apple cake, apple crumble...I love it all!

B is for Babies...so many of our closest friends are expecting their first babies this year and we couldn't be happier for them!!

C is for Charleston....where our heart is and where we hope to call home one day soon.

D is for Date night. Todd is travelling to Chicago for business on Sunday and will be gone until Tuesday, so we are going on a dinner date tonight.

E is for Easton...the beautiful little town we live in and call home.

F is for Friendship. My eyes have been opened recently to who my true friends are and I couldn't be happier for who is in my life.

G is for Giada De Laurentis...I heart her cook books, tv show, and cooking style

H is for Happiness, something we all should strive for.

I is for Ice-Cream...Breyer's is on sale at Giant this week and we can't wait to stock up on some of our favorite flavors.

J is for Jewelery. I bought this beautiful Chinese enspired bracelet from the Pharmacy of all places the other day. Just one more item to remind me of my beautiful daughter that is waiting for me

K is for Kisses. There's nothing like coming home after a long day to get a kiss from my wonderful husband.

L is for Love. I am absolutely head over heels in love with my husband, Todd who I have been married to for just over 5 years.

M is for Money. There just is never enough...and I am trying to be more frugal because one day I want to stay home with my baby girl.

N is for Needs...something my husband asks me to consider before purchases...wants or needs?! We know which ones win for me, right??

O is for our Old English Sheep Dog, Winston. He got an early summer do today and thinks he is hot stuff!

P is for Patience, something that I always don't have enough of.

Q is for Queen...the Queen of England will always remind me of my Grandma.

R is for Reading...something I love to do, and really enjoy the book club I started. 7-8 women get together every month, and mostly it turns to gossip...but so much fun!

S is for Sunshine...something I really, really miss after all this snow we have received this winter!

T is for Travel...something I love to share with my husband.

U is for Underwear...something that I really need to shop for!

V is for Vision...I had Lasik eye surgery 4 years ago and I can still see 20/15 every single day!!

W is for work...something that is really overrated!

X is for keeping all things Crossed (X'd) as we enter the final stages of the paperchasing process to bring home our baby girl.

Y is for 'Y China??'....because that's where our daughter is.

Z is for Zoo...I want to go to the Zoo in China and San Diego when we travel to bring our daughter home.

We are officially SNOWED in!!

My sweet hubby shovelling the side walk

I think we have about 16 inches...our friends in Preston are without power. Thank goodness they have a woodstove to keep them warm. Todd went to get the kerosene heater yesterday, and we can access a generator if we absolutely have to now that the roads are plowed, a little.

The next round will produce 6-12 inches. Thankfully the wind has died down from last night and I think we are out of the blizzard warning. Oh and did I mention that we will be getting another 4-6 inches on Tuesday/Wednesday?!

That damn Groundhog! ; )

Exciting news

I have some good news about a very dear friend that I want to share, but I can't just yet...a few more weeks and then I can scream it from the roof tops!! I am so excited and so happy for this wonderful couple!! Stay tuned, it will be worth the wait, for sure!!

Yummy dinner and meal plan

Thanks to Jo, this is what was for dinner tonight. We changed a few things up and had 2 scallops each and added some shrimp. It was delicious!!

Seared Scallops Pasta

4 oz Pasta of choice

sea scallops {You could use shrimp}

3 Tbsp crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

6 cups baby spinach roughly chopped

1 med {or 2 small} tomatoes chopped

2Tbsp pesto

Cook pasta according to directions
Pan sear scallops in olive oil while pasta is cooking
Drain pasta and quickly add the spinach so it will wilt from the heat.

Add the pesto and mix until the pasta is coated.
Add the tomatoes and cheese. Toss lightly.

ENJOY

This week....here's what we are eating

MONDAY-Spaghetti with meat sauce

TUESDAY-hubby on your own--I'm going to Lemongrass with Deb

WEDNESDAY-BLTs

THURSDAY-Shepherd's Pie

FRIDAY-Johnny's for burgers and wings

SATURDAY-chili

SUNDAY-tacos

Have a great week!! We got another 6 inches of snow this weekend...and I have a busy week at work. We are being audited on Monday and Tuesday...so that's always a little stressful, and this will be our new boss's first one solo......god I hope it goes well.

Monster Trucks

Crushstation

Viper and BigFoot Bad Boy

Saturday night, we went with some friends (even in the SNOW) to Monster Trucks in Salisbury. We had VIP tickets and were able to go down onto the mud/dirt and look at the trucks and get autographs. It was a fun night....totally outside my box!