Could Life Get Any Better?

9:30 am.

Sitting on the counter in his favorite choo-choo jammies.

Licking cake batter off the beater.

Could life possibly get any better for this two year old??

Why, yes. YES it could!!

He could have TWO beaters (and a spatula and two bowls)!!

Sometimes you just need to spoil your little ones a little bit. :-)

New Look

As you may have noticed, I've made some changes to the look of my blog. The new background seemed to fit the season, so this is will be the look until something else strikes my fancy.

Unfortunately, I'm not as blog-savvy as some of the rest of you, so I do have a couple of questions:

• I would like to put a picture of my family at the top of the blog. How do I do that?
  
• How do I make tabs at the top that a reader can click on to find posts about a certain topic? I know I can put labels on them that show up on the side, but I wanted something on the top.
  

Thanks for your help!!

Recipe Review: Chicken Salsa Pizza

I stumbled upon this recipe this morning and decided to try it for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 prebaked 12-inch pizza crust
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1-1/3 cups salsa
• 1 cup cubed cooked chicken

Directions:

• Place bread shell on an ungreased 12-in. pizza pan. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup of cheese. Top with the salsa, chicken and remaining cheese. Bake at 450° for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

I made a few modifications to the recipe, but I didn't make any major changes:

• To add a little extra kick, I put green chiles on 1/2 of both pizzas. I would have put them on the whole pizza, but that didn't really seem like it would be fair to the two year old who was going to be eating it.

• On one of the pizzas, I used a mixture of sour cream and salsa instead of straight salsa. That was good, too. Neither Matt nor I could decide which version we liked better.
  

The conclusion? We loved it! It was SOOOOO easy to make, and it was delicious! At the request of Matt, this recipe will definitely become a regular on our menu.

Lucky Enough To Be Irish

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough!"

Big smile. Fat chin. :-)
Irish Princess

How handsome is he?!?

Lucky in love :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy Pi Day!

Being a math nerd, I love Pi Day. I think if more people knew that Pi Day can be celebrated with actual pie, they would definitely jump on the "math nerd" bandwagon for at least a day. (That's how I persuade Matt into pretending he cares about it). This year I made three pies - a pumpkin, a lemon, and a banana cream.
Tomorrow is a big day for English nerds. Unfortunately, I don't know of any baked goods that go along with the Ides of March, so it will go by unnoticed by most people.

Dog or No Dog?

I'd like to get a dog. Collin would like a dog. Jenna could go either way. Matt (aka The Boss) is not 100% sold on the idea yet. If we get a dog, we are planning on adopting a dog from a shelter. We want a little dog, because we feel like it would not be fair to get a big dog when we don't have a lot of space for it to get exercise. I'd also prefer one that gets haircuts instead of one that sheds to I know dogs can be a lot of work, but I hear they can also be a great addition to a family. We're just trying to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. So please share with me your dog experiences. Do you have a dog? What kind? Did/does it bring more happiness than work? If you had to do it over again, would you still get a dog?

I'll leave you with pictures of a couple of dogs that we're looking at:

Max

Gunner

New Favorite Appetizer Recipe

I tried this appetizer recipe last night, and it was a big hit. It's from Pampered Chef's Season's Best Fall/Winter 2010. I often find that Pampered Chef recipes as they are written require a lot of work, but they can be made simpler with a few modifications. (I added my modifications in red). This recipe came together in about 20 minutes.

Antipasti Pull-Apart Pizza

Adapted from Pampered Chef “Season’s Best” recipe collection, Fall/Winter 2010.

• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
  
• 2 packages (11 ounces each) refrigerated French bread dough
• 1 jar (12 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained
• 1 8-ounce block fresh mozzarella cheese (I used a bag of shredded)
  
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced (I didn't have a red pepper on hand, but I had 1/2 of an orange pepper and 1/2 of a yellow pepper that I used).
  
• 1/2 cup pitted ripe olives, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I forgot this. I'll probably put it in next time, but it turned out well without it).
  
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper (I forgot this. I'll probably put it in next time, but it turned out well without it).
• 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, divided (For the second use of parmesan, I had run out. Instead, I used a shredded Italian mix.
  
• 1 teaspoon parsley
  

Wash hands. (Heather interjecting here: For real? Does this need to be said?) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush pizza stone with 1 teaspoon oil. (I don't usually measure things like this. It just takes extra time. I poured some oil in a bowl, and brushed it on until I got it all over the stone. When I was done with the oil, I funneled the the remainder back into the bottle).

Place one package of the dough on a cutting board. Cut dough in half lengthwise; slice each dough half crosswise into 16 half moons for a total of 32 half moons. Repeat with second package of dough. Arrange dough over baking stone, leaving a half-inch border around the edge and about a half inch between half moons; brush with remaining 1 teaspoon (again - no measuring necessary. I repeat - it's a waste of time!) oil. Bake 10-12 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Meanwhile, prepare the antipasti. Pat dry artichokes and coarsely chop. Dice mozzarella into 1/2-inch cubes. Chop pepper. In large mixing bowl, combine artichokes, mozzarella, bell pepper, olives, garlic, salt and pepper; mix well.

Remove crust from oven and place on cooling rack. Using a grater, grate half of the Parmesan cheese over crust (I used already grated parmesan. It worked just fine).; top with antipasti. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until mozzarella is melted. Remove from oven; grate remaining Parmesan cheese over top. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of parsley. (Again, no measuring needed. Sprinkle to your heart's content. Some like more; some like less. Use what looks good to you).

Yields 16 servings.

If you make this, let me know how it comes out for you. I'd also be interested in hearing about any changes you made. I love getting new ideas!

Happy cooking!!

Happy Birthday, Josh!

I was going to write a post about my kids growing up to be friends. However, it's my brother's 21st birthday, and he's my friend, so I thought I'd dedicate this post to him. So.....

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY, JOSH!!
YOU'RE A GOOD BROTHER AND FRIEND AND A GOOD UNCLE TO MY KIDS!! LOVE YOU!

Have fun celebrating being 21, but don't do anything stupid. Love you!

Resolutions

I'm giving up - on New Year's Resolutions, that is.

Does it seem like nonsense to anybody else to promise yourself you will do something for an entire year? If you made resolutions, and you haven't broken them yet, more power to you. I, however, am definitely NOT one of those super-people. As I look back on the month that has already gone by, I realize that the "resolutions" I made, I wasn't really all that resolved about. I've stuck to some of the easier ones, but (surprise, surprise) New Years didn't magically bring about any drastic change in my life to make me more diligent, organized, or determined. Long-terms goals are important, but what I need is a series of short-term goals in order to help me achieve my long-term goals.

For now, I am abandoning New Year's resolutions (and the feeling of failure that comes with realizing on Jan. 2nd that I've already messed up) and setting New Week resolutions. After all, they (whoever "they" are) say anybody can do anything for a week, right? My New Week resolutions closely resemble a To-Do list, and I do write it down simply because I love to check stuff off. (Sometimes, I even write down something I've already done, simply because I LOVE checking stuff off a check-list. Yes, I realize it's all basically a mind game that I'm playing with myself).

I am not letting go of my long-term goals entirely. My goal is still to read the whole Bible this year and memorize the book of Philippians. I am still intending to run a few 5ks and at least one duathlon (yup, that's a real thing) by July. I'm just approaching them differently. It's much easier (at least for me) to say, "I will learn 2 verses this week," than it is to say, "I will memorize the whole book of Philippians."

Some of my goals for this week are:

• Exercising at least 4 days
• Memorizing 2 verses
• Read the Bible each day
• Use up the all the leftovers in the fridge

What about you? Have you stuck with your New Year's resolutions? Did you even make them in the first place?

I Love Swagbucks

I've been meaning to make a post about Swagbucks for some time now, because many friends have asked me how it works. Since today is Swagbucks' Get a Referral Day (or something like that), I figured it seemed like a good time.

What is Swagbucks.com?

Swagbucks is basically a search engine that rewards you with swagbucks somewhat randomly. (IMPORTANT NOTE: You will not win swagbucks for every search. If you sign up expecting to win every time you search, yes, you will be disappointed).

How do you win swagbucks?

1. Searching - It's easiest to win by searching if you download the swagbucks toolbar, but you do not have to download it. If you choose not to download the toolbar, you simply go to swagbucks.com to search. I use the toolbar for just about every website I go to. (Example: Instead of typing facebook.com, I search for "facebook". It takes a few extra seconds, but it's worth it).
2. Referrals - Get your friends to join, and you win when they win (up to 1,000 swagbucks).
3. Swagcodes - Swagcodes are released on the swagbucks blog, the swagbucks facebook page, the swidget (the swagbucks thing on the bottom of my blog), and the toolbar. The blog also has hunts for swagcodes if you have the time or inclination to go on a virtual scavenger hunt. I don't often do the hunts unless they are for a significant amount of swagbucks.
4. Bonus swagbucks - I receive 4 bonus bucks a day (this week that was doubled): one for using the swagbucks toolbar (You don't have to do anything to get that one; it just appears), one for answering the daily poll on the website, one for looking at the NOSOs (No Obligation Special Offers) on the website (You do not have to sign up for anything or do anything. You just have to look at them), and one for looking at the daily surveys (again, you don't have to do anything or actually take any surveys. You just have to look at them)
5. There are also a few other ways you can win, but I've never taken advantage of any others. One way is Shop & Earn. At many websites, you can win 2 swagbucks for every dollar you spend. One of those websites is walmart.com.

Is it worth it?

For me, yes. It requires very little effort on my part and has really paid off for us. So far Matt and I have bought and spent over $150 in amazon giftcards. (One $5 giftcard is 450 swagbucks). Matt has also started getting restaurant.com giftcards, so we can afford a date besides McDs sometime. Currently, I have over 3100 swagbucks saved up. I plan an getting some $50 southwest giftcards at 5700 swagbucks each, so I can go visit my sister in Texas for a little cheaper than I normally would.

How do you spend swagbucks?

Swagbucks can be spent at the Swag store on swagbucks.com.

How do you sign up?

Just go to the website and click on "Register". If you decide to join, please use the swagbucks swidget at the bottom of the page, so you can be my referral. If you join today, there will be a swagcode for new members (worth 20sb) in the swag codes section of the swidget. You also get 30sb just for joining, so you will start off with 50sb!

How much do you win in a day?

I win somewhere in the ball park of 30 a day - sometimes more, sometimes less.

Happy winning!