Something that I have learned quite a bit lately is how much I regret not saying "thank you" more often to my mother.
Over the last few months, having my own place (with Mike) has been quite an adventure. I never knew how much work it took to keep up a household. And I don't even have kids yet!!! When I was little and even to this day, my mom would always work an 8+ hour day, come home, vacuum, dust, pick up after 3 very busy and messy kids, take us to all of our sporting events, cook dinner, do the dishes, do the laundry, walk the dog, brush the dog, mow the yard, go to bed, wake up and do it all over again. And how many times do I remember giving her an extra hug or saying a simple "thank you" or offer to do the dishes one night?? Nothing comes to mind.
It wasn't until recently that I realized how much I appreciate my mom for all the things she did for me while growing up. After getting up at 5 AM every morning, leaving for work at 6:50 and not getting home til 6:00 or 7:00 if I'm working in Scappoose, the last thing that I want to do is come home and pick up and clean a house just for it to get messy again the next day. I just want to sit and relax. But having a messy house drives me INSANE so, I clean and do the dishes and cook (which I do enjoy) and do the laundry (which is the chore I despise the most) and by the time I am finished with that I am ready to go to sleep at 8:00 and do it all over again the next day. Weekends have turned into laundry days and deep cleaning days (cleaning the bathrooms, the closets and refridgerator) and its turning into my second full time job.
I now have a great appreciation for my mom and it continues to grow everyday as I struggle with keeping my sanity with always having to come home and clean.
Now, I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, I'm not. There are somedays where I enjoy cleaning my home. There is something refreshing about having a nice clean home and it allows me to relax. I can't sit down and relax knowing that my house is a mess and there are things that need to be done. Once the house is cleaned and picked up, it's very refreshing and I enjoy that. The point of this blog is really to say:
Thank you, Mom for everything you did for Matt, Kyle and I. You really are the best. You worked hard and came home after a long day to put in another 8 hours of non-stop work. I love you!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Another day, another meal!
It's usually around 4:30 in the afternoon when Mike and I start talking about what we should make for dinner. Usually towards the end of the month it starts to get tough. Do we use what's left of the hamburger? Do we use the chicken? Well the other night we decided on the chicken. But what to go with it? We couldn't really think of anything so we headed down to good ole Fred Meyers.
No matter what we're going to the store for, whether it's one item or a big cart load full, we always start from one side of the store and go down every isle. So, we started our adventure. We ended up buying some penne and some other type of noodle and a cartful of other random items.
Once at home, we cut up our chicken into small thin slices, added a little pepper and put it in the frying pan. We ended up making a chicken penne alfredo, pasta salad (which was amazing) and some Texas Toast. The pasta salad had little noodles, peas, carrots, bacon bits, and was absolutely fabulous (Mike made it). Here's a picture of the entire meal:
It was absolutely fabulous. There were no big screw ups... except with the alfredo sauce I didn't whisk it until it boiled so it scorched the some of it. It still turned out great though.
I think this is a meal that we can even serve to guests.
Anway, there is another cooking adventure!!! I'm sure there will be more to follow. =)
No matter what we're going to the store for, whether it's one item or a big cart load full, we always start from one side of the store and go down every isle. So, we started our adventure. We ended up buying some penne and some other type of noodle and a cartful of other random items.
Once at home, we cut up our chicken into small thin slices, added a little pepper and put it in the frying pan. We ended up making a chicken penne alfredo, pasta salad (which was amazing) and some Texas Toast. The pasta salad had little noodles, peas, carrots, bacon bits, and was absolutely fabulous (Mike made it). Here's a picture of the entire meal:
It was absolutely fabulous. There were no big screw ups... except with the alfredo sauce I didn't whisk it until it boiled so it scorched the some of it. It still turned out great though.
I think this is a meal that we can even serve to guests.
Anway, there is another cooking adventure!!! I'm sure there will be more to follow. =)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
My Newest Obsession
If anyone knows me, this is going to come as a huge shocker... I love, love, love to cook!!! I love coming home after work and cooking dinner, trying to make random things towards the end of the month because we've spent all our money on fun stuff or put it in a savings account where we can't touch it... it's just really fun!
I have finally found my morning routine that I like and I don't plan on changing it anytime soon. I wake up, taking Kelly outside to go potty, feed her, take a shower, go downstairs, turn the news on and do my make up while watching the news. I have recently become a major fan of KATU channel 2 news. Not really because of their news reporting (the morning show is alot more entertaining than the evening news) because as we all know, the news doesn't tell the WHOLE truth. Working in politics, I've come to realize that half the things they report are overly dramatic that it's no longer the truth, but rather a big fat lie. That's besides the point. I have become a fan of KATU morning news because they have fun giveaways and to win you have to be their friend on facebook so I have become their friend on facebook and sadly I will admit that I try to win their giveaways.
This week's giveaway was a Jamie Oliver Cookbook!! Now, I'm not sure who Jamie Oliver actually is but the cookbook sounded fun. So all week I've been getting up just a little bit earlier than normal to try and win the cookbook. The giveaway starts at 6:30 am every morning and that's usually when I'm upstairs finishing straightening my hair. So, I've been up and ready and trying really hard to win this cookbook. I came close this morning, but no such luck... I lost. Tomorrow is the last day to try and win and believe me, I am going to try!
So back to my cooking stories. Although I love to cook, I'm still not all that good and I'm working on trying to time everything just right so its all ready at the same time. Last night was pefect! I made my own beef stroganof, fried my corn (instead of following the instructions on the bag) and made some Texas toast. It all finished up at the same time and it turned out pretty well. I will admit that I made a couple mistakes. The main one being, I forgot to drain the fat from the hamburger after I had browned the meat (oops)! But it's one of those lessons where next time, I'll remember! Another mistake... Make sure you have ALL the ingredients before you start making it... Half way through, I realized we were out of milk which I needed for my stroganof.
All in all, it turned out really well and Mike loved it so that's the important part. =)
I love cooking for him! Sometimes he even helps me in the kitchen, which I love even more than cooking for him. Somehow we seem to have a lot of fun together in the kitchen coming up with new recipe's or trying to remember how to make certain dishes we saw on the food network. I also love when we set off the smoke detectors (it happens almost daily now). We can't figure out why they go off. It's not smokey in the house and nothing burns. Whenever we turn the oven on, they go off. I wonder if the neighbors think "poor mike"??
Anyway to wrap things up, I love cooking. I am really wanting to go buy a cookbook this week and just start at the beginning and cook all the recipe's in it. An expensive task at hand I'm sure but I am eager and ready to take it on!
I have finally found my morning routine that I like and I don't plan on changing it anytime soon. I wake up, taking Kelly outside to go potty, feed her, take a shower, go downstairs, turn the news on and do my make up while watching the news. I have recently become a major fan of KATU channel 2 news. Not really because of their news reporting (the morning show is alot more entertaining than the evening news) because as we all know, the news doesn't tell the WHOLE truth. Working in politics, I've come to realize that half the things they report are overly dramatic that it's no longer the truth, but rather a big fat lie. That's besides the point. I have become a fan of KATU morning news because they have fun giveaways and to win you have to be their friend on facebook so I have become their friend on facebook and sadly I will admit that I try to win their giveaways.
This week's giveaway was a Jamie Oliver Cookbook!! Now, I'm not sure who Jamie Oliver actually is but the cookbook sounded fun. So all week I've been getting up just a little bit earlier than normal to try and win the cookbook. The giveaway starts at 6:30 am every morning and that's usually when I'm upstairs finishing straightening my hair. So, I've been up and ready and trying really hard to win this cookbook. I came close this morning, but no such luck... I lost. Tomorrow is the last day to try and win and believe me, I am going to try!
So back to my cooking stories. Although I love to cook, I'm still not all that good and I'm working on trying to time everything just right so its all ready at the same time. Last night was pefect! I made my own beef stroganof, fried my corn (instead of following the instructions on the bag) and made some Texas toast. It all finished up at the same time and it turned out pretty well. I will admit that I made a couple mistakes. The main one being, I forgot to drain the fat from the hamburger after I had browned the meat (oops)! But it's one of those lessons where next time, I'll remember! Another mistake... Make sure you have ALL the ingredients before you start making it... Half way through, I realized we were out of milk which I needed for my stroganof.
All in all, it turned out really well and Mike loved it so that's the important part. =)
I love cooking for him! Sometimes he even helps me in the kitchen, which I love even more than cooking for him. Somehow we seem to have a lot of fun together in the kitchen coming up with new recipe's or trying to remember how to make certain dishes we saw on the food network. I also love when we set off the smoke detectors (it happens almost daily now). We can't figure out why they go off. It's not smokey in the house and nothing burns. Whenever we turn the oven on, they go off. I wonder if the neighbors think "poor mike"??
Anyway to wrap things up, I love cooking. I am really wanting to go buy a cookbook this week and just start at the beginning and cook all the recipe's in it. An expensive task at hand I'm sure but I am eager and ready to take it on!
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