Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

There were loads of pictures I could have used today...but I decided to keep it simple....

PRETTY

Last Thursday I went to the Dallas Arboretum with Mom, Allison, Thomas, and the girls.  The flowers were just stunning!  This is my favorite of the day -- and it is pretty!

HAPPY:

Wednesday the girls came to stay overnight and we played in the backyard because it was GORGEOUS outside!  They were laughing and running and having so much fun.  This picture exudes happy!

FUNNY:

My face in this picture cracks me up!  I was so excited to meet 3.5 week old twins, Luke and Levi.  They came to visit my office and I got to hold both of them!  So sweet...

REAL:

Real? Pictures of furniture?  Come on Leanne......

No really -- last week Alan and I went to 'look' at couches.  We recently looked at beds and didn't buy anything so I went with Alan to look at furniture and we came home having purchased a new sectional sofa, a coffee table, 2 end tables, and a new kitchen table.  Wait - what?!  You read that correctly!  The top picture is a (bad) picture of our new sofa and coffee table.  (The end tables match.)  The bottom is our new table.  The table should deliver around the beginning of April and the living room furniture around my birthday.  Admittedly I am somewhat sentimental in this journey.  The table we have now was my Grandmother's. The coffee and end tables we have now my sisters and I teethed on.  But it will be so nice to have OUR furniture!  (Everything in the house is a hand-me-down except our bed - which I bought when I graduated college.)  Can't wait to see it in our house! :)

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

I love this day!  It just makes me happy! To commemorate I thought I'd show you me and Alan through the years, since we (re)met during Spring Break in 2009.

While the first picture doesn't show his face - it is one of my ALL TIME FAV's that he is IN.
That's James Like on the left and Alan on the right.  I'd spent a week with the 2 of them and this is how I felt! :)

Here is one of him playing the accordion that year.  It was the first time I experienced an Irish Ceili with lots of music and fun...hence our Paddy's Day Party's now!

2010 - Paddy's Day Parade in Galway, Ireland.  Alan and I were part of the drama team.  He was the Sheriff and I was a prairie girl.  We dance through the streets of Galway with the drama team.  Good fun!  (Look how young we look!!!)

2011 - This year I didn't go to Ireland over Spring Break. Instead, Mom and I went to Georgia to visit Amy, Paul, Andrew, and Christopher.  This is me with the boys in the Ireland shirts.  They were real into the picture - as you can see.

2012 - Our first Paddy's Day party.  I think we had 25-30 in attendance.  We had such a fun time.  Paddy's Day is also our 6 month anniversary so on this day we'd been married for 6 whole months!!!

2013 - Party number 2!  

2014 - Party 3 (Apparently this photo surprised Alan!)

2015 - Ok - so this is not what we look like today.  Alan has on a solid green shirt today and I have on one that says "Keep Calm and Sure, it's Grand".  This is from Sunday...and isn't great...but it's the most current one of the two of us.  :)

 Let us remember on this day - which I love because it's just fun - that it is about a man and the wonderful things he did for Ireland.  St. Patrick taught a pagan land about our Lord and Savior through a simple 3 leaf clover.  His love and dedication to a small island nation turned the tide in it's history.  May we be so bold, loving, and dedicated to our land.  Now - go enjoy your corned beef, shepherd's pie, potatoes, and Guinness...and have fun! :)

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

I decided to do this one this week instead of telling you about what we are eating.  Though I will say we have cooked at home every night this week and have yummy leftovers and I feel quite accomplished when this happens! :) But without further ado (we all know people read blogs for pics....)

PRETTY:

Valentine's Day flowers from my husband.  I had recently gotten some new clothes so I wasn't expecting anything...but I got these.  Aren't they lovely?!

I got some new things from Stitch Fix.  This is an online shopping service.  They send me 5 items (skirts, shirts, pants, bags, jewelry, coats, etc) at the frequency I request.  This fix I asked for ALL GREEN and got it!  There were 2 shirts (the one above and one that didn't fit), a skirt (seen above), a clutch, and a coat (that didn't fit).  I kept the skirt and shirt...and LOVE THEM! I think they are pretty -- and I think I look pretty in them!

HAPPY:

This guy -- he makes me happy.  If you look at the one above and this one you will see that we matched last Sunday.  It wasn't planned - but we looked good! :)

This one isn't so much my happy, but Alan's.  Look at how happy he is using his grown-up Valentine's Day gift!  He was so excited! :)

This kid!  He had a birthday this week -- can we stop the growth?!

FUNNY:

I got us these shirts from Zulily for St. Patrick's Day.  They crack me up....for real!

REAL:

This is what Mercy looked like at our house during our 1.5 day ice-in.  Catch the theme?!  Yesterday when I went back to work she pouted while I got ready -- she loves having her mommy home!

There ya go! :)

Weekly Menu's

Last week we did pretty good!  This week has been hit and miss...and I forsee it being that way the rest of the week too.

LAST WEEK:
Monday - Persian Chickpea Salad with Chicken and Quinoa
 Our friends, the Hoover's, recently had a sweet baby boy join their family.  On Monday I had the privilege of taking them dinner and loving on sweet baby J.  The Hoover's tend to eat more 'naturally' that we do (think organic and gluten free), so it was a bit of a challenge for me to come up with something.  But, one of my friends reminded me of the Persian Chickpea Salad and it was all set!  This is one of the easiest meals to make - and EVERYONE loves it!  Some cucumber, tomato, onion, and chickpeas with a spicy dressing.  I add quinoa and chicken to make it more of a MEAL and less of a SALAD.  This time, since I was feeding a family, I got some greens to go with it and discovered that if you take the SALAD/MEAL and eat it on salad...yummmmmy!  At least, I'm assuming it was -- there isn't any left!

Tuesday - Fend for Yourself Night
 Usually this is Thursday night and Alan has to, but last week was close week so it was mostly fend for myself.  I made myself a yummy sandwich and had some granola to go with it.

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken
 Wednesday nights we go to church.  We usually meet there because of Alan's drive home, so I try to have something quick and easy that stays warm and is ready when we get home.  I did BBQ chicken in the crockpot and we had some plain old white rice to go with it.

Thursday - Leftovers
 Usually, this is my girl's night with Kathy, but her hubby was under the weather so I stayed home with my puppies.  I had leftover Chickpea Salad and it was still yummy!

Friday - EAT OUT
 We used to eat out on Sundays, but I've decided I prefer our one night out on Friday or Saturday because then I can rest!  We went to San Marcos grill here in Melissa and I had Street Tacos.  SOOO good!

Saturday - Tacos
 An oldie but a goodie.  We used ground turkey and wheat tortillas again.  This time I made our salsa.  A small onion, a jalepeno, a garlic clove, some cilantro, 4 roma tomatoes, some salt, and some lime juice....in my pampered chef manual blender and VIOLA!  Yummy!

Sunday - Leftovers/Microwave meals
 Normally I would cook something or we'd grab fast food.  However, we knew that the church was leaving at 2:30 to go to Plano's Haggard Park to worship with Church Under the Tree.  We knew we wanted to eat quick and rest a few minutes so we played the fend for yourself method.  Alan had leftovers from Friday night and I ate a Lean Cuisine Lasagna.  Then we napped for 30-45 minutes and headed on.

THIS WEEK:
Monday - Sweet and Sour Meatballs
 I got this recipe from mom and tried it out.  You can do it in the crockpot or stovetop.  Because I had Theatricks Council Meeting I put it in the crockpot.  I used turkey meatballs, 2 jars of sweet and sour sauce, 1 red pepper, and 1 green pepper.  Next time, I will use regular meatballs and maybe a third jar of sauce.  Otherwise, serve with rice and it's pretty good!

Tuesday - Cranberry Pork Chops
 Another recipe from Mom.  This is another one that could be done in the crockpot, but since ours had meatballs in it, I used the deep covered baker from Pampered Chef.  You mix one cup of catalina dressing with a can of cranberries (or cranberry sauce) and a packet of onion soup.  Pour over chops.  I baked them at 300 for 1.5 hours and they were good - but I think that they might have been better in the crockpot.  Either way - we had a pasta salad and some corn for sides and they were mighty good.

Wednesday - Subway
 Again, we have church tonight and my 'Get up and go" went without me....so, Subway it is!

Thursday - Leanne's Night Out/Alan Fends for himself
 I am hoping tomorrow night I get to go see Kathy.  When you are used to going weekly and have to skip one it feels like ETERNITY!  If I don't, then I will make a Shepherd's Pie.  If I do - that'll get booted to another day!

Friday - EAT OUT
 We are going out for Valentine's Dinner on Friday night to beat the crowds.  I'm better we go to San Marcos Grill because they have a fajita dinner deal!

Saturday - Chicken Casserole
 The girls are coming over on Saturday and they love this...as does their Uncle Alan.  We will have Fruit Salad and Green beans with it.

Sunday - Shepherd's Pie/Pot Roast
 If I don't make this tomorrow I will do it here.  If I do make it tomorrow I will do a Roast while we are at church.

There ya have it -- it's a plan anyway!

Weekly Menu

Last week was a little off and we didn't do so hot with the cooking at home.  I worked auditions Monday and Tuesday so I ate Chick-fil-a one day and then brought leftovers from Kathy's the next.  Wednesday Alan wasn't feeling well so I just ate what I could find.  Thursday I went to a Pampered Chef party and ate yummy food there.  Friday we went to Applebee's because Alan was feeling better and that's what he wanted.  Saturday we had breakfast at a friends house and then I went to a wedding and ate there.  Sunday we had lunch out with friends and then ate nothing else....and that was the week.  This week I was determined to do better! So....

Monday - Spaghetti
Donna text and asked if I wanted to go to dinner, but I offered up a cheaper option.  Spaghetti at our house. We used to eat spaghetti ALL the time (it's cheap, yummy, and has leftovers), but have gotten out of that.  It was nice, however, to have a good pot of spaghetti with our good friend!

Tuesday - Pesto Chicken
This recipe is so easy a child could do it!  Pesto sauce in the bottom of the pan, chicken on top of that, pesto on top of the chicken...and bake.  Seriously.  And it's soo good!  We are having pasta salad to go with it.

Wednesday - Ham
We plan to go to church this night and the ham will be easy.  I have carrots and parsnips to roast to go with it.  I will likely eat before church and Alan will likely eat after.

Thursday - Leftovers
I will go to Kathy's (we may go to a movie!) and Alan will provide his own meal. :)

Friday - Leftovers/Frozen Pizza
I am going to a Women's Conference at my mom's church so Alan will have to eat leftovers or I have a frozen pizza he can eat.  Or he could have a sandwich.  I have to check with mom to see what I will have. If they are providing dinner I'll eat that.  If not, I'll take a sandwich.

Saturday - The Big Enchilada
I have the conference in the morning and we MAY go to DSO on the Go at Stonebriar Community Church and so we may not have this.  But if time permits I will make this yummy enchilada recipe from Pampered Chef that Alan likes.  It even has cheese in it and he will eat it!  It's a little more time consuming but the end result is worth it!

Sunday - Eat out and shop for next week!

PS - I lost 5 pounds last week! :)

A New thing in a New Year (no pictures...)

You guys...I just want to post this because we are proud of ourselves...

This week Alan and I have cooked at home every night.  We've had fabulous meals with leftovers for Alan to take to work.  I've stayed within my weight watchers points and my stomach hasn't been upset (except for little bits here and there...thanks a ton IBS).

Here's what we made...

Monday, January 12, 2015 - Tacos
Alan was finishing up his month and year end stuff at work and I had a meeting in Sherman, so we decided to go pretty quick and easy for dinner.  I used ground turkey (I find I prefer it over the beef) and I forgot to pick up a taco seasoning packet, but I had some Tex-Mex rub (Pampered Chef spice) that I used instead.  We had whole wheat tortillas, onions, salsa, sour cream and cheese for toppings and away we went.  We made it, ate it, and cleaned it up in record time!
For the weight watcher type, it was 7 points for 2 tacos.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - Chicken Fried Rice
Nothing pressing to do at home tonight, other than clean up our room and closet -- those places become a mess soooo quickly!  I'm planning to try a Pampered Chef recipe that I found in my stash of cookbooks.  It actually calls for pork, but Alan and I both agreed, we prefer chicken.  I don't think it will take too long to make and when I calculated points it was 8 per serving, but I'm thinking since it will have chicken instead of pork it might be less..I'll let you know!  If we get everything cooked and cleaned up in the kitchen AND in our room, we might hang a few pictures. EEK!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - Shepherd's Pie
Truly a favorite in our house!  I used ground turkey again.  I browned it and added onions and frozen veggies.  Then we added our 'Savoury Mince' packet that I picked up in Ireland (gonna have to get some more of that!) and let it simmer.  Then put in my stoneware baker (Pampered Chef) and put mashed potatoes (just potatoes...no butter, no milk, no nothing....it's an Irish thing) and some cheese on my part (Alan won't eat it).  Into the oven for a bit and VOILA, Shepherd's Pie.  It was like 10 points for a HUGE serving and I couldn't finish it!  I ended up with 2 points leftover for the day...

Thursday, January 15, 2015 -- Leftovers
This is one of my favorite nights of the week! This LeaAunt went to see her 9Peas (though only 7 were there...2 aren't home anymore)!  We had a sausage, spinach, black bean, potato soup that was SOOOOO good.  SO GOOD.  I decided it was 10 points for that I ate and then I ate 2 oatmeal chocolate chip cherry cookies.  I decided that were probably 3 ish, but that left me with a point....so I did what anyone would do...I ate another! :) Oh well, 2 points over is ok!  Alan ate the leftover Shepherd's pie.  After eating, Kathy and I get to girl talk the night away...I love this part of my week!

Friday, January 16, 2015 - Fajitas
We used to go out to eat on Friday nights and eat Fajitas at a Mexican food place in Sherman.  This week I thought perhaps we could just make our own.  We have some friends coming over because we are babysitting for them and they may eat with us before they go. I will make chicken fajitas in the microwave in 15 minutes.  They will be juicy and yummy!  We will use the same sides as earlier this week (based on our personal preferences).  Then we will play with our friend for the night and all go to bed.  I suspect that Alan and our little buddy will have donuts in the morning, but it is more likely that I will have oatmeal or a cereal bar. :)

Saturday, January 17, 2015 - Chicken Casserole
Tomorrow night we will have our wonderful friends, The Byrd's, over for dinner.  When they come over we use our China (we only have 4 place settings so we each get one and we eat fancy.  The menu may or may not be 'fancy' but it will be yummy!  I am making our famous family recipe: Chicken Casserole.  It's so easy (once you prepare the chicken) and SOOOOO yummy!  I am going to ask Cynthia to bring a fruit salad and will likely do green beans to go with it.  Then I don't know what I will do for a dessert.  After dinner we will brew some tea and enjoy ourselves while drinking yummy teas!

Sunday, January 17, 2015 - Lunch out
I get an extra 49 points a week on top of my daily allotment.  I'm down to 43 and will likely be at 40 by Sunday, but that's ok!  Last week we ate at Cotton patch and I had like 55 points or something...crazy - but yummy!  That said, we will eat out for lunch, wherever our little hearts desire.  I will *try* to be good-ish.  Then we will have leftovers or fruit smoothies for dinner.  This is also when we will plan for next week and shop.

There ya have it -- a whole week of cooking...and I'm excited about what we can do for next week.  I'm feeling a pot roast coming on....

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

Pretty:

Alan and I spent Christmas in Ireland with his Dad.  One day we went to visit his mom's grave and I snapped this picture of Alan and his Dad walking outside of the Bennykerry (sp?) church.  I know it's crooked, but I thought it was pretty!

The night before we left as we drove past this rock at the front of his Dad's neighborhood I thought it was pretty so I walked down and took a picture.  As I was doing that I noticed how beautiful the sunset was so I snapped that too!

(Side note: most neighborhood's don't have street signs like we do. This is how they designate alot of areas.)

Happy:

Spending Christmas with Alan's family was wonderful.  Different, but wonderful.  I am so glad we snapped these pics with Vincent (his dad) and Collette (his Aunt - mom's sister) - they certainly make me happy! :)

(me, Vincent, Alan)

(me, Alan, Collette)

Bonus Happy:

I made these blankets for the boys for Christmas and they loved them! :)

Funny:

These pictures of Paul and Amy crack me up...

Paul was soooo excited about our New Year's eve party.  It was rocking awesome...er...LOUD!

I honestly don't even remember why I took this one -- but it's funny!

Bonus funny:

At the house warming party...my 3 nephews plus my almost nephew all crowed on the guest bed around on device...

Real:

Christmas with my family was wonderful!  We cried some, laughed lots, and enjoyed ourselves.  When my mom was cleaning out my Grandmother's apartment she found the same check boxes Grandmother had been using for cash gifts our whole lives.  She and Grandmother used the one last time.  I now have it in my possession.  We cried.

When Grandmother was in the hospital/rehab/hospice Mom and I started saying, "It is what it is....and that's all it is".  It carried us through.  So when I found this little sign I had to get it for her.  We cried a little.

Lest you think all we did was cry -- the boys opened each gift exclaiming it's what they always wanted.  Alan and I recieved gifts for the house and I gave Mom, Amy, and Allison Mini Rolls...and there was much rejoicing! :)

Bonus funny:

This is how I feel most days -- but I actually have to drag myself out of bed....sigh