The Largest Pot I have Ever Seen

Had to share this....A quick trip to T.J. Maxx last week and I came across this.

The pot is MASSIVE. I put my cart up next to it for comparison, but it doesn't do the size difference justice. 

I wouldn't even know what to cook in something that size. 

Make My Day

I've am LOVING my job at my new school and strongly feel that I have found my "work home"-something I have struggled with in the past. I have never felt like I had "friends" at work-I mean, I always got a long with everyone; but nothing on a personal level. Since I have every intention on staying at this specific school until I retire (yes, I have found "the happy work place"), I would really like it if I had actual friendships at work. 

So when the principal of my school put up a flyer for a voluntary activity that runs the entire school year that sort of resembles "secret Santa", I thought it was a great chance to get to know my co-workers better. The concept is that every one given a name and you are responsible for doing something nice and "making their day" by secretly giving the person a coffee, pastry, gift card, small gift, etc. This happens about once a month on a designated day. 

I don't think the idea is to spend a lot of money; I think it's more along the idea of doing something nice for another person. In essence, "making their day."

I received the name of my person today and I am already brewing up some fun idea's. Our first exchange is next Friday and I would like to take care of it (if possible), this weekend. 

I was going to bake a chocolate chip pumpkin loaf soon and decided this would be a great opportunity to double (maybe even triple) the recipe (one for the house, one for the freezer, one for my "person") 

I don't want to always feel the need to go all out to bake something each month, so some other idea's that I thought might be cute (thanks Pinterest for many of the ideas):

• spare batteries for the classroom (always needed in a classroom!)
• $5.00 gift card to Dunkin Donuts
• mini manicure kit to keep in the classroom (nail file, disposable nail polish remover, etc.)
• mug filled with packet of hot chocolate
• candle
• fresh flowers/plant
• To-go cup filled with crystal light packets  

But of course I do plan on doing some baking/cooking items:

• jar of homemade spaghetti sauce
• my mothers infamous chocolate covered pretzels
• batch of my grandmothers cookies

Any other suggestions for the duration of the year would be greatly appreciated, especially cheap, non-food items!

I'm off to a friends birthday party tonight, but before I go, remember when I had to figure out what I was going to do with the giant bag of the teenagers clothes? Well, I finally was able to get an appointment (who the hell knew you needed an appointment for shit like this???) and brought the stuff in this afternoon. The lady said most of it wasn't able to be consigned but she did keep a few things and told me to bring back the summer clothing in a few months. All in all, I left with only one trash bag (as opposed to the two bags I brought in) and $20.00

So, yeah, birthday party tonight, and a really exciting weekend ahead of me. I'll tell you all about it on Monday.

Question for you:

What are you up to this weekend?

Guilt Free Pizza-Cauliflower Pizza Dough

I am home sick today (stomach bug I think...feeling better after sleeping it off for a few hours, but still...)

Before I take myself back to the couch to curl up with the dog (shhh, he's not allowed on the couch but I let him up when it's just the two of us), I wanted to share with you one of my favorite ways to healthify a pizza.

A few days ago, I once again tricked the teenager into eating vegetables because lets face it, sometimes it's just a hell of a lot easier to trick him than to go through the process of dealing with the disgust look on his face at the sight of a vegetable. 

I made homemade pizza with a cauliflower pizza crust and as always, it was really good. 

I found the original recipe here but I had to adapt it to feed the three of us. I would suggest following the original recipe the first time to see what the consistency of the "dough" should look and feel like and then go from there. 

Here is what you need:

-cauliflower (I used about half a large head)

-shredded mozzarella cheese (I used probably a cup and a half)

-shredded Parmesan cheese (I used half a cup or so)

-1-2 eggs, depending upon how big of a crust you are making (I used one egg) 

-herbs and spices of your liking. I used salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, and basil

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 450. 

First you need to rice the cauliflower, which a fancy way of saying get it really small and then heat it up. 

If you are lucky enough, you can put cauliflower in a food processor. 

If you are like me, you have to manually grate it over the cheese grater. It takes forever. And makes a huge mess. (it's worth it though to be able to eat pizza without feeling guilty)

grating away
At this point, I may have said to Ryan that it would be nice to get a food processor, hoping he would get the hint

2. Put the cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and heat up for 8-10 minutes, depending upon how much cauliflower you have.

3. Add mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, and herbs. Mix until you get the right consistency.

Spices are added

Mozzarella cheese. YUM

More cheese

Add an egg or two

4. Spray a pan LIBERALLY with cooking spray and form the dough into a flat rectangle, so that it is 1/4-1/2 inch thick. If it is too thin, it will burn. If it's tho thick, it wont cook through. 

Pat out the dough until you get the right thickness

5. Brush a bit of olive oil onto the top of the dough and bake for 15-17 minutes. 

6. Meanwhile, heat up sauce over the stove and prepare all of the other ingredients you are planning on using. If any ingredients need to be cooked, or warmed up, this is the time to do it. 

7. Take the pizza out of the oven and quickly prepare you pizza. I added tomato sauce, fresh spinach, mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese. 

8. Broil a few minutes (2-4 minutes) until cheese has melted. 

After this, I threw out the pan.
It is definitely time for a new one. 

That's it. Guilt-free pizza! 

While I was waiting for the dough to cook, the skies outside were GORGEOUS. Pink and orange hues were sparkling over the pond and into the distance. Crappy phone pictures don't nearly give the view justice. 

Enjoy the pizza. 

I'm off to snuggle with Mulder and watch endless episodes of Say Yes To The Dress. 

Question for you:

What's your favorite pizza toppings?

I'm Clearly A Few Days Late On This One...Brewing Beer and Friend Making Monday

So….I originally started this post on Sunday evening, with the intent on posting that night..

…but then  I had technology issues (aka-I suck at this sort of stuff, so I gave up). I figured I would throw together my weekend recap and FMM into one post on Monday afternoon….

…But then I didn't have a chance to figure out the technology crap on Monday (meeting after work, followed by pole dance class, followed by quick shower, followed by food shopping-by the way, food shopping at 8:00 on a Monday night is the greatest thing ever….followed by a boy scout carpool)

I didn't get home until 9:30 and I was wiped. I also didn't get much done on my Tuesday stuff, so I am postponing till next week. 

But without further ado, here is the post I had been working on for a few days now:

I Am Mature. And I Never Overreact

So....story goes like this. I work late on Thursday's and usually don't get home until close to 8:00.

 On this particular Thursday, I was invited to a friends house for a girls night of playing cards and a few glasses of wine. I debated going but ultimately decided against it, and went home because I felt the need to make sure everything was okay there (read: I overreact and am a control freak so I wanted to make sure the teenager did his homework correctly)

On top of it all, I was really looking forward to taking a hot bath and then climbing in bed to watch Grey's Anatomy. And, I really don't like being out on a school night. 

So, I ended up driving home. I greeted Ryan and stuck my head into the computer room to say hello to the teenager who was glued to the computer watching YouTube videos about iPods. Typical teenager.

 I head over to the master bathroom, run the tub and chat with Ryan for a few minutes.

Thinking this should only take a few minutes...after all, it is nearly 8:00 and the teenager is supposed to take care of his homework right after school, I go to the computer room to have the teenager de-brief me on his homework situation. It's something we do daily so it shouldn't be any bit of a surprise.


But.....it wasn't done.

And I was pissed. Fuming actually.

Even more so when I found out that Ryan took him out all afternoon and now was allowing him to be on the computer, YouTube, iPod, etc. when he still had homework to finish. (This would not be such a big deal if it the teenager didn't have a history of this sort of crap)

So, I start flipping out.

So does Ryan.

We continue yelling at each other, at the teenager. It was less than an ideal moment.



SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT


The bathtub is still running, I remembered. So, I run to the bathroom.

And slide on the floor because it is inches deep in water, overflowing from the bathtub.


Fuuuuck.

So, I dump every towel we have onto the floor to try to sop up the water and yell for Ryan to come help me.

He does and during this, proceeds to (rightfully so, now that I have had a week to mull this over)
tell me this is my fault because I am too wrapped up and too concerned about the teenagers homework and that I overreact.

At the time, my thoughts were more on the lines of "bastard" and "asshole" and a few others. Now that I've had a week to think about it, he was probably right.

As I continue with the towels on the floor, Ryan leaves and I'm thinking he's an asshole for leaving me with this mess.

Two minutes later, he comes upstairs to tell me the pole room is flooded.

This, obviously, leads to more yelling at each other.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkk


So, like any other mature 30-year old woman, I handled the situation rationally.

I grabbed my purse, cell phone, and charger, and stormed out of the house to my friend's place where a bunch of my girl friends were for the night.

I drank a couple glasses of wine and bitched to my ultra supportive friends while left Ryan to clean up the mess.

Yes, I am mature.

I contemplated spending the night because I was too sheepish to come home but I ended up creeping in the house quietly and sleeping in my own bed with Mulder.

Ryan conveniently slept on the couch.

Yep, I am incredibly mature.

And I never over-react.

Ever.

"I'd Like To Quit The Gym" and Ten Things Tuesday

How's your Tuesday going? 

After a three day weekend, I was glad to go back to work  be back to my normal routine. Three day weekends throw me off schedule. 

Just wanted to share this before I get into Ten Things Tuesday. 

Remember the homemade ravioli and how I posted about how pathetically quick and easy it was to have on a busy week night?

Well, last night, I broke out the frozen bag of ravioli and had dinner taken care of in under two minutes. 

Start time: 6:28

I started at 6:28. Turned the oven on, took out the bag of ravioli and dumped it in a casserole dish. I took out a jar of sauce, struggled to get it open, finally managed to open it, and poured it on top of the ravioli. Then I put the ravioli in the oven that was still heating up. End time: 6:30. 

End time: 6:30

While I waited for the ravioli to cook, I did some other things around the kitchen and house. Dinner out of the oven and on a plate by 6:57. 

27 minutes later....

Total prep time: 2 minutes
Total cook time: 27 minutes. 

Homemade cheese ravioli

Moving on to Tuesday's usual routine....


So last week, I set out to take care of the following things by today and here is how I did: 

1. Cancel gym membership

• Done. Phew. I hate "quitting the gym" (anyone else know that reference to the episode in Friends where Chandler wants to quit the gym but they keep sucking him back in with guilt trips. Well, that's exactly what I got when I went there. I have to finish paying out my subscription to the end of the year but after December, I won't be automatically charged anymore and that $33.00 will stay happily in my bank account. 

See ya later gym membership that I never use

2. Post a new recipe

• Mmmmm....cinnamon swirl banana bread. WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS

3. Make a trip to consignment store to bring items and pick my check

4. Post three items on to eBay

• And a gazillion more to go! 

5. Start to finish, complete one new file folder game for work

It's called "Pencil Pals"

Cut, colored, and glued all the pencils.
Half went onto the file folder and the corresponding pencils were glued onto stock paper

After laminating and more cutting...

Added the velco and here is the final product

6. Finish and publish post about lake-house

• One of these days, I will sit down and write about it! 

7. Work on (bonus points for publishing) after-post for bedroom

• Haven't even started but how about a sneak peek:

8. Work out/be active at least 3 times this week

• Only twice. I did some pole work in my dance room on Wednesday and then went to an open pole class on Friday. 

9. Figure out what to do with giant bag of teenager's out-grown clothes (anybody looking for boys clothes, size 10-14)

• I called a few children's consignment stores and now just waiting to hear back. I'm going to try a few more places/other options such as eBay and craigslist but if not, they will be donated. 

10. Go to post office to mail eBay packages

• Done-but now I have more. Once things start selling, it never ends. 

So for next week:
1.Get at least three more items up on eBay. You should see the boxes I have filled with stuff that needs to get posted on there!
2. Figure out Thanksgiving plans 
3. Do the before/after post of the bedroom
4. Clean out my freaking car. 
5. Post a new recipe on the blog
6. Be active/pole at least three times 
7. Deep clean the master bathroom/bedroom
8. Make another file folder game, from start to finish
9. Work on/finish super-top-secret blog post
10. Deal with my Comcast issue

That's all I've got for now. 

Question for you:

• What's on your list of things to do for the week?
• Have you ever had a hard time "quitting the gym" or something similar?

Friends Making Monday: All About The Blog

I have today "off" and while I am not at school, I am working today. 

How was your weekend? Do you have today off?

Friday afternoon, I went to an open pole class and worked on some tricks. I really like the open atmosphere of the open pole classes. They're very laid back. 

 On Saturday, Ryan and the teenager went to his cousins' for the day so I spent some time at my parents' house before heading up to my best friend's house (an hour and a half away) to spend the night. One of my camp friends was in town and I haven't seen her in nearly three years so it was so much fun to be able to see each other. 

camp friends are best friends

Yesterday, we went out for breakfast and then the girls did a little shopping before I headed back home where Ryan and I enjoyed a night with a few beers (mmmm Smoked Porter and Mean Old Tom) and Chinese food delivery in front of the fire. 

We watched the first episode of American Horror Story (did anyone else see it? Yikes!!!!) and attempted to watch a movie called 42 about Jackie Robinson but we both fell asleep pretty quickly. It was good so I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it. Unfortunately, i ALWAYS fall asleep during movies.

I am going to get back to my work but before I do, this post is brought to you, as always, with Friends Making Monday's. 

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

All about the Blog

1.  How long have you been blogging?  About five months or so.....so not very long at all. 

2.  What is the overwhelming theme of your blog? I first started as a way to document the changes we made as we renovated and redecorated our house but it seems as if it is becoming more of a daily life/my on going to-do list sort of theme. Whatever. it works for me. 

3.  Have you connected with people in person after meeting them through blogging?  No....not yet at least.  

4.  What do you enjoy most about blogging?  I really enjoy documenting and putting my every day happenings into words and then seeing them come intro fruition.  I like that I started my ten-things-Tuesday series and my 101 in 1001 list (It once again solidifies that I thrive on lists and having set goals to accomplish). And I cannot neglect the satisfaction that comes when someone comments on the blog. It was such a highlight of my "blogging career" (ha!) when another blogger 

5.  How often do you blog? Over the summer, I had more time and was able to blog a few times per week. Lately, it feels like I can get out a post on Monday (For FMM) and Tuesday's for Ten Things Tuesday. I have a bunch of draft posts that are constantly in the works but since I am so NOT technologically savvy, it sometimes takes me a long time to deal with pictures and formatting, etc. I just bought a keyboard for the iPad so since I won't be forced to stay in the computer room to work on a computer, I will be able to sit on the couch at night and type from the iPad. 

6.  Share one thing that you don’t like about blogging. Nothing major comes to mind. I once got stressed that I wasn't able to post as frequently as some other bloggers but then I put it into perspective that those bloggers do this for a full time job, and my blogging is strictly hobby. I also don't like the spam comments!

7. Do you talk about your blog in everyday life?  Not at all. Very few people know that I do this and of those few people, not very many know the name of the blog or how to find it. I don't even really talk about it with Ryan. 

8.  What is the coolest and most unexpected thing that has happened to you as a result of blogging?  Another blogger has referenced a recipe of mine on her blog! (FYI-it was the homemade applesauce)

9.  Are there topics that are off-limits on your blog?  If so, name a few…I won't go into detail about the Teenager or anything related him. I won't talk too much about my family or the situations that happened. 

10.  If you could accomplish one thing through your blog before the end of this year, what would you want to accomplish? I just want to be able to continue having this online scrapbooking for myself. 

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions!  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments, and say hello to someone new!  

Recap Of My Uber-Productive Day and Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Cutest pumpkin

 What better way to start the day off than with the cutest pumpkin that I know. Isn't my nephew so handsome??

 

Yesterday, I had the entire day off and vowed to be uber-productive and I absolutely was.

 

 

I started off with some chores around the house: laundry, dishes, and quick general cleaning and picking up of the dining area, kitchen, living room and bedroom.

 

I headed out for some errands and knocked off three items on my Ten Things Tuesday list:

• Post office
• Staples to get some Velcro for my file-folder projects (more on that later)
• Bed Bath and Beyond: returned some things (they have the best return policy ever) and used the merchandise credit to buy an iron. I texted Ryan immediately to tell him that we now own an iron and I officially feel grown-up
• Ran to the consignment store to pick up a check (wahoo-$17.00 and some change-free money!) and bring a few items in
• Deposited the whopping $17.00 check at the ATM
• Used a gift card to snag an iced coffee (thanks Leah!)

• Quick/cheap trip to the grocery store. I tried to keep things to a bare minimum this week and declared the next few weeks as the "empty out the cabinets and pantry and use what we got" sort of weeks.

Once I came home, I immediately got to work and unloaded the groceries, emptied the dishwasher, made and cleaned up lunch, and swept the main floors.

 

Once that was all done, I broke out my pink mix-master and baked a loaf of Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips. But before I get into the recipe, I wanted to brag for a minute.

 

 The teenager has been a rock star in school/home the past week or so and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he is FINALLY coming to his senses. Something must have clicked because he is putting in effort in his studying/homework, reading the directions and actually following them, helping out with chores with a less-sucky attitude. And it has made a world of difference around here.

 

 Ryan and I are fighting less (it's actually of the only things that cause us to fight), there is practically no yelling at all in our house....and ever since he started listening to us parents (yes, I am tooting our own damn horns here), he has NAILED all of his tests/quizzes.

 

case in point: 100% on his science quiz

 

 

 

 So, check out this recipe:

 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

with Chocolate Chips

 

 

Here is what you need:

 

• 3 overly ripe banana's (I froze these from a while ago and took them out of the freezer about half an hour before I started baking)
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• cooking spray
• cinnamon/sugar mixture
• chocolate chips

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To:

• Preheat oven to 350

• Grease loaf pan

• Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla

• Sprinkle baking soda and salt on top

• Gently stir in flour (don't over mix)

• Add half of batter into loaf pan

• Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture followed by a handful of chocolate chip 

 

 

• Add remaining batter to cover chocolate chips

• Sprinkle more cinnamon/sugar mixture and chocolate chips on top

• Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

 

Enjoy!!!!

 

 

Bring on the Uber-Productivity -It's Ten Things Tuesday

 I have today off due to elections and yes, it is one of the days I have been looking forward to. It is still relatively early this morning, and instead of letting myself sleep in and be lazy, I am gearing up for an uber-productive day. I have already loaded and ran the dishwasher, folded and put away a load of laundry, cleaned the basket of crap (see below), and did some tidying up around the house.

I'm not going to allow myself to sit here at the computer for too long-strict time limits for myself, otherwise, I'd lose track of time entirely.

Looking back at my list from last week:



1. Find new shoes for upcoming wedding.

• I actually went to a few stores to look for shoes but didn't find anything I love/wanted to spend money on so I stuck with what I had. No one was looking at my shoes anyways, and I saved myself some money.

2. Post about the butternut squash soup
 

• The soup was delicious! I suggest you make it! I'm thinking of adding carrots to the soup next time. Thoughts?

3. Make my evaluation binder
 

4. Clean out basket of crap from bedroom

before



during-whole bunch of crap to go through

After-just a lot less crap in there

 

 

5. Work on post about the lake-house (bonus points for finishing and publishing it!)

• Well, I did work on it a little bit, but not much.

6. Reorganize/plan new budget

 

• I do best when I write things out in pen and paper so I wrote down my list of bills projected for the next few months, divided the amount by two (I get paid twice a month) and the amount is how much I need to put into my "bill fund" each paycheck. Not included on this list, is what I put into savings from each paycheck.

 

 

Old-school style, with pen and paper.



 

 

7. Pay that stupid library fine and get a new book

• Hopefully getting this done today during my uber-productiveness.

8. Get gift card/ birthday present for friends birthday

9. Get birthday card and wedding card for upcoming events

10. Make hair appointment

• I hadn't had my hair cut since last March (yikes, I just counted-that's over 6 months). I was able to conveniently make an appointment for last Saturday, the day that I had a wedding.

Next week:
1. Cancel gym membership
2. Post a new recipe
3. Make a trip to consignment store to bring items and pick my check
4. Post three items on to eBay
5. Start to finish, complete one new file folder game for work
6. Finish and publish post about lake-house
7. Work on (bonus points for publishing) after-post for bedroom
8. Work out/be active at least 3 times this week
9. Figure out what to do with giant bag of teenager's out-grown clothes (anybody looking for boys clothes, size 10-14)
10. Go to post office to mail eBay packages


Okay, before I get going, I have a question for someone more tech-savvy than myself.
I recently updated my iPad and since then, the battery is draining itself out because it will no longer automatically shut itself off after a period of inactivity. At night, I set Netflix or watch sometime from ITunes and fall asleep to it. Prior to the update, after the show was over and I was asleep, it would turn itself off. Now, it stays glowing for the entire night and wipes out the battery.

This can't be good for it. Any advice?