Good 15 minutes below zero bathing suits and golden globes.

Yesterday I had some good times:
1. 15 good minutes occured when the children were quiet for the first 15 minutes in church. Very exciting, I got all hopeful that they'd be quiet and well behaved the whole time!
2. the house was clean for 15 minutes.
3. enjoyed 120 minutes w/Diana at the Olive Garden. Some people frown on The Olive Garden, they say it's the Denny's of Italian restaurants. I say so what, I like Dennys too. What's not to love over Moon over My Hammy?
4. enjoyed about a total of 15 minutes of the golden globes. the rest of the time that we watched it Patrick was talking talking talking.

It turns out on Thursday when I leave for Tucson, that it will be some degrees below zero here. Do planes fly if it's below zero? God I hope so!

And it turns out the forcast for the whole time in Tucson is going to be significantly higher than below zero. So much higher, I am rethinking my wardrobe. Now if it would be significantly higher than below zero when I return on Sunday, that would be the bee's knees.

Speaking of knees. How do people confidently wear bathing suits. I don't mean A list celebrities, I mean average women, esp average women who've given birth. I need a turn of the century suit. More importantly, hotels that have pools should either get really big body covering towels for guests to wear on the long awkward walk back to the room after going to the pool, or they should close their pools.

We watched the Golden Globes last night, and I will never have a "what not to wear "job because I thought overall everyone looked very good. I mean they are all quite attractive. Hairwise I thought Drew Barrymore's hair looked overwrought, and I thought Renee Zellwinger must have thin hair. Tom wanted to know why many of the men were sporting a cross btwn bed head and spiky hair. I have no answers for that. I do know that I want to see Slumdog Millionaire, the Wrestler, and In Bruges.

Also, I have an awards pet peeve, I don't like when they act completely stunned that they have won. IE Kate Winslet. It's always at least a 1 in 5 shot that you'll win if nominated, so why not acknowledge that you have a good chance of winning.

Tom thought David Duchovny looked too thin. I thought he mentioned that he got a call from his wife on camera, just so he could let everyone know he is still married.

Lastly my husband and I have totally different taste in women.

Angelina is on Camera.

I say: "Sigh she is so beautiful"
Tom says: "she's alright."
Me: "she's alright? what? are you crazy? who do you like?"
he says : "I think you're beautiful."
I make a humph sound and say: "C'mon!"
Tom says: "oh I don't know..."

Salma Hayek is on Camera.

I say: "what about her?"
Tom: "she's alright."
I say: "cmon! she's stacked! That dress is fabulous!"

The camera pans to Penelope Cruz.

I say: What about her?
tom says: yes she is very attractive.

Well Amen! About time!

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Yesterday I went to Jewel and Tom said, get some pork that is usually cheap. I bought a whole tenderloin and today I thought, hmm what can I do w/that in the crockpot.

So I took the pork added about 1/3 of a bottle of Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss +dijon mustard + honey and put it on low to cook all day...I hope it turns out well! Wish me luck!

Beef Pepper Steak

From sparkrecipes.com

I am making this for dinner using left over Beef Tip Sirloin Roast from last night of which I am sure I don't have 12 oz . So it'll have less beef and less tomatoes as I have a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes vrs a 28oz can. I'm also going to sprinkle a little TS Southwest Seasoning Salt on my serving because I love a little lime and cumin and jalapeno w/pepper steak, and not surprisingly, Tom fan of bland cooking doesn't. We are having this over 1/2 white 1/2 brown rice. Oh and I'll used just a bit of garlic garlic vrs. garlic powder (of course)

Ingredients

12 oz beef round steak, cubed
garlic powder to taste (1 teaspoon or more)
1 large (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 cup diced onion
1 cup green pepper strips (or more as you desire)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons corn starch



Directions

BROWN 12 OZ ROUND STEAK CUT INTO BITE SIZE CUBES IN SKILLET SPRAYED WITH PAM. SPRINKLE ON GARLIC POWDER TO TASTE. TAKE OUT MEAT. SAUTE ONION AND GREEN PEPPER (SPRAY PAN AGAIN IF NEEDED). COOK UNTIL ALMOST TENDER. PUT MEAT BACK IN AGAIN, AND ADD CAN OF WHOLE TOMATOES AND 2 BEEF BOUILLON CUBES. SIMMER ON MED-LOW FOR 10 MINUTES. MAKE A MIXTURE OF 1 TEASPOON SALT, 1 TEASPOON SUGAR, 3 TABLESPOONS SOY SAUCE, 1/4 CUP WATER, 2 TEASPOONS CORNSTARCH. ADD MIXTURE AND SIMMER 15 MINUTES LONGER. SERVE OVER RICE OR NOODLES (ADDING APPROPRIATE CALORIES). MAKES 10 HALF CUP SERVINGS.

Number of Servings: 10

Hair Cut.

The day before picture day, Bryce hacked up his hair. Why? He wanted to look good for picture day. I managed to gel what was left and cut some stray hair and we were both OK with the look he sported for the pic.

Then tonight, out of the blue, I go into the bathroom and there is Bryce with a little pair of scissors that I don't even know where he found them, and he has cut parts of the front of his hair so short my first thought is:

Jesus he looks like he is sick and losing his hair. Really it was so bad I'd be afraid that people might think he was undergoing cancer.-he is on the small side for a first grader, and he is very thin, that coupled with missing clumps of hair, it's just no good.

I beg him to back away from the scissors and plead with him never to cut his own hair again. Then he hids under the covers as Patrick laughs at him. We ask him why did he cut his hair, again? He refuses to speak.

Patrick apologizes and get sent to bed. Tom talks Bryce out from under the covers and gets the clippers out. Tom's idea was to just even out the front few inches of Bryce's hair.

Now Bryce doesn't look sick, thank goodness. But he bares an errie resemblance to his dad--because he looks like he is 1/2 bald!

Ack. Really. Bryce hides back under the covers, I ask Tom what number he had the clipper set on. He says 3. I say: you have to go back and even it out. Tom says: You mean cut all of it shorter. I say:
Yes, no way can he go to school like that. Tom says: Is it that bad? Can he wear a hat at school?
(Bryce starts crying under the covers). I say: No. You have to cut his hair.

Tom gets Bryce to come out from under the covers again, and back into the bathroom they go.
This time it looks better, still bad, but not awful.

Bryce crawls into bed and falls asleep in 60 seconds.

Meatloaf

On Feb 2nd the Tastefully Simple team that I am a part of is making dinner for a local PADS http://www.sspads.org/ shelter this one is done by a church in Palos where they feed and house women and children living out of their cars on Monday nights.

After the boys go to school that morning, I am having Anna skip school to join me in going over to my TS sponsor Desiree's house and cook. Anna of course loves to cook, and I am hoping even at 4 she might 'get' a bit of what we are doing and why.


Dinner will be meatloaf, mixed veggies, mashed potatoes and dessert. Being that we are making meatloaf, along with Anna, I am bringing my favorite kitchen gaget. My cooking probe.



Interestingly, just two hours before I went to the meeting on Monday where Desiree shared with us about doing this community service, I had made weight watchers meatloaf. Meatloaf that was good enough to please not only Anna, or Tom, but good enough that Patrick said and I quote :-):

"This isn't as bad as I thought."

Then I said "Would you like some more?"

"Nope."

Truly it was like a 3 fork rating from Phil Vettel.



Then w/in hours Meatloaf Kismet occured and I am hoping maybe we could make one or both of the big meatloaf using the recipe below:



This is the not doubled or tripled recipe.

1 1/2 lbs ground lean turkey or ground chicken (i used ground chicken because that was what was on sale last week, and I only buy what is on sail. (I'm like a localvoire, but I'm a salevoire.)

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 egg white

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

1 tblsp yellow mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper



Combine the turkey, onion, bell pepper, egg white, 1/4 cup of ketchup, the bread crumbs, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; mix well. Form the mixture into a loaf and put it into a loaf pan.



Spread the top of the meatloaf w/the remaining 1/2 cup of ketchup. Cover and cook until the meatloaf reaches an internal tep of 165.

shop talk

I was running late for a dentist appt this morning, so I called to make sure they could still see me and the girl who answered the phone said yes, so I arrived 10 minutes late for my appointment, sat down in the waiting room and got out my pen and paper to write my To-Do list for today.

A kindly old lady, and she was that clique as you will see, was finishing up her appointment by giving the receptionist a saran-wrapped and ribbon-topped plate of yummy looking cookies. Once she left, the receptionist said:

"Victoria, I tried to call your house, the blahblah was supposed to be delivered today, but it isn't here yet, can we reschedule you."

*note: she didn't say blahblah, I think she said cement?

I rescheduled for Thurs.

When I got back in the minivan, I thought, ooo good now I have extra time, what can I do?

Wash the Van?

Rush home and do laundry?

Make Client Care Calls?

Or return an item to Carson's and buy stuff w/the store credit.

Guess what I picked???

I decided to torture myself so after I got my $55 credit, I went straight away to the shoe department to see if they have the Ruff Hewn boots I have been lusting after and searching for daily. (not really daily, I just didn't want to end w/a preposition). And they did, what a joyous occasion right? I asked for the boots, the sales clerk found them right away, used my credit of $55 plus $6 difference and off I went, just as I was leaving the shoe section, I wisely looked in the box planning to lovingly adore my new boots.

You know what happens next, they were the wrong boots. I went back to the counter, talked to the clerk found out--the ones I want are sold out. I said: "Sure they are, they are too cute not to be completely gone."

Forlornly or is it Forelornly? I walked out of shoe department and went looking for sunglasses, which I couldn't find and wandered into the 'Social Dresses' department. Of course, I was drawn right away to the signs that said: CLEARANCE UP TO 70% OFF.

Did I mention that I am going to Tucson AZ next week and on a cruise in April? At our Leadership Conference there is an awards dinner, and it's basically like Tastefully Simple Prom (minus the hassle of a date!) and apparently all cruises have some sort of fancy dress up night. Being that I was not going to be spending any money, I started rummaging thru the clearance racks.

It's a good thing I've logged many hours going through the racks at TJ Maxx and Marshalls because they had Petite, Missy, Women's and dowdy Mother-of-the-Bride dresses mishmashed together. I was really pressed for time, no way could I miss getting Anna off the bus. So I ran through the dresses ASAP and found 2 that I really liked. First is this blue dress that is pleated. It is sapphire blue, the color I aways wanted my prom dress to be, if I had gone to prom. The original cost was $100, it was marked down to $59.99. The second dress is more of a classic dress black and sparkly, it shouldn't go in and out of style. Original cost of the dress was $118, it was marked down to $69.99. I took the dresses over to a mirror and held them up to see how they went w/me and I really could not decide which one to get.

The posted clearance signs said something about additional discounts on the clearance price but since there was a bunch of small print--and since I didn't happen to have a calculator with me, I took both dresses up to the counter. When I go shopping from the grocery store to Wal-mart to Carsons, I usually have a few items that I will buy only if the clerk check the price and tells me a number that is in the range of what I am willing to pay.

'Sara' price checked the blue dress, which turns out is a 'YELLOW DOT' items (whatever that means!) and it's only $24 bucks! I'll take it! Then Sara who is 20-year old super tiny clerk warns me that the black dress may not be a YELLOW DOT item...she scans the ticket and...

Wahoo! It's only $25.95~~ so I got both!

50 million things to do

I have 50 million things I want to do. Some more than others. And now I will post my list of what I need to do, feel free to read this if you need reading material to fall asleep because fascinating it is not!
1. make appt to get taxes done.
2. do paperwork that has to be done so I can get taxes done.
3. count days until Cruise.
4. apply for a passport so I can go on my free Cruise.
5. figure out when my flights are for Tucson.
6. figure out when my flights are for Miami for the Cruise.
7. figure out if someone can watch the kids so Tom can work while I am on the Cruise.
8. get painting done in the house.
9. update my ipass cc number
10. send out coaching call forms to people on my team.
11. stop and take a breathe.
12. stop making this list, it's stressing me out!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's hard to believe 2009 is here. Do you know what 2009 is? April 2nd tom and i will have been married 10 years.

Holy Moly 10 years! And then right after that, Patrick will have 1st communion and then I get to celebrate our 10 year anniversary by going on a Carnival Cruise with all my favorite Tastebuds (tastebuds: my tastefully simple friends).

Then as I have already been told a dozen times just this evening, Patrick is going to be 9 this year. And you know what that means? He will be 9 on May 9th! Yes he is planning a big bash for his golden birthday.

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Would you like to know about my new 2 favorite things?
1. the scramble game on Facebook. Oy. highly addictive and totally a blow to the ego to see that my vocabulary isn't nearly as large as I thought it was! On the plus side, I am better at doing the JUMBLE game in the paper now...
2. Pride and Prejudice (v. 2005) Sigh. It's the original Chick lit made into a fabulously romantic movie.

IceSnow Storm

We woke up to snow and ice. Most of the schools called off school but not our schools! Tom almost had to stay home cause he couldn't get traction to leave our street. It was a brutal morning on the roads. Even the main roads were ice and slush city!

Here is our drive after I got done shoveling, it was tough heavy ice!

Las. Vegas gets 4 inches of Snow.

Crazy weather and we are looking at a big storm coming to Chicagoland w/in hours. Now who knows because sometimes they say we are getting a big storm and we get like maybe 1 inch of snow.

In any case, the snow in Las Vegas reminds me of Leadership Las Vegas in ah 2006 where it was in the 20s on the strip and they had a dusting of snow (it was January) now that was a major bummer--to go from January in Chicago to January in Chicago in Las Vegas.

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Red 40.
That is a red food dye that I really think makes Bryce have an attack of ADHD. I have kept track of when Bryce doesn't listen, and is fighting w/his sister and brother and yelling and over a couple weeks I saw that if he get the food coloring he is aweful. Today was his school Christmas party and suffice it to say I think the cupcakes had red frosting
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Countdown to me going to Leadership Tucson 27 days. :-)

Too much to do.

I really need more time before Christmas. Not to shop, I have that done, but to do Christmas Cards --haven't started on that yet, might not do it this year. And the wrapping of the presents which is the number one thing I like doing least during the holidays--and it shows in the crappy way I wrap because I am too impatient to put any effort into wrapping. I really should switch over to all Gift Bags. That is a great idea for next year.

I have had 4 Tastefully Simple open house events this year, and so far the ones at people's homes have not gone well for me --saleswise or bookingswise--I'm just not running into my people--the people who love the TS and who like trying new things (f00d-wise) and would like to host a party. I have 2 more events left, both of which are fundraisers --one of which is for PADS which stands for something like Parishes, A? Delivering Shelter. It's churches that open up and provide shelter on a certain day of the week for the homeless --different churchs do different days of the week. So that is a cause I am very happy to fundraise on behalf of--also this Fri I'll be at a Spa Night fundraiser for Relay for Life and that is another great one I love to fundraise for through my business.

Statistics I am happy about.
My sales are up 15% this year and I am thisclose to $47,000 in sales.
My Team Sales are up over 35% for the year--and they are past $125,000 for the year.