7 Things that Happened Last Week

1. Chloe turned 18 months old.

2. Mom and her boyfriend broke up. She's moving in for a little while.

3. Friday was a day off for my entire family.

4. Made a beef roast of some sort in the crock pot. Yummy.

5. Boyfriend took an awesome video of the girls dancing in the car.

6. I've felt pretty 'meh' about life.

7. We celebrated Easter on Friday morning since the girls would be with their other parents Sunday morning, and boyfriend worked early Saturday morning.

Tried and Loved Pinterest Recipes

I skipped Meal Plan Monday, so to make up for it, I'm sharing some of my favorite Pinterest recipes that I've personally tried and enjoyed.

Bread & Side Dishes

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Crispy Smashed Potatoes

A little time consuming, but some of the best potatoes I've ever had. 

Pizza Biscuits

Pizza Cupcakes

Use lots and lots of cheese! 

Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Stew

I added in a bunch of potatoes, an extra 2 cups of broth to make up the difference. Left out vinegar, then later had to add at least 1 cup of water because it was getting too dry. It still ended up with almost no broth, but tasted great though!

Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken

I left it in a little longer than it said, so it ended up a little dry, but still yummy. Will definitely be using this cooking method for chicken again! 

Meals

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Doritoes Casserole

Good, but not as good as leftovers so make sure you have someone to share it with!

Sloppy Joe Casserole
If you like Sloppy Joes but are getting a little sick of it, this is a great way to spice it up.

Bacon Cheeseburger Eggrolls
Added a bit of Worcestershire to give the beef more flavor, as well as onion powder and garlic powder. We had just these as a supper - a hit with both of us, but would be better with a side dish as well. It left me with a 'greasy belly' feeling.

Lasagna Cupcakes

These are pretty much amazing. You can throw in whatever you typically like in lasagna. Each time I make these, I have all the ingredients ready in the fridge and quickly throw together a few (three typically fill me enough) and make them fresh for a couple of days. They're so good that I don't care that I'm eating the same supper for three nights.

Oven Baked Meatball Sandwiches
Time consuming, because I made my own meatballs. Much quicker if you use store bought. 

Muffin-Pan Meatloaf
Use any meatloaf recipe you want, really, but it cooks much faster in muffin tins.

Pizza Casserole
The pepperoni makes it so yummy. And the more cheese, the better.

Taco Stuffed Shells
Boyfriend and I both liked them. I had them the next day for leftovers and they tasted great, but by the end of it I was so sick of ground beef and salsa.

Dessert & Misc

Cheese sauce

I've never found a cheese sauce recipe that worked, but this one turned out almost perfect - I mis-read and did double the hot sauce.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

Read some of the comments for some helpful tips. I always add extra cocoa. It's such a chocolate cake, without being too rich and over powering. A huge favorite of mine.


What are some of your favorites that you'd like to share?

Random Stuff, and a Video of my Babies

Today is a better day than yesterday.

When I finish work today, it'll be the start of a 3-day weekend. A 4-day weekend for the kids, who have no daycare on Monday, but Mama still has to work. Luckily boyfriend has the day off so I'm not missing time this time around.

So I'm excited about a long weekend, and potentially taking the girls swimming tomorrow. 

I'm sure you've all heard that Google Reader is kicking the bucket in July or something. So instead, you can follow A Life Of Our Own on Blog Lovin'. I can't say 'Blog Lovin'' without thinking of Superbad and McLovin'. I don't know about you. But follow me there anyway. I switched my subscriptions over, but will still use Google Reader until it's death. It's all organized the way I like it. 

I don't know why, but my post about New Year's Eve has been one of my most viewed posts this week. Also, a search term that brought someone to my blog? "is redneck nessa sick?" That one made me giggle a little.

I don't post videos often, but since this one was uploaded to YouTube, it makes it easy to share. Chloe is now a huge fan of dancing in the car, and Gangnam Style seems to be her favorite song. She's just as into it every time.

* If you're bored with the toddler dancing and want to skip ahead, start at 0:50 *

If you're really observant, you might've noticed that by posting that video, I'm letting you in on a little secret. Not really a secret, because it isn't, but something I haven't revealed on this blog. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I might just reveal it in an upcoming post anyway.

Hope you have a holiday tomorrow too!

Life is Blah

Lately I've been feeling 'meh' a lot. 

'Meh' is such a descriptive word, isn't it? 

Now please don't tell me I'm pregnant, cause I'm not, and if I was you guys would be the first to know. And by first, I mean last. Sorry. 

Lately mornings have been hard. 

The last time I got a good night's sleep was during our weekend away. I've been so tired since then that it's hard to get up. Because I'm so tired, it makes me feel... not sick, but icky... every morning. And I have very little appetite and zero energy until close to lunch time. Some days it's even hard to force down my coffee, but I'm pretty sure that's the only reason I wake up at all. 

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm not a fan. 

I've also been feeling a little crappy... emotionally... lately. I never want to do much, and don't get excited about a whole lot. Except Chloe. That child is amazing, but that's another story. 

Or some sleep. Maybe that'll fix everything. 

I doubt it. 

Chloe is 18 months old

Every time I open up a blank post to write about Chloe, I feel like so much has changed since the last. I thought time was flying by before, but toddler time just goes by so much faster. She's learning new things faster than I can even keep track of them. So let's go through some stats first, shall we? 

Weight: A little over 20lbs. 

Height: About 30cm

Diapers: Still size 3. And size 4 overnight diapers. If I don't put you in overnight diapers, you're a mess in the morning.

Clothing: Still 12-18 month pants, mostly from Old Navy. You've outgrown all 6 month clothing, and almost all 6-12 month clothing. Some 12-18 month stuff is huge on you, and some fits well. For that reason, it's hard to know what sizes to buy, especially for summer. Right now you're in size 4 shoes. 

Feeding: You still love pasta and tomato sauce. And any vegetable I hide in there you'll eat except green or yellow beans. I need to really much those up or you'll find them and spit them out. You seem to really enjoy toast, oatmeal apple cinnamon baby cereal, yogurt, fresh blueberries, and regular old saltine crackers (minus the salt). You still don't eat great, but you eat more than before. You're on homogenized milk now, have been for a little while. You have a bottle for your nap, and at bedtime. Usually about 5oz for nap and 6oz for bedtime. You'll have more through the night if you wake up. I'm trying to get you to drink more water out of a sippy cup, but you're still not in love with that. 

Teeth: You have a ton of them. You recently popped out a bottom left tooth. I can't wait until teething is done for good. It's not a fun process for anyone. 

Sleep: You're usually in bed from 7:30-8pm until 7am. You sometimes sleep a little later on weekends, but through the week I have to wake you up at 7 about half the time. You wake up through the night a lot more often lately. Usually just once a night, sometimes more. Sometimes you just want to play in the middle of the night. That's hard on me, but you're so happy that it's not so bad. When you go back to bed, you usually sleep until morning. 

Personality: You are little miss personality. You absolutely love waving to people. You do it all the time, even when people aren't paying attention to you. Although you do grab peoples attention pretty quickly by doing it. You're really good at making strangers smile that way. You love to talk, whether its gibberish or actual words. 

Your words these days: hi, bye, mama, cracker, no, go, baba, baby, Pepe. You tried to say 'thank you' once or twice. It was adorable. 

Lately you love climbing up on the chairs, then getting on the kitchen table. I am not a fan. You like to play with dolls (babies) a lot, and especially love sitting in the doll play pen and pushing your baby around in her stroller. Once I even caught you trying to put your baby in your play kitchen's microwave. 

You're really smart. You know how to identify these body parts: nose, mouth, eyes, hair, fingers, ears, toes, belly button. When I tell you to go get something, you seem to always know what I'm talking about and bring it to me. You can put your own hat on most of the time. You try really hard to put your socks and shoes on, but can't yet. You can sometimes put your sunglasses on. You like to dance and wiggle. 

You're absolutely hilarious, and a ton of fun. I wish time would slow down because I love this age.

I can't believe you were 18 months old yesterday. Stop growing up so fast!