Playing catch up!

My brother and Quinnie waiting for his MRI

No surprise that I am playing catch up, no?  Seems to be the story of my life.  First and foremost, I want to thank any and all of you that have been saying prayers for little Quinnie.  He's getting through his days at Mayo and doing a good job.  The doctor's are really sharing their wisdom and providing insight that they have been hoping to receive.  Until they are home and all reports are in, I don't really want to say anything.  There is one more day of appointments and they should be able to come home for a while.  I am seeing several trips in their future. 

He had another MRI today and his mommy said that he did a good job.  They are expecting results from that tomorrow.  I keep praying that there is going to be a miracle and a quick fix.  Wouldn't it be amazing if all things painful had a quick fix?  My prayers will be answered if this little boy can live happy and pain free and free of criticism.

I received an email through work about a movement to remove the "R-word" from derogatory language.  There is a pledge that they are having the high school students sign and they are asking the middle school students and elementary students to join in the pledge signing.  I couldn't be more pleased.  Using the "R word" has always been something that I felt so very strongly about.  It took quite some time to "break" my husband's bad habit of using it all the time.  Hopefully this gets passed along enough that everyone sees and recognizes the importance of this movement.

A month or so ago, my husband and I joined the ezmeals.com menu planning site.  Overall, we've been pretty pleased with it...and if nothing else, it has helped up branch out with trying new things and new recipes.  We don't use all meals all weeks, but more often than not, we use the majority.  It's nice to have it all planned out and there isn't much to have to think about or plan.  You just print and go--grab a few extra easy meals and you're set.  Easy.

On Sunday, we made the most amazing meal.  And it was easy.  So easy.  BBQ chicken quesadillas.  OMG.  I drool over them just thinking about it.  The best part?  It made enough to freeze.  So...when my mouth gets all excited just thinking about it....I run to the freezer, take one out and 45 seconds later, it's mine all mine!  Yes.  It's love.  And I like to share the love.

Here ya go:
2 lbs chicken breast
1 18 oz bottle of BBQ sauce
Flour tortillas
Shredded Mexican style cheese

Cook the chicken breasts in the crock pot with 1/4 c. of water.  (I cooked it from 10 ish till 4 ish on low)
Remove from the crock pot and shred.
Put into a large bowl and add the full bottle of BBQ sauce. 

Put about 1/2 c. of chicken mixture into a flour tortilla.
Top with some shredded cheese.
Fold in half and give it a squeeze to hold it together.
Put into a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil. 
Cook until slightly browned and the cheese is melted.
Flip over and brown the other side.
Remove from pan and cool.
Cut into triangles. 
Eat and enjoy.
You can even dip them in sour cream.
Swoon.

I made the whole package of tortillas and had so much left over.  So I put them in a single layer on a cutting board and froze them.  Once frozen, I threw them into a baggie.  There they sit in my freezer ready to be grabbed, warmed and enjoyed.  These are a new staple in my home.

Try them.

You're welcome.

Let me update you on our budget coach.  Can I just say that life is amazing since we've gone on this new plan?  Ah-mazing.  Not only are we paying off debt in a quick way, but we are truly living on cash.  We have not used a debit card in about a month.  That is huge.  We used to live on our card.  Now, we live on cash only.  If there is no cash in that envelope, you can't buy it!  Surprisingly, we never run out.  Groceries, we have cash left over at the end of the week.  Gas?  Cash left over.  It's so empowering.  We are doing it!  And it's saving our marriage.  Finances are no longer a friction point and we aren't as testy and on edge as we used to be about money.  It's saving us.

We meet with our coach again Thursday to plan for our March expenses.  We started this journey with seven debtors on our list.  We are going into our March meeting with only four....and we're paying off one more in another week or so.  Yeah....I know.  It's good stuff.  And I'm not bragging.  I'm giving a testimony.  I'm hoping to give hope.  It can be done.  You can too.

This is our new "wallet" that we take everywhere we go.  It's Dave Ramsey's envelope system.  Each envelope has a category written on top and then it has lines where you keep track of what you put in and what you take out.  It's very simple.  And like I said, in our clothing envelope, if there is only $25 left in there and K's shoes are $40....she needs to wait another week or two.  It's very black and white.  Which is what we needed.

And lastly, on my mind tonight, is Spring.  We've had a mild, very mild, winter this year.  Only two (or three) good snow falls.  And for Chicago, that's rare.  I can't help but to start thinking about Spring weather and putting my princess baby in cute Spring outfits.  Can't wait.  My friend, Kacy, has always been my go-to girl for all things cutesy for Kinley.  She made all of the tu-tus that we used for her pictures.  She's crocheted Kinley's new blankie.  She made Kinley's second birthday outfit.  I love her work and love the creative ideas that she comes up with.  Her latest creation in no different.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that we had to have it.  And it's hanging in her closet now, just waiting for Spring to get here.  And you can get one for your little girl too.  She has one left for sale in her Etsy store. 



I know.  It's adorable.  Right? I can't wait to put Kage in it and get her 2 1/2 year pictures in it.  Her next dress inspiration (thanks to Pinterest) is in the making.  And it is just as adorable.  Kacy is an amazing creator! 

I guess that is all that I had to unload off of this brain of mine.  I feel lighter.  A good ten pounds lighter. 

Wouldn't that be nice if blogging helped us lose weight?  How many calories do you think blog writing burns?



 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Richie!

Well, the mango didn't ripen fast enough to eat yesterday, so here I sit smelling it's foul-ness again today.  Such a horrible smell.

Today is the Mr.'s birthday.  He's 31, yes, I am a year older.  I'm okay with that.  I mean, I have to be, he rubs it in my face about weekly, through-out the year.  I just say that I'm that much more cultured, heck, I took my first step on the day he popped into this world.  Heck yeah, I'm waaaaay ahead of the game here.  So you just go ahead and bring it up one more time, Mr.  :)

Ignore my messy house.

He chose to get to open his presents last night rather than this morning (which is a good thing cause I over slept and barely got to see him out the door).  I got him a nice wallet (which I'm pretty sure he doesn't like, or I should say, he won't use).  His current wallet is falling apart.  I think he's had it since he was like 4, or something.  He keeps a spare key to his truck in it, and mysteriously, it fell out.  Imagine that.  It has holes all over it, huh.  It's time to move on.  So I bought him a really nice, new, non-holey wallet.  I think I'll put some Kinley pictures in it today so that he can slowly make the transition.

Kinley was going to get him a shirt but instead decided on pajama pants (okay, I decided on the jammer pants, Kinley was just along for the ride).  You see, "jammer time" is his thing with Kinley.  Every.single.night for the past year (well, maybe not in the newborn months) him and Kinley do "jammer time" where he takes her up, changes her diaper and puts on her jammies.  It's "their thing" and I'm all for it.  We even have a "jammie time" song...."Jammer time, jammer time, it's a jammer, jammer, jammer time...." yeah, we made it up.  It's good, I know.  But we sing it over and over as they go upstairs with her on his shoulders...her smile stretches from ear to ear.  She knows it's their special thing.

So "she" got him jammer pants for their jammer time....and she "wrote" a little card to put inside the box that said "to daddy, for jammer time, love, your jammer girl."  Awwwwww!  Cuteness just oozed from it.  And he loved it.  I think.

She only tasted it once, don't worry, it's non-toxic.

Kinley also made him a homemade card that he absolutely loved and quickly stashed in that top drawer of the dresser, where he keeps all things that make his heart melt.  :)  It's the little things.

Last night we went to Toys R Us to let Kinley spend her birthday money from grandma and grandpa.  She "chose" the Little Tykes Cozy Coupe and then she got a School Bus Monster truck.  It is so cute!  And she loves it, and Lucy HATES it.  Lucy is afraid of everything.  Even baby toys.  And Target sacks.  And boxes.  And trash cans.  And baggies.  As we walked out of Toys R (I don't know how to make the "R" backwards, sorry Toys R Us) we entered a snow globe.  Snow falling everywhere and the parking lot was covered.  It was amazing.  One of those soft snows that makes you want to stretch both arms out and spin around in it.  I really wanted to. But thought that the other Toys R Us shoppers would think that I was strange.  Hmmph.

Today I have major last minute prep to do for our trip south for Kinley's party.  I am making Glass Block Jello, which I intended to be pink and green, but strawberry jello isn't as pink as I thought it would be so now it's Christmas Block Jello.  Oh well, I'm sure it will be just as cool.  I only wish that I had read the recipe before going shopping to realize that I needed 4 boxes of jello and and 2.  So I had to cut the recipe in half.  Oh well.  It's all going to work out.
I'm also going to make some Gooey Butter Cookies.  And again, I wasn't thinking when I bought the ingredients because I wanted to do some pink, some green but I only bought enough stuff for one batch and I don't think I can successfully split the batch to do the two food color colorings.  Catch that?  So we may just have some pink cookies. 

On top of the cooking that I have to do, I have to pack and clean up the house.  I'm always very particular about leaving the house clean.  You just never know.  If something happens to you and you die while traveling, you don't want people to come into your house seeing it as a sty.  They'll think you were a terrible housekeeper.  That's not cool.  So yeah, I always make sure my house is clean when I leave.  And, it's nice to come home to a clean house.  That's a much less morbid excuse to clean before leaving, I guess.

Tomorrow will be filled with rushed hurried-ness.  Picking up balloons, picking up the cake, making sure Kinley gets a good nap early in the day, decorating.....  I also put together a little something to post here in honor of her first year.  So check here tomorrow morning for that.  I've been working on it for over a month.  I'm really excited to show it off.