Day to Day With Mom

New Year Resolution:

Wikipedia says that its a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. It begins the first day of the new year and is to last the whole year.

I have never been much on making New Year’s resolutions for the simple fact that I don’t know one person that has stuck their’s out. “Oh I want to lose weight” and next year that same person has the same resolution! I guess commitment just isn’t something people are good at. Is it that we don’t want it bad enough? I guess that would have to be the reason because if you want something bad enough you make it happen! So while I usually don’t make a New Year resolution this year I have decided that since I love a good challenge, especially against myself, I am going to make a few of them and stick to my guns!

My New Year Resolutions:

1. Of course lose weight but not just some weight I want to lose 90 pounds by 2010
2. Get out of debt plus put money aside for savings
3. Spend more time with my kids and less time worrying about work, cleaning, and other errands.
4. Take better care of myself, pamper myself, love myself.
5. Work hard on realizing that I can only change myself not others but I do have control over what happens in my day and what kind of happiness comes to each day.

2008 has defintely been a year full of ups and downs. I’ve spent more time this year in tears over things gone wrong then I did enjoying myself. I’m really hoping that 2009 brings many smiles on not only my face but my loved ones as well. 

My kids grew too fast again this year, they learned so much that I’m afraid they will soon know everything (smile). My relationship hit extra highs and lows but I have to admit this year there were more highs then lows.

My son discovered that football is actally a pretty cool sport and that when you put your mind to something anything is possible.

We learned as a family to plan a vacation completely before taking one otherwise you will spend more time riding around looking for hotels then having fun only to end up back home in the middle of the night because there were no hotel rooms anywhere in site!

I learned that sometimes you have to ask for help in life and accept a helping hand when it’s offered.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of 2008:

My daughter cut her beautiful curls all by herself!

kids on vacation at Nags Head

swimming with daddy

Angelika all dressed up

Easter

Since it’s almost the new year today’s recipes are brought on by New Year’s wives tales. There are so many old wives tales concerning the new year and while I don’t really believe doing any of them will change my life in any way it’s fun to go along with the tradition.

A few wives tales or superstitions for the new year are

1. Make sure you kiss the one you love at midnight to give assurance that the relationship will be good all year long.
2. Make sure you have a full food pantry and wallet full of money so you will not go without either all year long.
3. Don’t wash clothes on the first day of the new year otherwise a family member will die.
4. Do not lend money out on the first day of the year otherwise you’ll be giving out money all year long.

Now in the South we are known for our southern cooking and that doesn’t stop for the new year. We believe our food brings us luck and riches. Cook black eyed peas for luck or coins and something green like collards to represent dollars or paper money.

I can’t say these superstitions do or don’t work all I can say is Happy New Year and all the best to you and your family.

Black eyed peas 

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups black eyed peas
8 cups water
1/2 table spoon salt
1/4 table spoon black pepper
1 medium size onion (whole)
1 slice bacon (un-cooked)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp vinegar

Directions
Place all ingredients in large cooking pot on stove top burner on medium heat. Cook 40 minutes or until peas are tender. Do not allow water to evaporate entirely. If peas are dry they will burn quickly.
4 servings

Collards

Ingredients
* 2 1/2 lbs turnip, collard or mustard greens, washed and chopped into 1-in. pieces
* 3 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 2/3 cup chopped onions
* 1 or 2 dashes cider or red wine vinegar
* salt and pepper to taste (start with 1 tablespoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper)  

Directions
1. Fry the bacon in a pot large enough to cook the greens.
2. Add the greens along with onions.
3. Cook on low heat, stirring with wooden spoon, until greens are coated with bacon fat (about 2 minutes).
Pour off excess fat.
4. Cover the greens with water and season with salt and pepper.
5. Bring to boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat, and simmer until tender (time will vary, about 1 hour).
Stir occasionally and add water if they threaten to scorch. When done, increase heat to med-high, stir often. Boil off nearly all the cooking liquid.
6. Add vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Serve very hot.

Now the above recipe is from  www.olsouthrecipes.com I don’t use onions and I let each person add as much vinegar as they want on their own plate. I do however add sugar which gives it such a good sweet taste, I just take a scoop and cover the top in a thin layer and my kids love it!

I saw on the front page of yahoo that peppermint could help fight germs and help digestive problems… woohoo so please tell me chocolate will help me lose weight because I should lose a ton this month!

Honestly I’m not much on peppermint I guess I had it a little too much when I was a child but I do like the different types of candy canes they have now like the starburst kind. I really got into chocolate mint candies this year for some reason though, maybe it’s because I usually don’t get mint until the girl scouts start selling there thin mint cookies. MMMMM yummy!

At least today the kids got away from all the holiday candy for a while because for some reason even though the calendar says its winter it was in the 70’s today. It was nice to be outside with the kids watching them play with their toys without having to dress in layers of clothes but come on when it’s winter I want it to be cold and the same with summer I want it hot then. I hate that we really don’t have seasonal weather now everything is just blended in together. The animals are confused, the plants are confused and my kids keep getting sick it’s just awful but for today I’m just glad they were able to stop being addicted to all the goodies and play outside (smile).

It’s 4am and I’m back to work which means the fun of Christmas is now over. It’s so crazy how you spend all month gearing up for one day and it’s over in what seems like a few minutes. I still enjoy every minute of it though and this year was no different.

My oldest woke up at 7am, he always wakes me up first and then we get everyone else up. He likes to make sure it’s ok to wake up and it’s not to early. Santa left tons of presents which brought on tons of smiles. After opening presents at our house we scooted over to my parents house to see what Santa left there. See Santa comes to both houses for my kids because we love the spirit of Christmas and the joy that Santa brings to the kids. Of course we don’t get any complaints from the kids at all and I’m sure this is the way we’ll do things forever since Santa still leaves my presents at my moms house (smile).

I asked my fiance what we were going to do when our kids have kids. I mean that’s three kids to visit all in one day because I would hate to not see them on Christmas but he kindly let me know that there will more then likely be a time that we aren’t with all three kids… he must be crazy!

 Chelci checking out what Santa left behind

Angelika getting started on presents

Brandon and Brianna opening gifts while Chelci sniffs around

Kids at Nana and Pop’s

Gifts at Nana and Pop’s

 Nana and Pop’s decorations

It’s finally Christmas Eve! The kids are so hyper I’m ready to send them to the North Pole and have Santa bring them back home when he stops by to leave gifts! (smile)  We finished up some last minute shopping today while my parents kept the kids and boy the stores were packed. I mean does everyone wait until the last minute to shop? We ended up giving my parents their gifts tonight so they could go ahead and use them. We got them a coffee pot and homemade ornaments and I had each child cut out their hands from dough and bake them in the oven so now my parents have my children’s hands to keep forever! I think it’s such a cute idea.

The kids reminded me just a few minutes ago that we have to make cookies for Santa. My son had already agreed to giving Santa brownies since his dad had already made brownies today but of course the girls weren’t having Santa go without cookies because they told him in their letter to Santa that he would have cookies and milk waiting! Oh the wonderful world of children!

No this is not a happy face and it’s not a face Santa wants to see either! I have tried my best to let the kids know that if you aren’t a good boy or girl Santa will leave nothing but coal and switches under the tree for them but somehow they find that hard to believe. Now if I wasn’t such a nice mother I would actually put some coal under the tree just to scare them into being good… okay honestly it has nothing to do with being nice I really don’t think they’d care, knowing my kids they would think coal was the greatest gift ever!

I don’t know how many of you have little traditions you do at Christmas but we’re still trying after all these years to get some of our own traditions going. My kids love story time so this year we’ll probably read some stories on Christmas Eve, go look at lights, watch Christmas shows on tv, and listen to a little Christmas music. The kids will more then likely open one gift as they usually do which is actually something I’ve done since I was little.

Here are a few cute Christmas books you might want to try to get your hands on:

1. The Sweet Smell of Christmas- by Patricia m Scarry ~ this is a great book about a bear and the scent of Christmas. There are six scratch and sniff Christmas scents.
2. Merry Christmas Curious George- Just imagine what Curious George will get into at Christmas time! I know my girls love Curious George.
3. The Night Before Christmas- by Clement C Moore~ The classic Twas the night before Christmas
4. Blue’s 12 Day of Christmas~ Blue and Joe go through their own version of the 12 days of Christmas.

Check out a few online sites to read Christmas stories online:

http://www.bethanyroberts.com/ChristmasLibrary.htm#CHRISTMAS%20STORIES%20and%20LEGENDS:

http://holidays.kaboose.com/christmas/stories/xmas-stories.html

This one is Audio which is great for kids!    http://storynory.com/category/christmas-stories/

Well it’s finally that time… yep it’s time for the Christmas menu thoughts. I have so many recipes that I want to try but I know without a doubt I won’t cook any of them. A girl can hope though can’t she? I do however have to get everything calmed down a little so me and the kids can bake some cookies otherwise Santa will be eating celery this year!

I was watching a cooking show this weekend and the lady was cooking soup, she used lobster and corn and some other items to get the stock. I’m not sure how good it would be but it sure gave me a huge laugh for the day…

LADY ON TV: we now have the stock we’ll remove all the juice to get the flavor of the lobsters and the corn…

Brianna (4): Mama she’s cooking monsters!!!

Me: No honey she said lobsters

Brianna: No mama look at those monsters in the pot!

I couldn’t help but laugh, I’m sure to her it sounded like monsters and the looks of those cooked lobsters would of course resemble a monster to a four year old.

Here are a few recipes from allrecipes.com that I would like to try this Christmas so if I can’t maybe you can:

French Toast Souffle

• 10 cups white bread cubes
• 1 (8 ounce) package lowfat cream cheese, softened
• 8 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2/3 cup half-and-half cream
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Place bread cubes in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in milk, half and half, maple syrup, and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over the bread; cover, and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next morning, remove souffle from refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, and serve warm.

 Turkey Potato Casserole

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place turkey in an even layer on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with a layer of onion and a layer of green beans so that the turkey is no longer visible. Pour the condensed soup over the onion layer, then sprinkle with shredded cheese. Stir together the cubed cheese and mashed potatoes; spoon over the top of the casserole, and spread to cover.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until heated through.

 Awesome Broccoli-Cheese Casserole

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 3 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli
• 8 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 pinches paprika

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together condensed cream of mushroom soup, mayonnaise, egg and onion.
3. Place frozen broccoli into a very large mixing bowl. (I like to use my large stainless steel bowl to mix this recipe thoroughly.) Break up the frozen broccoli. Using a rubber spatula, scrape soup-mayonnaise mixture on top of broccoli, and mix well. Sprinkle on cheese and mix well. Spread mixture into prepared baking dish, and smooth top of casserole. Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika.
4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour in the preheated oven.

 ~Christmas Baking~

Cake Balls

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended.
2. Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
3. Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.

 Peanut Butter Bars

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Yes it’s 1am and I’m working late again. I am enjoying the quiet tonight though while the girls are trying to fall asleep. I have actually gotten a chance to look around online for Christmas sites for the kids. I have let my son write a letter to Santa for a while now and he loves getting a response back from him each time but I have been so busy I’ve completely forgotten this year! For those of you that have also forgotten how special those letters to Santa are please allow your child to visit this site http://www.emailsanta.com/ not only can children email Santa but they get a response back! They can also check to see if they are on the naughty or nice list (which I believe is completely wrong about my kids) (smile).

There is Santa’s blog which is really cute, Rudolph’s webcam, actual webcam links, jokes, coloring pages, games, you name it and it’s there. I have to admit I’m enjoying the site myself but shhh don’t tell anyone!

I’m not sure how my girls can be so cute and so bad at the same time. It’s almost 7am and I’ve been working since 2:30am, my girls have been awake and running around their room since 2am! I’m not sure where I thought working from home would be the right career choice for me as a mom but man I was wrong! Now I’ll get off work overly tired and overly stressed from dealing with not only the ill people on the phone but trying to keep the girls quiet all night! I know I’ll miss these times one day but right now I just really wish they would sleep like normal children. Some how it all works out though, it helps me when I’ve worked all night and they have been up because we can go back to be at 8am and sleep until 10 or 11 which gives me a little sleep. It’s just really hard to work and keep them quite at the same time. If I have to deal with them being up like this when I work I might as well start working during the daytime!