On my to do List for February

I have found many variations of this throughout my blog stalking this month! this is the one I like the best! Im going to try and make it next week...I will post pictures if it looks half as good as this!

Check out this! Her blog has a lot of cute ideas as well!


Here is a picture of another one!

Bailey

Some cute pictures of Bailey over the past few weeks, taking a nap with Mark, eating some ice cream as her special treat and we put her bed on the ottoman and she LOVES it!

Housework

This is how I feel after the amount of housework I did today...It is so much to keep up with. Our floors have been the biggest issues, we have a love/hate relationship! They are so pretty, but yet require so much work. Then Bailey sheds soooo much, its impossible to keep up with her dog hair! We just bought a rug for the family room, hoping this cuts down on the amount of hair you can "see", doesnt mean it still won't be there! Here are a few pictures of our new rug and dining room table!

New Recipes

I tried these new recipes this week...both were delicious! The tacos were a nice way to change it up and I served it with Spanish rice. The chicken nuggets were AMAZING! These are a keeper and so easy! Mark loved them!




Source: Delicious Meliscious, originally from All Recipes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat - cubed
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup salsa


DIRECTIONS
Saute chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for about 20 minutes. Add vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for an extra 10 minutes.

Heat an iron skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan, warm, and turn over to heat the other side. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve lime chicken mixture in warm tortillas topped with tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa






Ingredients

* 1/2 cup honey
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs
* Appx 1 lb fresh boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray foil-lined baking pan large enough to hold all chicken pieces in one layer.
2. In shallow bowl, whisk together honey and vinegar. Set aside.
3. Place bread crumbs in a small saute pan and toast lightly over low heat for about 3-4 minutes until lightly golden brown.
4. Pour bread crumbs a little at a time into separated bowl. Roll chicken pieces in honey mixture, then in bread crumbs; place in pan.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly. (Mine were done in exactly 30 min)
I got this recipe from
http://myhappymeals.blogspot.com/search/label/chicken

Book Review

I just finished reading this book "The Help" by Kathyrn Stockett. It is a fabulous book, I posted the synopsis below. It was an easy read, but so hard to imagine the amount of racism that used to be in our country! And yes, I read it on my Kindle! Enjoy!

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Wishing I was here....

A picture from Aruba...Wishing I was there right now instead of this cold Indiana weather! Stay warm!

I love my Kindle

This was my Christmas present from Mark...A KINDLE! I absolutely adore it! I have wanted one for a while and he did such a good job surprising me! I am reading a ton and it is super easy! Thanks Babe!

Snow Day!

We got lots of snow today, so I bundled up and took Bailey outside...she loves you to throw snowballs in the air and she try and catch them! Adorable!

Food For Thought

Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself.
-Aisha Elderwyn

Best Friends!

Happy New Year!

We hosted our NYE party last night and it was a huge a success! I had so much fun hosting everyone...pictures to come.

As I reflect back on the past year I feel a sense of amazement of the busy year we had and the many changes the year brought. We made it through another football season (August-November), We got engaged (November), Mark made the decision to change careers and started a new job at Wells Fargo (February), we were busy wedding planning, showers and Bach/and bachorlette parties (Feb-June), We went house hunting and purchased a foreclosed home on May 7Th, gutted our new home and were ready to move in by July 1st, just in time for the big wedding day on July 18Th. Phew that is A LOT! I'm getting stressed just thinking about it again...We had so many positive and wonderful events bless us this year. I am so grateful for the time we have had with families, friends and each other. Thank you to all our friends and family who supported us, loved us, prayed for us and helped us get through a big year. We are looking forward to a new year, hopefully less eventful for us so we can enjoy the crazy times ahead for some of our other family members! Happy New Year!