Thoughts For Thursday- Thirsty Thursday

Today I stopped by Caribou to get a cold drink. I love iced coffee but I like it with all the cream and yummy syrups. That usually makes them about 200-300 calories which I am not willing to use up (from my daily calorie intake allowance). I asked the cashier what is the lowest calorie cold drink they have and they suggested a Northern Lite Carmel Cooler.

I tried it and I was instantly hooked. They are only 90 calories for a small and a small is plenty for me. So my question for this TFT-Thirsty Thursday edition is what is your favorite drink to order and from where. It can be coffee, milk shakes, smoothies, or even a fun cocktail from your local watering hole. Let me know.

My New Obsession

When Jake goes to bed at night I've taken up beading. I actually love love love doing it. I really didn't know if I would. In the past week I've made 3 necklaces and 6 bracelets. Here are a couple that I made over the past couple days.

 

My First Award

I received my very first blog award from Leslie over at The Story of Us. It really made my day that she would be so sweet to choose me. Thank you Leslie. 

In order to accept and pass along this award, I must share a picture and list three things I love about myself which is not always easy for me to do but I'll give it a try.

1) I love that even though life has been very difficult for my family and I for the past few years I manage to hold everything together and maintain a positive outlook on life. Whether I'm taking Jake to therapy or helping a sick Brent after chemo, I try to remember that as long as we stick together as a family we can get through anything thing. 

2) I love that I stuck to a diet and exercise routine for a year and lost 26 pounds. 

3) I think I'm a pretty good cook and love doing it. I'm pretty good at coming up with concoctions(sp?) that taste pretty good and become a good recipe. 

The picture I would like to share 

This is a picture of B and I in Duluth on our baby-moon. I was 8 months pregnant and it was our last trip as just the two of us. Before cancer and before double eye surgery. This was when life was less complicated. This is not to say that we don't love our complicated life now it was just a much easier time. 

I would like to share this award with:

Robyn over at Where's Jelly?. Her blog is one of the first that I added to my google reader and she deserves it.

Kristi over at Mi Vida Ocupada.  She's been my friend for 20+ years and I love love her blog.

Michelle over at Burgh Baby. I find her blog clever and witty and love reading it.

Happy Saturday

My friend Kristi came up with an idea for a post which I really liked so I decided to try it on my blog as well. Every Saturday she is going to post the top ten things that made her happy for that week. I'm going to attempt to do this every Saturday. We'll see if I can keep it up.

Ten things that made me happy this week:

1. I found my hidden love for making jewelry (finally  the creative outlet I've been searching for).
2. Having my Soulee Gretchen over for a Wii night.
3. Going out to dinner with my Dad, Step Mom Martha and Step Sister Syd for my Dad's B-day.
4. Jake (He'll make this list every week I'm pretty sure).
5. I finally found a swim suit I feel comfortable in. 
6. I made homemade spaghetti sauce for the first time in my life and it turned out wonderful.
7. Having my best friend Lanee over for lunch.
8. Casey Abrams getting saved on American Idol.
9. Watching Jake and Gizmo finally start to bond and play together.
10. Finding someone to fix my computer screen for a reasonable price (unlike geek squad who wanted to charge over 800 dollars).

My First Attempt

As I posted a couple days ago I decided to try making jewelry in my attempt to be creative and fill my need for an outlet. I didn't know if I would like doing it or if I would end up getting frustrated and quit. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Here is my first necklace and bracelet. What do you think?

I'm going to make earrings to match. The bracelet is a little big for me so I might have to shorten it. Not really sure if I can figure out how to do that. I might just see if it fits someone else and make a smaller one.

Off to make some more..

Creative Outlet

Lately my hands have been itching (as my Mom would say) to be creative. I feel like I need an outlet. Maybe that’s also why I've been blogging more. I read a lot of blogs and I am envious of how clever, cool and gifted some of these blogger Moms are out there in blogger land and wish to be more like them with my blog. Maybe if people commented more I would feel like people are actually reading(hint hint). 

I used to paint, draw and be somewhat artsy until about 5 years ago I had my huge tote of art supplies/crafts/paints/etc stolen and it crushed my heart into a million pieces. Since then I've sort of boycotted anything artistic because:

1) I just lost 100's of dollars in supplies

2) Because I was so pissed and too stubborn to buy everything again

So I decided on top of me writing more for my blog that I would attempt to make some jewelry. I may hate making jewelry but I guess I won’t know until I try. I bought this starter kit. I have no idea what I am doing so we'll see how it turns out. 

French Fries and Ice Cream

I decided to title my blog French Fries and Ice Cream since that is what I had for dinner tonight. No lie. Since B got out of the hospital he hasn't been able to really eat so I've kinda been on my own for dinner. So tonight I decided to bake up some of my Cascadian Farms french fries and a Skinny Cow ice cream for dessert. It was by far the best dinner this week. Oh wait! It's only Tuesday.

Today I had one of my besties Lanee over for lunch. We decided to get together for lunch twice a month to catch up and have girl talk. I made a yummy salad.
Romaine lettuce
Chicken
Strawberries
Light balsamic
Blue cheese crumbles
Walnuts

Of course I took a picture of the salad as I do EVERYTHING. Some day I will be able to afford a professional camera and they it's on. Pictures of EVERYTHING!! Watch OUT!!

While Jake napped it was nice to have some friend time. I some times get wrapped up in my own life and forget how much I need my friends and how much I value them.

 Thank you Lanee for coming over today. Love YA!!

Update on B

B got out of the hospital on Saturday. He was packed and waiting when I got there to pick him up. I guess you could say he was more than ready to get out of that place. No more morphine drip but at least he gets to be in his own bed. Saturday and Sunday were really tough on him. He said that the aftermath of this surgery feels worse than his first. That's crazy to me because the first surgery they cut him wide open to remove his cancer. This surgery they removed his ileostomy and stitched up the hole in his stomach. He seems to be in so much more pain this time. Today he was able to get out of bed and sit in the recliner. He loves that I have to wait on him hand and foot but that's not going to last. Lol.

We're just taking everything day by day. Once he is healed up he is going to get back to work and hopefully our lives will get back to normal(some what). I told him that once he is done with chemo (mid summer) and this is all behind us are are taking a vacation. We've never been anywhere out of the state together and this is the perfect excuse to go somewhere.

Tony's 3rd Birthday party.

This past Saturday we headed over to my Brother Jason and Sister In-Law Lori's house for my Nephew's 3rd Birthday party. Lori made an amazing taco spread and her Mom Joan made my favorite thing chocolate covered strawberries and rice crispy treats.. The party was nice. Spending time with my family is at the top of my list of favorite things.

Blow out your candles

What a cute family!

Auntie Tracy got Tony a White Bear cake

Jake playing in the tissue

So much fun!!

Grandma Linda and baby Leah Jo

Birthday boy Tony

Jake and Uncle Jason

Tony loves his new baby Sis

The amazing chocolate covered strawberries

Baby Leah

Opening presents

I love my Leah girl

Reading with Mama

It's hard to get everyone to sit for a picture

Productive Day

Brent has been home with me since Sept-Oct last year because of his cancer. As much as I love him I am starting to go NUTS!! On top of all the snow it's enough to make a girl go crazy. Don't get me wrong I love spending time with him but everyday for 7 months is a little much. I'm a stay at home Mom and had a routine before. Brent is at the end of his long journey and is going back to work in a couple weeks. I love that for two reasons, 1. He is finally getting healthy and can get some normalcy back in his life which he(we) needs 2. I can get my routine back. SWEET for both of us.

So yesterday I was really trying to be productive. I've been slacking in almost every area for about 7 months. I've even gained 6 pounds(my gym routine is thrown off too). I decided to tackle two projects that have been on my To Do list for about a month. The closet and the pantry. Here are the before and after pictures.

Holy MESS!!

Clean and organized

REALLY??

Discovered we have 9 cans of corn. 

There you have it.. I was productive. YEAH ME!!

Jake saying Leah

Tomorrow we are heading over to my Brother Jason and Sister In-Law Lori's house to celebrate my Nephew Tony's 3rd Birthday. I've been trying to get Jake to say Tony forever. He says Teetee. Tonight we started to practice my Niece's name Leah too. When we tried to go back to practicing Tony he could not stop has Eeahh Eeahh. It was cute so I had to tape it.

20 things

I decided to switch it up a little and blog about the 20 things I can't live without. Feel free to post your 20 things on your blog too.

1. My son Jake. Of course this is a given. He is the light of my life and without him I would be lost
2. Brent, my friends and Family
3. God
4. Cell Phone
5. Bare Minerals makeup
6. Sebastian Professional-Light Shampoo and Conditioner (the best there is)
7. Clean & Clear Acne Spot Treatment (I was blessed with horrible skin. This stuff is a must)
8. Gold Peak Brewed unsweetened ice tea with fresh lemon (I drink this all day everyday
9. Kahiki veggie egg rolls (only 70 calories.. Love them!!)
10. Joseph's Flax pita bread (I'm obsessed with these. I have one everyday for lunch. Only 60 calories)
11. My Laptop
12. My camera(I love taking pictures. Someday I will be able to afford a nice camera but for now the one I have will have to do)
13. Softlips
14. My pj pants (when I'm home you will never see me in jeans. I love to be comfortable)
15. TV (I'm a TV junkie)
16. Pogo (this is a sad one but I can't help it. I love it)
17. The gym
18. My bathtub (one of my musts when we were looking for houses was a nice bathtub. Mine is amazing)
19. Top the Tater light with light lays potato chips (yummy)
20. Coffee (I am almost 33 and didn't start drinking coffee until I was 32 now I can't live without it)

So that's my list. I could keep going but I don't want to bore you. 

Children's Museum

Today Jake and I went to the Children's Museum. We met up with Jake's friends Peyton and Chase and their Mommy Nora and Auntie Nina. This was the first time Jake visited the Children's Museum and it won't be the last. We spent hours there exploring. He had such a great time being able to just run free. Since this was an unfamiliar area Jake did bump his head a few times from running into things but over all he did amazing. There were a few times were he wanted to crawl because he felt safer but I encouraged him to walk and explore and he did awesome!! When we got home Jake crashed for 2 hours. Good day!!

Jake loved the giant legos

Peyton, Chase and Jake rockin out!

Exploring!

Add caption

Hanging out in the tunnel

We tried to get all the kids to sit for a picture. See how well that went. 

FUN!!

Hair Cut

I think it's time for another hair cut for Jake. He just got a hair cut but it seems that his hair grows pretty fast.

Fingers in the mouth

CHEESE

Tomorrow we are heading to the Children's Museum for the the first time. Can't wait to post pics. Stay tuned!!

Think Spring!!!

I put a sign up on my window a few weeks ago that says THINK SPRING!! Maybe if we think it it will come. I can't believe how long this winter has been. GEESH!! I for one am having MAJOR Spring fever. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. Well here is a video of Jake that I would like to share of him trying to say our dog Gizzy's name.