My Crazy Week

This past week had a lot of highlights in it.....not your typical week of same ol' business.

Well first thing was going back to work. After having 3 weeks off for Christmas and enjoying the "stay-at-home-wife" time it was a hard adjustment again. But I enjoy my work and totally love my kids... so it's fun. Now I am back to planning everything for the next day,  keeping house  & cooking between work and other activities.

Salsa Chicken Casserole

Can I just start this off by saying: "AMAZING!"

Yeah, so this recipe is soooo easy to make and just plainly tastes delicious.....actally not plainly....full of flavor! I had started a draft of this recipe as I was cooling it and started with "it was really good". Hahaha....I was so impressed that I did this recipe for our guests this Sunday.

Go read the instructions on "Budget Bites" really quick and then I can tell you how I changed it into an easy crock pot dish. I'll wait.


Ok your back.
Since I don't have a casserole dish big enough for 6 people I cooked the rice separately but with some salsa to let the rice have flavor. The rest of the ingredients (less salsa & half of the amount of broth) I put in the crockpot and had it on low for about 3.5 hours (till we came home from church) and the chicken was done.

So we did not have to wait once we came home to sit down and eat lunch....yummy...perfect.

You have to try it and tell me what you thought about it!

Winter Mantle

I didn't entirely want to get rid of my decorations and decided to just change Christmas to Winter. I really like how it turned out....it looks so beautiful in the dark. Sadly my camera is not as good as our eyes and all you could see was a few blue dots. So this must suffice.

Dear Winter,

Don't only bring cold and grey days. Give us crisp days with snow. Thank you winter.... I love those beautiful white days.

9 Printables for Couples

1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ 9

So the biggest project during Christmas break was organizing and "purtifying" our bedroom. You see, we didn't have a way to hang our clothes...and well....I will tell the full story another time...but now we finally do and we are slowly organizing our little space.

I spray painted my various frames to match each other, already getting wedding pictures printed but would like to do a small collage on my only free wall....sigh....I love walls.....but I live under a roof  with slanted walls....sigh

Anyway, so I went hunting for some sweet printables I could add to my collage and these 9 were my favorite. I am still deciding on with one I should actually do.

Hmm, tell me which one you'd choose!

The First Noel// Video

I know we are past Christmas by now but thought you guys might still enjoy this video of special music Patrick and I played/sang with my "adopted" sisters and friends. It's not perfect but we are all quite proud how it turned out. This was totally a new way to play a song and love the arrangement.

So what do you think?

 

BBQ Hot Dogs over Rice

I am not a foodie but I would like to start sharing recipes I did and Patrick & I both enjoyed.

So yesterday I was scrambling and trying to figure out what we could do for dinner. We love eating rice and I knew I had hotdogs in the fridge.... Quick search on Pinterest and I came across this recipe.

We both enjoyed that it was different from what I usually do but I must say that it was really easy to fix and it had SO MUCH flavor!

You must try it sometime - Follow this link for the recipe

Goals 2015

So the last few days of 2014 I've been thinking which goals I should set for myself this year. I want something doable but challenging..... 

This is what I came up with:

→Drink More... Water

This is actually two goals in one. First of all I just want to drink more....I don't drink enough and my body feels it. Secondly, I want to drink water. I had this goal 2 years ago. It was hard but this year I really want to make water my basic drink. I don't drink sodas just apple juice dilluted with water....but I want to stick to just water.

→Create a Recipe Planner

First we have to establish which recipes we enjoy and then I want to do better at planning meals. Right now it is more of a stressful "What do we eat tonight?" "Do we have everything for this recipe I quickly found on pinterest?" This is going to be  slow process but I think will make cooking easier in the future.

→New Blog Design

I already started working on this one. I know this blog will be taking a new direction as I start a new chapter in my life...so I want this place to match this new direction and become more professional

→No eating after 8 p.m.

I know there are people that do not eat after 6 but this will be a hard adjustment at first. Time goes by way to quickly and before you know it is 7:00/ 7:30 and we haven't eaten dinner.... I think this will get easier though once I get better at planning my meals ahead.

→Go to Paris

We got some cruise tickets from my dad for our wedding that are good for a year. We want to use that for an excuse to travel to Paris and see the "City of Love" ☺

→Photo a Week

I had this goal last year and didn't do to well of keeping up with picking the picture of the week. An advantage  I have this year is owning a smartphone.... I'll post likely be posting them on my instagram account and sharing a monthly roundup at the end of the month....at least that is the plan. ☺

→Spiritual Goal

I think it is important to have spiritual goals so I can reach the next level spiritually. I want to be quicker to find opportunities to witness. I want to get better at my Bible reading. Since I started working I've had days of slacking. I want to pray more....like serious talking conversations....not your quick bedtime prayer. Instead of "wishing" things were different...praying for God's help. He is the only one that can help.


So what are some goals you have set for yourself this year?