show us your life - desserts

okay, i'm really excited about this week's show us your life. this girl loves her desserts! here are a couple of recipes that i love. this is seriously the best banana pudding ever, and the cool whip cookies are one of the easiest, most delicious cookies to maek. if i think about it, i'll post a few more later when i get home.

best banana pudding ever

this recipe makes 12 servings

ingredients

• 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

directions

line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
in a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. (michele’s comment: i crumbled the remaining cookies before spreading on top.) refrigerate until ready to serve.

enjoy!

cool whip cookies

this recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies (more or less depending on size)

ingredients:

• 1 pillsbury plus cake mix (any flavor)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cool whip
• powdered sugar
  

mix all, then using a spoon, drop dough the size of a walnut into a bowl of powdered sugar; roll and cover well with powdered sugar. put on cookie sheet. bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes.

these cookies are so yummy! my favorites are the red velvet(these look really pretty) and chocolate.

show us your life - dinner recipes

i'm joining in on the show us your life - dinner recipes from kelly's korner. this is a super easy chili recipe, and we have it for dinner quite often in the cooler months. it's also delicious reheated.

easy chili

1 can of pinto beans
1 can of ranch style beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of diced tomatoes (rotel is good if you're able to find it)
1 can of corn
1 chopped onion
1 lb ground beef (or turkey)

brown the meat and chopped onions together. add to pot of beans, diced tomatoes and corn. let simmer for about 30 minutes and serve with sour cream and/or shredded cheese. enjoy!

if you have more time and want to get a little fancier, this chili is great with green and yellow peppers.

updated to add:

i'm reading a lot of the recipes posted today, and so many of the ones that sound so delicious to me call for boiled chicken. i have no clue how to do this. can anyone share an easy alternative or tell this poor girl how to do boiled chicken? i'd greatly appreciate it!

mother of the year

while standing in line waiting to check out at the store yesterday, i witnessed one of the saddest encounters between a mother and child.

the little girl looked to be between one and a half and two years old. i could tell that she had been crying, but she wasn't crying anymore. she stood there in the basket, silent with her fingers in her mouth, just staring. all of a sudden, her (poor excuse of a) mother kicks off her flip flop and holds it in her hand, shaking it at the little girl's face as she says, "hush your mouth! HUSH your mouth!" i was floored. i could not believe anyone would treat a child like this, much less their own. i wanted to scoop that little girl up and hug her and take her home. but i couldn't. all i could do was smile at her and wave, and hope that she knows not everyone in this world will treat her badly.

what a day, little j!

today we went to a's fourth b-day party at their neighborhood pool. you had so much fun playing in the children's splash pad. you would hold your hand out to the water and squinch up your face when it sprayed you. you giggled and screamed as you played. you jumped into me in the big pool after watching m jump to pops. you said, "kick, kick" as you kicked your little legs to try to swim. you put your face in the water and blew lots of bubbles. daddy chased you around while i ate because you were too busy to stop and sit down. you did come back for a few bites of a yummy cupcake. you liked that a lot. daddy didn't have his swim suit, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to swim with us. you were having so much fun, it was contagious. daddy got into the pool to play with us and m. you were jealous when daddy held her. then when we switched, you were jealous if i held her. daddy put you on his shoulders and you had so much fun chilling up there. i thought you might fall asleep. m wanted to jump and be thrown over and over again. she wasn't even up from being thrown before she was saying (choking), "do it again!" once the party was over, you didn't last too long in the car. you went to bed early without eating dinner. you were so worn out from our fun day. as i snuggled up to you, you still smelled a little of chlorine. you giggled a lot today, little one, and that's what made it one of my all time favorite days.

i don't wednesday

i don't...

...like my job. (still)
...like sushi
...like diet drinks
...use coupons
...get the obsession with twitter
...like being away from my little guy or hubby
...like fighting with people
...handle confrontation well
...understand close minded people
...understand selling your used stuff. why not just donate?

now it's your turn. what don't you do? either post your i don'ts in the comments or head over to jenna's journey to join the fun.

show us your life - favorite vacation spots

without a doubt, my favorite vacation spot is disney world. it's been my favorite ever since my parents took us there for the first time when i was 10 years old. my parents took us three times when we were kids.

the next time i went was with my hubby when we were dating. i jokingly told him he was stuck with me when he took me because there was no way i'd want to go back with someone else, but i wasn't about to give up disney!

hubby and i went to disney world as part of our honeymoon three years ago. it took some persuasion, but i was able to talk him into it. i think he was afraid that if we spent our honeymoon around that many children, we'd never want to have any of our own. we spent the first week at disney, and then we took a cruise afterwards to relax.

this year, we got to go back with our son, my parents and my brother and his family. we had such an amazing time, and i loved sharing it all with our son. we were a little skeptical of taking him at 15 months old, but he did great, and he seemed to be very much aware of what was going on.

as i get older, i seem to enjoy it even more. it's changed a lot since the first time we went, but the magic remains the same. i become a child all over again the second we're on disney property.

if i had my way, this is where we'd go for every single vacation.

i don't wednesdays

i don't...

...like my job.
...like the weather where i live.
...like my obsession with reality tv.

...do a very good job at keeping up with my blog.
...do a very good job of keeping our house neat. thank goodness for help!
...do a very good job of keeping up with old friends.

...want to work, but i'm afraid to quit my job.
...want to go away this weekend.
...want to be at work today.

...understand why time seems to be passing so dang quickly.
...understand how a parent could ever hurt their child.
...understand why some people are so judgmental of others.


now it's your turn. what don't you do? either post your i don'ts in the comments or head over to jenna's journey to join the fun.

ebates

i've mentioned ebates on here before.

ebates is an awesome site that gives you cash back for online shopping. what could possibly be better!? you can get up to 25% cash back with every online order. there are tons of stores -barnes & noble, gap, target and expedia. plus you get additional savings with exclusive coupons, free shipping offers, and limited-time sales!

ordinarily we'd each get $5 for you signing up, but right now they're offering $10 for every three new enrollments when you make your first purchase!

click here to sign up:

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=h%2FMSB3CNF3hJLtZ%2FYVZFVQ%3D%3D

once you sign up, send your own link to your friends and have them enroll, and you'll get the sign up bonus from them too. if you do online shopping, you really just can't beat the free money!

i promise you'll enjoy using the site. happy shopping!

not me monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



i'm not the owner of a blog that hasn't had a post written since march. nope, not me!

i didn't let my son eat nothing but crackers for dinner when we were out with mimi and pops this weekend because it's the only thing that kept him from screaming in the restaurant, and then convinced myself it was still a healthy meal because they were wheat thins. not at all me!

i'm not someone who spends the majority of my work day surfing the web. i would never do that!

have your own list of Not Me!s? join in on the fun by either posting them in the comments of this post, or joining in on the Mr. Linky.

unsolicited parenting advice

the hubby and i took the munchkin to stride rite friday night to have him fitted for his first pair of real shoes. the sales lady came over to talk to us and asked if we needed any help. she asked us if he was walking yet. i told her no. she told us her son started walking at eight months old. she told me not to worry about munchkin not walking (i'm not). she then told me all i had to do to get him walking was to put a bunch of pillows around him and stand across the room and call his name. is that all it takes? really!? thank you for your advice, shoe sales lady wearing your boyfriend's high school ring.

monday morning

once again the weekend went by much too quickly. luckily this is a short work week for me...i'm off on friday this week and monday next week. woo-hoo for long weekends! we'll be celebrating little j's first birthday this coming weekend. i really can't believe he's already turning one. i guess this goes along with that last post about how time can both drag and fly by.

i remember thinking daylight would never come when i was up in the middle of the night feeding him. he seemed to eat 24 hours a day. i'm not kidding! this is not something i knew ahead of time, but when they say a baby eats every three hours, that's every three hours between start times. meaning, if you start feeding the baby at 9:00, he's going to be ready to eat again at 12:00 regardless of how much time you spent feeding him. i swear, my son would nurse for hours. i was always so paranoid to pop him off too because i was unable to really gauge how much he was getting since he was breastfed. it's funny how things have changed as he's gotten older. now, i'll give him 30 minutes max, and it's very rare that he'll take more than 15. our next child won't have the luxury of using mama as a pacifier because i'll know better.

being up in the middle of the night with him rarely bothered me though. sure, i was tired and sometimes even cranky (never took it out on him though - just my husband), but i would always remind myself that it wouldn't be like this for very long. he won't always need me the way he does now. i won't always only be able to get out of the house for 30 minutes at a time because i need to rush home before he's hungry again. one day, he'll be able to go longer between feedings, or he'll eat more than just my milk, so i won't be the one he always needs. i took advantage of it while it lasted, and it went by too fast.

i love to watch him grow and develop, but i miss my baby. i hope to God i don't become one of those moms that can't let go. i really don't want to smother my son or keep him on such a short leash because i'm afraid to let him go. i seriously need to get a grip on this.

time

how is it that time can seem to go by so fast, but then also seem to drag on at the same time? seriously. yesterday as i was driving home from work i was thinking about how long the week seemed to be and how glad i was that it was friday. in the same thought though, it was seeming like just a couple of days ago that we were meeting our friend for dinner, when in actuality it was last friday night. i know as we get older time passes more quickly, but i don't understand how it can creep and fly by at the same time. this really baffles me.

i love ebates!

right before christmas my friend sent me a link to join ebates. i just got my first check in the mail for my online christmas shopping. $35...cha-ching! ebates is an awesome site that gives you cash back for online shopping. what could possibly be better!? you can get up to 25% cash back with every online order. there are tons of stores -barnes & noble, gap, target and expedia. plus you get additional savings with exclusive coupons, free shipping offers, and limited-time sales!

sign up with ebates today and we'll each get a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase!

click here to sign up:

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=h%2FMSB3CNF3hJLtZ%2FYVZFVQ%3D%3D

happy shopping! i'm gonna go spend this $35 check i just got!

welcome!

i'm so glad you made it. i have been addicted to reading other blogs for quite some time now, and i figured it was about time i start my own. i'm not really sure what i'll write about. i have a lot of randomness that floats through my brain.

for now though, i want to point you in the direction of these three amazing stories i've come across just recently thanks to other blogs i read. please visit Tuesday, Brayden and Harper. please pray over these families, and let them know they're in your thoughts. once i figure out how to post the buttons, i'll get them on my page.

i've been following Brayden and Harper for about a week now. i'm truly amazed by God's grace. i'm so glad i found these blogs. i have always believed in God. after reading these stories though, i don't know how you could ever doubt Him.

i was just pointed in Tuesday's direction this morning. my heart breaks for her family. i am praying for a miracle for this sweet little girl.

God is good. we are living according to His plan. we might not always understand, but we must trust that He is in total control.