1 pan, 1 pot and 30 minutes

A friend of mine recently posted a yummy looking recipe on her blog and it made me want to share one of our favorites. It's very tasty, extremely quick and has several veggies mixed in. I got this recipe from my friend Marta in Louisiana, but no, it's not Cajun. We call it "noodle and sausage dinner" although I wish it had a fancy name. It take 30-35 minutes from start to finish. Measurements aren't exact because I don't enjoy cooking as much when I have to follow specific directions...just go with your gut feeling and make changes next time if you want to!

Let me know what you think of it when you try it!

Ingredients:

Approx. 1/2 box of penne noodles

1 lb Italian Sausage

olive oil

1 spoon of chopped garlic (or to your taste)

1 sweet onion-cut into wedges

2 peppers (our favs are orange and red) cut into chunks

1 bag fresh spinach

At the same time, preheat a pan for your sausage AND start your water to boil. Brown your sausage. Whenever your water boils, dump in about 1/2 the box of noodles. When your sausage is completely cooked, set it aside in a bowl. In your sausage pan, put the garlic, onions and about 4 swirls of olive oil.(use your judgement, but use enough olive oil so everything will be coated...you can always add more later) Get your onions almost brown and add the chopped peppers. Cook your peppers until you like them (a little bit soft or crunchy). Add your cooked sausage back into the pan. Add raw spinach to the pan and cook it down, use as much or little as you prefer. I usually don't even bother dirtying the colander, so I scoop the noodles from the pot into the pan using a slotted spoon. Scoop noodles in until you like the ratio of meat and veggies to noodles. Add more olive oil if you think you need it.

Also makes good leftovers.

Also try: tomatoes cooked in, and/or shredded Parmesan on top

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I have so much to be thankful for...

My helpful, loving husband who is also a wonderful and playful father. Who is not in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I am thankful for those soldiers that ARE in Iraq or Afghanistan. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. I'm praying for your quick and safe return.

My two beautiful and loving children. I'm not sure who I would be without them. (well I can think of a few things I would be...thinner and well rested are the first things that comes to mind) but every second and pound is worth it.

My parents. I'm not even sure how to say how thankful I am. After having Tucker and Addie I now understand the kind of love and work that they put into making me who I am. What a hard job! I really didn't have a clue! Thank you!

I am especially thankful for my Mother-in-law who is sacrificing so much to help house us and keep us from starving while we are unemployed and job hunting. Thank you Michele for all you are doing for us and letting us take over your life and home.

My friends, you are the ones who keep me sane, inspired, and laughing. I would not be the person that I am without you in my life. I wish I could spend more time with all of you. I treasure each of you so much.

Today I found my Chi

I have been courageous in the last week and have tried some group exercise classes at the gym we recently joined. My goal is to try each class they offer, at least once. Unfortunately for the other participants, this includes Latin Impact!!! Don't worry, I will be sure to share how I shake my groove thang in that class.

On Monday, I went to Hip Hop...yeah baby, you heard me. Let's just say I'm not enough of cheerleader to really hack it in that class. Although that was the most fun I've ever had while making a complete fool out of myself (while sober). It was pretty challenging for my out of shape body and mind. I haven't had too many activities in the last 3 years that have challenged my ability to remember much more than 2 things at a time. (anyone out there relate?) And other than the fear of re-injuring my right knee, I think I would be brave enough to try again. Although I will never be able to remember the routine...I will always be the idiot in class.

Today was a different story, I found my Chi. I went to my first yoga class. I never thought standing still in funny positions to the relaxing sounds of elevator music could be exercise! Although I'm looking for my younger, leaner, firmer body, my favorite part of yoga was my "meditation". I was instructed to lay flat on the floor, concentrate on relaxing every muscle, and close my eyes. At first, my mind was racing with all the busyness of the day and then I thought to myself, "Self, this lady is telling you to sit down, shut up and chill out...LISTEN TO HER!!" Those were the most beautiful moments of my day. I usually only relax like that when I'm sleeping, but I'm not conscious to enjoy it. I have some reservations about my return to Hip Hop, but yoga lady can count on me because no matter how hard "finding my tree position" might be, I will come back for meditation.

Have I gone deaf?

Share in my joy. Both of my children are sleeping at the same time. God has blessed me with this kind of silence twice in the last four and a half months. Who knows how long it will last, but it is GOOD. Yeah for sleeping children!!

Visit with Great Grandma Mickie

On Tuesday, we drove about an hour and a half north to visit with my Grandma Mickie and my Aunt Jackie. My Grandma Mickie is the one that Addie is named after. My Grandma's middle name is Adeline. I only found that out after telling my Grandma some names that I liked out of the Baby Name book. I told her I liked the name Adeline and she said, "No way! That's my middle name." I liked several other names besides Adeline, but once I found out that was her name I knew I wanted to name my daughter after her. My Grandma is a wonderful lady for so many reasons. She is strong, independent (almost to a fault), brutally honest, generous, genuine and has a great sense of humor. As she gets older, I seem to feel a more urgent feeling to know her better and see her more often. When she leaves us to go somewhere better, she will leave a hole in my life that will never be filled again. She is the only grandparent I have that I really feel like I know. The rest of my grandparents either died when I was too young to really know them, or they live too far away for me to see them frequently enough to feel like I know them. I know she is proud to have Addie named after her, but the honor is really all mine. The only thing I feel sad about is that Addie will never have the privilege of really knowing who her Great Grandma Mickie. Addie is missing out.

This is my Aunt Jackie, who could just as easily be my own mother with as much as we look alike.

Tucker's water cup was out in the car, so my Grandma decided she had a "small cup" to give Tucker so he could have a drink of water....this is what she gave him. This glass is basically better than any of the China that I own. He felt very special drinking out of this cup...I felt like a nervous wreck.

Sleepy Tucker

This just happened the other day up at my Mom's house. I kept Tucker up with no nap that day and then it was about 8:45 at night when Tucker came into the room where my Mom and I were talking. He laid down on the floor just like this and I was joking that if we left him there, he would fall asleep. A few minutes later he got up and left the room. I thought he was going to go play somewhere else. About 5 minutes later my Mom and I come out into the living room to find this. Tucker had left the bedroom and gone to the living room laid down here behind the couch and went to sleep! The bigger picture below reveals that Batbah (AKA Grandpa Dan...Batbah is how Tucker pronounced Grandpa and the name stuck) is sleeping on the couch right in front of Tucker!! These pictures of Tucker falling asleep got me thinking about all the times he has fallen asleep at my Mom's house since we moved out here. This picture was taken when I went in to check on Tucker before going to bed myself. We had just taken the side rail off the crib because the night before he climbed out of the crib. So with the expectation that he would fall out of bed, my Mom made a bed on the floor right next to the crib. When I went in to check on him, he was out of the crib, over the back-up bed and on the carpet face down! It was so funny we had to take this picture!This was taken one day after my Mom and Tucker went on a hike. On the way home he got a hamburger Happy Meal and he fell asleep in the highchair at home. You have to be pretty wiped out to fall asleep with a happy meal in your hand!Again, asleep with food in his hand. We really run this little boy into the ground sometimes! He never used to fall asleep in highchairs or random places around the house. The good news...this proves to me that he is no where near dropping his afternoon nap. Hallelujah!!!!

Children's Museum

Tucker, Addie and I went the Children's Museum last Friday for a promotional night they call "Free First Friday" that Target sponsors and the entrance fees and parking are free! For those in the Portland area, it's held on the first Friday of the month from 5-8pm. It was really fun, kind of crowded and super FREE! The current exhibit is Bob The Builder which was very fun for Tucker. They had Legos to build with and all kinds of tools and activities for the kids. All the Bob stuff was separate from all the other regular exhibits so there was plenty to do! Tucker drove Scoop.We played with clay, mostly Tucker just hit it with a wooden hammer they had there. He was really freaked out that his hands were dirty when he got done.

This was hilarious! This is a train table that was in the museum. He loves trains and especially running them on tracks like this one. He is so skinny that he could fit into a small hole in the table and he was playing trains from the center of the track! It was so funny to see him standing there.

This was a grocery store/cafe that they had as an exhibit. Tucker was the smallest kid in the cafe serving food to people. He was making sure that this food wasn't real. He liked pouring coffee for everyone the best.

Thankful with guilt

Today I'm feeling very thankful with lots of guilt.  Let me explain.  We are a family who has very recently separated from the military.  As our first Veterans Day as civilians came and went, I felt very thankful to those who are currently serving our great country but with lots of conflict in my heart.  We have very few friends that are not military and we have several friends who are currently serving our country overseas.  I feel incredibly humbled by the families who "hold down the fort" while their spouse goes on the most honorable and dangerous mission.  I have been that spouse on the other end, waiting for the phone call, email or anything to hold on to that gives me proof that Matt was safe for just one more day.  I feel grateful beyond measure to these soldiers and their strong and supportive families.  I feel guilty.  Our separation from the military has made the burden on the other families, my friends, greater due to the loss of just one more soldier in the fight.  I feel bad having left, and leaving my friends to send their husbands off on an airplane, hoping to get their two precious weeks of R&R and praying for a "short" deployment of ONLY 12 months.  I have friends who have had babies without their husbands there, friends who have seen their first born via email photos for the first time.  I have friends who don't come back the same way they left.  Matt had friends who never came back at all.  But I also have friends who document, what seems to be, every moment of her and her son's life to post to a blog so her dedicated Soldier husband can live like he is at home for the time he reads that blog.  I have friends who pick up the pieces and carry on like nothing is wrong for the sake of the kids, when she feels like this deployment will never end.  Military wives are like none other, and I'm so thankful and proud to be in the ranks of women that I have met over the last 7 years.  These women and their families are SOLID.  These soldiers who are loving husbands, playful daddies and tough leaders, deserve more respect than most of you even realize.  I hope that you take the time to thank a veteran, whether it's November 11th or not, because they are the reason you can sleep in your warm and toasty bed at night without worries.  Thank you JR, Scott and Troy for your current time overseas.  Stay safe, we think of you often and can't wait to celebrate your redeployment.  To our countless other friends and family, Thank You for your service to our great country.  

Under Construction...by a Rookie!

I am trying to make my blog cute like all my friends and I'm still struggling to figure it out. I think it will just take some time, and I have LOTS of time...ha ha ha! This could be a very long process. So hang in there with me while a blog Rookie tries to do something cute and adorable. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Like how do I get my text blocks to be the same color as the rest of the cute turkeys? And how do I get rid of those dots that don't match??Maybe I'll never know!!

Time Out with a side of Time Out, please.

Is there anyone out there who might agree with me that 3 just might be worse than 2??? In the last few days Tucker has pushed me to the edge over and over again. There have been a handful of times that he has gone to time out while being talked to about the first time out. For example, Tucker will kick the dog...Time Out. Two minutes later while we are talking to him about kicking the dog and telling him to "apologize to the dog and give him a nice touch", he will squeeze his eyes shut so that he is not looking at us while we are talking. "Look at my eyes when I'm talking to you...1,2,3...Ok, back to time out" REALLY?!? He can't even get out of trouble from the first thing before he gets busted for the next! Tucker is just lucky that we buy into the Time Out method because if not, he'd be in the hurt and not sitting down for a few weeks. Time Out has been the only reason I haven't laid hands on my sweet son. Life has been challenging for me and probably pretty frustrating for Tucker too. I understand testing boundaries and trying to push buttons, but come on. Give Mommy a break! For anyone out there who needs a vacation, give me a call because in 12-14 months when I wean Addie...there is a major Mommy Rejuvenation Vacation that I'm planning. I don't know the details yet, but you can count on some libations. This Mommy is gonna need it, and I'm sure you do too.