Party planning

Well, my handsome little man is turning the big ONE soon! In 20 days, I'll officially have a one year old! I can't believe it. To think I was huge and pregnant this time last year, and now, he's almost walking/talking. Anyway, I decided to have his birthday party at the park. I hope the weather treats us well! Plus, I'm getting a lot RSVPs already, people saying that they can go. Which is great! I wanted this to be a day to remember, but of course, Alex won't remember any of it. But it's still my responsibility because he's my baby boy.

Since we're doing a cookout, I just figured we'll do hot dogs and hamburgers. I'm finding out that there is a lot more involved and I'm starting to plan really far in advance. 20 days in advance is pretty good I think. Especially since I'm such a procrastinator! Anyway, I've got to say that I'm really glad he was born in February because a lot of cook out stuff is on sale due to the Super Bowl. I'm going through the store ads and finding some stuff that I can buy right now, and freeze it so we'll save some money in the long run. I have to make a run to Randalls today because it is the last day of a big sale and I don't want to miss out on some of the condiments.

Here is my list of things to get at Randall's:

30 hot dogs
30 hot dog buns
30 hamburger buns
5 soda 12 packs
1 bottle of mayo
5 bags of chip
2 bottles of mustard
2 bottles of ketchup

I estimated that this should all cost me around $65. I'm not trying to spend too much, especially since we don't have our tax return yet. So hopefully it will pay off to be a little frugal. All of this stuff will keep for 20 days, so I'm not worried about things getting spoiled. The buns and hot dogs will just go in my freezer. Plus I don't know what we're going to do with that much soda!

Some of things that won't keep till a few days before:
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Veggie platter
Fruit platter

That's pretty much it! The platters run a little expensive, so I'm going to obviously hold off till I can get a bargain or I may just make my own platters. Another thing I have to shop around for soon is the CAKE! Wish me luck!

11 Months Old!

Well the little man is 11 months old and I'm starting to think about his first birthday. I know, I'm terrible. I really should've thought about this beforehand. But now that it's a month away, I have some planning to do. I figure we can have a party at the park. We can do a cookout and invite whoever wants to come. We have family and friends here in Houston, so it should be a good turn out. If not, it'll be personal and fun either way. And I hope Alex will be walking full time by then so he can really enjoy the park!

Should be doing homework

I'm distracting myself and decided to post my latest finished project. It's the West Point School Crest. Let me know what you think! My mom is currently working on a cross stitch pattern as well and she's going to frame them together. I already sent her my completed work. I'm working on finishing Alex's birth record (only a year behind, that's not so bad right?) And I'm almost done with a few pillows for my living room. Just a couple things to make the place a little more homey and to get good use out of my new sewing machine!

Home Remedies

So James is home today from work, sick with the flu. As always during this season, we all have to be careful with the flu. We fall into the same routine whenever either of us get sick. Here are some things that work for us, and maybe they'll work for you too.

EmergenC

This powder is packed full of vitamins and unique flavor. It helps strengthen your immune system.

Echinacea

Completely holistic, but can be found in a tea or pill form. We usually drink it in a tea form. Much like Vitamin C, this plant helps strengthen your immune system. James and I get the tea with the peppermint in the bags because peppermint also helps those nasty sore throats.

Soy Milk

As mentioned earlier, we drink Echinacea tea. Something that is so soothing is drinking it with steamed soy milk. Especially when you're sick, it's best to avoid dairy, so we substitute with soy milk. It's full of protein and is amazing with the light vanilla taste.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Of course, you can't go through any illness without going back to chicken noodle soup. This stuff DOES work. However, the way we eat it isn't like most.

Kimchi

We add Kimchi to our chicken noodle soup. Kimchi is a Korean food staple and it has plenty of good nutrients for anyone. By far, the best thing for someone who is sick and does not want to eat anything. When I got sick with the flu a couple years ago, I could not keep anything down. As soon as James made chicken noodle soup with kimchi, it was the only thing I could eat. The joining of these two is from my mother. She started making this for me when I was sick. It is SO incredibly good.

Chicken Broth

Whenever I got nasty sore throats, I would just drink a cup of chicken broth every couple of hours. It cleared my sinuses and I was eating something!

All of these are our personal remedies. They work really well for us and it cuts our sick time down by half. We rarely have Nyquil or Sudafed unless we can't sleep at night. The main goal is to help the immune system as much as possible. I hope it gives you some ideas for this upcoming flu season.

Megan's Munchies Popcorn Giveaway!

Megan's Munchies is having a Gourmet Popcorn Giveaway! Check it out!

Lookie! Sunday Fun!

So when we were out in Albuquerque last week, I had a gift card to Macy's. So my mom and I went roaming around Macy's, just to see what they have to offer and Mom decided she wanted to buy Alex's Halloween costume. So here is his fitting. I know Halloween is a month away, but I couldn't resist posting this picture! And in case you can't tell, it's a dragon costume! I love it!

Yummy!!

I know LA is the city of skinny Hollywooders, but how can you be skinny when you live close to this???

Fun Foto Friday!

So Stacey and I got together and decorated cakes! It was definitely a learning experience and I know what to try for next time. I did the cheesey romantic cake for James. He was bummed that he didn't get to enjoy the cake decorating experience. But I think for next time, I'm going to try cupcakes and I will definitely work on roses!

Fun Day at the Park!

 

James and I took Alex to Walter Hall Park today. James had the morning off, and starts his first overnight shift tonight. He wanted to take Alex to the park and have some fun with us. They have an adorable rock wall there for little ones, and James couldn't resist. We can't wait to take him to a real climbing gym and expose him to the thrill!!

So I did it!

I submitted Alex's photo to the Great American Photo Contest! So please, please, please!! Vote for my cute baby boy!

Fun Foto Friday!

 

I was having fun in my kitchen and I'm going to post a blog about this later, but it's about which utensil to use to make omelets. 

A taste of home (New Mexico home!)

New Mexico is not the most well known state. But if you're from the Southwest and are familiar with Mexican cuisine, you KNOW about green chile. And the rule of thumb is, if it isn't from Hatch, it's not any good. Hatch is a small town in the southern part of New Mexico and every year, the town holds an annual chile festival. People from ALL over come and get their roasting on to get some good chile. And you're not limited. There are reds, greens and about all in between. When we lived in Albuquerque, there was a chile roaster on about every corner and just the smell made your mouth water. Every year, my mom goes down to Hatch and gets at least three 10 lb bags of green chile. They will roast them for you and then my mom, James and I would go through the task of peeling the chiles. It was marvelous and hot! Mom would freeze a few bags for us and we'd keep it in our freezer, using some here or there. Being Asian, we'd sometimes eat green chile, rice and seaweed. Oh it's so good! New Mexico puts green chile on everything, you name it and they ask "Red or green?" I always ALWAYS say "Christmas chile" because I want both! And I'm greedy! Well, today, I missed New Mexico so much that I busted out the green chile.

Tonight I made turkey green chile enchiladas! They were quite delicious and it was great to have a taste of home! I got the recipe from the Hatch Green Chile note page from Facebook. All I did was change it to ground turkey and it was still quite yummy! Here is the recipe:

Turkey Green Chile Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 pound roasted skin-on green New Mexico chiles
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
10 (7- to 8-in.) corn tortillas
1/2 lb of ground turkey, cooked
2 cups coarsely shredded cheddar or jack cheese, divided
Sour cream
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°. Peel, stem, seed, and chop chiles.

2. Heat oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chiles, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth and simmer until reduced by one-third, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare tortillas: In a small frying pan, bring remaining 2 cups chicken broth to a gentle simmer. Working one at a time, very briefly dip tortillas into broth to barely soften. Transfer each tortilla to a large baking sheet (you may need 2 or 3 sheets). Do not overlap or tortillas will stick.

4. Divide 1 1/4 cups cheese equally among tortillas and top each with shredded chicken, dividing evenly. Wrap tortilla around filling and transfer, seam-side down, to a 9- by 13-in. baking dish.

5. Pour chile sauce over enchiladas and top with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake until cheese is bubbling and browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

If you can't smell the goodness from here.. Well, I feel sorry for you!


Oh the green chile goodness!

GOALS!

I have a long list of goals, like finishing my Master's, getting a teaching job, learning how to cake decorate..

But one of my goals that I have to constantly work on right now is my weight loss goal. I know I've mentioned it before, but I recently got inspired so I'm going to stick to my guns! Especially since my and James' birthday is soon and our anniversary is coming up after that and I want to look pretty in pictures and in dresses! Anyway, this is one way of keeping me accountable.

I'll be updating as I go, so let's hope a true transformation will begin!

Interesting read

I am reading the most interesting book about the legacy of divorce. Basically, how divorce affects the children and the future. It's a longitudinal study that has been going on for 25 years. The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: The 25 Year Landmark Study reads like a novel. Very informative and shocking!

Hoarse baby

I'm concerned about my boy. I don't think he's been crying more than usual, but his bedtimes are getting more and more difficult. As a result, I think he's losing his voice. He doesn't have any cold symptoms or anything indicating that he's sick. So he's just got a hoarse voice. I feel awful. I miss his cooing.. If it doesn't get better in a day or two, I may call the doctor.

Marriage

Don't take this as a bad post. It's just me venting about what I think marriage should be. Believe me, I love my husband and he's doing such a wonderful job. I couldn't ask for a better man. I have a lot of faith in our love and marriage because of our foundation.

My parents have rules since being married and James and I have adapted them as our own. A lot of it comes from observation, and the fact that it helps our marriage. These are a list of our own rules and we're pretty good at following them.

1) Never talk to a member of the opposite sex about marital problems. It's okay to talk to family, that's a given. But I would never find it appropriate to talk to a guy about my problems with James. Just sets up for a bad situation.

2) Never go to bed angry. This is based off the biblical verse to not let the sun set on your fury. And I agree with that. There have been nights where James and I would be up for hours, just talking and trying to resolve whatever is going on. Plus, when you fall asleep angry, you just start your day angry and that's never a good thing.

3) Always sleep in the same bed. This was a huge observation based on divorce parents. As long as you're constantly there with your problem, you have to face it and deal with it. It's always better to deal with it and resolve it than sleep in another room and avoid it.

4) Never storm out during a fight. Walking out is always a bad thing. It usually makes things worse. I found that it just makes James even angrier with me because it gets the public involved.

5) Never fight in public. Stems from the storming off rule, it would be embarrassing for us to fight in public.

6) Don't use the "D" word. The word "divorce" is poison. How can you expect to stay with someone forever if all you say is that you want a divorce?

We're not perfect. We don't follow the rules all the time. But to make sure that there isn't more complications to it, these are our rules. We love each other and that's what a marriage is truly based on.

Fun Foto Friday!

I love how my hair is a mess! Gotta love my new coffee mug!

Taking the big plunge!

Well, I applied for graduate school. And to be honest, I'm scared out of my mind! I applied for my Master's in Secondary Education with a focus in Math. I really believe that I'm going to be a student for life! I do want to start working, the education field has always been intriguing to me. Just a few things I have to think about:

• How soon will I start to teach after I get my degree?
• What about Alex? Should I wait till he's in preschool?
• When I get pregnant with my second child, will I take a break or just continue working?

Ideally I would teach fairly quickly and Alex can go into daycare. I would tell myself that it wouldn't be too bad since a teacher's schedule is no where near as demanding as any other job. Plus, I would get summers off and once Alex starts school, we'd both be on the same schedule. I want to be around for those precious moments but I also feel the desire to work. I'm really torn. I keep thinking that if we were in Albuquerque, I would go ahead and start working and leave Alex with my mom.

I also think about maybe just getting my Master's for right now and then get another Master's in school counseling later, and when our kids are in school, I can go to work. I'm unsure. I love staying at home with Alex, but with the current job situation, I feel that James and I should have some sort of a back up plan.

I wish this could be easier. I wish that we were closer to my family and if we had to put Alex in daycare, he could stay with my mom and it would make my choices easier. I'm not sure where my dilemma is. Is it the fact that I might be leaving Alex? Or that I don't want to put him in a daycare? Would I want to put him in one? What if I don't like being away from him? What about if we have another child? So many choices.. So much to decide..

Motivation?

I have tons of laundry to do. I need to clean out our bedroom.. I still have this big to do list and not a lot of it is getting done! I just wish I could hire a maid and have her do it all for me! Plus, Alex is being a real handful lately. I try my best to play with him and clean during his nap times. But I think he's teething, so he's been really fussy. Well, we're going to Albuquerque this week, so maybe thinking of that will get my butt into gear..

Fun Foto Friday!

This picture was taken at my mother in law's house over the 4th of July weekend. I thought it was adorable and appropriate.