Friday Night Ramblings & A Recipe

I'm so glad it's Friday as I am sure is the rest of the world. Weekends are such a great break from the norm and the busy schedule that is Monday through Friday. The weather is finally starting to turn nice, so me and the hubby took the kids to a park and walking trail today to let LG ride her bike. So lovely.

I'm still on the decorating trail, but alas, the living room redesign is currently out of money until next payday. :-) I am using my time now to just cut out ideas from magazines and blogs and things I see, so that when I am ready to start buying stuff again....I know what I'm looking for.

Darn that budget.

Thankfully I have a birthday this month and the only thing I am asking for is.......money for decorating my house!!! Yippee!!! Can't wait to buy more stuff. I am SO ready for garage sale season to start. This will help me not to be so tempted to buy $50 things from Pottery Barn when I am distracted by finding something just as wonderful for $3 at someone's house down the street. :-)

A quick update on my Weight Loss Goals: The eating is so-so, but the workouts are going great. My friend Julie and I go 3X per week to the gym and do a full body workout with weights, cardio, stretching, abs and sometimes a little jump roping contest for fun. We both are feeling really great and are anxious to kick it up a notch here now that the nicer weather is coming our way. We keep saying our goal is to look good in a tank-top and cargo shorts. This is all we ask. Not much.

I made a new recipe again this week with the crock pot and really liked it. It's Chicken Parmesan and I know you are thinking that it will be pretty mushy in the crockpot, and well, it sort of is, but it's really, really good though. You just put a little oil in the c.p. and bread your chicken breasts, toss 'em in, throw on some slices of mozzarella cheese and a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. Let it cook 4 hours or so on Low and then add it to some whole wheat spaghetti and a salad and it's awesome. The chicken literally just fell apart and was super tasty with the seasoning from the bread crumbs. We had it again for leftovers today and it was still a hit to us.....definitely not like browning it crispy in the oven or a saute pan, but still very good. Here's the link of you want to give it a try.

I was also racking my brain on what to make for dinner next Tuesday. It's my MIL's birthday and I wanted to have her over for dinner (her hubby is traveling). I was thinking about it tonight and I decided on doing one of my favorites - Rosemary Garlic Chicken, along with baked potatoes, roasted veggies and one of her personal favorites - fried polenta. Shhhh. Don't tell her I'm making all this, It's a surprise. :-) Last, I'm going to have Little Girl help me bake up something sweet for us to eat in as well. I'm thinking about doing Strawberry Shortcakes. Oh how I love these and I know she will too.

I'm kind of getting excited about her birthday now. Or maybe I'm getting really hungry. Either way.......it's going to be fun.

O.K. I will wrap up this long and exciting post by sharing with you some other fun ideas I'm thinking about working into my kitchen/living area. Have you ever seen this bead board wallpaper you can paint over? I'm digging it and thinking about adding it above the chair rail in my kitchen at some point. I also love the idea of making your own little chalk board signs to hang in different places where you can change the writing on them. Look at these sweet little Pottery Barn look-alikes, but they are WAY cheaper.

OK, I'm having too much fun now. Must go read a book or watch Grey's or do something exciting to wind down for the night. Hope you all have a great weekend!