ABCs of me...

Everyone knows their ABCs, but do you know the ABCs of me???? I don't normally participate in these "surveys", but I thought it made for a fun way of letting you know more about me! I saw Natalia over at A Side of Simple, and a few other bloggers so I figured I'd just go for it.

A = Age: Just around the corner from 30...I can see it coming at me fast!

B = Bed size: Queen, our King took up to much room!


C = Chore you dislike: Cleaning the bathroom.

D = Dogs: We had dogs growing up, but we don't have one now because I feel like we are on the road too much!

E= Essential start to your day: Hitting the snooze button...at least twice!

F = Favorite color: Green, any shade.

G = Gold or silver: Silver, but I will wear both together too.

H = Height: 6', and with heels I'm really up there.


I = Instruments you play(ed): The flute, but I definitely I don't remember how to play anymore.

J = Job title: Wife. Friend. Personal planner.


K = Kids: None yet, but someone day I hope to hold the job title of mommy.

L = Live: Buffalo, NY

M = Mom’s name: The Lady that doesn't stop...or Bev.

N = Nicknames: Jen to most, but Aunt Jenny to my niece and nephew.


O = Overnight hospital stays: I don't remember any, so I guess 29 years ago when I was born.

P = Pet peeves: People that say "good morning" and "good night" to Facebook, I just find it odd.

Q = Quote from a movie: 'Nobody puts baby in a corner'- Dirty Dancing; I couldn't come up with anything else and I recently came across the movie on TV.

R = Righty or lefty: Righty

S = Siblings: One older brother, one younger sister, and one (much) younger brother.

T = Time you wake up: Typically 6am on the weekdays and 7am on weekends. Gone are the days of sleeping until noon, I feel like it wastes a day.

U = Underwear: Yes, please.

V = Vegetables you don’t like: I used have a long list, but now I'm pretty willing to try anything and I usually end up liking it!


W = What makes you run late: My husband! Just joking...

X = X-rays you’ve had: I get annual x-rays of my teeth from my dentist, then all the sudden I need fillings- it's my favorite thing! (again I joke)

Y = Yummy food you make: I'd say most anything in the dessert department, but especially anything in chocolate chip cookie family.


Z = Zoo animal favorites: Elephants, or maybe the Gorillas I could just watch they play all day!

Any there you have it! That's small glimpse into the ABCs of me...

Anyone have exciting plans for this weekend???

Getting Crafty...

I can't show you any pictures just yet, but I've been getting crafty tonight. It is a small project that I will hopefully unveil for you tomorrow when it is finished.

Until then we'll play a game. Guess what it is that I'm creating based on the tools I'm working with:

-Scissors
-Spatula
-Ruler
-Laminated sheets
-Printer
-Xacto blades
-Food items

Oh the fun I having over here!!! Off to finish it up!

Make a guess and have a great night!

Disappearing Act...

I disappeared again, sorry sometimes I get busy and it always seems like blogging gets put aside. A busy long weekend getting things done around the house plus our Internet network being out for a bit combined to cause my lack of posting...so moving on.

A big THANK YOU goes out to all of your for continuing to come back here to my little corner of the blog world. I love and appreciate the comments, and I hope to figure out how to respond to your comments. I've been blogging for a year and haven't really done much yet. I get easily distracted, but I'm still loving the comments!!!


Getting My Clean On...
The filing drawers are finally clean. YEAH!!! It took some motivation to tackle, but I grabbed everything out of the drawers, spread it out on the floor, and just started dealing with it.

While I was working away it looked like this....

After it was all done my drawers and floors were in great shape. Everything got put in a binder or tossed if it wasn't necessary. Even all the owner's manuals have their own spot now, it may not sound exciting but it is! The only pile left is destined for the recycle bin...


Getting My Bake On...
I also got a chance to do some baking for my neighbor's son who has been helping shovel our sidewalks and driveway during the last few snowstorms. I guess he just likes to shovel, so I thought it appropriate to reward him with tasty cookies! (My husband benefited too!)



Other than that I've been sticking to my plan, getting my workouts in, making food at home, and finding ways to keep reaching for those goals! I even went for a run outside yesterday with temps 10 or less, but it was so sunny I couldn't resist the Vitamin D!

Oh wait...
I did attempt the cookbook challenge again this week- but it didn't work as planned. I used this cookbook:



I was going to make the asparagus risotto with tilapia for Matt's dinner last night, but in the rush I grabbed wheat berries from the cupboard instead of the rice- so it never actually came to be. He didn't go hungry though, I quickly whipped up whole wheat rice and topped it with the tilapia and asparagus- his taste buds were happy!

Alright I'm signing out for tonight...hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on ZUMBA!

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
We'll I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord
-In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins
(Tell me you don't love the drum solo!)

Merry Christmas....

I'm currently spending time visiting friends and family, so I haven't had a lot of time to spend on the computer or read other blogs so I thought I get something in quick before Santa comes...

I participated in this year blogger gift exchange organized by Tina at Faith, Fitness, Fun. And today my recipient, Katy at The Singing Runner, recieved her gift! I'm so happy she recieved it in time for Christmas! Check out her post to see the goodies she got- a gift anyone could love!

Alright off to wrap some last minutes gifts, pile them under the tree, and then head off to evening church services.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

I'm still here...

It's the holidays and life has gotten a bit busy, and when I get a few minutes I'm typically reading other blogs. Let's just say I'm torn- write my own blog or gain inspiration from other blogs. I seem to be taking the inspiration!

In my absense I've been doing lots of stuff:

-Working as usual, but looking forward to some holiday vacation!

-Going to the gym to stay fit and get stronger!

-Getting New Winter Tires (They plow through quite nicely.)


-Scrubbing our floors on my hands and knees. I do own a mop, but I just feel like getting down there with the dirt gets it cleaner.

-Putting my dining room back together for the first time since the remodel that started in May!
During the remodel:

Present Day:


-Decorating the dining room so we can show a little Christmas spirit- hopefully next year we can have a tree!



-Baking Matt a batch of Ginger Snaps, and probably the only cookie I don't like.


-Starting work on my homemade Christmas gifts.

-Enjoying Sunday Brunch with the girls as part of our Christmas celebration!


-Falling down the stairs, which a good friend of mine can understand. I'm sure she is in much more pain than I am- I only have two small bruises. (Feel better soon!)

-And trying to come up with a plan for improving my blogging, which I hope to do more of starting in the new year. I just need to figure out what will work for me and what you all will want to read.

So with that I ask: Anything you'd like to see or read on my blog? What am I doing well? Want more health/fitness? More Cooking? More Baking?

Tell me what you think- I could use a little feedback.

Winter Wonderland...

It's official, my house is now part of the Winter Wonderland. We are surrounded by snow on all sides and have had to shovel the driveway, brush the cars, and cautiously move along unplowed roads.

In the last 24 hours my husband has spoiled me and my car. I got a new extended reach snow brush (love it!), new rubber floor mats, and he ordered me up snow tires! We decided we might as well be super safe, and have quality winter tires this year that will make the all-wheel drive even better.

I'm looking forward to not getting stuck in the snow piles that I park in at work everyday. A few years ago I had a really bad incident where I got stuck, pulled out of the snow pile by a truck, and pushed a few times before I made it home. It was not a good day!


Moving on to our fabulous dinner from last night:



That is lavash stuffed with caramelized onions, sliced apples, chicken, and a little cheddar with a mixed green salad. It was amazingly tasty!

Now if I could just stop sampling the Christmas cookies!

Lazy Sunday Morning...

Yesterday was a productive day of grocery/Christmas shopping...



Left side is a bunch of baking related groceries, while on the right are the typical groceries we consume during the week. And then I did my first cookie test, a new cookie with cranberries and white chocolate. The verdict was positive but it needs a little bit of work according to the husband. (Although he hasn't stopped eating them yet, so they aren't too bad.)


After a long day of working around the house we went out for the evening to enjoy a movie and dinner. We had a nice relaxing time, sometimes it is fun to get out of the house.

This morning we continued out laziness with a late breakfast of pancakes. Matt made me chocolate chip pancakes, and he went for strawberry topped pancakes.




And now that we've spent all morning lounging around we need to get to work around here because we have another outing planned for tonight! Bowling is $1 per game on Sunday so we'll be meeting our friends for some fun.

Have a good day!

Cookie Time...

I'm off to go Christmas shopping! For me that doesn't mean the mall or the retail stores, it means the grocery store and craft store. I have recently been dubbed the 'Cookie Lady', and each year I plan my gifts around treats I love to make.



Last year lucky friends and family received a bag filled with:

Homemade Peanut Butter
Homemade Hot Chocolate
Spiced Nuts
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Homemade Cookie Mix with instructions

This year there is a whole new line-up because I like to keep people guessing. And with that I'm off...

December...

Welcome to December in the Buffalo area. Imagine driving home from work or running errands on Wednesday night and getting stuck in traffic due to snow. Then slowly realizing that the traffic isn't moving and the snow isn't stopping. Hours pass and you haven't moved, you're suck there overnight and well into the next day.



This was the reality on 7 miles of a Buffalo highway from around 8pm Wednesday night until roughly 3pm Thursday afternoon- and even then the road did not open until Friday morning. Crazy right?

This stretch of highway is only about 5 miles from my house with around 2 feet of snow falling in a 24 hour period. The neighboring streets and towns were also buried, with residents spending many hours digging from out the heavy wet snow.



Now you're thinking, did you shovel yourself out? The answer is no because we didn't get any snow. Weird right? Gotta love our crazy weather, but I know we'll get ours soon enough so for now I'll just enjoy it.

Getting Back on Track...

During the holiday we took sometime away from the gym to allow our bodies to rest and reset. I did originally have intentions on going for a walk/run, but the cold brisk temperatures deterred me and I left my Garmin at home.

Now that we are home the plan is to get back on track, though it isn’t always easy to do when you’ve been out of town over a weekend. Normally one day of my weekend is spent grocery shopping, doing laundry, and getting ready for the work week. While I did have a productive Sunday of driving and visits with family along the road home- there was no time left for any normal tasks.

So Monday night got an extra dose of activity:

Gym Workout
Grocery Shopping
Unpacking
Baking Chicken for the Week
Getting in a quick blog post

And Tuesday night will get more activity too:

Gym Workout
Laundry
Baking Hidden Treasure Cookies


What tricks do you use to get back on track?

Wish Granted...

Everyone that requested their car be washed- wish granted! But can we wait until the weather is warm again???

I got quite the workout washing our cars last weekend! I was basically doing squats for two-three hours straight, I could barely walk on Saturday evening. Later that night we went out to meet some friends at the bar, we played a few trivia rounds with the local bartender, then when we left my quads were so tight I had to lift my legs into the car! It was quite pathetic, and funny at the same time.

Don't worry I recovered by going bowling Sunday night. I'm not your typical bowler, I don't have any "proper" form. I basic lunge and warrior pose my way around the lanes, but it helped me to loosen up and stretch out my legs. Luckily I had no problem this week getting my all my workouts and cardio in, and now that it's Thursday night I'm looking forward to the weekend. One more day of work!

There's going to be lots of baking going on in my kitchen this weekend, I just have to resist the urge to taste test everything. Wish me luck!

My pet frog....

I keep talking about frogs, but to be honest I really don't like frogs. I won't touch them because they just look slimy and gross- and I heard once when I was little that the cause warts! So no literal pet frogs will be found near me, but since Katie asked in the comment section about what I'm jumping for I guess I'll put it out there.

[source]

I actually have several jumping frogs on my lily pad right now, but the newest frog will be jumping for a Germany/Europe vacation. Matt and I really wanted to go for our honeymoon, but it just wasn't going to be possible after the wedding due both to funds and vacation time. However we had a great mini-moon, and have been talking about future vacation plans ever since.

We'd really like for it to happen next year if possible. We've made a savings plan and will be jumping toward that! We haven't made any exact plans, but we will be working toward it and that's a great start.

Obviously I'm still jumping for my normal daily decisions like staying healthy, being a good wife & friend, doing my best at work to allow more future opportunities, and continuing to remodel the untouched areas of our house.

So everyone keep jumping for each day and each dream!

Frogs...(part 2)

Okay so nobody even attempted to answer the question, I guess maybe you're worried there is a trick to it. You're right, so here it is again.

Three frogs are sitting on a rock next to the water. One frog decides to jump in the water. How many frogs are still on the rock?

The answer is three, the frog only "decides" to jump- but it does not say that he does it.

I am working on "jumping" and following through with the decisions I make. Is there something you've made the decision to do, but haven't yet jumped for?

Frogs...

[Source]

Here's a thought to ponder:

Three frogs are sitting on a rock next to the water. One frog decides to jump in the water. How many frogs are still on the rock?

Put your answer in the comment section.

What do you do?

So I don't have a ton of time to write a normal blog tonight, but I wanted to ask you all an etiquette question.

Here is the scenario:

You are in a public restroom (or office bathroom in my case) with multiple stalls, obviously. You're going about your normal bathroom type business when from the next stall comes the sounds of a person making a phone call. (Using speaker phone no less!) This person appears to be calling their doctor to make an appointment, and you can clearly here both sides of the conversation. So by now you're done with your business, do you flush or do you wait for the person in the neighboring stall to finish their phone call?

I thought for a quick second and decide to just flush and get on with my business. A bathroom is for one purpose, not for carrying out phone calls. I just could feel bad for her, make calls from your desk! Who knows I could been stuck there all day waiting for her to finish all her calls.

(Note to self: Don't ever borrow another person's cellphone, you don't know if they are a bathroom talker!)

Tell me what you would do....

Do guys ever run into this issue?

Blogging break....

So you might have noticed that I've been away for a whole week! Well it's been very eventful with a trip to visit Matt's family, lots of cooking and baking, and preparing for another very busy weekend.

Unfortunately I have nothing to show for all the tasty eats and treats because I'm experiencing camera issues. I'm not sure why but the function buttons stopped last Thursday and today the picture button doesn't work! So it's now officially completely broken.

The good news: I bought the warranty, so it will get fixed for free.

The bad news: It will take 3-4 weeks before I get it back.

Even worse news: There will be very few blog pictures until I get my camera back. I'll try to take some with the iPhone, but they don't come out so well.

Alright well I have more to do tonight, baked goods in the oven, and eventually I need to sleep. Have a good one...

Little babies...

Nope- not my babies (keep holding your breath on that one!)

Anyways a few months ago we noticed a bird building a nest under our front entry awning. It turns out it was a mommy bird that layed four eggs, and now we have baby birds. Aren't they cute?



Obviously they are little babies so they don't do much, but we know when their mommy comes with food because they start chirping like crazy. We only notice because we have the window and front door up, but otherwise it really is no bother having them move in.

And on Sunday night Matt noticed what he thought was a male bird trying to come around, which mama didn't like. Just imagine what little birdies say to each other as they chirp.


What do you think birds say?