Category: Food

I tried to begin a new post about an hour ago, but it seems like it’s just never meant to be. I’ve got a Thanksgiving post pending, and I was going to post about working at the Christmas Parade yesterday but this darn computer kept pretending it didn’t have Wi-Fi capabilities all of a sudden. Then, when Jorge messed with it and it finally came back on, I remembered I had to pay some bills so there went my whole hour *sigh*.

It feels like this weekend went by too fast. Well, it did, because I worked yesterday, dur. But anyway, I was hoping to sleep till at least noon to make up for lost sleep yesterday, but we spent the morning cleaning the house. Most of my cleaning time was spent helping the girls organize their room. It had become insane already.

I’m preparing to have a stressful month, or 2 months or so, but we’ll see. I’ve not dwelt on it so far, so I really need to get back to that. Just roll with the punches. *oohhhhhhmmmmm*

I’m not really sure this week is the best of weeks to start a diet cleanse, what with all the stress and my “Girl problems” that start this week, but I’ve been eating like crap and feeling even worse so it’s time. I wanted to do something like this (my main goal is to eliminate some carbs and sweets) and I saw a girl I follow on Instagram, _amandagetsfit_, post a cleanse! It was kismet! I saved it and did my grocery shopping today by it. It’ll help me keep Mom on track, too, because a lot of the foods on the cleanse list are exactly what she should be eating.

I semi-started today, even though I had coffee in the morning. Oh my, it was the best. I’m not prepared for the insane withdrawal headaches I’m sure to get. I’m going to miss it. It’s the reason I wake up in the morning!! –Ok, I’m being completely over-dramatic, but I just love my morning coffee :(.

I should get in bed. It’s 11:45pm and I have to be up around 4:40am to get everyone to school and myself to work on time. I’m sure gonna miss that coffee!!

I could have sworn I already had a post started about Thanksgiving, but I can’t seem to find it. Weird. I bet you anything it didn’t properly save when I tried to on the app.

ANYWAY!

The kids were spending Thanksgiving lunch with their other parents and dinner with us. So Jorge and I were lazy all morning, watched a movie, spoke to Dina for a while and took our time getting ingredients chopped and things boiled. Extra pat on our back for remembering to thaw the turkey with enough time this year :D!

Mario was dropping the kiddos off to me since he asked for a bit more time with them, so that helped tons with getting stuff ready. For the first time since moving into this house we didn’t feel rushed. It was great. We did miss Dina, Bri, Javi and the kids; it was a little quieter than usual. But all that changed when the kiddos all arrived :).

While Jorge went to pick up the boys, my kiddos, Mom and I went to visit Gramma.

Got home and finished cooking. We figured they’d all be ok with dinner around 6pm since they’d all just eaten around 3p-4p, but they’d gotten impatient and kinda stood around staring at us while we waited for the turkey to hurry up.

First, it was the boys…

Then the girls and Justin came…

We say grace before dinner, but this year, Jorge made sure no one–not even John–starting stuffing their faces until everyone expressed what we were thankful for :).

I’m truly grateful for my kids, husband, my entire family. My job, of course. Our home, vehicles, just everything. I look back and remember just 5 short years ago both Jorge and I were starting from scratch. And here we are :).

I have a more detailed post in the works, but since my laptop seems to be on it’s last breaths and keeps shutting down on me, I’ll have to leave it for some other time. Oh yeah, I have to get up early for work, too, heh.

Speaking of, my last 2 large events are over, Hallelujah! I’ll update on those, too.

I feel a weight off my shoulders and even though I’m pretty busy with other activities at work, it’s nice to go through the day not feeling rushed, or worried. I had a perpetual heaviness in my chest I attribute to stress, and it seems to be completely gone from one day to the next! Don’t get me wrong: I really, truly enjoy my job, but the urgency I feel 24/7 comes with the territory. It’s expected. But it’s nice when something you worked so hard to accomplish comes to a fruitful end :).

It was a cold, drizzly, gloomy day. I even packed a soup and sandwich for lunch at work because I refused to go out in the cold.

I researched what to make with what I already had at home and figured Hasselback zucchini and potatoes would hit the spot. So, as soon as the girls’ homework was done and they were off playing Minecraft, and after talking to the boys, I got to work. And the Hasselbacks were a hit! Even the girls liked them :).

I wouldn’t consider them “healthy” (the butter, oh Lord, the butter!), but it sure was comfort food at it’s best! You could make these all sorts of ways. I’d like to try a sweet potato recipe soon! And although the slicing and waiting and filling are tedious, it’s pretty simple. I followed the recipe from Cupcake Project for a guide on the potatoes, only I substituted her ingredients for onion, tomato, turkey and American cheese–all stuff I already had on-hand.

For the zucchini, I followed Yummily Yours’ recipe, only I set the oven to 400 degrees to bake both dishes together and I reduced the amount of thyme to 2 pinches instead of 2 tablespoons.

Ok. My laptop died again and won’t come back up, wahh. Finishing this up on my Note. I need to make sure I backup all my photos and just everything on it. Ugh. Why now, laptop???