June Menu..here comes summer!

Oh my goodness...October is my favorite month but June comes a very close second.  I love everything about the beginning of summer.  I love the change in the weather.  I love wearing flip flops and tank tops.  I absolutely love sitting outside.  I love the way it feels and the way it smells.  I love the fruits and vegetables that are available to me again.  I love grilling.  AND I LOVE eating on my new back porch!

Here is our monthly menu:

                                       June Meals
Week 1 
Mon     Beef Burrito Bowls                        Salad
Tues     Greek Marinated Chicken               Green Beans
Wed     Ranch Cheddar Burgers (freezer)    fries
Thurs    Dr. Pepper Drumsticks                    Ranch Baby Carrots
Fri        Homemade Pizza Dough (makes 3 round pizzas)  Pizza Sauce

Week 2 
Sun      Bacon Covered Kalua Pork (freezer)      
Mon    Honey Lime Tilapia                     Fiesta Lime Rice
Tues    Citrus Chicken (freezer - makes 2 bags)  corn on the cob
Wed    Crispy Key Lime Chicken   
Thurs   Buffalo Shrimp Tostados              Baked Zucchini Chips        
Fri       Pizza dough                               Pizza Sauce

Week 3 
Sun      Honey Mustard Brats       Bourbon Baked Beans
Mon    Marinated Pork Chops (freezer - makes 2 bags)  
                  Grilled Lemon Garlic Zucchini
Tues    Chicken Fajitas
Wed    Sweet and Spicy Citrus Tilapia     Parmesan Garlic Orzo
Thurs   Greek Chicken (freezer - makes 2 bags)   
                 Honey Glazed Baby Carrots
Fri       Pizza dough                          Pizza Sauce

Week 4 
Sun        Father's Day Low Country Boil
Mon       Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad  
Tues       Marinated London Broil            Balsamic Glazed Carrots 
Wed       Citrus Chicken (2nd bag from week 2)            
Thurs     My Basic Burgers      fries
Fri         Pizza dough                              Pizza Sauce

Week 5
Sun       Honey Mustard Brats  
Mon      Greek Chicken (2nd bag from week 3)      
              Lemon Parmesan Asparagus
Tues      Marinated Pork Chops (2nd bag from week 3)   
              Garlic Roasted Carrots

And here is the shopping list, as always, broken down by recipe (in order of list above).

June Grocery List

Enjoy and happy summer, ya'll!
K

Sit A Spell...The BP revealed

You know one of my favorite things about Southerners?  They like to sit. Preferably on their front porches with a glass of iced tea.  There really is nothing better than stopping to sit for a spell (that's southerner for sit down and relax for a minute).  You can read, listen to the birds, or just feel the breeze and sunshine.  Thinking is optional.

When we bought our house a front porch was a "must have".  And by front porch, I mean one you can sit on.  Here's mine and I love it dearly.  We updated and redecorated it last Spring.  It is one of my fav places on earth.

My hubs has been wanting to screen in the back porch forever and I have been telling him no.  I think originally, my thought was if you screened it, we wouldn't be outside.  I would feel like I was in the house still.  And I love being outside.  But then he built me the Alcapulco deck.

So, you get the idea.  I have plenty of places at my house to sit outside. But what really made me have a change of heart was my discovery journal (if you're new here, see "I Have a Dream" - Jan 19th post).  There were ALL kinds of screened in back porch pictures in my journal.  And one day, as I was flipping through it, I realized...maybe I DO want a screened in back porch.  I think I had so many of these pictures because they reminded me of my grandma's house.  She had a big screened in porch in the front of her house.  And whenever I see a picture of a screened in back porch, my blood pressure goes right down to chillax.  

Well, when I gave hubs the green light, he was thrilled.  And thus began the drawing, dreaming and planning of the new back porch.  This was hubs' epiphany but I did have one requirement:  the back door had to slam. Other than that, the design was all him.  Decorating was all me.  We sat out there many times before it was done and I have to tell you, I've been in love with this back porch for a long time now.

I am delighted to announce after much blood, sweat and tears (oh, and dollars!), we are finally ready to unveil The Back Porch (The BP for short).

While it was designed as a place to eat, we have already watched movies out there, danced out there, read out there and written out there. And I have already promised my girls they can bring their sleeping bags out there and camp out.  Everyone who has seen has said, "I would never leave here" and I couldn't agree more.  Some projects end up being way more work than you planned.  But if you put your heart and soul into it, it is already filled with love before you've ever used it.

Enjoy the pictures and be sure to tell my hubs what an amazing, fantastic job he did.  He is truly my hero for making this happen.  Chris Holmes, you have outdone yourself, my friend!

In the making:

 







The Grand Opening:

Thanks to Julie for the idea of a ribbon cutting!

Tonight's events sponsored by Deep Eddy! Official drink of the BP!

The Fireplace

THE table!!!  Also made by Chris Holmes!

12 pack fits in each

No need to get up folks!

Ya'll Know Where to Find Me~
K

Summer's Signature Drink

Hey ya'll!  Just a quick little post to tide you over this week until the big reveal this weekend of The Back Porch (henceforth called The BP).  We are busy trying to do the last few finishing touches to the porch and get to our much neglected yard before Saturday....the grand opening of the aforementioned BP.


Last weekend we had a few soft openings of The BP.  One big development is that we found the signature drink of The BP and, quite frankly, the signature drink of my summer at this point.  It is refreshing, delicious, not too sweet, packs a punch and has less calories than beer. What's not to love, right?

The Grapefruit Vodka Tonic 

aka "Deep Eddy!"  

So how simple does this get:

• Deep Eddy Grapefruit vodka (not sure why the bottle in the picture isn't full)
• Tonic water
• grapefruit slices
• mint leaves
• ice

Mix one part of Deep Eddy grapefruit vodka to 3 parts of tonic water.

 Pour over 4 cubes ice. Garnish with a wedge of grapefruit, lightly squeezed.  Throw in a mint leaf.  Just to make it cute.  Or you can eat it for fresh breath, I guess.

Now, a word about your vodka choices.  The first grapefruit vodka tonic we made was with some other grapefruit vodka.  It was good.  But then I saw Deep Eddy brand at the ABC store  I got so excited because it is made in Austin, Texas.  So of course, being the good Texas native, I wanted to try it.  IT IS THE BOMB!  So, while they are not sponsoring my blog in any way, I wholeheartedly endorse them and say this to you my friends:  don't use any other grapefruit vodka (Deep Eddy - call me and we can talk).

I made a "batch", which was 1 cup of Deep Eddy vodka and 3 cups tonic.  

I bought this super cute bottle at Hobby Lobby (another person who should probably endorse me but doesn't) for my homemade creamer.  Well, it makes a great pitcher for vodka tonics, let me tell you.  Plus, it has a little chalkboard label on it. Just in case you get confused about what you are drinking.  Or maybe you want to make multiple kinds of vodka tonics.  Just sayin.

As Deep Eddy would say, "Dive In!".  

Don't you just love these paper straws?  I think they are one of the greatest things since sliced bread and they certainly make anything you are drinking more fun.  Because I am a big dork, I bought two colors that match The BP's color scheme.  You can get them at just about anywhere now in all kinds of colors.  If you don't like drinking out of a straw, throw it in there anyway.  Think of it as an adorable drink stirrer. Compliment your drink color or the holiday you are celebrating.  It's all in the presentation folks.  Get fancy.  You know you want to.  

Hope you will get a chance to try our new favorite cocktail!  Can't wait to show you the much talked about BP!

Stay thirsty my friends!
K

It's Just a Number

In keeping with "blog posts gone real" this week, I'm gonna go ahead and do another fun post.  This one is about the day I found out I was fat.

On my list of habits to make (that are forever being procrastinated) is "need to start working out again."  My hubs and I used to work out religiously and then, life got in the way.  Now it's just one of those things I can't ever seem to find the time to do.  I know it's just a good habit that I need to make.  Again.  But I want to be healthier so I started by looking at some different exercises on Pinterest.  I started making infused water.  I realized I was starving myself all day by only eating 2 meals.  Added a meal (breakfast) and 2 snacks (9:30 and 2:30).  I started writing down what I ate, which made me very conscious of the bite of something here and there.  I made an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables (which is killing my grocery bill, I don't mind telling ya!).  I'm trying to eat dinner before 7 (some days that goes better than others).  So here we are...and I'm feeling pretty good about these changes I made and I focus on them for a couple weeks.  My energy is through the roof (I think from all the water? Or maybe because I am no longer starving.) and I feel great.  Now I know it's time to throw in exercising.  So again, I take steps...I buy new running shoes.  I make a new running play list on my Ipod.  I look at running apps...The first thing the running app asks for is my weight.  Hold up.  There's one thing you should know about me.  I don't own a scale and I don't believe in weighing myself.  I believe you know if you are fit or not, just by the lifestyle you are living and by looking in the mirror.  And clearly I knew I was not looking fit these days.  So, I had to go to the nurse's office at my school and weigh myself.

Now.  If you had asked me what I weighed I would have said "about 135".  Imagine my shock when the number looking back at me was 158.  Point 2.  OMG.  "How'd that happen?"  "How long has it been since I worked out on a regular basis?"  "How much weight DID I gain last winter?"  And from that moment on, it was all I could think about.  I could not get "158" out of my head.  When I went to bed, all I kept thinking was "I weigh 158".  And then I did something I knew I shouldn't.  I looked up how much someone my age and height should weigh (I mean, I clearly wasn't sleeping).  Yeah, remember that number I THOUGHT I weighed?  That's what I am SUPPOSE to weigh.  135.  And on the chart it said I was "OVERWEIGHT".  I couldn't go to sleep because all I kept thinking was "I can't believe I weigh almost 160 lbs.  How on earth am I going to lose 20 pounds?  How did this happen?"  And then, I remembered why I don't own a scale.  For this very reason.  I already knew I needed to exercise again.  But now, I was officially freaked out.  Stupid running app.

So I had to take a minute to get my head right (and by minute I mean an entire day).  What is it about a number, a label, a name, that is so defining...so debilitating?  Why does that become who we are?  Suddenly I forgot about all these wonderful gifts and traits that God has given me and all I was was "fat".  Now, this is very important, please don't say "you're not fat" in response to this post.  That is not what I am going for and it's not my point.  What do you see yourself as?  What are you focused on?  When I was thinking "I want to start the habit of eating healthier by exercising and eating better", I felt great.  I felt excited.  When that turned into "I have to lose 20 pounds", it was like a giant weight hanging around my neck.  And now, I felt like "I can't do it."

Sometimes, instead of thinking of what you need to stop you need to think about what it is you are trying to start.  I am trying to be healthier.  I am trying to take care of me more.  I am trying to have more energy.  I am trying to sleep better.  And yes, maybe I am trying to look better in my bathing suit.  But I am not trying to be 135.  Because after all, that's just a number.

Stay Focused on the Positive Side!
K

The Mother of all Blogs...

Me and my little pumpkins!

Hope all you hard working mommas out there had a Happy Mother's Day!  This is going to be the most un-traditional Mother's Day blog post ever.  But it needs to be done.  So if you are looking for fluffy kittens and unicorns, this isn't the blog for you.  Just keeping it real over here.  This ain't the Hallmark channel.

I have known I was going to write this post since I started my blog.  And I have not looked forward to writing it, let me tell you.  I know several people who have recently gotten off of social media because it "just makes them feel bad".  I even read an article several months ago that says social media is one of the number one stressors for women.  Apparently, people are seeing/reading things and feeling that they are just not good enough, in comparison to these other people who are doing all these wonderful things and looking great while doing it.  And I am here to tell you, in case you don't know, that social media is not real (reality TV isn't either, by the way).  People show you what they want you to see. No one is going to put on Facebook "just spanked my kid again".  They are just going to put the good stuff out there.  Or the funny stuff.  Which is ok.  As long as you realize you are just seeing a sliver of the big picture.  Which leads me to my post...

Lots of people tell me that I am a great mom.  And I appreciate that.  Really, I do.  I think that I am a great mom.  But I am not perfect.  I have a bad habit.  So...you should know...(deep breath)...I yell at my kids.  I hate myself everytime I do it (even when I am right).  My mother was a yeller and that has always been my excuse.  My mom was a great mom, but she yelled.  I have been saying for many years that I was going to stop yelling.   This year, I decided it was time to get serious.  Done with the procrastination.  (Started the blog, right?) When I went to do my 2015 goals and got to the heading "Stop...."  I knew immediately what it was I needed to stop.  If any of you saw my 2015 goals post (January 22nd) and noticed 'stop yelling at my kids' in my picture frame of goals, thanks for not calling me out on it.  I wasn't ready to talk about it.

My Jesus Girls and I started the year with the Joyce Meyer book "Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits" and this really helped me to get centered on what it was I wanted to do.  Mind you, I have LOTS more bad habits than this.  I made a list of those things I wanted to STOP doing (Habits to Break) and those things I wanted to START doing (Habits to Make).  And then....I started with something else.  That's right.  I needed to have some success before I just dove right into what might be the hardest habit of all for me to break. But just the mere fact that I realized it was a habit, hey...that was a start.
I began by making a list of why I wanted to stop. I mean, really detailed, everything about it that bothered me.  My list looked like this:
   it hurts the girls
   it hurts God
   it's teaching them a bad parenting skill
   it makes me feel like a bad mother
   it's not Christ-like or in the fruit of the Spirit
   it steals my peace
   God can't work in a life of turmoil

Then I asked myself why do I do it?
   I am frustrated, tired, aggravated or any combination thereof

Then I asked myself what were my triggers?
   kids being ungrateful
   kids aren't listening (I am repeating myself over and over)
   kids arguing with me (ok, mostly this is the pre-teen)

Then I asked myself how do I feel when I do it?  I think this was the most telling of all...
               Enraged.  Out of control.

How am I doing?  You feeling better about yourself?  Good.  We're real short on fluffy kittens and unicorns right now.

All this analyzing was really important.  Because it's not just enough to want to stop.  I felt like I had to understand it.  Fully.  And then, I prayed.  I prayed for God to give me some insight on how I was going to break this, because I had no idea where to start.  God gave me several epiphanies through Joyce Meyer's book.  Here's what really helped me:

"God can't work in a life of chaos and an atmosphere of turmoil.  If you have no peace, you have no power."  Woah.

"The devil sets us up to get us upset.  Be peaceful in situations where you have no reason to be peaceful."

And this was the aha moment for me..."It's not our circumstances that upset us, it's not knowing how to respond in the proper way."  What?
I just needed to learn how to respond in a different way.  And that single thing, that made something in me completely shift.

I keep a journal and write down every day if I yelled or didn't (I have done the same thing with all my habits I have been trying to make and break.  It makes you very conscious of what you are doing and it shows you your successes too.)  I would write down when I lost it and what made me yell.
And then I had 2 days in a row with no yelling...and then three...and then a whole week!  And then 2 weeks!  And then....
I dropped my basket.  The exact journal entry reads like this:  I yelled.  Like a crazy person.  I mean, I really lost it.
Sigh...I was so close.

I would love to say this post ends with "and now, I am completely cured of this bad habit".  But I am not.  I am still working on it.  But I have made tons of progress.  Sometimes I think I yell now and I don't think I would have even considered it yelling before.  I am learning that some of the times I lose it, it's because I am crazy exhausted and so I am realizing that maybe I need to slow down and do a little less.  I need to make the habit of going to bed on time.  I have learned a lot about what is it about ME, not my kids, that is making me yell.  Another one of my favs from Joyce..."God is not nearly as interested in changing our circumstances as He is in changing you."  Chew on that one for a minute.

So, I submit to you my very humbling blog post. I hope my blog never makes anyone feel like they are not enough.  Because we are.  But we could always strive to be a little bit better.  See, I know I am a great mom.  But I'm not perfect.  But every day I am trying to be a little better. A better person, a better Christian, a better wife, a better friend and a better Mom.  And as long as we are trying to get a little bit better every day, we're moving in the right direction.  And that my friends, is something that should make you feel good about yourself.

One Day at a Time!
K

May Menu - Goodbye Gravy!

Light the grill and pass the potato salad...it's grilling season!  God bless May, one of my very favorite months.  When fruits and vegetables start to taste real again and my menu takes a dramatic turn from crockpot and gravies to fresh, fresh, fresh!  So if you are eating "clean", you should love this menu! (I am still trying to figure out what "eating clean" is, by the way)

And here is our monthly menu:

May Meals

Week 1 
Sun      Pulled Pork Tacos with Sweet Chili Slaw
Mon     Cilantro Lime Halibut                 Easy Coconut Rice
Tues     Greek Marinated Chicken           Garlic-Lemon Parmesan Oven Roasted Zucchini  
Wed     Island Pork Tenderloin                Easy Broccoli
Thurs    Honey Mustard Brats                Roasted Cabbage Steaks
Fri        Homemade Pizza Dough              Pizza Sauce

Week 2 
Sun            
Mon    Mango Salsa Pulled Pork                    Corn on the cob
Tues    Mediterranean Orzo Chicken Salad     Green Beans
Wed    Parmesan Crusted Tilapia                  Apple Bacon Coleslaw  
Thurs   Crispy Key Lime Chicken                    Fiesta Lime Rice
Fri       Pizza dough                                     Pizza Sauce

Week 3 
Sun      Chili-Rubbed Lime Steak Tacos        Balsamic Glazed Carrots 
Mon    Garlic Parmesan Roasted Shrimp    Parmesan Zucchini and Corn
Tues    Dr. Pepper Drumsticks             Pasta with Brown Butter and Kale
Wed    Zucchini and Sausage Stovetop Skillet    Corn on the cob
Thurs   Lemon and Garlic Tilapia             Parmesan and Spinach Orzo
Fri       Pizza dough                               Pizza Sauce

Week 4 
Sun      Spicy Honey Lime Pork Roast   Collard Greens and Butter Beans
Mon     Chipoltle Lime Shrimp Tacos with Strawberry Salsa         
Tues     Hamburgers Teriyaki                   Asian Pasta Salad
Wed     Chicken Parmesan Meatballs  w/linguine        Greek Salad              
Thurs   Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops          Cilantro Lime Rice
Fri       Pizza dough                                     Pizza Sauce

And here is the shopping list, as always, broken down by recipe (in order of above list).
May Grocery List

Enjoy and happy May!
K

I Can't Wait...

Hey everyone!  Hope you do not think I have fallen off the face of the earth or run out of things to talk about.  Neither of those things could ever happen, you know.

So what have you been up to?  April was just cra-cra around here.  First, trying to get ready for that beautiful thing we call Spring break, then having Spring break, then spending a week recovering/trying to get back into a routine after Spring break.  Then it was my youngest daughter's birthday.  And then it was my oldest daughter's birthday.  And oh yeah, we have been doing this little project called screening in our back porch.  Cra-Cra.

For those of you who did something wonderful for Spring break or went somewhere...I am super jealous.  For the second year in a row, we have had "a working Spring break".  Last year, we re-did our front porch.  It was tons of work but it turned out exactly like I wanted it to.  And at the end of break I could smile and say "Cheers" on my front porch.  That was finished.  And wonderful.  This Spring break we were working on screening in the back porch.  I thought we were almost done.  Um, yeah.  About that.  My vision of sitting on the back porch and saying "Cheers" at the end of the week disappeared slowly before my bleary eyes.  And while it is turning out way more expensive, I mean, fabulous, than I had anticipated, I am at the point where...I JUST WANT IT DONE.  I want to enjoy it.  I have planned my first meal to have on it.  I know the first song I will play for the christening.  I have all the decorations.  I have furniture.  I have dishes.  We are SO close but yet, so far away.  Most days, I feel like we are never going to be finished.  And I find myself saying "I can't wait until it's done."  I might even throw some curse words in there.

Just to be clear, here's me on Spring Break.

That's my I'm having fun face.

And....now you can see the color of the stain we chose!

How often do we wish our lives away saying I can't wait until..."vacation", "Spring", or the ever popular "Friday".  It is so easy to wish our lives away trying to get to something that we know we will enjoy.  When what we should be doing is enjoying every day.  I try very hard not to wish my life away.  This time of year it is especially difficult because it is only 6 weeks until summer vacation.  And I'm a teacher, in case you didn't know.  So I am really tempted to say, about 20 times a day, "I can't wait until summer".

But think about the times life has put you in a situation where the whole world shatters and you would give anything to have back one day.  We may want something to be over or past but we always must remember to live in the present. Because none of us know how much time we have. And believe me when I say, each day is a gift.

We have a tradition of looking at the girls baby books on their bday and we even watch a video or two.  Seeing them so little always makes my heart ache and wonder...where does the time go?  Life zooms by at break neck speed without us wishing it away.  Be in the present.  Love every minute of every day and every blessing you have.  And that thing you can't wait to get here?  It'll come.  But remember life is not about a destination, it's about a journey.

Some day real soon, I am going to have some fabulous back porch pictures for ya'll!

Enjoy the moment!
K