Hamburger Helper Update!!!

As you remember I made 3 different boxed dinner meals - and none of the two picky eaters here at either one. Oh wait! I take that back...Dom and Rhy really liked the Asian Beef Stir Fry from Hamburger Helper. I think Betty Crocker makes 'em? I didnt care for it much. I didnt care for a single dish i made. Wait! yes I did. I enjoyed the Beef Stroganoff. The Tomato Penne Pasta is still in the freezer. My father will be over to house sit on Halloween. So... I'm thinking of defrosting for him! hee hee. that man will eat just about anything :-).

So Ive been really busy with the Halloween party planning, the Vegas trip planning, and costume making, and church activities and rummage selling! Happy to report that we made $280 at our garage sale two saturdays ago. Mostly happy that I rid my house of alot of excess clutter. Gave my mother alot of her things back that I borrowed years ago and to this day never used, i.e. George Foreman Grill, molding cake pans, maternity chair, etc.

Rhyan had her first lemonade stand at the garage sale. At the last minute I made a few dozen sugar cookies, and cupcakes. I mean the very last minute, the night before at 8pm I was still frosting and placing 'em in cutesy packing for sale. I made $15 and Rhy made $10. Hurrah! lol...

She wanted to rush off to the Dollar Store right after. The money she earned was burning a hole in her pockets. lol. I told her to save it for Vegas and to my surprise a week and a half later she still had all her money in her purse tucked away in her suitcase just for that purpose.

I had only known this because for 2 - 3 days after the yard sale I was running around the house looking for change for the laundrymat! I wanted to wash the blankets before the Halloween Party ( I didnt want stinky body odor lingering in the house when peeps came over). So after hours of looking and puting the whole idea off until I could get over to ATM halfway across town... my daughter gave into my fustrations and pulled out her stash! Surprised I fell to my knees, helping her dig into the suitcase on the carpet and expressed over and over how proud I was she took such good care of her money. I then promised I would give her money back just as soon as I could. What a sweetheart! I was mostly amazed she kept the money in a safe place because usually she totes it around everywhere with her and ends up losing her wallet or takes it out and starts to play with it. So yes, I was proud of my lil girl! ;-p

Hamburger Helper anyone?

Ialmost ran out of frying pans to cook with this evening! lol

whats in my garage?!!

See all the ground beef in those 2 lb chubs? I have 17 more chubs to eat before freezer burn takes over! ;o) The picture on the right shows the beef roast and steaks we have to eat. Wheres the beef?

See the Jeep window or plywood I should say. Dom broke the window while trying to adjust the springs or tighten teh bolts..... something. Either way the window is still broken. Happened 2 nights ago. He keeps making fun of me and my indian car! Atleast he was kind enuf to paint it black so it wasnt TOOOO obvious. Yea like thats gonna help!

And that is our lil freezer that dom makes fun of becuz its so tiny. He said it would hold ALL of 2 steaks. Whos laughing now buddy! We have a butt load of meat and i dont c him complaining about the grocery bill?!?! heh!

Today is Friday, October 9, 2009

Tomorrow we have the last soccer game of the 2009 season. Yahoo! terrible right? Im glad its over but sad for Rhyan. Its her only connection outside the home and away from school she has to communicate with other children. I feel bad that Im glad its over. tailgate party afterwards..so neat of her coach to play it. I dont really wanna be there and i know neither does Dom. So guess who has to unfortunately be the one to stay while she eats her hotdogs in the parking lot, me! Dominick will surely find an excuse to head out early so he doesnt have to stand around with a bunch of parents conversing about stuff.

tonight I made 4 dinner's for the next couple of days. I had no choice, i defrosted 4 lbs of ground beef from our freezer and had to make use of it. So I made 3 different Hamburger Helpers and seasoned taco meat. Luckily for me Rhyan enjoyed all of them. yippee!

My dad took one of his cows to a meat packing place in Arizona and gave us tons of BEEF! So we have alot of 2 lb chubs of ground beef. The only thing up till now that ive used it for: taco meat and spaghetti! So getting tired of it all. So yesterday I went grocery shopping and purchased 8 boxes of Hamburger Helper to keep the family happy. We never eat the stuff so I thought it would be a nice change up to the ordinary. Both Dom and Rhy loved all the flavors. Thank goodnes! Im tired as heck but for the next few nights all I HAVE to do is push a few buttons on microwave and tah dah..... dinner is served!

Last night I slept for 3 hrs (i should say I passed out) while dom was home, from 4p -7pm. Poor Rhyan had to watch Disney's Halloweentown and Return to Halloweentown on TV. I felt bad but I just couldnt get out of bed. the day before i cleaned the house like crazy. I have a huge pile of things Im tryin to get ready for a yardsale and give items away. Im Nesting BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no joke. I will take pictures of what Ive done thus far and show you. My house looks tidy but lil does everyone know the millions of unfinished projects I have stored away for that particular "one day" phenomenon. You know that "one day Ill get to that so I better save it today" issue! Well Ive been hanging onto things for over 10 yrs and Im tryin to embrace the rule..."if you havent used it in a year then toss"! So, thats what im doing!

Plus Im finally taking care of pictures that ive been storing for years. Im placing them in appropriate albums or frames and hanging them on the wall. Yes! finally my walls are no longer bare! dominick is finally putting up all the shelves, brackets, hooks, etc that ive saved over the years. I buy em and expect to have him put them up asap. Nope! never happens. always gets pushed aside. So finally hes taking care of business. I have to wall mirrors that have been waiting to be hung for years (over 3) and finally they will be hung this weekend. Extending the wall shelves in the pantry , FiNALLY! No more cramped pantry. trying very hard to make more room for the new member of the family that'll be here in only ...... 9 to 10 weeks! I hope the baby comes at 38 weeks. I sure dont want to inconvenience anyone by having the baby too close to Christmas. Plus, I dont want to be overdue I need this kid to come for a 2009 tax write-off! hee hee!

So I will post the pictures of the meat before you get to read this! Im using DOms computer and it reads pictures soooo slow. Cant wait to take the pictures and post to show u all what ive accomplished. P.S. We finally bought a bissell carpet cleaner and Ive been busy with that as well! If I go into labor early or get put on bed rest u'll all know why! lol!

NO Gestational Diabetes

The Book I ordered from amazon.com for our trip to Vegas with Rhyan on HAlloween. Neat book! Gives me alot more info and definitely weeds out all the adult crap I dont wanna know about.

This is what happens when your pregnant and forgetful! I forgot to take my glass baking pan out of the oven BEFORE preheating for chicken strips! Doh! (1st and foremost - i never ever store the pyrex rubber lid with the pan and just this one time I did cuz I was in a rush to clean my kitchen)! Double Doh!

The sample of the halloween party sandwich I m gonna make for Oct 24th. Grilled chz jackie lanterns! :0)

one decoration sample Im working on for the party and for the house. Can you see were all ready up and runing with our decor. Thanks to my huby! Ive been waiting almost 4 months for this shelf to be hung. and finally he took care of it in all of 10 MINUTES! why? why? why does it take husbands forever to take care of their 'hunny do lists' hmm? Why?

A trick or treat craft I made last yr for the kids in the neighborhod! Can you believe I made 150of these babies. I found a few left overs in the bins from the attic and had to share cuz I dont think I ever did last yr. It was a last minute idea and forgot to take picts.

NOw on with the news..............................................

I love watching HouseHusbands of Hollywood on the Fox Reality Channel.Its a cute show about hubbies that stay home and take on the domestic housewife duties while their hollywood wives work outside the home on bringing home the bacon. Cute show ... these men would be the kinda guys I would feel comfortable around. I always use to feel more comfortable around the opposite sex versus females. I think its because I dont feel adequate enough to hang with women. I have little in common with them and I didnt grow up like a normal female should. I didnt have a mom teaching me everything. I hung around not-so-appropriate guy gatherings such as autobody shops, underneath a car (doing auto mechanics), bars (yes, garage bars - most of time I had to sit in the vehicle while my dad chatted), etc. etc. Although my dad was a recovering alcoholic he still had to conduct his business with the type of crowd that still frequented these joints. What can I say that was my life. I dont feel bad about it - its what I had to encounter and my dad DID try to shelter me from the harshness of these situations but sometimes you cant cut out everything.

I guess thats the same thing I have to realize with my little girl. No matter how hard I try - she's still gonna hear profanity and see inappropriate things - I just have to talk it over with her! *sigh*

So Yeah back to the TV show. I feel very intimidated by women.. Their conversations - their talents - Thats what I guess I mean when I refer to "Im still a work in progress". But on the other hand I do feel very comforted by older women who seem to understand that Im not a talented "female" per se and that im willing to learn what ever it is they're willing to educate me on. For instance, cooking! I love to learn to cook new dishes. Im not in tuned with what seasoning and spices go with what type of fish or poultry. So when I get an opportunity to pik someones brain I will. Women in my life that have really influenced me in the kitchen were: Lilibeth (my old friend), she was an amazing cook. Man did I love her food! Dont talk with her since my falling out with her over my lil girl and babysitting arrangements. You win some - u lose some! Then there is my aunt michele, she seems to cook like its second nature to her. Its no bother for her to throw things together and the taste is phenomenal. ugh! u couldnt imagine. She can even make ordinary turkey deli sandwiches taste like a gourment meal! lol

Lets see there's Toni, she has some amazing recipes mostly baking that ive tried and I love it. When I duplicate it - it actually comes out yummy. which is amazing for me!

and then lastly, donna, my neighbor! She cooks great food and the only one that can back me up on this one is Dom. He drools over her food. Shes originally from Baltimore and we cant get over her style of cooking. Yum-o! She even bakes awesome treats! Can you believe it. cooks and bakes. Thats one thing lilibeth was never god at - she says, not me.

Boy is it blistering cold today. The winds up to 35 mph and the high for today is 65'F. I wore a skirt today and I froze the lil hairs on my legs right off! :0) Suppose to continue like this throughout the week. with rain on weds, thurs, and fri.

Came close to catching H1N1 from my brother -in-law last week. Luckily I didnt. Dont really think he and his lil son had it either. They were out in about with their symptoms and seemed fine. But just blessed I didnt fall ill with ANY symptoms.

Went to OB appt today and still weigh 167 lbs. Same as 2 wks ago- hurrah!

Well like I told you all if my glucose was over 130mg/dL , i would have to take the 3 hr glucose tolerance test. Well My one hr came back 132 mg/dL. not high but because we live in a HIGh incidence area I had to do it for policy's sake! hate HMO's!

So they put me through the ringer on Friday when I did the 3 hr tolerance test and I was sure I failed it. So all weekend I worried but tried not to stress. Found out today that I PASSED MY 3hr test. I was certain that I failed my test! I was feeling so terrible that I called my regular family practitioner and ordered a 3 month recheck on my A1C and other blood work up. So I had all these lood tests run on Friday and come MOnday I find out the following GOOD NEWS!

A1C = 5.4

3 hr test--> fasting blood glucose (bg)=66, 1hr=124, 2hr=124, 3rd hr= 98mg/dL !!!! Goal is to b below 130mg/dL on all levels. So that was accomplished.

So u can imagine my relief and my happiness when I heard these numbers. YAhoo!

THe only bad news I got was concerning my cholesterol, triglycerides. and my LDL. The Doc said they were high.... how high?! I dont know. I didnt ask. Not like me to not ask for numbers and make a note of it but I think I was still beaming from the good grade on my 3hr tolerance test! I have another appt with family practitioner on Weds. to go over results Ill ask then and get back to you. I will have to definitely hit the walking harder from here on out so I can work on bringing down my cholesterol. Just back in July my cholesterol was said to be great... the doctor even said to me _ "HE wished HIS cholesterol was that good!" that made me feel good becuz he seems like a very trim and healthy individual. So now Im kinda bummed and wanna work on getting the heart back in shape! P.S. got my flu shot today and boy is my arm sore. Remember to get yours!

So thats my news for today and I will post some picture so enjoy and dont forget to read about rhyans news. Luv u all and stay healthy!