Whether getting home from work, running the kids to activities or getting to our own evening meetings, dinner can sure get in the way. It’s not easy to find a schedule on some nights that is perfect for everyone to eat, let alone a time to cook that meal.

I do enjoy cooking, it’s just that being such a busy mom I don’t have the time most nights or I’m too tired to enjoy it. Menu planning and once a week cooking have changed this.

Each week I take a few hours. I head to the grocery store with my pre-written shopping list and then get cooking my main dishes. I can enjoy cooking again and have found I love it even more. It feels great to have all the dinners cooked up and ready to go for later use.

I always toss a couple of the meals in the freezer for the end of the week. This way there’s a quick answer to, “What’s for dinner?” I keep the week’s meal list on the fridge and cross them off as we eat them. It also helps to let one kid pick which meal will be next. Less arguments about eating said meal.

Plan for the week and spend less time in the kitchen!

Very few of the 56 deaths couldn’t have been prevented.  Adrenaline junkies wanted to be there and if they hadn’t been there we wouldn’t have the awesome shots and commentary we have.  However, they lost friends that were trying to do the same.  And who could forget the crazy old man Harry Truman who said he’d lived there for over 50 years and was going to die there.  Damn idiot did! Truman of St. Helens : The Man & His Mountain was written by his niece and I’m going to have hubby order it. He was a WWII vet and an old rum runner. You know that guy was a cool grandpa. I have lots of ornery relatives like that I wish I had their stories. lol

Wikipedia has some cool quick facts about the eruption and the mountain itself. I’m having a hard time finding a dvd copy of how the eruption hit us here in Washington state, which is a very sad thing, but a great book to check out is Ecological Responses to the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens. I see a definite need to hit some of these people and tell them to get with the times and upgrade those vhs tapes to dvd!

But on to me.  I was 7.  We were on one of our many weekends over at our best friends house in Brewster, Washington.  It was 8:32 and we kids were out playing in the sunshine already (eastern Washington gets sunshine, lol) and our (probably) hungover parents were inside cooking pancakes and drinking bucket loads of coffee.  It was Sunday morning so that meant we would leave soon to head back to the west side of the mountains as Dad had to get to work.

We heard the mountain blow.  We were somewhere around 200 miles northeast as the crow flies from it.  I will tell you that I told my parents that the mountain blew up.  This isn’t the closest mountain to us by any means, but I told them the mountain blew.  I need to talk to my brother and see what he remembers about the event.  I know I knew the mountain blew.  We couldn’t see it at all.  I just knew.  We were in the middle of the redneck Eastern Washington and they all laughed and said that it was a gunshot.  I knew better.

My parents decided to go the long way home.  The scenic route.  It was one of the few times we went through Leavenworth which is hubby and my favorite, favorite, favorite town to run away to.  I can remember we stopped for breakfast there and the funny thing is it’s the family side of the favorite little dumpy lounge hubby and I like to be at.  We stopped for breakfast, sitting in a big booth in the front corner window and the waitresses were talking to the locals about the mountain blowing up.  It is the one time I can remember for a fact I told my parents, “I TOLD YOU SO!”

Again, this is why I need to talk to my brother about this.  We never have talked about it and we are very in tune with our surroundings, environment, and hey, we just know shit.  It’s true and more of a post than any can handle.  We’re native american and the mountain blew.  Yes, we did know it was her.

By the time we got home it was slow going across the Cascades.  This was an already slow journey.  Thankfully we had gone so far north to get across or we would have been stopped.  My Dad isn’t native but he knows crap too.  I’m sure that is the reason why he drove us so far north.  We could go there too, but eh, not very few of you are ready for that either.

The next morning I should have been going to school, but I remember it didn’t happen.  We did get up in the morning and collect adh off our bumper.  I know we worried for days about Great-grandma because Wapato had been shut down for days.  It was like a horror movie, dark and dusty for days on end.  They were told not to leave their houses and with good reason.  Of course, over the years I’ve seen a ton of footage of the Mt. St. Helen’s blowing up and the aftermath.  So it’s always fresh in my head how the towns so close to me were in complete shut down at the time.

I wouldn’t give up my mountains for anything, but I do have a  healthy respect for them.  I know I live extremely close to active volcanoes.  But dang they are gorgeous!

I do realize I have other issues that cause my insomnia. But I’m tired of having to take my pills in order to go to sleep. I’m pretty sure it means something if I can’t sleep without them after 5 or 6 weeks. I’m a night owl and can’t help it!

I know there is a fine balance between where I was at some of my habits now. Hubby getting hurt helped me really focus on creating the new sleep habits because he was here to help make me go to bed on time.

I guess I need to work harder at the schedule issues. I have been more productive and felt better with more sleep. But I don’t like that it’s generally the pills that are pushing me to sleep earlier. I’ll keep at it though. The PA did say that it could be a little bit longer and then work at only taking them on days that they are necessary.

I know I also need to set better work hours and stick to them. I plan on cleaning the extra bedroom and making office space back there. I need to get the computer back there and get offline in the evenings unless there is a set project to complete and a strict to do list getting done or a rush job for a client. Getting offline at night will also help me to unwind so I should be able to sleep quicker.

So I’ll work harder at the habits again and hopefully be able to use the ambien much less.

Shopping, deals, prizes and leftovers!

Sounds like a perfect day to me. Sitting at home, eating turkey sandwiches with a side of cranberries. MMM, can’t wait

The Holiday Wrap party kicks off Friday Nov. 27 (Black Friday) with vendors from 6 companies showing us some of their best gifts to give for the holidays. There are always special deals for attendees that aren’t posted on the the vendor pages. But it doesn’t stop there…

Our Holiday Shoppes have incredible specials for the entire weekend. If you can’t make it to our live event, you can still take advantage of some great deals. Many of our Holiday Shoppe Companies have Black Friday only deals or specials just for our Mom Chats visitors!

Why get up early and run around in the cold on Black Friday? Stay home, cuddle up with your computer and enjoy some great shopping and deals from home.

Mommy – I think of someone all snuggly. I picture that woman with the SUV that has the Mom Taxi bumper sticker on the back and runs around putting everyone else’s needs first. I was snuggly, but my kids are older, is that why I don’t think of myself as mommy anymore?

Momma – Ok, now I feel like I’m crap, but I know I’m not. I believe in balance. I run around loving my kids and moving them to places that they need to go, however, that is not top priority. My kids sometimes need to be taken to school functions or picked up from things by others; grandma or friends parents. Then understand that I have a life too, even though they don’t truly care right now about that. lol I know they will later when they are older.

So Mommy vs. Momma in my head. For some reason I have Mommy in my head as a negative. I picture it as the woman that drops everything for her kids and make no times for herself. I have no basis for this, it’s only the person I picture in my head. But as a Momma I have it pushed in my head that I am balanced. There is no backing for it except for the fact that I understand I do a lot for my kids and I am there for them. I have no basis at all on what the words mean to me. My Mom has always been Mom in my head and has been there all the time, all the time, ALL THE TIME! Homemade breads, fresh homemade cookies and always at my sporting events. I have no ‘complaints’ about the way I was raised. It was truly awesome how they were involved.

But there is more to being raised and how you are involved to how things turnout. lol I’ve dealt with hardships that no one else could help much with. I’ve been date raped, I’ve lost many loved one’s, but most of all, I’ve dealt with the fact that I do not need someone at my beck and call for them to appreciate me. I endured on my own AND then found my husband, even though that was at the awesome age of only 17.

I understand that at this time, if I was my kids I would want to be with my friends. I’m not sure my parents thought of that, but I know that it’s a lot of work and I love being with my friends still. In fact looking back the only thing I can remember is hearing how much they didn’t like my friends. I will not hold the fact that I want attention to keep them with me. Their relationships are not mine and only work to build there’s I hope, not to undermine at mine at all. No one can compete with the relationship I build with my kids except for me.

Please don’t hold it against me that I have a preconceived idea of Mommy vs. Momma. I can’t do anything about the idea in my head except for living from the experiences I have.

Are you a Mommy? Do you love being called Mommy? Or are you like me and a Momma? I’d love to hear from both sides as neither are wrong, it’s all a matter of wording!

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I grew up in a negative household, but I never realized it until I had kids of my own. I’ve trained, yes in this aspect I did TRAIN, my husband to be a positive parent. There were a few times I heard something come out of his mouth that sounded like my parents would have said. NOW, please believe me, I love my parents and they did an awesome job. I love who I am in most aspects. lol BUT, I’m just going to take that and move forward even more. There are so many little things you can do daily to create a positive environment for your kids. You’d be surprised at how easy they are and many times they are things you are doing, you can just change how you word your comments a little for a huge improvement.

I’m excited to be a new ambassador for Fishful Thinking. A site dedicated to helping grow optimistic children. This site has many tips, videos and resources for encouraging your kids. I hope you’ll join me for a fun year on Fishful Thinking and what looks to be some GREAT giveaways! woot-woot

We truly love going to these big shows. Yes, our ticket was $125 a seat, BUT we got 5 huge concerts for that. Considering it’s typically $60 for one headliner, WHAT A DEAL!!!

We started off by finding a new place. We are total fans of Diners, Drive ins and Dives and there are a few places locally we haven’t tried out yet. Slim’s Last Chance Chili Shack and Watering Hole was one on the list. Once we parked in front of it we laughed. We’ve driven past it so many times. In fact I’ve commented on the place connected to it because it seems so divey. I have to say, the chili was amazing! I only had a few bites of hubby’s chili burger because I did not want beans in my system for the concert, but we will be back…a lot! Hubby used no salt on it and this is the biggest compliment he could ever give. He even said it was like we made it. SWEET! My burger was awesome and the handcut fries? OMG, you always have me with handcut fries. DAMN, loved it there. Oh and my drink rocked. I’ll be back for some hurricanes again!

So yada yada, we had some fun, we went to another bar downtown and then we went to the before party we should have been at. DAMN why didn’t the radio station say how big their party was going to be? Totally would have been there. They had a great band, but we knew we should get up and see Lady Antebellum since we’d paid for them. lmao

Lady Antebellum was really good. I actually would have preferred them as the second act because I thought they brought much more personality to the stage than Miranda Lambert did. Which believe me was a big disappointment in my book. I really love this gal. I won’t allow that she is only 25 get in the way of stage presence. Something else must have been up cause she just didn’t bring it. Still love to hear her sing!

Sugarland rocked it like we hoped and knew they would. Hubby is (not secretly) got a big crush on Jennifer Nettles. lol This lets me have my crushes with no guilt, so ok, bring it. tee-hee She’s hot, there is no denying it and the beyotch can SING! Ok, I’m half in love with her too. lmao They put on a great concert.

My BOYS Montgomery Gentry did NOT DISAPPOINT! I’ll be honest and Eddie Montgomery is my fav. I can’t help it, I’m totally attracted to bald men since hubby started going bald a decade ago. lol Plus his deeper voice and typically bad attitude just hits me. ahhh, I have no idea why I’m still married to my bad ass hubby! I was so excited to see these two that it could have been a big disappointment. I mean, put them on my bucketlist excited. But both of them brang it and more! AWESOME, thanx!

Who next? Actually the one person I didn’t give a crap about in the show. The headliner…Kenny Chesney. I’ve never gotten why so many are attracted to him for one reason and did I just not say I’m attracted to bald guys? Of course maybe it’s because you need to own it and not hide it? But also I tend to think many of his songs are so similar. They are good, no doubt, they get me tappin’ and singin’, but they are pretty close. I guess I’ve forgotten many of his songs and thankfully he played a good spectrum of them. I bawled. Yes, I bawled. I had hubby hugging me and singing in my ear and I uncontrollably bawled when he sang “There Goes My Life”. I know that hubby feels that song because we were so young and we had a daughter first. So it hit heavy life. I can’t even comment over the rest of his playing except coming out in the encore with U2 and other 80’s/90’s was super cool. I mean really cool.

We had a blast. We enjoy good music and this was a definite good time as well. It changed how I feel about ya Kenny. If you can bring that to another concert, you bet I will be there baby

I was excited to get an email asking for me to do a review for Handbag Heaven.  Of course I will jump on that.  I love to do product and site reviews, so why not do a combo of both in one post?

To start off with there are a lot of choices.  To help with my selection, I had options of searching by size of purse and also going by colors.  Lovely, this will help a lot as I was not looking for a clutch or small bag.  Plus, like I said I am working on my girly size and I’d already made the decision I wanted something pink.  Boy did I find the best of both worlds!  Not too girly, but definitely pink!  I purchased a wallet to go with it of course.  Can’t have a new purse and an old icky wallet.

I am totally in love with this wallet.  I went way out of my usual choice and bought a big wallet.  I am so glad I did.  In the last week I have owned it, I have grabbed it out of my purse for quick trips more than 4 times.  It was more than enough room for all of my debit cards, club cards, and discount cards. lol  Plus they are easy to find.  It also has a sturdy metal metal clasp to keep everything closed up.  I am going to be so excited to have this wallet when I go to Santa Monica so I can do quick trips to the farmers market.  It’s also in a beautful fuschia/hot pink and snake skin.

But the purse!  All of you want to hear about the purse right?  lol  I chose the Alessandro Retro Tote. I LOVE IT! It’s durable leatherette and with my busy life I’m hoping that will translate to easy wiping off and keeping clean.  In the description it states that it has silver feet and a flat bottom so it will stand on it’s own.  I’m happy to report that it is true.  It stands up on it’s own which is awesome because I keep my purse on the counter and this way it is upright with nothing falling out of it.  Plus with the silver feet I know it’s not sitting on the ground anywhere I’m at.  I’m very happy with the purse.  Roomy inside, 3 large pockets to keep my phone and even my sunglasses seperate and safer.

It has plenty of room for the large wallet and also for a lot of other stuff.  When I stop at the video store I can put the movies in the tote.  I use it to put other non-perishable items while I’m shopping as well.  Works as an eco-friendly bag this way.  I guess that’s a big reason why women carry larger purses huh?

Ordering was quick once I chose what I wanted.  Shipping happened within hours.  Literally.  I made my purchase around 11:30pm and it had shipped before 9am the next morning.  WOW, that’s fast!

If you are in need of a handbag I highly suggest visiting Handbag Heaven.  Quality in product and customer service says a lot to me.  Especially the customer service!

I miss Anna Nicole. I was devastated when she died. I knew is wasn’t totally her fault. Yes, I do understand that she surrounded herself with the people she did and she took whatever drugs they gave her, but by season 2 you could so tell that she was not the Nicole we’d all come to know and love for many years prior. She couldn’t put a thought together and that wasn’t normal.

Now I am in so way saying that she was a brain surgeon, nope, I understand that. But everyone was ripping her apart and I was sad and cried for her. She needed a friend and security. Her family was only out to get money, she needed a girlfriend that said FUCK OFF and told her what to do that was healthy for her. I would have been that friend, but how could she find me way out here in Seattle. lol What did her trusted “friends” do? They got her a tv show, put her in la-la land and made sure she had a great time with great ratings while they used her money, her notoriety and her name to get a lot of things for themselves. I’m so sad that they used her and turned her memory into what it is. For years she was turned into the drug addict bimbo.

Here’s the funny thing, I have no problem with bimbo, none at all. To each her/his own. But I have a problem with how she was portrayed. I just always knew that something wasn’t right about her death. I can not possibly understand losing a child like she did, but that new baby girl would help her through that a lot. I’m happy to see that no one gave up on finding out that her death wasn’t an accident. I hope the truth comes out, but unfortunately since she is gone we only can get one version of the truth now.

I can’t help Anna Nicole and I truly hope that someone is raising her daughter with nothing but love and compassion.

I made my first sushi rolls today.  Not only did I make my first rolls, but hubby made a roll as well!  We are seriously ready to have our own party and show off our skills.  Previously I could spend about $20 take-out on sushi rolls.  Lately I haven’t been very excited about my rolls even though I’m a total addict.

It wasn’t that I loved sushi any less, it’s just our local place has gone down hill a lot and that is very sad.  I never had a problem before spending that much money on my sushi because it really rocked.  lol  Well now I just need to find some great sushi grade fresh seafood, because I’m going to make it my own and toss veggies in it and make the rice as thin as I want.  Not only that, but I hear there is brown rice I should be able to use to make it.

Much experimenting is needed and a huge sushi roll party is in order.  But I’m excited and any sushi addict will be as well.  BTW, be jealous of my super cute sushi bowls and plates.  I have matching place mats and awesome chop sticks as well.  My brother set me up 2 years ago with everything to make and serve it.  DOES HE KNOW ME OR WHAT? <smooches and hugs>