I Am NOT Peg Bundy!

See this chick here on the couch putting her feet up and reading a magazine? That is NOT me! I am NOT Peg F*ck*g Bundy!

Just because I am a Stay at home mom doesn’t mean that I don’t do jack sh*t all day. I don’t get it. I work just as hard, even harder sometimes – yes I said it,  than anyone who is actually out there in the work force AND getting paid. My job is 24/7. I don’t get vacation time, I don’t get a paycheck, personal time or sick time. That certainly didn’t happen last week when I was sick and my head was feeling like it was going to explode.

I feel like I have to defend myself all the time because I stay home with my daughter. So a few weeks ago I was at my older sisters house for my nephews birthday. I was telling them, well bragging to them about how much I save with my coupons and talking about my stock pile and my younger sister tells me I should be helping her out and giving her some of my stuff. My sister is a single mom with a teenager and a 3 year old and a deadbeat baby daddy so it’s all on her. I’ve always helped them when I could and always will but don’t tell me I should be giving you stuff just because I have a damn good supply of it. She thinks that we should give her things because she’s a single mom. She doesn’t want to work for it. I’m doing what I can to save my family money especially now that I’m not working. Occasionally I will tell her about the huge savings I’ve done during one of my trips like a few weeks ago I saved $114 off my grocery bill. I keep telling her that she should be using coupons and do you know what she tells me – “I don’t have time for that sh*t, you don’t work, you have all the time so you can clip coupons.” And so it got ugly from there. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this from her and I’ve put up with it but I’d just about had it. It was like she lite a bonfire up my ass cuz I went off. I’m one to speak my mind and don’t care who I piss off, family or not. I will tell you that I held my tongue on the cussing because my daughter was there.

My daughter is going to be 2 next month and as many as you all know, toddlers have this amazing non-stop energy. My daughter is down to one nap a day which last less than 2 hours and most nights she still gets up at least once a night. I don’t watch TV all day, I don’t sit in front of my computer all damn day, I’m always behind on my twitter feed and I don’t get to blog or get on emails until she goes to bed which means most nights I’m usually up late trying to catch up. I am out with my daughter on play dates, running errands, her activities and when I’m home I’m trying to clean house, take care of 3 dogs which one is somewhat of a special needs right now, make dinner and still play with my daughter. My husband travels a lot for work so for the most part I AM a single Mami. I know how hard it is and I give kuddos to the single moms out there.

Today one of my neighbors daughter came over with her 1 year old daughter. She just moved back up from NC. We’ve been in our house for 9 years and never really spoken to the girls. They were in college or whatever but it was just mostly the occasional hey how’s it going until she had her kid and she was up visiting. So chickie wants to know if I would watch her kid two days a week while she works – cuz you know I’m home all day with my daughter and all. So again I’m like really WTF! AND she wouldn’t be able to pay me cuz you know she ain’t got no money and it would only be until she got help from the state so she can get her daughter into daycare since she ain’t got no money to pay for daycare. So let me get this sh*t straight, I’m gonna watch your kid two days a week, get stuck in my house cuz I won’t be able to go any place since I’ll have your rugrat to deal with, run my ass into exhaustion even more than I already do to do you a favor and for no pay all because I AM A STAY AT HOME MOM! But remember, its only temporary. Are you f*ck*g kidding me.

Listen, I have no problem helping anyone out. I would love to have her over and play with Buggy but you know what’s gonna happen. She is ain’t (I know aint aint a word but me don’t care!) so you know she ain;t gonna find daycare she can afford just like that and it’s going to take some time for her to get state vouchers for daycare and I’m going to get stuck in my house watching her kid. I want to be able to come and go when I want.

I’m just really sick and tired of hearing “well if you can afford to stay home good for you”. Yes bitch I can afford to stay home, its not always easy, I’ve made sacrifices, I also had to wait 5 years, FIVE years to have this baby, I suffered a stroke when I had to go through IVF, I had an ectopic and had to close the hole in my heart before I could have this baby. We prepared financially as well as we could so that I can stay home with our daughter. So damn it I’ve earned every right to be able to stay home with my daughter! You don’t know my situation so please bitch shut the hell up. I hate it when people say that.  I’m sick and tired of people thinking just because I am home that I do nothing all day and have time to be there for them and yet no one is ever there when I damn well need them.

Anyhow, I told chickie that I cannot commit to the two days but I can occasionally help out if she needs its but I know if I commit I’m gonna get screwed. Hubby doesn’t think I should do it. I did tell her that I would help her out next week but I think I’m just going to do Tuesday. She knows I have a lot on my plate but she’s thinking of herself so I need to think of me – for once!

What do you guys think? What would you do?

Happy Birthday To Me

On this 26th day of November, 42 years ago at 9:11AM my Mami gave birth to an 8lb baby girl. Being the second child, my mother had quite the easy delivery – I think within an hour of arriving at the hospital and there I was – Thank You Mami. When I had my daughter, I was in labor for 12 hours and pushed 3 times and out came my little precious Buggy. One of the nurses told me that the girl in the next room pushed for about 20 minutes so I was trying to beat her –LOL! 

Buggy has been sick all week and I’m still nursing this miserable head cold but since it is my birthday we decided to take Buggy bowling. This was her first time bowling and she had an amazing time. She absolutely loved it. She would just grab ball after ball and throw them down the lane. It was the best day for her. It was glow bowling and she was totally into it. Needed to grab the balls herself, no help from us.  I think this may be a possible venue for her birthday party next month. We went to Bertucci’s for an early dinner since it was right near the bowling alley but she was close to a melt down so we made it to go and headed home.

Here are some bowling pictures.

Birthday Pictures: Buggy is into blowing out candles so we were very excited when she blew out the birthday candles. I was a bit sad because Tasha isn’t in the pictures. I miss her very much. I’m happy all my babies were around on my special day. It was a great birthday with my family.

Turkey Pot Pie

Now that Thanksgiving is over you are probably wondering what to do with all that turkey.  It seems like the side dishes go a lot faster than the turkey does and you probably don’t have as much left over. 

One thing we love to make here is Chicken Pot Pie. It is so easy to make. When I had the baby two years ago friends of ours made us a Chicken Pot Pie and it was so delicious. I’ve always loved it but never knew how to make it.  One day I decided to make my own and looked up an easy to make recipe. I honestly cannot say which site I got this from since its been a few years so I cannot give credit and I’m going from memory here. So with all this turkey left over I made a Turkey Pot Pie. I just used the same ingredients I use when I’m making a Chicken pot pie.

Ingredients:

• 2-4 cups of Turkey (You can use more or less depending how much you want)
• 1 pkg of Pillsbury Pie crust (or any brand of pie crust – there should be 2)
• 1 can condensed Cream of Chicken Soup 
• 1 Potatoes peeled and cut up (optional)
• 1  cup of Swanson Chicken broth
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 cup peas & carrots
• 4 tblspn flour (I use whole wheat)
• Adobo for seasoning (You can use Salt & Pepper or any type of seasoning)

Directions:

1. Roll out your pie crust and place one of them in your pie shell and place aside and Heat oven to 425°F.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, heat up all your ingredients - soup, turkey, broth and peas & carrots. While that is warming cut up your potatoes and season them a bit. Stir in potatoes and add your flour. Stir until everything is mixed well until bubbly and it thickens
3. Spoon everything into crust lined pie plate. Top with second crust; seal edges. Cut slits in several places in top crust.
4. I spray a bit of Pam on top of the crust but that’s up to you. If your edges start to burn quickly you can put tin foil around the edge. I use a pie shield so my edges don’t burn.
5. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and potatoes are cooked.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Mommy & Me Tumbling Fun

We recently signed Buggy up for a tumbling class and she is having so much fun.  At home she loves to wrestle and roll around but in class she is a bit shy and will only do a few things but each week she is getting more comfortable. Her favorite was the horse – or whatever it is you call it – it’s the red thing below. She was a bit hesitant to participate at first and kept wanting to go see daddy but she came around.

Here are a few pics from class.

Tell Me About Yourself Award

I am totally feeling the love this week from my blogger friends. This is my second award in one week.

I received this award from A Mommy’s Lifestyle. Please check out her site. Lindsay’s site is full of food, fashion and shopping.

Here's how it works...in order to "claim" the award, I have to do a few things.

I get to tell you seven random things about myself as well as pass on the award to seven other great bloggers.

Nominees, in order to accept this award you must:
-Thank and link back to the person who awarded you
-Write seven random things about yourself.
-Award seven other awesome and inspiring bloggers.

1. I love being a Mom!!!
2. I’m lousy at crafting but I keep trying
3. I get a high when I coupon shop and save money
4. I hate the smell of cigarettes
5. I love trying new recipes
6. I love baking from scratch
7. I love all animals but my favorite are dogs and horses

I’m Passing this award to:

http://wegotkidz.com/

http://www.peaceloverecipes.com/

http://www.mydishwasherspossessed.blogspot.com/

http://www.raising-humans.com/

http://elianefilho.wordpress.com/

http://cutecoconut.com/

http://totsandme.blogspot.com/

Please check out these great blogs.

Liebster Blog Award

I’m certainly feeling the love this week. This week has been a amazing week with my fellow bloggers. Imagine my surprise when I realized I received two awards within a few days. How exciting!

My first award is the Liebster Blog Award from Pamela Zimmer, please check out her awesome blog. Thank you so much Pamela, I’m truly honored! For those who are not familiar with this award, it is meant to spotlight up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers.  I found out that Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

By accepting this award I agree to:

1. Copy and paste the award on my blog.
2. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to us.
3. Reveal my top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that my followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

So without further ado, I would love to pass this Award to:

http://www.lillysnlollipops.com/ – Amanda is a fairly new blogger and mommy to an amazing little girl.  She enjoys photography, crafting,decorating, re-purposing furniture, cooking.

http://www.fourgenerationsoneroof.com/ – Jessica is a SAHM and a fairly new blogger as well. I’ve known Jess for years and she’s an amazing DIY’er. Check out her amazing projects.

http://www.tulipandthelma.com/ – Janet is a SAHM. She a mom/freelance writer/blogger/wife/bad driver keepin' it real on the west side of LA. Check out her blog. She is hysterically sarcastic and will have you cracking up with her stories.

http://mrsschneed.blogspot.com/ – Meet Elana and her adorable little boy and their cute furbaby Mr. Monk. Check out her blog and follow her adventures with her little ones.

http://www.2boysontherun.com/ – Jess is a Stay at home mom to two awesome little boys. Follow her blog and read about the excitement of raising two little boys.

I hope you get to check out these awesome blogs and show them some love!

Chicken Broccoli And Ziti

I saw this recipe on one of our local news stations when they do their weekly visits to restaurants. I have tried it a few times and it is mmmm absolutely delish! I have to say that this is definitely one of my favorite meals. I generally love anything with cream sauce in it and when we got out to eat and this is on the menu then its for me. I have to admit that I am not a broccoli fan and I generally pick it out or eat very little of it but with this recipe I eat every single bite!




Ingredients:
* 1/4 cup oil
* 1/4 Stick Butter
* 1/4 Cup chopped garlic (less if using fresh)
* 1 qt heavy cream
* 8 Cups Broccoli Florets (frozen)
* 10-12 pieces of chicken tenders (I used a pkg of grilled Perdue Short Cuts)
* 3 cups of artichoke hearts (I passed on this ingredient)
* Pinch of Salt & Pepper (I used Goya Adobo All Seasoning instead)
* Pinch of granulated garlic
* 3 Cups Parmesan
* 7 Cups of ziti cooked aldente

Directions:

1. Start out using an 8qt sauce pan/pot
2. Make sure your veggies are strained of excess water
3. On low/medium heat, add your oil and butter and heat until the butter melts
4. Add your garlic and saute until it (just starts) to turn light brown (about 2 min)
5. Add your cream and heat until it just starts to slightly boil
6. Add your broccoli florets and stir for about 2 min
7. Add your chicken and keep stirring about 2 min ( I sprinkled Adobo on chicken to season)
8. Add your Artichoke hearts, salt, pepper, granulated garlic and let simmer about 2 min.
9. Next put in your ziti and stir into the pot followed by the Parmesan and shut off
10. Continue stirring for a couple minutes so the cream and Parmesan do not stick or burn in the pot

Almost Two And Still Breastfeeding

There is always so much controversy over this and I get a good amount of it from my family. My daughter is going to be two years old next month. Hard to believe. Where has the time gone. Breastfeeding is such a huge issue for some people and frankly I just don’t understand it.

Two weeks ago I was at my sister’s house for my nephews birthday and needed to nurse my daughter. We were just hanging out in the kitchen – kids were playing in another room – so I started nursing my daughter and wouldn’t you know it my younger sister who has two kids of her own, became really uncomfortable while I was nursing my kid. This is the same sister that was in the delivery room while I gave birth, the same sister that was holding my leg and cheering me on to push, the same sister that saw me push my almost 9lb baby out of my va-jay-jay.

I don’t know how that makes sense. We are family. She’s ok seeing me give birth but not breastfeed- seriously? She even grabbed a towel for me to cover up. First of all when I am nursing I do not whip out my boob and show everyone my nipples like the town flasher. I cover myself as much as possible but for the love of G*d my boob is in my baby’s mouth, how much do you really see? I have no problem nursing my child in public and I did not get up to go to another room. I told her if she felt uncomfortable she can go somewhere else. It was rather comical because she got up and kept walking around the kitchen trying not to look at me. She mentioned how her friend nurses her baby in front of her and its hard for her not to stare. I say stare away. It’s a beautiful thing. I love the special bonding I have with my baby girl when we nurse. It is a special time for us and I will be sad when it is over.

My older sister of course needed to add her two cents where she shouldn’t but of course that is what she does best. Here are my two sisters judging me about still breastfeeding my daughter at this age yet she thinks nothing of her four year old still using a pacifier. if that were my daughter she would be criticizing me for doing it. I was really angry at both of them. I told them they should be applauding me for still being able to nurse at this age but this isn’t anything new – I’ve heard it before.

My husband is also a bit uncomfortable with me still nursing our daughter. He always jokes about her being in high school and me still nursing. I’ve come to the point where I just ignore him and Buggy does the same. When he sees that she wants to nurse he tells her no ba-ba. Generally she cries and then he tells her she can have it - as if I was gonna hold back - but she is smarter now. When daddy is home and she wants to nurse she will take my hand and bring me upstairs to her room. We sit in the rocker and we can both nurse in peace - LOL! I don’t care what he or any one else thinks. You know what, these are my boobs and if I want to continue to breastfeed my child I will do it. If you are uncomfortable then turn your ass around and get out of my face!

To be honest, I never intended to breastfeed for this long. She weaned herself off the bottle at 8 months and I was hoping she would do the same with the boobie but she loves her ba-ba. She sometimes walks around saying ba-ba and doing the sign for it, almost as if rubbing it in daddy's face-lol! The cutoff was about a year and a half but Buggy has not shown any interest in stopping so I keep telling myself I’ll give it til she’s two. So we’ll see what happens-maybe two-ish –LOL!
To all you Mama’s out there still breastfeeding, we applaud you!

Wordless Wednesday

Nothing like the love of a girl and her dog.

I’m Feeling Blue Today

Today was a tough day for me. It’s been just over two weeks since I lost my precious baby girl Tasha. She was my best friend and the best dog ever. I have lost my shadow. Since loosing her I have not wanted to do much of anything. Everything is a reminder of my girl. I lost interest in blogging. Every night when I got in bed and opened my laptop, Tasha was right here next to me. She was the only one that slept on the bed with us. She was my sidekick. She was my baby when I was struggling to conceive. She was the social butterfly, always ready to make anyone smile.

Some of you may not understand and are probably saying “it’s just a dog, get over it” but I hope that is not the case. I hope you are not that unsympathetic and cruel. Until you have a dog you have no idea what unconditional love it. To have someone love you no matter what, to be there to listen to you vent, let you cry on her shoulder, offer a paw when you need and lick your tears away, well it is a blessing. 

I haven’t written a post yet about Tasha because that would just make it so real and I’m still struggling with it being real. Most days I’m still wondering where she is. Is she sleeping upstairs? I’m still putting her bowl out sometimes when I’m feeding the others. Putting four bowls out has been automatic for me. Even with 3 dogs, my house is still quiet without her.

Buggy has been obsessed with her urn. I have a beautiful oak box with a Westie on top. I also have one for my boxer – he passed 5 years ago and Buggy is obsessing over him as well. She never met him but can’t stop kissing him and wants to pet them all the time. She loved Tasha.

I’m grateful for Buggy and the rest of my dogs to keep me busy during this time. I know I just have to keep moving forward to get over the funk. 14.5 years is a long time and I am truly blessed to have had Tasha in my life.

How Neighborly Are You?

I remember growing up how neighbors looked out for each other. Even if you really didn’t like each other that much you still looked out for each other especially when your neighbors are elderly.  But that doesn’t always seem the case nowadays.

The snow storm that arrived at the end of October proved to be quite the storm. A week later there are still thousands without power. Today on the news I heard about an 86 year women who was found dead in her home possibly by hypothermia. Her son found her wrapped in blankets. I cannot stop thinking about her. Why did her son not bring her home with him? I believe the news also said that he was fighting cancer but regardless, why was she home alone?  Why didn’t her neighbors check in on her to see if she was ok? I really don’t understand. How difficult is it to walk across the street or walk next door and check in on your neighbors?

We are very lucky to have a few nice neighbors. One of our neighbors is a retired cop and his wife is a teacher. We help each other out a lot and if either of us need anything we are always there for each other. I’ve watched their dog many times when they went away or stayed out late and needed to feed her and take her out. When I had my baby and my husband was travelling they didn’t hesitate to snow blow my driveway. My neighbor across the street would come over and feed my dogs if I needed her too. She home schools her kids so if we needed something she didn’t hesitate to help and I was there for her when she went on vacation. There are about 5 homes that look out for each other. We bring the mail and newspapers in if someone is away, feed the cats when they are on vacation and make the house look lived in, help mow each others lawn if needed. That is what neighbors are for.

Coffee Makes Me Sleepy

I love my coffee in the morning. Gotta have it. I generally have about 3 cups while I make Buggy her breakfast and feed the dogs. Buggy is an early riser so she is generally up by 6 AM and because she still wakes up a few times during the night that means that Mami is very tired in the morning. Once she’s up I will bring her to bed with me, turn on Kai-Lan or Dora – don’t judge me – for about an hour – if she gives me that much time and try and sleep a bit more.

That first cup of coffee is absolutely heavenly. So good, so delicious that I practically suck it down. My favorite is Eight O’Clock coffee, a bit on the strong side with cream at just the right color and sugar. For some reason the second cup is good but just not like the first. I can never make it as good as the first. Anyway, when I was pregnant I couldn’t stand the smell of coffee. I couldn’t stand being near anyone who drank coffee. I refused to let my husband make coffee in the house – he was not too happy with that.

We all know how exhausting chasing a toddler can be and by the end of the evening we are ready to crash ourselves but for me by early afternoon – I’m DONE! I am fighting to keep my eyes open, trying to keep busy so that I don’t fall on my face. I’m ready for more coffee, I NEED more coffee but afternoon coffee makes me want to sleep even more and it gives me a sour stomach. I don’t know why that is but yet I still drink it.  Some days I feel like I should have an IV in my arm but it seems like the more I drink the more tired I feel. The good part is that I can drink coffee at night and still go to bed.

What about you guys? How does coffee affect you?  Does it make you sleepy, wire you up or affect you at all?

Sometimes Life Gets In The Way

 

I haven't posted much in the last few weeks. It's been a bit crazy here. My dog passed away. She was my baby girl and the most amazing westie ever. I needed some time to grieve for my baby. I love you Tasha and miss you so much .

My little girl has been sick and with this storm we lost power for some time.  So I’m working on a few posts and trying to get back on track here. Hang in there and I hope to see you soon.

Irene