Another tradition- Stockings

I know there are tons of stocking traditions out there. I personally love the way my dad's family does stockings. We used to exchange gifts and do stockings, but now that there are at least 27 people present every year, we only do stockings.

When we were little, someone would go to the grocery store and get a bunch of brown paper sacks. They would bring them home and we would all decorate them with lots of Christmas spirit and put our names on them. Now that there are no little children, my Grandmother has opted to get the humongous gift bags and put our names on them.

You're probably thinking surely these bags don't get filled, but oh no...most years they are pretty full. Everyone is supposed to pick a small gift under $5 for everyone. We always get socks, underwear, lotion, etc. We also get lots of really fun stuff like card games, earrings, bubble bath. Sometimes these gifts are homemade and other years they are store bought. We have gotten lots of homemade scarves or ornaments.

This used to be a morning tradition, but now that we all live in the real world and have jobs and are married, it seems we are doing it at night. So, this is how it works. Before dinner, all of the stockings get lined up in the garage. They are usually grouped by "family" (this makes it easier to find your siblings). Each person takes turns going out to the garage and putting their items in the stockings. After dinner the stockings get carried in to the living room and dug in to. Last year all of the guys got styrofoam swords and had a blast outside when we were done opening.

I love these stockings! We hardly ever know who anything is from, but usually it is announced at some point. Someone may shout "who did the coffee mugs this year?" and that person would say, "me!"....of course this has to be repeated 10 times to help the old folks, but it is still lots of fun! Usually I am REALLY good at stocking up through out the year, but not this year. I have lots of things for my nephew, and I handmade some gifts for my immediate family, but that's all the good ones I have so far.

Another great thing is that this is ALWAYS celebrated after Christmas, so if you need some more things for stockings they are usually dirt cheap. I will be hitting up Bath & Body works on December 26/27 while they are having their huge 70% off sale.

Christmas Traditions- opening gifts

When families combine, you have to adapt to each other's traditions. Last year was our first "shared" Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve and up until lunch on Christmas day with Brandon's family, and then we drove to my parents. It was wonderful and different.

I've always had this thing about opening presents. If I spent the time to pick out the perfect gift for you, I want to see you open it. Last year was my first chaotic Davis family gift opening experience. Someone passes you all of your presents and you open them in a hurry and then you're done. When the little one's are done opening their gifts and parents ask "who was that from?" the response is "I don't know". I think I'm just slow when it comes to opening gifts, but I try to pay special attention to who the gift is from. I'm just glad Brandon and I sat next to each other, because we decided to exchange our gifts to each other at his family gathering as well.

This year, even though my family Christmas will be a week late, I can hardly wait to open gifts in our special way. One person sits by the tree with the santa hat on and passes out gifts. There is always a "no, they can't open that one yet" kind of thing going on. Lots of years gifts are numbered "1" to open first "2" to open after, etc. We go youngest to oldest and "santa" passes the gift to whoever's turn it is. So, if it is my turn to open, "santa" can just pass me a gift, or someone in the group can say "she needs to open mine". It is a slow process, but I thoroughly enjoy it. I get to see everyone unwrap the gifts from me and I can see what everyone got.

A little blogging break

I must admit that I LOVE to blog...but mostly I love reading other people's blogs and not writing my own.

I was totally ready to do my "thankful" blogs every day in November...however all I could think of was "I am so thankful for this amazing little life growing inside me". Since I had not gone public with this info, I just had to stop. I know there are a MILLION other things that I could say I am thankful for. God is SO great and I am thankful for all of the many blessings in my life. Since I was just busting at the seems to tell, I had to quit posting. I swear I only made like 2 posts on facebook the whole time I was waiting to tell. It was pure torture.

I'm so glad that we waited to tell though. I am very thankful for so many things and all of the supportive people I have in my life. Today I am 15 weeks and our baby's heart is thumping really well.

My very favorite season is here. I have been so unmotivated to decorate, so all we have is a red glittery "Merry Christmas" sign above our television, and a naked Christmas tree. Every day when I get home from school I throw up and then sleep, so decorating has not been on my agenda. Next year I will decorate with all the wonderful ornaments that I have and take a million pictures. I am pretty proud of myself that ALL of our shopping is done and everything is wrapped.

Our neighbors houses all look AMAZING with all of their lights. We've gotten a few gift cards lately as "late wedding presents". They are all to Lowe's or Home Depot, so I'm hoping they will have good after Christmas sales on the light up reindeer's for outside or these. One house in our neighborhood, that has a LOT of windows facing the road, has lights in the shape of Christmas ornaments in every window. I think it looks FANTASTIC!

On a really horrible note, I saw a nativity on my drive to Brandon's parents house a couple of weeks ago. It had Mary on one side, Joseph on the other and a HUGE Santa in the middle instead of a manger...It has been bothering me ever since. It has to have been the most horrid thing I have seen in a while.

Thankful day 3

Today I am thankful for massages. I had a great hour long massage today after school at the massage therapy school...it was WONDERFUL.

I am also thankful for one of my best friends in the whole world Crystal Newby. She's pretty awesome- world's best maid of honor and a GREAT friend :)

Thankful day 1 and 2

I didn't start last month, but I'm going to do it this month. Yesterday I had a migraine, so I did not stay awake long enough to blog after I got home.

Day 1- I am thankful for pictures, doctors and medicine.

Day 2- I am thankful for:
my family and especially my husband
learning to sew using a sewing machine
puppies
the ability to learn new things

Lately...

The last four weeks have FLOWN by!
We started school, softball season is in full swing, AND Brandon started his master's! It's been a little busy around here. The nights we are both home at the same time I have cooked. All others- we have either not eaten or picked up something on the go. A couple of weeks ago there were 9 softball games in one week! Craziness, but it's been fine.

This is the absolute BEST start to the school year that I've ever experienced. I hope and pray that every year gets better and better, but I am in touch with reality- every year is different. I have even gotten some amazing compliments from my students: "Mrs. Davis- why aren't you boring like all of our other teachers?" I told them that's just my personality- I love to be moving and I hate to sit or stand still and I hate boring things, so I try my best to make it as exciting as possible. Half the time you don't even know you're learning! Another student commented that it was probably because I was young, and to give me 10 years. To which I responded- "My goal is to be just as excited and energetic in ten years as I am today- you'll have to keep me on my toes".

I have to say that I have been lacking my me exercise goals since school started. This week I did a lot better- as long as I go exercise today I'll be good. Hopefully now that I'm back in the swing of things I can make myself go work out every day. And since the weather is getting cooler I may be able to get it taken care of during lunch. Last year I walked 3 miles a day during my lunch break. It was SO great!

I've been begging my husband to tell me something he used to eat when he was younger. His mom is not a good cook and never really cooked anything he liked. He's happy with any home cooked meal, but I wanted to know if there was something that a grandma (one which is not living and one which is in a nursing home) used to make that he missed. So, he FINALLY told me it was country fried steak. I have made it once and I'm making it again. I'm usually very anti- fried foods, but it's not TOO terrible for you. I did use deer steaks, and they were SO delicious. He said they were wonderful and "when are you making this again?" was a quick question after dinner. We're having them again tonight with mashed potatoes and gravy during our football marathon. UGA at 4:30 and Georgia Tech after that.

What we've been eating

Well, it's been a full 2.5 weeks of no eating out in our household. Don't get me wrong, we've picked up something really quick for lunch, but we've eaten a home cooked meal every night for dinner.

So, to assure you all that we're not bored by what we've been eating, here's a list of several things we've done.

Grilled chicken
Chicken nuggets
Campbell's chicken and rice casserole
Chicken Spaghetti
Baked chicken
Venison spaghetti
Meat loaf (it was AMAZING- I used betty crocker's recipe I found online)
Hamburgers
Hamburger helper
Deer steaks
Lasagna
Grilled pork chops
Honey bbq grilled salmon
Potato crusted tilapia
Sloppy Joe's

Some of our sides have included:
Garlic mashed potatoes
Potatoe casserole
Tater tots
Mac n cheese
Wild rice
Pasta salad
Squash
Butter beans
broccoli
asparagus
corn on the cob
creamed corn
chowder peas
field peas
black eyed peas
cucumbers
salad

So far (with the exception of sides) we have not eaten the same thing twice! I know that is about to change for this coming week, but I think we're doing pretty great!

We're cooking for my friends for my birthday- Steak, chicken, corn on the cob, potato casserole, salad, key lime pie....yum!

I'm so proud of us!

Ode to Summer

Oh summer, how I will miss you!!!

I will miss waking up whenever I please.

I will miss my morning gym routine (I'm sorry that you will have to be moved to the afternoon)

I will miss doing absolutely nothing.

I will miss cooking and eating whenever I want.

I will miss driving around.

I will miss going to the lake whenever I want to lay in the sand and soak up the sun.

I will miss cuddling with my puppy all day.

I will miss not spending the whole weekend washing laundry.

I will miss staying in my pj's all day if I want.

I will miss playing on my cell phone all day because there's nothing better to do.

I will miss skipping breakfast because I woke up at lunch time.

So- until next end of May....I'll miss you lots!

And the summer comes to an end

So, just for a quick update about not eating out- we're doing AWESOME! We have been to chick-fil-a a couple of times on our way to the beach, but we have cooked every night since I started this whole business. My hubby is keeping me honest too...the other day I was REALLY wanting some zaxby's and he said "we're not eating out- fix yourself a sandwich". What a great husband.

On Thursday we will return to work! Yikes! I feel very much not ready to return, but it'll be fine. I'm going to need a LOT of prayer for my attitude. I got some MAJOR low blows this summer that were VERY unfair in my opinion. I'm trying VERY hard to get past them, but it's very hard when the negative things KEEP piling up.

I don't usually whine, but my husband has gotten a full dose of Negative Nancy these last few weeks. He's ready for Possitive Polly to come back. So, this will be a very different kind of year for me, but I'm hoping and praying for the best and for God to shine His light through me. He's only going to be able to do that if I adjust my attitude and stay possitive, so here's to that!

On another note- I rearranged my classroom this week. It works. Today we got some school supplies. This is the first year that I have bought the bare minimum, but let's be honest- there were NO back to school sales around here AND I don't have the money to buy everything I usually buy. No penny paper, no penny pencils, no penny anything! So, I spent a giftcard to target on some supplies a couple of weeks ago, and today I spent $20 on some other stuff.

It is going to be a fantastic year because I'm going to make it one :)

Operation don't eat out days 3,4, and 5

Day 3- Pork chops, grilled squash, potatoe casserole

Day 4- hamburger helper and cucumbers with ranch.

I have to admit that yesterday I did pick up chick fil a on the way to the beach for lunch. I didn't have anything in the house that I could throw together to tote to the beach, but we're good with dinners still. Thank goodness!

Day 5- Tonight we'll be having hamburgers and grilled corn :) Yummy!

We have even vowed to cook out for our friends on my birthday. Yeah!

Operation eat at home day 2

Deer spaghetti and garlic bread.

Brown your ground deer with half of a chopped onion and half of a green pepper (or not if you hate those things). FYI- using deer meat will save you half the calories.

I used smart pasta, because we like it, and because it is the pasta with the least amount of calories and the most amount of fiber. I think it's 170 calories per servings and 7 grams of fiber!

I just broiled 3 pieces of bread spread with butter and sprinkled with garlic salt in the oven. We never buy garlic bread...wast of money.

On spaghetti night we usually say no to veggies, but last night I was hungry before my hubby got home so I sliced a tomato from the garden and ate it.

Tonight we'll be grilling.

Night 1 operation don't eat out

Tonight we had baked chicken, garlic red potatoes, broccoli and rolls.

Baked chicken-

2 (or however many chicken breasts)

Light balsamic vinagrette poured over the breasts until they are well covered

Cook at 350 for 45 minutes (or until your breasts are done)

Garlic red potatoes-

Cubed red potatoes

Garlic salt

2 tbsp butter

*These are a favorite around here*

I have this nifty tupperware round thing that is meant for steaming veggies. I put the ingredients in, cook it for 12 minutes in the microwave and let the potatoes sit an extra 15 minutes- they will melt in your mouth.

Rolls and broccoli were found in the bottom of the freezer.

Operation don't eat out

Today my hubby and I are starting operation don't eat out in our household. I love to cook, but I also have a million excuses as to why I don't cook every day. Even when I go to the grocery store, buy everything for dinners for a week, and cook all of them, I end up eating out for lunch.

My husband and I spend roughly $300 a month (probably a lot more) on eating out. We also spend almost $100 a week at the grocery store (which is ridiculous). Today, not having a lot of money to get through the rest of the month, I went to the grocery store with $53 in cash, a short list, and without my precious husband (who likes to go to the grocery store when he is really hungry and buy on impulse without a grocery list).

Originally I was only going to pick up a few necessities to get through this week with my $20 left from vacation. However, we have 2 more weeks until pay day and I saw a TON of great sales at Kroger, so I decided to shop for 2 weeks with the other $33 I had from selling something on ebay.

We are extremely lucky to never have to buy red meats. We have a deep freezer full of yummy deer meat which we use for different things; steak, ground beef, roast, sausage, etc.

Basically I just have to be really creative and cook a lot. During the school year it is REALLY hard to work all day and have the desire to cook when I get home. I found this blog http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ that I hope will help me out. This past year I did a whole chicken in the crockpot several times and deer roast wrapped in bacon in the crockpot (really delicious) almost every week.

Brandon loves a good sandwich and chips for lunch, so I bought bread. We have 8 pounds of lunch meat left over from our wedding that is in the deep freezer ready to be pulled out. So no need to worry about lunches for a while...just need to buy bread and maybe cheese. I made a huge thing of pasta salad for me to eat for lunch, since I am not a sandwich eater.

Breakfast- well I love cereal and oatmeal and Brandon doesn't eat breakfast. That is not the meal we have trouble eating out for.

This week I bought all the necessities for the next 2 weeks for just under $40 ($39.96 to be exact). I'm not going to go out and cut a ton of coupons (because this leads to spending where we do not need to), but I'm going to stick to my list and leave my husband at home.

So this is what I got-

5 chicken breasts (we already had 3 at home and I seperated them into baggies w/ 2 each)
4 boneless pork chops (seperated into baggies w/ 2 each)
2 ears of corn
1 head of lettuce
1 bag of butter beans
1 jar of chicken bullion cubes
6 boxes or rice a roni long grain rice (which has no "roni" and is healthier than the regular and it was only 49 cents today at Kroger)
1 box of mac n' cheese
1 box of rotini pasta
4 large gatorades
1 box of active lifestyle granola bars
4 cans of pringles
1 loaf of bread
1 bag of hamburger buns
1 tub of butter
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 gallon of milk
(I'm sure I've forgotten something)

I know you are probably like- what about your fruits and veggies? In our refrigerator we already had 4 plums, a pound of fresh cherries and lots of apple sauce. We also have this wonderful garden with tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and squash. We also have a bag of potatoes and lots of cereal. So...hopefully we'll be good for the next couple of weeks. I have $13 left over that I'm planning to go buy the necessities for next week- more milk, bread and probably an onion, maybe another pound of cherries (I<3 fresh cherries)

We'll see how this goes, but I think we could probably save around $500 a month by doing this. So this month, we will not eat out any more. And next month, we will be eating out once, but someone else will be paying (I <3 my birthday). This is the goal for us! I'm excited!

You're the crust to my pizza

I've always really hated pizza. I couldn't really tell you why, other than I used to have some stomach issues that made digesting cheese difficult...However, I couldn't really tell you when I started hating pizza.

Over the years I have decided I like Papa John's pizza. Don't know why exactly, but I do. I have only had it once since my hubby and I have been together, but it's not my hubby's favorite, so that's fine by me. I have ALWAYS loved pizza crust. I know, I know- most people don't even eat the crust, but I LOVE it. I despise pizza with a horrible crust.

My hubby has pizza at least once a week. If it's from pizza hut (which happens to be the only big name pizza place in our small town) he's going to order a stuffed crust meat lover's pizza. I will not eat that, because there is WAY too much cheese for me. I order wings if we decide to order pizza. We have a little italian place in town that serves pizza, but the crust is terrbile, so he always gets a meat lovers calzone. Everything is either meat lovers or pepperoni if he's going to get pizza.

Today we were both REALLY hungry and needed to go to Macon (which has far more restaurants) anyways, so I told him he could pick where we ate lunch. He picked Mellow Mushroom, which is fine because they have some GREAT hoagies. I ordered half of a greek salad and half of a steak and veggie hoagie. Hubby ordered pepperoni pizza. My hubby's favorite pizza crust comes from Mellow Mushroom, and I think it could possibly be his favorite pizza place. Today I found myself craving for some pizza crust. I asked him if I could have a bite of his pizza and he said "yes. just not the crust"...I was so bumbed. I declined the offer because I despise hot pepperoni (love it cold though). On his last piece of pizza he gave me his crust, of course after he had explained how much he truly LOVES the crust. I love my man...he knew exactly what I wanted. That crust sprinkled with parmasean cheese....YUM!

Woah doggy!

My hubby had to work today for the first day since we got married... I can't complain one bit. 22 days of wedded bliss and neither of us has had to work. The next few weeks he just has to go to softball practice for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening...not too bad. And they didn't start until 9, so he still got to sleep in compared to when August hits us.

We happen to have the most wonderful puppy in the world. Her name is Ginny May Davis (Brandon named her before I met her)...we just call her Ginny. She is great about going out in the morning. She's never been on a leash before. We slightly considered it after she got hit by a car, but we moved to a neighborhood instead. We have this lovely yard and she usually does a couple of laps around the house in the morning, finds her a good spot, and takes care of business. Then, she usually comes back to bed if we decide to stay in bed.

This morning, my hubby took her out before he left, and OH MY GOODNESS...he must have not left her out long enough to finish all of her business. I stayed in bed because I don't have anything to do today, and this little munchkin would not stop pouncing on me. Ginny doesn't bark much, unless there is a knock at the door, but she was whining like a little baby this morning. So I put some decent clothes on (since my next door neighbors always want to conversate in the am) and took this girlie outside. I thought she was playing a joke on me at first like "haha mom I didn't want you to sleep in today"....but after exactly 8 minutes she found her a good little spot.

Gotta love this doggy. Now she's cuddled in my arms as I type. I LOVE cuddling her like a little baby. She weighs all of 15 pounds, and she will never get any bigger. What a sweet baby :)

Random things

A few other people have written some random thoughts this week...so I'm following the trend.

I have an obsession with frogs. I also have most of them hidden for my children later in life.

I LOVE swimming. I could stay in a pool all day long and never get tired of it...I would get tired of sun burn though.

I love to paint. I just painted our dining room a beautiful "marina" blue that matches my table cloth and my china.

I think puppies are so adorable, and if ours wasn't so darn expensive we would get another. However, she must be groomed every month and she always has ear infections or bladder infections...so she racks up the vet bill very well every month.

My mother in law is the BEST at taking lots of pictures. She always has that camera, and immediately goes to a photo printing place and makes a set for everyone that was there. It's GREAT! Brandon hates pictures, so he is not fond of it, but I sure do enjoy it.

This summer I can count on my hands how many times I have applied make up. My cheeks get all rosy in the summer time and I just love going make-up-less. Plus once August gets here and I have to work again, it'll be back to putting a little on each morning.

I aspire to be a stay at home mommy :)

Back from the honeymoon :)

I'll breifly recap since my last post...

January- found the perfect house
April- moved into perfect house
May- had lots of people over and lots of wedding showers
June- our house is still perfect, with lots more decorations and two married people living in it! Got married, went on a honeymoon, now we wait until school starts again (not that we are really looking forward to that)!

We were so blessed to have the most perfect wedding day ever. It was supposed to storm - I didn't notice a cloud in the sky all day. I had been so nervous the weeks leading up to it about certain things. On the day of our wedding, NOTHING bothered me. I wasn't nervous, I was just excited to be Mrs. Davis :) I know God took care of all my worries and made everything perfect and wonderful.

Some people thought what we did after the reception was kind of wierd. We went to our hotel room for a while, and then we joined my family by the pool. Generations that never get to be together! How could I miss that? Really? So Brandon and I sat by the pool (and Brandon in it half the time) visiting with the family I never spend enough time with. It was wonderful, and my mom even brought out the left over food from the reception for everyone to snack on. Gosh we had some wonderful food there, and I was STARVING. We went to Brandon's parents room and visited them, and then we decided we were still hungry and went across the street to McDonald's for a cheeseburger.

The next day was father's day. How could I not see my dad on father's day when we were in the same city? Really? That never happens. I couldn't tell you the last father's day I saw my dad...oh wait, probably the summer before my senior year in high school. So, we told both of our families (thankfully my siblings were still in town and one of Brandon's) that we wanted to all go to ihop for father's day breakfast before everyone headed to the airport. Fantastic! There were 29 people for breakfast on father's day at ihop sitting in our little area. I got to visit with everyone (even my soon to be 104 great grandmother) a little more! It was a great way to spend the morning after our wedding.

We went home, did some laundry, packed up and on Monday morning SUPER early headed to Jacksonville, FL to leave for our honeymoon...which by the way was also perfect, but that's for another day.

Back to school!

Praise the Lord- we returned to work today! My students were all fairly well behaved after our fabulous four day weekend. I was getting a little bored in this wonderful clean house. Brandon and I even reorganized some cabinets so we could put away our new cookie sheets, pizza pans, and cutting boards that we got for Christmas.

Please say a prayer for us. We would really like to be able to buy a house before our wedding and we are going to see three houses on Saturday. We have already both been approved, now we just have to search for a house that suits us both.

Alright, off to bed...I'm exhausted!

amazing under 400 calorie dinner

stuffed shells

1lb ground venison sausage

1/2 onion

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1 green pepper

italian seasonings as you like

jumbo shells (i only use 18 to fill a casserole dish and the box comes with 36

1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce

instructions:

boil shells for the time indicated on the box

brown meat and mix in vegetables (only use what you like i have done it with no veggies and it's just as good.

add seasonings to meat (again not necessary)

when shells are done boiling place them in a bowl with cold water. you will not want them to stick.

fill shells with meat mixture and place in casserole dish

pour spaghetti sauce on top, place in oven and bake 25 minutes at 375.

i made this up using the things brandon and i love. brandon likes mozarella cheese in the meat mixture before i stuff the shells but that's not part of the healthy version.

366 calories in 3 jumbo shells the way i make them. i can never eat more than that.

Snow Day!

Even though we have less than an inch of snow, there is enough ice and slush on the roads to make them too dangerous to drive. So- No work for me :) Honestly if we stay home tomorrow I won't know what to do in this mostly clean house. The dishes are washed, carpets vacuumed, and clothes washed and put away.

In other news- Brandon and I did great with losing weight this week. I really did not think Brandon would do this challenge with me, but since we're competing now I guess that makes it exciting! I lost 3.7 lbs. and Brandon lost 3.6 lbs. I have been watching what I eat and found these great lean cuisine in a bag to take for lunch...the only problem is that they are in a bag. However, they are really delicious compared to boxed healthy choice. The best was asiago cheese tortelini with a creamy tomatoe sauce.

I got the wii fit for Christmas so Brandon and I both set our own goals. Brandon's doctor suggested that he give up caffeine because it effects him more than other people...so by simply cutting out coke products Brandon managed to lose 3.6lbs this week...it really stinks how much easier it is for men to lose weight...

When all this snow clears up I plan to exercise every day for the rest of this week. I've got some nice new warm gloves, socks, jackets, and ear muffs...I'll be fine in the cold!

Week 1

The holiday season has come and gone...thank goodness! I love the holidays, but this season has been particularly busy and I had the flu for the first four days.

Monday we had a teacher work day, in which we accomplished planning a big project and the rest of this week. Nothing healthy was eaten. Brandon and I had not yet gone grocery shopping. We went that night though.

Tuesday I started eating healthy. Tuesday school started back. I had the worst headache ever. I took three advil migraines when I got home. I woke up two hours later, cooked teryaki chicken, wild grain rice and broccoli.

Wednesday I still had a headache from the minute I woke up. I made it through the school day and went straight to the chiropractor. Even though we ate at Red Lobster, I still managed to eat healthy.

Today- My headache is GONE! Praise the Lord!!! I had a GREAT day at work and now I'm about the go to the softball banquet.

I have not fit in exercise time just yet, but it's coming. Tomorrow I'm going to walk with my maid of honor (MOH) after school. Then I'm going to do the Wii fit.

Saturday I'm going to SLEEP IN!!!! For the first time in several weeks. I did not get to sleep in one day over Christmas break.