Bliss for sale

Massage.


Did you KNOW about this magnificent bit of bliss conveniently located at your local nail salon?? At least, it's conveniently located at my local (aka: walking distance) nail salon. Until 3pm on Sunday, I had never had a massage before. Never. Ever. The main reason was, while my RSD was active, I couldn't. With all the surgeries and hardware in my back, no one would touch me, and quite frankly, I don't think it would have been the best of ideas. But I've been in remission for well over a year now, so I thought, WHAT THE HELL??
I paid such a ridiculously low price for 1/2 hour that I gave my masseuse a ridiculous tip (heck, it's the holidays, right??) She did surface work, deep tissue work, heat work, the whole nine yards of massage. She even climbed up on the table to get in a better position to "dig in." She was AMAZING! I've never done hard drugs but I'm guessing this was on par with crack.
I carry all of my stress in my back, so I'll likely need a massage every 2 weeks to receive the greatest benefit. Of course, I'm gonna consider it a medical expense rather than a frivolous beauty expense. Oh, and I think I'm going to call the Pres. and recommend 30 mins, 2x week for all world leaders. I do believe it could be the answer to world peace. I mean, WHO could think about invading a neighboring country, or forming a coup, or testing nukes if they are BLISSED OUT???
What about you...do you get massages?

Caramel Snack Mix

2 sticks butter
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. Karo (light)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 pkgs. corn puffs(this is basically a naked cheeto, you can substute:1 BOX Corn Pops Cereal)
1/2 box cheerios
1/2 box Corn Chex
1/2 Bag Pretzels

Melt butter, brown sugar and Karo in a pan over Med-high heat.Add baking soda. (This will bubble up.) In a Foil Roasting Pan Mix all of your Dry Ingredients, Pour the wet mixture over this and mix thouroughly. Add nuts if you wish. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Turn every 15 minutes.
Pour onto Parchment lined or Foil Covered baking sheet, spread out and let cool. The mixture will be very STICKY. Once is cools, break it apart and store in container.

This is YUMMY!!! I use the Foil Pan as it would be VERY difficult to clean a metal pan afterwards...call me lazy!

New Thanksgiving tradition: Bacon Beans

I tried something new for this year's Thanksgiving feast and it was a big hit, so I thought I'd share with you.  I think these would be great for any meal, any time of the year.  They are SO easy in the crock pot...but the flavor is amazing.

BACON BEANS

Amounts approximate for 3 qt yield

2 lbs of fresh green beans, washed & trimmed

1 lb bacon, cooked & patted dry.  (I used pork for my DH, but I think Turkey bacon or even veg protein bacon (not-bacon) would be lovely.)

1/2-1 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 small onion, chopped (optional)

1/4 c chicken or veg broth

splash lemon juice

Salt & Pepper to taste

Crumble cooked bacon.  Put everything but the lemon juice in a 4 qt crock pot.  Stir to combine.  Set crock on HIGH and walk away for 2 hours.  Stir & check tenderness at 2 hour mark.  If you like tender-crisp they should be done, if you like a softer bean, continue cooking another hour.  S & P to taste.  Add the lemon juice just before serving.

If you have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe this year, please leave it in the comments section, or create a link to your blog.

Full of love

After a day filled with family and food, Sam had to change into sweats to accomodate his full stomach and heart.  We feel so blessed by all that we have; especially to be Sam's parents.  We hope you had a lovely holiday surrounded by the ones you love, good food and good conversation.

Happy Thanksgiving

Being Thankful.
For my friends
my family
my husband and all of his hard work
For my health

thankful that I have a home, a car, food on the table and clothes to wear

thankful that I am able to help others

I am thankful for who I am.

I AM THANKFUL

The Rat Race

I get so caught up in trying to do "do it all" that sometimes I forget to stop and smell the roses. My girls are off of school all week this week for Thanksgiving Break. It was so easy on Monday to let them turn on the TV and do whatever they wanted while I tried to catch up on laundry, tidy their rooms, unload the dishwasher etc....while taking care of my 3 month old at the same time. In the afternoon, after getting her TV fix, my 4 year old daughter came up to me and said "mommy I just want to snuggle with YOU". Stop me in my tracks! All of the other stuff will be there...the dirty dishes, the dirty laundry and everything will be there tomorrow, next week, next year....but my 4 year old won't always be 4 . I decided to STOP what I was doing and snuggle with my daughter on the couch and read books...BOY OH BOY was it hard! hard to not go thru the mail that was on the counter, hard not to run to the dryer when the buzzer went off (my gosh, the clothes will be wrinkled), hard not to load that dishwasher....but WELL worth it! I think that I had forgotten that my kids enjoy spending time with me, reading books, playing games and just hanging out together. We have been baking for the last 2 nights as well (per their request) :Pretzel Bark, Quick and Easy Banana Bread and their own concoction of Grandparents Day snack MIX which is absolutely delicious! (I will post the recipes on Foodie Friday) My girls and I are enjoying ourselves this week and I now realize that they don't care about how the house looks or how cluttered the counters are, they care about spending quality time with ME!

How hard is it for you to ignore the day to day chaos and spend times with your kids?
Do you have specific days that you do housework so that you have time planned with your family?

Twihard with a vengence

We traded off last week: G had a night with the guys at his Alfa Romeo club meeting on Thursday, and I went out to see New Moon on Friday.  G didn't want to go see it with me, which was fine.  I actually went with his best friend because we are now officially "movie buddies" which means that I get a night out once a month to see whatever movie I want to see (G and I don't have the same movie taste.)  And yes, we are working on the whole "date night" G & me thing as well.  Although my MIL is moving to California soon, we have several recommendations locally and one is actually a preschool teacher so I'd have no reservations leaving Sammy with her, assuming he likes her.  Chances are, we'll do a 7:30pm date, so I'll put Sam down to bed before we leave.
But back to ME TIME.
Did I love the film?  No.  Did I like it? YES.  The action was great, the scenery was great, and they did a really nice job taking a very long book and fitting it into a 90 min movie.  YES they had to cut some scenes but I think the scene selection was the best they could have done.  Oh, and let's not forget the miriads of EYE CANDY on the screen.
All-in-all I had a great time, and strengthened my relationship with G's BFF, who has been in our lives since we met (G and Q have been friends for over 20 years and he was the best man at our wedding.)  It was nice to have an evening out, and believe it or not, I was 100% okay leaving both Sam and G.  G and I then spent some QT together on Saturday night, and I actually stayed up until (gasp) 11 pm, so we could have real time together, no just 1 hour after dinner.
We also had fantastic weekend weather, so I got a 6 mile walk in on Sunday, which was fantastic ME TIME.  Sam is a super-duper stroller baby and just sits back and relaxes.  I played some of my favorite music on my phone (without headphones so I could hear my baby) and that really motivated me: on the faster songs I picked up the pace and at one point was even jogging!
I'm really working on this balance thing and think I'm getting the hang of it.  Next up: DATE NIGHTS.
How are you taking time for yourself?