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Mom Always Said No Running in the House

Do you remember the episode of the Brady Bunch when the boys are playing with a basketball and one of them ends up breaking one of Mrs. Brady’s vases. Then of course the inevitable happens. Someone kindly reminds you “Mom always said don’t play ball in the house.” They just don’t make TV like they did back in the Brady Bunch and I Dream of Jeanie days do they?

Moving right along….

This is a story of the time that my sweet loving sister blames ME for sending her to the emergency room. I kindly remind her every time she points the finger at me that mom always said not to run in the house!!! Humph!

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It was a cold December day in Pennsylvania. I was about 7 and Tracy was about 2. At the time, we were living with my Grandma Jerry in her house while our house was being renovated. (My parents had bought a really cool old farm house that was 100 years old and it needed some work…to say the least!) Anywhoodles. My Grandma and I were snuggled up in my bed reading and my sister came into the room. I had a hankering for some apple slices and I asked her if she minded bringing me some. She kindly obliged then took off running downstairs to get me said apple. Apparently she was trying to make a delivery in 5 minutes or less because she came running right back upstairs at full speed and tearing down the hall.

She entered into my room, tripped over her untied shoe and went flying onto the floor. At first there was no noise, for about 5 full seconds. Then? Blood curdling screams and crying. She wasn’t moving and she was face planted on the floor. My grandma and I were unwrapping ourselves from under the covers to check her out, and my mom came running upstairs. She had been down in the kitchen talking with her best friend, Casi.

My mom picked Tracy up and there was blood. Everywhere. You couldn’t tell where the blood was coming from, there was so much of it all over her little face!! She ran her into the bathroom and starting wiping her off and realized she had a huge gash in her head. My mom started freaking out and panicking, as any worried mother would do. Luckily her best friend was there to save the day and drove them to the emergency room. Apparently, Tracy caught her forehead on the night stand drawer pull. My grandma had some pretty antique furniture in that room, and the drawer pulls were these sharp hook like things that had a VERY pointy end on them.

I was afraid that my sister was going to die or something. I started pacing around the house and crying on my grandmas shoulder. I mean I was 7, it was pretty traumatic. My grandma assured me that everything was going to be ok. Several stitches later and Tracy was home. With a nice huge bandage on her forehead. Apparently kids are resilient. Casi told me that Tracy was playing in the Christmas house in the lobby of the hospital. Go figure. Here I was at home worried about the little twerp!

To this day, Tracy has a huge scar on her head that has faded over the years from the incident. And would you believe that little brat blames ME for the whole thing because I wanted an apple. I believe she was the one running through the house like a crazy person with her shoes untied. My mom told her REPEADILY not to run through the house!!!!

I am just glad she was fine.

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Confessions

Confession time!

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–This is always my favorite post to both draft and read each week. Kathy freaking rocks! Also, Kathy is co-hosting the Hump Day Blog Hop with Liz…whom I also link up with every Wednesday so what what!!!!!!

–I sort of kind of feel like a bad ass that my weights got too light and I had to go purchase some new ones. #beast

–I want to know why so many people are riding the douche canoe lately. Seriously, pull your head out of your ass.

— I couldn’t pick which douche canoe ecard I wanted to use so you got two.

–I am really excited that spring is here. I really enjoyed spending time out on our deck this past weekend and look forward to many more weekends of wonderful weather. But seriously. Fuck you, pollen.

–This happens to me all the time! When I am invited to go and do something, after my initial excitement I start to panic and think….what will I wear?!?!?!?! I have a birthday party to attend Friday night and I have not a clue what I am going to wear?!? I need more cute clothes. ASAP.

And a few more confessions in ecards:

Now confess to us all the secrets and it will absolutely make you feel better. Happy Hump Daaaaaaaaaaay!

The Hump Day Blog Hop

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Favorite Things-Sweet Potato Chips

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One of my favorite things to do is to go to a restaurant and enjoy some amazing food and perhaps an adult beverage or two. Inevitably with that comes spending money and consuming a lot of calories. Two of my un-favorite things. What is a girl to do?! Come up with her own recipes for those things that she craves! That’s what!

Plus, since I am making them I control what ingredients go into it and how it is made. Enter sweet potato chips. Trust me when I tell you that you NEED these in your life! Two of my favorite appetizers out is blue cheese sweet potato chips and fried pickles. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm.

(Chips and salsa goes without saying. Duh.)

I am not sure exactly how restaurants make theirs so freaking delish!? I had a feeling it was deep frying them and adding all of the calories. I knew that I could create something delicious and perhaps a little more calorie friendly.

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What you need:

3 sliced sweet potatoes

You want to slice them VERY thin. I did this with a knife, but I know there is a device out there made specifically for  this called a mandolin. Maybe I need to invest in one of those fancy items if I plan on making these more often.

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

Sea Salt to taste

Cooking Spray

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What you do:

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

After you slice the sweet potatoes, toss them with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder and sea salt.

Spread the sweet potatoes in a single layer on baking sheets. It took me two baking sheets to fit them all.

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Bake the sweet potatoes for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Turn the oven off and crack the door a little.

Start the preparation for the blue cheese sauce.

What you need:

1/3 contaner of Blue Cheese

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp butter (you want to use REAL butter, low-fat or substitutes will not work, I tried.)

1/2 cup milk

What you do:

Melt the butter in a frying pan.

Add flour and stir for 1 minute.

Turn off heat, add milk and whisk for 1-2 minutes at a simmer then add blue cheese and stir until well mixed.

Take your sweet potatoes out of the oven, and spoon the blue cheese sauce over them.

Add toppings.

I chose:

bacon bits

green onions

blue cheese chunks
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If they do not come out of the oven “crunchy” you can set your oven to broil for a few minute to get them to your liking. Sometimes they get crunchy on their own, sometimes they need a little push!

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Enjoy!!!! I know we did.

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Weekend Shenanigans

 

So I am not sure if any of you have noticed or not, but it is the middle of April. Um, what? Yeah…I am just as surprised as you!

Friday- On Fridays, I normally meet up with my “Lunch Club” and this Friday was no different. We met up at Urban Cookhouse in Homewood. Nothing will get your weekend kicked off better than a girls lunch! I ordered the Very Berry Salad with grilled chicken and it was DELISH!

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After work, I met Chris and one of his new found friends over at On Tap for a beer and some chit chat on the patio. Then we came home and hung out on our deck with the dogs. I love the weather this time of year and we are taking full advantage of all the outside time!

Saturday – In the morning I made breakfast and we caught up with some of our shows. Chris headed outside to cut the front yard while I cleaned the house and did some laundry. Afterwards we ran some errands and picked up some groceries for dinner. My sister, her husband and two of their kids came over for dinner Saturday evening. It was so much fun! I made BBQ turkey meatballs, homemade baked sweet potato fries, baked beans and cheddar bay biscuits. My sister made chicken quesadillas, a veggie tray with her homemade ranch dip, a fruit tray and she brought some fritos with cheese dip, and tortilla chips with spinach dip. When was the last time you had a frito? Holy yum!

We basically just sat out on our back deck for several hours chatting it up while her boys played with my ipad and video games. We realized that we had never hung out as couples by ourselves for no reason other than to just hang out! We usually all get together for holidays and birthdays…and my sister and I have gotten together on our own before…but never all of us. It was so much fun and I hope that this becomes a regular thing!

Sunday – In the morning I made breakfast and once again we watched a few more of our shows. Then it was off to the grocery store and food prepping!

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Sunday evening we started watching Surviving Jack. It is a new show with Christopher Meloni….whom you might better know as Detective Stabler from Law and Order SVU. The show takes place in the 90’s and I really enjoyed it so far. Maybe because I love the 90’s and the music?!?! Yes, probably…that and HELLO it is Stabler! If you need some new shows to watch now that the regular season is coming to an end for most shows, you should check it out!

Then you have these two sassy kids…
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I hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Monday! (If there is such a thing?!)

 

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Sunday Social – The Best

1. What was your best birthday?

 

My best birthday is my 30th birthday last year. I got to see my mom, sister, brother in law and two of my nephews for lunch and a sweet date  night dinner with my husband, sister in law and brother in law for dinner. Then the following day, we had a lunch with my mother in law, father in law, sister in law, brother in law and nephew. I liked that it was low key and filled with all of the people that mean the world to me.

2. What was your best vacation?
I have two favorite vacations for two different reasons. Last year’s Gulf Shores trips with my husband, sister in law, brother in law and nephew. We had so much fun and they were so relaxing. We just hung around the condo, hung out at the pool, and visited the beach. All of our lunches were simple sandwiches pool side, we cooked together most nights and went out for a nice dinner once each trip. It was perfect!
My other favorite vacation is the time that my mom and I went by ourselves to Orange Beach when I was in college. It was the only trip we have ever taken just the two of us and it was so much fun! We just did whatever we wanted to each day, enjoyed lunch and dinners at new places and did some shopping.
Ironic that all of my favorite trips revolve around the Alabama Gulf Shores? I think not! They are not to be missed!
3. What is the best date you’ve ever been on?
Well this is easy! The first date with my husband! In short, he drove from Birmingham to Atlanta to meet me. We went to Steak n Shake for lunch, Perimeter Mall, a few other random places around Atlanta, and Felini’s for dinner. We were  both nervous, but it just felt right. I remember laying on my living room floor talking to Chris for hours.
You can read about how we met and our engagement story in this post.
4. What is the best movie(quality) you’ve seen?
Hmmmm it is hard to pick one movie as my favorite! I really like Because I Said So. And, as cliche as it is, The Notebook. Then you have the classics, like Dirty Dancing and The Breafast Club. See how this is hard?
5. What is the best TV show ending of all time?
Hmmm.
This is a hard one, as I am usually left disappointed during the season finale. Like How I Met Your Mother, The Lying Games, and Betrayal. All of the endings left much to be desired. Especially seeing as how The Lying Games and Betrayal left us with so many questions!!!
I really liked the ending to Wings. Do you remember that show from the 90’s about the two brother pilots that ran Sandpiper Air?

Sunday Social