Menu Plan Monday

Well, as I stated before, this week I will be out of commission, and therefore out of the kitchen. So we are left in the very capable hands of Aunt Linda for food this week. The following is a possible food line-up for the week:

Monday: PB&J and applesauce (I'm all by myself tonight)

Tuesday: Meatloaf and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Creamed chicken and biscuits (never made last week)

Thursday: Chicken pitas

Friday: pot roast (also never made last week)

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Pizza

Out of Commission

This weekend Morgan and I are spending with my Aunt Linda trying to get her e-bay store up and running. We actually never even got to that point because, as I am sure many of you have encountered, when you start a job other jobs crop up and suddenly become more important. We actually started cleaning out the shop at Aunt Linda's house in order to find MORE stuff to e-bay. I think this is going to be a long process, but some day it will get done.

On a more fun note, we also traveled to a puppy breeder to see about getting a new dog for Aunt Linda. The woman had over 200 dogs on her property, but it was surprisingly clean and didn't smell. I was impressed. I almost came home with a new puppy. The woman had 3 new daschund puppies and one was SOOOOO cute! But Patrick had told me earlier I couldn't get another dog (what a meanine! :) and I know we don't have extra money to throw away willy nilly so I just snuggled with the dog and in the end, left her there for another family to adopt. The trip was not entirely a bust as we did get to see a 12 day old black toy poodle which Aunt Linda decided would one day come home with her. Claudette will probably open her eyes this week and be ready to be adopted by Aunt Linda around Valentine's Day. We are all excited!

Next week I will be out of commission for most of the week, so Aunt Linda will be coming up to spend the week with us. Please pray for me as I deal with my medical issues and hopefully get on the mend soon.

Menu Plan Monday

OK, here goes. I don't even know if I will be able to keep this going all year since our schedules are so crazy, but to help with my attempt at better nutrition, here's my first menu of 2008!

Monday: pizza rolls, applesauce, and cheese cubes (Patrick has to work late)

Tuesday: pot roast with potatoes and carrots

Wednesday: Philly cheesesteak hamburger helper

Thursday: leftovers (Jen and Morgan to Buckhannon)

Friday: on your own (Jen and Morgan in Buckhannon)

Saturday: on your own (Jen and Morgan in Buckhannon)

Sunday: creamed chicken and biscuits, egg noodles, carrots

2008: The Year of Jennifer

I find it somewhat fitting that my 100th post on this modest blog be about it's creator....Me!

I have been doing a lot of reflecting in the last few days over the past few years of my life...what has been good, what has been not so good, and what I need to focus on to help myself have a better life. At almost 29 I feel like I am 70. I take a lot of medication just to be pain-free enough to get out of bed. I have struggled with being very unhappy and unsatisfied with my life for over a year. I finally came to the conclusion that the thing I need to focus on is myself. Lest you think I am completely self-centered and self-absorbed, let me explain to you what I mean.

2008 is the Year of Me. I am going to focus more on things that will help me, better me, and make me a happier wife, mother, and person. Therefore, in no particular order,

1) It's all about nutrition. I am currently 35 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight and am at a point where I need to buy bigger clothes to have something that fits. That hurts me in two ways: it makes me unhappy because I am heavy, and it makes my health worse by making my bones carry more weight and my heart provide blood to more mass. We all know that losing weight is a LIFE CHANGE, not a diet. I have to change how I live my life daily to achieve this goal.

2) It's all about the body. In that I mean exercise. Exercise not only helps in the weight control arena, but also increases endorphines in your body to help you feel better. Naturally. I have set lofty goals in the past that have never been reached. This year I chose not to set a goal of, say, 5 days a week, but to start by moving more and then go from there. Just like eating, adding exercise is a LIFE CHANGE.

3) It's all about less stress. As a mother, wife, housekeeper, chef, and professional I have a lot of opportunities to be stressed in my life. And let's face it, I am stressed. Constantly. And a lot of it is due to factors that I have no control of. So my focus on stress is to try to manage the stress that comes naturally in life and try to stop worrying so much about the stress I can't control. As with all life changes, this is not something that will come overnight, but something I want to make a conscious effort to recognize.

4) It's all about mental health. This ties into #3. Mental health had a direct effect on every other aspect of a person's life. If you are happy, your body feels good, your blood flows better, your digestion is on track. If you are unhappy, your body follows suit. I struggle every day with some mental health problems that I can't completely control. But if I try to do more things that make me happy, then eventually my mind and body will follow.

5) It's all about private time. I never do anything for myself. Almost every mother I know can say this statement. But when I say that, I mean that I always put everyone's needs before my own, even people who I don't know. This can be good in some ways and I feel that I should do things for others. But it wouldn't hurt me to ask Patrick to pick up Morgan an evening from the sitter so I could stop at the mall and shop by myself. Or to stay at home a weekend rather than book every weekend from now through June with things to do. I think that this is the area that I lack in the most and the area that hurts me the most. I work so hard to make everyone else happy that I am miserable. 20 minutes of private time to read a chapter in a book isn't too much for one person to ask. I just need to learn to ASK!

So that is my thoughts on the new year. Life changing behaviors that I know won't happen overnight. I'll need a lot of support. I'll need a lot of people to understand. But most of all I will need to allow myself to focus on these things so that I can feel 28 rather than that just being my age on paper. I deserve it. Patrick deserves it. Morgan deserves it.

Great Big Man, Itty Bitty Car

During a recent visit, Uncle Jeff performs some maintenence on Morgan's car.

I just don't think you're gonna fit!

Aunt Cecelia did though!

Snow Day

Morgan got a new sled for Christmas from friends Connie and Bill. Today we got just enough snow to try it out for the first time!

Grandmas and Grandpas

Grandpa

Mutti

Big Pop

Nannie

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year East Coasters!!! May God grant us many blessings in 2008. My entire family---Dad, Mom, Patrick, me, Morgan, Jeff, Cecelia and our two four-legged members Pfeffer and Bailey---are all together to start a new year together as a family. I hope you all had as good of a start to your new year as we did to ours...ringing in a new year with family, the loves of our lives, and three generations all together.

I updated posts in the past, so please scroll down to see what you missed!

Merry Christmas

We were able to spend Christmas with both of our families (parents, brother, sister, and in-laws) this year. We all had a wonderful time and Morgan was very good at ripping open her presents this year! She still doesn't understand "Christmas" per se, and she was quite confused on Christmas Eve when I allowed her to touch the presents I had been telling her she couldn't touch for 2 weeks, but she still had a good time getting a ton of attention from her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and extended family. Christmas presents were plentiful this year and were highlighted by a new play kitchen, car, and potty for Morgan, a memory foam matress pad for me, and croquet and bocce sets for Patrick. Below are a few pictures from our holiday.

First Cabbage Patch and a stroller

MagnaDoodle and Big Stocking 1

Big Stocking 2

The Play Kitchen

Anything in there for me?

Elmo's as big as I am!

Play Hard or Go Gnome

A Fun Game

The Girls (Bailey in front, Pfeffer in back)

Let the presents begin...

We always do a lot of traveling during the holidays and have many days of opening gifts. Today we kicked off the 2007 week long Christmas celebration at Aunt Becky's and Uncle Rodney's. Morgan got a new car from her adopted grandparents, Pappy Carl and Grandma Ruth, Uncle Rodney, Aunt Becky, and cousins Anna and Shannon. She was thrilled!

Getting in

So proud of the car

Dear Santa,

The shirt says it all!

Christmas Decorations

I am finally done with 95% of my Christmas decoration. I hate that I am even this late in getting the decorations up...I feel like if I am going to take all the time and effort to put the stuff out that I'd like to enjoy it for more than 12 days! We have a very eclectic Christmas at our home. Nothing really matches, but it all looks nice!

O Christmas Tree

The stockings were hung by the....wait! No chimney!

Morgan's Tree

The Many Faces of Morgan

What happens when you try to get a 17 month old to sit still for a Christmas card photo...

Trees

Yesterday we began the arduous process of Christmas decoration. I love the holiday season. I love getting out the decorations and lovingly placing each piece in it's display place. However, I hate, hate, HATE putting up and "fluffing" our Christmas tree. I want someone to come in and do that for me. I will put the ornaments on it, but please someone get it out of the box, string the lights, and make it look like a real tree and not a Christmas Stick. It seems every year that the day that should be a fun time of decoration always turns into a 15 hour day of cleaning, moving furniture, short tempers, and 3 hours spent on one string of lights that isn't working on the pre-lit tree.


In any event, we did get the tree up and all lights working. There is only one ornament on the tree right now because at 11:00 last night I was too exhausted to start with that project. I also have a tree that is just for Morgan. It's a little taller than she is right now, and it has been placed in her room. I hope to get both trees decorated tonight.


Here are a few pictures of Morgan "helping" with the tree process!

Helping Mama "fluff" Morgan's Tree

One more turn and this baby will be done!

There Dad, I straightened it out for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a feast we had today at the Tenney household! It is so wonderful to be with family on this day to enjoy each other and officially kick off the holiday season! We had a fabulous meal. The deep fried turkey actually cooked all the way through this year, we ate on time, and actually watched ALL of the Macy's parade.

There are so many things to be thankful for each year. One more year to be together, with family in good health tops my list. I am thankful for family that desires to be together at the holidays. I am so thankful that we are close to our families. I am thankful for technology that allows me to see my parents via webcam almost every day, even though they live a thousand miles away. In such a busy world where I never seem to get a moment to slow down, days like today are treasures. I pray for health for our family during the next year so we can all come together again next Thanksgiving to celebrate.

Brrr!

After a few days of reprieve in the 60s, old man winter has slammed into West Virginia. Last night it snowed enough to stick (not much, but I noticed on my drive to work that people had snow piled up on their cars) and today's high is a very cold 35 degrees. Right now, according to the weather channel, it's dreary and 33. They actually use the word dreary. How am I supposed to get excited about work?

Give me a break people....

What part of this outfit screams "I'm a BOY"?!?! I am not kidding when I say that while I had Morgan out today that THREE people commented on what a cute little BOY I had. And this is exactly what she was wearing.

I don't get it. Is everyone in Morgantown colorblind? Or is it me....is this coat and hat really red, or blue, or another non-female gender specific color?

I realize that many times I dress Morgan in gender neutral clothing and with her short hair it is not always easy to tell that she is a girl. But today was not one of those days.

So have I lost my mind or has everyone else?

WFMW: Traditions

The holiday season is creeping up fast, and I am trying to get ready for the hustle and bustle of the season. Rocks in my Dryer sponsors a Backward Day on WFMW. Instead of telling you what works for me, I am soliciting ideas for what has worked in the past for you. Alaina asked a good question that I am going to use. Since Morgan is getting old enough to start participating in some holiday activities, my question is very simple...what traditions do your family enjoy for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas? I'm most interested in the traditions that would be good to add into our routine for toddlers but that would also still be fun when they are older. Feel free to leave ideas, websites, recipes, or anything else that you think would be helpful!

One tradition we always did as a family and that I will be starting with Morgan is making paper chains out of red and green construction paper. The day after Thanksgiving my mom would have the strips cut and we would each get 32 (the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas). We would use a glue stick and loop the paper together and Mom would help us make a chain of alternating colors that we could then hang on our dresser or in our room somewhere. Every day we ripped off a link as a "countdown" to Christmas. On Christmas Eve there is only 1 link left!

Some variations I have thought of that we might start include:

--write something nice to do every day on the countdown rings, or maybe on every 5th ring

--put a sticker or star on one or a couple of the links and if your child gets the star they get to be "in charge" that day (i.e. pick dinner menu, daily activities)

One tradition I plan to start this year are letting Morgan pick an "angel" off of the various trees set up around town to purchase some gifts for a needy child. She will pick the angel and pick out (and eventually pay for) one of the gifts.

Finally, a tradition I started for my brother, Patrick's sister, Morgan and our neice is to give a new ornament to each of them (my brother and his wife, my sister and brother in law, Morgan and Julia seperately) every year. That way when they are decorating their trees they can think of family. And when Morgan leaves home to be on her own, she will be able to take all of her ornaments with her.

Poetic Justice

It never pays to be in a hurry. Never. Bad things happen when one is in a hurry. Case in point...yesterday I was trying to get out a skillet from my cabinet to make dinner. It was later than usual and I had a rather grumpy toddler running around my kitchen asking for cheese and creating havoc everywhere. I was trying to get dinner made fast and the skillet was caught on something in the cabinet. Rather than look in the cabinet to see what was holding things up, I did what any harried mother would do...I yanked. Hard.

One millisecond later pain was shooting from my foot. In my haste to get the skillet out I had knocked over some pots stacked in front of the skillets, sending them all flying and my largest, heaviest stock pot crashing, rim side down, right on my big toe. More precisely, the crease/knuckle of my big toe. It created the kind of pain that had me literally wailing in the kitchen, hopping around clutching my toe, and crying huge crocodile tears. I ended up sitting down because the pain was so intense. I am sure it looked pretty funny from a fly's perspective. The dog was barking at me and trying to lick my face...Morgan was jabbering loudly and gesturing at me and trying to climb in my lap in a touching but painful attempt to stop my wailing. The only adult in the house is wailing on the floor. It was a total mess.

It took a few minutes for the pain to decrease enough for me to stand back up. Then I had to gingerly coax my foot to the floor and put weight on my toe. I am pretty darn sure it's broken. It's black and blue and I tore some skin off in the process. And to add insult to injury the spot that is most painful is right at the crease in my shoes so when I walk in these shoes, that crease presses into the bruise/broken bone.

Moral of the story....take a few seconds to slow down and pay attention to what I was doing. 10 seconds of looking and adjusting would have saved dinner being 15 minutes later than it already was, one poor big toe from assault, and one still harried mom in less pain. Thank goodness Morgan wasn't right beneath my feet when it happened!

Behind Already

According to this Christmas Countdown site, with only 55 days left until Christmas, I am already behind in my organization! I should have started October 21st with my getting organized week for the Christmas season and I am already half-way through "reality check week".

In all seriousness it is nice to have the holiday season approaching, and I look forward to searching this site a little more for some ideas to perhaps make it less hectic. I am already ahead in my Christmas buying though! I only have a few small items to purchase and my shopping is complete. I am one of those people who shops all year long and is constantly at the clearance racks in the stores looking for my loved ones' gifts. (Sorry if that is a revelation to any of my family members....no I don't pay full price for your gifts!)

This is my favorite time of year. Not because I will possibly get a few gifts, but because I get to GIVE gifts. Gifts of time, donations, prayers, food, and treasures to family, friends, and most importantly, those who are less fortunate than I am. Not that I need a reason or a season to give to the homeless, nursing homes, orphanages, etc., but it always seems that my heart is gladdened more by giving at Christmas. My favorite thing to do is to gather angels and tags from the various "trees" around town and give to people that I will never see. It makes me happy to think about how I might make someone smile on Christmas day, just by doing something that has made me smile. That's the best way to give a gift.

The holiday season is always rushed and busy, but I am going to try and focus this year on what the season is about...the birth of my Saviour. The gifts of giving of myself. And the time to spend with family. Truly it is a blessed time of year.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Rich's Farm in Smithfield, PA picking pumpkins and petting farm animals. Morgan had a fantastic time picking out her pumpkin. She walked with her Daddy through the corn maze, watched the pig, lamb, chickens, cow, and horse in the petting "zoo", climbed the hay bale mountains, and went for a tractor/wagon ride. She also pet the cow and the horse, but she didn't really like the horse. She liked to listen to the pigs snort around in their pen and wasn't sure what to make of the lamb. It was a cold, crisp fall day and I think the beginning of an annual family tradition!

I have been trying for a couple of days to get some pictures uploaded to this post, but for some reason blogspot won't upload them. You'll have to visit Morgan's site to see the pictures, and if I can get them to work, I'll post them here!

Pumpkin Art

How do you dress up your pumpkin?

West Virginia Fall

It's been a late fall season and there have still been a few hot days (over 80) in October, so the leaves have just started to change here in Appalachia. I snapped a few pictures along the ridge close to my in-laws house as I was driving home from there the other day.

The pretty progression of color in one tree

View from Sunrise Ridge

This reminds me of a picture that would be paired with a Robert Frost poem

Beautiful rainbow on the drive home

Two Fantastic Recipes

Here are two recipes I have had lately that are just delicious!

White chocolate, cranberry, and macadamia nut cookies

Servings: Makes 36 (large) or 72 (small) cookies.

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (about 6 ounces)
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (about 8 1/2 ounces)
1 cup coarsely chopped roasted salted macadamia nuts (about 4 1/2 ounces)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until blended. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat just until blended. Using spatula, stir in cranberries, white chocolate chips, and nuts.For large cookies, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 21/2 inches apart. For small cookies, drop dough by level tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 11/2 inches apart.Bake cookies until just golden, about 18 minutes for large cookies and about 15 minutes for small cookies. Cool on sheets.

Do ahead: Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 2 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.


Fabulous Pumpkin Mousse

2 small packages sugar free vanilla pudding (instant)
2 cups milk (skim preferably)
1 can Pumpkin (depending on your taste)
½ tsp Pumpkin pie spices (or cinnamon & nutmeg)
1 cup Sugarfree Cool Whip

Beat pudding, milk, pumpkin and spices with a whisk. Fold in Cool Whip. Refrigerate for at least two hours (longer if possible).

Keeps 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator. Yields 4 servings of 2 Weight Watchers points each. (Very big servings). Can also be used to make pies. Use a baked pie crust or graham cracker crust. Makes 2 pies for 2 points at 1/6 pie.

Hiatus

I hated to realize today that I haven't posted on this blog for almost a month. Things have been so busy at home and at work that I just haven't had the time. Add to that the fact that Morgan and I have both been sick for well over a week and that leads to one very tired Mama.

While it's been super busy, there really hasn't been much going on to report. Patrick has been working and on the road a lot with his new job as the Suicide Prevention Coordinator for WV. On Saturday the 6th we participated in a 5K walk for suicide prevention in Huntington. That was a lot of fun. It was a gorgeous day and the park was really nice. Patrick's sister Amy and our niece Julia joined us and we had a good time.

Last weekend Morgan and I were in Buckhannon with my aunt while Patrick was out of town. We wrapped Christmas gifts, played Scrabble, and did a little shopping. It was nice to have some help with Morgan since I have strep throat and have been running a fever for a few days.

This weekend is WVU football and the Red Ribbon Race (we're not running in this one, just working the tables). Fall has certainly arrived in WV. I am not a big fan of fall because it is the beginning of winter, my least favorite of the seasons. But this year I am glad to see it come. Frankly I am tired of my summer clothes and it's been refreshing to have a little crispness in the air. Fall is a time to remind us there is beauty in dying and that life is renewed every year. While winter is always so long for me, I look forward to life renewed in the spring.