Who scored big on weenies today??

I did! I ran to our local Hy-vee tonight because I realized I didn't have any tomato sauce for our chili tomorrow. While there I decided to check and see if they had anything in their "reduced for quick sale" area. I snagged 1 package of Nathan's hot dogs and 4 packages of Wimmer's (aka 'red snap weiners') - they were all marked down to $1 a package! They are usually $3.49 (at least) per package here. So I was able to get 5 packages of weenies for less than I would normally spend for 2. We LOVE Nathan's & Wimmer's but don't get them often because we don't want to cough up the extra dough. : )

Boy this must be my lucky week - first the hotel, now this. Do I dare ask if it can get any better?!?!

Upcoming Anniversary

Layne & I have started a tradition of staying in a whirlpool suite overnight for our anniversary. It all started a few years ago when I won a raffle for whirlpool suite at a local hotel. It was awesome! We were able to sit in the whirlpool, relax, and just catch up on "us time". Some of the time was spent watching movies on cable, but a lot of the time was spent just talking and laughing. We had such a great time that night that it kind of started a tradition for us. We have always been pretty lucky and were able to find great deal locally (for just under $100).

Note: We always stay local because we know the restaurants that we like and because since we are in a town where we spend every day we aren't tempted to go out sightseeing or shopping and can focus on each other. Plus if we stay out of town the rooms are usually even more expensive, when we eat out at a restaurant that's out of town (unless it's a chain - who wants that??!?) we aren't sure we'll even like our meal, and of course there's gas, etc to pay for. So the night could easily turn into a $400-$500 evening. And that's not in the budget!

Anyway, as I was saying, we've always been able to find sales or coupons for a room. This year we haven't been so lucky. There haven't been any coupons available (that I've been able to find). I've tried calling the hotels and asking for any specials and the best I was able to come up with was a room for $159, which kind of sucks. There is a hotel that is pretty new to the area and we really wanted to stay there. When I called it was the same thing, $159 for the night. Today I decided to get on Expedia and look to see what the hotel was running for on there now (it was $157.99 last night on Expedia). Well as Lady Luck would have it there was some kind of "Fall Special" going on at Expedia and I was able to book the Extended King Suite w/ whirlpool and breakfast buffet for $118!!! So we will get a nice breakfast too, not just the cereal, donut selection that many of the hotel chains have. Yay for me!

And I even bought a sexy little number to wear (for a little while anyway) that I got online for $4.46 with free shipping. How is that for a bargain? ; )

Weekly Menu Plan

Yesterday while my husband & daughter were out in the kayak I sat with a notebook and made a menu plan for the next two weeks. (Can you believe that?!?!?) When I got home I compared my menu plan with what we had on hand and this week I will only have to buy lettuce, parmesan cheese, sausage, and bread. So here is my menu plan for this week:

Sunday: lasagna, lettuce salad

Monday: hot dog salad

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: crockpot chili, hoe cakes

Thursday: chili dogs

Friday: pizza

Saturday: pinto beans

When I made the lasagna I made 2 pans of it. 1 of the pans went into the freezer for a future meal. It's already cooked so all I will have to do is defrost it & heat it through. : )

Post 200!!!

Time has passed so quickly since I started this blog. So many things have happened in my life. I had some crazy illness that they think is fibromyalgia (I think they are wrong). I've lost 35+ pounds. It's been suggested that I have a hysterectomy. Crazy stuff!

This blog has been greatly neglected lately. I've been to wrapped up in things that are going on in my life and sometimes emotionally I just couldn't bring myself to blog about it. I am going to make a serious effort going forward to blog at least 3 times a week - maybe someday I'll even start blogging daily! I guess part of it is that I don't think my life is all that exciting. Then again sometimes we just want to read about something going on in someone else's daily life that either inspires us or motivates us to do something different in ours.

The last couple weeks I've been doing things with my husband that I wouldn't have imagined doing a couple months ago (no - it's probably not anything near what you're thinking!!). Last weekend I shot a bow at a local outdoor expo. I used to be pretty decent in high school and honestly haven't shot since. I did awesome - just to toot my own horn. : )

Today I went kayaking. Wow was that fun and relaxing and adventurous - all at the same time! I forgot how much I liked doing things like this outdoors. These are things that I really, truly think I will be doing a lot more of!!

On a side note - the last couple weeks I haven't been eating very well. And I can truly tell. I just don't feel as healthy and good. Plus - not to be gross - but when I was eating healthy I was having bm's regularly (nice to know, huh?) and when I don't eat good I may not have one for 3 days - seriously. Not cool. So back to the healthy life for me!!

By the way - I'm now in a size 6!!! How is that for amazing - I started at a 12. Wow. I can't believe I was that big - I will never let that happen again!

Something to think about....

Today I had an appointment with my gynecologist. I went (I thought) with the mindset that enough is enough and was prepared for the worst. I can’t go on having the problems that I have much longer. I’ve surgery twice in an 8-year period for endometriosis. I’m bleeding almost constantly & having cramps almost daily (for short periods of time).

So here are my options according to my gyno:

Option 1) Novasure – a procedure that basically cauterizes your uterus. It’s a procedure that takes less than 15 minutes in total. You still get periods, but they are supposed to be significantly lighter. But it leaves you unable to have children.

Option 2) Adiana – a procedure that places a small silicone piece in your fallopian tubes causing the tissue to grow around it and block the tubes. Has the same result as a tubal ligation without actually having surgery. Will possibly help make periods lighter.

Option 3) Laparoscopic Hysterectomy – they would take only my uterus, leaving my ovaries for hormone purposes.

I went there today thinking I was prepared to hear this. Guess I was wrong. Even though I know I shouldn’t have another child because of the meds I’m on and because of how horrible my pregnancy was with April. But it doesn’t stop my heart or arms from aching. I guess I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. It’s a big decision. You can bet I’ll be praying about this before I make my decision.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

One thing that I look forward to at summer each year are the tomatoes. We don't have room for a real garden, so we just plant a couple cherry tomato and jalapeno plants each year. Last year we didn't get much of anything out of our garden. This year the plants have been going crazy - I guess making up for last year. : )

The thing about cherry tomatoes is that other than putting them in salads and eating them straight there's not much to do. Since they are small it's a pain to bother canning them - unless you don't mind leaving the skins on or if you have just tons of time to kill by peeling skins. Well neither of those apply to me. So I decided to half them, scoop out the pulp (which was still a lot of work!), drizzled with a little oil and some seasonings; then I placed them on our dehydrator for a few hours. Yum!! They are so sweet and so good! After they seemed dried enough I placed them in an airtight container and put in the fridge. I guess I'm not real sure how they should be stored or how long they will last - but I don't think they'll make it more than a couple days before we've eaten them all anyway.

By the way, I took pictures with my phone (camera was dead) and the picture really didn't come out well at all. Sorry!!

Camping Trip!!!

This past weekend we went camping (about time!) at a State Park about 30-45 minutes from our home. Boy was it relaxing!! We have pretty much always gone camping with other people, and while it is nice to do that it is also very nice to have it be just us three. Surprisingly the park wasn’t packed – we figured it would be since it was Labor Day weekend. While there we scouted out other sites that would be perfect to stay if others were with us. April attended a couple classes; one to make charm bracelets and one to learn some “kid-friendly” campfire cooking recipes. I would have liked to gone horseback riding there also but we didn’t have the time and honestly I didn’t want to spend the extra money. But I did splurge on a cookbook. J

The weekend still went fast. April was able to play at one of the playgrounds while I watched and did some homework for my class. Layne rode his bike on the trails and we all hiked a trail that has a really old oak tree that they have dated back to 1644. It was really cool to see.

The time was great for Layne and I to reconnect as a couple; away from the everyday things it’s easier to put things in perspective. April would be tired from all the fresh air and would go to bed fairly early so Layne and I could stay up by the fire talking and making plans for future trips.

We came home Sunday morning and I did tons of laundry. We went through our camping totes and made lists of what we had and what we needed. (Every time we go camping we’ll think of something we should have and then forget once we get home.) We’re hoping to go again in a couple weeks if it isn’t too cold.