The other day, I really wanted a new book to read so today i decided to go out to AmVets while I was errand running. For those of you who don't know, AmVets is a thrift store. While I was there, I was a good girl and only bought some "new" books and a couple of other things. I don't figure that anyone really cares all that much about the books, but for those who like pretties, you might enjoy the other two things I bought.





I paid something like $1 for that beautiful vase and $8.98 for this bag. I know this is a really blurry picture, but you can see that it says Kate Spade on it. You'll also see that the black kinda blurs into the silver, so I'm guessing this is just a knock off. If, by some sliiiiim chance, it's not..holy cow..I actually own something designer.

Ack! I know! It's Monday! Where the heck did that weekend go? How the heck did all of you do on last week's challenge? I got mine done..well, I don't know about totally done, but I did box up a box of the boys toys (wow, that wasn't a redundant statement at all!) and moved that and their laundry bag worth of toys out into the laundry room..aka the launchpad of the move.

For this week, I'm going to keep it really simple. I have weekend company coming (omg I so cannot wait) so I'm going to be a busy girl what with school work and cleaning. Let's see..bookshelves. Always a good area to tackle. Now, if you're like me and never get rid of a book, well I can't blame you one bit. But, every once in a while it doesn't hurt to go to the shelf and see if there's any books there that are just kinda meh in your world. If there are, let's get them out the door!

Now, you have a few options here..as always, you could freecycle them. You could always donate them to your local library or children's program (assuming they're children's books) or women's shelter. The other option would be to trade them. Yep, trade them. I've never done this so I can't recommend a good site to use, but I googled book swap and came up with at least half a dozen different sites.

So there you go..let's see what's on those shelves this week. As for me, I'm going to be doing that as I try to reach my goal of packing up at least 2 boxes of books. We'll see how it goes!

Look what I got surprised with today? Aren't they gorgeous?

I just wanted to stop in and say Happy Valentine's to all my friends and family who stop in to see what's going on in my life. I have a whole bunch of posts rambling about in my head, but nothing solid enough to put down here. Don't be surprised though if you see more food postings and going green and just general life stuff coming real soon! Have a great weekend everyone and don't forget that you can celebrate love any day of the year, but a little boost on this day never hurts.

Look! I did it again! Tonight, I made salisbury steak and a baby greens salad with raspberry vinagrette dressing. Doesn't it look yummy? Yay, me!

I cooked dinner tonight! Doesn't this look delish? It is! And from my low carb cookbook...ok, in the book they served it over some kind of spaghetti squash or something but I used whole wheat angel hair pasta. So, still healthy'ish!

So, yay me! Step 1 in losing weight is balancing my diet out and actually cooking. I'm proud of me.

I'm not late! Ok, yes I am, but it's because I've been deliberating forever about which one to do today. Have no fear, with some assistance, I have made my decision!

But first, how did all of you do on your cookbooks? Did you sort them? Did you just smile at them? C'mon, let me know! As for me, I got them all packed up in 2 boxes and shifted into the laundry room (where I'm storing them til the move). I left out about 8 cookbooks to use over the next few months. Oh my gosh, can you believe it's only 88 days untli graduation and that means like 90 until the move!?! Wow!

Ok, so for this coming week, I'm going into the living room. All of you..well it could be your living room, kids rooms, family rooms..or heck, just anywhere in your homes! What are we tackling? Kids toys. Even though my boys are only here for about 4 months of the year, they leave tons of stuff here when they go back to their dad's house. So, this week's challenge is to go through some of those toys (or all if there's time..it's a hectic week for me at school) and get them packed up and possibly even getting rid of a few of them. For all of you, I challenge you to go through your kids toys (or if you don't have kids, your own toys!) and sort out those that are broken or just not played with. Again, you could freecycle them or donate them to a local women's/children's shelter or a local charity store.

As always, let me know..are you participating? how are you doing on these? are you tired of me posting them yet?

Friday was Wear Red for Women Day, to help remind us all that heart disease is still a major killer of women. My beautiful friend, Abby, is a survivor and while I didn't wear red (I know, I know..slacker extraordinare, but I did get up waaaay late for school.), I did wear something really special to me. I wore the scarf that she made me. I wore it all day long and every time I looked down, I remembered how blessed I am to have her as a friend. Clearly the world wasn't done with her way back then.

So having this all in mind, imagine my surprise when I was working on this week's challenge and on my shelf, I found the Go Red for Women Light and Easy Recipes cookbook. Dang, how long have I had this? Well, in honor of Abby and all us women out there who need to take better care of ourselves, I'm posting a recipe. Enjoy!

Swiss Chard & Ricotta Manicotti (serves 4, 2 filled shells per serving)

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray
8 dried manicotti shells

Filling:
1 bunch swiss chard (about 8 ounces)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 large egg white
1/4 cup shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Sauce:
3 large italian plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and cut into wedges
1/4 cup no-salt-added tomato paste
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Extra:
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Lightly spray a 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

Prepare the pasta using the package directions, omitting the salt and oil. Drain well in a colander, being careful to not tear the shells. Set aside.
Meanwhile, discard the stems of the chard. Stack several leaves and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Repeat with remaining leaves.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the bottom. Cook the onion and garlic for 3 minutes, or until soft, stirring occassionally. Stir in the chard. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the chard is wilted and the liquid has evaporated. Transfer to a medium bowl. Let cool slightly. Stir in the remaining filling ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 375 (F).

In a food processor or blender, process the sauce ingredients for about 20 seconds, or until chunky (do not process til smooth). Pour 1 cup sauce into the baking dish spreading to cover the bottom.

Gently spoon about 1/4 cup filling into a manicotti shell, being careful not to tear the shell. Transfer to the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining shells. Top with the sauce and sprinkle with the mozzarella.

Bake, covered for about 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until heated through.


Ok..I lied..I found this one and had to share it too!

Strawberry and Cream Cheese Coffee Cake (serves 16 - 1 piece per serving)

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
3 ounces light cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg white
1/4 cup uncooked quick-cooking oatmeal
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon light tub margarine
1.25 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup uncooked quick-cooking oatmeal
1/3 cup sugar
2.5 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tablespoon canola or corn oil
1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350(F). Lightly spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, 2 tablespoons sugar, and egg white until smooth.

In a seperate small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup oatmeal and brown sugar. Using a fork, cut in the margarine until it is distributed evenly throughout the oatmeal mixture. The mixture will be crumbly.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, remaining 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/3 cup sugar, and baking soda. Make a well in the center. Pour the remaning ingredients except the strawberries into the well. Stir until just combined; the batter will be somewhat lumpy. Do not overstir or the coffee cake may be tough. Pour into the baking pan, smoothing the surface.

Lightly spread the cream cheese mixture over the batter. Arrange the strawberries on top. Sprinkle with the oatmeal crumb mixture.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

** If anyone actually wants the nutritional information for either of these, just let me know. It's in the cookbook, as well. **

1. Copy biology slides


2. 8 Irish journals


3. Biology lab


4. Watch Laura/Find Fall Notebook and complete Music assignment. **


5. Study for Irish test


6. Study for biology test **


7. Complete Psych Quiz **


8. Read this week's Psych articles **


9. 15's in kitchen


10. Complete this week's challenge


11. taxes

This is off the top of my head...weekend, what's a weekend?

** - Could be pushed off until Wednesday if necessary.

I'm sick, again. Yes, again. I swear the universe hates me. Since I'm confined to bed today, I thought I'd post some of the pictures that I've taken over the past couple of months. So here we go..things that I love and some of the things that keep me going..


This is Jim's cat ...aka my cat..Ordie.


Good food! This is from a great place in the NWA terminal of Detroit Metro.


Having my nails done. I can never afford to have someone else do them, but I'm becoming more and more girly every day. I think I now own like 10 bottles of nail polish!


Ben-jammin. My oldest, my miracle baby.


My future scrapbooker and photographer - Roger..aka mommy's Rogeyman.


Dominic Nathaniel - My sweetie pie..I'm gonna steal this kid.


Christmas - Family - Traditions - All things I love.

So how did everyone do on their bathroom challenge? I have to say that I am darned proud of myself. I had a frantic week at school and still managed to get mine done! Did I mention that I just finished posting an entire grocery bag full of items onto freecycle? Wow! I had no idea that I would find that much in that little bathroom to get rid of. This sure will make packing a whole lot simpler. I also realized that I have no less..and I'm almost embarassed to say this...no less than 10 or 12 different bottles of body wash in my shower. And nope, I'm not freecycling those. Those will get used up. I've organized (or I'm working on it!) my bathtub/shower so that I have all the brand new never opened bottles on one end and all the opened bottles on the other. Now, I'm going to work my way through all those partial bottles til they're gone and my reward will be brand new super yummy smelling bottles! Yay, me!

Now...this week's challenge. Are you ready for this? Cookbooks. Yep, the next room in my declutter challenge (for myself..and I hope for you!) is the kitchen. I only have 4 rooms in my place so I'm starting at one end and moving towards the other. So, how many cookbooks do you have? How many do you actually use? Are you a user or a collector? Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with collecting as long as you really enjoy them. For me, I have a small bookshelf full of cookbooks and cooking magazines. I went through these when I got divorced so I don't think I'll be getting rid of many, but you never know! Plus, for me, I know I won't be using all of these in the next few months so I'm going to sort mine into 2 piles. Pack and Use. Those that I won't use in the next few months (because let's face it, I only cook for me and I'm pretty easy to please), I'm going to pack into a box, label that box and set it aside.

Anyone with me on this one? Let me know. Drop me a comment below and keep me updated on your progress. :)

I want to semi-apologize for my last post. I don't think it came out the way I had wanted it to. It seems that when other's read it, they thought I was having issues with just this group that I belong to. That's not the case at all. I meant for that post to be about my issues that I have with making friends. I wanted it to be about my own fears and how I'm having a hard time getting past those to open up to others. The women in that group are totally fantastic and really are wonderful about supporting each other and me. One of them, after I poured my heart out to them on all of this was kind enough to contact me off group and just tell me that she was proud of me for putting myself out there. The problem isn't these women, the problem is me. I'm great at meeting people..heck, some of you have met me via your blogs, etc and probably think I'm super friendly etc..and I am. The problem comes that once I meet someone, I'm afraid to follow up with them. I go through this whole "well if they really liked me, they'd contact me and since they haven't, they clearly didn't" thing. I'm afraid to take that first step because what if they say no or what if they think I'm being too pushy, etc.

So to the girls in that group who read that post and were hurt, I really am sorry. It didn't come out in the way that I intended. Monkey's Momma..thank you for posting your support here. I'm looking forward to that list and I might even be brave and check some of them out. As Corinna has reminded me, sometimes it's all about "Doing it afraid."