Workin' for The Man

So yeah...I'm working again.  Which  is why I haven't posted lately.  I am immersed in training.  You know, that part of the job where I am supposed to be learning and remembering how to do my job?  Yeah.  Well, about that.  Call it old age, call it menopause, call it diminished mental capacity...I seem to have ZERO recall from day to day when it comes to learning this job!  It's not a hard job!  There's just ELEVENTY BILLION steps and computer screens to go through to do the job and trying to remember them all is like trying to get my men folk to actually pee INSIDE the bowl once in a while.  It SEEMS like a simple concept.  But things are never as simple as they seem.  Unless they are, then I always feel like there's a trick involved somewhere.  Then I can't enjoy the simplicity, because I am too busy waiting for the other shoe to drop and I end up missing the really cool, simple moment that I was hoping for.  But that's me.  I like to complicate things, I guess.  Well, it's not that I LIKE to complicate things, I just DO complicate things.  Don't ask me why.  I said don't ask.  Otherwise you will get a very long, self-indulgent analysis about my innermost thoughts and feelings and this whole big, long story about my childhood and my issues and GOD KNOWS we have all heard enough about my issues.  The thing is...if someone asks, it makes me feel compelled to give them an answer.  And I'm not one to give one word answers, so it's better to just take my advice and not ask. 

Do you see what just happened there?  Spewage.  This is what happenes when you try to fit a year's worth of training into  a few weeks, people.  Stuff just spews forth from my brain, shooting out like rushing water from a broken fire hydrant, soaking passers-by who stand dripping and confused by the sudden onslaught that caught them by surprise.  Sorry if you got wet.  Blame it on my new employer.

Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam is Coming to Boise!!

From the time Big Brother was born to this very day, Big Brother has been infatuated with great big trucks.  He got his first truck when he was not quite 2 years old.  He picked out an awesome red monster truck that made lots of engine revving noises when he pushed it around.  He LOVED that truck.  He had a complete meltdown when we took it from him so the cashier could ring it up, because I guess he thought he wasn't going to get it back.  His collection of trucks grew quickly as grandmas and friends learned fo his obsession. 

Because I am a Boymom,  I quickly found myself immersed in his world, checking out library books and finding videos that helped him learn everything there was to know about Monster Trucks.  Grave Digger and Big Foot were his two favorites, but we never got to a Monster Truck show to let him see them in action.  

So he was very excited to learn last week that, courtesy of Feld Entertainment,  we will be attending the Advance Auto Parts Monster Truck Jam in March!  In fact, his exact words were "Sweet, Mom!"  And as it happens, this is the 30th Anniversary of Grave Digger, so it will be fun for our family to help one of our favorite trucks celebrate its big birthday this year.

In addition to the Grave Digger Anniversary events, 2 more trucks have been added to the show, bringing the total from the usual 6 to 8 this year.  Favorites like Batman, Maverick and Monster Mutt will be there to compete in Wheelie, Racing and Freestyle  events that are sure to bring roars of appreciation from Idaho Monster Jam fans! 

The Advance Auto Parts Monster Truck Jam will take place at the Idaho Center in Nampa on March 16th and 17th, 2012.  The Friday night show starts at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday hosts 2 shows: a 2 p.m. matinee and a final 7:30 evening show.  Fans who plan on attending the Saturday matinee show can purchase Pit Party tickets along with their show tickets, which will give them access to a pre-show event where they can meet drivers and see the trucks up close! 

 

 

Pit Party

Tickets for the Advance Auto Parts Monster Truck Jam are on sale now and you can save money by buying early.  Don't forget to check out the Super Value prices, which offer $5 kids seats in certain sections.  Click here for more info and ticket purchases. 

We'll be there, cheering and yelling over the roar of the engines!  I'll post the pics after the show!   

** Disclosure:  I recieved tickets to the Monster Jam courtesy of Feld Entertainment in exchange for this informational post.  My opinions are always based on my own experiences.  **  

Bertolli "Make a Weeknight Meal Special" Challenge

Mealtimes at my house can be pretty chaotic, mostly because I'm not a great cook. Coming up with interesting meal ideas that everyone likes can be pretty challenging. Part of that challenge comes from the fact that I only cook 5 or 6 things really well, so when we try to work a new recipe into the rotation, I kind of panic. Why? Because I'm one of those people that can follow a recipe to the letter and still not have the dish turn out right. It's true. I once messed up Hamburger Helper. HAMBURGER HELPER, people!!!   Weeknight meals are even tougher to pull off because there is much less time to get things organized after a busy day at work and school, then get everyone fed before we have to take off for Scouts or other evening activities. So I often look for easy meals that don't take a lot of prep time, but that still taste yummy.

I had the opportunity tonight to  try out new Bertolli Meal Soups.  The challenge was to "Make a Weeknight Meal Special" using Bertolli Meal Soup and my own creativity.   The catch is that I had to have it ready to go in just an hour.  For some people that would be a walk in the park.  For me?  I was a little worried about meeting the 60 minute deadline.  However, my fears quickly dissipated once I found the Bertolli Soup Meals in the supermarket and got them home.  I grabbed two bags so the boys could have a choice: 

Tuscan Style Beef and Vegetables 

 and Tomato Florentine and Tortellini with Chicken.

All I had to do was pour the contents of each bag in a pot and add a cup of water.  NO WAY in heck I could mess this one up.

While the soups heated, I cleaned off the table which was filled with lots and lots of papers, mail and various handouts and homework assignments.  I wanted to set it with the nice dishes and a pretty centerpiece, but all my good stuff is still packed in the garage from our recent (is 5 months still considered recent?) move.  So I settled for a clutter free table, which I considered to be a decent size accomplishment all by itself!  And given ther fact that Big Man works at night, having a meal at the table as a family was pretty special too.  We don't get to do that too often because he usually leaves for work before dinnertime.

Tuscan Style Beef and Vegetables           Tomato Florentine and Tortellini with Chicken
 

By the time the table was set, the soup was done.  I added some crusty french bread rolls that I'd snagged when I was checking out of the grocery store and we all sat down to a yummy, easy to make meal that was ready in less than an hour.  

I started the meal at 6:50 pm and we finished eating at 7:33. No stress, no mess and everybody left the table satisfied. SUCCESS!

Things we loved about the soups:

• Fresh ingredients...the vegetables were not all mushy and wilted, the pasta was not overcooked and the meat chunks are real meat.
• Hearty...the soups are not all broth. The pasta and veggies give them substance to make them filling enough that they satisfied all 3 of my hungry fellows!
• Super fast to prepare! I'm not kidding...the soups heat up in 10-15 minutes!

The only negative comment about the taste of the soup came from my husband, who loved the Tuscan Style Beef, but thought the Tomato Florentine with Tortellini was a little sweet for his taste.  I liked them both and found the Tomato Florentine to be perfectly lovely.

So tonight it was Bertolli Meal Soups for the win.  Will I buy Bertolli Meal Soups again?!  Yep, but to be honest, at $8.99 per bag at my local supermarket, I will definitely wait until I have coupons and couple those with a sale to make it a more affordable meal.  I love Bertolli products because the quality and taste of the food is always outstanding and I have no problem paying a bit more for quality ingredients.  But for a family on a really tight budget, this is not a meal we could do often without some help from sales and coupons.

Bertolli Meal Soups can be found in the freezer section of your local grocery store.  You can find out which of your local grocers carries the soups at the Bertolli website.  You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook, where you can ask questions and leave comments about the Bertolli Meal Soups product line.

**Disclosure: I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge.  However, the opinions in my reviews are my own.** 

Yo cookie looks goooood!

Little Man saw me working on my new blog, at home in {Boise}, yesterday and asked me to show him the post about our Christmas cookies so he could look at his Scary Santa cookie again.  It hurt his feelings that I never posted the pics of our cookie decorating adventures with my new bestie, Jen Across the Street.  That's what I call her.  Because her name is Jen and she lives across the street. And she's a hoot.  And she's a great neighbor who always thinks about others and actually acts on her thoughts.  She also cooks really good food, which adds to the great neighbor feature, because she is one of those women who makes extra of whatever she's cooking and then shares it with us.  I aspire to be like her one day.

She invited us over right before Christmas to decorate Christmas Cookies.  I was thrilled, because that meant I didn't have to bake cookies myself, plus I love hanging out with Jen.  We get a lot of talking done when we are together and I always leave her house feeling like I have a kindred spirit.  Okay...back to the cookies.  Jen totally outdid herself, because she made about 8000 cookies.  Okay - I exaggerate.  But there were a lot of cookies.  And a lot of decorations.  Cool cookie decorations.  Jen likes to be creative and she inspired me to do something fun and creative with my cookies.  So, without further ado, here are our 2011 Christmas Cookies...

What is it with boys and scary things?  He wanted to make a "Scary Santa."  I have to say...it was pretty scary!

The little colored lights?  Were actually candy coated chocolate covered sunflower seeds.  I told you Jen had some cool cookie decorations!  They worked so well for the christmas light look.  Too bad they did not taste as good as they looked.  Seriously weird tasting little confections. 

These were just a few of my favorite cookies.  We actually decorated about 2 dozen cookies apiece.  Around midnight Jen and I realized we were running out of ideas and motivation and finally quit, even though she had another eleventy billion undecorated cookies waiting to be iced. 

So she sent us home with all of our creations and you know how I repaid her?  I accidently melted the plastic platter that she lent me to carry the cookies home.  I left it sitting on top of the stove that night and because my stupid rental stove is about 9000 years old, when the oven heats up all the burners get really hot too.  Which I did not realize, because I usually don't leave plastic platters on the stovetop.  So when I started to preheat the stove the next day, I couldn't figure out why I was smelling burnt plastic.  Then I picked up the platter, which was kind of stuck to the burner.  Nice.

But as I said, my new bestie really rocks.  When I saw her that afternoon I sheepishly handed her the platter and explained what happened and she laughed.  Really hard.  And THAT is why we are friends. 

My Son the Doppleganger

So we're sitting in the tire place last week waiting for our tire to get repaired (remind to tell you about how it is STILL NOT REPAIRED after 2 hours at the tire shop!) and my Little Man is trying to occupy himself.  Big Brother is manning the camera and after one particular shot he busts out with a snort laugh, which of course made me look up from my People magazine...

"What are you two doing?" 

"Mom!  He looks like Dwight from The Office!"

"Wait...how do you know who Dwight is?  I don't let you watch that show." 

"We watch it with Dad sometimes." 

"Nice.  Lemme see the picture..."

He does look a little like Dwight!  That is so scary. 

"Here - try it again with my glasses."

Oh MY GOSH!!  He totally looks like Dwight.

 

"Quit it.  Take off the glasses. That just freaks me out."

How does one go from looking like Opie Taylor

to Dwight Shrute!?

"Little Man, promise me you'll never do that again.  You aren't a Dwight, you're a cute little Opie...got it?"

Goalforit Review

Well, here we are...the beginning of a New Year.  As usual, I am procrastinating having my yearly internal debate about what goals to set for myself and my family so we can feel like we are making progress.  I used to be way more goal-oriented than I am.  Something about adding kids to the equation really threw me off my game and in the 12 years since the first one was born, I haven't fully regained my footing when it comes to planning, goal-setting and achieving life dreams.  So I am grateful for the opportunity to review tools and programs that help me as I search for ways to get on more solid ground when it comes to training my children and retraining myself to set goals in order to achieve the successes we seek in life. 

Goalforit is a great new online resource that provides a variety of free solutions for personal success that are easy to use and can help bring more focus, balance and fulfillment into everyday living.  Did I say FREE?  YES!!  I did!!  Goalforit is free and the sign-up process takes about 30 seconds, so I was liking the program right from the start.  Free and Easy?  How often does that combination come up in life?!?  Okay...back to the review...

The program allows users to create personalized charts to help track their progress in various areas of their lives. For example, my oldest son has decided that he wants to work on being healthier this year.  So we sat down and made a chart that would help him see what he needs to work on each day to develop healthy habits.  It looks like this:

He can check his own progress and we set it up with a daily email reminder so that if either one of us forgets to check the chart ( with his ADD and my hormonally induced "brain fog" we need all the help we can get!) we will get a gentle cyber nudge to keep us on track. 

I also set up a Chore Chart for Little Man.  The chore charts are customizable so you can create your own chores that aren't already listed on the site and there are fun stickers the kids can use to check off the chores they've done.  Again, parents can set up email reminders or print the charts out so kids have a visual reminder. 

The Chore Chart can help teach kids, tweens & teens many important lessons, including:

• Responsibility; A Chore Chart is an ideal way to help your kids feel like they are making a contribution to their family by doing their part around the house.
• Understanding right from wrong; Setting behavior goals is an important way to help children strengthen their character and judgment.
• Healthy Habits; Teaching good habits involving nutrition and physical activity are the cornerstone of prevent obesity in children and adolescents.
• Money Matters; The optional point system teaches children three important lessons for managing money; earning, spending and saving.

A unique feature that Goalforit has incorporated into its program is the ability to include friends and family in your plans through the use of the community settings  Simply add the people you want to be able to view your progress and they can check in to see how you are doing and help cheer you on as you work toward your goals.  I can see where this would be a great tool to help  a person stay motivated with really big challenges, like weight loss or training for a marathon.  Nothing like accountability and a cheering section to help spur you on when you are feeling a little less than positive, right?!  If you're doing a group thing that includes friends and family in different locations you can all post your progress right to your Facebook pages to keep everybody updated and motivated. 

Overall I think that Goalforit is a great online tool. And since it doesn't cost anything to try, my family and I will be using it over the next few months to try to bring some order and balance to our otherwise chaotic lives.  Here's to a successful year of reaching our goals!

**Disclosure: This is a compensated post, written on behalf of GoalForIt. However, I am never under any obligation to write a positive review, and the opinions posted here are always mine and mine alone.**    

Charity Never Faileth...My Holiday Post

Well, another year is coming to an end and I have to say it has been a pretty traumatic year for my family and me.  To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to Christmas.  I didn't even bother to go out to the garage to dig my tree out until December 16th, because it just didn't seem like we could celebrate the season with any kind of joy.  Then I realized that my kids needed to feel something from their parents besides intense stress.  So I forced myself to set up the tree and to decorate the house a little.

It took a few days of looking at an empty tree for me to find my Christmas spirit.  Once the Holiday Fever finally made its way through the doom and gloom and depression I have been feeling lately, I was able to embrace it and use it to help shoo away the fog of unemployment and financial struggles that has plagued us for a while now.  It was nice to have something to look forward to.  More importantly, it was nice for my boys to have something to look forward to. 

Honestly, this has been the most difficult Christmas I have ever faced in my life.  The move we made to our new state was supposed to be a fresh start.  Instead, it has turned into something akin to a modern day Grapes of Wrath story.  The joy and excitement we felt when we landed here was quickly replaced by fear as our best laid plans fell apart in front of our eyes.  Despite the rough start, we have held out hope that we could make it in this unique, homey town if fate would just give us a break and a fair shot at building a life here. Five months later, we are still struggling.  And wondering if we are complete idiots for daring to make such a big life change.  I'm sure there are a few of our family and friends who have already made that assessment and are wondering what has taken us so long to come to the same conclusion. 

The thing is...I still believe with all of my heart that moving here was the right thing for my family.  For six months before we came here, there was not a day that went by that my heart and mind didn't tell me that my family would thrive in this new environment.  My spirit spoke to me in dreams and in prayers and everytime I tried to look at a different spot on the map as a relocation possibility, my inner being would all but scream that I needed to quit trying to avoid what I already knew.  How do you ignore those kinds of thoughts and feelings and persisitent naggings?!  I don't know about you, but I can't.  Every good decision I have ever made in my life has come at the end of a long struggle with me trying to ignore and push away a force I could not explain, then ultimately giving in and accepting the message the universe was trying to send.   So it made sense to me to finally quit fighting this path too.  And when I quit fighting and accepted the possibility that the change might be good, things kind fo fell in place for us to make the move.  I truly thought we were on the right track.

My husband felt okay about the move too, but he was much more reserved in his enthusiasm.  He is no longer behind me on this one.  He is struggling.  He doesn't hate here, but so far he isn't finding a lot to love.  In his defense, he is not good with change.  I knew that about him, but hoped his desire to leave our old home state would be strong enough to help him overcome his fears.  Of course, it didn't help that he was lied to about the job he was supposed to start upon our arrival.  Having that rug yanked out from under him while he was trying to settle in a new place with his family left him unsettled and angry.  Who tells a guy he has a job, knowing he's relocating his family and then changes his mind without calling to tell anyone?  It doesn't matter anymore.  We are here and we have decided to try to make it work.  We just thought we would have things working before Christmas. Which is where I started this post a few thousand words ago.

Making it work here has truly been the fight of our lives.  So we were not spiritually or mentally prepared for Christmas.  Nor were we financially prepared.  Gainful employment is hard to find here...not for lack of trying though.  Big Man is working, but at a minimum wage job that is far beneath his capabilities and with earnings that are far below what we need to survive.  We had no money for gifts for the kids.  But we had a long talk with them about making sacrifices and we really tried hard, once we finally got our minds and hearts where they needed to be, to focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ.  The kids were doing okay with the fact that Christmas was going to be very low-key this year.  Then the miracles started happening. 

Our church family quickly rallied around us, offering rides to Scouts, sending job leads, doing what they can to help us feel like we are part of the community.  As Christmas approached, we were surprised by a Secret Santa this year who did the 12 Days of Christmas.  The boys tried hard to catch them each night as they left a fun treat at the door and it inspired them to look for a way to give to someone else instead of focusing on their own desires.  We were able to share an unopened toy from one of my product reviews with someone whose boys will love the gift and my kids were overjoyed that they were able to brighten someone else's holiday.  Then...we had another Secret Santa!  I know!!  They came bearing bikes, coats and much needed shoes, with the request that we not tell our boys the gifts came from them, but from us.   I don't know how they even knew about our situation.  Their generosity left me in tears.  THEN...another Not So Secret Santa showed up at our door on Christmas Eve with boxes of food and gifts that left me beyond speechless!  More tears (actually it was the out and out sobbing, blubbering, ugly kind of crying), more amazement and more wondering why we were found worthy to be on the recieving end of such kindness from people we barely know.  THEN...little surprises in the mail came as relatives sent cards filled with checks and gift cards to help us with our other needs.  I have never been so grateful and felt so humbled in my entire life.  

Even still, I sit here crying.  I had been praying for miracles, expecting a job to come through, I guess.  What I received instead was an amazing lesson about humility and gratitude that I will never, ever forget.  My fear and sense of hopelessness was replaced with a renewed belief, that despite all our differences, mankind is generally, inherently good.  And that when given the opportunity, people will look for ways to be charitable and care for their friends and neighbors.  Seeing this side of our new community has shown me that I chose the right place to raise my family.  How could we NOT want to be part of a place that values and actually practices these kinds of charitable acts? 

Thank you, friends, family and people of Boise for giving my family one of the most unforgettable Christmas' we will ever have.  Charity is the true love of Christ...we truly felt the sprit of love and service at work in our lives this season.  Merry Christmas.