Brown Christmas

Usually when I think of Christmas, I think of lit up trees, ornaments, candles, delicious cookies, presents, lots of food, celebrating with family and friends, going to church, and of course....snow. Well, this year it looks like we won't be having snow in Minnesota on Christmas. It's a strange occurrence and I honestly can't remember the last time this happened. When we were getting married in 2007, I remember hoping we'd get some snow in time for our wedding because there wasn't enough snow on the ground at Christmas. But a totally BROWN Christmas? That just isn't right. I have to admit it's been difficult to get into the holiday spirit when it looks like it's still Thanksgiving. I have also found myself to be quite busy this holiday season at work so I've been doing a lot of online shopping. My mom and I skipped shopping on Black Friday because things have been tight financially for our whole family this year. That usually helps me get into the holiday spirit.

Now that Christmas Eve is 2 days away, I'm finding myself getting more into the spirit. I'm excited to spend time with my family and to be off work for 12 days. I try to turn all of my lights on in the evening to keep up the spirit, and light a few candles. I only get one day off before Christmas this year, and I fully intend on using that day to spend time with my husband, visit the mall, bake cookies and watch some Christmas movies.

Of course, I won't lose sight of what Christmas is all about. It's about the birth of Jesus and all of the wonderful things he's done for us and will continue to do for us. No matter what troubles you're going through this season, remember to show a little extra love to those around you and appreciate what you DO have.

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This year has had its ups and downs for Bobby and me. The year started with the promise of a new job for Bobby and the prospect of getting pregnant. Unfortunately the job didn't work out the way we wanted and we approach the holiday season with one less income. I could sit here and go on and on about how hard it's been, because it definitely has not been easy. However, I'd rather spend today thinking about what we DO have and how lucky we are.

We are having both of our families over this afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone has been so generous in offering to bring different parts of the meal and it has really been a big help. I'm thankful that we CAN have both sides of the family over and that they get along so well. We're lucky that our parents and siblings like each other and are excited to celebrate the holidays together.

I'm most thankful for my husband. He is my best friend and I couldn't imagine my life without him. No matter what we've been through or what we're going through now, I wouldn't want anyone else by my side. OH, and of course I'm super thankful for Nemo! He brings us joy everyday and loves us unconditionally. There's nothing better!

We wish you all a happy and fun Thanksgiving!

Best Money Saver for the Holidays

Greetings! It has been over a month since I last posted, geez! I've let my life get very busy with work and extracurricular activities and haven't allowed myself time to do any sort of reflection.

The slim-down has been going alright. I've managed to drop a pants size, which is very exciting, AND I've bought 3 items that were at "regular" stores (i.e. not Lane Bryant). They may have been size XL, but I don't care! I'm still doing Zumba on Wii for my exercise and I still love it! Zumba 2 is actually coming out on Tuesday and I'm beyond excited to buy it!

Back to the point of my subject line. A couple years ago, a Deaf student I was interpreting for was volunteering at Arc's Value Village through school. Obviously, I would go with him every day and I started to realize that it was a fantastic place to shop! Once again, I have a group of students volunteering at Arc's and I'm there twice a week, which can be dangerous..... Today, my friend Ryan and I went to Arc's to do a little shopping. Here's how I made out:

1 pair of fairly new jeans

An Emily Giffin book that I've been wanting to read

An adorable Christmas spoon rest

Christmas pie server

3 wine glasses

Christmas slippers

Gift for Ryan

All of this totaled $23.52!!

Normally, one pair of jeans would cost me that alone! We also went to Kohl's where I got a Christmas travel mug and Thanksgiving towels for about $11. Kohl's is having a major sale right now and there were lots of items 50-60% off. Last week at Arc's, I bought a tree skirt that matches our stockings, a Santa candy jar and a cute scarf, that probably totaled less than $12.

I understand that some people are weird about thrift stores, but if you wash anything you buy, it's practically like new! And you save TONS of money! Check it out: Arc's, Goodwill, Unique, or any thrift store near you!

In Search of Convenience?

As pretty much everyone in my life knows, Bobby and I only get to see each other on the weekends. He works M-F 3:30-midnight and I work daytime hours. This means that weekends are very precious to us. While we try and get out and see family and friends, we also try and spend as much time alone as we can. This also means that convenience on the weekends is my best friend.

Two years ago I discovered Coborns Delivers. They have actual grocery stores you can go into, which are located all over the state but the closest one to us is in Ramsey, which is still almost 40 minutes away. They have great produce, bakery and deli items at relatively inexpensive costs. The best thing about it is that I can order my groceries from my computer in about 15 minutes, see exactly how much I'm spending (great for budgeting), decide when I want them delivered and pay very close to what I would pay at Target or Cub. Once you start using the service more often, they just keep everything you've ordered in what's called "My List", so if you just want the same stuff every week, you know exactly where to find it.

They also have lots of store coupons, specials, pre-made meals and they accept manufacturer coupons as well. There are a few things that I enjoy that they don't have, like Sabra Hummus, Dannon Oikos yogurt and Odwalla drinks, but there are so many other things that they DO have. If your order is $50 or more (which ours almost always is) you pay a $5 delivery fee. They also offer delivery passes that are 3, 6, 9 or 12 months that end up saving you in delivery fees in the long run.

We also love using it in the summer when we take trips to the cabin because we can use the green totes that they deliver our food in. We don't have a cooler, so it's great to have those totes. It's kind of like Netflix, where you can keep the totes as long as you want, but eventually they do e-mail you saying "we need more totes, can we pick yours up?" They'll either pick your totes up on a date you choose from their website, or when they deliver your next order.

It's one of my favorite things to use, especially in the winter time and when I have such little time with my husband. Check it out for yourself!

Another Good Greek Yogurt

For a while, I had a hard time finding Chobani Raspberry yogurt, not sure if they just stopped making it or what. So I saw the commercials for Oikos by Dannon and decided to try it. I'm not a huge fan of the fruit on the bottom ones, but I LOVE the Key Lime one! I also like the Raspberry one that doesn't have fruit on the bottom. It's a little less tart compared to Chobani, but I still enjoy both. Give it a try!

You Know I Love Zumba....

I don't generally sit and watch infomercials, but whenever the Zumba Fitness one is on, I go out of my way to sit and watch it, even though I've seen it a billion times. Sadly, it's like $90 once you make all 3 payments so I'll just have to wait for Christmas for that.

However, the Zumba fitness Wii game is NOT $90! I went on Amazon.com and found someone selling a copy for $25, so I bought it. I LOVE IT! It's not the same feeling as the DVD's, I'm sure, but I get such a great workout and it's fun. It's super convenient for when I don't have a ton of time in the morning to get to the gym. I just run downstairs, turn on the Wii and pick one of the 20 minute workouts. Even though it's 20 minutes, I sweat like crazy! When I have a little more time, I do the 45 minute ones.

I wasn't able to sign up for any Zumba classes at Shoreview Community Center this fall because of my work hours, so I'm super happy I can still get my Zumba fix. I always feel energized when I'm done, not exhausted from kicking my butt in the workout. They're coming out with the second edition in November, so I might have to check that one out as well.

Yummy Brunch!

It's been a while since I last posted, but I'm going to try really hard to get back into it! I figured I'd start with my twist on Eggs Benedict, which I tried this morning with lots of success! My mom has made Eggs Benedict at the cabin since I was a little girl and it's on my list of top five comfort foods. I didn't want to wait until the cabin to eat it, so I made it myself.

Spinach Eggs Benedict

This is what I used to make 2 servings each for Bobby and I, it could also make 4 individual servings.

4 halves Wheat English Muffin

4 Eggs, Poached (I used an egg poacher)

1 Tbsp Frozen Spinach (can refreeze the rest and use it later)

1 package precooked Canadian Bacon, or your meat of choice, or no meat if you prefer

1 package Knorr Hollandaise sauce (with 1 C milk and 1/4 c butter)

*Prepare Hollandaise sauce according to package.

*Lightly coat egg poacher with butter or cooking spray. I used just enough spinach to coat the bottom of each dish, then broke one egg in each dish over the spinach.

*While the eggs were cooking, I spread butter on each English Muffin half, then put them under the broiler on high for about 5 minutes.

*Heat Canadian Bacon according to package (I threw them in the microwave for about 1 minute, but you can cook them on the stove as well.)

*Place one slice of Canadian Bacon on each English Muffin, top with one egg and Hollandaise sauce.

If you don't have an egg poacher, I know there is a way to poach eggs without one, but I have no idea how that is. You could also just cook the eggs over-easy in a skillet, and probably add the spinach to the eggs before you flip them to make sure it gets cooked.

Sorry for not taking an "after" photo, I was just so excited to eat! It was super tasty and I couldn't taste the spinach at all, so maybe next time I'll add more. Cooked spinach is the only vegetable Bobby will eat, so I'm happy I found a tasty way to incorporate it into one of our favorites!