Monday's Recipe~Crock Pot Creamy Tomato Soup

I've never been a fan of tomato soup, tomato basil soup etc. I don't even really like pasta dishes with a red sauce, except I love homemade spaghetti....weird I know. But a few weeks back my daughter sent me this recipe and said how awesome it was. Since I am trying to loose a few pounds, and I'm always watching my diet and it was so points friendly I decided to try it. Boy am I glad I did. It is amazing!!!

 

The recipe comes from a blog that I follow, skinnytaste.com and it is my all time favorite. She includes the yummy pictures, very accurate directions, nutrition information, old and new WW points. You can find the recipe here. Enjoy and healthy eating!!

6 Myths About Greek Yogurt

 

 

I have fallen in love with Greek yogurt, as I know a lot of people have. It's so versatile and super high in protein and that makes for a great snack after workouts.  

 

 

 

 

But I ran across this article yesterday, 6 Myths about Greek Yogurt, while searching the web for something entirely unrelated. I found it very interesting. It talks about the different ways Greek yogurt is made and the ingredients that may or may not be added. Thus the importance, not only with this, but will all our foods, to become a label reader. Read the article Here and became more aware of what you're putting in your body. Happy Monday!!

Changing It Up

I've been absent from the blogging world since February, writing, not reading! My life got cRaZy and typically my response is to drop off the radar. But I'm back and hopefully I'll be sticking around.  Lot's of changes happened since I last wrote. Bought a new car!!! A 2014 Kia Sorrento. It's an amazing ride. Let me say it took me a longgggg time to make up my mind and there were several tears shed before we finally signed the papers. I had driven my old car for 10 years. Lifting huge cakes out of the trunk was terrible and I no longer felt safe on long road trips. So out with the old (My Kandy is driving it) and in with the new!!!!

 

 

I changed jobs. It was unexpected and a difficult transition for me but in the end I believe it was for the best and more importantly God's will. So now I'm Nanny to these TWO:

 

 

 

And trust me, I know what you're thinking, asking, wondering!!! Have you lost your mind? Are you Cra Cra? You're keeping twins? TWO babies???? Meet Anna Kate and Parker. My 6 month old twinkies. Sweet sweet babies. They may be twins but they sure have different personalities. Anna Kate is lil Ms Drama Queen. Parker is laid back without a care in the world. Well, except for teething. Can you imagine? Teething x's 2. I've known their sweet parents for several years They are wonderful parents to these babies and big brother Carter. I spend two days a week with them back to back. It's been very easy to get attached. We are already planning birthday parties for Thing 1 and Thing 2

 

 

I had to have a minor surgery. Didn't really tell to many people about it. In the end all was well and I was up and around within a few days. About 2 months after my surgery that I found out my gynecologist whom I had seen basically since I moved to this part of Louisiana had had a sudden stroke and went into retirement effect immediately. So at 48 years old I'm searching for a new one, and frantic about it. Do I want young, old, man, woman?????? I checked with all my friends and who they saw. One name came up twice and when I checked with a Dr friend, the name came up again and once I read her bio which contained LSU....I thought I had found my replacement. I didn't want my first visit with her to be uh.....with my feet in the air and since I was having other issues I made an appt. I loved her!!!!! Amazing woman. She spent 45 mins with me while I cried about stuff at home, about my old gynecologist(with the stroke) and the sypmtoms I was having. Yes dear friends.....pre-menopause is what she told me. Uggggg I wanted to scream. Although I was already thinking this I had hoped she would say something else. After that little bit I news I decided I needed another vacation. The one to Tenn in July simply wouldn't do...

 

 

 

And so off we went to Destin for Labor Day weekend. It was wonderful. No kids. Just me and the hubs. He stayed in the condo watching football and I stayed on the beach under an umbrella reading "Happy Happy Happy" I learned more from that book then I think I've ever learned from a book. It was on that weekend that I began to rethink some things and one of those things was this blog and what I wanted to do with it.

 

 

 

I've never minded aging. I just don't wanna look it.....lol. Don't we all. Ok really I love being a grandmother. Those babies bring life to our house, But I want to grow old gracefully and hang onto life with all I have. I can't really control how I visible age (I could but that cost money) But I can control the physical part. I know what it means to put healthy stuff in. Exercise the body and mind. I'm stunned at the obesity rate in this country. It's no wonder healthcare is out the roof. People don't seem to care anymore. Trust me I've dealt with it in my own home. So I don't want this blog to be about the pain and suffering I've been through, although I may bring it up from time to time. I want to share healthy recipes and exercise tips and of course my cakes. Anything worthwhile takes perseverance. Being healthy is worth the effort. I have kids, grandkids and I want to enjoy life with them. Staying healthy allows me to do that.

 

Speaking on grandkids.....we found out recently that we will have another. A little girl to join our clan in February. Hopefully she'll have some red hair. Much to her mother's dismay. Along with that good news, my baby girl, Kandace was accepted into nursing school at The Baton Rouge General School of Nursing which is where her sister graduated from nearly 6 years ago. I couldn't be happier.

 

 

My lil nurse to be and mommy to be

Kandace and B

I Am A Survivor

I haven't blogged in nearly 2 months. The holiday rush, work, kids, grandkids, life. Things are settling back into normal (whatever that is) and so I wanted to post instead of just enjoying everyone else's blogs. I've  been reading blogs written by survivors of sexual abuse. I came across one that I found very interesting and so true and I quote - Often we hear victims say, "I'm moving on with my life" But the abusers, the criminals, the bullies, don’t move on. They thrive in the knowledge that their victims will, most often, move on. Essentially cowards themselves, they understand that their victims will protect them – by preferring the easy way out. By shutting up. By not calling a crime a crime. By leaving undefended the abuse. Fighting my own court battle for 2 years now with little results and certainly no justice and 6 months of ongoing therapy I find myself angry at victims that won't speak out. Never mind that it took me 25 years to speak out. I've been freed from the shame, the fear, the grasp of the abuser. It's all back on him. So looking from the inside out and back in again I can see more clearly......JUST SPEAK OUT! It's so liberating to the body, mind and soul. I can say one thing for sure, this made me a fighter. I never remember fighting as much as the day I faught against abuse. I'm thankful to have that fighting spirit. I'm also thankful, that after all the reading I've done I don't suffer from most of the things child abuse victims suffer from. My therapist told me yesterday, there are two kinds of people. One is the pessimist.....it's always gonna be bad, this will never end, it's all my fault. And the optimist (that's me) this will end, and until it does I'll make the best of it, it's NOT my fault. I guess I've been an optimist all my life. I knew one day it would end and I knew I had done nothing to deserve it and I faught to get free. Sexual abuse against children is a vicious cycle of being abused, living in shame, not being able to function as a normal adult and sustain healthy relationships. Sometimes becoming an abuser to others or yourself. Recently all the talk of gun control has angered me. Not that I don't think changes need to be made, but the right to bear arms is a constitutional right. Somehow we've become more focused on things like that then other serious issues. As I sit two years and counting, waiting for some justice I realize the court system stinks!!! Sorry if you work in the system. But you gotta admit that changes are needed here too. I know there is a burden of proof, but geeze to allow cases to drag on for years while a child molester is on the streets. Just give the guy a gun and tell him to feel free to kill whomever he wants why don't you? Because essentially this is what's happening.......he's killing youngsters everytime he touches them. When we begin to look at the core of what's wrong with our nation, this is at the heart. To often it's something we don't talk about.....I'm guilty of this. Instead of opening up and talking to our kids about it we sweep it under the rug. I can tell you that I see a huge difference in the way I was not talked to and the way my cousins were talked to. Then we allow molester to walk free as cases drag through court on delays for this that and the other. Do you have to be Gary Sandusky and have molested umpteen children in a very public college town to get your case pushed through the system at a high rate of speed? Or do you have to take a sawed off shot gun to a movie theater and kill a mass crowd? What's the deal?  I'm truly sorry is this post seems dark and depressing. Just thoughts that I needed to vent and this is the place I do it. 

Happy Hump Day

If justice isn't served here, there will be a day

Happy Novemeber...Day 1 Of Thanksgiving



http://www.kimberlyryanphotography.net/

(All photos taken by Kimberly Ryan)

 

Well Novemeber.....my how tis year has flown by. Seems like yesterday w were ringing in 2012. Today starts a traditional 30 days of Thanksgiving. A short disclaimer before I give mine for today. I think we should be thankful everyday.....even in the bad times. That in itself can be hard. Also the things I put to paper that I'm thankful for are in no particular order and I'm not more thankful for one then the other. It's just whatever I'm feeling on that day. With that being said.....Let the Thanks begin!

 

Today I'm Thankful For The Gift Of Grands

 

 

I can remember as a young girl longing to have children, a family. Perhaps all the things I'd been through birthed that desire. My family has always mean't the world to me. But I've gotta say that grandkids are for sure heavens reward.



They bring me complete and utter joy. Even on days like today when sprite got spilled on the floor 3 times and after that got mopped up, pee pee had to be mopped up. And when I said no he said yes and please help me pick up all these toys and I'm only 4 years old I don't know how to bath myself and its 10 oclock and I've been home since 4 and I've got NOTHING done.

 

 

Anyone who has a grandbaby knows what I'm talking about and anyone that doesn't is totally clueless. I started a new tration for birthdays the latter part of this year, completely by accident. I didn't have time to get Maddie's present before her party cause I was to busy making a cake so I took her out to eat and shopping. I can't even tell you that it brought more pleasure to me, I think

 

 

To know them is to love them <3 All so beautiful/handsome and oh so smart. Why they are smarter then any grandbabies I know!!!! Right? You all say that don't you? And why not? They are yours. They have you wrapped from the moment the nurse wheels mom and baby through those double doors. Better yet, watch one being shoved out and you'll really have a sense of "Yeah that's my kid. They make me laugh daily and some many things I don't want to forget. Once several years sgo we were out to eat and their pawpaw has always tried to make them choose who they love most, me or him. Abby grabbed us each by the neck and she said I love ya'll both the same!!!

 

 

Heaven sent them to me and I am eternally greatful to call them mine. I want them to always remember that I was the mawmaw wo they had so much fun with and gave them what they wanted when mom and dad said no. Zachary and I have had a tradition since his first haircut. See he was the first boy born on either side of the family since his dad some 23 years before. So excited were we when the lady doing the sonagram said its a boy that the little tiny room exploded with screams of delight. About every 6 weeks we go off to get a haircut and then off to the dollar store for treats. The girls wormed there way in too, but it's ll memories. His mom said to me one day, Mrs Karen, Zachary is gonna remember that and I said thats why I do it

 

 

My heart swells with pride everytime I see them and I thank God daily for this blessing. What would a world be without GRANDS?

 

 



The Sweet Smell Of A Memory

This past weekend found me free....free of cakes, free of a home football game, free of a husband (it's hunting season) so I headed up to Natchitoches. Natchitoches is a beautiful old town rich in history, it is where my family originated and it is where my all time favorite movie, Steel Magnolia's was filmed. I have lots of extended family in and about the area, but my cousin Rhonda just got her a new little apartment and had been wanting me to come so off I went.

We really didn't do a whole lot. We cooked, we ate, we watched football, we talked, we walked front street and did a little shopping. My cousins and were raised more like siblings then cousin. We have always been close. We lost track of each other while raising kids....but over the past 3-4 years we've been brought back together and I'll be the first to say, I'm not sure where I'd be without them. Kelly, Rhonda's sister, has always been the one who appears to have her head screwed on correctly. She always has a different twist, angle, prospective, she makes you think. We call her the leader. Rhonda and I are a lot alike....hot headed and mouthy. That's not to say Kelly isn't, she just has a tighter grip on her emotions I guess.

 I had missed my therapy 2 weeks in a row so visiting her was very therapeutic. We talked, as we always do, about everything. Seems like our conversations always come back around to the ones we've lost. Her mother back some 15 years ago I believe and our grandparents. Grandpa has been gone nearly 3 years and grandma gone a year now and our uncle, who was more like a brother, who has been gone nearly 2 years. The normal things....wish we had done this, said that. Oh how we miss them, wish we could talk to them. Get an opinion on this or that. Show us how to cook this or that....ah the memories and the opportunities missed. Some things taken to the grave.....we will never know. Before my grandparents passed, my grandfather told me to take the two things I wanted. I argued with him over this, but he insisted. I had said that when they were gone I refused to argue over their belongings. I'd never tarnish their memory in that way. So I secretly think he wanted to know that I had them. And so it is with pride that I display those two things. One is an old stereo that I literally cut my teeth on and I remember waking on Sunday mornings to gospel music playing on it. It still works.

 The other is a picture that my grandmother loved, and although I had a copy, I wanted that picture because she loved it so much.

 I was blessed to receive some other things when they died. Some dishes my grandmother used often and the Bible my grandfather used until he drew his last breath. It is a priceless treasure of which I was humbled to receive.

 But no matter how much of their "stuff" you have, it never seems to be enough. Several years ago when my grandmother was still able to talk and get around a bit she had given me two hand sewn quilt tops. I had no clue at the time what she was giving me nor the work that she put into them. I gave them to my sister in law to try to find someone to put the backing on. Completely forgot about them till a few days ago. My hubby was going there this past weekend so I asked him to get them(I had found a lady that is making a tshirt quilt for me) I prayed that they had stayed safe and unharmed. This morning I was getting ready for work and noticed a plastic bin on the bar. I had paid little attention to it last night. I was ready to get home, see my husband, see my kid, see my kitten. So I walked up to the bin, opened it and the tears began to flow.

 There were my two quilt tops, in pristine condition. I lifted the top one out and there it was.....her smell. As though she were standing in the room with me. The sweet smell of memories! I looked at it as long as I could, and then I laid it down and ran off to work. As the day has gone on, all I can think of is getting those quilts finished so I can wrap myself up in it....bring her back somehow. I know that's not possible but one can dream. 

So as Rhonda and I talked about the happy memories that we have of our childhood, being raised with those amazing people in our lives I'm thankful for the time we had, the lessons taught lovingly by example or via belt or fly swatter. Life seems so much more hectic then it use to be. Maybe it was as hectic back then and it just seemed like it wasn't. Kinda like going back to the house you were raised in, remembering it to be so big only to walk in the door and its really small. I've asked the question a lot lately, How did I turn out to be the person I am today with all the things I faced as a child? The answer is simply....the love and care shown to me by the people gone on over shadowed the bad. For this I am grateful and I'm also thankful for the sweet smell of a memory :0)

Take care of you

Happy Birthday Travis

(My heart)

Today is my only son's birthday. He arrived about 4 weeks early. I didn't even have a clue I was in labor. All in the back.....it was excruciating. We happened to be on a trip out of town. Where you ask? Natchitoches, on a hunting trip......it was the first day of squirrel season! Well his father was hunting, I was pacing the floor. This was long before cell phones and such and with no way to reach his father we headed to the hospital where it was confirmed I was in labor and I birthed that boy all by myself without the aid of any drug!!!

(Sick with pneumonia)

 From the moment he entered my life he filled this empty spot. If you know me, or follow along with my blog you know of which I speak. Because I was so young I often had people that would try to take him, take over. I always raised my hand up and said, nope, he's mine.

(Maddie Grace face right there)

 We basically grew up together, Me and Travis, Travis and me. He was an early riser....sun up, Travis's feet hit the floor, that is till somewhere around middle school where he preferred sleep over play. I can remember as a young child wanting to have children but I never imagined such love. We've always been close, although high school brought some rough waters. I can honestly say the boy has brought me nothing but joy.

(High School)

 As I read this post on Travis's FB a few days back regarding his only son, " Last night while having a "heart to heart" with my son concerning his eduction and the effort he was putting into I had one of those moments where I realized I sounded just like my dad when we discussed my school performance. This boy is a carbon copy of his dad when it comes to school and now I realize how frustrating it can be for a parent and a teacher and I wish now I'd have put fourth a little more effort and tried a little harder, cause now I'm getting the pay back mom wished on me"  It brought back a flood of sweet memories of days gone by.

(Travis and Eric, early 90's

 His dad thinks he and Travis have a great relationship, and they do. But one day I just had to tell Tommy, you don't know the days that boy stops off here at this house to see his momma (and Cherie prolly doesn't either)

(His Wedding Day)

 He is what every mom wants their son to be. Honest, hard working, faithful, loving, giving and kind. He's an awesome son, an amazing Dad and a pretty good husband in my opinion (although I'm not married to him) I've always gotten complements on how wonderful my children are and they say it's a product of their raising.

(All of his buddies. It warms my heart to say he is still friends with all these guys)

 Admittedly I've made plenty of mistakes but that child, nor any of my others for that matter wasn't one. They've all been blessings in their own ways. They don't come with an instruction book. You learn as you go. But I loved them unconditionally, even when I wanted to kill, I gave them a little rope, and I gave them rules. Along with the rules came punishment for breaking said rules.

(Daddy and Son)

 So Travis as you try to steer your son in the right direction.....remember he is a carbon copy of you and what works on one may not work on the other. You've made me one proud momma and I love you more then I could ever say in words. 

Happy Birthday Travis!!!!!