Coming Soon!

We're getting guinea pigs!!!!  Emma has been begging for a dog for awhile now but I'm just not ready for that kind of responsibility yet and our house is just really too small for a dog of any size.  So after visiting Matt's aunt one day and seeing his cousin's guinea pig, I thought, why not start with one of those?  I didn't bring it up for awhile, and when I did, Emma wasn't really into it.  But she eventually warmed up to it and just last week we went into PetSmart and looked at them.  I wasn't really thinking about getting one for another few months though, but just days later a friend from church posted on facebook wanting to know if anyone wanted free guinea pigs.  Well, if that wasn't awesome?  

Matt and I had a more serious conversation about getting them, (me for it, him not) and I set up a time to go visit them to check them out!  I talked to several people who have owned them and I've read quite a bit online researching all kinds of stuff on them.  We finally compromised and we'll be the proud new owners of 2 guinea pigs very soon!

We just got back a bit ago from taking a peek at them.  They are 5 weeks old and very cute.  They are quite big for being so young, I was surprised.  I talked with the owner for almost an hour, asking questions and he gave me tons of advice.  We picked out the 2 we wanted (and I feel HORRIBLE for the third one) and told him we would be back in a week or two after we got everything we needed.  A few people have asked about whether having 2 guinea pigs together is suitable.  My first thought in this whole process was just to get one but after some research I found that they are very social animals and their preferred setting is with a companion, so I decided to go with a second, not only so Emma and Hannah could each have one, but so that the guinea pig itself would have a companion.  

I named Hannah's "Patches" because of her checker board looking back and Emma finally settled on "Cupid" from the Rudolph song (dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen...).  First she picked "leashy", but I told her she needed something else, then after Matt suggesting Snowman (???) and Bandit, she began thought of Rudolph and then ended up with Cupid.  

I'm pretty excited most of the time as this is my first pet other than a fish since leaving home which makes it Emma and Hannah's first pets as well!  It's an exciting time in our house!  I will try to get some pictures of them soon!

Meatloaf or Meatloaf?

I've never been a meatloaf fan but have recently come across two excellent recipes.  The first is from a family member of Brittany's who makes everything from scratch, including pasta noodles, so you know it has to be good! It is a sweet-n-sour meatloaf. The second comes from my beloved Paula Deen Cookbook, Aunt Peggy's Old Fashioned Meat Loaf. 

Sweet-n-Sour Meatloaf

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 cup dry bread crumbs

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 eggs

1 tsp minced onion

1 - 15oz can of tomato sauce - halved

1. Mix ground beef, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, eggs together.

2. Add onion and 1/2 of the tomato sauce

3. Form into loaf (9x15x13 pan)

4. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees

During the last 5-10 minutes, mix together the following ingredients for the sauce:

The remaining half of the tomato sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp yellow mustard

Bring those ingredients to a boil.  Take meatloaf out of oven, drain the fat off the top of the meatloaf and then  stab with a fork in a few places so the sauce will soak into meatloaf.  Pour the sauce over the meatloaf, reserve some for dipping if desired.  Bake an additional 10 minutes.  SOOOO YUMMY!!!

Aunt Peggy's Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf

1 pound ground beef

1-6oz ounce can tomato paste

1/2 cup chopped vidalia onion

1/2 cup chopped green onion

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, tomato paste, onion, green pepper, oats, egg, salt and pepper.  Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a 9x5 loaf pan.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Slather the glaze on top of the meatloaf and bake for 1 hour or until the meat loaf is firm and cooked all the way through. Serve hot!  DELICIOUS!!!

Side Lined

Woo Hoo!  I finished up my 30 day challenge a little over a week ago - I finished it in 29 days even though the darn thing didn't give me a trophy for it!  I only lost a few pounds but have definitely lost inches in many different places and my energy level is much higher than ever!  

Towards the end of the challenge, I began having a lot of pain on the bottoms of my feet and the backs of my heels.  I normally workout without shoes on and during one of the "very long" runs I think I did some damage to my left foot.  (Lesson learned: do not run without shoes on!!!).  I was able to finish the challenge and even began a new 30 day's on the high intensity level before not being able to stand it anymore.  I spoke with a knowledgeable, experienced, competitive runner who said I probably injured my achilles and that I needed to rest for at least 3 -4 days while icing it as often as I could.  That was about 6 days ago and though it still hurts a tidge, it is feeling much better.  I have a new pair of running shoes and I am hoping to start working out again tomorrow.  

I was pretty bummed when I had to stop.  I had finally made working out a day to day routine and did it no matter what.  I was also doing sit ups twice a day along with pushups to work on some more toning and had even begun seriously watching what I was eating to help with the weight loss part of it.  

But I'll be back in it tomorrow and I hope I'll make it through.  I'll probably ice afterward to be safe but I'm determined to keep going!  Wish me luck!

Wild Things

Emma's art teacher selected her "Wild Things" artwork to be displayed in the Culpeper Art Show last weekend!  

She was so proud:

There were some incredible pieces of art in there from all different grade levels - but Emma's was the best of course!

Stay Tuned....

OMG! (yes, I really did just say type that)!  I have been incredibly busy lately, there's been something going on everyday for what seems like forever.  I have a ton of stuff to blog about, but each night when I'm finally sitting down to relax, I'm just not up to typing it all up.  But I have some things I do want to share about that have happened over the past few weeks, Emma's monster in the art show, our visit with my Aunt and Uncle who have kids the same age as Emma and Hannah, our trip to Fun-n-Beyond the other night, my 30-day challenge (and my feet injury that happened), and Emma's progress at school.  There are also some things coming up I can't wait to share with you too!  Hannah's dedication tomorrow, my dental surgery, and our time at the Warming Shelter.  

So much has happened, so much is going to happen.  Stay tuned, I promise to share it all!

16 & Pregnant

Anyone watch this show?  It's my guilty pleasure, my secret indulgence.  I can't get enough of the show.  It comes on Wednesday or Thursday nights on MTV.  This is the second season where they follow around 16 and 17 year old high school girls who are pregnant.  After last seasons series, they did a show called Teen Mom that basically followed 4 of the girls around from that first season.  Like I said I can not get enough of it.  

However! This season has been a bit of a disappointment until this week.  I would have thought the purpose of the show was to call out teenage pregnancy and the real impact it has on a young girls life by having unprotected sex and becoming pregnant.  But this season I don't think the point is coming across - well unless you consider the point that all of these girls date real jerks and they never stick around or grow up like each young girl has to.  Last weeks show the girl was extremely lucky.  Her parents supported her, provided for her and the baby and the girl actually showed interest in taking care of her baby rather than being disrespectful and verbally abusive to her parents. 

This week I think they finally captured the real emotional turmoil that will most likely happen.  A rising senior at an All Girls Catholic School becomes pregnant.  She wants to keep it because she was adopted herself and she wants to keep something that is of her own blood.  Her parents tell her she can't keep it, she has to give it up for adoption.  Her ex-boyfriend/baby's father think they'll move in together, then he changes his mind.  She eventually finds an adoptive family who is willing to have an open adoption.  It was THE most heart wrenching episode I have watched to date, I cried most of the way through it.  It was so hard to watch her want to keep the baby and her parents not willing to help in the least.  

Matt and I talk a lot about what would happen if one of the girls came home pregnant at 16 - what would we do?  Hopefully we will have raised them to wait but I'm pretty positive that is what this girl learned with Catholic parents and a Catholic schooling.  It scares me to think of having to even just teach the girls about abstinence yet know how to introduce contraception while promoting abstinence.  I am pretty positive I would do what lasts parents did and support my daughters decision to keep her baby if that was the decision and do everything in my power to make sure that the baby is loved, cared for and provided for while seeing that my daughter is able to finish school and hopefully attend college (locally, of course!).  

I encourage to you watch the show if you aren't already - I'll just warn you that reality may smack you in the face with the issues we'll have to deal with very, very, very shortly.  Can't our babies just stay little and innocent forever?

I'm going on a picnic!

On the way home from the dentist the other day Matt suggested we play the alphabet game, "I'm going on a picnic".  I started, then Matt went and Emma rounded us out, but she didn't make it too long before she got bored with it! :)  Here is what our picnic entailed:

I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing, 

Apples

Bananas

Corn

Donuts

Eggplant

Fish

Grapes

Hummus

Ice Cream

Jelly

Kellogs Frosted Flakes

Lizards

Mashed Potatoes

Nectarines

Oranges

Peanut Butter

Quiche

Ravioli

Spaghetti

Tomatoes

Upside down pineapple cake

Veal parmigiana

Watermelon

Xtra order of ribs

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting

Ziploc bags for leftovers

What a picnic!