Friday Favorites

It's Friday!  

 

It's the second week I've been home since stopping work and I'm loving it. 

I've gotten so much done and have lists of everything else I need to do. 

Here are a few of my faves for this week 

This chair

Well. It's a rocker/recliner.  

We're getting it for the nursery. 

It's comfy and I love it!

~

I made

Quesadillas last week and they were so good!! I'll have to post the recipe next week because it was delicious!! 

Definitely beat any restaurant I've ever had. Ted agrees. 

~

My nephews. 

After the blizzard, they (with the help from my mom and Ted) made this cute snowman! 

They are just so cute. And getting so big!

~

OMG

Bananas Foster Pancakes

We found a new breakfast spot!!

This was a seriously amazing breakfast.

Might be my new favorite!

I mean, just, yeah....amazing!

~

After breakfast on this day after breakfast, we took a ride over to the beach.

The beach is for sure my favorite, but seeing all the erosion and crap that washed up or unearthed from the storm was NOT.

This guy....definitely my fave...

It was cold and windy and bitter but I love him :)

~

This is a view of the boardwalk covered in snow...

It looks so different in the winter...

But there's a calm about it too...

~

And then I read this...

With the amount of heartburn/reflux/indigestion I've had - I'd be seriously surprised if this boy wasn't born with a full head of hair!

Heartburn is NOT my favorite, but it's ALL worth it!

#amen

~

And I've FINALLY begun doing the album from my favorite day!!!

Hey - a year and a half later is better than never right?!

 

That's all I've got for today!

Have a great weekend!

 

~Tiffany~

A blizzard named Jonas

Lots and lots to catch up on!

I had my check up at my regular OB on Thursday the 14th and was chatting with my doctor and just like that - he put me out of work. So my last day was that Friday - the 15th.

 

My pregnancy is high risk for a reason beyond my control - something that isn't awful, but can bring me to pre-term labor and will most likely result in me needing to have a C-section.

So my doc said with the added stress from work, he didn't want anything triggering labor.

Fine. With. Me.

So I quickly and I mean QUICKLY got caught up.

Packed my belongings from my office up.

Told my co-workers (whom I'm not close to) the other kinda knew it was coming.

And by 3:30 I was outta there....

Not gonna lie - I teared up a bit... I blame the hormones!

Haha - but it was bittersweet.

A chapter closing, and a new one opening.

So the first week off was so quick.

I was SO busy!

~
 

My mom lost her cat of 15 years due to dementia. Who the heck knew cats can get that?! It was a rough and heartbreaking week. It hit fast and was just terrible. 

Rest Peacefully Pumpkin

We love you  

 

~

Possibly one of the most unattractive pictures of me - but - this is a cappuccino blast from Baskin Robbins and it was delicious.

#pregnancycravings

Friday night... we hunkered down and prepped for the "snowpocalypse"

This was one of the first snow maps we saw for our area...

The predictions were all over the place.

At one point we were in the 2 feet range.

TWO FEET

But as I write this (Saturday night) it's been snowing since 7pm Friday night.

It sleeted for a bit - but it's back to snowing.

The sleet just made it icy and worse.

We've been under a blizzard warning since yesterday.

It's not going to stop until 2am Sunday.

My mom lost power twice.

Ours flickered a few times. Thank God.

Snow like this isn't fun. It isn't pretty. And it's hard to remove.

All of our beaches and beach towns are flooding.

I'm sure you've seen on the news or weather channel.

It just plain sucks - for lack of better wording.
 

My poor birds and squirrels were out in the crazy weather looking for food. Their feeders were covered in snow, full, but covered.

So naturally I diced up little pieces of bread and kept throwing it out to them. 

Sunday was all about digging out. 

It snowed until like 2am this morning.
When we went to bed it was snowing so hard I couldn't believe it. 

We woke up to pretty things though. 

 

 

I whipped up these old school "pizzas" for lunch.
Haven't have English Muffin pizza since I was a kid.
They were delicious! :)

 

The snow was up to my mid thigh...

My snow coat doesn't fit me at the moment,

and my boots are too short for this depth,

So hubbys hunting stuff came to the rescue.

Poor Jake hates the snow...

 

This is why nothing fits ;)

That boy is growing day by day...

I just scooped up this maternity shirt from Target & it's so comfy

 

In the mean time, this one has been snuggling all weekend long...

She's just so cute...

 

So that is basically how my weekend was spent.

I'm looking forward to this week home to get more organized.

I've been slowly but surely getting organized each day.

My goal is to start February with a clean slate.

Here's hoping.

 

Happy Monday!

 

~Tiffany~

 

 

Mid-Month Confessions

January 2016
Mid Month Confessions
Linking up with Heather & Liz to share...

• I stole took a pint of haagen das coffee ice cream from my moms house and when I got out of Teds truck, it fell top down, lid off into the rocks. Since my mom took a scoop out, the plastic cover thing was off and so it face planted the rocks head on. I still ate it. I spit a rock out while eating it. But I wanted it so bad, that I didn't care.  

• I can't stand school busses. I love kids, I get that they need a mode of transportation to get to and from school but it's most annoying when it holds me up in the morning. I mean. I used to wait at a bus stop with like 12 kids. Now, kids get picked up at every dang corner so. Can't they walk?! Also - when the parents stand there and chat with the driver for a few minutes, laughing and what not with no care in the world and no where to go - it drives me nuts!!

 

• I'd rather wake up at 8 am, watch 3 hours of day time television while drinking tea and eating an English muffin, than get up at 5am and go to work. Some days I have to bribe myself to get out of bed to go to work. Others, I convince myself that I don't need to shower that day so I lay in bed an extra 15 minutes. I know this is super lazy, but I just don't care. Maybe because I'm going to be leaving work soon, maybe because I'm 6.5 months pregnant. Who knows....

 

• The room we are making the baby's room isn't even remotely close to being done. Heck, it hasn't even been touched yet. Currently, there are two large standing safes in it, all my gift wrapping stuff. All the scraps and boxes and bags from Christmas wrapping, a box with a fake tree stuffed in it, and about 5 Tupperware containers full of stuff for when we move.

We need to empty the room, paint, get lights, a shade, curtains, and just ahhhhh everything! I'm freaking out about it.

 

• Speaking of baby... I just registerd this past weekend. I wanted to over winter break, but the kitchen reno got the best of me. I went with my sister in law and mom and it took quite a bit, but I feel like I forgot a bunch of stuff.
  #notimetheresneveranytime #jessiespano #imsoexcitedimsoexcitedimsoscared

 

• From December 14th to January 6th I cooked dinner twice. TWICE! With Ted being in Cali, and Christmas and New Years, there just wasn't a need to. We were out with friends, at our parents houses, and just plain Mama wasn't in the mood so we ordered in! That being said, I haven't cooked much last week either. I did on Monday, Tuesday we went for Burgers with my mom at our favorite tavern and we ate at Ted's parents. I cooked twice since then as well...
  
• I cleaned out my fridge over the weekend and literally almost threw up when I found something hiding behind something else. I mean, I'm pretty on top of the fridge. I don't like to waste food or let things sit for long, but this was a complete oversight. 
  I took a picture because I felt it absolutely necessary to share what I witnessed. It's seriously mind blowing. I didn't know mold like this actually existed.
  Brace yourselves... 
  
  
  WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT?!?!
  I'm pretty sure the food was turkey corn chili but DANG.
  I had a really REALLY hard time with this.
  I threw the whole darn thing away... because who wants to try and salvage that!?
  NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!
  So that is all for now....
  
  
  And I want to officially say that today was my LAST day at work!!!
  WooHoo!!! 
  
  
  Happy Weekend Everyone!! 
  
  
  ~Tiffany~

Life Lately

I know I'm about to sound like a broken record, but I just can't wait to stop working!
This getting out of my warm bed at 5:15am while 6.5 months pregnant is for the birds!

~

This past weekend we had dinner at my sister in laws (Ted's Sis)  house and it was delicious.

She made chicken parm and pasta which given the fact I can't stand chicken since like, September, and I ate it all, says something ;)

~
On Saturday I went with my brothers wife and my mom to register for my shower!

That was so much fun and a tad overwhelming all at the same time.

I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully my SIL did! She was just like, "you need this and this and two of these and at least 4 of these" Whew!

~

Here I am on Friday night :)

 

 

We came home Friday night from somewhere, (pregnancy brain has made it absolutely impossible for me to remember where the heck we were)... and saw this.

I had thrown this huge blanket out front on the porch to take to the shelter and when we came home this little fur ball was trying to stay warm.

It broke my heart. So naturally, I moved it to a more sheltered are, between bushes, under an awning in an area that seems to be secure, and I gave him a bowl of food.

 

His fur was nice and he seemed well fed, so he very well may be someones cat, but I just had to act in the moment haha.... We haven't seen him since...

~

And this was my snack the other day.

A WaWa pretzel, Gummy Bears and Yogurt covered Raisins...

Haha random combo but oh so yummy!

 

My cousin got us this HOME sign for the entry table and I finally put batteries in it and lit it up for the first time! It's so cute!!

 

I made home-made pizza the other day and it was so yummy.

This time I used jar sauce that I doctored up a bit and it wasn't AS good as my own, but it was still good. I also globbed some ricotta cheese on top too!

Yum. I want that now.

 

While we were at Babies R Us registering, I saw this and just absolutely loved it.

We need to have a little girl next. I love all things ladybug and this is just the cutest!

 

And I believe I posted it earlier, but Ted's nickname at work is Legend. Not sure why,  but whatever.

So I got a 2T shirt that says Legend on it kind of similar to this.

I saw this in the store and grabbed it then looked at the price tag..... $54

REALLY?!?!!? For a baby outfit?!

No Thanks.... so I snapped a pic and moved on.

 

And this is the stroller I registered for!

Its an all in one and I love how smooth it is to push.

If any of you mamas out there have any other suggestions on what to add to my registry that you think is an absolute MUST HAVE please please let me know in the comments!!

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

~Tiffany~

Need some opinions!

Ok here is the deal. My current car is a Toyota Camry. It's a limited edition and fully loaded. I absolutely love it. HOWEVER - it's a 2012 that we leased in 2013. The lease it up this week and we've been trying to figure out what to do!!

Buy out the Camry and have a car payment on a 4 year old vehicle that we've maintained and know is good, or purchase or lease a new one. 

Interest rates for new cars is 0% 

For my Camry it would be 5% - which kinda stinks. 

So I've been looking at a few cars. 

The Mazda CX-5 is on the top of my list right now. 

So we may be going to look at one tonight. 

Another car we were looking at is the Volkswagon GolfWagen 

But do I really want a wagon? I dunno. 

My thought is that the small SUV will be good for baby and dog! Because let's not kid ourselves, my Jakey is my first baby. Hahah 

It's frustrating because up until this week we were set on buying the Camry. 

Now it's a toss up! 

Any suggestions or opinions or thoughts would be super helpful!

~TIFFANY~

Chicken Tortilla Soup

So I'm about to type "What's Cookin' Wednesday" in my post title, and I realize it's Thursday.

That's exciting... haha but anyway.

On Monday I made Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner and it was delicious!
It's another Pioneer Woman recipe which I modified a tad to satisfy our taste buds...

Here is my version....

You can find PW's here

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

About 1 1/4 teaspoons chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 package of Chicken Breast tenderloins

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small diced onion

Half of a green bell pepper, diced small

Half of red bell pepper, diced small

3 cloves garlic, minced

One 10-ounce can diced tomatoes and green chiles, such as Rotel

3 cans of low sodium chicken broth

4 cups hot water

1 can of tomato paste

Half a 15-ounce can of black beans, drained

(Use more beans if you like them, I hate them so I only put them in for Ted)

2 tablespoons cornmeal

2 tablespoons of Masa

5 small white corn tortillas

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

 

Start by mixing together the cumin, 1 teaspoon of the chilli powder, the garlic powder and salt. Drizzle the chicken tenders with some olive oil. Then sprinkle with some of the spice mixture. Set the rest of the spice mixture aside. Bake until the chicken is cooked all the way through, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven. Shred chicken.

 

Next, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Throw in the onions, green and red peppers and garlic.

Throw in a tablespoon of the spice mixture used to season the chicken.

Add a little extra chilli powder (about 1/4 teaspoon) for heat.

Stir to cook the vegetables until they begin to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken and diced tomatoes, juice and all.

Add the chicken broth, hot water and tomato paste.

Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a boil.

 

Reduce the heat to low.

Add the drained black beans.

Next, mix together the masa with 4 Tablespoons of liquid from the pot.

Add the mixture to the pot.

Give it a taste and add salt or seasonings as needed; be sure to not under salt it!

Then mix together the cornmeal with 4 Tablespoons of liquid from the pot.

Add the mixture to the pot to thicken.

Simmer the soup for 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Cut the tortillas into uniform 2- to 3-inch strips.

Stir most of them into the soup just before serving.

This is what makes tortilla soup tortilla soup!

Turn off the heat and get ready to serve it up.

Ladle the soup into a bowl, then add avocado, red onion, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, and extra tortilla strips to the top.

Enjoy!!

~Tiffany~

 

 

Catching Up....

Let's play catch up, shall we?

Also, I'm going to link up with Jenn to share what's been hap-pinning!

~

So it's been a super busy, crazy, fun, relaxing and exhausting winter break.

Back in December (hah like it was so long ago) on the 14th, my husband left for the week to go to California for business. He came home Thursday the 17th late at night and I was just thrilled to see him. I hate when he has to fly far distances alone.

That Friday, our new kitchen was delivered.

So demo began! And my oh my what a mess! I can honestly say I'm not a fan of living among a construction zone!!

Aside from that, we had a great Christmas with both of our families.

We spent New Years Eve together on the couch eating Chinese food!

We spent lots of time hanging out together and enjoying eachother.

I'm thankful Ted took the week off from work too and we got to do that.

 

Here is a random recap in pictures...

 

 

So here is the before picture of the kitchen:

This is photo-shopped actually - there were two drawers missing....yup big ole' black holes...

 

And this is the after picture...

We still have to finish the kick plate under the angle

And we are putting up a backsplash - but that's this weekend...

We got new counters, new cabinets, a new sink and ditched the portable dishwasher for a built in one and my heavens, this thing is amazing!

 

I was craving Enchiladas one night, so I made them and boy were they delicious!

 

I also whipped up some Brownies for NYE and fancied them up a bit...

and ate every bite...  

 

We took a walk on our beach....with the doggie

We found some shells and watched diving ducks look for fish 

 

Speaking of cravings... I told Ted I was craving Starburst jelly beans....

The next day he delivered!

I was excited!!  

 

My annual Christmas Cookie swap was the Sunday before Christmas.

It never disappoints... and this year it was great.

This is the platter of cookies I brought home.

They were all yummy

 

This is how I wrapped my cookies this year...

 

 

Ted has a work Christmas party (if we want to call it that)

All the wives/girlfriends send in something that the men volunteer to make.

Ted usually puts me down for meatballs or something fun and easy.

This year? Corn bread.

I was a little surprised... and laughed a little.

In what way does corn bread play into this shin dig - but I made jalapeno cheddar corn bread and apparently it was gone in minutes...  

 

We hosted a friends Christmas party - here are the boys.

The girls were on the couch talking

 

 

Every year my mom hosts Christmas Eve dinner after Church for my dads side of the family.

And every year I make an antipasto.... this is the one I made this year  

 

I got this shirt and wore it to work on the last day before break.

It says Mistletoes and has two little green foot prints and a bow...

 

 

This was our tree Christmas morning...

Next year it's going to look SO different!!

 

This beauty was one of my gifts from my amazing hubby :)

I love love love it !!

 

 

My cousin sent me this and I laughed out loud....so true.

 

We took a 3.5 hour road trip to visit our cousins in North Western PA

and saw the tallest bridge ever.

 

This guy in my moms neighborhood has the biggest moose in his front yard.

I love it and I want one!

 

My Lilly has been super snuggly lately and I love it!

 

I got all my containers from the container store along with my labels and filled all my jars and have them in my pantry. I love how it came out!

 

And here is my Instagram top 9

 

From top left across:

When Ted proposed to me

Rook Coffee and Broad Street Donuts

My Oeo cookie cupcakes

Next Row:

When I made it public that I'm pregnant

Our first dance and as husband and wife

Oatmeal craisin white chocolate cookies

Bottom Row

The lady bug cake my mama made for my Birthday

Christmas preggo pic

My daddy <3

 

 

Happy Wednesday Ladies...

I can't wait for this week to be done!!

 

~Tiffany~

 

Happy 61st Birthday in Heaven to my sweet Dad.

I miss him dearly every single day...

xoxo