Friend Makin’ Monday

I promise I’ll get to some decent posting soon. Yard sale went pretty well this weekend, still have a lot of organizing to do though and we’re still recovering from an incredibly busy and exhausting weekend.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: One or the Other

1. Shower or Bubble Bath?  Shower

2. Money or Power?  Money

3. Country Music or Rap? I’m totally a Country girl, love love love it, can’t stand rap even in the slightest, the only “music” I totally despise lol.

4. Sunshine or Thunderstorms? Oh gosh, absolutely cannot pick between these two, love them both.

5. Uniform  or Suit? Suit

6. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla

7. Beauty or Brains? Brains

8. Newspaper or Online News? Online

9. Marinara or Alfredo? Alfredo

10. Lip Gloss or Lip Stick? Lip Stick

11. Beach or Mountains? Beach, but love the mountains too as long as it’s not cold.

12. Talk or Text? Neither lol, hate both. In person talk or email for me, only use a phone when I have to or when it’s hubby or my Mom.

13.  CNN or Fox News? Don’t get either since I don’t live in the U.S. and don’t have cable, but when I did we watched Fox

14. Cake or Potato Chips? Don’t eat either now, but I can still make low carb cakes and have a couple VERY yummy ones I make….so I guess it’s cake lol.

15. Movies at home or at the theater?  At home, theatre is enjoyable but is too ridiculously expensive

16. Bar or Bookstore? Bookstore, can count on one hand how many times I’ve been in a bar in my life.

17. Rock or Pop? Rock

18. Manicure or Facial? Facial

19. Book or e-reader? definitely book!

20. Planes or Trains? Neither, but would take either if I had to, probably would prefer train though I’ve only been on one once when I was a kid.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions.  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments!  Happy Monday, and Happy Memorial Day to my US friends!

Jolene

One Year

Saturday will be one year for this blog. We are having a yard sale Saturday though and I’m sure I won’t be getting a chance to blog, so wanted to quickly post about it now.

While I’m proud of my posts over the past year, I’m disappointed in not being able to attract many regular readers. I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t have quite this difficult of a time on my previous blog. When I did my old blog it was pretty much automatic that if someone followed you or commented on your blog that you did the same in return, I’m not sure what has happened to the blogging world in the years since then, but that doesn’t seem to happen much anymore. It seems that for every 50 comments I leave on other blogs or blogs I start to follow(and I don’t leave a comment unless I truly have something to say, I don’t comment just to say come to my blog) I’m lucky if I get 1 comment or follower back. Anyway, guess I’ll just keep plugging away and hope for more success in my second year.

Sorry I can’t do a giveaway like some bloggers do. I just can’t afford any prizes right now and I don’t get enough traffic to interest anyone in supplying something yet. Things are really tough right now. Nothing we haven’t been through many times before, but still stressful and making me a little depressed.

Have a great weekend!

Jolene

What I Wore

I’ve been super busy going through the insane mess which we call a basement. I can’t even begin to describe the mess my kids have made of it, they always do this, everywhere we have ever lived they have done this. I will go and get it all organized and they go down to play and get into absolutely everything and then our basement looks like a hoarders house. I’ve spent the past year and a half trying to get them to fix the mess they made only a month after I made it all nice. Nope, didn’t happen. Now we are trying to participate in a community parade of garage sales this weekend and now I’m seeing exactly how bad the insane mess is as we’re trying to find stuff to sell. I knew it was bad down there, but I only go down for laundry and the freezer which are right at the bottom of the stairs, so I didn’t really realize exactly how bad it was! I’m exhausted, I’m overwhelmed with the mess they’ve created….and needless to say pretty darn pissed off too. There are so many better ways I could spend my time, grrr. But instead I’ll probably be spending weeks getting this mess dealt with because I can only handle a few hours a day before my back starts to give out on me, and I still have all the daily cooking and cleaning to worry about. At least they are now beyond the “playing” age, so I have high hopes that this time it will stay clean and organized, especially if we can get rid of some stuff.

So, dressing up has not been high on my list this past week obviously! I do have some outfit pics though that I just have not got around to posting yet. This one is from a couple of weeks ago…..and I wasn’t wearing any black!! None at all! How’s that for something different? LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denim Capris: Walmart I think, don’t recall price (2008)

White Tank: Warehouse One, $10 (2011)

Cardi: City Chic, $5 (2012)

Sandals: Walmart, $9 (2011)

Necklace: Liquidation Store, $5 (2012)

Earrings: Avon, $3ish? (2009ish?)

Jolene

Friend Makin Monday

I haven’t participated in one of these for a while, this looks like a fun one to join in on .

 

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Three Things

1. Three of your favorite movies:

Ok, cheating already on #1 lol, but I honestly don’t have “favorite” movies. I love watching movies but don’t really like watching them more than once so I can’t really say I have specific favorites. As long as it’s not a boring Drama or some gang type thing, I’m not too picky when it comes to movies.

2. Three of your favorite things to drink:

- coffee
- Diet Pepsi
- Iced Capp/Iced Coffee

3. Three of your favorite songs:

- Open Arms by Journey(my wedding song)
Besides that one song I absolutely LOVE so many songs I couldn’t possibly pick favorites….love Country and classic rock especially.

4. Three people who have recently been a positive influence on your life (outside of your family):

- ugh, cheating again. I have so little interaction with people who are not family.

5. Three things you to do keep yourself entertained:

- watching TV and hanging out with my kids and hubby
- Reading blogs
- sitting around the fire with my family

6. Three things you’re attracted to in the opposite sex:

- sense of humor
- respect for others
- hard work ethic and desire to take care of loved ones

7. Three things you love about yourself:

- My common sense
- I’m a good cook
- My big heart

8. The last three people who text messaged you:

- some scammer garbage
- my husband
- my Cell phone company  (I rarely use text) 

9. Three things you’re looking forward to this week:

- Wednesday, my husbands first day off of the week
- Friday, my husbands second day off of the week
- Saturday, my husbands third day off of the week(he works longer shifts so gets 3 days off a week)

10. Three wishes specifically for yourself…What are they? (Be selfish, and be honest.)

- to own my own beautiful house with a huge kitchen and yard
- to lose 20lbs or have no more skin problems(I’d be extremely happy with one or the other of those)
- to have my kids get out of their moody teen stage so I can be loving and fun Mom all the time and not have to be “mean” or “angry” Mom ever again

11. Three of your favorite quotes:

Not really a quote kind of person, I repin some on pinterest that I like, but not a memorize and requote anything kind of person.

12. Three of your biggest fears:

- losing someone I love
- leaving my family without me(ok, as you can see from those top two death scares me, big time)
- driving

13. Three of your favorite TV shows:

- Castle
- Fringe
- Eureka
- Haven
- Parenthood
Oops, that’s more than three…Oh well. (hey, if the one posting it can do it, so can I lol….that’s not even a fraction of my favorites)  

14. Three of your favorite things to purchase when you’re shopping.

- food lol

- organization stuff

- and all equally: shoes, clothes, jewelry, make-up

15. Three things that you enjoyed last week:

- My kids both finished another year of homeschooling, our best one yet!

- My inlaws arrived back home safely in Canada, and to stay, after a hellish experience selling their home in Mexico and a hellish experience at the US border

- Sitting out back around the fire with family, enjoying the night and good company

16. Three things that you always have in your bag or close to you if you’re not a purse kind of person.  

- wallet

- keys

- cell phone

17. Three types of food that you wouldn’t want to give up.

- Steak

- Hamburgers

- Chicken

18. Three things you do to enjoy burning calories:

- sex

- sex

- ok, walking I guess….(what? sorry, I hate exercise but have a great marriage LOL!)

19.  Three things you dislike about blogging:

- Bloggers are so extremely cliquey, feels like I went back 20 years and am in school again lol

- So many bloggers never acknowledge commenters and never even try to check out bloggers that are following and commenting on their blog….I find it rude but see it a lot

- The huge amount of rude people that think it’s ok to comment on your blog criticizing you or what you have to say. I haven’t had it happen on this blog but did once on my last one and I see it happen a LOT on blogs I’m reading. People blog for those with similar beliefs, likes or whatever the blog pertains to. People don’t blog for you to come and debate them, I’m sure there’s the odd blog out there that wants that, but for the most part that is NOT the point of blogging and people need to learn that just because you don’t agree with or like someone does not mean it’s ok to say something or start something, it’s their blog, it’s their space, not yours, if you don’t like it don’t read it and move along and mind your own business. A blog is not the same as a news article you are reading on a news website.

20.  Three ways blogging has changed your life:

- It has given me confidence I never knew I had

- It forces me to keep up with doing things I otherwise would probably not

- It has opened my eyes to the fact that I do and am capable of more than I thought I was(ok, guess that sort of falls under confidence…but still)

Now it’s your turn to answer the questions!  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments, and have a happy Monday!

Jolene

A Very Sucky Week

It was a very up and down week emotionally and stress-wise for me. One of my brothers that I respected the most, even though I don’t really know him all that well(he’s older and a half brother and has lived in the US since long before I was born), out of the blue showed that he is not the person I thought he was. It’s hard to find out someone you thought was one type of person is in fact totally different than you thought.  What’s even worse is he showed this side on my personal Facebook page and a couple of my friends(both very GOOD people!) got a piece of his horrid behaviour, I was so embarrassed by it. It took me a couple of days to shake it, I couldn’t sleep because of it. I’ve been treated pretty shitty by a lot of people in my life, but his behaviour is about the worst I’ve ever seen directed at me and he’s my own brother. I have other family that I’m tired of their treatment/neglect of my family and finally ready to speak up about it if I need to, but this brother was the last person I ever expected to see act in such a way.

Then right after that incident my husband got news that he likely will not get his bonus this year, which is usually given in August. This is huge for us because when he got this job the base pay was much lower than he was asking for, but they said that with the bonus it would bring it up to what he was asking for and they said they always get the bonus. Well, then he didn’t get a full bonus last year(because he had not been there a full year, even though when hired he was told he would get full) and now they’re saying it’s not looking good at all for bonus this year. And the thing is, it’s not because they didn’t do what they were supposed to do(they did! They’re doing fantastic!), it’s because a new system that was put in place in the Fall caused some major issues when it was put in, stuff that was completely out of their hands yet they’re still counting those issues that happened against them…even though it had nothing to do with them. This is a huge problem for us, it’s hard to get by with what he would get including his bonus, without it we’re in big trouble. He loves the company he works for, loves his job, but he’s not getting paid what he’s worth and what we need. The last they were told 6 months ago is that they would be getting it, if we knew that was not the case we never would have spent money on some things like gardening and such.

Our first thought was that I would have to go and work outside of the home again, the mention of that brought everyone to tears. I cried all night, I think it was something I needed after what happened with my brother, but I also cried because in 15 years of marriage we’ve had this bad luck cycle that seems to happen every 2 years and I’m just so tired of it. We just barely get to recover from one bad luck episode and then something else comes along and knocks us right back down. So, of course my first thoughts were here we go again, this time it has actually been  more than 2 years since we’ve had anything really bad happen. Of course this time he still has a job, it’s just less money than we were expecting/needing. So it’s not even close to when things have gone bad in the past, just frustrating and depressing when you think you’ve finally shaken whatever curse has been upon you just to feel like it has hit again.

We’re going to try to remain hopeful that they were wrong and the bonus will happen, the cut off isn’t until July, so there’s still time for things to change. Maybe some higher up will finally come to their senses and realize that it is unfair and only going to piss off a lot of people to hold them accountable for something that was out of their hands. But in the meantime we need to figure out what else we can do, me going out and working outside of the home, even if it’s part time, would have a huge negative impact on family and home life for us all while only helping out financially a little bit. So we have decided that will have to be an absolute last resort. Everything has gone up so much this year already, utilities are all way up, groceries are way up, our rent went up, add that to two growing boys who’s appetites are huge and the cost to clothe a child who is bigger than the average man…..well, something has gotta give that’s for sure.

With any luck one of the lottery tickets in my purse I have yet to check will have a pleasant surprise for us and our life long money issues will be over LOL.

Jolene

Recipe: Low Carb Pizza

First of all, Happy Mother’s Day to all the other Moms out there! I hope you all had a great day! My hubby and boys remembered this year, so it was better than last years for me LOL.

I made some pizza for dinner tonight and it was good! I’ve tried a couple of low carb pizza crust recipes and while they both tasted good I was still waiting to find that “wow” kind of pizza crust that I know will become a regular meal for us. I think this is the one!

Remember the low carb buns I made and posted thanks to Ginny at Ginny's Low Carb Kitchen? Well, the recipe makes a damn good pizza crust too! And unlike the other low carb crusts I’ve tried so far, this one you can actually pick up and eat with your hands if you want to!

So now for the good part of this post….the Pizza!!

Low Carb Pizza Crust

(these are the exact ingredients as for the bun recipe)

1/4 cup Butter

6 Large Eggs

1/3 cup Water

3 tbsp Parmesan

1/2 cup Almond Flour

1/3 cup Flax Meal

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Splenda

Melt butter in a large bowl. Add all other ingredients and whisk together really well. Take a baking sheet(one with sides) and line it with a sheet of parchment paper. Give it a bit of a spray with cooking spray, especially on any spots that are not covered by parchment just to make sure it doesn’t stick. Pour the batter onto the parchment and shake it around a bit until it’s spread evenly on the pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, then turn up to 400 and bake another 10 minutes or until the crust is sort of crisped up and toasted a bit.

Make the pizza as you wish, I will share how I make ours…..

Pizza(no exact amounts here, pizza’s all about tossing on what you like!)

Pizza Crust

Pizza Sauce(here’s my Pizza Sauce Recipe in this old post, it’s the best sauce I’ve ever tasted! Just leave out the sugar(I do) or substitute with Splenda)

Grated cheese(we like marble)

Assorted pizza meats(I buy a pack at Walmart for like $3, it’s enough for 2 pizzas)

Cooked and Crumbled bacon

Sliced onions

Sliced tomatoes

Spread pizza sauce on the crust, sprinkle a bit of cheese on top, add meats and veggies and top with more cheese. Bake at 400 for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cut up and enjoy! One pizza was enough for 2 pieces for each of us and they are very filling pieces.

I know some people who are looking for low carb recipes want to know how many carbs there are . I don’t list the nutritional information for my recipes, or even figure it out because I don’t feel I’m qualified to do so. The information for most recipes is going to vary anyway depending on brands etc, so even if I did figure it out what it is for me and what I used may not be what it is for what you use. Another reason I don’t is because we don’t eat low carb for “dieting”, we eat low carb as a healthy lifestyle so the actual amounts of carb is not important to us. We don’t actually count carbs, we just avoid sugar and grains and high carb foods as much as possible. If the carb count is important to you I recommend even for recipes that do list the carb count to still figure it out on your own based on what you use to make sure it’s accurate.

 

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Jolene

What I Wore

This week has pretty much sucked for me. Could be worse of course, but it still sucked. I wanted to catch up on some badly needed cleaning this week but instead I spent most of it loopy on painkillers and getting nothing done. My back decided it was a week for laying on the couch with a heating pad and Robaxicet(which seems to be doing nothing for the pain except making me sleep so I can’t feel it while unconscious). I’m used to this happening every once in a while, I’ve had a bad back since I was a kid, but this time it feels like the worst pain I’ve ever had. Breathing hurts, yawning hurts, and omg sneezing makes it feel like someone is grabbing hold of the muscle and ripping it out! I thought it was over with on Wednesday when the pain was definitely tolerable and I went out shopping and stuff without a problem. Then I woke up this morning in even more pain than when it started at the beginning of the week. argh! So I’ve been completely useless and because of the painkillers I haven’t been with it enough to even do any non-physical work. All I can say is tomorrow it better show serious improvement because I have things that have to get done and I can’t stand another day of laying around feeling dopey.

I dressed up in one of my maxi dresses Wednesday and felt so nice in it….but forgot to take pics….doh! So since I’ve been bad at sharing outfits I’ll share one I wore last week to our final meeting of the year with our homeschool facilitator(yayy, we’re just about done school for the year!). Totally simple, and most of it old stuff too. I felt I looked better than what I see when I look at the pics though, do you get that sometimes? You feel great and feel like what you’re wearing looks great, then you see a picture of it and the picture really doesn’t look like how you thought it looked? Maybe it’s all that light color I’m not used to seeing myself in LOL.

This outfit I actually wore with Yolanda from Diva Deep In Thought in mind. The outfit was kind of inspired by some I’ve seen her post on jean wearing days, although she would have some real kick ass stiletto’s on with hers LOL, I’d kill myself in them though so boots with a square heel it was for me. It was also inspired by Yolanda because the top is coral!! Yes, Yoli, I realized I actually do own something coral! I’ve had this top for a long time but didn’t really clue in that it was coral, I don’t wear it very often. Yolanda is rather obsessed with coral, and for good reason too, it looks great on her!

Ignore the mess in the background lol, it’s still too cold most nights to leave my plants outside, so they’re still taking over my house!

Jeans: hand-me-down from friend from several years ago

Top: Penningtons, no idea cost(2006)(told ya it was old stuff)

Blazer: City Chic, $26(2011)

Boots: Payless, $40(2011)

Necklace: Forever 21, $7(2011)

Earrings: Avon, don’t recall price, at least 4 or 5 yrs old

Are ya reading Yoli? Do you think I translated some of your style? LOL

Jolene

Juno Designs

I promise I will get some outfits and hopefully recipes too posted soon. I got my website done though, yay! If you would like to take a peek please do, please, please, please! LOL. And I wouldn’t be at all opposed to you sharing it with others . My store name is Juno Designs, “Juno” is a name I’ve been using online in different forms for many years because it’s the first 2 letters of my boys names put together.

I also made an ad and would be more than happy to trade ads with other bloggers, whether it be a business ad or advertising your blog….as long as it is an ad that is within my own personal beliefs and morals of course .

When I first made these a few years back I made the “Mom of Boys….Need I Say More?” one just playing around and seeing what the Cafepress site was all about. I was shocked when one sold right away, I was even more shocked when even more sold and that is what made me decide to make more. I didn’t touch the site though for a couple of years, I regret that, I should have kept making new designs all along and advertised. I’m doing that now though . My original “Mom of Boys” design continues to be the best selling one though.

Each design comes on a variety of t-shirt styles and other items, the Mom ones even come in maternity and plus size. Here’s my best selling designs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I just need to start making more money off them so I can start my plus size store!

Thank you for checking out my stuff

Jolene

Gabriella, here is the code for the ad:

<br />
<center><a href="http://juno-designs.weebly.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c360/jomom75/Graphics/Blog%20Stuff/junodesigns200x200.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><center>

 

Jewelry!

We went to a liquidation store on Friday and of all things I found a great deal on jewelry!! I’ve managed to get decent household things at these stores before, but never jewelry. It’s of course cheaper stuff, stuff like you would get at Forever 21, and about the same prices as you would pay there. But I got some cute and unique pieces. They were all either $4 or $5 each. I also got a couple of belts that were only $9 each, definitely not plus size but the kind of elastic they have on them makes them very stretchy.

I’m trying so hard not to spend extra right now, but hubby liked these necklaces so much that every one I said I liked he grabbed LOL.

This is the jewelry I got, didn’t take a pic of the belts, hopefully I can work them into an outfit post soon.

Jolene