As everybody I know is on a diet, I decided to jump on the band wagon too.  Diets for me consist of watching what I eat and exercise.  I like to use sparkpeople.com as a resource because it’s a great little diet site, and free fits in my budget.  Today I started with my dinner menu.  I’ve only listed the main courses but I have tons of frozen vegetables I plan on for side dishes.  Also, all of the recipes are from the sparkpeople recipe site , I’ve never tasted any of them so this should be interesting.  As for the rest of meals and snacks I’ve bought raw almonds, apples with caramel or yogurt dipping sauce, 100 calorie popcorn, salads and soups.  For lunches at work I usually have some kind of lean TV dinner.  I started tracking my calories today on sparkpeople and they give me 1200-1500 calories, 163-236 carbs, 32-56 fat, and 60-127 protein.  I’m happy to report I have stayed well within my range and will still have some calories to burn after dinner.  Hooray!  The exercise is the harder part as I let my gym membership expire (never went anyway) and I don’t like being away from the family every night.  Last time, I was successful by using my Wii so I’m going to do that again.  I have the Wii Fit (bought the Fit Plus game today) and I have the Gold’s Gym game which is mostly boxing.  So that’s the plan.  I have 29 lbs to lose which will bring me down to 140 lbs.  You do the math and here’s my menu.  As always, check out Organized Junkie for more menus.

MONDAY
Crispy Ranch Chicken
Raising Cane’s Sauce

TUESDAY
Cola Chicken

WEDNESDAY
Left Over Buffet

THURSDAY
Kickin’ Creamy Chicken Stew

FRIDAY
Skillet Lasagna

SATURDAY
Left Over Buffet

SUNDAY
“open”

Goodness!  Take a week off and it takes two to three weeks to get back on schedule.  I noticed I hadn’t done a menu plan for awhile so here it is for this week.  The Barbacoa beef is also going to double as enchiladas this week for a potluck at my husband’s work.  I may make a green chile rice casserole too.  If you like what you see here, don’t forget to go to the Organized Junkie to see more menus!

I also wanted to add this picture of Connor in this hat.

He’s perfectly aware it doesn’t fit him, but it’s not suppose to.  He made it using a Knifty Knitter in the baby size.  I think he did pretty good for how young he is (6).  Connor decided that I can donate this hat to someone that is needy and I’m pretty proud of him!

MONDAY
Penne with Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
Five Cheese Toast

TUESDAY
Barbacoa Beef Tacos
Spanish Rice
Refried Beans

WEDNESDAY
Leftover Buffet

THURSDAY
Pot Pie Night

FRIDAY
Pizza Pasta
Five Cheese Toast

SATURDAY
Beef Strognoff with Noodles
Green Beans

SUNDAY
Leftover Buffet

Happy New Year!  I’m starting out the new year right by adding the pictures from last year that I promised.  We had such a good time on the Polar Express.  The evening after was a bit crazy, but the train was great.  Pat and I are thinking of going back and taking the train to the Grand Canyon another time, maybe without the kids.  LOL.  Here’s the pics.

Can’t board a train without tickets.

We gave the lady our tickets and got on board.  These kids don’t look excited do they?

We got to our seats and got cozy.

Perhaps a little silly.

Did I mention we got cozy?

The train got going and they gave us chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate.

Which some of us picked out of our teeth.

This is one of the two cooks passing out cookies and hot chocolate.  At this point this cook read us the story The Polar Express and the other cook walked up and down the isle to show us the pictures.  Some parents were smart enough to bring a copy of the book with them.  This one wasn’t but it was still fun.

We went through this tunnel filled with lights and “time traveled” to the North Pole.  You can’t see them, but my kids joined this nice lady and her children in their matching pajamas (isn’t that cute!) to see Santa’s village outside the window.  It was done up really cute but since the train was moving, we weren’t able to get a good picture of it.

After a little wait, they told us the reindeer were throwing snowballs at the train while the engineers moved the engine to the other side of the cars to return home, the train started up again.  We learned that Santa had boarded and was visiting every car.  Santa gave each child a bell.  Somehow, both the kids’ bells ended up in my purse, so now I jingle as well as jiggle.

With the bells we all sang songs.  Connor was picked to help sing Jingle Bells, and in true McDevitt fashion he sang off key and at a different speed as everyone else.

When the train returned to the station and we exited, we ran into this tombstone, and no, I didn’t trip over it.

So long train, we had a good time!

I have some more pictures of the hotel and of Hoover Dam, but I’ll add those tomorrow.  Good Night!

Yay, we’re home!  I was hoping to post some pictures tonight but after getting hardly any sleep last night and spending three hours to get past Hoover Dam, I’m beat.  We thought after the kids got all their excitement out on the train, then went swimming, that everyone would get a good night sleep last night.  Not so!  We settled down at about 11:00 p.m.  An hour later Katie woke up with a tummy ache.  Pat asked if she was going to throw up, she said no.  We put her in bed with us and I rubbed her tummy.  About every twenty minutes she would wimper, Pat would startle awake and almost shout, “Katie, are you going to throw up?” and I would rub her belly.  We had the routine down solid, like a showing of the Blue Man Group.  At some point, around 2:00 a.m. Connor woke up.  He would snooze in and out of sleep, but when he was awake he was chatty.  We’d quiet him down and he he’d sleep a bit, but at 4:09 a.m he was awake again.  And why do I remember the time so precisely?  Because that is when Connor started to inform us of every passing minute.  Being tired and all, that got on our nerves pretty quick.  After some yelling (Pat), crying (Connor), hysterics (me), bewilderment (Katie), and a pillow that was thrown, I climbed in bed with Connor and settled him down, Pat took over the belly rubs on Katie (at some point she let out several large burps and felt much better) and we all got a good night’s rest of about an hour.    So, I’m headed to bed now and heaven help whoever wakes me up tomorrow!

Welcome to my redesign!  Do you like it?  After I think two or so years, I was sort of tired of the old design so I looked at some free wordpress templates, found this one, then used GIMP (a free photoshop like program) to add my title, added some of my special features, like the books I’m reading and my twitter, then Wallah!  I’m done.  Now to add some content.

I got a new net book for Christmas and that is how I’m having fun doing all this.  We switched from cable internet to WiMax a couple months ago so as long as I’m in town I can pretty much take this thing anywhere and be connected to the internet.  At this point, however, I’m out of range.  The kids and I are headed over to Williams, Arizona to ride a train.  We just passed the Boulder City train twice, but that’s because we thought we would show the kids Hoover Dam, saw how bad traffic was, and turned around to take another route.

Where was I?  Oh, yeah, back to the train we are going on.  I’ve never been to Williams, but here is what I know about it.  First, it’s a little past Flagstaff, they say it’s the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, there is an old train that will takes passengers to the Grand Canyon for the day, and during the holidays this train does a Polar Express ride which is the whole reason we are headed there.   Our boarding time is tonight at 6:30 p.m.  The kids will be in their pajamas, perhaps their Mom will be too.  We will get on the train and be served cookies and hot chocolate.  After about a half hour, the train will arrive at “the North Pole” and pick up a special passenger.  Santa will board the train and give every child a bell and they will jingle and sing Christmas songs all the way back to the train depot, which is also our hotel.  My kids are excited but their faces didn’t quite light up the way I expected till I told them the hotel has a heated indoor pool.  Since then it has been nothing but, “When can we go Mom?” “Can we go today Mom?” “Do you know where our bathing suits are, Mom?” “If you change your name so we can’t bug you, Mom, then what will we call you?”

According to Mapquest our road trip will last 3 hours and 44 minutes.  We are taking the alternate route that does not go over Hoover Dam so we will go passed Searchlight (did about 10 minutes ago), Laughlin, and Bullhead City.  We brought the headrest TVs and the new Snoopy moives Connor got for Christmas, because one thing Mapquest doesn’t say is just how boring miles and miles of desert is.  And with that, I will end this post with a couple of bad and blurry cell phone pictures to prove my point.

Menu Plan Monday – For more menus and ideas check out the Organized Junkie.

Sunday
Pizza Pasta

Monday
Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ
Green Beans

Tuesday
Leftover Buffet

Wednesday
Date Night!
Chili’s
Movie

Thursday
Julie’s House for Thanksgiving
Bringing Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole

Friday
Turkey Breast
Pioneer Woman Cornbread Stuffing
Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes w/Gravy
Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole
Five Spiced Carrots
Pumpkin Pie

Saturday
Leftover Buffet

Pat & I have been working on the downstairs remodel. The flooring is in the bathroom now and my toilet has been put back in, no more heading to the bathroom only to realize I have to dance up the stairs to go. Next project, putting the door back on and adding a roll of toilet paper in there. LOL. Last night, I touched up the paint that bathroom and in the process accidentally touched a wire to metal. The metal sparked and I blew a fuse. My husband called down, “Whatcha doin’ Nicole?” Just burning down the house, dear. I was very blessed not to get zapped myself, but I did melt some of the metal in the light fixture.

Now, on to the main reason I post on Mondays, the weekly menu. For some reason I can write down my menu, but if I don’t post it to this website I don’t follow though.  As for last week, the favorites were  the buffalo chicken sandwiches, at least by me.  As a matter of fact we didn’t have our pizza because I kept taking left overs of it for breakfast.  The other thing we enjoyed was the Pioneer Woman’s Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Cream Sauce.  Very good.  We also didn’t get to the Taco Bake, but I carried that one over from last week.  If you’ve never stopped by the Organizing Junkie, you should. On top of the weekly menu there are tons of helpful organizing tips.   Here’s the menu:

SUNDAY
Hamburger Helper Complete Meal – Taco Bake

MONDAY
Tomato Soup
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

TUESDAY
Salsa Chicken
Rice
Beans

WEDNESDAY
Shepherd Pie

THURSDAY
Leftover Buffet

FRIDAY
Del Taco Fiesta Pack

SATURDAY
Teriyaki Burgers
Tater Tots
Salad

I’ve decided that this little website needs a facelift, and as soon as I can find a new home for the children and husband I will relearn how to do that.   Since rehoming the kids and the husband won’t be happening any time soon, here’s what I’ll be feeding everyone for dinner for the week.  Thanks for stopping by.  For more menu plans check out the Organized Junkie.

Sunday
Taco Bell

Monday
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
Coleslaw (store bought)

Tuesday
Pot Pie Night (store bought)

Wednesday
Grilled Ribeye Steak with Onion Blue Cheese Sauce
Baked Potatoes (crock pot baked)
Broccoli & Three Cheese Sauce (frozen)

Thursday
Buffalo Chicken Pizza (using leftover chicken from Monday and this pizza dough recipe)
Spinach Salad (store bought with feta added and Hendrickson’s dressing)

Friday
Left Over Buffet

Saturday
Cheesy Taco Bake (Hamburger Helper Complete Meals)
Green Beans (frozen)

I haven’t sat down to do this in awhile, but since I just made the menu I thought I’d post it.  Thursday is Pat’s Birthday (Happy Birthday Sweetheart, I LOVE YOU!) so I’m going to make Green Chicken Enchiladas, which are his all time favorite thing I make.   I’m going to cook a couple extra salsa chicken breasts on Tuesday to use for the filling in the enchiladas.  The salsa chicken is the best, try it if you haven’t.  Tonight’s dinner was pancakes, mostly because I hadn’t done grocery shopping yet.  Speaking of grocery shopping, I gotta go do that now or else what was the point of doing a menu?  If you want to see some more menus take a trip over to  the organizing junkie and get inspired.

MONDAY
Pancakes for dinner
(kids love this)

TUESDAY
Salsa Chicken
Spanish Rice
Beans

WEDNESDAY
Leftovers
(if there is any, if
not a frozen family
dinner)

THURSDAY
Green Chicken Enchiladas
Fire Roasted vegetables

FRIDAY
Southwest Pasta Bake
Texas Toast

SATURDAY
Leftovers

Now before you go and remind me that I’m on a diet, hear me out.  This recipe is all part of my weight loss regime.  What I do is make a casserole (or two) of this yummy baked french toast and then take it to my friends and co-workers.  Just do this a few times a week over the next several weeks and I promise you will look slimmer by comparison.  See, I told you it was part of the plan.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (1 pound) loaf French bread,
cut into cubes
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup half-and-half cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

DIRECTIONS:

Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Dip bread slices in milk mixture then put the bread in the baking dish. Pour any leftover mixture over the bread then cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.