Tag Archives: stay at home mom

8/9/17

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Well…. I quit my job today.

It’s kind of a shock for me really, I’ve been managing that place for 9 years and it’s become, well, kind of “mine”.  But the time has come for me to try something new, and I really want to spend more time with my kiddos before they’re grown.  This is time with them I’ll never get back and I don’t want to miss out on it.  It was a really tough decision for me to make, but I’m confident it was the right one.  I’ll still fill in here and there for vacations and/or people calling in sick occasionally, but technically as of right now I’m officially unemployed, and it feels kind of weird.

I have to say though, the one thing I won’t miss?  Catering to these crazy-ass high maintenance dog owners every single day.  =)  I don’t think there’s a person in their right mind that would miss that, and it has honestly been wearing on my sanity for a while.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job and I loved *most* of my customers, and I loved my coworkers, but there’s that “Special” few, you know?  The absolute crazies.  =)  That’s who I won’t miss.

So this will start the new chapter on my new “Stay at Home Mom” lifestyle, and we’ll see how well I cope. =)  I’m looking forward to spending time with my new booth at Lonestar Mercantile and that’s something I can take the kids with me when I need to as I only really need to go up there to restock and rearrange (and shop!). I’m looking forward to trying new crafts and finally having time to put together those scrapbooks I’ve been putting off for years.  And I’m having fun meal planning and trying new recipes out as well!  I’ve been surprised so far at how full my days have been just with the tasks I give myself to do every day, and how quickly time passes during the day, so I’m hopeful I won’t go too stir crazy.  =)

So here’s to new adventures!  Onward and upward!  ❤

8/8/17

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Man, rough day today!! Tatum is doing a lot better but MAN she was a handful today and I had them both by myself as my poor mom is super sick too! It also feels like Wade and I are coming down with whatever it is and I'm pretty sure Wyatt has some degree of it as well as he's not seemed to feel very well the last couple days either. Yuck.

As a friend said, her cheese face is on point! 😂😬

In spite of how challenging she was being, I actually got more done than I expected today! I finished up thank you cards, got almost all of the birth announcements addressed and stamped and ready to mail, some laundry done, and I even made dinner thanks to my Instant Pot!

I tried a new recipe tonight! IP Chicken Pot Pie Casserole! It tasted amazing!! Wade went back for seconds and I have a TON leftover for dinner tomorrow. Super easy recipe too:

After dinner I sent Tatum out to the backyard to run off some steam with Wade and Wyatt and I vegged out for a few!

I love his "praying mantis" pose. I trimmed his fingernails again tonight so you can actually see his hands instead of mittens! 🙂

OH!!! I also added some new Pyrex to the collection by way of winning two raffles!!! I'm most excited about the Pink Gooseberry set!! It's been on my wish list for a while but price-wise out of my reach really!!! Thank you raffle!!!! I'm really loving them!

This is also the first two pieces of Snowflake Garland I've gotten, so I have to decide if I'm up to starting a new pattern or not. Lol!! They're really pretty!

Tomorrow I have lunch with my boss, then I'm gunning for a real good nap in the afternoon because Tatum's butt is going back to school!!! Whoop!!!

8/6/17

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It's been a rough day today, full of sad, sick little kiddos. Tatum has run a 100-102 fever all day and when this afternoon after Tylenol (we've been alternating Tylenol/Motrin every three hours with little improvement) she started to head up past 104 instead of down we took her back to pediatric urgent care.

Who knew a urine specimen cup could be so amazing?

After a urine test and a chest X-ray we have a diagnosis of Bronchitis/Walking Pneumonia. 😢 They put her on a second antibiotic on top of the one she started last night, so hopefully things will start to look up. She's looked so sad and pitiful all day. 😦

Wyatt didn't have the best day either. I still can't decide if he's got the same virus Tatum started all this out with over a week ago (I hope not) or if it's because he seems to be stopped up again and hasn't pooped since Thursday evening. I guess tomorrow I'll be headed to the store at some point to get baby suppositories for him, which sounds like a blast….. literally.

We did get the last couple shelves installed at the booth at Lonestar and a couple clip lights to help brighten things up and now we just need Stacie's sign for Tick Tock Crafts and all her stuff loaded in there!! I'm really excited about opening day, and I have a bunch more stuff to make and take over there this week to be ready for it!

Headed off to bed as I negotiate the challenge of sick toddler home with newborn tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

8/4/17

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Tummy Time – Not a Fan….

We had a nice day today!  Got a few things done here at the house in the morning, then met Amber and Sadie for lunch at the Chocolate Angel Tea Room.  It was really good!  After lunch I wandered around High Street for a bit and then puttered over to Plano Antique Mall too for a little Pyrex shopping expedition.  =)

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Got some Town and Country and a Butterfly Gold.  =)  I know, I don’t need any more, but hey, my name is Jamie and I have a problem.  LOL

This evening we had a wonderful pot roast I cooked in the Crock Pot today.  It’s funny how our time with Blue Apron and Hello Fresh gave me a new appreciation for spices and seasonings!  I seasoned the meat with Rosemary and Thyme, and it was delicious!  I’ve finally figured out which roast to buy for more tender meat and I’m happy I did!  I had a really hard time getting behind pot roast before that.

Also finished my planning for the next week this evening.  Also funny how I never was able to fill a paper planner when I was working but now that I’m not the dang thing is full.  LOL!

Really looking forward to my parents getting home either tomorrow evening or Sunday morning.  Two weeks is a long time to go without seeing them!  Tatum is going to be so excited to see them!

 

 

8/2/17

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My main goal today was to get up to Lonestar Mercantile and get my frames moved around so that normal height people can reach them, and I’m happy to say that not only did that get accomplished but a whole crapload of other stuff got done too!

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We still need to add Stacie’s stuff from Tick Tock Crafts, and I have some other things I’m making for opening like some fall/pumpkin themed stuff and more Allen High School spirit necklaces/jewelry, but so far I think it’s really coming along well!  Excited to share my love of crafts AND vintage (especially the PYREX!)

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Speaking of Pyrex, I finished off my Pink Gooseberry Refrigerator Dish set today!  Isn’t it GORGEOUS?  I really love the pink patterns, they’re really filling up my display cabinets too.  LOL!  And of course now there’s this huge surge in the Pyrex craze so I’m sure some of this stuff is going to start getting expensive to get my hands on! (Not like it isn’t already.)

Wyatt spent some time being unimpressed by me while I worked on my TO DO list for the day, but this afternoon with the weather being so nice we took a trip outside to look around.  I don’t think he was much impressed by that either, but at least it was a change of things to be unimpressed by.  *grin*

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And finally here’s a picture of my sad (but delicious) dinner that I ate by myself because Wade is still at work even though it’s almost 9:30pm.  Delicious Chicken Tacos I made with my amazing Crock Pot:

Crock-Pot 6-Quart Programmable Cook & Carry Slow Cooker with Digital Timer, Stainless Steel , SCCPVL610-S

Can you sense a theme with my cooking?  With a newborn (ok, I guess he’s an “infant” now that he’s over a month) in the house, I am ALL ABOUT the quick and easy.  I’ve been relying heavily on both my Crockpot and Instant Pot the last few weeks to get dinner made and on the table with a minimum of fuss, and since I was doing bedtime for both kids by myself tonight I was really relieved to have dinner done and ready to go.  Tatum even approves of this recipe!!

3-Ingredient Slow Cooker Taco Chicken

  • 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 breast halves)
  • 1 tsp. medium-hot taco seasoning or 1 tbsp. mild taco seasoning (adjust to your desired spiciness – this is for mildly spicy)
  • 1 cup mild salsa
  • for serving: tortillas, shredded cheese, avocado or guacamole, tomatoes, additional salsa, etc.
Directions
  1. Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. Spoon salsa on top of chicken and spread to cover chicken.
  2. Cook on low for 3-4 hours, or on high for 2 hours, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate to cool slightly, along with any salsa that is on top of the chicken. Shred with two forks or your fingers and place in a bowl. Stir in some of the liquid from the slow cooker, starting with ¼ cup and adding more as desired.
  3. Serve chicken in tortillas with toppings as desired.

8/1/17

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Had a great day with my friend Sarah, which ended in us going to El Flamboyan for lunch, this awesome little hole-in-the-wall Puerto Rican place near the house!  We absolutely STUFFED ourselves, and I was super happy to see an honest-to-goodness Puerto Rican Mofongo on the menu!

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(The mofongo is on the bottom right. Also included are Empanadas, tostones, and yucca frita…. YUM)

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Our otherwise relatively incident free day ended when Tatum somehow pulled a plastic toy down off a shelf with a direct hit to her mouth.  The drama and screaming that ensued… *sigh*  She cut her lip with her tooth, but once she woke up today seemed fine so there’s that. =)

In other news, Wyatt is wearing a 0-3month sleeper!  Woot!  It fits fairly decent length-wise, but much like Tatum at this age it looks like a deflated balloon around his middle.  LOL!

 

Instant Pot Corn on the Cob

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So the other day I posted the greatness that is the Chicken BBQ sliders, but I also had some amazing corn on the cob on the plate that day, and I wanted to take a second to talk about it.  =)

My hubby LOVES corn on the cob.  In fact, every time I send him to Walmart on his own he comes back with a bag of 25 cent per cob corn that I have to find a way to work into almost every single dinner that week.  But for a lot of ways that it’s cooked, corn on the cob is a royal pain.  You grill it (which I love) but requires constant supervision.  You boil it (also constant supervision). You do whatever to it, but what I do?  I Instant Pot it.

Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 Multi-Use Pressure Cooker, 6 Qt | Stainless Steel

This baby is my GO TO kitchen appliance.  I love it SO MUCH I have two.  Two.  Yes, I said two.  If I could justify it I’d probably own three, but I can’t.

It’s like a crockpot hyped up on steroids.  I make ALL KINDS of meals in here, but one of the easiest things is perfectly cooked corn on the cob.

INSTANT POT CORN ON THE COB:

-Remove the husks and silk from the corn and rinse.

-Place 1/2 cup water in the stainless steel insert inside the pot.

-Place your corn directly in the pot in the water.

-Salt your corn and I also place about 2 tbsp butter on top.

-Put on the lid and turn the knob to sealed.

-Hit Manual button and set for 3 minutes.

-I usually do a manual release of pressure, but that’s just pure laziness on my part because I’m generally fixing something else at the moment.  You can do a quick release if you like too.

Done.  Perfect, fabulous tasting corn.

 

7/31/17

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Well, we made it through July!

I had a relatively uneventful day today, so this will be one boring post…  Got a few things done this morning, and since Sara was coming over for me to help her with Divine Consign I actually got motivated to pick up some of the clutter in the master bedroom (since that’s where my computer is).  It looks pretty good in there now for a couple that have two kids, a ton of stuff, and a smaller house if I don’t say so myself!

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That was the start to our tagging and entering endeavors!  That was a LOT of clothing.  350 different entries to be exact and some of them had multiples in the same entry.  Whew!

Wyatt spent some time in the MamaRoo today while I made my three pieces for the day.  I don’t think he was terribly impressed by it.  He’s been slightly grumpy today, and he seems a little off on his feeding too…  I think he’s got that little virus Tatum has been coming down with, but he doesn’t seem snotty or anything yet, just sad.  =(

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That’s his sad baby face, breaks my heart. =(

I threw a batch of Sara’s incredible BBQ Chicken Sliders recipe in the crock pot for dinner, MAN are those things good!  You know something is tasty when you are looking forward to having leftovers for a couple days!  I was feeling pretty good about my housewife skills about dinner time this evening.  =)

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Then I spent some time snuggling with Baby Wyatt while Daddy put the toddler to work. She LOVES to dust and clean!  We don’t think that will last forever, but it’s nice at the moment!  ha ha ha!

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I have a really dirty caption for this photo, but this post is PG13 =)

Tomorrow another friend is coming over to pick through my maternity clothes and go to lunch, and then maybe I’ll buckle down and vacuum or something.  =)  Got to keep that productive streak going!  ❤

7/30/17

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A puzzle piece fell into place on Tatum's no good, very bad weekend. She was running just the slightest fever this morning, and since both Wade and I figured the ear infection didn't get knocked out by the antibiotic Wade took her in to Nitehawk (pediatric urgent care). They checked her ears, checked for strep, uti, everything, but nada. Virus. So at least it's not an infection, yet… 😬

We had a fairly low key day since she was feeling kind of off. Naps, mommy treated herself to a MASSAGE (and it was ah-may-zing!), and then I grabbed my new additions to my Pyrex collection from my "dealer":

I present, PINK GOOSEBERRY!

I had the top bowl (the smallest) but she was able to complete my set for me! Really love them!!

After that we did our very first Walmart grocery pickup, and I have to say, I can't believe it took me this long to try it!! Should have listened to Sara!! No more lugging kids into Wally World for me! Woop Woop!

We braved it and went to Cotton Patch for dinner, and it went better than expected. Stopped off at the dollar store for me to get the little cups I use to stack my pyrex and Tatum picked out a flower. She was so pleased with it, and what the heck, it was $1…. right? I know, spoiled…

Tomorrow I have a whole stack of stuff to do so I'm really hoping she will feel well enough to go to school. I am so not ready to have both of them at home!!! She's been pretty much fever free since this morning so my fingers are crossed!!!

Until tomorrow!

7/29/17

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While Wyatt had a MUCH better night and day today, Tatum had probably her worst in a while. She worked Wade and I to the absolute max…

She woke up fairly cranky, and it just got worse from there. We headed to the Farmers Market in McKinney for a little outing and I wrapped Wyatt for a little more practice and she was supposedly going to walk, but instead she tripped (AGAIN) on these damn sandals she has that she insists on wearing everywhere and skinned her left knee. It wasn't bad, but if you know Tatum you know it was a drama fest that ended with her insisting she couldn't walk and making Wade carry her. I wish I'd brought the onbu so I could have worn them both, but I doubt Wade would have let me do that anyway since that makes him look kinda jerky walking all unencumbered while I haul two kids around! Lol!

Of course they also had pony rides and we couldn't get out of there without doing that. At least she was happy for the couple minutes that was going on!

We headed to Lonestar to drop off more stuff for the booth and I ended up taking her in with me while Wade stayed with Wyatt in the car. I'm just realizing I placed the grey frame on the right way too high for someone of normal height so I'm going to have to get back up there this coming week and redo my frames. Poop.

If that isn't an advertisement for a super challenging toddler right there, I don't know what is! 😂😂😂

Then for some unknown reason we decided to take her to lunch at Panera. I won't go into details because it still makes me exasperated to think about it but I came so close to (excuse my french) absolutely losing my shit with her in a public place, which I have never ever done. Ugh. So home we went and all took naps to cool off.

The evening went *better*, and because we're absolute gluttons for punishment we took both kids to El Fenix for dinner. With the aid of the iPad we had a slightly less frustrating meal, but bedtime totally sucked, and now I'm just hoping for any sort of improvement tomorrow.

I know a lot if it is just her age, but dang she is so strong willed, and some of it is we've just spoiled the crap out of her and now we're having to try to backtrack and fix the attitude problem. *sigh* Lessons in parenting….

I spent some time organizing and cleaning out my beads that I'm not going to use tonight and so that settled me a little. Organizing always makes me feel a little more put together for some reason!

Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow!