New Job

My Country Boy has just started a new job. He's left the stress of a retail management position behind and has joined the Boilermaker's union. He's loving the rugged, work hard for your money new job. I'm really happy for him. Yesterday was his first day. After an hour and a half drive home, he arrived and to me he was more relaxed and happier than I've seen him in awhile when he's first arrived home from work. This tickles me. I love my man and I want him happy.

And just one more picture, cause I love him so much!!

Please overlook my rugrats and their love of making faces at the camera.

The Biggest Loser

I know I've been MIA for a bit, I'm sorry, but the Country Boy and I are trying to turn over a new leaf. We've both been out of shape for quite sometime. The Biggest Loser is one of my favorite shows. So, I've taken the plunge, along with the Country Boy and my baby group.

My new mantra is you'll always get what you've always got, if you always do what you've always done. So, I'm changing. If you are looking for a place to start, try watching The Biggest Loser and check out www.SparkPeople.com.

Spark People is a fabulous site. It has the Spark fitness plan and the Spark diet. The diet has REAL food and easy to follow demos of the exercises. The thing I love about the Spark diet is this...YOU CAN PRINT OUT YOUR GROCERY LIST!!! You can even customize the list based on the number of people you need to feed. It's truly fabulous. Give it a try and tell them DZmom76 sent you!!!

A Soft Place to Land

Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land is my kinda girl. LOL!! She describes herself as a work in progress. What I really love is how she feathers her home and tries to make it A Soft Place to Land for her family. Isn't that every mother's goal? She also takes pieces of not so great furniture and revamps them. She feathers her nest with these finds and she seems to be the frugal type when doing so.

Recently, she foregoed making this...

This gorgeous entry way piece is from the front of Lowe's Creative Ideas catalog, but instead of breaking the budget, Kimba made these cute little topiaries, instead.

I love them. I think they're FABULOUS. I really do love them. I think they'd be fabulous on the mantle or on your dining table with a large hurricane vase and a nicely fall scented candle.

So, go check out Kimba's ideas on feathering a soft nest. I'm sure you won't be disapointed.

Em turns 4!!!

Isn't she gorgeous?

I'm not the least bit biased either, so don't even go there!!! LOL!!

This picture was taken by me and edited in Picasa 3 Beta!

That's Emily, my middle child!! She personifies everything a middle child is. She's certainly a sweetheart, though. She turns 4 in less than a week and it just doesn't seem possible. This year she wants a Backyardigans party. Now, here's the conundrum. Long long ago, on her very first birthday, I made the mistake of BAKING HER BIRTHDAY CAKES!!! No, I don't think this is a mistake, but it is a lot of work when I could just buy one. I've made her birthday cake every year of her life. I'd planned to not make anymore just cause it's a HUGE time and energy commitment. I didn't make Zoe's this year, but it just seems wrong to NOT make Em's cake, so I'm going to take a stab at it.

Now I'd show you a picture of Emily's 1st birthday cakes, but unfortunately I learned the back up your computer lesson the hard way. Serious tears were shed over those pictures. I did have them extracted, but the computer guy lost the cd. I do, however, have pictures of cakes from years 2 and 3. If you have any questions let me know.

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

Wish me luck that I don't lose it at her party. I'm an emotional mess when it comes to my kids and them growing up.

Pasta Weesie

Saturday nights are reserved for my husband and I to reconnect. My mother-in-law normally picks up the older 2 rugrats and we keep Zoe. Sometimes we hit a restaurant and the Redbox, but last night we stayed in. Terry and I LOVE Carrabba's, but with us living in rural Kentucky our nearest one is over an hour and a half away. Much too far for a normal Saturday night. So, after little miss settled down for the night I started cooking. Pasta Weesie was my aim and I think I hit it spot on.

Carrabba's menu describes Pasta Weesie as Shrimp sauteed in a garlic, lemon butter, white wine sauce with sauteed mushrooms and scallions, served over fettuccine Alfredo. Now cause I'm a mom on a budget I buy CHEAP stuff and improvise. I also didn't do the mushrooms, well cause I HATE mushrooms. Sorry Ree & Pastor Ryan! You just can't make me love them!!

The Southern Sass's Pasta Weesie

1 bag of pre-cooked small shrimp (In the freezer section.)
2 cloves pressed garlic
2 tablespoons diced onions
Lemon Butter Sauce
1 pkg Knorr Alfredo sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
heavy hand of fettuccine (I used a WHOLE box)

Directions: Saute the shrimp until nearly done. Add garlic, and onions. Continue sauteing until shrimp is cooked completely. (Since I used the precooked shrimp I had to drain the water off.) In a separate pan, make a package of Knorr Alfredo sauce. Add the Alfredo sauce & lemon butter(below) to the shrimp. Stir well to combine. Then add the grated Parmesan. Plate pasta and top with shrimp mixture.


Donna's Lemon Butter Sauce (I'm too lazy to clarify the butter like I'm supposed to.)

1 stick of butter
4 T finely chopped yellow onion
4 T finely chopped garlic
Juice from 1 large lemon
4 T dry white wine
Kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 T cold butter

To make sauce; Melt butter over low heat, add onion and garlic, and saute until transparent. Add lemon juice and white wine, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes to reduce liquid. Remove from heat and swirl in cold butter until sauce is smooth and emulsified.

This recipe is enough for 4 regular servings, but what you see in that bowl is HALF this recipe. Yes I know I'm going to die if I don't stop eating like this, but at least I'll die HAPPY!!!

MY FIRST AWARDS!!!

Cara over at RockSTARRMom has blessed me with my first awards.

She's the QUEEN of all things Beauty. If you're a dismal mess at beauty products such as I am, then she's your girl. Ever wondered if that department store eyeshadow is worth the MONEY, then go check out Cara's blog. She won't lead you astray. THANKS, CARA!!!

The Inspired Room

If you haven't already, then you REALLY need to check out Melissa's blog The Inspired Room. She has some FABULOUS ideas for feathering your nest. The picture to the left is one from her blog and I just LOVE it. It's a beautiful picture.

Her latest blog is about Seasonal Nesting. She has 10 great and easy steps to get your home and yourself ready for the Fall and Holiday Season. Check her out. I know I'll be putting those steps to good use, myself. I don't know about you, but I could use ALL the tips and tricks I can get.

Give her a shout out and tell her Donna at Southern Sass sent you. OH! Subscribe to her blog, as well. She gives out some great advice about not only feathering your nest but getting it ready for that feathering.

SO, since Fall is nipping at our heels, check out Melissa and The Inspired Room and get a head start on all your girlfriends. Finally it will be them clamouring to follow you instead of vise versa.

Much Love from the Southern Sass!!!

Family Dinners

I'm an advocate of Family Dinners. I know that in today's busy world, dinner's at the family table are few are far between. As a Suburban Soccer Mom, I'm constantly being pulled in a thousand directions. Prime example was last night. Hunter had football practice at 6pm on one side of town and Emily had soccer practice at 6:30pm on the opposite side of town. On nights like last night I'm lucky that everyone gets fed and I'm a SAHM, so I understand why Wendy's and McDonald's makes the money they do. All I ask is you TRY to use that dining table 1 or 2 nights a week. You really do learn a lot about your kids when you take the time to sit down for dinner.

At our table tonight it was Emily keeping us entertained. We sat down to have a bowl of that absolutely FABULOUS Chicken Noodle soup and some crusty Sourdough bread. It was YUMMY, by the way!! Terry said he loved that I'd accidentally dumped the entire bag of noodles in the pot. (I bought a 12 or 16oz bag.) Hunter said his favorite part was the green things (Celery). Emily piped up and says, "I LOVE THE PURPLE THINGS!" Realizing that there wasn't anything purple on the table I asked, "What purple things, Goo?" "LIFESAVERS!", was the answer. LOL!

Later, Hunter was singing us a song they learned in school about the multiples of 3. Too cute for words. He was using his fingers to keep track and when he got to 30, he had all 10 fingers in the air and Emily says, "That's 10, Hunter!" in the most annoying little sister voice possible. LOL!! I died laughing at her!

Had we been eating on the run or sitting at a restuarant, we'd never had that moment. We'd missed that memory forever. So, while I know that it's supremely hard in today's world and not every Mom is channeling Donna Reed like I get to, try to find sometime for your family at your dining table. You'll never regret it.

Here's my adorable middle child, Emily Paige. Doesn't she look older than 3? She'll be 4 in a couple weeks and I can't for the life of me figure out where the time went.

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

Today I'm in the mood to cook!! YAY!!!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, I'm so excited. I just can't wait.

See I told you, sometimes store or generic brands are cheaper. The McCormick grinders were on sale for $1. Happy Donna! Happy Donna!! LOL! Ok, sorry. Wild tangent. Back to Chicken soup.

The ingredients for Chicken soup are simple. Noodles, salt, pepper, chicken, chicken broth, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. OOPS!! No garlic and onion in the picture. Just pretend. You know it's there.

Here's how I do it.

INGREDIENTS

-48 oz of chicken broth
-2 BS chicken breasts (no not Bull Snot chicken breasts. boneless and skinless. Keep your minds out of the gutter) You can do this without even thawing the chicken out.
-1 large onion, peeled, halved and sliced

-3 bay leaves
-about 10 turns of the pepper grinder
-2/3 bunch celery (Now you could reserve the leaves for later if you want to get fancy)
-1 pound carrots sliced (I use baby carrots cause they are already cleaned and I have enough to do during the day.)

-1 package dry noodles

-water

DIRECTIONS

1. Place everything, but the noodles in a large pot over High heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. (This may take longer if you didn't thaw your chicken.)

2. Remove chicken. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and cut meat into bite-size pieces.

3. Return chicken to pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Stir noodles into pot. Simmer until noodles are cooked, about 10 minutes more. At this time I normally have to add a bit more water.

4. Serve with warm crusty bread or grilled cheese sandwiches. YUM!!

FYI-if you like a bit more chickeny flavor you can always add some a bit chicken base or a couple buillion cubes to add a bit more chickeny taste.

Grocery Update

Ok, I FINALLY made it to the grocery. Albeit, at 10pm!!! So, here I sit after spending my hard earned money at the store on ever increasing prices. I mean really a 4lb bag of sugar has went up 22cents in the last month and a half. That's just insane. Anyway I've meandered down yet another wild tangent. LOL!!

So, here I sit (Did I say that already?) with my grocery receipt and realize should have taken my own advice this morning. I went to the store to only get 2 days worth of groceries, cause I hate to grocery shop, I KNOW, I KNOW, I've mentioned that already, but Kroger was having LOADS of sales and I got about 8 days worth of groceries. Here's the part that's making me not so happy. I SPENT $134!!!!! OMG!! It's been ages since I missed my grocery budget. Plus, I have about $16 more of groceries.

Monogram Chick

YES! I AM PROCRASTINATING!!! I told you I HATE the grocery!!!
If you haven't checked out Monogram Chick yet, do so NOW!!! They are fabulous and have everything from unique and trendy travel mugs to adorable backpacks. The best part? ALL OF IT IS MONOGRAMMED!

Gorgeous Embroidered Tote

Personalized Address Stamp

Wouldn't your correspondance look fabulous with this beautiful alternative to those address labels?

Check out the contest that Monogram Chick is running on The Secret is in the Sauce.

Saving Money at the Grocery

With the economy the way it is and so many of my friends wondering how to spend less and save more I thought I post how I do what I do. LOL!! In town I'm legendary for spending NOTHING and getting LOTS.

Today is grocery day!! UGH!! I hate going to the grocery! Seriously, this is one of my least favorite chores. Unfortunately, my family demands dinner, so I must go.

There's a method to saving money.

1. Check out the ads!! Find out what's on sale where and for how much. TIP=If you're like me and you hate sales papers laying around, then check out your stores ad online!!!
2. Menu Planning!!! After you've perused the ads, make a menu including the items that are on sale. Making a menu is KEY to saving money. If you don't then you'll be going into the devil's lair without any preparation and you'll end up BURNED!! So make out a menu for a week, or 2 or heck even 4. TIP=The less you shop the more you'll save!!!
3. Generic v/s Brand Name!! If Special K bars are on sale for $2, that's great, BUT before you grab that box check out the generic brand. They taste the same and could save you as much as 0.50cents more per box.
4. Coupons!! Shopping the sales and buying generic is great, but coupons are where the money is. The Coupon Mom, www.couponmom.com, is a fabulous site that will help the virgin couponer. OH AND IT'S FREE!!! She has a whole system and you can watch a how-to video on her system here!

So, with all that in mind I'm off to check out the online sales ads. As much as I hate it, I've checked the fridge and there is NO putting it off. I'll be back later to show off my deals.

No-Bake Cookies

Today my Mother-in-law brought my older 2 kids home from a weekend with Mamaw. She stuck around for awhile and ended up making cookies. No-Bake Cookies. One of my favorites. Of course, who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter all wrapped up together? That would be a sacrilege!!!


No-Bake Cookies



















INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.