Check out Liz's examiner post to win an electric roaster. I know I want one now!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Electric Roaster Giveaway
Posted by Natalie at 12:03 PM 1 comments
Labels: Giveaways
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Cheeseburger Soup
I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com yesterday and had to try it. It was yummy! Even Daniel scarfed his down with a minimum of playing. (MIRACLE!) Here is my version of the recipe:
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
1 small onion chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cubes beef bouillion
1 pound ground beef
2 1/2 cups milk divided
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 pound processed American cheese, cubed
chili powder and cumin to taste
Prepared bacon
In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the water, potatoes, onion, garlic and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.
In the mean time, brown and drain the ground beef.
Stir cooked beef and 2 cups milk into the soup and heat through. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup of milk with the flour and stir until smooth. Stir into soup. Bring to a low boil and cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheese until melted. Add chili
powder and cumin to taste.
Crumble bacon over the top of the soup and serve.
This is definitely going to become a regular in our house this winter. It was quick and easy and REALLY good.
Posted by Natalie at 2:07 PM 3 comments
Labels: cheeseburger soup, easy recipes, recipes
Friday, October 30, 2009
A look at what we have been doing
My sister and brother in law at the track.
Daniel the bathrobe jockey
Daddy and Daniel on the tram to the track
Me at the entrance to the track. I might not have looked fashionable but I was warm!
The perfect end to a great weekend: lunch and a random meeting with a chicken.
He has become quite the helper in the kitchen. He is cutting up cheese for my homemade mac and cheese
Helping the transporters at work with me when he was sick.
Helping me make banana bread last weekend. And yes I am wearing pink floyd pj pants!
I went to jail on Wednesday for the MDA lock up. It was fun! I was disapointed that the hot pink Caddillac Escalade stretch limo was not the one to pick me up though :(
Peanut butter spider crackers I fixed them as well.
So as you can see we have been quite busy in the past few weeks!
Posted by Natalie at 1:22 PM 2 comments
Labels: Daniel, family, Halloween treats, life, MDA
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Help the kids with Muscular Dystrophy go to camp!
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is sending me to jail for good on October 28th. Can you help me by posting some money towards my bail? We are working on sending kids to camp as well as raising money for wheelchairs and flu shots for them. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Help keep me out of jail!
I know times are tight but any amount you can spare would help out.
You can go to my personal MDA website at
https://www.joinmda.org/hamburglockup2009/nstack
and make a donation through there.
Posted by Natalie at 12:56 PM 0 comments
Labels: donations, MDA, Muscular Dystrophy Association
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Things never slow down
Just when I think things might settle down.....NOPE. One of my employees wife had her baby last Thursday so I kept their 20 month old until they got out of the hospital on Sunday. We had a blast with him. Daniel enjoyed having somone to follow him around and play with him. I could not get out of his sight though. We went to an ethnic festival for lunch and I made the mistake of going to the bathroom without him. I could hear his screams all the way in the bathroom.
The Hamburg area is doing a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. They got my contact info through the BBB I believe. Either that or someone put my name in to be "arrested." I will be going to jail on Oct 28th at 2pm for an hour. The goal is for each person to raise $2000 in order to send 2 kids to camp as well as provide them with wheelchairs and flu shots. There is a website that you can donate through that I will post as soon as I recieve it. Maybe ya'll could help me out with my bail? Pretty please? They are going to send a limo to "arrest" me and then take me to Carinos restaurant where I will be fed their version of bread and water. After my hour is up the limo will take me back to the office. I wonder if it will have a stocked mini bar? LOL
Posted by Natalie at 1:59 PM 3 comments
Labels: BBB, fundraiser, jail, life, Muscular Dystrophy Association
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Egg Drop Soup Recipe
So I found a recipe while lurking around the web yesterday for egg drop soup. I love this soup so I decided to try it out. I thought it turned out pretty yummy. I doubled the recipe so there was enough for my ravenous husband.
2 cans chicken broth or 4 cups of homemade or made with bouillion
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tbs chopped chives
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
If you are using bouillion boil the water and throw in the cubes. If not place the broth in a pot over medium high heat. Reserve 3/4 cups of broth to be used later. Bring broth to a rolling boil. While broth is heating scramble 2 eggs plus the 1 egg yolk. Once broth is boiling add the chives and ginger and mix well. Slowly let egg drip from fork into boiling broth. Egg should cook instantly. Continue in small amounts until all the egg is used. Serve hot.
If you can find wonton noodles you can fry up some of them to serve with it. I could not find any yesterday but it was yummy without them.
Posted by Natalie at 4:04 PM 3 comments
Labels: cooking, easy recipes, egg drop soup, recipes
Monday, September 21, 2009
I'm baaaaack
Miss me? Yeah didn't think so lol.
It has been a rough couple of months for me. Depression has been kicking my ass with a vengance. I finally went to the doctor a little over a month ago and they put me on celexa. Once I got over the side effects it has helped quite a bit. I still was not sleeping though so when I went back last week they also put me on tropazine which is another depression med but it is also used to treat insomnia. I have been taking it for a few days and I feel almost like my old self again. I am sleeping better. I have more energy. I actually want to do things again. Ok maybe not the laundry that is piled up in my bedroom, but FUN things lol.
The tropazine is giving me some CRAAAAZY dreams though. Last night the batmobile was on my parents property in AL and was hunting down all these military guys. We were all running around hiding from the batmobile because no one knew who it was going to attack next. The weird thing is my subconcious is pulling people that I went to high school with that were several years older than me and using them in my dreams. The first night I took the medicine I dreamed that my mom and I were in FL except we were staying in this house on this teeny tiny strip of land. One side of the land was the ocean and on the other side was a salt water marsh. We had to leave the house because a hurricane was coming and it was pushing the waves up over the house and the land. We were trying to get to the mainland when a gust of wind pushed me into the marsh. Mom started screaming at me because there was an alligator in the water with me. I started frantically swimming and instead of getting on the land I dove UNDER it. It was like a strip of land just floating on the water. The alligator was just about to get me! Then my husband woke me up because evidently I was thrashing around and making weird noises lol. (You try and escape from an alligator and see what kind of noises YOU make!)
See am I screwed up in the head or what?! I think it is all the drama in my family in AL trying to work it's way out in my dreams. Oh well I always knew I was crazy!
Posted by Natalie at 12:39 PM 5 comments
Friday, July 31, 2009
Just some thoughts
I am really liking that they are doing two seasons of Hell's Kitchen this year. Gives me something decent to watch on Tuesay nights. This week I watched the new show More to Love that came on after HK. I am not sure what bothered me more. The name of the show or the stories some of the contestants shared. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the average American woman was around 160-200lbs. So why is the show called more to love? Why isn't the other show called Less to Love? They said the average size of those contestants was a size 2. Somehow I do not see that as normal. Ok I will get off my soapbox now.
Jeff is sick. He has some kind of summer cold or crud. He is so whiney it is not even funny. I mean if I get sick I have to make my own homemade chicken noodle soup. No one brings me cold rags while I lie on the couch. My life still has to go on like I am not sick and feel like death warmed over. Oh well at least Daniel is not here to catch it from him.
This is our last child free weekend. We head to AL next Thursday when we get off work. Daniel is still not talking to us. They went to see Ice Age 3 yesterday and Mom said it was really good. Not sure what Daniel's opinion on it was lol.
Posted by Natalie at 10:41 AM 8 comments
Labels: rants
Monday, July 27, 2009
My 4 year old is giving me the silent treatment
Daniel has been in AL a little over a week and I have talked to him twice. For about 5 minutes. TOTAL. He is "too busy" to talk lol. Mom had to MAKE him get on the phone with Jeff and I this weekend. He has gone to the park a LOT, been swimming, gone and spent the day with my mother in law and went to church with them. Played at the park with my brother in law and wore him out from what Mom said. Today he is going to the Anniston Natural History Museum to see the dino bones and all the other exotic animals and artifacts they have. I warned mom he likes to touch. Hopefully we will not have to um replace any expensive items that he breaks. Maybe he will not try and take the dinosaur bones home with him. Then again maybe he will. You never know with him.
We have been enjoying our free time. We have watched a LOT of movies. With no interuptions. In complete silence. WONDERFUL! We went to Olive Garden and enjoyed a nice peaceful adult only dinner. We had a blast Saturday at a wedding party. And get this. I slept until NOON on Sunday. Ok not all the way until noon, but off and on until then. It was glorious!
Jeff is excited because the hot peppers are starting to show up at the farmer's market again. I got enough to can 5 jars of pepper sauce this weekend and will keep on every other week or so until there are no more left. He was starting to get worried because he just opened the last jar from last year's stash and was afraid he would run out. OH THE HORROR!!! Heaven forbid he should run out of pepper sauce! Seeing as how he is the only person in the house that eats it, he better be glad I love him enough to make it for him.
What has been going on in ya'lls worlds? I need to catch up on my blog reading.
Posted by Natalie at 3:11 PM 1 comments
Monday, July 20, 2009
Why yes I am alive
I have not posted in forever and I have barely been able to get on article a week on examiner.com. I have had several good stories to tell but no time to do it in. Work has had me swamped for the past few weeks. Plus it seems like there is always something going on on the weekends. If we are not doing something then I am trying to catch up on laundry and cleaning. Or just being lazy because I am too tired to do anything. Maybe after this week at work things will finally calm back down. Not going to hold my breath on that one though.
Daniel left Saturday with Jeff's family for AL. Well actually he left our presence Friday night. When everyone got ready to go to the hotel, he grabbed his "pack pack" of toys he had had packed for 2 days and said "Ok I am ready!" We tried convincing him that he needed to spend the night with us at home but he was not having any of that! His response: "But you said when they got here I was LEAVING!" So he spent the night at the hotel. We met up Saturday morning for an early lunch and he barely had time to say 3 words to us. He was busy with his cousins! After a hug ("But NO kisses Mommy!) for me and Jeff he was on his way to see his Mimi, Grampie, and Melgie.
It was REALLY quiet after he left, but it was a nice relaxing weekend. We checked out a Lexington Horsemen's (Arena Football team) game Saturday night since the tickets were only $5. Had a blast. The best part of the whole weekend though was the fact that I slept until almost 10am Sunday morning! I have not been able to do that in months!
I am going to get back on the blogging train again and post more than once a month. I have lots of funny stories to share from my past months absence.
Posted by Natalie at 4:00 PM 4 comments
Monday, June 29, 2009
Where has the time gone?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Camping as an alternative to a staycation
Check out my newest article http://tinyurl.com/mr56nj
Posted by Natalie at 2:30 PM 0 comments
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Happenings in Lexington this weekend for free or cheap
I have a new article posted. Check it out!
Posted by Natalie at 12:09 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 22, 2009
I finally wore my child out!
When we left all the farms we headed back to Jacobson Park in Lexington for Pig Day. They had all kinds of the inflatable things for the kids to play on. Daniel proceeded to run from the one on this side to the one the furthest away and then back to the other side and then back to the furthest away. Jeff and I drug ourselves around behind him. After about an hour of that we could not take any more and told him we needed to go but when we got home we would get in the pool and cool off. (Bright person I am I forgot the sunscreen so my face was burnt and Daniel now has a redneck tan on his neck.)
We played in the pool for a while and then headed inside for baths and relaxation. After he had a snack of a piece of pizza he wanted to watch HAppy Feet in his room. He made it maybe 30 minutes into the movie and was passed out asleep.
I guess all the exercise and the heat wore him out but I never thought I would see the day that my child was actually wore out. Sad thing was so were his parents. Even more so than him!
Feeding the horse at Abigail's.
Picking raspberries at Reed Valley Orchard. Of course he had to try some even though they weren't washed yet!
He climbed up this like it was a breeze. My little monkey boy!
Posted by Natalie at 3:55 PM 4 comments
Labels: chickens, Daniel, exercise, farm tours, horses, Lexington farmers market, turkeys
New article up
I have my new article up on Examiner.com on How to Save Money with Homemade Cleaners. Go check it out!
Posted by Natalie at 1:14 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Mommy Fell in Cow SHIT Water and Other Tales From the Race
J: "Daniel! Don't say that! That is NOT nice."
The clean part of the creek.
Coming out of the garage area before the race
Waiting for the race to start
Boogity boogity boogity let's go racing boys!
Posted by Natalie at 10:33 AM 7 comments
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I got stung by a sting bee 10 times
Daniel is obsessed by "sting bees" and worms, spiders and ants. But mostly sting bees. He has been telling huge stories about how he has gotten stung by sting bees every day at daycare. In one story he was telling my mom he even went on to become friends with a sting bee who was nice and they played together but then the sting bee got sick and went to the hospital.
One of the other kids at day care did get stung by a bee when they were outside about a week or so ago. We have been telling Daniel to leave the bees alone when we are outside together. He chases them, hits at them, just generally annoys them. We kept tellinghim he was going to get stung if he did not leave them alone to which he would reply, "But I HAVE been stung by a sting bee at daycare." (He has trouble keeping his stories and reality separate lol)
He finally got his wish. He was stung by a bee at daycare yesterday morning. Evidently he has a mild allergy to them. His teacher called me because the place swelled up to the size of a dollar bill and he had hives on his back. By the time I got to his daycare the hives were gone and the swelling had went down quite a bit. So thankfully no trip to the ER.
He swears up and down that he was not messing with the bees, that he just turned around and "there the bee was and it jumpd on my shirt and stung me." Somehow I just don't believe that.
So he came to work with me and played games on the computer until we could go home. I dosed him up with some Benadryl and some Tylenol and he fell asleep watching cartoons on the couch. For about 10 minutes until Daddy got home.
Oh well, we knew it was coming eventually.
Posted by Natalie at 11:31 AM 4 comments
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Eight Meme
Mrs B from Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom tagged me for this meme.
THE RULES: Mention who tagged you. Complete the list of 8’s. Tag 8 other people.
8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO:
1 Camping this weekend in Sparta for the NASCAR race
2 Summer
3 Tomatoes to grow on my plants
4 Being off work on Friday
5 My husbands 28th birthday so i can rub in how he is ALWAYS going to be older than me
6 Watching Daniels face while at the race this weekend. He is SOOOOO excited
7 Did I mention being off work on Friday?
8 Daniel starts school in one more year
8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY:
1 Had leftovers for supper
2 Conference call about new insurance through work
3 Took a walk with the family
4 Rode around in the repo truck looking for cars.
5 Thought once more how I needed to order more tow lights for the trucks...and promptly forgot to do it
6 Drank lots of water
7 Took walk around the block at work
8 Thought about what needed to be done for camping/race this weekend
8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO:
1 Sleep for 12-16 hours straight with not a single person waking me up
2 Be closer to my family
3 Be closer to the beach so we could take Daniel there on vacation
4 Fly
5 Make sure that nothing bad would ever happen to my child
6 Lose some weight
7 Eat whatever I wanted too and still lose weight
8 Sing better
8 SHOWS I WATCH:
1 House
2 Bones
3 Ugly Betty
4 Fringe
5 I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (lame I know but there is nothing else on)
6 Hell's Kitchen
7 American Idol
8 Lie to Me
8 FAVORITE FOODS:
1 Pasta in any shape form or concoction you can think of
2 Mac and Cheese
3 Mexican
4 Sushi
5 Indian
6 Cheese
7 Bread
8 Smoked pork tenderloin
8 PLACES I’D LIKE TO TRAVEL:
1 Austrailia
2 Africa
3 Hawaii
4 Greece
5 France
6 Ireland
7 Scotland
8 England
8 PEOPLE I’VE TAGGED:
Please feel free to do or not do this as you wish. I know not everyone likes to do memes. I choose you:
Jessica at Don't Give Him Crackers
Liz at Narcississims
Janelle at Everyday Stories
MJ at I'm Just a Girl
Aaenson at Life with a Toddler
Stacy at I Eat Snowman Poop
Bobbi at Rightmyer Rants
Anyone who thinks this looks like fun!
Posted by Natalie at 10:53 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Playing cops and robbers...supposedly I am the robber
One of the things about my job tat I have always liked is that it is never boring. I have been called every name under the sun and then some and there is usually something interesting going on, if not here at my office, then one of the other branches.
One of my employees called me Sunday afternoon to tell me that he had a debtor that was calling him about her personal property that was in her car. He gave her the office number and told her she needed to call Monday morning and MAKE AN APPOINTMENT.
On my way to work yesterday morning he calls me again. To tell me that they have been sitting at our lot since 6am! WHY would anyone do that? What freaking business opens that early?
So they came in the office and I told them sorry you have to make an appointment and I have to have time to clean out the car. You can make an appointment for tomorrow morning. Yeah she (whose name is actually not on the account it is her husbands account) did NOT like that. Started telling me how I can't keep her stuff yada yada yada. They finally make an appt for in the morning and leave.
45 minutes later she calls me back and tells me that Lexington PD said I can't keep her stuff that she is coming back to get it. I tlak to my boss and he says no without an appt she can't get it. So she calls the PD to come out here.
The 2 cops who came out here yesterday must not like repo companies because they told her she could swear out a warrant for ME if anything was missing when she picked up her stuff today. She was already claiming that there was money in her car so I knew I was going to have more problems today. When the guys repo a car that has personal items in there they do a quick check for drugs, guns and large amounts of money. I already knew there was not any money in the car.
Since I work by myself I had one of the guys come in this morning so I was not here by myself with them. People can get crazy I do not want to bleed to death by myself lol.
So this morning she blows up because her money is not in there, then accuses me of taking her food stamp card and debot card too. WHY would I want those? It is not like I have your pin and can use them! Needless to say the husband threw the clipboard with his paper work on it across the office and they called me a few choice names and called the cops again.
That paperwork he signed and threw across the office though is a personal property release: it says you do not hold us responsible for your personal items and anything that may be missing. Guess you should read before you sign? I also made sure that I had 2 witnesses when I cleaned out the car that can attest to the fact that there was NO MONEY in the car. Add to that the fact that the car was UNLOCKED when my employee picked it up and that is documented on the report he does.
Guess that warrant with my name on it just isn't happening today!
Maybe if your husband who appears like nothing is wrong other than being overweight got a job instead of disability checks and you quit spitting out kids like they were going out of style you would not be in this position.
I understand that there are hardworking people that for whatever reason lose their car. Shit happens. People like I have dealt with the past 2 days however just really get under my skin. Thankfully here I do not have to deal with them very often. Birmingham I dealt with them on a daily basis.
I am not a liar OR a thief. I wouldn't hold the title manager if I was.
Posted by Natalie at 3:48 PM 7 comments
Thursday, May 28, 2009
I am now a Lexington Examiner!
Hey guys I have been selected to be an Examiner for Lexington on Examiner.com. Basically I write articles on whatever category I represent. I am the Lexington Frugal Living Examiner (but I am throwing in a green twist as well). Please go check out my quick introduction and there will be more articles to come in the next few days. The more views I get the better off I am so....PUUUUHLEASE go read even if you are not from Lexington.
Posted by Natalie at 3:40 PM 9 comments
Labels: examiner.com, frugal living, Lexington Frugal Living examiner
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
I feel old
I remember just a few years ago I could stay out all night or only get 2-3 hours of sleep and then get up go to work and do it all over again the next night. We have been staying up the past couple of weeks WAAAAAY past our bedtime and I am worn out. What happened to being able to go on very little sleep for days at a time? I feel so old!
Posted by Natalie at 10:35 AM 7 comments
Friday, May 22, 2009
Off to get some shots
Daniel has his 4 year old check up and shots today. He is going to love me later! Mean mommy! LOL I will post some more if I get a chance this weekend. Just been taking a bit of a break.
Posted by Natalie at 1:32 PM 4 comments