Fun in the water

So, I kinda had the day off and so did Roberto and since we just purchased Sea World Annual Passes, we decided to take Jake to Aquatica. The weather was perfect, a little overcast. Jake had to wear a life jacket so he was able to move around more freely. This park was better for him since it had a cove for little guys his age with 2 1/2 ft of water which was perfect.

 

When we got home, I threw some steaks on the grill and we ourselves a nice surf n turf. We added snow crab legs.

Here was tonight dinner. A bold dish perfect to serve for company.

Pepper Crusted Steaks with Worchestire Glazed Portabllo Mushrooms

from

Epicurious.com

• 4 14- to 16-ounce New York strip steaks (each about 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick)
• 3 tablespoons black peppercorns, cracked with mallet
• 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 pound portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices

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Preparation

Sprinkle steaks with cracked peppercorns and coarse salt. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and vinegar. Stir in mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt. Remove from heat.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill steaks until cooked to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to plates. Top each steak with 1/2 tablespoon butter. Tent with foil to keep warm. Grill mushrooms until soft and beginning to release juices, about 3 minutes per side. Divide mushrooms among steaks and serve.

Night all!

Baby Steps

Make it short! Spent the day at the beach with my two men. Amazing day! I loved sitting back relaxing and watching my son play in the water. My son! Still after almost two years, it does not even seem real. Sometimes, I just watch in admiration while he plays with a smile on my face. I watch him run past me, like watching a cute child at the mall, then he yells, "Mama!" and reality slaps me in the face! He is MINE! Whatever did I do to deserve such a precious child. I feel it was my Aunt Patti and my Nannie in heaven, who sent him to me since they both know what difficulties we had. Of course, I am forever grateful to his birth mother who chose us out of so many wonderful couples. I love my Jake!



Curried Chicken Salad



Okay, no more sappiness, I promise. Back to the beach! We went to Fort De Soto and had a great picinic. I made Curried Chicken Salad and brought hummus, potato salad, and fruit salad. Did not care for the Curried Chicken Salad at all. Does not help that I am not a fan of curry, LOL. Jake chowed on some pretzels, bananas, yogurt, and most the fruit salad (loves fruit).

For dinner, I made Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole. Yummy! Even Jake liked this! I did change a few things mainly the method of cooking.

Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

 After putting the little man to bed, I had to get on the treadmill. It is time to make some major lifestyle changes. Because of my plantar fasciitis, I was only able to walk 1.5 miles today but baby steps...

DEAL OF THE WEEK

$25 with 40% off! Love it! Bought at Ella G Designs (The sign)

Good nite!

Short but sweet

I have to be short but sweet. Once again, I have 100 things to do!

Had a quick, uneventful day at work (which is very good). After work, went to my favorite children's clothing store, not really a children's but an adult consignment store that has a small children's clothing area. Bought Jake some nifty duds for next to nothing. Then had to pick up my absolutely favorite hair care products (which is only available at very select salons and I finally found one in Lakeland!!), Moroccan Oil . Love, love, love! Very $$$ but worth every penny!

Roberto got my bike trailer on my bike so Jake and I finally took a ride. However, not for long, boy, am I out shape! Sad, to think I concerned myself to be an avid biker years ago. Oh well! Jake was a little unsure but he got the hang of it after a while.

Not the best quality, material seems a little chintzy but until I am biking longer distances, this will do!

I tried taking nice pictures of Jake for his birthday invitation but I was unsuccessful.

*****Some Short-Term Goals and Ongoing Projects****

1. Excerise 30 minutes a day.
2. Go to sleep by 11pm, haha! And wake up at 6:30am!
3. Consistently plan my meals, two weeks at a time.
4. Be current with all my work paperwork.
5. Attempt to be semi caught up with scrapbooking.
6. Take a photography class.
7. Sell some of Jake's clothes on Ebay.
8. Finish gathering info for Jake's 2nd birthday.
9. Learn to decorate cupcakes.
10. Bring my lunch daily.
11. Lose 17 lbs by June18th.

Just Lola plopping herself on Jake's highchair. Apparently, he was not even aware!

Nite-nite, all!

Lisa

And with that the weekend is gone...

Wow, I thought the week blew by but the weekend went even quicker. I was busy doing something every second of it.

Today, I had a fabulous day catching with a dear friend and her daughters. We spent the day shopping, brunch at Mimi's, then off to the playground where I realized too late I took the wrong diaper bag. You know, the one with no diapers!! Of course, pretty much after we arrived, he was due for a diaper change!  Well, we had to cut our day at the park short and went to Walgreens for some diapers. Now, we have an emergency pack in the car.

I had decided to buy a bike trailer for Jake a couple of months ago. I have been tirelessly searching on Craigslist but no luck. I found a couple but they were so cheap I was afraid we would be out riding and POP! the trailer becomes detached and there rolls Jake! Finally, I caved in and purchased a new one. I bought mine from Kmart, ordered online, received 4% for UPromise from Kmart and 3% from my UPromise credit card, and no shipping since I picked it up at the store! Win, win, win! So, we went to Brandon to pick it up and stopped by Cracker Barrel to pick up Whirly Pops for Jake's Birthday party but they did not have the size I wanted. But we hung around and had dinner. Yummy, cracker barrel. When we got home, I took my bike off the rack and Jake was "oohing and ahhing". Obviously, he is amazed by bicycles. I am hoping that will motivate me to go riding daily so I can get back in shape! 

To motivate me more here are some outfits I want when I loose enough weight:

I seem to have a theme...ruffles!

Later

Lisa

Where's is my motivation?

There is so much I want to do. So many projects I want to attempt but I have no mtivation what so ever! I feel so behind that it feels like I will never catch up.

I haven't even planned my menu for the week. Hey, on the positive side, I can start next weeks! Yesterday's dinner was a delicious Gorton's Tilapia Filet, canned peas, and Wal-Mart potato chips, dear God what has my life become! Tonight's meal consisted of garlic parmesan wings from Beef O' Bradys. Hopefully, I will manage to cook what I have set out for tomorrow evening.

Since I have been reading all these awesome blogs, I have become so jealous of their photographs. So I figured it was high time to fine tune my self-taught skills.

Here are some samples I took of my favorite model.

Let me know what you think!

Off to bed!
Lisa