Book 3

The next book up on the list is Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I've heard all kinds of good stuff about this one. A couple of the blogs I read regularly just go on and on about how great the book is and how it really helped them to pay off debt and become smarter about money. I've also watched clips of his show on Fox News (the only thing I can watch on Fox, just to be clear).There was quite the waiting list for this book at the library! I managed to get it early last week and I know I won't be able to extend my due date because of the waiting list, so I've got to hurry up on this one.

Book #2

Still Growing by Kirk Cameron is now in the pile of finished books. And just in time, since that was 2nd book and today is the last day of January! It was an okay book; not one I'd go out and buy, but it was a relatively easy read checked out from the local library.

About half to 2/3 of the book deals with Kirk Cameron's childhood and his time on Growing Pains. The rest of the book concerns his years after the show. It focuses a lot on his faith, which is how I heard about the book. He shares his testimony and also explains the career decisions he makes as a Christian and how his faith affects those decisions. It also talks about his family life. He has 6 kids!

So, a good read, but not fantastic. But I generally don't think any biographies or autobiographies are fantastic. I am beginning to think that genre may not be my favorite.

Food Updates

No fun pictures to share with you, but I am pleased to report back on a few new dishes we have consumed from the Marathon Cooking experiment.
We had Chicken Durango over the weekend. I thought it was just okay, but it did get a thumbs-up from the hubby. I won't make it as a repeat. It didn't taste, just not enough flavor for my liking. I think it maybe needed a strong side dish to complement it.
We had Baked Mediterranean Tilapia as well. I loved it and thought it tasted great. Mr. Smoller liked everything but the fish (sound familiar, Amy?). It had tomatoes, olives, capers, onions, and some other stuff and had a slightly sweet taste. I think all the sauce stuff could be good with chicken, too, so we might just try it a different way next time.

The big winner has been Texas Style Lasagna. It got a huge thumbs-up from both the adults in our house and even one from the B-man, who devoured some of the leftovers I ate last night. It was a fantastic dish. Just like normal lasagna, but using tortillas instead of noodles and colby-jack cheese instead of mozzarella. Yumm-o. It's a definite keeper.

Book #2 - Still Growing: An Autobiography

Next up on the reading list is Still Growing: An Autobiography by Kirk Cameron. Now, fair warning that I thought Kirk Cameron was soooo dreamy when I was a teenager. My friend Melissa had pictures of him plastered all over her walls (along with various members of New Kids on the Block) and we would spend hours talking about how cute he was. Gag.
Fast forward to present times - I saw this book mentioned in a blog post the other day and thought it would be interesting. I'll report back with a book review when I'm done.

Book Review #1

Yep, book #1 is done. Perhaps I should be creative and come up with some fancy, schmancy rating system. But that takes too much time and I just really don't have the imagination or desire.

Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. Well, my first instinct was correct. An okay book, but not really one geared at my personality. It really does go after the difference between people who are Born Organized (B.O.) and those who are not. This book is most definitely aimed at those who are not born organized. The whole premise of their "system" is writing all of the household chores/jobs/duties on 3x5 cards and then organizing them by day of the week, month and then also determining how long each job takes and whether it's a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or seasonal job. It's quite intricate, though I suspect it may work for some people. Just not me.

I don't need or want an index card to tell me I need to clean the bathroom or wash clothes or fix dinner. But for those who need a visual tool to help them stay focused, this system might be the one you're looking for. If you're easily distracted while doing a household job and can never seem to finish one job, it's worth a try.

Book #1

Book #1 on my list is Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young & Peggy Jones. "The slob sisters tell you how they moved from clutter and chaos to order--and how easily you can do it too!"
So, I don't really think of our house as being full of clutter and chaos (perhaps you would disagree). But, I'm always looking for tips on how to do it better and faster. And by it, I mean cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc. I should have a book review, albeit a short one, for you next week. I can already tell you this book doesn't apply much to my personality, but I definitely people who aren't Born Organized as this book opines. This book differentiates between those people who are Born Organized, B.O. and those who are not. My childhood bedroom may not have shown it, but in pseudo-adulthood, I seem to possess the organization gene.
Stay tuned for the book review!

More Walking

Here's an updated video of the B-man walking. He walks far more than he crawls now, so he's officially a toddler.

Resolutions

Let's talk about resolutions for a moment. Do you have a resolution for 2010? Today is January 20th; how are you progressing with your resolution? Maybe you've given up completely? Maybe you're just having a hard time making that resolution a habit (it takes 21 days of consecutive activity to make something a habit)? Maybe you need to adjust the resolution a bit?

I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions, but I am a fan of creating and setting goals for yourself and your family and aiming to improve your relationships, health, finances, life, etc. It's great when you can set a measurable, attainable goal and then see if you can reach it. Kudos to you if you've done that!

It's not a resolution, but I have a goal in 2010 to read more. On a side note, "experts" say your goals should be S.M.A.R.T. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

So, here goes for making myself a S.M.A.R.T goal:
S - my goal is to read 2 books/month.
M - 2 is definitely measurable, even by a toddler's standards.
A - I believe 2 books/month is attainable.
R - I also think 2 books/month is realistic. Right now I probably read 0-1. I like to read, but outside of the Bible, my leasure reading is sporadic. At times I read a lot but other times my reading is non-existent.
T - I don't really know how to put 2 books/month into a timely category. I will attempt to attain this goal for the next 12 months. Is that good enough?

So, only 24 books for the next year. I am certainly free to read more, but that's the minimum goal. Now, to find 24 books to put on my reading list.

Got any ideas? Read anything good lately? I've got my first read picked out, so that's coming up next, but I'm always thirsty for more ideas.

Four Seasons Pizza

Four Seasons Pizza was a big hit at our house last night. To be honest, I was skeptical on this meal as the pizza had ingredients I normally don't include on my pizza. Artichokes, prosciutto, and mushrooms (which still remained off my half). But, it was surprisingly tasty. This picture is not our pizza from last night, but I thought we needed some visual interest for the pizza post.
Even got the stamp of approval from the Mr., so you know that's a good pizza. I think I may have to start adding artichokes to our pizza in the future. A good way to add in another veggie and very easy--the pizza recipe used artichokes from a can.

Cooking Update

So, we've tried 2 of the aforementioned meals since I last blogged and both turned out quite tasty. We had teriyaki hamburgers over the weekend, which really aren't more than ground chuck with some teriyaki sauce, garlic and some other assorted spices. But it was a nice twist on regular hamburgers. Sunday night we enjoyed the Chicken Scampi and it was quite tasty, too. So far I have no complaints on the menu.

It's been great not having to think about dinner, other than to think far enough ahead to make sure something is thawed and make sure we have a side salad to go with everything. That is my kind of thinking.

So, this Once a Month cooking is successful so far. I will continue to update you as we get through the rest of the meals. Happy Cooking!

Cooking Marathon

I received several new cookbooks for Christmas, so we've been trying out all kinds of new recipes. We had a great steak taco-type of thing right after Christmas from my Fix-It-and-Forget-It cookbook and it was phenomenal.

One of the other cookbooks I received was Once-A-Month Cooking. The premise of this cookbook is that you can spend an entire day cooking, but the meals you make and freeze after cooking day will last you for a month. Now, I don't relish the thought of spending all day in the kitchen, but if that provides enough meals that you can pretty much slack off the rest of the month, well, than you've got my attention.

The book offers a full-month cycle, which gives you 28-30 meals to prepare and freeze. It also offers some 2-week cycles that have 14 meals. This may come as a shock, but we do not eat a home-cooked meal in the comfort of our house every night of the week. Especially during basketball season. Between road games and radio shows, we eat lots of sandwiches and leftovers. So, 14 meals will last us far longer than 2 weeks.
Eager to take on a new challenge, Sunday was marathon cooking day for me. I started out with just a 2-week plan instead of an entire month. In theory, the 2-week cycle only takes a half-day to prepare. So, here's the report:

Shopping was definitely a little more involved, but the cookbook includes a handy-dandy shopping list, so it's already. It's just a matter of getting everything you need. Not hard, but the weekly grocery bill was quite a bit higher than usual.

The prep and cooking wasn't that bad. And when this book says it takes a half day to prepare everything, they mean a half day! I was in the kitchen for 6 hours and 15 minutes (yes, I timed it) on Sunday. My legs were TIRED after all of that. I can't imagine doing a full-month cycle where you spend 12 hours in the kitchen--that's too much for me.

So, what do I have to show marathon cooking day, you ask? Well, for the next 3 weeks or so, we have the following meals to eat:
Southwestern Egg Casserole (this will be a dish for just me!)
Four Seasons Pizza
Macaroni & Cheese w/chicken
Upside-Down Fettuccini Bake
Coronation Chicken
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken Durango
Chicken Scampi
Texas-Style Lasagna
Beef Pot Roast
Hamburgers Teriyaki
George Romney Meatballs
Vegetable Soup with Meatballs
Baked Mediterranean Fish

The first dish we tried was George Romney meatballs on Monday night. It was kind of like Beef Stroganoff, but with meatballs. I thought it was really good. Brian wasn't a big fun, but only because it had sour cream in it. That dish was meant to serve 6, so I had plenty of leftovers for lunch for the remainder of the week.

The meatballs for that dish were phenomenal. And homemade! I made microwave ground turkey meatballs on Saturday and they turned out great. Little B-man just loves meatballs, so this recipe will be appearing quite frequently in our house now.

And that's it! The women played on the road, so the B-man and I stayed home. I'll keep you updated on how all of the dishes turn out and how long this lasts us. I think we may only go through one dish this week, so this cooking marathon might last us for quite awhile. And the best part? All I have to worry about for supper is a side dish or salad to go with it. Otherwise, it's already done!!!

Got any questions? Let me know; I'd be happy to answer them.

Handsome Boy

We think the B-man is somewhat cute. I couldn't resist a couple of pictures after church on Sunday when he was dressed up in his jeans and a button-down shirt. He had a big grin for the camera!
Isn't he so cute in his outfit? He looks so grown up.

More Christmas

Just a couple more Christmas-related pictures and then we will move on to the next subject!

A little love for the wrapping paper. Like I said, the B-man loved all that paper.
He also loved pumpkin pie, courtesy of Aunt Mindi and Uncle Bryan. He always had that "are you sure I can't eat this look" on his face, but that did not deter him from eating.

The Christmas Tree

As you are aware from my previous post, we put up a real Christmas tree at Smoller Casa. Even though this picture is far overdue, this one if for our friend Kelly, who really wants a real Christmas tree every year!
And a picture with no flash so you can see all the pretty lights!

Christmas with Brady

Christmas this year was all kinds of fun with the B-man. Not that last year wasn't fun, but when the kiddo is mobile and can show emotion it's more fun for everybody! Being a typical toddler, Brady was far more interested in the paper and boxes rather than the actual gifts. I'm pretty sure that will be short-lived, so we're going to enjoy it while we can.

And, he really seemed to enjoy bows. Don't really know why, but he was quite interested in them. And not the fancy kind that you tie yourself. Nooooo, he wanted the ones you stick right on the package.
Walking around with a bow stuck to his hand.

And, enjoying the mass of paper the ensues from unwrapping gifts.

More to come soon. We got some good Christmas pictures!

Welcome to 2010

Yes I have not blogged in ages. Yes I know I need to do a better job. I'll try to break a blogging record today and tomorrow and give you all the updates in Smoller household.

Brian and I got to take a brief trip to Las Vegas the weekend before Christmas. It was a work trip for Brian, but vacation for me. And, vacation without the kiddo. Brady stayed home and was spoiled rotten by his grandparents; I'm sure he barely noticed we were gone.

We had a fun time in Vegas. It was my first time to visit. Fun, but would not make my Top 10 list. We didn't take many pictures, but I'll show you some brief highlights.

The Christmas tree at The Bellagio. The Bellagio had this huge, ornate display of Christmas and winter stuff that was all made out of flowers. It smelled great and looked beautiful Very Rose Parade-ish.
We stayed at New York New York and this is a view of part of our hotel. We ate breakfast every day across the street at MGM Grand and this is the view from the walkway between the 2 hotels. And that is a roller coaster you see. And yes, I did ride it. Brian passed on that opportunity. I rode it once and thought "Have rollers coasters always been that bumpy or am I just getting old?"

And a view down the strip. Our hotel was near the end of the strip, so we almost always headed one direction.

We did have a fun time and the food was great! And we had a good time hanging out with our friends Brad & Kristin and also all the girls on the team. Our team went 2-1 during the tournament, so not too bad. UNLV has minimal fan interest in women's basketball. Our K-State contingency was the biggest fan base at the tournament, by far. So, seeing that made me very thankful for the fans who attend our games at Bramlage.