February 25, 2010

I swore I’d never watch another one of these ding dang things!  After that whole Jason debacle, I was so hissed off that I swore I’d never again waste my time on this show!  I didn’t watch Bachelorette last year and I didn’t start Bachelor this year.  That is, until Bry moved in!  Gah!  I hope he doesn’t lose his man card for this, but some chickadee got him hooked on the show and I started watching it with him.

Even though I’ve been watching, I still don’t feel very invested in the “characters”. Maybe I’m protecting myself since Jason burned me so badly when Kind Humble Man turned into Flaky Man and traded in Melissa for Molly after the fact.  This season just feels a little shallow to me, which I guess would mean the other seasons have been full of deep meaningful content?  🙂

One interesting tidbit this season was the whole Rozlyn travesty of a mockery of a sham and her appearance on the “Women Tell All” episode this past Monday. Really? Does she honestly think we believe a teensy weensy word she has to say?  You get caught red-handed (or red-whatever) by several people, and still lie like a rug?  And then you attack Mr. NiceGuy Chris Harrison in the process?

Two thoughts about that.  #1, didn’t Forrest Gump say stupid is as stupid does?  He would probably say the same thing about pretty.  It doesn’t matter how gorgeous you are on the outside if the inside is contaminated by a lack of character with a big dose of mean and nasty.

#2, don’t be hatin’ on Chris Harrison, friend, just because you’re caught in a corner.  That’s just not right.  I happened to see him at a local Jason’s Deli with his family a while back, and he seemed like a pretty lovely man to me.  PS, he’s more handsome in person.

So, back to our story.  Will it Be Vienna, or Tenley, or neither?  All I’ll say is that I heard from a little bird that it doesn’t matter which one gets the final rose, cause Jake isn’t with the “winner”.

Already.

Glad I’m not invested.

~BigSis

February 24, 2010

I need to snap out of it. I haven’t been able to focus much on anything since Sunday because I’ve been so preoccupied thinking about how Bry is doing at Basic Training. I know he’s in good hands so I’ve got to make myself stop worrying.

Sometimes we get so caught up with what’s going on with ourselves and our own little world, that we forget about others who have far worse problems than our own. I don’t know why today was the first day that I actually took the time to watch the We are the World 25 for Haiti video, but I’m glad that I did. There’s some awesome talent on this video and some unbelievable shots of the tragedy in Haiti.

Even after watching the video, it’s not possible to understand the magnitude of the loss and devastation in Haiti. I don’t know how much money has been raised so far, but you can still go to World25.org to download the video, donate, and download the song from iTunes.

It’s amazing how this group of talented artists of all ages and genres came together to help the people of Haiti.

~LilSis

February 22, 2010

I know that sounds corny, but it’s a pretty emotional day for me. Even though he is 25 years old, he’s still my little boy and I know all you moms out there know what I mean when I say that.

This seems like it was just yesterday.

(Before I say more, I made a decision today to change BigT’s blog nickname. All our other kids blog nicknames are their real nicknames. We chose BigT back when we started this blog because a neighbor had nicknamed him that, but that’s not what we call him. We call him Bry, so from now on, BigT is Bry here on BigSisLilSis.)

Our entire family has been waiting for this day, with much anticipation, for seven months now. Bry first started the process of joining the Navy way back in July of last year. He worked with a recruiter here in San Diego for several months and when she couldn’t locate a job for him, he packed up his truck, moved to Texas, met a new Recruiter on his first day there, and started the process all over again. Looks like we’ll be adorning our homes with navy flags in support!

Bry has never been real sure about which direction he wanted to take down the career path until now. Ever since he started talking about joining the Navy, he’s seemed more sure about it than anything ever before. He’s gone through a lot of red tape, gotten into the best physical shape of his life, and is more focused and motivated than I’ve ever seen him.

Even though I never really anticipated Bry being in the military, I always knew that he had a big heart and would do something great with his life. Now, he’s going to help defend our country and I couldn’t be more proud.

I’m on an emotional roller coaster today because I don’t know when he’s leaving Dallas or when he’s arriving in Great Lakes, but I’ll feel better once I talk to him tonight. He gets a 30-second phone call to let me know when he arrives, but after that I won’t be able to speak to him for eight weeks. That’s gonna be tough!

Today, I’m a really proud mom and a teary-eyed, lip quivering mess all at the same time!

Note from BigSis:

I know what you mean, LilSis, about being emotional! I remember that cute little blond guy like it was yesterday too. It was a rough weekend here, with Bry moving out of my place on Friday after spending 6 weeks with me, and then his send-off party on Saturday night. I’m totally proud of him for doing such a brave thing with his life, and I’m trying not to be selfishly mopey! To keep from going nuts with worry, I’m going to keep praying every day that God will surround him with a supernatural hedge of protection to keep him safe and well! I hope that our BigSisLilSis friends will join me in praying for him, and all of our military!

~LilSis

February 20, 2010

Here we are again. I promised to check in every Saturday with a brief update on my progress with the Ten in 10 Healthy Challenge. This will be my seventh update and we only have three more to go. If I reach my goal weight When I hit my goal, I’m treating myself to a new swimsuit, so that’s one thing that’s really keeping me motivated.

The past week was a bit like a roller coaster. After only being home from Texas for two days, we had a gorgeous three day weekend which included an all day Brunch on Sunday with Bloody Marys and Mimosas.

Luckily, I can resist cinnamon rolls, donuts, and croissants, but my weakness lies with the pigs in a blanket and the Mexican Crustless Quiche that I brought which had an entire pound of bacon in it. 🙂

Once Monday rolled around, it became a continuation of the all day Sunday party. Luckily, I got in a long walk early in the morning because we ended up having a lot of friends off work so we all got together again for salami, cheese, crackers, and more Bloody Marys.

(Needless to say, I didn’t keep up  on my food log this week. Starting that again tomorrow.)

By the time Tuesday arrived, I was ready to get back into the gym. Tuesday and Wednesday I did some major cardio workouts and included weight training on Tuesday. On Friday, I was in my ‘kick butt’ yoga class. I feel like a new person when I leave that class!

Long, story short, with all my indulgences, I did manage to lose a pound this week, so I’m happy! Next week is probably going to be a critical week for me. I’m guessing that these last four pounds are going to be pretty hard to blast off of my fanny. I’m going to have to crank it up a notch this week.

As for today, I’m going to enjoy “my weekend rules”. 🙂

~LilSis

February 17, 2010

BigSis and I made this Bloody Mary recipe for a big family get-together on Thanksgiving about ten or twelve years ago. This recipe is perfect for a big party or a holiday celebration since you make it the day before and it makes a full gallon. I love anything that can be made ahead of time that helps eliminate last minute preparations.

With this already chilled in the frig, all you have to do the day of the party is stir in the vodka and you’re ready to serve to your guests as they arrive. It also comes in handy if the cooks get a little thirsty while working in the kitchen. 🙂

This past Sunday, we had a big Valentine’s Day Brunch so I decided to make this recipe since we were serving a pretty big group of friends. I even ended up doubling the recipe. Since V-8 has more than enough sodium, I eliminated the regular salt and the Seasoned Salt from the recipe and just used one teaspoon of celery salt instead.

Overnight Bloody Marys
(adapted from 1994 edition of Southern Living “Our Best Christmas Recipes”)

1 46 oz can tomato juice
1 46 oz can V-8 (I used the Spicy)
1 c. lemon juice
1/2 c. water
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. celery salt
Frank’s Red Hot (to taste)
3 c. vodka

Combine first seven ingredients in container and stir well. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Stir in vodka just before serving.

We set up a Bloody Mary bar with Tabasco, Frank’s Red Hot, celery sticks, green olives, pickle spears, horseradish, cocktail onions, and lemon and lime wedges so everyone could season and garnish their Bloody Mary to suit their own taste.

I won’t wait another ten years to make these again! 🙂

~LilSis

February 14, 2010

One, two, three, four, five.  Five.  It takes five Texans to build an igloo!

This is my friend SAA and her family, with the igloo they built during Dallas’ 12.5 inch record snowfall on February 11.  I’ll bet I never get to say those words again…

Way to go SAA and crew!

~BigSis

February 14, 2010

Last Thursday, the Dallas area got a whopping 12.5 inches of snow; shattering the previous record of 7.5 inches to smithereens!  I can’t even tell you how gorgeous it was and what a treat it was to see this. My neighborhood looked like some kind of fairy tale North Pole scene.  Even though it was beautiful – and lots of schools closed to the delight of kids everywhere – it did cause a lot of problems.  100,000 people are still without power today.  Thankfully, my power was back on Friday night after being out for the whole day.  We had trees down all over town, and branches ripped off the ones still standing.  Those poor little trees weren’t used to holding up all that snow, and ended up toppled over on power lines.

Since this may be the biggest snowfall I’ll see in my lifetime if I continue to live here, I wanted to remember as much of it as possible so I took a zillion photos.  Here are a few:

Adios, snowstorm of 2010!  You were a bit of a pain, but you were a blast while you were here!  🙂

~BigSis

February 13, 2010

Time flies when you’re having fun, right? 🙂

It doesn’t really seem like it’s been six weeks since I started the Ten in 10 Healthy Challenge. It’s been a really good thing for me; I’ve been more focused and more motivated than ever before. Those nasty ten pounds that crept onto my body during my time in “the boot” last Spring have refused to budge until now! (Oops! I think I said that I wouldn’t mention that again.)

Here are some positive things that happened this past week:

• I was able to spend a lot of quality time with my family while in Texas.

• I got to see my BFF, K on my visit. (We’ve been BFF’s since 7th grade.)

• I was able to get in good workouts while on my trip. (Which I don’t always make a high priority on my visits.)

• I managed to maintain my weight, despite a great meal at each of my three favorite Mexican restaurants and two amazing dinners at my new favorite Greek spot in Dallas.

I worked out really hard every day after returning home from my trip so I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little disappointed to not to see the scale go down a pound or two when I weighed in yesterday. I’m not going to beat myself up about it, though, because I’m just grateful that it didn’t go up.

Not that it has anything to do with this challenge but the best part of this past week was having some ‘one on one’ time with my oldest son, BigT. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here on BigSisLilSis yet, but he leaves in nine days for Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois to begin his Basic Training. I won’t be able to speak to him or see him for two months so I’m really grateful that I was able to make the trip to spend some quality time with him before he ships out. We’re proud of ya, BigT!

And a HUGE thanks goes to BigSis for taking such good care of him and letting him stay with her during this interim period!

~LilSis

February 11, 2010

Origins has a Valentine’s Gift for You!

I received an email from Origins this morning about this offer so I had to share it with you. It just wouldn’t be nice to keep it to myself; would it?

From February 11th – 14th, order any two products from Origins online or in any Origins store and you’ll receive a free full-size lip gloss as a Valentine’s Day gift from Origins.

Why wait til the 14th to get yourself a treat? Order now as supplies may be limited. And shipping is also free on any orders over $50.00. Sweet!

~LilSis

February 10, 2010

Star Bakery

Star Bakery Valentine Day Cupcake Gift Box. (Photo via Flickr.)

All You Need is Cupcakes

All You Need is Cupcakes

All You Need is Cupcakes (both photos via their Flickr stream)

JujyCakes

JujyCakes (photo via Flickr)

Are these gorgeous Valentines Day cupcakes or what?

I just love these cupcakes adorned with hearts of all shapes and sizes and shades of red and pink. They’re so creatively decorated. It really makes me wish that I had time to bake and decorate some for my guys for Valentines Day.

Unfortunately, the reality for me, and most of us is that we don’t have the time. I’m just hoping that these photos will inspire anyone that may be looking for ideas and might be able to find some time to make homemade cupcakes for your Valentine. 🙂

~LilSis