Favorite Friday

It's Friday....and I am so excited about my favorite thing this week......my free month trial at Netflix. It's not my first rodeo with Netflix....I did it a few years ago when I was getting caught up on the first few season's of 24. But when summer rolled around we weren't mailing back the dvd's....and when we did, we hadn't even watched them.... I cancelled our membership, and nobody missed it.

Well...they've been sending me a few emails asking me to try it again for $7.99 a month....instant streaming to all of your devices....t.v., Wii, x-box, iPhone's, iPad's,etc.....A friend at the gym told me they had some great stuff on there so I decided to give it another whirl. Tuesday morning I was able to get it to work on the Wii ALL BY MYSELF ( shhhh! I had a little bit of help from Erin, the girl on the help line I called for a teensy bit of help :) I watched a movie at 9:00 a.m. and then promptly got ADDICTED to Friday Night Lights....a series I came across once or twice when it was on the air....but now I have 75 episodes to get caught up on! Does anyone else think Coach Taylor is the cutest thing EVER??????

Beyblade Tournament

To say that Cub is addicted to Beyblades is an understatement. I don't even think there is a word in the english language that can convey what is going on over here. He lives, eats, sleeps, watches on Youtube and breathes Beyblades. 24/7. It's all he's asked Santa for the past two years. Birthdays too. And he has spent hours the past several days writing out his birthday list for OCTOBER....you guessed it, all Beyblades. He isn't happy with just the ones from Walmart or Target. "No Hasbro" he says....only the real deal from China....which involves international shipping and takes a month! Chip helped him set up his own channel on Youtube....he tapes all of his battles and uploads them too. Craaaaaaaazzy! I haven't had a child with this type of obsession over anything yet. He has several friends in his class that bring their Beyblades to school everyday for indoor recess...they use the Candyland box top for their arena and battle. This brings us to the tournament......

Cub was trying to talk me into taking him to New Jersey to a Toys r Us that was having a Beyblade tournament a few weeks ago....this is a good 8 hour drive away. I of course, was NOT doing that...so we decided to have everyone over to our house for our own Beyblade tournament.


Anyhoo.....



The invitations were sent, we made decorations and a bracket poster to keep track of the battles....he even made an ice arena in a big huge plastic bowl I have. Just like the Winter Classic hockey game. I didn't get a picture of that....but it was a big hit!



All the boys brought their own Beyblades and several arenas. Every mom that dropped them off was thrilled for the afternoon!!! "What a GREAT idea" was what I heard over and over :)



We had several battles going.......



....then it was time for homemade chocolate chip cookies.



It was very close at the end to determine the Beyblade champion.



Look at the trophy the were fighting for....the winner has agreed to host the next tournament. 3-2-1 Let it RIP!!!!!

Favorite Friday

YEAH!!!!!!!!! It's Friday!! Let me just cut to the chase....this vanilla greek yogurt by Dannon is terrific! I buy 2 at a time....I love it for my smoothies (see last weeks Favorite Friday post), in the morning with granola and berries on top, just as a little snack...and get this....the kids love it too!! It has almost twice the protein as regular yogurt...and is so wonderfully creamy and smooth. It's almost twice the price as a container of regular yogurt...but I could care less. It's yummy.yum.yum. You can thank me later when you fall in love too :)

Penne with Chicken

I have had this recipe kicking around for a while now....and finally today I gathered up my ingredients and got cooking. You may have noticed I rarely share entree recipes around here...mostly because my pictures don't turn out very nice in the evening when I'm finished preparing them....and this one is no exception. This picture doesn't do this dish any justice...so just look past it. I know you'll love it!!!

Here is your list of ingredients:
(I kind of don't have exact measurements....I just put as much in as I liked :)
16oz. of cooked Penne
2-3 chicken breasts- bite size
olive oil
chopped garlic...a tablespoon
salt and pepper
red onion- chopped
fresh basil
2/3 cup sundried tomatoes in oil
kalamata olives- 1/2-3/4 cup chopped
pasta water- 1/4 cup
1/2-3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese


Directions:
Cook the pasta. Cook chicken in olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper. Add the red onion, with a little more olive oil. Add fresh basil. I added a bunch, because I can't get enough of it! Then add the sundried tomatoes and olives. Drain the pasta, but do not rinse. Save 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to a large bowl and toss with the chicken and the goodies. Add the water and mix it all together with the parmesan cheese. Enjoy!!!

Favorite Friday

I am on an official smoothie kick over here and they are my Friday Favorite!! My sister in law and niece have been making them religiously for years...I got Cindylou a little smoothie recipe book for her Easter basket a few years ago because since she didn't like to cook or bake, I thought maybe she could make smoothies in the kitchen?? But they didn't catch on...Until this past week. I have been making protein shakes on a regular basis....just mixing my protein dust with skim milk or unsweetened almond milk...but I decided to ramp it up a bit.

I've been putting a banana, a few berries, my FAVORITE Dannon vanilla greek yougurt and a splash or two of orange juice in the blender, and topping it off with a scoop of protein dust.




YuUUUUUUUUUUUMMMM! They really fill you up.....I'm sure there are a few more calories in there that I would rather not know about, but I'm so loving them. Do you have a smoothie recipe you can share???

Granny Squares

You may remember I had a dear friend over last fall to give me and my friend Jennifer Juniper our very own crochet lesson. Click HERE to check it out....Well, I hadn't kept up with my practicing, and I realized my intention of starting a one-a-day granny square blanket in January was not happening because I kinda forget how to make them :( I contacted Sondie and arranged a little refresher course. But since the Treatgirl can kinda get crazy and want to do everything NOW....I decided to teach myself again with a little how-to video on youTube!

So, this past Sunday while I was watching football, I was also watching the granny square video and started cranking them out. I know you probably can't fathom how happy this made me.....but it made me VERY happy! I've even timed myself and at this point it takes me exactly 30 minutes to make one square. I know I'm still a little awkward at it....so, I'm hoping to improve my time over the next few weeks. Look at my progress in just a few days....




My thinking is that I have a whole bin of left over yarn from various projects over the years, and I will just make all different random granny squares with it. Obviously some of it is different weight and texture.....but I should have plenty to make a WHOLE LOTTA squares.



So....right now I have 12 done, and it's the 25th of January. I'm gonna crank a bunch more out until I am caught up with the calendar...follow me??? Then try REALLY hard to keep up with my one square a day project. As I've been crocheting away over here I had the wild idea that I will just stash them away.....and as my nieces and nephews get engaged over the next several years I will piece one together for each of their bridal showers....what do you think??

A Snowy Morning.....

They had been predicting a big storm all afternoon on Friday....I kept looking out my windows all evening.....nothing. My 9th grader was so mad they even cancelled their ski club because they said the roads would be too bad....nothing.

But when I went to bed it started gently falling down....



It covered everything as we slept.



Making everything white and pretty.



Quiet and peaceful.



The Treatgirl needed a wonderful little snowfall. Stay cozy and warm :)