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Monday, March 21, 2011

The Best Chicken Salad in the World

I promised over a week ago that I'd post this recipe and then I completely forgot to do it. Anyway, without further ado, here's the best chicken salad in the world. (And I don't say that lightly; it took a lot for me to rank it above my mom's [sorry, Mom!].) 

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Yield: Makes 4 servings

{Ingredients}

  • 1/2  cup  regular mayonnaise (don't even bother with the light stuff; my current favorite mayo is the kind made with olive oil)
  • 1/2  cup  regular sour cream
  • 1  tablespoon  lemon juice (fresh is probably the best way to go, but I used a bottle and it was still delicious)
  • 1  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon  pepper
  • 2  pounds  skinned and boned chicken breasts, cooked and chopped (I just boiled two large chicken breasts and it was plenty)
  • 3  cups  red and white seedless grapes, halved (I used all red)
  • 1  cup  chopped pecans, toasted (I used more than a cup, but we really like pecans; I also didn't toast them, I just chopped them straight out of the bag)
  • Lettuce leaves (optional)

{Preparation}

Stir together 1/2 cup mayonnaise and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chopped chicken and grapes, tossing gently to coat. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Stir in pecans just before serving.

If you're feeling fancy, serve in stemware lined with lettuce leaves. If you're feeling normal, slap the salad on your choice of bread. If you're feeling ravenous, forgo all manners, grab a spoon and dig in. Yummy!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Happy Birthday, Matty!

We started off Matt's 28th birthday celebration by feasting on donuts. Mmm. I offered to make breakfast, but the birthday boy wanted donuts, and I'm not going to argue with the easier option. Only, don't ask Avery to smile when she's eating sugary goodness (a rare breakfast treat). Because she won't.


Then we went to our town's Chamber of Commerce expo at the conference center, and we loaded up on free candy, pens, stress balls, and toothbrushes. It was surprisingly kinda fun to walk around, but it got even better when we went upstairs to the Taste of... section. Yum.

We drove around town for awhile after that and stopped at a few garage sales. There wasn't anything too spectacular, so all we came home with was a box of alphabet fridge magnets (how did we not already have these?) that we bought for a whopping 50 cents.

During Avery's naptime, I mowed the yard (oh my gosh, when did our yard get so much bigger?) to give my hard-working husband a break and cleaned the house.

And to top off our day, we had our friends Kendra and Carlos along with my brother Nick and his girlfriend, Brittany, over for dinner on the deck (after our neighbors so graciously let us borrow their propane tank since Matt discovered ours was completely empty right as he was putting the chicken on the grill; we owe them so big).

Yeah, we still haven't bought patio furniture yet.
Needless to say, Avery LOVES playing outside. If she gets this dirty playing by herself, I'm a little scared to see what messes she'll create when she has a partner in crime!
See? She wore herself out.

After the boys beat the girls in a game of Buzzwords, Matt got to open his not-so-secret-thanks-to-Nick (haha) birthday gift of.... Batman pajama pants. That's right, be jealous. I worked on them all week and finally finished them Friday night (pictures to come in a sewing post later this week).


So happy birthday to the best guy I know. I love you, Matt!!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Friday Five

1. I'm actually not happy that today's Friday because that means spring break is almost over. :(

2. We woke up this morning to find out that we have a new niece! Granted, we had to find out via Facebook, but she's SOOO cute! Welcome to the world, Josie! And congrats to Matt's brother, Justin, and his wife, Miriam! We can't wait to meet her! That's a lot of exclamation points!

3. While the time change (combined with spring break) has kinda thrown off Avery's bedtime schedule, I'm loving that she's been sleeping past 9 all week (because that means we get to sleep in, too!). We'll take it while we can. And I'm probably jinxing us now, but she still just stays in bed when she wakes up, even though she's perfectly capable of getting out. I'm hoping that lasts!

4. Tomorrow is a certain someone's birthday! I'm thisclose to finishing his present, so I'd better get on that soon!

5. Today we're going to check out prices on some lumber we need to replace on the fort that's been sitting unassembled in our yard for two weeks, and we're also going to run some other completely boring errands. The weekend looks promising though; I'm just hoping the sun comes out and stays out!

Happy weekend!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Spring Break, pt. 1

We LOVE spring break around our house (and the fact that Matt has a job that allows him to have a whole week off for practically no reason)! However, I'll admit that it's hard to keep up with housework when there's so much fun to be had. :) Today's been dedicated to catching up around the house, so in keeping with the theme, I'll catch up the blog world on our past few days...

Oh, and if you just want to see the pictures, scroll down. I didn't take any pictures over the weekend, go figure!

{FRIDAY}
On Friday morning Avery and I went to an old friend's house so Amanda and I could sew and Avery could play with Amanda's kids. Poor planning on my part (i.e. not cutting my fabric ahead of time) made it a not-so-productive sewing day for me, but it was fun to catch up and let the kids play. 

On our way home, we stopped by the high school stadium so I could do a mic check for senior soccer night, during which I'd be announcing all the seniors over the loudspeaker. (Talk about intimidating!) 

Avery's only nap that day was in the car (yikes), so I was completely relieved that my brother Nick called and offered to babysit (and put Avery to bed) while I was at the stadium and Matt was running the clock for the JV games at the track field. 

The announcing ended up being not so scary, and it was fun to see the girls I remember as little freshmen babies on JV1 take the field for their last home game. I can't believe they're seniors already! Being in the soccer environment again almost made me miss coaching.

{SATURDAY}
Matt was being honored as an outstanding educator by DeMolay (um, yeah, I'm not quite sure what to think about the organization, but yay for Matt) on Saturday morning, but before we went to the meeting, we stopped at a local consignment sale since it was half-price day (that is so when you score the best deals). While the sale was much smaller than the national ones I've been to, it was surprisingly good! I got some great pants and shirts (and even a Rangers cap!) for Landon (and Avery even got a pair of shorts for the summer) all for $15. If you've never gone to the big consignment sales, I highly recommend checking them out. They typically hold events twice a year (spring and fall), the clothes are usually name brands in great shape (better than thrift stores, which I haven't really gotten into), and they usually mark everything half off on the last day of the sale. I know you don't get first pick when you wait until the last day, but I've been able to find some really good deals that way.

We got to the DeMolay meeting right as it was supposed to start, but they didn't even start for another 30 minutes (read: Avery was done before it even began). The whole thing was a little awkward, and because Avery was being a huge disruption (she and I ended up spending most of the time outside), we left after Matt was recognized.

As soon as Avery went down for her nap, I went up to church to get classrooms ready for Sunday, and then my mom and I went to JoAnn, aka the store I go to every single week. It's getting ridiculous. We ran to Costco afterward and since we had stayed out way later than I planned, we picked up Matt and Avery at my house and all of us went and ate some delicious tilapia at my parents' house.
{SUNDAY}
Combine a late night with the time change, and you get a girl who completely overslept and barely made it to church on time. Oops! Combine the beginning of spring break with all the sickness going around, and you get a pretty quiet Sunday at church. 

Matt had to be back up at church by 1:00 for worship team rehearsal, so we went with a bunch of people to Whataburger for lunch, where Avery ate her weight in ketchup. And we let her. Sigh. 

We had a chill afternoon and evening, and Matt went riding on my brother's police shift, so after Avery went to bed, I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning sewing. I'm working on a super-cute pair of shorts for Avery, and I started Matt's top-secret birthday present. :) I quickly learned that there's a reason I go to bed before midnight these days. Snooze.

{MONDAY}
We had to recover from our aforementioned late night, so I'm pretty sure we just hung around the house all day and napped when Avery did. 

My brother Aaron and his wife, Chelsea, stopped in town on their way down to visit her parents for spring break, so we had Matt's family birthday dinner a little early (we missed you, Allison!). My mom made Reata steaks with mashed potatoes and green beans. Y'all. My mom can cook. We even got fancy cupcakes for dessert, and Avery got to stay up way past her bedtime. All the siblings and their significant others played a rousing game of Bohnanza (so fun!) before we tortured the boys by watching the DVR'd season finale of The Bachelor. Yay that Brad picked Emily! Although I'm still not really sure why I continue to watch that show. That's another post.
{TUESDAY}
Tuesday was our designated "date day," and we spent the whole day trying to be as cheap as we could possibly be. Haha! Matt had signed up for a kajillion fast food and restaurant email lists for their birthday rewards, so we took advantage of all the free coupons he accumulated:
  • Our first stop was a free meal at Chick Fil A ($5.65)
  • Then we drove through Schlotzky's for a free sandwich ($4.99)


We stopped and ate in the mall parking lot, and I'll tell you right now that food tastes even better when it's free. By the way, I always forget how much I love Scholtzky's! I just wish it wasn't so dang expensive. I mean, really, $5 for a sandwich? At least Subway's is a foot long.
  • Then we had lunch #2. That's right. It was a day of gluttony. We went and split a flauta platter and beef fajita taco at Taco Cabana. I never go to Taco Cabana; in fact, I usually forget the place even exists. But y'all, they have this salsa ranch sauce that I could eat all day long. How did I not know about this stuff?!? ($7ish)

We had to walk off all those calories somehow, so we went to Target and Babies R Us to create a baby registry for the (surprisingly few) things we need/want for Landon. For the record, Babies R Us completely overwhelms me. And I have a pretty good idea about what kind of stuff is necessary for a new baby; I can't imagine walking in there without a clue! We really didn't register for much there because their prices are significantly higher than Target (for the exact same items), but they did have some things that we've had our eyes on that Target doesn't carry.
  • We wanted to pass out from exhaustion, but we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were right by the mall and had a B1G1 coupon for Auntie Anne's. I'm a sucker for soft pretzels (I blame my mother for this fact), so we each got one and people-watched while we ate. ($2.69)
  • Total of food consumed = $20.33, and it was all for the cost of one (delicious) pretzel. Hooray for being broke! :)

I love hanging out with my husband, even when we're doing relatively mundane activities.  I'm also so thankful that my parents live so close to us and like to keep Avery when Matt and I need to spend time together.

We picked up our sweet little girl and went to eat dinner with some of our favorite friends, Kendra and Carlos. Since they live about 45 minutes away from us, we don't get to go to their place very often, so we're hoping they're able to find a place out this way soon! Carlos is Venezuelan and made us some fantastic tostadas (which were not like any Mexican tostadas I've ever had; they're like fajita sandwiches with fried arepas as the bread). YUM!

Avery loves Carlos and Kendra. She had a blast running around their apartment, eating tostadas, rough housing with Carlos, and watching The Backyardigans from inside an ottoman. She's so much fun these days!





{WEDNESDAY}
And that brings us to today. Avery slept until 9:30 this morning after all the late nights she's had this week, and since we haven't set our alarms all week, we got to sleep in, too! Matt got three walls painted in Landon's room (he'll paint the fourth tonight), and I did some vacuuming and laundry.  It can't always be fun and games, right? Avery doesn't know that though, and she had a blast helping both of us. :)


Ahhh, and now the munchkin is fast asleep, Matt is at a pre-St. Patrick's Day party with the soccer guys, and I'm about to spend some quality time with my sewing machine. 

Have I mentioned that I love spring break?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

29 Weeks

 
(If I look tired in this picture, it's because, well, I am.)
 Pregnancy Highlights
 
How Far Along: 29 weeks
Size of baby: A little over 15 inches long and two and a half pounds (the size of a butternut squash)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 17 lbs. (give or take a few; I don't own a scale, so I'm going by my last appointment)
Maternity Clothes: I'm in mostly maternity clothes because I don't want to stretch out my "real" clothes, but I still wear some regular tops.
Gender: We're having a boy! Introducing.... Landon Matthew. :)
Movement: I feel lots of movement all the time; surely he can't be as active as Avery, right? I think I might be in trouble. You can seriously see my belly moving now, and it still creeps me out!
Sleep: I'm sleeping okay for now once I actually get to sleep. I might be busting out the body pillow soon though!
What I miss: Being skinny :) Okay, so that's a little vain. Sorry.  
Cravings: I have a major sweet tooth these days. And I crave milk. Seriously, I'm drinking more milk than Avery.
Symptoms: I have to pee like all the time. TMI, but annoyingly true.
Best Moment this week: Getting Landon's furniture moved into his room! It'll be painted this week, but we needed to move the baby furniture out of Avery's room so we could move her to her big girl bed (which has been a huge success, btw!).


Matt and I are going to register today at Babies R Us and Target, essentially so we can have a list of baby things we need to buy, but mostly so we can get the registry completion discount closer to the due date. I'm excited to look at baby things again! Good thing we don't need much because I think I would definitely go a little overboard if we did. :)

Friday, March 11, 2011

Friday Five

1. I have officially found the best chicken salad recipe in the world. (Sorry, Mom!) Chicken salad is a tricky thing; it needs a little sweetness without being overbearing, and in my opinion it should require as few ingredients and steps as possible. Everyone has their own preferences for this delectable concoction, but this fits my requirements (and taste buds) perfectly with its crushed pecans and sliced red grapes. Mmmm, and now I'm just mad that we ate all the leftovers. I'll post the Heather-fied version of it later this week, but if you can't wait until then, just go with the link. You can thank me later.

2. If you missed it Tuesday, Avery's sleeping in her new bed! We finally finished her "big girl" room, and while I know lots of people think we're nuts for moving her to a twin bed before she even turns two (we need the crib in the new nursery), she has adjusted excellently so far. She actually goes to sleep now without tears, and she's fallen off the bed fewer and fewer times each night. :) After a rough first middle-of-the-night, during which I ended up sleeping with her from midnight to 5am, we're excited that she hasn't had any major issues with the transition.

3. For some people it's TV shows. For some people it's video games. My time-sucker is Facebook. I'm really trying to back down on the time I spend catching up on other peoples' lives so I can focus on living my own. There's a lot more to it, but really, I'm just adding this to my Friday Five as accountability for myself. :)

4. Today we're making a second attempt to go to my friend Amanda's house so we can sew while our kids play. We originally planned to do this a couple weeks ago, but Avery was sick-ish and I didn't want to be that mom (whatever that means, haha). So today is Sewing Day, take two. Maybe I can whip out a cute pair of shorts I've been wanting to make for my little munchkin.

5. I especially LOVE that today's Friday because it means spring break for my favorite person in the world! We have a fun weekend ahead, but then we also get the whole week with Matt home! And it's his birthday week, so we might just have to make it an extra-long celebration.

Hope you have a great weekend!
Photobucket

Thursday, March 10, 2011

52 Weeks of Organizing: Baby Shower Cards

If you've noticed the trend, my 52 Weeks projects have been fairly trivial lately, but honestly that's all I've had the energy (and time) for. So this week since we got Avery's big girl room put together, I finally did something about all of the cards we've had in a basket since before she was born. Plus, I needed the basket for other organizational purposes. My original intent was to make a scrapbook of all of the cards/notes, but there were a LOT of them. So I took the easy way out and just hole punched each one and put a ribbon through them. Easy breezy, yet effective for our purposes.

(And yes, I probably should've just thrown them away, but I am admittedly too sentimental to do such things.)


BEFORE

AFTER

And there you have it, folks. I think next week might require something a little more involved, especially since it's Matt's spring break and I'll have an extra set of hands around the house. Mwahahaha...