Author Archives: tracye1

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About tracye1

A wee bit about me, Tracy. Married to my high school sweetie for a looooong time. Mama of 4 beautiful kiddos, now ADULTS!!!! This blog is a potpourri of posts. Some wax on about my Catholic faith, others family, some are just a “diary” of life updates. Life is a journey, taken one day at a time (sometimes one step at a time) and my blog is about my personal trek through life. Peace!

Spastic Sunday….

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Sunday.  A day of rest.  After our “shopping Saturday melee” you’d think I’d really take advantage of that….and the day started out innocently enough:  Mass and donuts and then home for a “Teamwork” chores activity and by Noon, the house was clean, laundry was going, it was raining (again–thankfully!) and we were one kid down for a sleepover.  Then I don’t know what happened.

I had to take our youngest to get shoes (shoes and supplies are essentially all that’s left on the school shopping list) for her and her sister, who told us what she wanted…we ran a couple of other errands (buttons to bling up her backpack and a new pillow for my awful, aching neck), somehow managed to drop her off at her friends (now down two kids to friends) and made it home.

Love this cookbook!!

Sitting for a few minutes I remembered I really wanted to cook a few meals ahead and freeze because we have an insane couple of weeks with practices nightly until 7:30 and it’s so much nicer if dinner is READY when we get home.  So I began.  Sometimes when I do stuff like this, it is utter chaos….controlled, mind you….but there is nothing anyone can do to help me because it would take WAY too long to explain the stream of consciousness going on in my head and here’s the breakdown that took place in the two hour period:

(It’s kind of like “If you give a mouse a cookie“….I am the mouse.)

  • I fried up some bacon because bacon=yummy dinner to my kids
  • I chopped and caramelized onions in the bacon drippings because kids don’t mind onions if they taste like bacon
  • I browned some ground beef added the onions and split it up for two dinners
  • I made some coffee and sweetened condensed milk ice cubes for my weekend iced coffees
  • I hardboiled a dozen eggs because we had a ton in the fridge
  • I had leftover SCMilk so I made a killer chocolate cake
  • I made two shrimp quiches and had leftover cream so…..
  • I made homemade whipped cream for the cake
  • I finished dinner for that night which was SOOOOO easy and so delicious that my 9-year-old daughter’s friend said, “Let me know the next time you have this and I’ll drive myself over here!”  Here’s that recipe:

Spray a 13X9 pan and place chicken breasts in pan

Pour a jar of Alfredo sauce over chicken

Sprinkle bacon crumbs over sauce

Grate Havarti cheese and sprinkle over bacon

Bake @ 375 for 20-30 minute (until chicken is done)….enjoy!

I ran out of steam and then had a mountain of a mess to clean up, but I am hoping that it helps our hellish evenings go a little smoother knowing that dinner is ready when we get home.  How do YOU prepare for your crazy nights without Driving Through and killing your budget???

Now it didn’t go as planned on Monday….but that’s another post!  Have a blessed day!

Sweet nectar…

Saturday, snooze, snacks and shopping…

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As of right now, we have 15 days of summer left (for those people in this who don’t hold full-time jobs), so that means since it was raining AND tax-free weekend we attacked the bulk of the school shopping on Saturday.  Somehow, I managed to guilt Hubby into coming (who would rather you play Beethoven’s 5th on a chalkboard with your nails than to go shopping).  Sadly, I didn’t really think about the lethal combination of Tax-free shopping+rainy Saturday+Son#2 who shares Daddo’s extreme dislike for all things shopping…..anyone have a lighter and an aerosol can???  I’ll spare you the details, but trust me on this….That.  Combination.  Will.  NOT.  Happen.  Again.  Ever.  The good news is, we are all aware of this now and on the same page.  The other good news is that after 2 thrift stores and Old Navy we completed the bulk of the shopping.  The OTHER good news is that over a dinner of pizza and Wings (I worked OT remember????) all was well.  

We (meaning the cat) also took advantage of the rainy day and snoozed….

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We (meaning ME) also made some snacks….Lemon Puppy Chow via A Sweeter Thing….Oh.  My.  YUM!  I had no lemons (apparently someone ate them….) so I used lemon extract…it worked…

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And to sum up the day with the BEST.  PURCHASE.  EVER.  Really.  If you knew this kid, you’d understand how perfect this shirt is for him…maybe you have one of your own….

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OK, that’s all for now…but fear not…it was a busy weekend and there’s some seriousness on bullying, some manic cooking and bedazzling that occurred…I also uploaded Evernote and Skitch…to help me be more productive…kind of an oxymoron since they are sure to take plenty of my time to master!!  Either way, stay tuned!  Now I have to get in bed…Boot camp is calling me (my last week of early a.m. craziness, we’ll just move it to the cheer fields @ night!).  

 

Friday: caffeine, cooties and chicken edition

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All I can say is T.G.I.F.!!!!!!  It’s been a full and exhausting week and I pray, Pray, PRAY we have zilcho going on this weekend—-even though I know it’s doubtful….I’m still going to pray for it!  Read about Sunburned Jen who also enjoys her coffee (especially when it’s free!) and her other friends/groupies/bloggies and their week HERE!!

  • The Olympics.  Holy.  Cow!  I am loving it.  Every bit.  Diving, swimming and gymnastics take up most of our viewing time due to our TV window in the evening, but a little beach volleyball, rowing, biking have snuck in and I’m really looking forward to track and field.  Anyone else  completely in awe and inspired by all this athletic talent?!?!?!?  The only down side is that with such a time difference here in the States, many of the results are spoiled before we can see the contest AND I’m up WAAAAAAAAY too late and am taking in seriously increased amounts of caffeine to make up for it.  I’ll suck it up.  It’s worth it.
  • The Chicken.  Holy.  Non-cow.  I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken biscuit for breakfast the other day, but I REALLY enjoyed all the pics and news coverage of people all over the country waiting in MASSIVE lines supporting Chik-fil-A, traditional values (crazy, right?), and freedom to speak DIFFERENTLY.  Political correct-ness, be damned.
  • Strep.  Round 2.  What the FUDGE!??!?!  Our youngest is going to have her tonsils yanked (by me!!!) if this keeps up.  OY!  And then dear ole dad/Hubby succumbed to the cooties for a double dose of fun.  Let’s just say the week started off quite bumpy and grumpy but THANKFULLY is smoothing out.  Phew!
  • Adoration.  For a dear friend’s daughter.  There is simply NO better way to spend a lunch hour…although with the drive to and fro it’s a more like 30 minutes, but….I’ll take it!!!
  • Boot Camp.  I make it back.  One day anyway.  (planned on this morning, but last night’s Olympic-viewing killed me for this morning…apparently I didn’t hear the alarm)  I did get some walking in the evening though this week during soccer and cheer practices.  So there’s that.
  • Cloning.  Can we reconsider this?  I’d like a clone of me.  To send to work.  Then I could shuttle kids to and fro to practices/games and work on dinner….OR.  OR.  OR.  I could learn to LET GO and share tasks with my Hubby, my helpmate, my love.  (but it’s so haaaaaaaaaard to not do it all, I say!!!)  Either way, something’s gonna give since with soccer and cheer our fall will be full…right up to January.  I do believe I will begin a love affair with my crock pot, otherwise our family will surely starve to death these next 4 months!
  • Back-to-school will be what kills my weekend.  We start the 20th (yes, 17 days away) and this weekend is “tax-free days” and with 4 kiddos to supply we’ll take every percentage we can get.    I’ll need some beach time to recoup from it for sure!

How’s YOUR week been?  What’s YOUR weekend shaping up to be?  How’s YOUR Olympic experience going??  Check out Jen and the throngs @ Conversion Diary and see what’s going on around the world!   If you haven’t already seen this, I’ll leave you with this tasty idea in caffeine enjoyment! Blessings and Happy Friday!!

What?!?! A cookie coffee cup! Yum!

 

Eat mor’ chik’n

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Breakfast….because I only get an hour for lunch, I knew this was my best shot at making the CFA run!

Yesterday was Chick-fil-A appreciation day.  A day where people supported the fact that a restaurant or business is just as entitled to their beliefs as any other person.  Sadly, because Chick-fil-A, a Christian company (I’ve mentioned this before) supports the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman the entire liberal world is up in arms because (gasp) someone doesn’t agree with their view.  It’s not a hate thing, it’s a differing of opinions and I loved to see all the pictures from around the country of people supporting the same idea of FREEDOM OF SPEECH, freedom to express one’s faith and freedom to disagree RESPECTFULLY with one another.

 

 

 

abcnews, fresnobee and abclocal web pics

Hypochondriacs, UNITE!!

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Sometimes it’s a problem working in the medical field.  For a lot of reasons.  First, let me assure you, I enjoy my job, taking care of patients (I’m a nurturer), hearing their stories and seeing what’s going on inside the body (I like to pretend I’m a doctor and figure out what’s the problem–makes the day more interesting).  Buuuuuuuut……sometimes I get a little over it and have to dig DEEP for some compassion, because after the 20th whine story I’d rather get a spinal needle in the eye.  Just sayin’….that’s when my friend and I encourage each other with these kind of things:

you are never too old for a “Gold Star”…

The bad thing is that when people get sick at home and I’ve been dealing with sick people all day, sometimes I have to dig even deeper.  Pathetic.  I know.  And this week I’ve had to pull out the big shovel and dig for flippin’ China because we’ve had round 2 of our youngest getting sick AGAIN with a visit to the After hours Ped clinic and diagnosed with a virus lasting 5-7 days. Nausea, fever and all the good stuff that goes with it (if you can read between the lines).  After recent strep throat and treatment for that, I was less than amused to deal with a virus.  Nor was she.  <sigh>  Then it gets good….

Hubby becomes violently ill the next night with our daughter’s symptoms.  Great. (here comes living out that “in sickness and in health” part…. So after a night of holding our daughter’s hair back a few times and about 3 hours of sleep next to the human furnace, I was thrilled to head to work, leaving our 14-year-old in charge of doling out Tylenol and water.  Both of them were basically out of commission the entire day.  I came home from work and went to work bleaching both bathrooms, kitchen and doling out more fluids and meds.  They were rallying, then….

Dearest daughter complained of peeling feet and achy joints.  I made the fatal mistake.  yes.  I web-surfed her symptoms.  I know better.  Let me STRONGLY encourage you.  DO.  NOT.  DO.  THIS.  EVER.  SERIOUSLY.  Every symptom has a bizarre and rare disease to match on the web (this is why you DON’T surf the web for medical advice, people!).  I found a disease for her, too.  I did what any mother would do.  I made her another doctor appointment.  Hubby took her (he is now recovering somewhat).  She did not have Kawasaki disease despite the matching symptoms…PHEW!…she DID (they are pretty sure after the swab)…have another round of Strep throat, so it’s another visit to Publix for free antibiotics and hopefully we are all on the upswing…… but…..

There are 4 other people in the house still, so we will see how it goes!

St. Raphael, the Archangel, patron saint of illness and healing, Pray for us!