I haven't been keeping up with this very well, but hopefully that will change after we finish moving! Yes, that's right, my family and I are FINALLY moving to a brand new house. We're a little over half way finished with the move - we're just going to the other side of town and we've just got a few more boxes to move over to the new place.

We were supposed to move back in February, but the closing kept getting delayed. Not to worry - we've got our dream house now.

I wish I had time to post a longer update, but I'm afraid we're about to go eat! Hope everything is going well with you - it's certainly going better for us.

Today, I hydroplaned and ran into a curb.

That sounds a little too dramatic for my tastes, but that's exactly what happened. I went out to get lunch for the family and on the way back, I went around a curve and slid into a curb. I'm fine and so is the car - it's just a little startling to have something like that happen.


In other news (and the cause of my hydroplaning incident) it's snowing! All week the weather men have been promising us a "blizzard" and I guess they finally delivered. In my area of the country, we hardly ever get snow. It's been snowing pretty hard since this morning too. The photo up there is of our back deck, and yes, that is our Christmas tree that we have yet to get rid of. I know that may not seem like a lot of snow to some of you up north, but to my town down South it is! I took that picture in the morning and there's even more snow now that it's the afternoon.

A note for all you Murfreesboro, TN moms out there with babies still in diapers - Toys R Us has a deal on Pampers Baby Dry Diapers - you can buy a tub of 206 diapers for $45.99. In addition, you also get a Rubbermaid bin (the diapers come in this!) and $20 worth of coupons. Another deal I'm planning on taking advantage of is if you buy either three packs of Huggies or three packs of Pampers, you get a $15 gift card, which I will be applying back toward diapers!

We bought two cases of Pampers a while back from our local Kroger and in both were coupon books and in one of them was a mini Tide To-Go Pen - what an awesome surprise!

Look out for my next post - I'll be giving you my recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup. I'm making it this evening, so there will be some pictures to go with the recipe this time!

I hope everyone has a great day and stays safe in this snow (or whatever weather you're having)!



Claire

When a person is trying to start a diet - a person like myself - it is a very bad idea to put anything resembling Good Food into the house. An even worse idea is to put anything sweet in the house, because I will eat it, without fail. Last night, I faced down Diet Kryptonite and lost (but can you really blame me?).

I faced down Chocolate Eclair Cake and if you noticed, I really like eclairs (and not just because my initials are E. Claire). I don't feel too bad about my battle with the decadent dessert, so I'm going to share my recipe with you! There are no pictures, because by the time I even thought about taken any pictures the ravenous hordes that I consider family had already descended and demolished the 9x13" pan of heaven.

Chocolate Eclair Cake is a kind of misnomer for this dessert, seeing as this has no real cake in it at all. That doesn't stop me from requesting it every year on my birthday, though!

Chocolate Eclair Cake

1 box graham crackers
2 small boxes of french vanilla instant pudding
3 cups milk
12 oz Cool Whip

Topping:

1 stick of butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa *
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teas. vanilla
1/8 teas. salt

Make the topping first: melt butter, add sugar and cocoa. Add milk and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, add vanilla and salt.

Make pudding and fold into Cool Whip. In a 9x13X2" pan, layer crackers, 1/2 pudding mixture, crackers, 1/2 pudding mixture, crackers, and chocolate topping. Chill.


* I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, but any brand is fine.

Better the second day, but do you really want to wait? I don't blame you.

I'm a little late out of the starting gate this year.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Claire and I'm a twenty year-old stay-at-home mother of one, Emma Kate who is about to be six months old. I live with my mother, my brother, and our newest edition - Alex, Emma's dad. It can get kind of confusing around here with both my brother and Emma's dad being named Alex, but we manage pretty well.

We're moving at the end of February to a new house (with an awesome kitchen, I might add) and my mother is finalizing her divorce with her soon to be ex-husband, a.k.a. my father. This is a Good Thing, I might add. I'm starting back at my local university in the fall - my intended major is Primary Education with a minor in Special Education. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, in four years I'll have a degree and a job, Emma will be starting in school, and the two of us will move out to our own house. Here's hoping! But enough about me, let's get to the real reason I started this blog.

I always make New Year's Resolutions with the best of intentions - the best laid plans and all of that. This year, I decided to do something a little bit different. I'm making a list of one hundred things I want to do in 2010. Nothing all encompassing like Resolutions, just little things I know I can get done easily. While I do that, I'm also going to blog about it and other things like my crazy life and my exploits in the kitchen. So if that sounds like your particular cup of tea, stick around! Who knows, maybe you'll even come up with one hundred things of your own.


100 in 2010 (A List in Progress)

Health

Exercise at least three times a week.
Get my anemia under check.
Lose fifty pounds. (0/50)
Join a pilates class.
Join a yoga class.
Cut out junk food from my diet.
Go on a walk around the neighborhood at least once a week.

Personal

Go back to college.
Open a savings account and save at least $500. (0/500)
Go through my clothes and donate anything I don't/won't wear.
Read at least thirty books. (2/30)
Get a new phone.

Emma Kate

Read a book to her at least once a day.
Take her on the Green Way at least twice a month.
Make a stepping stone with her hand and feet prints.
Take at least one picture of her per day. (0/365)
Start making home made baby food.

Arts & Crafts

Make a photographic journal of at least one month of my life.
Make twelve bracelets or necklaces. (0/12)
Finish at least two scrapbooks. (0/2)
Write at least 100k words of fiction. (0/100,000)
Take at least one picture a day of something that makes me happy. (0/365)
Write at least one letter a month and send it. (0/12)
Do at least thirty creative writing prompts. (0/30)
Make at least ten things from Instructables. (0/10)
Make at least ten collages. (0/10)
Learn how to cross stitch.

The Kitchen & Cooking

Try ten new recipes a month. (0/120)
Make ahead ten casseroles to freeze per month. (0/120)
Bake at least three times a month. (0/36)
Start compiling my dream pantry.
Organize the kitchen.
Buy $100 worth of groceries and only pay $25.
Become an expert at couponing.

Fun & Games

Finish a sudoku book front to back with no help.
Watch thirty movies I've never seen. (3/30)
Go camping at least three times. (0/3)


Current List Total: 37