Riding on a Toolbox and Sleepless in Senatobia

The title to my last post was called “The Coupon Queen.” I stated that I had gone to www.coupons.com and printed off some coupons for my next Wal-Mart trip. Well, I went to Wal-Mart on Saturday and got behind this truck. Do you something wrong with this picture? Isn’t it illegal to ride on the toolbox of a truck? Whatever happened to “Click It or Tick It”????? You know me, I always have my camera handy so I whipped it out of my purse and captured the moment. Taking pictures of random cars and posting recipes might be my new claim to fame. Probably not! And will you know, when I got to Wal-Mart I realized I had left the blasted coupons at home. Never fear… I will use them next time!

Speaking of recipes I said I had a good one to share next time… and well, its next time. This one comes from the Prime Meridian cookbook.

CARAMEL FRENCH TOAST

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup butter
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
10 (1 ¼ inch French bread slices)
4 eggs beaten
2 ½ cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup butter melted

Ina medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, ¾ cup butter and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until bubbly. Pour syrup evenly into a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Place bread slices over syrup. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt. Stir well and our over bread. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
Preheat over to 350. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over soaked bread. Drizzle ¼ cup melted butter on top. Bake, uncovered, 45 to 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

My Sunday school class has breakfast once a month and this is my signature dish. It’s really pretty quick to fix too.

Don’t you just love the pictures of Ford????? (I have bragging rights since he is my child). We had someone take these and I just had to share. Speaking of the little guy… he WON’T nap very well. I mean to put it lightly he sleeps a total of 1 hour a day. He naps 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. He has never been a great napper, but at one point I had him sleeping for 2 hours in the afternoon. I could accomplish things. Now I can barely stuff my lunch down and start a load of laundry before I hear him talking. He is waking up happy and usually kicking his legs in the air, but I can’t get him to stay asleep. We are also having problems with him waking up in the night. When he was smaller we used to swaddle him in his Miracle Blanket (new mothers invest in one) and that really helped. He has outgrown the blanket. What do I do????? Veteran moms I need help. I know a lot of you won’t comment on my blog, but if you have the secret to staying asleep share the wealth. E-mail me at jlamar44@hotmail.com

The Coupon Queen

Yesterday I was watching the Rachael Ray show and they had some “expert” on there talking about saving money. I would definitely consider myself a thrifty shopper and remind Trey on a regular basis how lucky he is to have me as a wife since I don’t spend a lot of money. I grew up in a household that was conservative when it came to money. I blame that on the fact that my dad is a banker! Well, this guy was talking about coupons and how the average person who uses coupons comes from a household that has an income of $75,000 + and the ones who make less than that usually don’t use them. My mom is the COUPON QUEEN! I have a lot of memories of her from my childhood sitting in her chair with the newspaper, scissors, and her red Fred’s coupon holder. She has now graduated to a navy blue leather one. I started thinking that I should sooooooo cut out coupons, but we don’t get the paper. Well hello, it is 2009 and I do have the internet. I got on www.coupons.com and printed off some good ones. I highly recommend that website!!!

Today my mother in law offered to keep Ford while I went shopping. Bless her little heart. Unless you are a mother of a small child or have been at some point in your life, you have NO IDEA what it means to get out of the house ALONE!!!!!!! I mean when she pulled in the driveway that baby was in his seat ready to go. Before getting in my car I decided to get out my “old cds” from high school. They were so old some were in a zip lock bag!!!!!!!! I am so ridiculous. I went thru them laughing and trying to figure out which ones I should listen to. There were lots of “classics” to choose from. I picked out a few and popped them in the cd player and jammed out all the way to Southaven. It was GREAT! Now if you went to Oak Grove High School you can ONLY imagine what all I might have been listening to. And unlike my husband, it was not country!!!!!! I laughed thinking of my 3 best friends from high school and how we used to get all ready to go out on the town and “bump” our tunes! I am attaching some pictures of us from high school. We called ourselves the posse’.

You gotta love the fashions we were sporting!




As I blogged about recently, I am doing a Beth Moore Bible Study. It is going great. When I got ready to leave last week the person I was sitting next to said that I smelled good. I thought… hmmm is that a compliment or do I normally stink. I said thanks and kind of laughed saying I did shower that morning! (I always shower). She said I know but you just have a small baby and all. Are you supposed to stink if you have a small baby!!!!!!??? Well, when I got home I put Ford down for a nap. When he got up it was time to eat. He sneezed and green beans went on my pink shirt. I picked him up and got slobber all over my shoulder, and when I changed his diaper… well, lets just say it wasn’t tee tee that got on my hand. So maybe now I understand why she said I smelled good. It was only 11:00 in the morning!!!!!


He found his feet yesterday


I feel odd not adding a recipe since I did the last 3 blog posts. Maybe I will add another one next time. I already have one in mind!

I was "The Host"

I spent all of last week cleaning and freaking out over hosting a baby shower at my house. Since Ford has come into the picture my idea of cleaning is running the vacuum cleaner and cleaning the bathrooms. That is about it. I had lots to do before all these people showed up at my house. Trey likes to make fun of me and tells me I stress out too much over stuff. He is right, I do. I honestly started cleaning six days early and still had to recruit my mom to come on Saturday. I had “the list” of what all needed to be done. I feel such a sense of pride and relief when I make a “to do” list and I get to mark something off!! We even had the yard man come and plant a circular bed around a tree and to add a bed in front of the lovely addition to the storage room. For those of you who have read my blog for a while you probably remember Trey’s “man room” we added on while I was pregnant. Naturally it poured down rain the day of the shower, but ironically didn’t really rain during the shower. Everything went well and I think my friend got a lot of good baby supplies…and I got a clean house!!

I look like a shrimp in this picture. Did I shrink???????



Recipe #3

Corn Flake Chicken Casserole

Corn Flakes
1 stick of butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. sour cream
3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

Boil chicken and cut up. (I actually chop mine in my chopper) .In a small square casserole dish crumble corn flakes to cover the bottom. Melt half a stick of butter and pour on top of corn flakes. Mix cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, sour cream, and chicken in a bowl. Pour mixture on top of corn flakes. Crumble more corn flakes on top of the chicken mixture and melt the rest of the butter. Pour it on top and cook at 350 until bubbly. ** I use the light sour cream and healthy choice/fat free soups to cut down on calories. It still tastes wonderful.


Now this is what I call sleeping!!!

Ford was supposed to be playing on the blanket. I walked in to find him partially under his baby bed.


WAYS TO PREVENT THE SWINE FLU

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation.
In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do
any harm.


And to end this blog post.... Where do you think this guy was going????

Reunion, Recipes, and More

Ford and his best buddy, James Still

So we had the big class reunion and Shae’s wedding this weekend. I actually didn’t take as many pictures as I thought I would. I don’t even think I got any of the wedding. I apologize for those of you who were looking forward to them. The reunion was a good time for all the old buddies from the class of 1999 to get together. Trey only graduated with 38 people so it was rather small. I graduated with 240. We have to wait 2 more years until my 10 year reunion… I’m still a baby. I think all in all everyone had a blast and enjoyed getting together.

Recipe #2 as I promised.

CHOCOLATE CHIP PIE

1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 9’’ pie shell (graham cracker)

Melt 1 stick of butter. Mix with 1 cup of sugar. Beat 2 eggs with a fork. Mix. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped pecans. (I chop my pecans up real fine. Not a big fan of pecans). Pour into a 9’’ pie shell. Cook at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

That was fun wasn’t it??? It’s my signature pie. I actually got the recipe from my mother in-law. Trey says I make it all the time. Not only is it easy it’s delicious. If you make it you will understand why.

As you all know I am staying home with my sweet baby this year and not teaching. I do miss little kiddos though. I started tutoring again yesterday so I feel a bit connected to the teaching world. It was fun. I am tutoring a 4th grader in math.

Ford is doing well. He is growing like a weed. He is so funny how he loves to look and see what is going on….kind of nosey. Not sure where he gets that from???? He has been helping me get our house all nice and clean for the baby shower this weekend. My best friend from college had her precious baby boy several weeks early (14 to be exact) and we didn’t get to have her shower before he came so we are throwing one this weekend. I volunteered my home and now I have to get it all in order. The shower isn’t until Sunday but since I stress over the small things in life I have started cleaning and all that jazz early. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

Random Blog Entry

Today we have lots of random stuff to talk about…

We’ll start off with my Bible study. I just began going to a Bible study on the book of Esther. I am sure you are thinking the same thing I was; Esther… hmm not one you hear much about. It’s a Beth Moore study, part discussion and part video lecture. I went for the first time on Tuesday. Day one was like an intro as what is to come during the 9 week study. The title of the study is called “It’s Tough Being a Woman.” Beth Moore had participated in an online study about the top 3 most challenging things about being a woman. She read some of the answers the 400 women gave. These were some of the top answers, yielding (submitting to your husbands), balance, and hormones. Hot dog, I can relate to all three of those! She went on to say that women and their hormones can cause a lot of family problems. Such as… you will argue and fight with the ones you love the most, but cry during a commercial. I found that to be true as well. I don’t cry during many commercials. And this was the one she ended with that was knee slapping funny… It’s hard being a woman because: I have to wear panties and try to hide the fact that I do!! I just started thinking about all the things companies make to hide those lines in your pants... hence SPANX.

Okay moving right along because I am sure any guys reading this wishes they would have skipped paragraph 1 and I might be getting a call from my husband wondering what I was thinking and why in Sam Hill did I write that.

Lets do a recipe. I recently cooked dinner for a new mother and took her this particular dish. I am a picky eater and enjoy cooking things that aren’t hard and don’t take forever.

CHICKEN AND SUN DRIED TOMOATOE FETTUCCINI

4 chicken breasts
½ cup chopped onion
2 tbs olive oil (I add more)
¼ tsp pepper
1 7 oz. jar sun-dried tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp basil
8 oz. fettuccini
Optional capers and black olives .(I do not put them in mine)

Cut chicken into strips/pieces (set aside). Drain tomatoes chop and set aside. In a 12 inch skillet (with a top) heat 1 tablespoon oil from tomatoes over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until tender. Add chicken and cook 8 min. Stir. Add basil and tomatoes… cook 1 minute. Stir in olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and rest of oil from tomatoes.
Heat thoroughly. Top with parmesan cheese

Okay wasn’t that fun! I want to know if you try my recipe. I have 2 more recipes I plan to share in later posts.

Lets throw in a little Ford... You can't have a post without him!!


So I went to Wal-Mart this week. That’s what I do… I go to Wal-Mart. There’s not a lot happening in Mayberry so I get fired up about a weekly grocery run. Well, when I was walking out of the store the other day I noticed this man looking oddly at a car as he was driving away. I checked out the situation and apparently it is acceptable to park your car in the middle of the AISLE. I mean come on people. I know you can see the lines in the parking lot and are aware that you may not park where people should be driving. Being the prepared person that I am, I grabbed my camera and took a picture of the goose who thought they could park wherever they wanted to???????!!!!!!!!


We have a big weekend… Trey is in his 347593475 wedding and it’s the big Magnolia Heights class is 1999 high school reunion. Don’t you worry one bit, I plan to document the 2 occasions and share a post with you all. Until then happy cooking and feel free to park your car wherever you want… it’s the thing to do!!!!

Dove Hunting, Ole Miss Rebels, and Carrot Sticks

As I discussed in the last blog, this was the big dove hunting weekend. Trey has been going with the same group of guys since we moved to Senatobia. He was up bright and early Saturday morning. I don’t think the sun was even out when he left. It amazes me how men can get up at the crack of dawn to go hunting but seem to have a hard time getting out of bed other times. They killed lots doves and Ford and I even had the pleasure of going to the dove field later that afternoon. I gave Trey some baby Carhart overalls last Christmas so Ford wore them out there. You have to dress the part you know! I guess he should have some camouflage, but he doesn’t. I will work on that.

Yesterday was the first football game...Ole Miss vs. Memphis. No, we didn’t go. Trey and I haven’t gone to the game in Memphis in 6 years. It’s too blasted hot. Instead we watched it on the large 48’’ TV that Trey thought he needed back at Christmas. Again, you must dress the part for such occasions so Ford had on his Ole Miss jersey. It was great. We had some friends to come over and watch the game. They brought some yummy snacks. Ford enjoyed chewing on a carrot stick. The little man is quite spoiled because he threw a fit if you took it away or if he dropped it on the floor. He gnawed off a small piece of it and we took his treasure away.

We have had a good weekend. I do love a Monday holiday!!!! Trey and Ford went to the grocery store for me so I have some time to catch up on my blogging!! I hope everyone had a great Labor Day!!!!!

A more interesting entry

I had a request tonight from the woman who drives the yellow car, that plowed over my mailbox this summer, to write a more interesting blog entry. I didn’t know germs and my dog were so bad!!!
I am kind of having the beach blues. We’re home, Labor Day is around the corner, summer is almost over, and I am back in school. YES, you read that correctly back in school. I didn’t say I was “teaching” school… nope I am a student. The husband convinced me that I should get my masters in Education while I am taking this “time off.” Honestly, that is the last thing I wanted to do. I am great at making excuses about why I shouldn’t do something and I had a whole list for him. Obviously he won. And to be quite honest I’m glad. I have been to 2 classes already and I think I may love it. I am still being true to my Rebels, just not driving all the way to Oxford; I am going to the De Soto Center. My class is small, with only 9 students and the professor. She is a funny lady and reminds me a lot of how I used to teach. You just never know what might come out of her mouth next. My class is only one night a week which allows for some good father/son bonding time!!!

As for that son of mine, Ford, he is growing up so fast. He was 4 months yesterday. I asked Trey the other night what I would be doing right now if we didn’t have Ford and I really didn’t know. I would probably have been watching TV while relaxing on the couch. Whatever does relaxing mean these days????!!!!!

He has moved on to bigger and better things from the rice cereal. We are now eating veggies!!!!! The child is definitely a Lamar and loves his food. Thus far we have had squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. I personally think he is not a big fan of the carrots and I don’t blame him. They look nasty. He obviously isn’t crawling at 4 months, but he is on the move. If I take my eyes off of him he is off the rug and on his way to a more interesting place. Today I found him partially underneath the ottoman! I love this kid.

Dove season is the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trey is fired up… I am not. Remember I only hunt deer. I couldn’t shoot a dove if my life depended on it. Not that I wouldn’t, but I couldn’t… I have poor vision. I do better with larger targets. I have been dove hunting once… same weekend of Katrina… I nearly pinched my finger off putting bullets in the gun and decided NOT to go back. My screams scared off all the birds anyways. Maybe I will post some pictures from the big dove hunt this weekend. Until then I hope this blog entry is okay for you my mailbox hitting friend!!!!!!