FOOD FIGHT!

Y'all know I L O V E the Iowa State Fair!!! 

I am 32 years old and I have been to 32 Iowa State Fair's.

Anything you need to know about the fair, I am your girl!  Can't find a place you are looking for?  Just ask! :) I go just about every day if not every day to the fair every year and LOVE every second of it!

It truly is a family affair for me!  My parents, grandparents, two aunts, and one uncle camp up there every year!  I am actually sending in the letter this year to get on the TEN YEAR waiting list for a spot in the campground!  Yes y'all, TEN YEARS!!!!!  (Well that WAS the plan!)

I can remember going and staying in the Youth Inn with my mom so we could go to the fair as a family and show livestock.  One year my BFF Sarah stayed with us and it was a BLAST!!!

If y'all don't know what the Youth Inn is, it is a HUGE brick building with old metal bunk beds in it and VERY thin mattress on them that people can stay at while participating at the fair.  It has two sides:  Men on one side, women on the other.  There is a "guard" at the door and you have to have a card to get in.  They have a curfew at night and if you are staying there without your parents they will call them to let them know you have missed curfew.  Yes, y'all they do bed checks! 

It is mainly used to house the FFA Ushers to help out at the free stages and Grandstand evens throughout the fair. They are up there the week before the fair starts and then the whole 11 days so they have A LOT of stuff! 

So here is the real reason I am posting today's blog y'all! I am not sure if y'all are aware of this or not but the ISF board has decided to go cashless at the 2014 fair.

Here is a little back ground on how being a vendor works at the ISF.  You have to pay for your "spot" to have your booth.  Then you have to pay for the electricity to be ran into your booth, if you need water in your booth, you have to pay for that.  Now lets talk about the items you sell in your stand.  You have to use ISF products for the most part.  Their bottled water, pop cups, lids, straws, you get where I am going, right?

Then there is a certain percentage you have to give the ISF at the end of each day from your gross amount of sales.  Yes y'all, you have to give them money you make after you pay them all that other stuff too! 

NOW, they want to start selling these tickets!?!?!?!?!?!

Here is my stance on the idea..............................I am going to be thinking VERY LONG AND HARD about going to the fair every day and every year if this is how it is going to be ISF!

I am NOT going to stand in line to get ALL THESE tickets (at 50 cents a peace I am going to have to get alot for all the food I like to enjoy at the fair!) to turn around and stand in line for the actual food I am going to buy!

You are STEELING money from HARD working people that spend every waking minute at YOUR FAIR! You make them pay to get in every day to sell items at YOUR fair and now you are going to do THIS to them?!?!?! 

I say SHAME on you!!!!  You say it is to cut down on robberies but I say you are the ones robbing people!  Look how much money you are costing by paying all these booths to have people at them to take the money for the tickets! And now you are saying your staff is more trust worthy than the vendors because who is going to be manning the booths selling YOUR tickets?!?!?!  YOUR people I would guess!!!! 

SHAME ON YOU ISF!!!!!!  Iowan's work hard for their money and you are making it hard for them to come and enjoy the fair I fell in love with as a child!!!!  It is bad enough you raise the ticket prices and food prices and now I have to pay to get into the horse arena to watch my cousin in the cowgirl contest!!!!

Y'all know I am country girl that now lives in the city. This doesn't make me an expert on anything and this is just my opinion on the situation but as you might be able to see, I am VERY upset by it!  I will be letting the ISF board know my concerns as well today!  I know my little amount of money I spend at the fair isn't going to mean that much but I still want them to know my opinion!

Thanks y'all for listening and I hope if you feel the same way as I do that you voice your opinion!

Hell YA!!!!

Just a quick check in to let y'all know how things are going. 

I am on day 8 of no pop and going STRONG!!!  I have really not missed it too bad to be honest with ya.  Okay that is a BIG F'ING LIE!!!!  I would stab a brother for a Diet Dr. Pepper right now!!!!!

Okay, got that out of my system for the time being!  Eating has been going pretty well!

Date night last weekend I got to have some AMAZBALL salmon at Jethro's in Ankeny.  Yes I had a side of mashed potatoes too but it was a small side damn it!  I did get a side salad too!

We saw the movie Grudge Match and it was VERY GOOD in my opinion!  I am not a movie critic by any means but if a movie makes me laugh I like it! Enough said, right?

Since it was FREEZE YOUR ASS COLD out this past weekend (Like NORTH POLE COLD y'all) I decided to go to the grocery store on Saturday and stock up for a weeks worth of meals.  I know this is what you should always do but I am not the best at doing this.

I got stuff to make vegetable beef soup (one of my faves!) and chili since it was so cold!  Then I hit the jack pot with whole wheat pasta being on sale so I got some of that too!  Boneless skinless chicken breasts where on sale too so there was a double bonus! (I know, I am weird, I get excited about finding good deals at the grocery store!)

We did order Casey's pizza (my favorite kind of pizza y'all) Sunday night even though I just went to the store and bought all that stuff! I know, that is the dumbest thing ever!  But I was in the mood for it and we had enough box sides for a free one!!  (It's the little things people!)

Good news is I only had three small pieces of pizza and NO POP!!  This is a HUGE SUCCESS for me y'all!!!  I could eat half a large Casey's Pizza and nothing goes better with that than a BIG POP!!  But I restrained and I am still alive to talk about it!!

Monday was a "cold day" for Big B at school so he got to stay home with mom in the morning and dad in the afternoon.  I made vegetable beef soup and cooked it in the crock-pot all day.  DAMN that stuff was good for supper that night!!!

I had it for lunch the next day and it was even better the second time around!!

I am doing better about taking my lunch to work and making sure I have snacks too.  I am NOT doing good about eating breakfast.  I am just not a breakfast person!  Unless it is BACON and hash browns.  I can eat the SHIT out of some bacon y'all!!!!  That might be why the Hubs bought us tickets to Baconfest this year!!  More on that to come FOR SURE!!

I made some whole wheat spaghetti for dinner tonight and Big B LOVES that stuff!!  I for one would prefer to have the whole wheat over regular anyway, so that is good!

I believe we are having chicken tomorrow night, what are some good ways to "jazz" up chicken breasts?  I am known to just throw a bunch of stuff in a zip lock baggie along with the chicken and let is marinade for a while then back it in the oven for a while.  Garlic, mustard, honey, vinegar, whatever is in the front of the fridge!?

Sorry, so much for being short!!  If y'all having noticed I like to go on, and on about stuff!

Well the good news is things are still going as planned!  I haven't had a pop in 8 days, and I am still ALIVE so that is a plus!! :)


Let's Do This Y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Far So Good!

Well y'all I am on day 3 of the no pop thing and going strong!!  I do still drink coffee so I am getting some caffeine but I am not drinking all that sugar that I was before! 

Now I am going to work on my eating healthier.  I would love to say I am going to try to eat "clean" but I just don't know if I can do that.  I LOVE food y'all!!  I mean L O V E food!!! 

But I supposed that is why I weigh as much as I do!! :(

So this is what I am thinking...........if I can work really hard on not eating fast food and "Junk" during the week while I am at work then I should be good! RIGHT?!?!

The Hubs and I have a date night tonight so Big B has a play date with one of his favorite baby sitters!!  I love that we have such great friends that are willing to watch him for us so we can have some time alone once in a while!

So while we are out for dinner tonight, the plan is to get some good food to eat but also healthy at the same time.

I didn't use to like fish until we went to Hawaii and that is where I fell in love with it!! So now any chance I get to have some good Salmon or Tilapia I try to get it. Of course it is not NEAR as good as it is fresh in Hawaii but beggars can't be choosers! 

Sorry about that "squirrel" there y'all!  Anyway, I am thinking I might get a nice piece of fish and a veggie tonight!

After dinner I believe we are going to check out a movie! It has been a very long time since we have been to one of those! :)

Sorry this isn't very interesting today!!  I am thinking about doing some pictures for my before and afters!

Let's Do This Y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!

2013 Recap!

Well 2013 has come to an end y'all and I for one can't believe how fast the year went!!!

Let me back up just a scosh for y'all and recap my Christmas with my side of the fam for ya!  We always go to my parents house and spend the night so we can play games and EAT A TON of food!!

This year was no different!  We went out on Saturday and spend the night.  We each have a stocking at my parents house.  Yes I know what y'all are thinking..............You are a grown ass adult you don't need a stocking anymore. Well this is where I have to DISAGREE with y'all!  My parents LOVE Christmas and stockings are a part of that!!  We get great stuff in our stockings!!

This year I got a punch card to the Iowa State Fair (who wouldn't want that I ask you!) some peanut M&M's, the movie Pitch Perfect, some socks, and some soap.  These are the kinds of things we get every year and it is one of my favorite parts of Christmas!! :)

Next we get to open ALL our presents!  We don't wait until the next day or only open one.......we go balls to the wall when we open presents y'all!!!

Every year my parents say they are going to cut back and every year it is the same thing!  They always go over board and the KIDS love it!! 

Big B got his big boy bedding (cars) and he was SO excited!!  Of course he got tons of toys too and his cousins got toys he thought he should be playing with as well!!! 

This was the first year Big B was really EXCITED about opening presents so he thought he should open EVERYONE'S!!  His older cousins were great about letting him "help" them out!!

I got a Keurig, jewelry armor, Nashville the series, and one of my favorite things was a necklace that is just like this one only with Big B's name on it!  I LOVE it so much!!!  I got alot of other things too but I can't remember them all right now!

As y'all know I personally went through alot during the year 2013!  Separating from my husband was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  We have both been through so much in the 5 years we have been married.  Y'all know I talk about alot on here but I won't be talking about that.  I will tell y'all this...............we are back together and looking forward to a WONDERFUL 2014 as a family! 

Okay, now here is your part to help me out y'all!!  I have made two New Years Resolutions! I did this one year and said no more chocolate and I actually did it for a WHOLE YEAR! I know I am just as shocked as y'all!

Number 1.....................NO MORE POP!  I was drinking WAY more than I should by the end of the year and I need to get back to drinking water again!  So I am one day in and doing great!  I just need your help to keep me going!!  I will keep y'all posted on how I am doing too!

Number 2...........I am going to lose 5 pounds.  Now y'all know as well as I do that I need to lose W A Y more than 5 pounds, but I have been reading alot about obtaining your goals.  If you set realistic ones, you will reach them alot better.  So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I am going to say 5 pounds, then when I reach that I will say another 5 pounds.........see where I am going with this?!?!  I will be letting y'all know how this goes. 

I know most people just say they are going to do a resolution and then don't stick with it but I am really going to do this y'all!  I am just suborn enough to get it done!

Here's to a NEW and BETTER me!!!

WOW!!!! Already?!?!?!

Holy Moly y'all I can't believe the Christmas season is over already!!

That was like a whirl wind of craziness and it was over! 

It makes me very sad to think it is over so fast but I was SO BLESSED this year!!!

So many great things to tell y'all about..............where do I start!?!?!?!?

Well, of course the family get together last weekend was a GREAT graze feast as promised!!  I am pretty sure I put on a good 10 pounds by just walking into the room y'all!!  We all spent time talking and laughing and I even got to see some old pictures my Grams found of when my aunt did a project in high school and used us cousins to help!!  It was great!!

The week at work was crazy because it was so short with Christmas being in the middle it really threw things off!  I worked Monday and part of the day Tuesday as Big B's school was letting out early for the holiday.  I had to run to the grocery store first before picking him up.  Who wants to take a toddler to the store on Christmas Eve?!?!?!?  Not this mama!!! 

Since Big B is getting older now and starting to understand things a little more we decided to start our own "traditions" for Christmas.  The plan was to go to church for Christmas Eve service and then go to Iowa Beef Steak House for dinner.  We love eating there and who doesn't like a good steak and potato y'all!?

Of course the best laid plans..................I wasn't feeling very well by the end of the afternoon and this just didn't work out very well.  So we decided to just head to dinner.  It is LITERALLY three blocks from our house so we didn't have to go very far!!  If y'all have never been to this place you should go at least once!!  We usually split our meal and still leave miserably stuffed!!!  Big B loved his pork chop and baked potato!!

After "waddling" out the door we headed home to see about opening just one present!  Big B has been tortured by all the presents under the tree this past week!!  He wants to open them every day and I kept telling him he had to wait for Santa to come!  So we decided he could open one the night before!! (this we preplanned on our part of course!!)

He opened his jammies and Smurfs The Christmas Carol movie.  The plan was to watch the movie but again, the best laid plans and all!!

Christmas morning was AMAZBALLS y'all!!!  I can remember getting up at 5 in the morning so excited to see what Santa brought!!!  Well our little man isn't too far behind his mama!!!  He was up at 5:15 and bouncing off the walls!!!! 

Still not all that into the Santa thing yet but SUPER EXCITED about presents and to see he got new stuff!!!!  Santa brought him his VERY OWN chair to sit in that has cars on it so he was excited about that!! 

Unwrapping presents is SO much fun to watch when a 2 year old is doing it!!!  I could have wrapped a pair of socks and he would have been excited about it!! Watching his face light up every time was all the presents I needed this year!!!

I leave you with a picture of my little Santa himself!!  How cute is he!?!?!?!

Happy New Year Y'all!!! 

What is Tradition Anyway?!?!

Who makes the rules of what you HAVE to do for the holidays?!?!? 

Don't get me wrong I LOVE the holidays more than anything!!  I am secretly like a little kid every year for Christmas!  I love opening presents and looking in my stocking still! Yes y'all we still get stockings at my parents house.......don't judge me!

I just HATE all the planning and travel and STRESS of it all!

So I ask you my deal blogging friends................who says you HAVE to do "this" for the holidays. 

Someday before I die I am going to be sitting on a beach, sipping on my fruity drink, soaking up the sun during the holidays instead of freezing my ASS off driving all over to a million places for the holidays.

BUT that time hasn't come and I really shouldn't be complaining.  There are plenty of people that don't have anywhere to go for the holidays.

This year my parents won't have anything to do on Christmas and this makes me very sad for them!  We have decided to have our Christmas on New Year's Eve so myself and my sibling can have Christmas morning with our kids at our own homes.

So I ask you this................what is your tradition that you do for Christmas? 

We are just getting started with Big B and this will be his first "real" Christmas.  He was SO MUCH fun to watch opening his birthday gifts I can't wait for Christmas this year!!  He thinks the tree is pretty cool already and he even helped me decorate it!!  SO CUTE!!

Am I the only person that can't believe Christmas is a week from TODAY!?!?!?  WOW that year went by SUPER FAST!!!! 

So we start our first round of the HOLIDAY CHEER this weekend.  Big B is going to be staying with Gramma and Papa Friday night so mommy and daddy can get some gifts wrapped FINALLY!

Then it is off to my Grams and Gramps for an ALL DAY EATING FRENZY y'all!!!!  I am telling you it is like cattle grazing in a pasture!!!!  We just set it out and eat all afternoon and into the evening. 

At some point Grams will bring out the GOOD stuff of home made noodles and you are so full you can't even think straight but you HAVE to eat them because they are GRAMS HOME MADE NOODLES!!!!!  It is always a great time of eating food and good stories with a great family!

That night we will be staying in a hotel with my parents separate rooms of course but fun for all the cousins to play and then on to my other Grandma's for the next Christmas.

This one is less grazing but still A LOT OF FOOD y'all!!  It is so fun to see all of us cousins having children of our own and see them play together.  We do a grab bag at this one and that is fun to see the "big kids" fight over what gift they want! :)

I will let y'all know how many POUNDS I gain after the two day EATING FRENZY and I am sure there will be some great stories!!! 

I know I have said this many times before but I am SERIOUS this time y'all!!!  I am GOING ON A DIET as soon as this Christmas season is over y'all!!!  I am OUT OF CONTROL on this weight thing!

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!!!!

Big B turns 2!!

WOW y'all I can't even believe my baby boy turned two!!  Sorry this is a little late but things have been BAT SHIT CRAZY around here for the last two weeks!!!

Big B turned two on December 3rd.  He was born on 12/3/11 at 12:03!!  I just think that is SO CUTE!!

Okay back to the good stuff.  I can't believe how much he has grown even in the last couple of months! He has turned into quite the little man!

It is always hard to plan a party in December because you never know what the weather is going to be like.  Once day it is nice and sunny and the next..............well it is cold and shit and snowing like CRAZY!!!!  Like it was on Sunday when Big B's birthday party was! :(

So on his big day he got the GREAT PRIVILEGE of going to the ENT for a check-up on his tubes that were put in the middle of November.  Everything looks great and he hasn't had ear infection since so that is always a great sign!

His appointment was first thing in the morning so we decided to have some breakfast in the hospital cafeteria!  Doesn't everybody get to eat breakfast for their birthday at the hospital cafeteria?!?!?! 

B eating breakfast with mommy for his birthday!

Since Big B's birthday was on a Tuesday we decided to wait for his birthday party with family until the weekend.  The weather was TERRIBLE but everyone made it and B couldn't have been more excited!!! 

B "cheesing" for his picture.  This is his "Birthday" shirt too.  It has his name embroidered on it with skull and cross bones in the number two.

He got to play with is cousins and eat cake and ice cream! What more could you ask for at the age of two!?!?!

These are his cakes.  The little one was just for him but he is just to neat of an eater and had to have a fork to eat it!!  LOL 


The Hubs got B the best gift of all!! His new best friend!!!  He LOVES this thing y'all and it is SO cute to watch him play with it!!!!

This is B's new best friend!! At first he was scared of him but now he LOVES his Elmo!!!

Sorry the blogs have been few and far between lately!! I am working on changing that!!!  Things are getting back to whatever normal is around here and I for one couldn't be happier!!!  I will be filling y'all in as soon as I can!!

Piece and Chicken Grease Y'all!!