Chicken Tortilla Soup

You might as well call this soup Dump Soup because it really only entails dumping a bunch of stuff in a pot. You cannot get any easier than that!

1 rotisserie chicken, skinned and de-boned
2 14-16 oz. cans of chicken broth
2 cans of water
1 2 lb. can of diced tomatoes
1 can of whole kernel corn, drained
1 small can of diced green chiles, drained
1 package of taco seasoning.

Dump. Simmer for 30 minutes. Serve topped with your choices of tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, diced avocado, and/or cilantro.

**tip: if I ever get a deep freeze I'll buy a bunch of rotisseries from Costco or Walmart, spend an hour de-boning them and bagging them up as part of my chicken storage. This chicken tastes great in quesadillas, enchiladas, and soups, this one in particular. Having already-shredded chicken makes this soup that much easier to make. Yum!

i tell you what. . .

I wish Taylor Swift had been around 8-14 years ago when I was doing the whole high school-early college thing.

Fifteen-- Seriously captures high school.

Love Song--As a freshman Mr. Delph (ugg, just writing his name brings back a whole lotta anger) made me write an updated version of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. The comment he made to me still stings. Ouch.

You Should've Said No & Picture to Burn--(Great running songs by the way.) Encapsulates all that break up anger and would have made healing those 4 broken hearts I've had quite a bit easier.

if the weather outside is frightful. . .

Today isn't exactly a hot chocolate kind of day (75 degrees!!) but last week, I went through almost an entire box of hot chocolate packets using my sister's tip on a yummy doctored-up hot chocolate.

1 packet of hot chocolate mix

1 T. of Andes baking chips

6-8 oz. of not-quite-boiling water

I've been using the regular mint baking chips but apparently at some point this holiday season you should be able to find the peppermint ones that are red and white. Either way, you'll be feeling better after your indulgence.

Tender Moments

Carter is a picky eater. I've raised him that way, unfortunately. Not that I meant to because I'm certainly not that picky and neither is Marc, but it's one of those mistakes first time moms make. His food repertoire consists of waffles, pancakes, toast, yogurt, lots of fruit, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza, quesadillas, peanut butter sandwiches, grilled chicken, french fries, tomatoes, fruit snacks, fruit leather, gold fish, cereal, wheat thins, and animal crackers. Seriously, this is what he eats most of the time. If we want him to try new things, we typically have to force feed him and count bites. When he was younger I would cater to his needs if we were invited somewhere for dinner. I've stopped doing that. The other night we were at some friends' house for dinner and I hadn't given his food needs a second thought. Apparently, neither did he because after the prayer, I watched him dish himself up, just like a big kid, some cooked carrots, some pineapple and some tomatoes. That's what he ate for dinner. There wasn't a single whiny word that escaped his mouth. When he wanted more pineapple, he asked someone to pass it to him, please, just like a big kid. It seems a little silly to share this moment, but it touched me and made me realize he's getting so big.

......

The other night, I was in bed early. Earlier than the kids. I was crying (I cry a lot, have you noticed yet?). Marc was brushing the boys' teeth. Each of them came in when it wasn't their turn, to say goodnight to me. Anderson climbed on top of me, put his face inches away from mine and placed his hand on my cheek. He stared into my eyes with his big blues and filled my heart with love. He was concerned and showed me with his tender touch. Then he poked my eye and said, "Eyes, water. Mommy sad." When it was Carter's turn, he stood next to me and explained to me why I was a good mother. I don't remember what he said exactly, just that he strung two thoughts together with the word "and." When he does that, the word starts high and ends low and sounds like it's two syllables. He does this a lot when he's trying to explain himself and I think it's the funniest thing. I ADORE my kids and I'm pretty sure they love me too.

This song speaks to my soul.

Somedays we forget. To look around us. Somedays we can't see. The joy that surrounds us. So caught up inside ourselves. We take when we should give. So for tonight we pray for. What we know can be. And on this day we hope for. What we still can't see.. It's up to us to be the change. And even though we all can still do more. There's so much to be thankful for. Look beyond ourselves. There's so much sorrow. It's way too late to say. I'll cry tomorrow. Each of us must find our truth. It's so long overdue. So for tonight we pray for. What we know can be. And every day we hope for. What we still can't see. It's up to us to be the change. And even though we all can still do more. There's so much to be thankful for. Even with our differences. There is a place we're all connected. Each of us can find each other's light. So for tonight we pray for. What we know can be. And on this day we hope for. What we still can't see. It's up to us to be the change. And even though this world needs so much more. There's so much to be thankful for

Quote of the Day

Carter calls Anderson's speech therapist a "speech asparagus." It is funny every time!

Quote of the Day

Marc and I usually watch our Thursday night shows via the fabulous site veoh.com on Friday or Saturday night for our date night. He was in Vail for a continuing ed course Friday night and Saturday and I simply couldn't wait. The Office was so funny this week I watched it twice by myself and then again with Marc when he got home. These gems had me rolling on the ground, literally!

"Buttlicker, our prices have never been lower!"

"You juked the stats, cupcake."

my new favorite salad

picture courtesy of Robin

I've been eating this salad (click on "this salad" for recipe link) all week. When I discovered the pitas from my freezer were kind of dry and therefore an extremely sub par accompaniment, and because I didn't want to truck my two boys to the grocery store again this week to get more, I just ate it like a salad. It was so yummy! Thanks Kelly and Robin for sharing!

ahh, the good old days

Since the marathon, I've been able to fit in quite a few conditioning classes. At my second one, the instructor said something that stuck with me--"if you want that piece of pie (referring to the upcoming holiday of feasting) just do 5 sets of 20 jumping jacks." hmmm. interesting.

I've been having a rough time lately. Hubby's long work hours, church calling stretching me in ways most consider small, but for me, they are large stretches, no tv to "tend" the boys for those short periods of time, hubby's long work hours, boys fighting a lot, hubby's long work hours, motherhood worries. When I have a rough time, I snack, I eat, I binge. Having Halloween last week didn't help. Yesterday was a particularly rough day. So rough that I was in bed asleep by 8:30. I should have done jumping jacks. I did not. I'm embarrassed to say what and how much I've eaten lately, but suffice it to say I'm in the middle of doing 400 jumping jacks. I'm at 325 to be exact. Doing this many jumping jacks reminds me of August of 1994. Band camp. Travis Ogden. (aka fundamental drill sergeant) Jumping Jacks. Legs Burning. It's a good burning though. Oh, to be 14 again.