Happy Friday and a few changes

Happy Friday!

You may have noticed I'm in the middle of an identity change, aka a new blog name and a few tweaks to the template. I still have some changes to make, but my hope is that it will be much more reflective of who I am, the content, and what this blog represents to me. This will be my final name change (you'd think after two years I would have decided what I wanted) and I'm very happy with the decision.

Please add the new URL: www.jessandtheboys.com.

Turkey sausage sandwich with onions and peppers

Last night I made a recipe that had Adrian saying, "Oh my GOSH, that was good!" I'd consider that a success, considering some of our previous experiences.

I had planned to make this recipe, but after a quick gander at the list of ingredients, I realized there were several items I was missing.

So, in true Jessica fashion, I decided to wing it. You know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Here's how:

6 turkey hot italian sausage links
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 green bell peppers
1 yellow onion
1 tsp or so of salt
1 tsp or so of pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
3 garlic cloves
About 1/3 cup of some Cabernet wine
About 1/3 cup chicken broth
1 can (15oz) stewed tomatoes
Sprinkle of red pepper flakes
Provolone cheese
French rolls

Heat oil, cook whole sausages until browned, 7-10 minutes. Remove them and set aside, add the sliced onions and peppers along with salt and pepper and cook until golden. Add garlic, oregano and basil, stir.

Add the wine, tomatoes, chicken broth and red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer. Slice sausages and add back into the pan. Snuggle them into the sauce, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

After it's finished, turn on the broiler and assemble your roll. Add a slice of provolone (mozzarella works too) and slide under the broiler until crispy and melty.

Major yum!

My favorite day of the week

I love that my sister lives with me. It's kind of like having your best friend around all the time, except I don't feel guilty when I have to yell at her for leaving her crap all over the place. It's awesome.

One of my favorite things that we do together, pretty much the highlight of my week, is our every-Wednesday trip to the swap meet. We started this tradition about five weeks ago and haven't missed a date since. 

It starts like this - she goes to class while I get the boys ready. When she gets back at 9:30, we jump in the car and head to the 7-11/Subway where we get our fat girl on and buy diet cokes, Subway cookies, some juice or Gatorade for Gabriel and a couple bottles of water. Then it's off to Calexico, we go. 

We take two strollers, one for Gabriel and one for Jonas, which double as storage if need be. 

Some of our finds have included:

• a dresser and desk for T's room
• two lamps that I painted yellow and now live on our nightstands
• a picture frame that will be turned into jewelry storage
• a large mirror for the entryway
• some blocks and a huge play car garage for Gabriel
• a door to be sanded and repurposed as a wall hanger with pictures on it

Here's my door:

I know it doesn't look like much, but once it's refinished I'm going to put an 8x10 photo in each of the spaces and hang it on the wall. It's going to be awesome.

And here's my new mirror:

I think I'm going to paint it since it doesn't work well with the dark colored wine cabinet below it. Martha Stewart has some paints that I've been dying to use so I'm considering something like these:

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I haven't decided yet...any suggestions?

The swap meet has really become something I look forward to every week. It's nice to connect with my sister, since she works either PM or night shifts, meaning many times she has to nap during the day. It's also a great opportunity to get out of the house, Gabriel can run around and chase pigeons (his favorite thing about the swap meet), and I get some exercise as well.

Do you have any weekly traditions that you can't stand to miss?

Tell about it Tuesday #4

Let's get on with it, yes?

If you had all of the time/resources/etc. that you needed, what hobby would you pick up?

I'm going to get all suzy-homemaker on you, but I would totally learn how to sew. I got really excited during the holidays because my Nana gave me a sewing machine. Turns out? Broken. Sucky. So now my mom says she's going to give me hers to learn, but I've yet to take her up on it. I had visions of sewing pillow case covers and cute Halloween costumes...oh well.

The other thing I would take up is horseback riding again. Despite my awful allergic reactions to horses, I absolute love to ride even though I haven't done so in years. Every time I get near a horse, I miss it so much. I even dream about it sometimes, isn't that weird?

So, realistic or not, what would you try?

Garlic Chicken Thighs with Potatoes

I love quick and easy recipes, especially because after being home with the boys all day, I have very little desire to get into the kitchen and make an elaborate dinner.

This afternoon I stumbled across a recipe that made a big splash in our house! I just recently started using chicken thighs and I am obsessed. I can't remember what website I found it on, but it's so simple I can recall it from memory. I hope you enjoy!

3 large chicken thighs

3 potatoes

1 c. chicken stock

1/2 of a lemon

1 teaspoon + some of salt

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon or so of olive oil

3/4 monterey jack cheese

First, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mince garlic very finely (the recipe called for it to be made in to a paste but I didn't) and combine with 1 teaspoon of salt. Rub mixture onto thighs and place in 9x13 glass dish. Sprinkle with pepper. Slice each potato into about 8-12 "chips," sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss with olive oil. Place potatoes around and on top of the chicken. Squeeze 1/2 of a lemon over entire dish and add 1 cup of chicken stock, pouring down the side (you don't want to rinse off that yummy garlic/salt/pepper). Pop in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I covered mine with monterey jack for the last 2 or 3 minutes and it was delish, although I'm sure you could use any or no cheese. 

I served it with grilled asparagus, corn and a fresh salad. I thought we would surely have leftovers for Adrian's lunch tomorrow but it was gone so quickly, and even Gabriel ate it up!

Let me know if you try it!

Weekend love

I love busy weekends. I'm generally not one to sit around, I get antsy and anxious and like to go, go, go. I'm certain I got that from my mom who can't sit still either and always kept us busy as kids. It tends to bug the hell out of Adrian because he, unlike me who stays home during the week, has to work, attend meetings, take long drives and do all sorts of tedious things and the weekends are his down time. His idea of a nice weekend is to wake up late, take a leisurely nap and lounge around watching TV...

Well, I really kept him on-the-go this weekend. Friday night we got an unexpected three hours (!!!) to attend one of Adrian's coworkers birthday party. We had a few drinks and a few laughs and it was glorious! There was a comedian who I'm sure would have been funny if I could understand Spanish well enough to have gotten the jokes, haha. Bright and early on Saturday we attended my friend Kayleigh's son and daughter's birthday party in Orange County, then drove back to my parents' house that evening so we could go to Nana's birthday party on Sunday.

Here's a fun photo dump for your viewing pleasure...
I wish there were some pictures of Jonas, but he was feeling a little under the weather (or teething?) so he was strapped to my body, hiding in the Moby the entire time, oh well!

Someone was tiiiired! As soon as we put him in the car, he was out like a light.

Happy 71st birthday to my Nana! Surrounded by 13 of her grand- (7 missing!) and 2 great- grandchildren.

Aren't my parents cute!!!??

I find this picture really hard to look at because when I look at Gabriel, I don't see a toddler, I see a little boy. And by little I mean big boy. I just can't believe what a handsome little man he's become.

I think it's kind of ridiculous that my Nana can ride a bike better than I can...

 How was your weekend, my peeps?

Losing the mid-day nap

Just writing that title makes me cringe.

My favorite time of day is when 1pm rolls around so I can tuck Gabriel into my bed and tell him, "See you in two hours, love ya!" Not that I don't love him while he's awake, but let's just be honest, he's a handful. Between him and Jonas, there are days when I'm literally counting down the minutes until they will both be blissfully asleep and I can catch up on whatever needs catching up on or just have a little me time.

Believe me, I don't want to lose the nap. I've been holding on tight to this time because I do still think he needs it, but I also don't want to keep having to stay up until 11pm anymore. I mean, what the heck is a 3-year old child doing staying up until that ungodly hour? I don't even like staying up that late and I'm old!

We've tried everything to get him to sleep at a decent hour in his own bed - coercion (I swear you can have jelly beans in the morning if you will pleasefortheloveofgod get in bed!), yelling, offering up everything but our souls, laying with him until he falls asleep, reading about 234,640,379 books and spanking. None of it works. We've been down this bedtime road before. Somehow it fixed itself. It looks like this time we'll have to play some hardball.

Not to mention he fights to the death come nap time to find any way not to have to lay down. He'll play, scream, throw himself on the floor, cry and find excuses to get up. But!! He needs it! I know he does, because by 4pm it's like we've unleashed the kraken or something. He becomes this little monster child that loses his ish in an instant.

So, we've I've decided that we will try to have an hour of "quiet time" every day. This means rest time, or read by yourself time, or mama needs just half of a second to herself time. Whatever it is, it will be. (Did someone famous say that or am I just a genius?)

I have a feeling this might be comparable to sleep training an infant. Lots of crying and nobody really gets any sleep.

Anybody have any brilliant ideas that might save our precious nap time, but still have him sleeping at night?

The importance of taking time for yourself

 

Every morning for the past two weeks, I've started my day at the butt crack of dawn, aka 5:45am. I don't like it - I'm not a natural morning person - but I tried it as a last ditch resort because I thought I might be losing my mind. Lo and behold, it has worked thus far.

Up to that point a few weeks ago, I was sleeping in late with the boys and Adrian, only to find myself scrambling around all day to catch up. By evening I was so exhausted from being "on" all day without a break that I was grouchy, emotional and basically just hating the world.

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A lot of my grouchiness had to do with the fact that Jonas was still waking up several times a night and many nights sleeping in bed with us. He was also very sensitive to caffeine up until recently, so I was moody without my coffee fix in the AM. We've since broken the sleeping-in-bed-with-us habit and it's been great, but I am certain that my change in attitude is not solely attributed to that.

So, my morning routine has saved me. It would be safe to say that taking this time to myself makes me a better mother and wife.

I usually get up and either work out or take a shower, make some coffee and oatmeal, read some blogs, catch up on a show that doesn't involve half guppy/half children or kids with overly large heads, and do what I want to do. I know that for that hour, hour and a half, I am only responsible for myself. I don't usually clean except for maybe the dishes, because I do that later in the day when both boys are napping.

If for some reason my time is cut short, like this morning when Jonas woke up at 6:15, I find other time. Right now. Adrian is home still because he has a 10am meeting so he is downstairs entertaining Gabriel. Jonas is taking a morning nap. I am upstairs in my bed, enjoying my coffee that got cold this morning, and blogging. It's the little slice of heaven in my day.

Moms or non-moms, what do you do to recharge after/before a long day of work/babies/life?

Revamping our house, one room at a time

For years now, aside from our stint in the condo we purchased, we have always rented the places we've lived in. It royally sucks because we've forever had the attitude that we really shouldn't bother dressing up our digs because we probably wouldn't be in that place long, and most of the time that thinking has been pretty accurate.

Lately, though, I've been so sick of just having a house, not a home, that lacks a personal flair or style. Adrian has too. Since we've succumbed to the fact that the likelihood of us getting out of this soon-to-be hell hole (summer is looming and it's making me anxious) is unlikely and this house is most likely going to be ours for a while, we've decided it's time to make an effort at sprucing things up.

So, some of the things we've done lately have been so fun! As I posted before, we painted and added some stuff to Gabriel's room recently. My sister painted her room and bought new furniture. I'm on the lookout for an entryway table and new dresser for my room. We have only had one dresser since we've been married and seriously, we have piles of clothes sitting on the floor next to it because they don't fit. It is so annoying!


Some of my entryway inspirations:

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 Adrian is currently in the process of building me this because he's a gangster like that:

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It will hold the TV and all of the crap that comes along with that so I can reclaim my beautiful wine cabinet that has been serving as a stand. This piece probably won't be stained so dark, but we'll see. I went through a phase of loving all dark cherry wood, so that's kind of what my entire house looks like. It's super dark and now I can't stand any of it!

Adrian just finished building me a new headboard for our room and it looks ahhhmazing. Seriously, I couldn't be happier with it. We haven't put it behind the bed yet, but here's a sneak peak...

It looks pretty dark there, but it hadn't dried yet, I had funky lighting and couldn't get the entire thing in the picture out in the garage. It's now in our room, just needs to be attached to the wall. Here's where he got his inspiration for it. Before it gets placed on the wall, I think I'l be painting in there because right now the poopstain brown just doesn't do it for me. I'm thinking a natural looking green color will do the trick.

I also want to buy this from Target:

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With something similar to this above my headboard:

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I love how tightly they are placed together and the botanical inspiration. I just basically want my room to be peaceful and bright, somewhere we actually want to spend time, instead of just dumping ourselves into bed to sleep. 

We have room to even add a little seating area, maybe a couch and small table if we wanted to so I'm trying to find ways to incorporate all of that into the formatting of the room.

I've already thrifted and painted some lamps and such a small touch has already done WONDERS for the room. I'll keep you posted on the progress!

So now that I've photo- and idea-dumped all over you, tell me...

Do you have any DIY projects going on?

Tell me about it Tuesday #3

Good morning and Happy Tuesday! I am bouncy and happy indeed because Jonas finally fell asleep in his crib when I put him in there awake, just as he did at 4am this morning and it. was. awesome.

He also has stopped reacting so dramatically to caffeine so I get to have my morning joe, yippee!

Anywho, onto the question of the day...



Do you have any vacations planned for the spring/summer?

Funny you ask, why yes I do! This happens to be an eventful year for us and I am so excited. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to afford to do it all, but we'll make it happen one way or another (good thing we paid off all our debt this winter, point for us!).

Here's the rundown
April: San Felipe for Adrian's dirty thirty with some of our besties. Sure to be a fabtastic time.

May: Mikey comes to town! We're also supposed to go to San Francisco for my cousin Natalie's graduation at St. Mary's. So proud of her!


June: San Luis Obispo for my cousin Katelin's graduation for Cal Poly. She rocks!


July: Silverstrand in San Diego for the Fourth. We had so much fun last year. I spent the weekend puking into an RV toilet and thinking I was dying from morningallday sickness. But Gabriel had fun!


August: NAPA VALLEY! I'm excited, can't you tell? What I am most excited about is celebrating with the bachelorette, Nicole, all weekend long.

I just can't wait for all of the fun and it starts soooo soon.

So, where are you going??

Snow day in Campo

On Friday morning, we got word that we were in for a big storm. At my parents' house that meant snow; here it meant we might get some large gusts of wind and a drop or two of rain.

Adrian had the great idea to stay the night at my parents' house on Saturday night and cross our fingers that we would wake up to snow. I thought the likelihood was small, but we decided to bring our snow stuff in case we decided to head up to Laguna.

What do you know, we woke up to this:

It was like Christmas morning for Gabriel (and my dad too, who hovered over Gabriel until he woke up because he was so excited to show him the snow).

Dad was trying to get a picture of him, Gabriel was winding up to throw a fat snowball at him.

It's out of focus because I was running away from him as he was chasing me with the snow.

Handsome hub.

Clyde loved the snow, but poor guy, he was also a victim of the snowball throwing.

Boogie board in the summer. Toboggan in the winter!

Baby boy was freezing! Look at those pink cheeks!

After snapping a few pics, I ran inside to enjoy some warm coffee. Because it was fr-fr-fr-freeeeezing!

Too bad the weekend is over, but I'm counting down until Friday when I get my new car, wooo!

Have a great week, all!