Where have I been?

well in bed. i have been sick for the last 2 weeks or at least thats what it feels like. massive headache still since friday. guess something is in the air but its also been sinuses. sorry no wordless wednesdays or cooking stuff as i have been sick and the DH doesnt cook much besides hamburger helper, hot dogs and corny dogs.

well we have some exciting news to share... no i am NOT pregnant (not even trying). we are planning a cruise next year after B's birthday. YAY!!! it sales out of Galveston which is awesome b/c its only a 6 hr drive from Ft Worth (it takes forever to get anywhere in Texas). its Feb 24th - March 3rd

i am really excited about this b/c we have been wanting to go on a cruise again since we walked off of our last one. this isnt a for sure trip as we are starting to budget right now for it. all we are doing is taking out the money we have left over from our grocery and gas budget every 2 weeks. we have $91 right now so we are far from the goal however the cruise isnt that much b/c we get a discount since we live in Texas and since it will be our 3rd cruise we get onboard credit and coupons and lots of goodies. B will stay in our room and is only $300 since he is only 3. the cruise for all 3 of us is $2053. yeah that is an awesome price for a 7 day cruise for 3 people. plus we dont have to buy plane tickets since we will drive. we will drive down the day before and stay at a hotel that will give us free parking while we are on the cruise. we are so excited but we are budgeting severly so that we can take this trip. we will also have to get B his passport which will be $100 or so (i think). we also need $250 per person to reserve. we are hoping by april we will have that much or more saved so we can do it. i am just so excited thinking about it. after this trip we will be saving for disney which was way expensive ($5000 for where i wanted to stay for 11 days- YIKES). so we will also need extra for excursions and also kid programs and stuff on board. hoping i can get B potty trained by then and my goal is to loose 100lbs by then... i LOVE the ww program which i havent been in 2 weeks :( and havent been really following but know i have to get into a swim suit by then i will be. anyways just thought i would do a quick update and share our great news! hopefully!

Day Port  *** Arrive Depart Activity Day 1 Galveston, Texas    4:30 PM Day 2 Cruising       Day 3 Cruising       Day 4 Roatan, Honduras  8:00 AM  5:00 PM Docked Day 5 Belize City, Belize  8:00 AM  5:00 PM Tendered Day 6 Cozumel, Mexico  7:00 AM  4:00 PM Docked Day 7 Cruising       Day 8 Galveston, Texas  7:00 AM

Crock Pot Chicken Broth

I made chicken broth in my crock pot last night and let me tell you it smells delicious. i have read and read recipes on line about how much better your foods will taste if you make your own so i decided to give it a try. here is the recipe i used as i took about 4 different peoples and made my own
Crock pot chicken broth
3 Bonless skinless chicken breast
2 stalks Celery
1/2 bag 16oz Carrots
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Onion- cut in half
1/3 Container Cherry Tomatoes- Halved
Cilantro
Pepper
I coverd everything with water and cooked on high for 4 hours. I strained the liquid out and froze the liquid. i decided to freeze in ice cup trays for easy access to to the broth and for easy measuring. 2 cups is approx 1/4 cup.

i threw out everything but the chicken but i am sure you could eat the carrots. i did taste it and i think i may cook it on low for 10hrs next time. i think it taste a little to watery but oh well its better for you than the stuff in the cans. i am using the chicken this week as i am making crock pot chicken and dumplings on friday (recipe my mom gave me) and Chicken Encilada Soup on Wednesday (skinnytaste.com). i will post on how they turn out as well. they both require chicken broth so i thought it would great to try it this way.

new resolutions

ok i am going to list all the resolutions that i am going to make here and i will review them next year
1. Lose weight- well duh! its a big one. i would like to lose it all this year however i know thats not possible since i want to lose over 100lbs but hey as far as i can get would be great. i weigh in on wed. and i will try to post ever weds that i go here. i didnt go this week b/c the DH worked really late but i am weighed and it said i lost about 1lbs so yay!
2. Cook more- this goes with #1. i cook a lot but i plan to cook way more than i do now. i am aiming for every day of the week. if DH and i want to go see a movie i plan to eat before we go instead of eating out which we both love to do (why #1 is #1)
3. Use my Crockpot more- my goal is to cook 2-3 days a week in the crock pot and i will try to post what i cook here as well to give everyone recipe ideas (if anyone wants them).
4. Workout- no not work out more just workout. i have not regularly worked out since... and i hate to admit this but high school. so yay like 11 years hehe. DH and i got p90x and are going to do that. we are going to start out 3 days a week. upper body, lower body and cardio.
5. Drink more water- anything is more than what i drink now so it will help with #1 and make me feel better
6. Pay off Debt- yeah this one is hard but we are getting so close to paying off all credit cards and then we will start back on the student loans. we stopped paying then when got a little out of control with our budget but we are back in control and doing what needs to be done. i am using mint.com and i love it (they are NOT paying me to endorse) i have set up a budget and we are sticking with it. we are doing amazing but hey it is only the first month
7. Get more into savings- nuff said. just want to have more a nest egg (like $20K or so) incase something happens to DH or me or we want to buy another house. we are looking to get a bigger house if we decide to have another baby
8. Clean out garage- this is such a huge project it gets its own task. we have boxes we have not unpacked since we moved in almost 4 years ago. we basically are just going thru then to take what is in them to be donated or be thrown away.
9. Orgnize house- want to slowly orginize house basically room by room and get rid of the stupid junk we do not need.
10. Decide if we want to have another baby or not- i have baby fever some days and other days i just want my 1. dont know what to do but if we dont get pregnant this year than there will be no babies.

ok i think that is all. i plan to cross them off and let you know what is going on thru out the year. i plan on trying to blog a lot more as well.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Thursday

2011 Books

2 nights in a row. i know right. i am an avid reader so i thought i would post the list of books i read last year. a total of 53. my goal was 50 so i beat it yay!!! this year of 2012 is 100... i dont know if i will make it and if i dont no biggie.
every year i take the top 100 fiction books from last the previous year and i try to read the books on said list. now i dont get to many of them b/c they are like #10 in a series and i have to start at book 1 so some dont get read and others dont get read for the fact that they are for teenagers. anyways here is my list from last year.

Smash Cut- Sandra Brown

Blood Games- Iris Johansen

Chasing the Night- Iris Johansen

Cross Fire- James Patterson

The Fury- LJ Smith

Dark Reunion- LJ Smith

Nightfall- LJ Smith

Shadow Souls- LJ Smith

Eight days to Live- Iris Johansen

Don’t Blink- James Patterson

Angel- James Patterson

The Search- Nora Roberts

Secret Vampire- LJ Smith

Daughters of Darkness- LJ Smith

Spellbinder- LJ Smith

Dark Summer- Iris Johansen

Marked- Kristen Cast

Betrayed- Kristen Cast

Chosen- Kristen Cast

Untamed- Kristen Cast

Hunted- Kristen Cast

Tempted- Kristen Cast

The Post Card Killers- James Patterson

Burned- Kristen Cast

Awakened- Kristen Cast

Naked In Death- JD Robb

Dead Reckoning- Charlaine Harris

Dark Angel- LJ Smith

The Chosen- LJ Smith

Soulamte- LJ Smith

Wiched Appetite- Janet Evanovich

Metro Girl- Janet Evanovich

Motor Mouth- Janet Evanovich

A Game of Thrones- George Martin

What Crazy Looks Like- Charlotte Hughes

Heart of the Sea- Nora Roberts

A Clash of Kings- George Martin

Irresistible Forces- Brenda Jackson

The Bride's Baby- Liz Felding

Slow Hands- Leslie Kelly

Hide in Plain Sight- Marta Perry

All I Want for Christmas is you- Lisa Mondello

Pleasure with Purpose- Lisa Renee Jones

Kiss Me Deadly- Michele Hauf

Once a Cowboy- Linda Warren

Homepun Bride- Jillian Hart

A Very Special Delivery- Linda Goodnight

Destined- Kristen Cast

Just a Hint Clint- Lori Foster

Christmas in Time- Peggy Webb

Christmas Redemption- Patricia Jager

Angel Be Good- Kathy Carmichael

anything in Green is a book that was on last year or the year befores top 100 list. just thought i would shares

New Year...

New Lauren???

ok well i am hoping to get on the blogging bandwagon again. i am just so bad at writting anything. i am going to try to do wordless wednesdays and post more often.

i am also going to try to lose weight which i have been saying for years but this year is my year!!! i did accomplish last years resolution which was to not gain any weight/lose some if i could. i lost 5lbs so yay for no gain and a little loss. i want to lose a total of about 110 to 125lbs. i know i wont loose it all in 1 year but i can start.

i also need to decide if i am going to get preganat again. i have decided that if i dont get pregnant this year i probably never will. i dont want B and his sibling to be to far apart in age. if i get pregnant by June then they would be right at 3 years apart. i want to lose 50lbs before i even want to try so i have a while to think about it. i really want B to have a sibling however i feel i can give him more if he is a lonely only. i wan an only and i feel that i got to do a lot more b/c my parents didnt have any other children. they tried but none ever came. DH has 2 siblings and he isnt close to either one. he also doesnt want to play favorites (in his family they do) or baby the baby. i had a horrible pregnancy so i dont know. i guess being on the fence probably means not right now. we will see :) any suggestions or ideas will be helpful.
i will leave you will a pic of my DH and B from yesterday!!!