Recipe Time: BACON... How I love thee...

So, I have a confession... I love bacon.

Bacon is about the best thing on this earth for me... besides coffee... but if I could eat bacon at every meal, every day of my life... (AND NOT have a coronary) I probably would.

Here's the thing. I HATE when it splatters on me, and I have way to many bacon grease burns to even go into.

I have friends who have put bacon in the over to cook it.  I never tried. WHY? I likes my bacon crunchy and very well done and I just couldn't understand how it could get that yummo in the oven.

Then, I tried to make it on my own.  EPIC FAIL.  I put the bacon onto a pan and well.... when it was done it stuck to the pan. I wanted to try it, so I had to use my finger nails and chip if off the pan.

So then... I figured it out... what I needed.  Why didn't I think of that first!  So I set out to make my bacon.

This specific blog post is for my sweet and loving brother in law, Scott.  I wanted to show him that YES... bacon in the over is just as good... OR BETTER than on the stove top.

Ingredients:
Bacon, bacon, and wait... more bacon (I tend to use the Farmland low sodium but this time I had the thick stuff)
Parchment paper


Yep.  That is it.  NO special sauce, pepper... or anything.  Just your bacon and parchment paper.






Directions:

Heat your oven to 400 degrees

Place a sheet of parchment paper on the baking pan (with sides)

Place bacon on top of parchment paper


Once oven is heated, place pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes

Remove bacon and let cook on paper towels.

Eat the damn bacon.

 

 

 

That is it. YUMMO. Have a fantastic Wednesday!!

I.HATE... I mean REALLY, RELLY HATE----

I absolutely hate cancer.

I mean, I don't know anyone who really LOVES cancer.... Most of us hate it.  I hate that this disease can take away a loved one in a matter of months... days... years...

I hate the fact that there isn't a "one cure fits all cancers" out there.  I HATE the fact that cancer metastasizes differently in everyone.... so what may work as a cure for some won't work as a cure for others.

I hate that I lost four loved ones in the past year... and more than I can count on two hands in my lifetime.  I am just ONE person.

I think pretty much everyone we know has been touched by this dreadful word... cancer... Either you have been diagnosed with it, your loved one has, your friend has, your co-worker has...  maybe you are a caregiver to someone who has heard those three horrible words... "YOU have cancer."
 I want to shout from the rooftops and tell cancer to bleep the bleep off... but I can't.  You see, it cannot hear me.  It cannot emote and express it's opinion and tell  me how it is NOT FAIR that I center my hate around it... but it can attack.  So how do I fight back?

I am just ONE person...

I am just ONE person in a town of thousands.  How can I make a difference?

I am just ONE person who lost another friend to cancer today.  When I was younger, this nice lady at church would always smile at me, and hug me.  She always asked how I was doing.  She was always there when I needed just a hug, and with no questions.  She was a greeter at my church, and even on the coldest days, she would stand outside in the Iowa winter and shake a hand, give a hug... be there for anyone who needed some unconditional love.  She was a woman who loved me when I was alone, single... a mother of an infant.  While others may have shunned me for having a child out of wedlock (and it was my second child, my son was from my first marriage), she loved me. When my children came with me to church service instead of Sunday school, she loved on them and told them how important they were. She was a natural soprano I, in which I was extremely jealous... lol,  when she sang in her high register, instead of the tone being tinny.... it was thin... strong, and powerful.  Kinda like her.  That is it, her voice was just like her; thin, strong, and powerful. She sent me notes, told me I was on the right track.. I will NEVER know how she had my address, but she did. And every few weeks, there would be a love letter in the mail to me from Mrs. R.  She made such a difference in my life... more than a difference, she made me feel like I was important in the eyes of my family, and God. Even though I know she is in a much better place... I know she is in heaven, I mourn her departure from this earth, and I know I will see her again.  I just wasn't ready to say good-by yet. And I don't know if we ever are really ready to say good-by to those we care about...

 She fought.... and she fought hard. 

So why can't I? I mean, I have two working feet, a cancer free body (thank GOD for technology and me finally wising up).... What can I do?

I am just ONE person...

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with the fact that I am just ONE person, I forget there are a lot of ONE persons out there. People like me, with their own cancer story to share.  Whether it is one of surviving, like sweet Dawn (YOU GIRL are an inspiration), or one of caregiving.... God bless oncology nurses... my mother is one and what you do every day I cannot imagine doing.  Or maybe you, like me, have lost one too many family members... lost one too many friends... There are a lot of US out there.

I am just ONE person... with a dream of a cancer free world. 

I started walking in Relay for Life after my mother in law (my ex-husband's mother and one of the most amazing women I have ever known) was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.  I continue to walk, and raise money for American Cancer Society in her honor, my way of giving back to a woman who was taken from us too early, because of cancer.

So, I am going to turn my ONE person journey and invite others to walk with me.  You can walk in spirit, you can come out in June to walk beside me.  Help me make this ONE person--- ONE HUNDRED....

Relay started with ONE man... who ran ONE night.... for ONE cause.  Dr. Gordy Klatt...

Why can't we continue his dream? I am going to turn my anger, my sadness...into action...

I will celebrate the time I had with them and the life I have. 

I will remember with honor those whose lives were ended early because they heard three little words too late... "You have cancer."

I will fight back for those who can't. 

I will fight so that my kids will never have to know what it is like to hear those words, ever.

Big Win!

The Superbowl was pretty good this year. 

There were no wardrobe malfunctions during the halftime show (but how you could have a wardrobe malfunction with very little clothing? HAHA).... The teams played a solid game that kept me on the edge of my seat... the power went out at the stadium (how does that even happen?)... AND the commercials were pretty good except for a few.

Big win goes to all of the writers for every commercial aired.  I loved the Coca-Cola commercials with the "race" , the viva mas  Taco Bell commercials (come on, nothing cuter than 80-somethings partying and carrying on like that) but my most favorite was the Dodge commercial.

There was one where we all reacted with a huge, "EWWWWWWWWWWW, GROOOOOOSSSSS!!!!" with the rest of America... Thank you Go Daddy for your horrible on air kiss. Maybe MTV will give you the worst.kiss.ever. award.  I mean it was pretty gross but it got my attention. And any attention is better than none, right?

How many of you watched the Superbowl and you can remember the Go Daddy commercial because you were so disgusted by it, yet you don't remember what you had for breakfast on Saturday?

EWWW, seriously. Why must the Go Daddy commercial keep popping in my head. Hum...they are a local company. I wonder what they do. I should google them.

See what I mean? They got my attention and NOT in a good way...

Any attention is better than no attention at all... keeps coming back to my mind.  Kinda like with my kids... if one is getting attention, the other one will act up to get MORE attention because they will get in trouble and have a time out... and what happens is the good child will wait for me to come back. So, how do we resolve this idea --- "any attention is better than no attention at all"...

I am going to really work hard on giving positive attention and making it count and minimizing my time with negative attention... to see if it works.

I will PRAISE my kids when they do something kind for someone else... I will do it right then and there and make them know how proud I am of their choice.

I will NOT spend over FIVE minutes when a child has an outburst, and for time out I will put them in a spot where they cannot see me (or bug their siblings).

I will encourage good choices and reward based on that.  With Maddy, I will use more words like, "That was a great choice Madelynn... how does that choice make your heart feel?"  She is my toughest one when it comes to getting negative attention... maybe it is being the youngest, maybe it is her age... But she is very stubborn and she can have a diva-tude. She honestly will do ANYTHING to get attention (she will even lick random strangers, or pretend to be a kangaroo....)

I will look over homework with each child and acknowledge the good things they did and actively help them with their struggle areas and homework.

I will start speaking in Spanish with Alex to help her with it and to have something for just us to share.

I will be silly from time to time and dance in the kitchen with them while making dinner just because they LOVE being silly.

Just a few fun things to do to award good behavior and give the attention to each child in the manner he/she will appreciate it most.

So kids... they are like Superbowl commercials.  They just want your attention and they will get it however they can, even if they gross you out while doing it.....

PICKY, PICKY, PICKY!!! - The Challenge

Hello and happy Monday!

I hope your weekend brought you much joy.

The weekend at the Wenndt house tends to go by too quickly... A lot of times, if I don't plan out dinners for the week, I forget what I am making... I don't thaw the chicken in time... and we eat frikkin' pizza. 

Since we are on "live healthy" mindset, I wanted to be more thoughtful about meal planning and well... our lives in general. 

One of the HARDEST things for me to do is to plan out meals.  WHY? Because of picky eaters.  There is NOTHING wrong with being a picky eater, in my opinion (you know what you like, don't like), but when you have five picky eaters like I do, you have to find a common "food ground." 

So, instead of making FIVE different meals, here is what I started to do, and well...we are in week FOUR and it is totally working! 

So, how do I make this a fun activity for a 15 year old?  I get her to help me plan it out.  Every Saturday we sit down after breakfast.... after searching Pinterest for our experimental dinner for the week, we sit down together and build out our "weekly planner."  She helps me and we make sure that everything we make is lower fat lower calories and something that everyone will like.  Before we plan it out, we make sure that everyone has had input (like Maddy always wants cheese burgers or macaroni and cheese or a Mommy's special--- which is just a salad with ranch).

This little experiment is a win-win.  Everyone knows what we are planning out for dinners and they have a moment to veto it before it is printed out.  AND when I go food shopping (such a New Jersey term, FYI and one of my favorites)... I know exactly what I am buying for the week, which cuts my spending down.  For our family of five I spent a total of $120 at the grocery store this week for our meals for a week--- that includes snacks, breakfast AND lunches.  Which to break it down is less than $3.50 per person per day for food.  Not too shabby.

A visual reminder of activities, workout schedule for Alex and I (I like that because I feel as if I am bound to the agreement by putting it in writing... LOL), AND meals.  A great way to plan for a large family.

Here is our planner for the week.  It is on the side of the fridge so everyone can see it as they walk by.  It is in a great location and now that we are in week four of the planning, it is become a habit for us to use it. 

 

 So here it is.... Our planner.  It has been a great way for us to stay organized!  (yes, I do NOW see that my OB appointment is there---oh well. It is for my annual boob smashing... er mamogram. LOL)


Have a fantastic week!  I challenge you to try to "organize your meals"!!!

Shit I Want to Say....

but I don't.  There are so many snarky comments I want to make on a daily basis, but I always think before I speak and I take the high road.  And then there are those times I want to say something to someone, but I stay quiet because I know they have to walk down that road on their own, and if I try to persuade them in one direction... they will not listen to me anyway... so I have to just sit by and watch.... waiting to pick up the pieces.

Have you ever had a day where you just wanted to say whatever came in your mind during conversations and well... be able to get away with it without any fall back? 

I want one of those days... but knowing that there are always repercussions to actions, I will NEVER EVER say the mean things I want to out loud... SO I thought I would take a moment to share those random bitch thoughts with you. 

(I used two cuss words already and you are like, Meli--- you had me at shit.... lol)

The random shit I want to say, but I don't....

To the young boy at Wal-Mart with his pants down below his butt:
"Oh honey, I really think you should look in the 'boys' section to get a pair of pants that fit you (these really look way to big) and the underwear section is right there.... they have undies there without the brown stains like yours."

To my child screaming at me in the car....
Me, SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Louder than her....

To the icky old guy at the gym who keeps checking women out and it is just disgusting (after I have done 1.5 hours of cardio/circuit training combo)...
"baby... why you be trippin' up in here lookin' at all these young fine thangs when you can find you some chick more like you, who will take your skanky ass with the lazy eye down at the bingo hall..."

To my husband's ex-wife after she said she was a better person that most:
"Bitch please... fiction is in the next aisle... this is biography."

To my child having a temper tantrum at home over something he/she wanted to do but couldn't (pick your child.. they all do it):
"OH. MY. GOODNESS.  I am so overwhelmed by your tantrum because you didn't get your way.  If that is how you want to act, just go ahead and do what you want. SAID NO RESPONSIBLE MOM.... EVER. Now, clean the bathroom."

To my teenager at the store in front of the "hot guy":
"Like, OMG, I think that boy is SO HOT for you, KWIM? ROTFLMAO, He is checkin' you out... TTFN, I am outtie... I gotta hit the Preparation H isle."

To anyone who asks me if I understand:
"No.  NO COMPREDE INGLES, ASSHOLIO." In a horrible Spanish accent.

When asked by my neighbor if his naughty 7 year old grandson can come and "play" at my house:
"Sure thing dude. I welcome a snot-nosed-asshole-kid-who-isn't-mine-and-I-can't-make-him-clean-if mouthy-because-I-am-fucking-nice-like-that-and-you-look-like-you-need-a-nap...how long have you had THOSE circles under your eyes?"

When asked the following question by anyone--- "do you have a minute?"
"hello no, Cheeto... I gots fahhhhsizzles in muh nizzles."

When asked by someone about Barack Obama:
"Who is she again?"

When told, "Melissa... Your kids are so good...."
"Yes. They are. We started incorporating electric shock therapy last month. It really helps. (then do the electric shock movement with my head, you know when you do the buzz zzzt with your head to one side....you just did it didn't you!)

When asked, "What's for dinner?"
Run around the kitchen.... startled as if the world is ending and say, "I have no idea. Who does the food stuff around here? YOU (shake kid a bit) or YOU (shake the other kid)??" then sit on the floor pretending to pound my fists in the floor saying, "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO US? WE HAVE NO DINNER...."

When one of my kids tells me he/she has to use the restroom...
Stand outside the door and do my impersonation of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, "Kennith?" (pound pound pound)... "Kennith?"  (pound pound pound) until he comes out... neener neener child.... see how it feels to NOT pee in silence.

At Wal-Mart when my 3 year old is screaming for a  toy at the check out lane and the cranky old lady mutters under her breath "Just give her the damn toy and she will stop screaming"---
"Hi, I will be happy to buy her the toy so she can be rewarded for being not only NAUGHTY but RUDE.  The toy is like $2, but then she can go home with you until she is 18.  I am sure this lesson of getting a toy for being naughty will be AWESOME when she is 15 and wants something more expensive."


To my daughter about the boy she is "dating"... when he cancels on her again, or he wants her to walk to his house in the freezing cold instead of him walking here...
"Honey, you deserve better.  You deserve a boy who will walk up to your house and back, deal with your crazy family, and still want to be around you.  You deserve a boy who will honor his commitment to you regarding a date, versus canceling on you to hang out with his 'boyz'... You deserved to be honored, respected, and loved as much as your dad loves me. I know you are only 15 but don't settle. You are too young and you have way too much to offer to someone."

To my 3 year old when she is crying because her body hurts and she doesn't know why:
"Mommy doesn't know either, but we will figure this out together" as I cry with her.... Usually I try to stay strong and I don't breakdown.

To my 9 year old son when he wants to see his biological dad but cannot:
"Honey, sometimes a child has two dads.  One who is a dad and was there when they were born and he still loves you very much and misses you... and one who is here and raises you and tells you every day that you are special. When you are older you will understand more and until then please know that you are loved so much you have two daddies instead of one."

To my husband when he is sad,
"I know I cannot fix everything, and I don't have all the answers. I know I will make mistakes, and vice versa.  Of all this I know, I know I love you with all of my being. This will never change... When you signed that marriage certificate you signed your life away pal. You are stuck with me.... FOREVAH."


Have a fantastic week.

Doctors, Doctors, and WAIT...MORE DOCTORS

So, a lot of you have been following for a while and know that we have been battling some medical issues with our little Madelynn... the battle still continues.

So this is my Madelynn update.


Maddy is so funny for a 3 1/2 year old and she is so smart. I think this is what my blessing is because I can only trust my mom-gut so much.  Maddy is very in tune to her body and things that are going on and she can communicate it with us (which not only flabbergasts Phillip and myself, but also the doctors).

Great news first...

We now can drop the gastroenternologist.  His job is done. Maddy is pooping well and she doesn't need to go back to him again. PRAISE GOD.

The other news...

Maddy is scheduled for a kidney function test on Jan 22nd.  However, she has had another serious UTI, and was on antibiotics for 10 days. Thank goodness they tested her to make sure the antibiotic would work on her infection before they gave it to her. So, the test, and the nephrologist afterwards to talk about her kidneys....

Then a check up with the endocrinologist to make sure she is on track with her medication for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hypothyroidism).

And then to a rheumatologist.... and a cardiologist... so many "ISTS" I cannot even fathom.

At Maddy's last check up, her heart murmur is getting louder and her blood pressure is high.  Something is not right. My mom-gut is telling me that her hypothyroidism is a symptom of another autoimmune disease (such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus).

So, based on my mom-gut-tuition (that is my term for mom intuition) I told the endocrinologist she sees that her heart murmur is getting worse, her BP was high, she constantly complains about her bones "hurting"... and she is exhausted all the time.

I would take her place... a million, gazillion times. I have said this before.  There is NO REASON a 3 1/2 year old should be FINE with getting a blood draw.  SHE KNOWS SHE DOESN'T FEEL WELL.  She has a constant cough and we get no answers.

There is no one who specializes in EVERYTHING but I refuse to just stand on the sidelines and wait. I know, I am not a doctor. I know this.  I am a mom.  I know my kids. And I know when something is really wrong. 

My blessing? A doctor.  Our family doctor.  She honestly is a champion of our health and will FIGHT with us to get the answers we need.  So with her help, the prayers and healthy thoughts from friends and family... and God above...

So that is my Maddy update.  After more than 5 months of searching for something, I feel as if we will have answers soon and my baby will be on the official mends. 

New Year Resolution... or NOT???

Question for you? Do you set any new year resolutions?

Like, you won't eat chocolate, or you will eliminate caffeine out of your diet. OR wait, YOU PROMISE THAT THIS YEAR YOU WILL DEFINITELY GO BACK TO THE GYM!

A lot of these use to be my kind of resolutions until I realized that:

A) I love chocolate... why give it up when I can just eat it in moderation.

 

B) DUDE, no coffee with caffeine? NO nice Melissa. PERIOD. END OF STORY. BRING ON THE caffeine (and as a medical side note: caffeine is said to delay Alzheimer's so it is important to drink it---BONUS).

 

C) I will go back to the gym but if I miss a day here and there I won't punish myself.

So, why set a resolution when I KNOW I am going to break it.  Instead, I set a word goal.  Thanks to a fantastic website http://myoneword.org/ I was able to truly set a goal to impact others by picking just one word and living that word daily. 

My word for this year is thankful.  I decided that through all things... the good, the bad, and the funky... I will continue to be thankful.

Even when the going gets tough... I want to be thankful in the process.

So my first step was to set up a "2013 work goodies" jar.  In this jar, I am going to collect all of the fantastic goals I accomplish or nice things that happen at work. So when I am having a rough day, I have a reason to be thankful. I can pull out a piece of paper and be brought back to that amazing moment so I can have reminders at work to be thankful for what I have.

And I don't know about y'all but sometimes work can get SO BUSY that I get overwhelmed. So instead of getting caught up in the "overwhelm" I am making a conscious effort to be thankful for the amazing job I have.

What I did:
I took an old mason jar from the pantry, sticky notes, and fun butterfly bling stickers.

I cut the sticky part off of the sticky note so I had some little slips of paper I could easily write a note down on and toss it into the jar (with the date).

Easy cheesy.  Now, It is just up to me to fill it.  The more I do for others and the more I meet my goals, the more paper I get in that little jar.  I would LOVE to have 2013 papers by the end of the year, but that I think is a wee bit overzealous (LOL) so maybe I will go for 300. 

Challenge: find your own word to live by for the year.  Get creative with how you will make that word come to fruition in your life. 

Have fun with it!  Be creative! Get silly!  POST YOUR WORD BELOW (please)