10/365

I did my first creative writing exercise in who knows how long today. Personally, I think it sucks... but it's a start. It's a big start for me.

crock pot lovin'

This came up in my google reader last week. It reminded me that I've been neglecting my dear friend the crock pot. Here's what I LOVE about the crock pot:

-Prep is usually easier. Even if it isn't, I'm doing it in the morning when I have more energy.
-Yes, I just said in the morning. How awesome is it to basically have dinner done in the morning?
-I love using the crock pot in the summer simply because it doesn't heat up the house like the oven does.
-When I'm making a recipe with chicken in it, like I did last night, I don't have to deal with the meat much. I hate touching raw chicken!
-It's dependable. I've had my corck pot for 7 1/2 years. I got it for a wedding present. In that time, it's only burned 1 meal (and that was my fault for not realizing the recipe was meant for a smaller size). Also in that time, it's turned out many amazing meals! Here's one of them:

Tortilla Soup

3-4 chicken breasts
1 4 oz can of green chiles
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cans chicken broth (4 cups)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 TBSP sugar
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano

Put frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot. Add all other ingredients. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours. I prefer 8 because then the chicken will shred itself.

Optional toppings: cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, avocado

9/365 (and a video!)

Please ignore the mess, especially in the video. We are in the midst of rearranging his room and it shows.

We have spent hours building and knocking this tower down. A bit repetitive, you might say. Actually, though, I love it. I especially love his gleeful smile as he's about to kick it and his hilarious laugh afterwards.

Brayden's tower from Megan Bishop on Vimeo.

8/365

This picture reveals two of my guilty pleasures- Entertainment Weekly and Diet Coke! (Really, I like Diet Dr. Pepper better, but Adam brought the Coke home.)

And I just wanted to add this for documentation's sake: Brayden ate more pizza than me at dinner! I ate the slice in the picture and had another 1/2 a slice, but Brayden ate 2 whole slices. I guess this is what people talk about when they talk about feeding growing boys. I might not always love it, but I do now! He took so long to want to eat solids, so I'm so happy he's doing so well now.

7/365

We got cupcakes from So Cupcake today using a gift card I had. Brayden loved his blue frosting , but didn't eat much of the cake. It made me think of growing up, because I know I used to love the frosting more too but now I definitely prefer the cake.

I meant to have my picture of the day be one of the cupcakes I got for myself (yes, I had more than one- they're mini cupcakes) but it was gone too fast. It was so good, but the kicker is that some of you might think it sounds gross. I tried and loved a maple bacon cupcake today. Oh my goodness, it was so good!

6/365

My 365 goal is all about capturing real life. Well, this is a picture of a movie that allows me some free time to clean or especially to make dinner without Brayden underfoot. Any guesses what it is?

5/365

He's only the cutest boy in the whole entire world, in my oh-so-humble opinion.