Super Easy...and Yummy Recipe

Okay so I made this one day when I was at a loss for what to make for dinner. I had the ingredients on hand and voila....yummy super easy supper. It's essentially a fancy version of mac & cheese with hot dogs...with broccoli added. Gotta make sure the kids get their veggies!

1 14-16 oz. box of penne pasta
1 bag of Steamfresh broccoli florets (or fresh broccoli, cooked)
8-12 oz. shredded colby jack cheese (depends on how cheesy you want it..I like lots of cheese)
1/2 stick of real butter
milk - I don't measure...just pour a little at a time until good consistency
1 beef or turkey kielbasa smoked sausage

Cook pasta to al dente. Cook broccoli according to directions. Slice smoked sausage into 1/2 inch slices and saute in a little water until thoroughly heated. Drain pasta. Stir butter into pasta. Add sausage. Stir in cheese...adding milk until cheese is melted and creamy. Stir in broccoli and serve. My hubby absolutely loves this dish...and he's kind of hard to please. Anyway, just thought I'd share. I know I always love a good, easy recipe.

And back to work I go....

So the plan was not for me to go back to work. I was going to be stay at home mommy...something I've always wanted to be since Taryn was born. After Toby was born I had second thoughts (like I must be out of my mind, and will I ever shower again??)...and apparently so did God. Calvin lost his job when Toby was 2 weeks old. Yikes. How quickly life can change. My first reaction was devastation and of course, fear. What are we going to do now? Haven't we had enough trials these past 3 years???? I think we've grown enough, Lord...how about taking it easy on us for awhile????!! However, the blessings slowly but surely revealed themselves. First, I got mastitis 3 times in a row. If you've ever had it you know it knocks you on your butt. Basically you feel like you have the flu and it's horrible, not to mention the fact that you just had a baby, are absolutely exhausted, and have to function regardless. So how convenient that my wonderful husband, yes again with the cheese factor, was home to help me through it. He got up with Toby every night for almost 2 weeks. Blessing. Bu-lessing! By the way, anyone who nurses their babies for the long haul deserves an award. Not even just an award but maybe an award ceremony like the Emmy's for breastfeeding. I don't know but I couldn't do it. So the plan changed...mommy's going back to work. Which at that point I was secretly excited about. And I think my husband was too. I think he had a picture of me in sweatpants and combing my hair like once a week. Well, at the beginning of my maternity leave, that was pretty much the truth. Anyway, 2 weeks before I'm scheduled to go back he started a new job that he absolutely loves. BLESSING. Except that meant finding daycare. SCARY! And then God brought the most perfect daycare provider I could possibly ask for. She did daycare for one of my coworkers whose girls are grown and also has another coworker's son right now. Perfect. Blessing!!! (I sang it that time in opera voice in case you were wondering.) I have now made it through day 2 of my back to work adventure. It hasn't been easy for sure...I had a few tears after the first daycare drop off. But tonight I have a fresh perspective and just feel so....you guessed it...blessed. And my wonderful daycare mama hooked me up today with a pass to the Just Between Friends presale so I pretty much got fall/winter wardrobe for both kids for $114. Um, best deal ever. K I'm done ranting...for now...but I hope you all experience a little of God's amazing love for you even in the times that seem so difficult. Good night.

I'm Ba-ack!

Whew...it's been awhile eh? Wow has life changed since my last post. Let me give you the low down: We welcomed Toby Braeden Fenn into the world on May 31, 2011. He is a beautiful, healthy baby and at 2 1/2 months is sleeping through the night. Thank God for small victories....actually in this case I'll say it's a big one. Mama likes her sleep. Taryn is 3 1/2 and she is turning into such an amazing little girl. But I'm not going to sugar coat it. Whoever says the twos are terrible are terribly mistaken. The threes, my friends, are in fact much more terrible. With that said, when Taryn isn't being terrible she makes me laugh and I feel such a sense of pride when I look at her (cheesy as that may sound). There have been a couple of hairy moments since bringing her brother home.....like when my husband came out of the bathroom to find her choking him. Is that normal by the way? So she's tried to kill him already...God willing she will not succeed. Let's just say going to the bathroom these days is not what it used to be. So, now that you're all caught up.....I have to share my latest grocery shopping victory. At Cub yesterday I spent $90 and saved $64....but I actually saved much more than that because they don't add the savings from sales into the total you saved on the receipt (which is maddening) and every item I bought was on sale in addition to the coupons. They only calculate the store and manufacturer coupons into the total saved. So, for example, the certain General Mills cereals were on sale for $1.99. That is a savings in and of itself of $1.76 a box. I had 8 $.50 off coupons which brings it to $1.49 a box.....which is a savings of $2.26 per box. So it drives me crazy that they don't add the $1.76 into the total saved because I feel like the receipt is the official result. Oh well...it was still a good deal. So according to the receipt I saved 42%...which is fabulous. I'm not quite to the extreme couponing level yet but I'm working on it. My theory is I can't feed my family with 200 tubes of toothpaste and 50 bottles of hot sauce anyway. Have you ever watched that show on TLC about extreme couponers? Awesome that they can get $1000 worth of stuff for $12.50 or whatever but let's be realistic about it people! I don't have 40 hours a week to dedicate to coupons. And the things they buy sometimes are ridiculous. So I like to think of myself as a practical couponer. I will share my grocery list going forward...if anyone is interested. Well, gotta go for now. Taryn is being very quiet and when I asked her what she's doing she replied, "I'm not doin' nuffin'". Oh she's doing something.