#30 30DoB - April Goal Review and a GIVEAWAY

It's day 30!!! I did great at the beginning, but clearly, not towards the end. Oh well. But I did take note of all the prompts so maybe I'll get to them all eventually.

If you remember correctly, at the beginning of the month I posted about my goals for April. Here's a quick recap...

1. Stop being so lazy....get in the gym.
2. Be a better blogger.
3. Do some DIY.
4. Make curtains for the downstairs bathroom.

And....just as I suspected...I didn't do much to accomplish them. haha. Hey, it happens.

I think I did a little better with #2. I posted more this month then I feel like I have in the past few. I've been trying to do some things on Sunday and scheduling them for the week. Sad thing is Mike and I haven't done meal prep in a few Sundays, so I guess maybe I swapped them out. haha.

Oh well...at least I didn't dissappoint. I kinda figured I wouldn't do much. I'm going to get to it though. Promise!!

Now on to the giveaway!! The hosts of this 30 Days of Blogging have graciously offered you some CASH!! Mulah baby!! Go enter below, and then link up your last 30DoB post!! 

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_________________________________________________________________________________ This last week of the month we're going to "mix it up" and invite ALL  of our co-hosts back for a final thank you to everyone who helped to make this past month a success! It's been an absolute blast getting to know each and every one of you guys! :) HOSTED BY:

CO-HOSTED BY: _________________________________________________________________________________ What's on your bucket list?! Anything super cool?! I'm interested to see what you plan on doing this spring.   RULES: 1. Follow your hosts Keeping Up With Kelsey & Every Girl Like Me 2. Follow the whole months weekly co-hosts Three Sisters & Us, Hopelessly Ever After, Crystal Michelle's Mess, Keeping Up With Ashley & Cody, Hello Felecia (PS- We still have a few spots available for NEXT WEEK for co-hosts) 3. Post the button onto your blog post so others can come link up as well 4. Link up your post below and look around at others blogs! 5. If you use Instagram of Twitter, tag us! #30DoB _________________________________________________________________________________

Recipe: Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

So, I think I mentioned last week that I prepared everything for Easter lunch at Moms. She was pretty busy that morning so I offered because it would give us a little more time with Mike's family. I feel like we always throw them on the back burner a little and spend a little more time with my family on holidays, so this time I wanted to make it a little more fair.

I told Mom I would make baked macaroni and cheese, but truthfully, I don't really make macaroni. haha. We have ben staying away because it's not exactly healthy, plus if we do make some mac and cheese it's usually Velveeta or something boxed. Our favorite is actually Stouffers.....yum!!

But, I went on the search for something creamy and found this recipe. It was delicious. I would make some changes for the next time, but I'll highlight them at the end.

Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

(serves 8)

Ummm, we ate it pretty quickly, so I forgot to get the after baked pic. haha.

INGREDIENTS:

1 16 oz. package of macaroni

8 tbsp butter

8 tbsp flour

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

salt to taste

ground pepper to taste

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese (suggestion below recipe)

1 cup breadcrumbs (or you could use crumbled crunchy onions)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400º. Spray baking dish with non-stick spray.

Cook and drain macaroni according to package directions.

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add salt and pepper to flour and add mixture gradually while whisking. Whisk until well blended. Slowly pour in milk and cream and continue to whisk. Stir constantly. Bring to a boil and continue stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes continuing to stir constantly. Add cheese little by little and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add macaroni to saucepan and coat with cheese mixture. 

Add macaroni and cheese mixture to sprayed baking dish. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs or onions. Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through and top is golden brown.

Enjoy!!

Suggestions: I definitely think this would be better if you added a variety of cheeses rather than just cheddar. I honestly wish they made shredded American cheese. I know, I know.....but I think that mixed a little cheddar and some pepper jack would be divine!! I guess you could just throw some chunks in there and let it melt??

FYI: When you add the macaroni it's going to look like a TON of cheese sauce. That's ok!! When you heat it some of the macaroni will soak that up.

Weekend Recap

I guess it comes with the season change, but my weekends just fly by lately. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm so happy to have things to do and not be freezing my ass off, but that just means Monday comes so much faster...

Friday was pretty low key. I'm such a grandma when it comes to Friday's because I'm usually beat. Truth is a put the same effort into my Friday as any other weekday so, even though I don't have to work the next morning, I'm still falling asleep by 9. Loser...I know. lol. But we did have a few beers outside before watching some shows, then hitting the sack. Check out this creepy sky, though....

Saturday was jam-packed. Mike wanted to get his final test runs in for his car so he could officially race Ultra-Street next weekend, so we woke up early and loaded the car. Luckily it wasn't as cold as the last time so I didn't have much to bitch about. He did great and nothing broke!! Thank God!!

We loaded up and came home for a nap. Then, cooked some dinner and got ready for the fights! They were in Baltimore this weekend so it was pretty cool to see Baltimore highlighted the way it was. Plus my love Ray Lewis was there, and Jonny Bones even broke out the Ray Lewis dance in his intro. I'm the only one who likes Jonny Bones so I had to listen to shit all night, but got to rub it in when he won.

Sunday was pretty low key, too. Mike and I made a big breakfast and then spent some time outside spraying weed killer on the grass. WOOP WOOP!! Fun!! We had lunch with his parents and then came home for a nap. haha. We're nappers. OH!! And we saw a blimp!! There was one flying around over our house. Wierd. They're spying on us.... 

I guess Saturday was really the only eventful day, but it sure did go by fast!!

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_________________________________________________________________________________ This last week of the month we're going to "mix it up" and invite ALL  of our co-hosts back for a final thank you to everyone who helped to make this past month a success! It's been an absolute blast getting to know each and every one of you guys! :) HOSTED BY:

CO-HOSTED BY: _________________________________________________________________________________ What's on your bucket list?! Anything super cool?! I'm interested to see what you plan on doing this spring.   RULES: 1. Follow your hosts Keeping Up With Kelsey & Every Girl Like Me 2. Follow the whole months weekly co-hosts Three Sisters & Us, Hopelessly Ever After, Crystal Michelle's Mess, Keeping Up With Ashley & Cody, Hello Felecia (PS- We still have a few spots available for NEXT WEEK for co-hosts) 3. Post the button onto your blog post so others can come link up as well 4. Link up your post below and look around at others blogs! 5. If you use Instagram of Twitter, tag us! #30DoB _________________________________________________________________________________

I got 5 on it...Friday that is...

I wish there was some way you could embed songs so that when someone clicked on your post it played a song in the background automatically. Well...I mean I'm sure there is, but I'm waaaaay too lazy to figure it out. But until then, click on that thing below...

Christina, Natasha, and April

ONE: Monday was Date Day for Mike and I. We were on "Spring Break" if you call it that. Off Friday and Monday. Luckily Mike had off one of those days, too. We headed to the movies to see Captain America. It was awesome!! And my chick Scarlett was looking hotter than ever!! Oh yeah, and Chris was smoooooookin too, of course. Then we went to our Happy Hour location and got dranks and ate until I literally thought I was going to throw up. It was bad. But oh soooo good!! And we got a drunk family picture out of it!! Smooches!!

TWO: This week went by so fast!! Now is the time when classes are having field trips, and assemblies, and field day, and this and that. It's one time when I absolutely love being a Specialist and not in the regular ed classroom. Because every time a grade goes on a field trip we get an extra planning. I guess it's worth missing all of the plannings we miss just for this. :)

THREE: I had a little extra time before Book Club on Wednesday so I decided to pull my car up to the beach and relax for a little with a good book. OK, that's only partly the truth. Truth is I hadn't finished the book yet and had to hurry up and skim through so I had something to talk about. But this was my view!! Oh I love living here....

Can you spot the Bay Bridge in the Background??

FOUR: It's Yard Sale season!! I've been such a slacker but now that it's starting to warm up I can't wait for some good finds!! This weekend Mike and I are headed to the track so he can make some more test runs. Luckily for me there's a swap meet at the track this weekend so I might miss his races. haha. He'll get over it!!

FIVE: It's the freakin weekend baby, I'm about to have me some fun!!!

And linking up for 

with that jam up top!!

Weekend Recap, a day late...

We had "Spring Break" this weekend. It's in quotation marks because we only had off Friday and Monday. So, basically we just had a long weekend.

And a long weekend it was...I crammed so much into this long weekend I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

Friday I got up early to head into the Amish Farmer's Market with mom. It's about 15 minutes away and seriously dangerous. They have such amazing baked goods and cheese dips and.....donuts.....ugh. Sooo phenomenal. We were super excited to go and I was drooling just thinking about what I was going to eat. Unfortunately, we're both idiots and didn't think about the fact that it was Good Friday. Whomp, whomp. Closed. So we headed to the bagel shop instead, which actually has the best New York bagels around.

Then, Mike and I headed to the gym to get our lift on. Shoulders day. #beastmode. And...I ran for 30 minutes!!! Grrrr, I hate cardio.

The rest of the night was pretty low key. We came home and fixed dinner and then I relaxed for the rest of the evening.

During our little escapade on Friday, I convinced my mom to do Easter dinner on Sunday at noon so we could have time with Mike's parents, too. She had a busy morning and didn't want to be rushed, so I told her I would do everything. Saturday I woke up early to meet her at our little Farmer's Market in town. Nothing like the Amish one, but.....it worked. Then, we headed back to food prep for Easter dinner.

Mike had a dodgeball tournament that afternoon so I met him at the gym and watched his team get shut out by a bunch of little teenager punks. haha. Truthfully, it was all in fun to raise money for his best friend's softball team. Everyone pretty much knew each other so there was no drama and it was a ton of fun. It's hysterical to watch these guys play dodgeball.

We came home and took a little nap before dinner. I swore I was headed to bed early since I had a long day the next day....until I saw the neighbors outside partying. Ugh....they get me every time. Even when I walked over I said...."2 beers and I'm done" but clearly that didn't work. Many Fireball shots and beers later, I shuffled back to my house, drunk ate a bunch of macaroni salad (which I didn't realize until yesterday when I wanted to eat it), and drug myself in bed.

8 am Sunday morning was not fun. But....I got my ass out of bed and went to Mom's to get Easter dinner ready. A cup of coffee and egg sandwich later I was good to go. Dinner was a success, if I do say so myself. We had ham, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, green bean casserole, some applesauceish shit, and rolls. YUM!! Then we headed to Mike's parents and had a cookout. Burgers and hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, bacon wrapped shrimp. AWESOME!!

Then, we came home and took a nap before Game of Thrones. That was a fairly early night despite the Vodka Monsters we had to try to keep us up.

Yesterday we had a Date Day. We started off at the gym, that's right, again!! And thanks to my loving husband pushing me so hard I can't lift my arms today. lol. Then we came home and changed and headed to the movies. We saw Captain America. Very good. Then headed to our local Happy Hour hangout for some dranks.

Last night was an early one for me, too. I was exhausted. This weekend killed me.

Now on to the rest of the week....

#GIVEAWAY $125 Paypal Cash

Hey ladies!! You're in for a treat today!! Mary at Eat Drink & Be Mary is hosting this $125 Paypal cash giveaway!!! Imagine what you could do with this money?!?!

I certainly have plenty of ideas!!
- wine
- shoes
- beer
- clothes
- vodka
- fan apparel
- jewelry
- beer
- home decor
- wine
- workout gear
- curtains
- vodka

Oh!!! The possibilities!!!

GO ENTER!!

Rhea Et Cetera // Eat Drink & Be Mary // The Lovely Bohemian

The Grits Blog // Dateless in Dallas // Wifesticated // Girl Growing Up

My Cup of Sparkle // Sweet Southern T // Hopelessly Ever After

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Boys Behind the Blog

We're back for Boys Behind the Blog!! Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for an awesome giveaway!!

This month, the questions were chosen by previous Boys Behind the Blog. This time my husband, Mike, actually answered the questions, but I didn't think he was as fun as Rosco.

1. Your significant other’s blog; a blessing or a curse? - Joe @ Another Clean Slate 

          Curse - Between that and Candy Crush and feel like I never have any time with her.

              Which is such a lie because I usually only write in the blog when he's at work. Now, Crushin, that's something we could work on, haha.

2. Do you read your wife's (or insert relationship to blogger here) blog? Brian @ Heather's Hurrah 

          When she asks me to.

3. What is one thing you can do better than anyone you know?- Justin @ Our Fairy Tale

          Just one thing? Hmm...I guess if I can only pick one thing, I would say cooking.

4. What is your favorite TV sitcom from the 90's? - Sam @ Jessie Jo At Home

          Saved by the Bell. Two words - Kelly Kapowski.

               What he first told me to say was "AC Slater, no homo. But I do have a man crush on Mario Lopez." 

5. If you were opening a small business or shop, what would it be? What goods or services would you sell? Nate @Kate & Trudy

          A gym....Chestertown needs some competition and I need a better place to work out.

There he is folks, my handsome hunk of a husband. Man of many words...

You know you're from Maryland if...

- "Going to The Yard" doesn't mean walking out your back door.

- you know it's pronounced "Ball - mer" or "Baw - di - more" not "Bal - ti - more".

- it's perfectly normal to use Old Bay or Wye River in every meal.

- you scream "OH" as loud as you can during the last line of the Star Spangled Banner.

- you can properly pick a crab. I said properly...

- "Cal" only refers to one person.

and you still remember this day...

- you know Washington D.C. is not our capital. And neither is Baltimore.

- you laugh at people from out of state who think bridges are scary.

- "______ County", or, "the shore" are legit explanations for where you live.

- it's pronounced "Shittsburgh"and you refuse to say the other.

- fries are bland without Old Bay and vinegar.

- you cringe every time someone talks about the Colts.

- "Ozzie" is not a member of Black Sabbath.

- you continue to root for the Orioles....even though we don't have the best track record.

- you still have a few Scopes keychains hanging around. 

from here

- you know what Rofo is.

- there's only one "Art".

- you can tell me where "Crabcakes and football - that's what Maryland does." comes from.

- you can pronounce "Haloti Ngata" correctly and know who he is.

- Boh knows best.

                                      

#15 30DoB - Share your date night!!

Mike and I get the opportunity to do date night about once a month. Lately, our funds have been a little low, but we still try to get in some time to get together.

Truth is, we pretty much do the same thing for our date nights every time. Mike and I love the movies. We love getting the time to go together and getting the popcorn and blah, blah, blah. So, here's how my ideal movie date night would pan out.

It would have to start out with no problems in the wardrobe department. I hate picking out shit to wear. It's all old and I have no money to buy new stuff, and I always end up just settling for something stupid. I like to look good for my baby!

Then, we would definitely go to my favorite sushi restaurant or a nice brewery on the water. Either one is perfect for me. Drank a few dranks, of course!

Last but not least, a nice walk along the water before watching that sexy Chris Evans Captain America his way across that damn movie screen. In IMAX 3D, duh, gotta keep that fine ass body as real as possible. Reach out and touch it! Abs. 

And of course....pics to document the whole thing!!!!

What's your favorite date night!!

I can't wait to read these!!

#11 30DoB - Ever see yourself doing what you're doing?

Ha! Yes! As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure I was conditioned to be a teacher since the day I was born. My parents were both teachers and although they told me multiple times....DON'T DO IT......I think they were secretly hoping I would follow in their footsteps.

The only other thing I could ever imagine myself doing is Interior Decoration. I LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating our house and putting colors together and making things look gorgeous. The only problem is I'm too broke to make our house look the way I want. haha. If I thought I could have made it into a career that would be successful in my small town I would have. But...truth is, nothing like that will strive unless you're in a larger city. And, we already have one interior designer in our town, so, 2 would definitely flop.

I'm happy in my career. There are many days I think about choosing something else. Something where I know my expectations for the day and as long as I get them done I'm golden. But...then people remind me that with any job comes criticism and I guess what I deal with isn't that bad. However, an office job doesn't have Grandparent's Day like we did yesterday.

I just wish they hadn't taken the creativity out of teaching and started making us do the dog and pony show. It's as if my lessons don't matter but as long as I say this and do this, I'm good. Not so much in this school system, but definitely in my former one.

How about you?

Ever see yourself doing what you're doing?

And.....we have a winner for the giveaway!! Laura Kathleen!! I've sent you an email. :)

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_________________________________________________________________________________ HOSTED BY:

CO-HOSTED BY: _________________________________________________________________________________ I'm really excited to see your links of how you workout because maybe I'll find a new way to keep myself motivated and on task more often. Please inform me of what you're doing and how it works for you!! Don't forget to link up with us and tell us what your plans are for the month! We're excited to see your goals and cannot wait to see your daily blog posts about life :) RULES: 1. Follow your hosts Keeping Up With Kelsey & Every Girl Like Me 2. Follow your weekly co-hosts Hopelessly Ever After & Diaries From The Dirt Road (PS- We still have a few spots available for co-hosts) 3. Post the button onto your blog post so others can come link up as well 4. Link up your post below and look around at others blogs! 5. If you use Instagram of Twitter, tag us! #30DoB _________________________________________________________________________________
If you need a refresher here is this month's link-up posts:  1. Tuesday- Your Goals For The Month

2. Wednesday- Your Biggest Fear

3. Thursday- What Makes You... You!!

4. Friday- These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things, About Spring

5. Saturday- Share Your Favorite Workout Routines (And Why You Love Them)

6. Sunday- Your Favorite Sunday Routine Or Thing To Do On Sundays

7. Monday- What Do People Not Understand About You?

8. Tuesday- Your Favorite Photograph And Why 9. Wednesday- April Is Poetry Month, Share Your Favorite Poem 10. Thursday- Where Do You See Yourself In 10 Years? (Include Photos As A Challenge) 11. Friday- Did You Ever See Yourself Doing What You Do Today? 12. Saturday- Favorite Style of Blogging (Pictures, Quotes, Tutorials, Recipes) 13. Sunday- Share A Recipe, Book, or Product That You've Recently Tried Keep an eye out, I'm going to create a list for the entire month so you can really get ahead of the game and post them all at once if you really want. Bonus points to the person that does too!!