Official Worship Signals

I saw a picture floating around on Facebook lately and just had to share it.

Especially seeing that I was raised Baptist and ended up going to an Assembly of God Bible College and am currently married to an Assembly of God Pastor.  Where they are, shall we say... more exuberant in worship than their Baptist counterparts? 

That's also why I liked this cartoon, remember?

Plus it's Sunday and all, so it just seemed right to share this with you....

(I LOVE the expert warning: Baptists- do not attempt!  HA!)

So now that you know the official worship signals, you can be all "official" and stuff at church.

You're welcome.

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Robin Takes 5 {Cookbook Giveaway!}

How'd you like to win a cookbook that has FIVE HUNDRED Lazy Mom Recipes in it?

Yes, that's right.  I said five hundred of them!

I've been talking almost non-stop about this cookbook ever since I had the fun opportunity to meet Robin Miller at the Slim-Fast Studio Wow! event in New York last week.  And guess what?  I got my copy of this fabulous cookbook in the mail on Monday!  Woot!

Robin Takes 5 is a lazy mom's DREAM book, I tell you.  What lazy mom couldn't use 500 recipes that are 5 ingredients or less and are all less than 500 calories?!  *jaw drops*

So today, thanks to the generosity of Robin Miller and her cookbook publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, I'm giving away two of these fabulous cookbooks to two fabulous lazy moms (or dads!).

To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter form below.  You can do as little or as many as you like on the form... but each one you do is an entry!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

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Our 'I Love Lucy' Table

A week ago Lazy Dad sent me to our second home to pick up a few odds and ends we needed from there.

(In case you're wondering what kind of second home a Pastor's family has, click here to see a picture of it.)

I was happy to make the trip to our second home because I had a few things to return and I hadn't had a trip there in a few days.  Which was weird because I practically go there every other day, if not every day, if not a couple of times a day.  Just depends on my need to get away to our second home.

While at our second home, Lazy Dad calls me and says to buy a card table.  He wants to get a puzzle out to do with the kids.  It's something we've done off and on over the years, not consistently by any means, mainly because a puzzle takes up our whole kitchen table and we can't eat there for weeks on end. Thus the reason for the card table.

But Lazy Dad was also inspired by a conversation he had with my mom.  You see, when my dad was growing up his family would keep a puzzle on a card table that was being worked on in their home.  Of course this was the late 50's, early 60's when life was a bit slower and people actually did things like puzzles for entertainment.

A few times I've put a puzzle out at Christmas time.  You start it on December 1st and as the festivities and the subsequent lazy days of the month go by your family works on it, and those who stop by might too.

Okay, I did this one time.  But I liked it!

Anyway, I picked up the card table and drug it all the way through the store behind me up to the checkout lanes (I was there for odds and ends people, not a card table, so I didn't grab a buggy... thus the dragging part).  I brought it home, sent my oldest out to the car to retrieve it, and as the kids were excitedly tearing off the packaging and putting down the legs my oldest says, "Hey! This is an 'I Love Lucy' table!"

Cracked me straight up.  "Why, yes, yes it is an 'I Love Lucy' table," I said, realizing that the only time they've probably seen a card table was on reruns of I Love Lucy.  It's one of our favorite reruns to watch together... there's just so little you actually can watch with your kids these days. And Lucy pulls a card table out regularly in the show for playing cards, having company for dinner and other various things.

So the I Love Lucy table was set up and the puzzle was dumped out and the piecing together began.  In one week the kids have made a lot of progress.  See?

My oldest son even declared to me that if we had to give up television, he would proudly do it because he's having so much fun doing the puzzle on our I Love Lucy table.

And it just goes to show you that kids don't have to have video games, TV, computers, or the latest gadget to be entertained.  The "classic" way of having fun is still, well, FUN to them.

So I'm wondering... what's something "classic" that you've done with your kids that you've been surprised was a hit with them?  Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear about it so we can try it out too!
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Sledding

This weekend we took the kids sledding.

There wasn't a ton of snow on the hill we like to go to, but there was enough.

The kids had a ton of fun.

And I can just image the conversation in this picture.  

"Sup?"   "Sup."   "So, what kind of board you ridin'?"

They sled (sledded? slided?) down that hill over and over for an hour.

Till they were exhausted, cold and thirsty.

And, uh, just where was Lazy Dad and I during all of this?

Ummmm, we were watching from here.

And doing stuff like this.

What?

It was cold.

And my electric blanket was at home.

And like you don't act like a lazy parent every once in a while yourself!  So there.


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Orange-Glazed Pork Chops {A Lazy Mom Recipe}

Before I started the Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan I knew that the 500 calorie meal was going to be difficult for me to figure out.

I mean, let's face it... a whole meal that's under 500 calories? For someone who doesn't love to cook?  And quite possibly is... every once in a while... could maybe be conceived as... just once in a blue moon... well okay, some days... sorta-kinda... I mean just a teeny-tiny bit, lazy?  Next to impossible!

That's why I was so excited to learn about chef Robin Miller's new book!  But what's a Lazy Mom to do until her new book arrives in the mail, I ask you?!

So I went snooping.  Snooping around Slim-Fast's website.  And you know what I discovered?  {spoiler alert} Their website is pretty cool!

This weekend I played around on it and found that there's not only a whole community on there, which offers a lot of support, but there's also a great way to track your progress, ask their nutritionist, Ali Auerbach, questions, and even whole meal plans laid out for you!

I loved the meal plan part because it takes the effort out of planning your food intake for the entire day and puts it on auto-pilot.  And let's be real here... isn't that what every mom needs?

But what I was most pleased about with their meal plan was their 500 calorie recipes!  I quickly printed off a bunch because most of the recipes I found were very easy to make, and some were even Lazy Mom Recipes (being 5 ingredients or less). SCORE!

One of the ones we tried this weekend was the Orange-Glazed Pork Chops.  Mm, mm.  It was so good the kids asked for seconds!  And so, I just had to share it with all of you!  Especially seeing that most Lazy Mom Recipes on my blog (okay, quite possibly all of them) are not very healthy.  *hangs head in shame*

So without further ado.....

Orange-Glazed Pork Chops
(makes 4 servings)

1/2 cup Wish-Bone® Light Italian Dressing
1/4 cup orange juice
4 boneless pork chops (about 1 1b. total - making it about 4 ounces each)
1 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
2 green onions, chopped (optional)
1/4 tsp grated orange peel (optional)

In measuring cup, combine dressing with juice.  In large, resealable plastic bag, pour 1/3 cup marinade mixture over chops; turn to coat.  Close bag and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Remove chops from marinade, discarding marinade.  Grill or broil chops until done.

Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, bring the remainder of the marinade, the brown sugar, onions (opt.) and orange peel (opt.) to a boil over high heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute or until sauce is thickened.  Serve sauce over chops and garnish, if desired with additional sliced green onions.

Serve with 2 cups of snow peas (steamed) and 1.5 cups of corn for each person, making this entire meal 450 calories!

And bonus: this dinner goes together super fast, so even busy lazy moms can do this!

Doesn't that bad boy look good?

It was delicious and VERY satisfying.  There was so much food on my plate! I hope you'll try it sometime and let me know what you think.

Stay tuned for more great Lazy Mom Recipes that are GOOD for your family in the coming months!

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Women of Wow Program. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

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Remind Me to Tell You... about Tulips.

Over the course of blogging for almost five years on this blog (and almost seven years total), I've asked you all to "remind me to tell you" several things.

I randomly throw them into blog posts upon occasion when a story pops in my head while writing about something else.  So I thought it might be high time for me to make a list of things I've been asking you to remind me to tell you about.

Things like the time I asked you to remind me to tell you...

• the inside joke behind why Lazy Dad and I liked the TV show Less Than Perfect.
• how much I love tulips and how every spring I make plans to plant tulips in the fall so I can have some grow up in my own yard.
• a funny story about my dad.
• how when we first got married and were living in Wisconsin, Lazy Dad tricked me into believing that there was such a thing as "winter air" for car tires.

And so I thought I might get around to telling you these stories.  Some may make you laugh, some may make you cry. 

Today? The tulip story.  Cause it's one of my favorites....

Every Spring when all the tulips pop up out of the ground in our neighborhood, and around town, I tell myself that I'm going to plant some in the Fall so that next year I have some in my own yard to enjoy. Because I just love tulips.  They're so happy and perky and the first to let you know that the world is turning into a warm place again after such a cold frosty winter.  What's not to love?

My love for tulips all started back when I was 19-years-old and working at Lee Transportation Services in Lufkin Texas.  It was Valentine's Day (you know, one of those holidays I don't like to celebrate) and I was single.

*sniff, sniff*

So as flowers arrived for all the married ladies and those with boyfriends, I "oo'd" and "aw'd" over their flowers and balloons and chocolates with them and then went back to working diligently at my desk.

It wasn't so bad.  I didn't really need a boyfriend.  I mean, I was 19... this was my time to live it up, right?

Then low-and-behold, another lady's sweet husband showed up with flowers for her.  He was an older gentleman and was full of energy and life.  He never failed to make us all smile when he stopped by the office.  He gave the pretty bunch of flowers to his wife, gave her a quick kiss, whispered "Happy Valentine's Day" and then headed to my desk.

"These are for you darlin'," he said with a big smile.  In his outstretched hand was a big bouquet of tulips.  They were beautiful.

"What?! You got these for me?" I said, starting to smile.  Suddenly not having a boyfriend wasn't so bad.  "That is just SO sweet.  Thank you!  They're beautiful."

And they were.  They had dual colors, yellow on the outsides and pink in the middles.  I had never gotten tulips before, but I have loved them ever since.  And every time I see tulips or get some from Lazy Dad, I remember that sweet man and his loving act of getting a 19-year-old single girl tulips on Valentine's Day.

And one of these days I am going to finally plant some tulips in my own yard.  One of these days....

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Odds and Ends...

{1} I've heard a rumor that people using Internet Explorer to browse the internet can't load my blog.  This makes my heart hurt.  So if you are one of those people, ditch IE already and download FireFox. It's free, and better, and makes you see my blog again.

Those of you who know someone suffering from IE disorder can you let them know?  Cause I'm betting they can't see this anyway.

{2} Today on the Lazy Mom Radio Show I'll be sharing more behind-the-scenes details about my Slim-Fast Studio Wow trip among other random things.  My good friend Carrie will be on with me to chat it up.  She's gorgeous and funny and awesome.  So, now that you know why we're friends, you won't want to miss it.  Here's how to tune in.

{3} This morning when I woke up it was 2 degrees outside.  I'll now be accepting all-expense paid vacations to Hawaii from now till April.

April of 2050.

{4} If you live in NW Ohio or SE Michigan (or will be passing through here at any point in your life) there's still time to enter my McDonald's Happy Meal giveaway.  So go do that already, mkay?

{5} Speaking of giveaways, I still haven't heard from the SurfShelf winner.  So, um, go check and see if you won.

{6} On a lazy note, I wore my house shoes through the New York and Chicago and Toledo airports on the way home from my trip on Tuesday night.  I felt it was my lazy duty to lazily represent the lazy side of all lazy moms in this lazy way.  You're welcome.

{7} I'd like to give a shout out to Bob.  Evans, that is.

We ate at Bob Evans on Wednesday night and thanks to their "Fit from the Farm" menu it was SUPER easy to eat my Slim-Fast 500 calorie meal at their restaurant.  So thanks Bob.

Evans, that is.

{8} My daughter is in to this new "pose" for the camera.  The open mouth, oh-my-gosh pose.

Can't image where she gets that from.

{9} I found this magnet at Cracker Barrel the other day.  I feel it sums up my whole Pastor's Wife personality pretty beautifully and I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy it.

I may drive back over there and get it.

It would go great with my Mom's Menu Planner magnet.

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Studio WOW!

Ohmygosh people.

Yesterday was a crazy, fabulous, long, exciting day.

I flew to New York City for a grand total of four hours to attend Slim-Fast's Studio Wow event.  And boy was it wow!

I woke up at 3am bright eyed and bushy tailed even though my alarm clock wasn't set to go off till 5am and my car wasn't scheduled to pick me up for the airport till 6am.  Who can sleep when you're about to fly to New York, I ask you?  Four car rides, four flights and lots of walking later, I collapsed back into my home at 11:15pm.  It was a long day!

At the Slim-Fast Studio Wow event, I was able to meet four of the other Women of WOW! bloggers, some awesome people behind the scenes at Slim-Fast and, well, some other folks that were more "in front of the scenes."

Here's the "in front of the scenes" people.

Ali Auerbach, Robin Miller, Joey Maalouf, Nigel Barker, Jacqui Stafford

Talk about a fun bunch of people to have one-on-ones with!  Each of them was fabulous, but I just have to give a special shout out to Jacqui Stafford who personally declared me her new BFF.

I think she felt lucky to have met me.

*ahem*

The Studio Wow event was all decked out Slim-Fast style.  It looked amazing and we all decided we wanted to live there for the duration of the Women of WOW! program.

Here, I'll give you a quick tour to show you why....

The downstairs area where we did a quick video interview:

Upstairs there was a lounge area:

The "Welcome! We're so glad you're here" area:

The hair and makeup area:

The totally cute and totally fun kitchen area:

Where I just HAD to take a picture of these super cute Slim-Fast shakes that I now realize, upon uploading, has my big ol' finger in it:

Doh!

And last, but not least, there was Jacqui's fashion/style area... which I didn't get a picture of because Jacqui and I were busy being new BFF's and all.

But wasn't the event all cute and stuff?!

It totally was.

After taking a tour, (the one I just took you on) we loaded up in some cars and headed to lunch at Bryant Park Grill.  Super yum.  The bloggers and Slim-Fast representatives got to know each other a bit better over lunch and then we grabbed a quick blogger photo afterwards in the park. 

Then, it was time.

Time to go through the whole "experience" with the experts.

** Warning! ** You will see some very unflattering pictures of myself as we proceed.  Keep in mind these are my "before" pictures of me at a weight that I am sorta-kinda embarrassed to show you, but for the sake of keeping it real, which you know I'm all about, and to maybe help you make your own Slim-Fast "vow to wow" with me, I'm showing them to you.

Against all better judgement and all that is screaming within me to not show them to you.

And besides... I'll be a smoking hot super model by the end of April, so it's all good.

I think.

Okay, maybe not.

Just tell me I'm gorgeous after you read this post today, mkay?  That may help take the sting of how I look in these pictures out a little.

Here we go!

This is my new BFF Jacqui Stafford.  She's beautiful and brilliant and British.  Kinda like me.  Except the British part.

After looking at this photo I now realize that my shoes did not match my outfit AT ALL.  Good thing I write a blog about being lazy and not how to be stylish in New York City at a brand event with celebrities. Otherwise that would have been totally awkward.

Jacqui gave me some fun style tips, showed me how to tie a scarf that I got to keep, in some fun new ways and made me adore her all in one fell swoop.  She's pretty amazing.

After Jacqui made me love her, Joey Maalouf showed me how to restyle my hair in a fun new way while I got my makeup touched up by a lovely woman that I didn't properly meet (sorry lovely woman that I didn't properly meet!).

In about five minutes flat Joey parted my hair differently, added some loose curls to accentuate the ones I have since giving birth to three children, and showed me that I don't have to look like a lazy mom ALL the time.

Then.  THEN.  *heart starts to pound*  I was whisked off to my "photo shoot" with Nigel Barker.

We shook hands, chatted a bit and then I told him that before we started I wanted to take a picture of him taking a picture of me.  To which he said jokingly, "Are you telling ME what to do at MY photo shoot?"

"Yes, yes I am. Now go over there and let me take a picture of you!" I said all boss lady like.

Wasn't he sweet to comply?

Would you ladies like to see that picture again?

I thought so.

Now this was the really nerve racking part of the day and why my heart was pounding.... Doing a photo shoot where YOU are the subject.  Eek!  I never felt so awkward.  Mainly because it wasn't just me and Nigel in the room, but me Nigel and about 8 other people all watching ME stand there all dorky like.

Here, let me walk you through this....

This is me realizing I'm about to have my photo taken by Nigel Barker in a room full of people that all are watching me.

They put on a Switchfoot song I like to loosen me up a bit, which helped, but it was still a bit awkward feeling.

I danced, jumped, laughed, tried to "work it" all while cringing on the inside.  But I must have really worked it because...

This is me making Nigel beg for more of my fabulousness.

Then. THEN.

This is me when they put "the fan" on me.

That's right people.  They did the FAN THING.

*sigh*

I've always wanted to do the fan thing.

...well, 30 pounds lighter and with shoes that match my outfit.

But I must have made quite an impression on ol' Nigel, because this is me when Nigel asked me to leave the Lazy Dad and run off with him.

To which I promptly turned him down and told him the only man for me is my hunky hunky husband that's back home caring for the children we brought into this world together.

True story.

In my head.

After I left Nigel all heart-broken I met with Food Network Chef Robin Miller.  Which I didn't get a picture of because my car was already waiting on me to take me back to the airport, but I was SUPER excited to talk to her.  Mainly because it was my mission to leave the Studio Wow event with LAZY MOM RECIPES that were 500 calories for the Slim-Fast 321 plan I'm on - 3 snacks, 2 shakes or meal replacement bars, and 1 - 500 calorie meal.  I knew I'd have problems with that 500 calorie meal, so I was hopeful she could help me.

And guess what y'all?

Robin not only delivered... she wrote a whole cookbook about it! 

That's right lazy moms! A WHOLE cookbook of five ingredients or less recipes that are all 500 calories or less!

COULD. YOU. DIE?

You can find her cookbook in The Lazy Mom Store.  I've already ordered mine and she gave me permission to share some of the recipes with you over the next few months during the Women of WOW! program!  I was SO excited about this.

So yes!  It was a crazy fun day!  After a short conversation with Slim-Fast's nutritionist, Ali Auebrach, I was shuffled off to a car and headed back to the airport.  I couldn't believe it was all over so quickly.

Thank you to all of you who held my hand through all of this yesterday via my Facebook page!  You all were so sweet to encourage me and I truly appreciated every single ounce of it.

You can now find me on Slim-Fast's Women of WOW! Facebook page where you can meet the other 9 bloggers participating in the program and see my Slim-Fast related posts.

I'd love it if you left a comment on my area of that page and shared your own "Vow to Wow" with me!  I've got lots of helpful weight-loss tips to share with you in the upcoming months, not to mention, healthy Lazy Mom Recipes, giveaways and more!

Woohoo!

And let's all forget how I look in the above pictures and concentrate on how FAB I'm gonna look at the end of the program in April, mkay?  It will help me sleep better tonight if you say you will.  So thanks in advance.

Oh, and get ready for my WOW moment people!!!

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast® Women of Wow Program. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

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