Cake in a Jar GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Author of Story of a Girl's blog, Tia is doing a Giveaway of my Cake in a Jar today through Friday 11/30.

Checkout her blog and enter at Cake in a Jar Giveaway.

                    

Home for the Holidays, Happy Turkey Day!!!!

  It's so funny how one year changes things. Last Thanksgiving we were on lockdown because Faith had just gotten out of the NICU the week previous. This year Faith is trying to walk and we're spending the Holiday's with family. Everyone is really enjoying these days with a toddler. Our family tradition is to put up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving. We're gonna start bets on how long it will stay up because with all the active kids in the family someone(Faith) will definitely tear it down. Today is my weigh-in day and it doesn't make sense to step on anybody's scale the way I've been munching. Its so hard to lose weight during the holidays...at least for me.

On the Menu Today:

Turkey

Ham

Cornbread Dressing

Seafood Mirlition Casserole

Rice Dressing

Green Bean Casserole

Potato Salad

Peas

Swedish Meatballs

Deviled Eggs

Sweet Potato Pie

Apple Pie

Peanut Butter Special K Bars

Almond Coconut Cream Cake in a Jar.

  Almond Coconut Cream Cake in a Jar available. Perfect gift idea for the Holidays! $36.00 for (6)8oz Mason Jars filled with freshly baked cake. Comes with Christmas label and ribbon. Checkout my Etsy Shop for more details! Shop Here.

Bath Salts Oh My!!

  I absolutely love Baths! After Hurricane Katrina hit the first thing I wanted to do once we got water was take a nice long soak. I have a collection of bath products so when I was contacted by a Rep for Cleopatra's Choice to review one of their products, I was super excited. Besides blogging, I'm also a Licensed Esthetician so I know a bit about about scrubs, salts and skincare products. The item I received was the Adovia Pure Dead Sea Salt bath product. I was apprehensive at first because I've heard some scary things about Bath Salts on the news recently but figured I should be fine to bathe in them. Boy was I right! I poured the salts under running water and I love the fact that they actually melted and I was not forced to skate on any once I got into the tub. The salts also left my skin feeling moist but not oily. The salts lacked any scent and it would have been nice if there was a little aromatherapy smell but over all I was pleased with the product.

A-
10lbs for $24.95

Cleopatra's Choice also offers a Essential Oils, Acne Products, Makeup and several other products.

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review however all thoughts remain 100% my own. I was not compensated for this review.
          

More Cajun Goodness!

  
On the menu last night was Baked Tilapia. It's a part of my Weight Watcher's diet plan, but I felt the need to "jazz it up." I prepared Cajun Spicy Potatoes to go along with it but figured the cream sauce that was added to the fish was enough, so I skipped those. My creation below :)

Happy Friday!

My Etsy Shop is Open Again!

  My Etsy Shop is up and running again, currently I'm only selling Cake in a Jar for the holidays. It makes a cute Holiday Gift. Seeking bloggers to review the product, if interested contact me at: cjacksonboyd@gmail.com

Shop Link is here  Sweet Momma's Creole Confections

My BBQ Shrimp, Yum-A!!

  My Mom would make this for me as a little girl. I'd always eat the entire dish myself and I must admit I almost did the same thing last night, well I did save the kids a few. I made sure to fix them something before so they'd be too full to want to over indulge...so selfish I know, Lol 

They were so darn Yum-A!!

1 Lemon(sliced)

3lbs of Raw Shrimp

1tsp of Minced Garlic

1 tbsp of Cajun Seasoning

8oz Italian Salad Dressing

1tbsp of Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350. Throw all ingredients in a Roaster Pan(Covered). Bake for 7-10 minutes.

Remove cover so it doesn't continue to cook once out of the oven.

Enjoy with French Bread!

I'm a Hero!

  While going through #2's school things, I can across a project that he'd never shown me. It was an autobiography about himself and he did a really good job on. Noticing it was two months old and he'd never asked for help with it, I felt sorta bad. #2 marches by the beat of his own drum, he's hyper and out right gives me the blues most days but he's also very sweet. He's the child that checks on me 2-3 times while I'm in the rest room or the one that's extremely worried about me when I'm sick. Some days I think he doesn't like me much but I know he Loves the crap out of me. Well back to the autobiography, he had to include who his hero was and when I tried to make out the drawing of the person I had to look very good. The words were not to clear but when I finally made it out I almost cried. That hero was me..."My Mom is my Hero" he wrote. I sat there trying to think of what I'd did that would make him feel that way. I'm a SAHM, I don't purchase the coolest sneakers or games. I say "no" more than I say "yes" and I've heard grown-ups say I'm a bit too strict. I asked him was I really his hero and he said Yes and looked at me like...Duh. I must have hugged the poop out of him that day. That moment showed me that although I'm not where I want to be in life, I don't have big house or my dream job yet, but I'M SOMEONE'S HERO DARN IT!

Yes!

  Last week my oldest son tried out for the freshman basketball team at school. This is his first year in high school and although I thought he's be intimidated, I think I'm actually more nervous about him being among tattooed, 6 foot, 200 lb high schoolers than anything else. The tryouts were two days long and they left them hanging over the weekend with no decision being made on Friday. At one point my son was outstanding but he's gotten rusty after not consistently playing AAU and on the local Biddy Team. They say "practice makes perfect" I say "being lazy makes you a bum" harsh I know, but it's true and it's life. After falling off and even being cut once from the team in middle school, I was extremely nervous this time around. I can normally pick my kids up from anything but when it comes to something they love and Mommy having no control over a situation, my hands are pretty much tied. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE sports and I'm especially competitive. So far my children are the same way in nature. When I sent them off to school this morning I asked #1 "Do you have your call phone?" He said yes calmly, almost too calm. I then asked like a little kid "Can you call me as soon as you look at the list He was like "Yea" again too calm for my liking. He got to school early so after an hour of not calling me, I texted him and got no response. It was then that I got an email from the Joel Osteen newsletter that I signed up to receive when Faith was in the NICU. Those emails got me through the days that I had no clear vision in sight. The Daily Word stated: 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

(2 Corinthians 1:20, NKJV)

  I believe in signs and this message definitely  brought me a sense of peace. Finally he texted me saying "They haven't put up the list yet." I felt so annoyed but again I was at peace and then five minutes later I got this message from him "Yea i made it" I began to jump around screaming and so did Faith! We danced for a few minutes and then I got on the phone to spread the great news. I'm so excited and happy. With not too many things special going on right now, its simple things like this that can make a Mom like me smile from ear 2 ear. Yes!!!          

Weigh-in Day!

  Today is the day I dread and despite eating Pralines & Popeyes Chicken three days out of the week, I still managed to lose a pound. Last week was a different story, when I weighed-in I was up two pounds. I need to to get it together and stop the emotional eating. With so much going on it's hard to avoid temptation and the cold weather is preventing me from getting out for my daily walks. Posting my weigh-ins are a for sure way to stay on track and it seems as though if I avoid doing it one week then I begin to slack off staying on track. My goal was to get to 165lbs by Thanksgiving, let's see if that happens. I've got 2 weeks!

168.4lbs(Don't know what's wrong with my camera)

One Day Post Election Day

  So glad that the Election is over and done, hopefully we can move forward as one...Ok maybe I'm a dreamer but it makes sense if anyone wants to live a productive and bitter-free life. I cannot imagine all of the friendships that have been severed with this year's Presidential Election. There was so much mud slinging and countless amounts of disrespectful Facebook posts by many of my friends, Democrats and Republicans. It truly doesn't make sense, at least not to me. I just wonder what happened to the days that people voted and kept quiet about who they were voting for. My mother always told me "You never tell who your voting for, it's no one's business but you and that curtain" I still live by that advice. She also warned me never talk politics, religion or money with people. 

  Politics bring out the worst and I guess even the truth in people. Even the Mister and I disagree on certain political points but we've agreed to disagree. Regardless of who won, I still had to wake up this morning and take care of my family, the bills will still roll around and I still have to focus on losing more weight. I cannot and will not consume myself with hate and I wish others felt the same way. We only get 1 Life and 1 Mine, let's preserve both. 1 Love 

Alive and Well

  I've had a few people messaging me about my absence. I've just been taking a much needed break. The new medication is not only slowing down my heart rate, but it's slowing me down. Normally I have tons of energy and bounce around but these days I'm dragging myself to get out of bed. I think it's only temporary because I am feeling better everyday. I've also had a household of sick people so things are just crazy right now, I ready for some normalness (is that a word? lol). Thanks for the concern folks, consider me back.