Featured Friday – Pebbles and Piggytails

Friday Friday Friday!! Yay! Another Friday upon us 🙂 I don’t have a favorite Featured Friday, I love all of my Co-Hosts, they’ve all been a great addition to my website and I’ve met some wonderful friends along the way! This week I have a special Momma to introduce you to. I found her website……….mmmmmm……from……….uhm………oh yeah I remember now!! The 100 Top Mommy blogs. I went on a search for a good Mommy website because it’s been awhile since I’ve featured a Mommy site. I’ve been down a lot lately, not sure exactly why, maybe I’m finally done with pregnancy, maybe it’s the fear of bringing another baby into my family, or the disappointment I’ve experienced lately from some loved ones in my life…..for whatever reason, I find motivation from other people so off I went searching….then I found this weeks Co-Host!! She was even so sweet and made one of my recipes, so make sure you go and visit her to see what she  made!!  All I know is that I spent an afternoon (an afternoon I didn’t have) reading post after post from her site because she just  had me hooked. She has a wonderful way of writing, she makes some pretty amazing points about not only motherhood but about life. So let me introduce you to Lisa. She is the Momma and the writer over at Pebbles and Piggytails. Lisa lives with her husband and three children out West. You can read more about her and her family here. I giggled when I read that she likes to have an organized dish waster 😉 I thought I was the only one! She is a Stay at Home Mom who strives for a fun balanced, value-centered home. I can relate to that!!   Lisa blogs about being a Stay at Home Mommy, some days that are great, and some days that are just plain tough. One of the first stories I read from Lisa’s site was about an accident she was in back in 2007. She writes about it in a series and you can find it on her home page under “My Accident and Miracle”.  It is stories like this that make you see the good in life. The good that comes from all the bad that happens in this world. She also writes about what it’s like to deal with a child that has experienced Post Traumatic Syndrome. You have to read her story because when Lisa was in this horrific accident her three year old witnessed it.  Lisa you truly inspire me, you see the positive in everything no matter how tough your days have been.

After reading the series about her accident, I ventured through and found a post that hit pretty close to home for me too. It’s called We Need Each Other. A story about Lisa’s Park Days as a Mom when she lived down South. This post hit me because I’ve recently moved and I’ve been out of touch with a lot of my Mommy friends these days. I only moved 30 minutes, it’s no excuse, I’m not sure what my problem is, if it just took me this long to unpack my family, if it’s the stress I’m feeling over being pregnant, sick and emotional all the time, or if it’s all the work my husband has taken on lately to make our home a home for our lil family, my mom and my sister. She reminded me what friends can do for us, how a good friend can support us through hard times. Being a stay at home mom is NOT easy, you feel alone a lot, you feel isolated a lot, you are constantly thinking “what can I do today to keep my child busy”, what can I do to make my toddler the very best little person she can possibly be, how can I potty train just right, how can I make my baby girl smile when she’s upset over something so small. There are days when I just long to think of balancing a spreadsheet or talking about a deadline (I used work in Finance :)) Lisa quickly reminds you of the blessings we have as a mother and how we can turn to other moms for that support on a daily basis. My problem these days you see is I haven’t really been able to rely on anyone besides my lil family. I have plenty of family and friends around me however I’m always trying to be the very best friend and feel like I don’t get the same back in return. My husband says I’m too sensitive and I take things too personally however I find ALL relationships difficult because I always expect to get what I give. So after re-reading Lisa’s post about her Park Days I’ve decided to just take every friendship I have and give what I receive, treasure those in my life and just love what I have been blessed with.

Another post that stuck out to me was The Mama and Me Book. I surly plan on using this idea when Madison gets older enough to take part. I think it’s a great idea to keep the communication open between mother and daughter and it may even help you always stay close to your Mom. 🙂 I’ve always been close to my mom, but the teenage years were tough and we weren’t each others favorites! Maybe something like this can help us through those rough patches some day!

Before we talk about food and what this Momma cooked up from Lisa (yes this amazing woman cooks too!!!!) their is one more experiment I tried!! She recently wrote a post called 25 Words or Less. Well she challenged anyone and everyone to write a letter to their family in 25 words or less to explain their love for them. If today was your last day what 25 words would you say to your loved ones?? I decided to do this in sentence form. It was the easiest way to have my random thoughts in as few words as possible.

Always give what you get (5 words) – This is one sentence I want to instill in my children. It’s a sure way that they will NOT grow up and be selfish. I think having a selfish personality is having a bad trait, it’s just the way I feel. I want my children (and husband) to always know how it feels to give to others, think of others, people’s feelings matter and I feel very strongly about that.

Never Settle  (2 words) – I just hope that if my family were to settle it would be to settle in something small. I want them to know that they can accomplish anything they set their minds and hearts to, that they can be anything. It’s not that I’ve ever settled, I just didn’t believe in myself enough to accomplish some of the things I wanted to at some points in my life. I’m a firm believer of what’s meant to be will be so I just want to teach my children that they do anything in this world.

Love is worth chances and heartache (6 words)  – These words are probably easily understood just as they are. I think a lot of people will agree with me that the end result of true love is always worth the waves we ride to get to it. I’ve experienced plenty of heartache but every single ache and pain was worth where I sit today. 🙂

Remember Me with smiles not tears (6 words) –  I know it’s easy to say this to anyone. My husband and I have had numerous conversations that if anything were to go forbid happen to either one of us no matter what our ages are we’d want each other to move on and find happiness. I mean it when I say I only want anyone I love to be happy. I’m not going to say I’ve never shed a tear when I lost someone I deeply loved when I was 21 or my dad when I was 22. I just know that remembering them with smiles was something that took time and I no longer remember anyone I’ve lost with tears……concentrating on what they would want really helped. My dad would want me to smile not cry when I thought of him, remembering that through the grieving process helped.  I’d want the same from the people I love.

I’ll Always be Proud of You (6 words) – I know what your thinking, of course my children (and husband) would know that, yes your right. However, hearing it………….seeing it………..means the world. I knew how proud of me my dad was, but knowing that was something he would want me to know in 25 words or less, would be something that would always stick with me. Knowing that your parents are proud of you is something every child longs for. I still do at 34. This one goes out to my husband too, we’ve only been married for four years however everything this man does makes me proud. 🙂 So those are my words………what would yours be?

Thanks for the challenge Lisa. Now onto food!! I decided to make something from Lisa that she attempted not so long ago, she made them look really good and I knew it was something my family would dive into!  I made her Scrumptious Alfredo Roll Ups. Doesn’t that sound yummy in just the name!

Soooooo I made the shredded chicken the way I always do, if you know me, you know that when any recipe calls for cooked shredded chicken or chopped cooked chicken I make it in my crockpot. Usually I plan my week so I make a bunch of shredded chicken for a few different recipes. This week I used a marinated chicken I bought at the meat market down the street, it was flavored Sun-dried Tomato. I just put the chicken in my crock and cooked it on low for 4-6 hours with a little bit of chicken broth to keep it moist. Since Lisa said to season the chicken whatever way I wanted, I did! 🙂 It was perfect!! I used half of it for this recipe and half for another recipe you’ll just have to wait for!!

This was such a simple dish to make because the crockpot does the work with the chicken and the assembly of these are pretty easy. While I was mixing the filling, I boiled the noodles. I was able to prepare these an hour before I went and picked up my daughter at daycare, came home, popped them in the oven and wala, dinner was ready!

I can’t even believe my picky daughter ate them! I don’t even think I can call her picky anymore because she’s trying almost everything I make these days. I served them with Carrots seasoned with butter and dill which is our favorite!! I even froze the rest of them so we can have a nice dinner some night after baby Drew is born, when this Momma will NOT feel like cooking!

Lisa, it’s been a real pleasure getting to know you, your family and your blog. Keep up the great work and never stop writing!! 🙂 No go visit Lisa ASAP and let her inspire you like she’s inspired me!!