30 Day Shred

I'm planning on starting Jillian's 30 day shred again starting January 1st and will keep a log of how I'm doing here on my blog. If anyone else wants to do it, you can get the dvd at Walmart for $9, all you need are some small hand weights and a floor mat if you're doing it on a hard surface, if you're on carpet then you don't need one. Leave comments on my blog and let me know how you're doing! Good luck to anyone else who is trying this!

-Shelly-

CHEAP DIAPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I kind of gave up on the whole "Coupon Shelly" thing for the moment, but I just happened to be looking at blog links of my friends (Thanks Melissa) and I found this REALLY SUPER EASY way to get Huggies Diapers for $3.92 per pack of jumbo diapers. How?! You might ask, just as I did! Well, here is how, courtesy of $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge

Deal Idea:
Go to http://www.diapers.com
Huggies Snug & Dry Extra Large Case (150 diapers) Size 4 $39.99
Huggies Snug & Dry Jumbo Pack (31 diapers) Size 4 $9.99
Pampers Travel Wipes, $1.99 (needed an item to get my total up to $49 to get free shipping and use $10 off code)
Total: $51.97
Use $1.50 E-Coupon for Huggies (just click on the e-coupon box)
Use code 30DX7021 to get $10 off $50 purchase for new customers
Pay: $40.47
Print your confirmation receipt and print this rebate form and mail it off for $14.97 rebate back.
Final Cost: $25.55
This breaks down to about $3.92 per pack of jumbo diapers.

Amazing huh?! Leave a comment and let me know if you did it. I just did it today, so I'll let you know if for whatever reason it didn't work out. Share the news!

-Shelly-

My two favorite (cooking) recipes for the moment.

I just thought I would share my two recipes that I've made lately that are my absolute favorite! Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have about them (Shelly_Welly_Belly@yahoo.com). p.s. I'm going back to school for real this time in January! Yay! (only part time, so don't worry!) :)





Sweet Russian Cabbage Soup

PREP TIME: 10 Min
COOK TIME: 1 Hr
READY IN 1 Hr 10 Min


INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds ground lean beef
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
4 cubes beef bouillon
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons white vinegar (I use 1/4 of a cup instead for a little extra "bite")
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 quarts water, divided
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 head cabbage, cored and cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS
Crumble the ground beef into a large pot. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef bouillon cubes, carrots, onion, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour in 1 quart of water, and bring to a boil. Stir to break up the beef while heating. Once the soup comes to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.
Pour in another quart of water, and return to a slow boil. Add garlic and cabbage. Simmer for 25 minutes, until cabbage is tender. Ladle into soup bowls to serve.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Enchiladas!

Ingredients:

SAUCE: Large Pork Loin, 18 oz Coca-Cola Classic (do not use diet or generic), 1 cup sugar, (1) 7 oz can of chipotle chilies in ADOBO sauce, 1 tsp dry ground mustard (heaping), 1 tsp. minced garlic.

OTHER: Large package of flour tortillas, green salsa that has tomatillos and sarano peppers in it, and LOTS of shredded mozzarella cheeze.

Directions: PORK: Remove chilies from the can of adobo sauce. Rinse chilies with the coke to get all the sauce. Discard chilies. Also rinse can with coke to get all remaining sauce. Put all ingredients in blender. Blend, pour over pork in crock pot. Add brown sugar towards the end, a tablespoon at a time. After cooking, pull apart with forks into bite size pieces. Leave in sauce while you serve it.

ENCHILADAS: Add heaping spoonfulls of sweet pork to flour tortilla, sprinkle with generous amount of cheese. Fold tortilla burrito style. Drizzle green salsa over the top (not too much) and again sprinkle on top with generous amount of cheese. Fill caserole dish with as many enchiladas that you can and stick in the oven to broil until cheese is melted.

Introducing Coupon Shelly!

Okay, so I'm just starting to get into this whole coupon business. It is VERY confusing! As I go along, I'm going to post things that I found that are helpful. For example, I keep seeing these women post things to their blogs about how they got their Walgreens purchases for free after using their "Register Rewards." I had NO idea what that meant, so I googled it and found this VERY informative description about how to save at Walgreens at about.com. So click HERE if you're interested like I was about how all these women get these super deals at Walgreens. I'll let you know how I do!

Also, here is the link for the same type of info for CVS.

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my favorite Jane Austen book. It represents the incredible bond between sisters. Parts of this book remind me a little of that movie "He's Just Not That Into You." It addresses the issue of class division and is a constant reminder of how guys can be the biggest jerks, but can also have redeeming qualities at the same time. :)

View all my reviews >>

Bridget Jone's Diary: The Edge of Reason

Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Of course I had to read the sequal to Bridget Jone's diary. This one did not disappoint! An even funnier encounter is had between Daniel Cleaver and Mr. Darcy. The movie was funny, but had an almost completely different plot, which is okay because it's almost like getting another story out of the series!

View all my reviews >>

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Okay, I loved the drama in this book! Who says they didn't have soap operas in the late 18th century?! Albeit the incestual love story between cousins is a bit awkward at times. If you can get past that and realize that it wasn't a social taboo back then, then you'll be just fine. It was a lot longer than I expected, but didn't let me down.

View all my reviews >>

Bridget Jone's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow! I LOVED this book! It was required reading for Brian's Women's Studies course his last year of undergrad, so I read it for him since it was a less important class. Truly funny and revealing of female insecurities. It has a bit of vulgar humor in it....okay, more than a little! I simply had to go watch the movie after reading this and I was not let down. If you have already seen the movie and not read the book, I still recommend your read the book as the plot has a few little interesting twists in it that the movie does not have.

View all my reviews >>

Eva

Eva by Peter Dickinson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
And interesting read. Brian had this one on the shelf from when he was in middle school I think. It's an interesting twist on the evolution theory of humans starting out as apes. A girl gets into a car accident in a futuristic world where wildlife and plant life are going extinct and they take her brain and put it into an ape's body. Like I said, interesting.

View all my reviews >>

The Doctor's Wife

The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Well, titles can be decieving, I thought since I was a future doctor's wife that I would enjoy this book. Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting story, but unless you're an extreme pro-choice feminist that thinks that affairs are okay as long as you're "in love" with the guy, then I say don't even bother with this book. Oh yeah, and if this were a movie it'd be rated R for explicit sexual content and the use of the "F word" over 300 times in this book.

The Virginian

I'm going to start reviewing the books I read on this blog. I'm always looking for a good new read, so if you have one that you think I'd like, let me know! Here is my first review:

The Virginian by Owen Wister

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this one for josh's book club. I love the story, it's a classic and it's in the time period of the california gold rush. And of course as 99.9% of the books I read must have, it has a love story in it as well.

My Boopy

I was thinking about my favorite LITTLE sis Sharice today...maybe it was because of the bejeweled post I put up. :) This is how I'll always think of her, her little baby Kael reminds me so much of her when she was little, he has the same little round face and smile. It's so hard to remember that she's only a year younger than me, I keep thinking that she stays 18 as I keep going up in the 20's, I can't believe she's almost 24!


She really was such a beautiful bride! Can't wait to see you again Froggy and get another "happy hour" smoothy. :)

Hopelessly addicted.

I'm hopelessly addicted to bejeweled on facebook. If any one of my family memebers (specifically Brian or Sharice) beat my score, I have to play until I beat them! It's terrible!

Glenn Beck

I don't like to blog about anything political...that's Brian's job...:) but for Brian's birthday/father's day present we are going to Richmond, Virginia to go see Glenn Beck's live comedy tour! I can't wait! Mostly because we've been going crazy trying to find enough time in the day for Brian to study for Step 1. We both definately need this break, it sure is a welcomed one!

In case anyone was wondering....

In case anyone was wondering, this is the website where I got my cute templates at for my blog and my family blog. It's my new favorite site!

Totally bummed!

I wonder if anyone else is totally bummed about Jon and Kate as I am! I know that from the few posts I've done it seems like all I'm going to talk about is t.v. and movies, but that's just where I'm at right now. :) I always liked the show because their sextuplets are only a year or so older than Ben and I look to their show to see what next to expect from Ben. The show is so depressing right now, I hope the best for them that everything works out!

New Moon

Okay, so this is going to be the first of what I'm sure will be MANY posts about the Twilight series, sorry if you're not a fan. :( I got super excited today when I went to log into my yahoo mail and found the "teaser trailor" to New Moon (The second Twilight movie). The link is on the left side of my blog under my favorite links. Come on, now I know I'm not the only one that goes GAGA over Jacob in this book (especially YOU Jocelyn)!

Hurray, I've started my own personal blog!

Brian started his own blog a few weeks ago so I decided I need my own. I wanted something to express myself with, talk about my latest obsessions, and to vent to all the other moms that go crazy like me out there. As I embark on this new adventure in blog world I hope that I don't offend anyone, but if I do, then all you have to do is refuse to read my blog anymore! ;) Happy reading!
-Shelly-

p.s. This is seriously my favorite picture of myself ever!