Staples Family

Yesterday one of my very sweet, and dear MOPs friends was involved in a rollover accident on Paseo. She had her two youngest girls with her. She was airlifted to UNMH where she is recovering, and her girls are safe with family. It is such a blessing that they were not more seriously injured.
As many of you single income families know, an accident of this magnitude can be completely devastating financially. Even with insurance deductibles and medical costs can eat your lunch. We would like to just take the opportunity to (digitally) pass around the hat for the Staples as they begin recovering from this. If you are interested in donating please click on the "Donate" button on the right side of the page.
Please keep all of the Staples in your prayers! Michele is recovering from a slight spinal fracture at UNM. Also pray for the two girls that were with her in the car (praise the Lord they only have minor scratches) and her husband Josh, and two older girls! Also pray for safety for her family as they travel fro AZ to help!

Link to the News Report

*Donation legal disclaimer: we are not a non-profit organization so donations made are not tax deductible. Think of it as dropping dollars in a hat only in a digital way. Thank you

Our Favorite Things! (September)

This is a new thing that I saw on a blog once and thought that I would try! If you guys like it (or maybe even if you don't ) we might just make it a regular thing!
Hubby and I LOVE to eat! We really love trying new and different things, which often finds us searching the aisles of Talin (if you haven't been there and you live in the Burque area you must make a visit, it is an International Supermarket on the corner or Central and Louisiana super awesome) as well as Trader Joes! We also find really neat stuff just at our neighborhood grocery stores too!
So here are the things we are digging this month and where you can find them and approximately how much they cost (let me know if you see them cheaper)!

CYRUS

So I am Lactose Intolerant so we waited for a long time to start Cyrus on milk and by the time we did he was so used to the sweetness of Rice Milk that he wouldn't drink cows milk. These went on sale for $1 at Smiths and I bought a couple to try and now he loves them and even drinks plain milk (only he still won't drink whole milk). Now I buy them at Target 3 for $2.99. Strawberry is his very favorite, I like that they don't have artificial coloring!

These are Cyrus' FAVORITE thing in the whole world to eat! I also love them because you can take them everywhere and just throw them in Cyrus' backpack. They make the best car snack because now that he knows how to eat them they don't make any mess! There are many other varieties of these by many different companies but the plain ol' apple ones are his favorite, and I don't complain because they are also some of the cheapest! We call them squeezies they are squeezable Applesauce! SO cool! I get them at Trader Joes in a 4 pack for $2.99.

TODD

Todd LOVES (and I mean LOVES) soda! But he knows it is not such a great thing for him. Problem is that he does not like to drink water. So his solution? Sparkling water! I think it also reminds him of Germany (where he was stationed for 4 years in the Army) because they don't drink a lot of plain water in Europe. We buy these flovored ones at Trader Joes for $.89 but sometimes you can get a steal at the grocery for much less.

Todd is a sushi lover and will freely admit that one of his favorite elements of sushi is the Nori, the seaweed. These new snacks at Trader Joes are Salted squares of seaweed, basically seaweed chips! He LOVES them and the price is right! only $.99 for a package that lasts Todd about two weeks. I think they are gross, they taste like salty seaweed, but if you like that taste, as Todd does, give these a try!

SARAH
So I eat very little meat (only poultry) and am always looking for alternative protein choices so the first two are my favorite protein snacks!

Edamame is soy beans that you eat like green peas! You can buy them in the pod and shell them as you eat them or already shelled. I have a busy two year old, I do things the easy way, I buy them already shelled! These I got a Trader Joes for $1.69 but I have gotten them at the grocery too for a bit more. And Sunflower has these great single serve packets that my friend Regina introduced me too, that we sometime buy for Todd to take in his lunch. Six little packets for $1.99.

I love almonds, and these are my favorite ones! Perfect amount of salt and I haven't yet got an over roasted batch yet. These are a bit pricey for my tastes but so good! Sometimes if you look around you can get them for a deal! Usually I get them at Smiths for $3.99.

These are little packets that you add to water that make raspberry lemonade! It is very yummy too! I like that they are sweetened with cane juice and stevia and it doesn't have that really yucky artificial sweetener taste! Being someone that mostly drinks water this is a nice way to switch it up, and I don't feel guilty letting Cyrus drink it either! These are brand new at our Smiths I think they were $2.29 for a box of 10 packets that mix up to 16oz each.

So there it is! I'm sure if I do this again I will only introduce one item for each of us as this was a lot! Let me know if you try anything and like it!
-Sarah (and the Boys)

Waffle French Toast! MMMM

Cyrus and I LOVE breakfast! I always have and I am so happy to see that Cyrus has the same love for it! The best thing about breakfast is yummy gooey-sweet breakfast food! I LOVE french toast but when I make it at home it never turns out great. Someone suggested using day old french loaves. This is such a great idea, however, I am always paranoid (many of you know that I tend to be ubber paranoid anyway) about cooking it enough! It always ends up too soggy in the middle! SOLUTION! I saw this in a healthy mama e-mail the other day and had to try it! Make french toast IN YOUR WAFFLE IRON! Yes the best of two world! We tried it this morning and it was a delicious hit! Two thumbs way up! Here is what I did:

Half a loaf of day old french bread sliced in about 1 and 1/2 inch slices
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or milk substitute, never tried soy milk but rice milk works well)
1 tbsp Vanilla
Waffle iron (we have a round Belgium style one if you have a regular one you might want to make your slices a little thinner)

Beat eggs, milk and vanilla in bowl or plate big enough to accommodate your bread slices.
Soak the bread slices well on both sides.
Put one slice at a time into your waffle iron and press it down (this sort of reminded me of jumping on a suitcase that is too full to try and make it zip closed) WARNING watch out for steam! I sort of burnt my fingers on the first piece.
When it is good and brown on both sides take it out with a fork... if it doesn't slide right out it is not done yet!
Finish up your pieces and enjoy!
We had ours with butter and honey, but I am sure it would be amazing with syrup and/or powdered sugar! Mmm maybe with strawberries or bananas too!
I stuck my extra pieces in the freezer so I will update on how well it reheats!
Make sure you wipe your waffle iron out so you don't have any egg crud in it the next time you make waffles!
Sooooo what are you waiting for?!?! Go make some and enjoy!
-Sarah

The Twilight Saga – According to Me

(My Comprehensive Opinion of Twilight)

So I was a Twilight hold-out. It did appeal to me but I resented the idea of hopping on the band wagon (so to speak) so late in the game. Would that make me a poser? Also my hubby has been very outspoken about these sissy-vampire books (many know that he is a fan of horror movies and the monsters that lurk in them). So swallowing my pride and with my husbands encouragement I started the books (thanks Jessie for loaning me the first one)! Now that I am finished I wanted to make my comments more formally, for the sake of just talking it out more than anything. We also watched the first two movies (hubby so patiently sat through both with me, what a sport) so I will also comment on them at the end.

Twilight – Intriguing

Bella- At the onset I liked Bella. She reminded me of myself in many ways (only child, dislikes new things…) but I quickly grew tired of her self deprecating narrative and wished that the story would move much more quickly. However it sucks you in, it really does and even though I didn’t much care for her I found that I was very interested in what would happen to her.

Edward- As, I am sure, is the author’s intention the idea of an Edward is extremely interesting. I liked him almost immediately (although my appreciation got very tarnished as the books went on). I found the Cullens even more interesting, a vegetarian vampire family! Neat-o!

Overall the book moved very slowly at points, and had a bit more mush then I really like, but I really enjoyed the time getting to know Alice and Jasper better and the dramatic fight at the end. The last few chapters tipped the scale in favor of the book!

New Moon – JACOB!

Jacob- If not for this character I would have stopped reading when Edward got superman syndrome (the whole I’m leaving to keep you safe business) and left. I’m not really into living through someone else’s pain. But Jacob is, in my opinion (which is what all this is), Mrs. Meyer’s strongest character. I enjoyed every moment spent with him (even if it was tainted by Bella’s obsessive hunt to hear dumb-dumb’s voice). I think that the “werewolves” are a unique and appealing concept! But of course then everything went wrong… I love you Alice but you screwed everything up… the whole part in Italy was so ridiculous it made me angry… his big plan is to WALK OUT IN THE SUN???? Really? What I way to go… overall New Moon is thumbs down…(despite Jake) too much pouting.

Eclipse – My Favorite!

Jasper- By FAR my favorite vamp (well together with Alice, they are really a package deal after all). LOVED his back-story! Think he is great!

Rosalie – It might just be because she doesn’t like Bella but I like this chick! I think she has attitude! I also loved hearing her story! But it was in the middle of her story that I started guessing which way the plot was going to go…

Jake – Did anyone else want to shake him by the shoulders and tell him “What ARE you doing???” I felt so terrible for him… unrequited love is so terrible… but I just couldn’t hope that he would end up with Bella, because she is so terrible and I wanted so much better for him! Bella ends up being such a tease, ugh it made me very angry! I just kept hoping that Ed would just BITE HER ALREADY! Of course how would you get that baby? The book hint hints, what is he waiting for… hint hint “the baby” I only hated Edward more for not standing with his family to fight. Hubby is right he is a sissy. Also horny Bella is obnoxious… but overall the back stories, the fight, Bree... Thumbs up.

Breaking Dawn – Return of the X-men

Not many people had good things to say about this one. And indeed the first “Book” was appalling! Page after page of awkward love scenes, please excuse me while I puke! But again hint hint “the baby” and then POOF there the little “nudger” is. I liked Jake’s book but mostly just because I like Jake… just about when Quil is on the beach with Claire I though “Holy Pete she is going to have Jake imprint Bella and Ed’s baby” and what happens? It was a bit predictable! Unlike some others I was happy for him. I always hoped he could rd himself of his Bella love. Then Bella finally gets bit and all of the sudden it because an X-men comic! At first I was super ticked that she was sacrifices her characters for a happy ending but as soon as I started thinking of it as a X-men comic I started enjoying it much more! The last few chapters (though predictable, I mean we all knew Alice and Jasper wouldn’t really leave!) were great, though I did hope for a better fight! Kill that witch Jane COME ON! Lol overall Thumbs-up!

I read a review that that compared Stephenie Meyer to JK Rowling and I think that is ludicrous! That is like comparing Judy Blume to CS Lewis! JK Rowling is a great author while Mrs Meyer is a glorified Meg Cabot.

The Movies

Twlight-

Where the heck did they find Kristan Stewart and who told that poor girl she could act? Oh man her expression never changes! Plus mouth breathers should not be actresses; she always seems out of breath… maybe she has asthma? No good. In my head Bella is Christina Ricci or Alexis Bledel. Or really anyone who could act at all. I think she ruined the whole movie! Her terrible acting taints everyone elses! You can’t even tell if Robert can act because she kills him dead in his tracks! Plus it is sad to me that they had to add filler when making a movie of a 400 + page book.

New Moon

Taylor Lautner you steal the show! If not for you (and the Cullens minus Edward) this movie would also blow... (thank goodness you can act opposite a doorpost like Kristian) however I actually liked this book move after the movie, slightly.

So overall… Twilight I liked you. You have not come anywhere close to my favs but I like you. I would read you again, in fact I know that I will. I am also really looking forward to the new movie (my fav book after all) and very curious how that fourth movie will turn out!