Dinner Is Served!

I’ve been channeling my inner Pioneer Woman and cooking a lot lately. And by a lot I mean two to three times a week. I’ve found some really easy recipes on Pinterest and other websites so I thought I’d share. I’m always looking for something easy.

Crock Pot White Chicken Chili:

1 1/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken
2 (15 ounce) cans navy beans
1 (15 ounce) can hominy or 1 (15 ounce) can white corn
1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope taco seasoning
1 (4 1/2 ounce) can of chopped green chilies
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream                                                                    4oz cream cheese
chopped green onion (optional)
monterey jack cheese (optional)

Directions:

Place chicken in crockpot – frozen is fine
Top with beans and corn.

In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chiles, condensed soup, and chicken broth. Pour over top of ingredients in the crock pot.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Before serving, stir gently to break up chicken, then stir in the sour cream and cream cheese (if you’re not a cream cheese fan you can leave this out – it’s still really good).

Serve topped with green onions and jack cheese, if desired.

Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken:

2 pounds chicken breast /enders – throw ‘em in frozen!                                                                                                 1 cup pineapple juice                                                                 1/2 cup packed brown sugar                                                  1/3 cup light soy sauce

Grease the bottom of your crock pot – I throw a couple chunks of butter in the bottom of mine – throw in your chicken. Mix the sauce up and poor on top. Cook on low 6-8 hrs or high 3-4 hrs and they should just fall apart.

I served this over brown rice and it was divine! Add a side of fried cabbage and it’s as if you slaved all day!

Fried Cabbage:

This recipe came from here.

2 tlbsp vegetable oil or olive oil
1 med. Onion, chopped course
1 stick of butter
1/2 LB raw bacon, chopped
1 head cabbage, med-lg, course chopped
Salt/Pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add onion & bacon. Cook until onion is tender & bacon starts browning & getting crisp. Add butter, cabbage and s/p. Stir to coat. Cover. Cook for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Cover. Check for tenderness of cabbage. Repeat until done and then remove from heat. Taste best warm!

This was amazing! Bert even ate some and he doesn’t eat cabbage. Please note I had to google how to chop cabbage because I’ve never cooked it before…

Cake Batter Rice Krispies:

3 Tbsp. butter                                                                                   1 (10 oz.) bag of mini-marshmallows                                      1/3 cup yellow cake mix (the dry cake mix, not prepared into a batter!)                                                                                  5 cups crispy rice cereal                                                                 1 (1.75 oz.) container of sprinkles

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat and add marshmallows. Stir until they begin to melt, adding in (dry) cake mix one spoonful at a time so its combined. Stir in cereal so it is completely coated with marshmallow mixture. Sprinkle in half of the sprinkles and mix. Press into a baking dish (any size will do) and top with remaining sprinkles. Let sit for about 30 minutes before cutting.

You’ll never eat regular rice krispie treats again!

Happy cooking! Feel free to leave me any fabulous recipes you love!

Blog Sale

I feel like a baby clothes hoarder, so I figured now would be a good time to get rid of some of Turner Mc’s clothes.

I will number each item and list the price and condition of each item. Shipping will be $2 for the 1st item & $1 for each additional item.

If you’d like to purchase anything e-mail me at:

brittanydenton@gmail.com

I will send an invoice through PayPal and will ship within 2 days of payment.

1 – Royal Child Smocked Dress 12m -  good condition $10

2 – Mud Pie Chickst Longall  18-24M - worn twice – $13

3 – Crab Romper 12M good condition – $10 SOLD

4 – Mud Pie Circus Dress 12-18M – never worn – $15 SOLD

5 – Ralph Lauren dress w/bloomers 6M never worn – $12

6 – Mud Pie Shirt and ruffle capris 12-18M – good condition – $12

7 – Old Navy Dress w/Bloomers 6-12M good condition – $8

8 – Old Navy Overall Dress w/Bloomers 6-12M excellent condition – $10

9 – Ralph Lauren Dress w/Bloomers 9M excellent condition – $12

10 – Gap Romper 12-18M good condition – $8

11 – White Sun San sandals Toddler size 5 – good condition – $12 SOLD

12- Lime Green Sun San Sandals Toddler Size 5 – EUC – $15 SOLD

13 – White Sun San Sandals Toddler Size 3 – good condition – $10 SOLD

14 – Crocs Mary Janes Toddler 5 – good condition – $8 SOLD

15 – Crocs Mary Janes Toddler 5 – great condition – $8

16 – Joe Boxer Swimsuit 12M – EUC – $5

19 – Circo Swimsuit 12M – EUC – $6 SOLD

20 – Fish Swimsuit 12M – good condition – $5

21 – Boutique Swimsuit 12M – EUC – $10 SOLD

If you have any questions please email me! Thanks for stopping by!!

Turner Mc’s Birth Story Flashback!

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I gave birth to my little princess! In honor of her big day, I decided to repost her birth story so I can remember how the day went down, and all you fabulous people can reminisce with me!

Part 1:

Thursday March 10, 2011:

This is my last pregnant picture. 39 weeks and 5 days!

Let me start by saying I had an amazing birth experience with very few complications. Being induced worked amazingly well for us but that’s not always the case. We were beyond blessed to have such an awesome experience with everything going better than planned – for the most part.

I woke up Thursday morning around 3:30. I couldn’t sleep. This is the day I will finally meet my baby! The day I will no longer be pregnant – thank God! We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 and there was so much I felt I needed to do. I showered and dried my hair and put on makeup – a luxury of being induced! I had plenty of time to make myself feel pretty. (I wish you could see me now! I do good to bathe every day!) We got everything ready, got the car packed and in true Denton fashion we pulled out of the driveway at 6:30. Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be our birth story if we weren’t late.

Berty made it to the hospital in record time and we were checked in and ready to go by 6:45. Once in the room I got to pee in a cup because when you’re pregnant people are obsessed with your pee. You can’t go anywhere without giving someone a specimen! The cups at the hospital are larger than the shot glasses you pee in at the doc so I’m pretty sure I didn’t pee on myself. The nurse started my iv – which hurt like hell, strapped on the fetal and contraction monitors, and we waited for the doc to come break my water.

Dr. Smith came in at 7:30 to break my water and get the party started! I was 3cm at this point. Now, it took 40 forevers for him to break my water. Apparently I had a “tough” bag. This part wasn’t that bad just a lot of pressure and lots of things shoved all up in my business. The instrument used to break your water is a standard crochet hook – seriously. It took about 5 minutes for my bag to finally break and once it did the doc left and homegirl’s heart rate dropped from the 130’s to the 70’s and then – nothing. While JP and my nurse made nurse faces at each other and tried to pretend like everything was hunky dory, I freaked. They finally located her heart rate and I had to lay super still to make sure she was going to be okay.

Moving on from the dramatics….

This is after he broke my water and right when the Pitocin was started – obviously before the contractions became intense.

Last photo as a family of 2 – minus the fur children of course!

The early morning was pretty uneventful. Contractions started getting stronger soon after the Pitocin was started but they really weren’t that bad – at first. I knew I wanted an epidural and because I was 3cm when I got there, they told me I could have my epidural as soon as I wanted it. I was a little scared sh*tless of the epidural so I wanted to hold off as long as I could.

The doc came in and checked me again around 11 and I was 4 cm. They offered my some iv pain meds and I was afraid it would effect the baby so I declined – until I had an awesome contraction and I decided that TM probably wouldn’t mind being doped up to help her momma out!

Before Stadol:

After Stadol:

The pain meds took the edge off and I enjoyed socializing with all my visitors and trying to rest for the last time – ever. No really.

Aunt Courter, my mom, and Aunt Nini – my SIL

We had lots of friends and family come by throughout the day and I felt pretty good for the hour or so following the pain meds! I could feel the contractions getting stronger and I grew some balls finally asked for my epidural. The last 2 contractions that I felt were ridiculous. The worst pain I have ever felt. We need to take a moment to recognize those who labor without any meds, like none. You rock! There’s no way in hell I would have survived. I was in tears by the time the doc came in with the goods!

I was at 5cm when I got my epidural at around 1. Half-way there! And the epidural was not bad at all. The shot you get before they put the epidural in is really not that bad. The worst part is trying to be still through the contractions. It took maybe 5 minutes total for him to put it in. 15 minutes later I was feeling nothing and it was amazing!

This amazing feeling lasted about an hour and we partied it up in our room with lots of our favorite peeps!

Me and my daddy!

Check back for part 2 of the story – I need to try and sleep while TM is actually sleeping!

Part 2:

It is super important to mention that I got a spray tan the day before I gave birth. I cannot believe I forgot to share this info with y’all! Feel free to make fun but I was in desperate need of a tan and I didn’t want to scare TM with my pasty-ness.

Moving along….I got the epidural and all was unicorns and rainbows blah blah blah.

We need to revisit contractions. I had people tell me that contractions feel like period cramps. Ummm not sure what kind of hellacious period you have but my period cramps usually don’t feel like death. Get an epidural people. It will change your life!

So after the epi all my lovely friends and fam rejoined us. There were at least 79 people in the room and I felt great for a little while. All of a sudden I felt the worst pressure you can imagine. Shall we have graphic detail? Yes?! Of course. I felt like my butt was going to explode. Surely this is not normal…..I tried whispering to my nurse to let her know I needed to push or my butt was exploding. Since this was my first rodeo I wasn’t really sure which was correct.

She went in search of the doc while everyone socialized around me and I died a slow and painful death of anal pressure. A little before 2 the doc came in and checked me and it was go time! 10cm. Woo Hoo!!! (He then oh so conveniently left and I had to rely on my husband to keep me alive! – okay there was a nurse there too – and my mommas!)

I started pushing right around 2. Dude pushing out a kid is hard! Extremely hard. And you have to hold your breath and push for 30 seconds and it seems like 30 hours. Seriously. Apparently TM wasn’t in a hurry to make her appearance because it took 40 forevers or a little over an hour for her head to “crown.” Y’all it felt like I pushed for days before they could see her head. And I know this will be hard to believe but I didn’t say not ONE ugly word while I was pushing! Yay me!!!

The doc came down around 3 because they thought I was oh so close to delivering. Sike! I could not get homegirl’s head out. It was horrible. I think they told me “ONE MORE PUSH” at least 37 times. I thought I was going to die. For real. Finally at 3:38 Turner McCartney arrived! With the cord around her neck, and a knot in her cord. WTH? I couldn’t see what they saw so I was freaking when I heard the nurse say she has a knot. The doc suctioned her and she started screaming! Apparently the knot had just happened that morning and didn’t cause any problems.

I LOVE this picture!!!

Now once TM was out I felt great. Until I realized I had experienced complete vag destruction – three cuts with the kitchen scissors - and I had to be sewn up. And for some crazy reason I started to feel the doc stitching me up. It was horrible! And the needle was, I swear, a fish hook. No lie. Looked just like one. I survived having my taint sewn back together and I got to finally hold my beautiful baby girl! Best moment ever!

I need to give props to LG who had to push out a nearly 10 lb baby Fenn! I cannot imagine!

Our first family photo!

So that concludes the birth story. I’m finally feeling like I can function normally again and I will try to blog more often! I would love to answer any questions or humor you in any way so please feel free to ask me anything you want to know!

Thanks for hanging in there with us! I can’t believe we survived!

What CRNA school has taught me…

There’s been a lot of learnin’ going on at the Denton household these past few months. While Bert’s been learning nerdy smarty-pants stuff, I’ve been learning hardcore life lessons. And let me tell y’all, it’s been rough. 

Let’s start with a cute little stereotype. Nerdy CRNA schools girls. While I see my husband approximately 10-12 hours a week, he spends a good 40 with his fellow classmates. Some of these classmates happen to be girls. This is what I expected the girls to look like…

And unfortunately for me, this is what they actually look like…

 

So yeah. There’s that.

Then there’s the unfortunate case of the poors. Since Berty spends all his time with hot nerdy girls there’s barely any time for him to work. That just leaves me, and, well we all know how that goes. I’m probably the least motivated gal around so we’re stuck being poor. Yay for making sacrifices for the fam! And just FYI, it’s hard to be poor and live on a budget when you’re always hungry and you love to eat out hate to cook.

All this studying the hubs is doing gives me a lot of alone time with TM. And in case you were wondering, I’d never survive as a single mom. I’m way too dramatic! I have a pity party at least 4 times a week. I just can’t deal with the overly dramatic, unable to obey, toddler stage. It’s going to put me in an early grave.

This is what I have to deal with folks…

And this is what we like to call hardcore discipline. Feel free to contact me for all you’re parenting advice. I’m what you would call a “pro.”

In other news, I’m having my tubes tied this week. Okay, not really but let’s face the facts – I’ve considered it.

So grad school is really testing my marriage. And my patience. And my nerves. And we have 21 months left. Will we survive? Or more selfishly – will I survive?! I’m sure I will. I just need to put my big girl panties on and head to the kitchen. And drag my toddler, kicking and screaming, with me.

That One Time…

…my hubs and his BFF cut down a tree. In my front yard. In a neighborhood. In the city. Not out in the country, away from civilization and neighbors.

It took 6 hours. It was a small cedar tree. I had to postpone my date with MK to Sam’s and we missed out on all the free food vendors so I actually had to cook dinner. I was pissed.

I should have known it was going to be rough when they had to leave to go find a bigger chainsaw. Here’s the crew.

My hubs on the left. MK’s hubs on the right. With the chainsaw. Please take note of the “rope” they tied to the tree to keep control once it was cut down. As one facebooker commented, “It’s okay. That kite string should be able to control that tree.”

Y’all this was probably the most stressful thing I’ve dealt with since pushing a baby out of my hoo-hah. True story. By the time they had the right chainsaw it was dark and raining. I tried to video but unfortunately you can’t see anything. You can only hear my ridiculously southern voice pleading for them not to destroy the neighbors house.

Clay cut the tree and John Paul was the official tree puller downer. Yeah so you can imagine how that went down. Not at all actually. The tree slid right off the trunk and stood straight up in the driveway. Beats all I’ve ever seen. My concern was no longer destroying the neighbors house but our tree crashing through the power lines and knocking out the power of the entire street. I mean we’re already pushing it with our neighbors. How would I explain this one??

Never fear! The guys came up with a brilliant plan. As I stand at the door trying to explain to MK, over the phone, the exact happenings, I see our lovely spouses getting in their respective vehicles and driving off. Where are they going??! Wait! They’re back. What’s going on now you ask? Oh they’re just tying the rope (that’s attached to the tree) to the trailer hitch on Clay’s truck. Yes, that’s right. They’ll just pull the tree down with a vehicle. This seems like a fabulous idea.

I’m happy to say that the tree fell over in the driveway, clear of all houses and power lines. Clay’s truck survived and so did my marriage.

Do not try this at home. Trust me! Next time I need a tree cut down I’ll consult the yellow pages.

Alabama Snow

Y’all it snowed in Tuscaloosa! Like legit snow. Not just flurries! It was amazeballs!

It never snows here so when it happens the whole town shuts down. Thanks to this beautiful snow I got to leave work early and go home and play, and hubs got to head home in the blizzard!

TM loved the snow! Her primary focus was eating as much as she could. She has this slight addiction to eating ice and I think she thought this was just one big ice maker.

We thoroughly enjoyed playing in the snow for the hour that it lasted. I haven’t seen this much snow in years and Turner Mc was super sad when it all melted.

I’m glad we got to see snow and now I’m over winter. I’m ready for beach trips and fun in the ridiculously hot, humid sun! Bring it on!

What’s been going down

So what’s been going on with the Denton’s during my ridiculously long blog hiatus? Let’s see if I can remember everything that’s gone down…

• 1st and foremost, my Baby Daddy finished his 1st semester of CRNA school (with a 4.0!) and is currently rocking out his 2nd semester. – I really wish I had a first day of school picture to insert here. How awesome would that be??

 

• Turner Mc started gymnastics and it’s absolutely the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!

• I’ve come to greatly respect single moms because seriously, TM pushes me to my limits daily and some nights I’m afraid I won’t survive.

 

• I convinced John Paul to let me foster 2 puppies.

• I’m still working 4 days a week and hanging out with TM on Wednesdays.  All day.

• I dyed my hair black. Because I was bored.

• I mailed out my Christmas cards before Christmas!

Ornaments Of Joy Christmas Card

Customize your Christmas cards this year at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

• It snowed in Alabama. Like legit for real make a snowman kind of snow.

That’s all I can remember for now. We’re a pretty boring family. I’m working on reading blogs and getting caught up on y’alls lives!

Blog Withdrawals

I miss this! I totally miss blogging and all my bloggy friends. It’s time to seriously get back into it! Also, I really can’t keep up with what’s going on with everyone and honestly, without blogging I really can’t remember all the genius things Turner Mc has been doing.

I think it’s time for a blog makeover. I need a new title and let’s face it, some updated pictures. While I would love to pretend that I look just as fabulous today (and everyday for that matter) as I did on my wedding day, I just don’t. In fact that looks nothing like me. John Paul has lost about 20 pounds and I’ve lost all my boobs. So updated less attractive pictures are coming your way! Get excited! Oh! And considering my child is quickly approaching her 2nd birthday, I think it’s time to include some pics of her on the ole blog header, you know since I’m such a fabulous mom! So hang in there with me while I figure out what kind of makeover I’m going to do, and while I decide on a new name for this here blog. I’m thinking I’m no longer a newlywed. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

In case you’ve forgotten what we look like, here’s the Denton fam in all our fabulousness! fine! We’re a hot mess.

I miss y’all and I need blogging in my life! Hold me accountable and let’s make this happen! Love!