Busy, Busy, Busy......

WHEW! Is all we can say right now. It seems like we are going and going. Wait, we are! We've had two baby showers we hosted back to back and a wedding shower we are hosting this Saturday. After this one it is our last for now. Until, someone else we love has something going on I am sure! So far they have all been very successful! Great turn outs and a great time with friends. We have not had many weddings yet but no worries that will all really start May 1st. Our good friends Brad and Mary are getting hitched that day, so we are looking forward to celebrating that special time with them. So between babies and weddings that is all we have been up to this month.

Our new house update is they FINALLY poured the foundation. WHOO HOO!! That was very exciting. They are "supposed" to start framing this week. I went by yesterday and they had the wood out there so I hope they make some progress this week on it. We have had a little excitement finally with our current home. Two different couples came by between Sunday and Tuesday to look. The first couple had just started looking but loved our home but they were still looking at some others as well. The second couple loved our home but wanted a garage and so they made an offer on the town home across the street! Real bummer! But Jennifer, our realtor really thinks things will pick up since it is crunch time with the tax credit. We will see....

I do not know if anyone checked out any of my recipes I posted on the last post or not but I am going to start posting more recipes we have tried out. We are really enjoying all of them and the GREAT factor is they are all under 500 calories. I will be posting some cooking healthier tips and what not's. I am also going to try to start really getting into the coupon clipping world so I will be posting some good links to good deals as well. This week will be the first week I am looking for some deals so I will report back on how that went.

As some of you know I love the planet and love Earth Day! It is coming up so you should really check out things in your neighborhood that might be going on for Earth Day. Also, you could always plant a tree in your yard or something like that. I have not made our plans yet but I will let you know what we do. It is April 22nd this year so do not forget. Here are some things going on here in Birmingham for us B'ham people to check out! Oh and one thing I know Justin and me are doing is going to see the movie "Ocean's" by Disney. It is going to be really cool and a portion of your ticket will be donated to Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, Disneynature and The Nature Conservancy who are helping establish new marine protected areas in the Bahamas. So you can see a movie and be helping out! For more information here is the website, Disney movie Oceans

Earth Day at the Gardens
Earth Day Parade and Celebration
Earth Day at the Botanical Gardens


Here is a really good recipe I made last weekend. Friday night we cooked out at Amy and Scooter's and I made a Bacon Cheese Dip for an appetizer and it was YUMMY!

Bacon Cheese Dip

Prep Time: 15 min. Cook time: 10 min. Ready In: 25 min.

Yields 16 servings

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon

1 (8 oz.) package, low-fat cream cheese, softened

1 cup light mayo

8 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded

2 green onions, finely chopped

4 ritz crackers, crushed

Directions:

1. Place bacon in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese with mayo until smooth. Stir in Swiss cheese, onions, and bacon. Place bowl in microwave, and cook 2 minutes. Remove, and stir well. Return to microwave, and cook 2 to 4 minutes more. Sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Serve warm with crackers.

**Ritz crackers were very good with this dip. Also pita chips could be a very good with this as well.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving Calories:239 Total Fat: 23.1 g Cholesteral: 38mg

-Compliments of allrecipes.com