Monday's Meals

I'm not sure if Lyndsie has posted a Monday's Meals yet today but I decided I'd go ahead and post mine! I made this meal last weekend for Ty and he loved it! He also loved dessert (which is huge for him because he is a health nut and rarely ever eats sweets!)

Original Ranch Cheeseburgers

Ingredients:
-1 package of Hidden Valley Original Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
-1 pound ground beef
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I only had mozzarella cheese so I used that and it tasted great!)
-4 hamburger buns lightly toasted (we skipped this because we love hamburger steak!)

Directions:
In large bowl, combine beef, seasoning mix, and cheese & mix well. Shape meat into 4 burgers and grill.

Peanut Butter-N-Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:
-4 cups instant oatmeal
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-3/4 cup melted butter
-1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Press into greased pan (i used glass). Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Cool slightly.

For the topping:
Melt 3/4 cup of peanut butter and drizzle over top of bars right when they are removed from the oven

We ate them warm and cool and they were delicious both ways! When you eat them warm, they will just fall apart in your hands! They were sooo yummy!

I didn't take a picture of them but here is one I found online:

these look slightly different because they have peanuts and other ingredients in them but you get the point right?! :)

Please share recipes with me!!!!! im always always looking for new recipes!!!

Happy Monday :)

sleepy...

This sums up how I've been feeling lately....

S.L.E.E.P.Y.

I can't seem to get a good sleep pattern right now. The past couple of weeks I have been dragging by 3:15 when school ends. The other night I crawled into my warm electric blanket/fuzzy blanket filled bed that I love so much at 8:45. Yes, 8:45. However, Ty had just worked out and was eating dinner and didn't call til 9:45 then we talked for awhile so didn't get to sleep til after 10:30. My problem is not getting into bed early, its actually falling asleep early. I'm addicted to watching TV before I go to bed which, yes, I KNOW, is bad for you but I can't help it. I long for a good Full House or Friends episode before I drift off to dream land. It calms my mind. This school year has been hard and when I lay down at night, my mind seems to be running 90 to nothing. I literally pray that God will help my mind stop running so I can go to sleep. I've also been napping some after school which also throws me off but I just can't even sit on the couch after school without falling asleep! And its going to get worse next week because I start tutoring after school 3 days a week until 4:45. More exhaustion! But I know I will like it and will like they extra $$ at the end of the month. :) Good news though, tomorrow is Friday which means I get to sleep in Saturday and Sunday before church! Oh how I live for those lazy weekends! Hopefully tomorrow I won't fall asleep at 7 like I did two Fridays ago. Slightly embarrassing. 

Hope everyone has a great Friday!!!!!!!! :)

Please pray for Ty's family. His grandmother passed away last Friday and the funeral was Monday. During the visitation before the funeral, his uncle had a heart attack and they had to call an ambulance and go to the ER. He is going to be fine but they had to reschedule the funeral for Tuesday. He is home now and should make a full recovery. Please pray for peace and comfort knowing his grandmother is in Heaven with God and her husband and is in no more pain, as well as a full recovery for his uncle!! Thank you!

My next 5k!

I have officially picked out my next race! I am doing another 5k again, simply because its freezing out and I cannot make myself run in this everyday to get ready for a 10k. I so enjoyed my last 5k, so I know I will enjoy this one as well. This one will be in downtown Birmingham and with alot more people than my last one. Should be quite different than my one in Trussville. I have gotten back into working out and am loving the way I feel everyday. I always go through slumps where I don't go work out or run and I had been in a slump since December. Now, if I could only get enough sleep at night, I'd be good to go! ha!

Back to my 5k....the registration fee supports colon cancer which is of course, great!

I am pretty excited about it, and anxious to see what my time will be. I ran my last one is 28:50 so we will see if I can beat it! :)

Running and Working out are total stress relievers for me. If you have stress in your life, take 30 minutes out of your day and go run/walk/workout. I promise you - you will feel so much better! I usually leave work with a headache and working out/running completely takes my headache away! Not to mention, it gets you in shape! :)

The only thing I really need to work on is eating healthier. Why is junk food so dang good? I mean honestly. However, I did make a great dinner and healthy dessert for Ty on Saturday night (I will post the recipes later).

Anyone have any healthy recipes I can try??

Show us your singles!!!

I am linking up with Kelly at Kelly's Korner for Show us your singles!!!! I am so excited!!

My single is my best friend from college who I also lived with for 4 years! We did not know each other going into living in our dorm and quickly became best friends and inseparable! Little did we know, 6 years later we'd still be living in the same town!!!

Lauren is about to turn 24 and lives in Northport, Alabama (near Tuscaloosa). She is originally from Huntsville, AL but stayed in Tuscaloosa after college when she got a teaching job in Tuscaloosa County. She is a 1st grade teacher and LOVES her job! She adores children and loves to see them learn new things! She is very outgoing and loves the Lord with all her heart. She enjoys traveling to new places, hanging out with her friends and family, cooking, and Alabama Football! (Roll Tide!) She is a joy to be around and is one of my very best friends!

Day 23 - favorite vacation

well i accidentally did day 21 twice - my last post was supposed to be day 22 (your favorite town) and i wrote day 21 again! oops. Anyways, now is day 23 - your favorite vacation

I don't really think I can pinpoint ONE vacation that is my favorite because every vacation is amazing right? :) When I think back to all the vacations I have been on in the past couple of years, a few stand out - my high school senior trip (a cruise with my 2 best friends), my Sophomore year of college spring break (daytona and disney world with 4 of my best friends), or the Daytona last year with Ty, his family, and my parents. Those were all amazing trips but I'm gonna have to go with Sophomore Year of College Spring Break!

We decided to go to Daytona because Panama City/Destin/Gulf Shores were all too cold in March! After deciding on Daytona and realizing it was only an hour or so away from Orlando, we decided to go to Disney World after our week at the beach! The week started with 5 best friends piling into 2 cars and making the 8-9 hour treck to Daytona. We stayed in a very nice hotel room right on the beach! We went to the beach everyday and relaxed. There is nothing quite like sitting on the beach with your girlfriends soaking up the sun. It was wonderful. We stayed in some nights, and ventured out some nights. The nights in were my favorite - talking about boys, friends, school, life, and our dreams. At the end of our week long stay, we ventured to Disney World and stayed in the Sports Resort Hotel inside Disney! We had such a blast - we only stayed at Magic Kingdom for one day but we stayed ALL day long! We had such a blast!! The next day we made the treck back home which was tiring - but it was so worth it! We shared so many fun moments on that trip that will stay with me forever! When I went back to Daytona last summer with Ty's family - all those memories from years before came back to me! Here are some of my favorite pictures from that trip:

watching the fireworks at Disney

Disney!!!!!

Daytona!

Did this again, 3 years later with Casey!

After Bubba Gumps!

Love them!

In the Hotel Room!

What is your favorite Vacation Spot?

Day 21 - Your Favorite City & Happy Birthday Luke!

So I am doing much better on my blog challenge - Even though it has taken me 3 months to finish a 30 day blog challenge! ha! Anyways, here is day 21

Your Favorite City:

I am going to be unconventional and do 2 - one city that I visit often that is part of my reality, and one city that I love to go on vacation to.

My first city is Cullman, AL - Where Ty's Lakehouse is!!! There is nothing better than waking up, walking out on the front porch and watching the calm morning lake water. It is so pretty. I love laying on the dock, doing absolutely nothing, listening to country music. I love taking sea-doo rides with Ty. I love wakeboarding and tubing. I love the sunsets that remind me of my Uncle Stu. I just love everything about the lake! There is no other place in the world that I love more than the lake! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the lake:

My other favorite city that I'm obsessed with but I know I will never live there is Boston! Boston reminds me of NYC but better. I loved NYC but there is a "homey" feel to Boston. I just love it! Mom and Dad took Ty and I for my graduation trip in 2009 which was the first time I went. We did ALL the touristy things and went to TWO Boston Red Sox Games along with a personal tour of the stadium with one of Ty's Dad's friends. We had such a blast!! Last summer, I went again - this time to visit my best friend, Molly, who moved up there last January. Molly and I always joked that we were going to move to Boston together. If Ty wasn't in my life, I would totally move there for a year or so, just to say I've lived the "city life". Its totally "me" - so fast paced! Anyways, back to my trip to see Molly - I was so excited to see "her" Boston. I wanted to see where she went to eat and where she walked around and where she lived. I was so excited to see Boston through her eyes. Boston is such a cool city. You can walk everywhere, there are cute little restaurants and shops everywhere and it is just a gorgeous city! Here are some of my favorite pictures from my 2 visits to Boston:

we got lucky - Boston was playing Texas the weekend we went  - so we go to see our college friend who is now a Texas Pitcher, Tommy!

absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!

love this picture!

On another note - Today is my nephew, Luke's 3rd birthday! I cannot believe he is 3 years old!!!!!! Happy Birthday Luke, Aunt Kafween loves you VERY much!!!! Thank you for coming into my life 3 years ago and showing me what being an aunt was all about!!! You will always be the one who made me an aunt for the first time and will always have a special place in my heart! 

one of my favorite pictures of us!! he was about a year and a half here! May 2009 after my college graduation!

At Aubrey's Birthday this past summer - He was 2 1/2

Day 21 plus a CANVAS SURPRISE!

Day 21 - A Picture of Yourself

Can it be of me and my honey? k, thanks!

right after i opened my earings he got me for Christmas!

SOOO - I have decided to make a blog specifically for my canvases!! That way if you would like to order one, you can just go to that blog and browse around instead of trying to find each post that they are in on this blog. I am very excited about the blog!! Give me a few days to get all the canvases posted but it is up an running at http://kathleenskanvases.blogspot.com/. Spread the word!!! I will be doing a giveaway soon for a free canvas so STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!

These are some of the recent canvases I have done:

Email me at kealfano@gmail.com to order!!! You can also add me on Facebook and look at my album full of all the ones I have done so far!



I will leave you with a big ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!! I know you all saw that beatdown we put on Michigan State today! WOW! Can't wait til the fall! :)