Vacation.

The Schires' Five blog is going on a two week vacation. It's needed. It's well earned. It's needed. Oh, did I already mention that? Hopefully I will return in a couple weeks feeling rested, inspired and ready for blogging but in the meantime life is calling me and I really feel the need to respond to it.

Joy In January.

I'm on a mission. Yep, I am on a personal mission is to find as much Joy in January as I can. Since January is usually such a bleak month I thought this would be a great way to try to perk the month up, make the winter go by a little faster (maybe?) and kick off my word of the year challenge all at the same time.

It's pretty obvious that my main purpose in this Joy in January challenge is to be able to look back a few months from now and say that January was an enjoyable month. However, (and more importantly) I am hoping to finish this challenge with a renewed attitude of gratitude. While I'm generally pretty grateful for everything in my life, I think there's always room for improvement. Now, while it would really easy to find joy by treating myself to oodles of shopping, in turn making it super easy to look back and say "now that was a fun month" that's not what this mission is about. Like I said, this mission is more about kicking off my word of the year challenge and a recharged attitude. So with those thoughts in mind, I have set out to make January and joyous month. (I'm getting old~ I'm using the word joyous.)

I must say, I'm thinking so far so good. I have made sure to schedule something fun/enjoyable each day this month. I have made sure I'm slowing down enough to fully appreciate my life, my family, and my friends. I have been trying to focus on new things; new ways of doing things, new things to try (like recipes and different classes at the Y), and I have even started stepping out of my comfort zone in other areas. Like errands. I've been doing a lot of my errands by myself. At night. I know, I know it's crazy isn't it?! Ah, but I must be doing something right because I haven't enjoyed things in life quite like this in a long long time!

Sound Good?

FRENCH DIP SANDWICHES
4lb roast
½ c. soy sauce
1 c. water w/ beef bullion cube dissolved
1 t. rosemary
1 t. thyme
1 t. garlic powder
pepper to taste
hoagie or hard rolls

Brown roast in 2 T of olive oil after removing any visible fat. Pepper the meat and place in crock pot. Combine soy sauce, beef bullion water and all spices and pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until meat is tender. Shred meat and serve on rolls. Ladle broth into small bowls for dipping.

Doesn't this sound good? Looks easy, too. Love that!

Random Ramblings.

Addie and I are signed up for a Mom and Me Crafts class at the Y right now. Today was the first day. Below is a picture of Addison's masterpiece. While I am typically not a "mom and me class" kinda mom, I have to say I LOVED this class! It was free, it was only 30 minutes long, there's no mom discussion time (whew!), and the girl teaching it is awesome! I'm already looking forward to going next week! Addie had fun, too. She thought it was great climbing on top of the table and smearing tempra paint everywhere as the teacher and I were busy trying to clean her mess up. Hmm, maybe I better not get too excited about going back.....we may very well be asked to NOT come back!

My little guy lost his first tooth over the weekend. He and his buddy Ashton were playing Wii when all of a sudden we hear a "MY TOOTH FELL OUT!". Tells ya how loose it was, huh?! What's funny is it was so loose it didn't even bleed! But Noah cried anyway. He stood there holding his tooth in his hand just sobbing. Addie saw the tooth and panicked. She started crying too and kept yelling "oh oh" and "Yiyah" (aka Noah. don't even ask, because we don't know) Anyway, one tooth and two crying kids and one buddy saying "I told you it would fall out!" If all that wasn't enough after the tooth fairy came Noah said during breakfast that he'd wished he had bigger teeth. When I asked him why he said because the tooth fairy pays you more if you have bigger teeth and all I got was $1.50. I told him the tooth fairy was probably facing a recession just like the rest of us.

I am finally getting the hang of this whole couponing thing at Walgreens. On my last trip my total before coupons was $44.48. After coupons? $3.09. Pretty sweet, huh?! Guess it just takes some practice to get the hang of it all. I'm glad I stuck with it!

We rejoined the Y over Christmas break. What made us rejoin? Well besides the obvious fact that it gives me two free hours of child care for Addie every day so I can get a break, was the harsh realization that I only weigh 5 pounds less than I did when I delivered Adds. Scary, huh? But get this~ we rejoined the Y with the hopes of losing weight, but darn it all if my work out clothes don't fit because I've gained so much weight! How's that for irony?!

The kids went back to school this week. I'm slowly adjusting to getting up at 6:00am again. Meghan starts volunteering at church this weekend in the Kindergarten class. Noah starts basketball at the Y tonight. And I'm hoping to get a good workout in while he's there. Wish me luck! And now I must sign off as Addie just locked herself in the bathroom.......

Oh! And I have given up pop and cut back on coffee.......Lord help us all! Although given that last statement, maybe I need to rethink that decision?!

Homemade Garlic Bread.

Want the most fantastic homemade Garlic Bread recipe? Then keep reading! I discovered this recipe from watching this show online and from there found them on this website. I thought it sounded super easy, super economical and really good, so we tried it one night when we were wanting garlic bread. We now think it's hands down the best homemade garlic bread we've ever had!

Garlic Bread Seasoning
1/2 c. powdered Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. basil
2 tsp. marjoram
2 tsp. parsley

Combine ingredients in a jar. (I used an old spice jar). Viola! That's it!

When you're ready to use: Sprinkle on top of breadsticks or combine 1 1/2 Tbsp. of seasoning with 1/2 c. of softened butter. Spread on a loaf of French bread cut in 1/2 lengthwise. Wrap in foil and bake at 375 until butter's melted. For crispier bread pop it open-faced under the broiler for a few minutes.

If you nose around on their website a bit (or watch the show segment online), you'll see they had suggestions for how to give this as an inexpensive Christmas gift. Personally I don't know that I would give it as a Christmas gift, but I'd certainly borrow their idea as a hostess gift! Or as a companion dish if you were bringing someone in need, a meal. But maybe that's just me? Well regardless of what you do with it, it's yummy seasoning!!!

Oh The Memories!