Botox or Bangs?

I really hate my forehead wrinkles and Tony is tired of hearing about them. I was watching The Lost Valentine last night on CBS. Good movie for those of you that did not see it. I love Jennifer Love Hewitt's hair. She can pull of bangs but am worried I will not be able to. Botox is out of the question for me because it is just way too expensive to keep up. I know my wrinkles are not that bad right now to give myself bangs. It is funny when I called my mom a few weeks back and asked how old she was when she started getting forehead wrinkles. Her response was: "why do you think I have bangs?"

I'm Shrinking

I was so skeptical of the new weight watcher plan. I about passed out when I got on the scale Sunday morning. I weighed in at 135.8. Down 4.4 since starting the plan almost two weeks ago. I love that I get to eat all the fruit I want for no points. Tuesday is my weekly weigh in and that is the one that counts. Hopefully I am still around 136. I can already tell my jeans are fitting much better. Back to where I was before my surgery.

I started going to karate again two weeks ago. So far it has been going well. I cannot spar or do line drill for probably another month. I need to take it slow getting back into things. I can fell my other knee is having issues. They are not as bad as my knee I had surgery on but with six months of over compensating for the bad knee the other one's issues came out. Both my knees were damaged in the car accident I was in back in 1998.

Beautiful Sunday!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. We hit nearly 70 degrees today. Tony and I rode on the Harley for a while, did some yard work, even had lunch on our patio! The dogs loved it today. They spent most of the time outside. My peach tree is already budding. I am really looking forward to spring which for us is right around the corner.

For dinner I made Turkey Breast Stuffed Spinach-Feta, wild rice stuffing, rice, and broccoli. This meal was so filling. I found the Turkey Breast recipe in my Cooking Light magazine. I am so glad they had this recipe online because I really did not want to type the entire thing. I did not have one full turkey breast like it calls for but did have a 4 back of smaller breasts from Shady Brook Farms. I made four smaller turkeys rather than one larger one. I think it was nicer than having a large breast because it came out into perfect portions.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000780380

The stuffing is the Tastefully Simple Recipe I made for Christmas Eve. Recipe found here:
http://tattooedmodernwife.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-eve-dinner.html

Turkey - 4 points

Stuffing - 5 points

Rice - 6 points (bird's eye steamer)

Broccoli - 0 points

Weight Watchers Baked Ziti

I made Tony and me baked ziti for dinner Saturday night. The recipe is for a full lasagna pan so I cut the recipe in half. It went from 12 servings to 6. Since I made it in a 9x9 pan I just made it 4 servings. Points value went from 7 to 11 for a larger serving. Now I do have to say for as long as I count weight watcher points I will not make this meal again. It was not satisfying at all even with the larger serving size. It was good but just not filling. I can have a nice plate of angel hair pasta for 6 points and be satisfied.

Baked Ziti

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value: 7
Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 40 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Here’s a tasty, healthy version of the Italian classic. For more robust flavor, add crushed fennel seeds. For a meaty version, add lean ground beef to the sauce.*

Ingredients

3 spray(s) cooking spray
1 pound(s) uncooked pasta, rigatoni or penne
3/4 pound(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1/4 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
4 cup(s) marinara sauce, store-bought, divided**
1/2 pound(s) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheeses
1/4 cup(s) basil, cut into ribbons, for garnish***

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat bottom and sides of a lasagna pan with cooking spray.

Cook pasta according to package directions; rinse with cool water and drain.

While pasta is cooking, in a medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, red pepper flakes, 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and 1/3 cup marinara sauce.

To assemble ziti, spoon 1/2 cup sauce on bottom of prepared pan; top with half of pasta in an even layer. Evenly spread pasta with ricotta mixture; cover with half of remaining sauce. Top with remaining pasta and spoon remaining sauce over top; sprinkle with mozzarella and remaining tablespoon Parmesan. Bake until cheese melts and is browned, about 20 to 30 minutes. Allow ziti to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Notes
*Could affect PointsPlus value.

**If you don’t have a store-bought sauce on hand, you can use fire-roasted diced tomatoes instead (could affect PointsPlus value).

*** To watch a video of this technique, click here.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

I pulled this recipe from All You Magazine. My picture does not do it justice. The magazine picture looks better but mine is not as thick since I went with lower fat ingredients. Really tastes much better than it looks.

Things I changed up in this recipe were to make it lower in fat and more convenient. I used a 12 oz can of chicken instead of cutting one up. I used fat free cream cheese and 2% Mexican cheese. A can of chopped tomatoes instead of a fresh tomato. The tortilla was a low carb tortilla. I took it down to 7 weight watcher points under the points plus program. This serves 4 people and they are pretty large servings.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp. taco seasoning
1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 ½ cup salsa
2 oz cream cheese
1 – 15 oz can of black bean
1 tomato chopped
2 – 6inch whole-wheat tortillas
½ cup shredded Mexican cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Warm large nonstick skillet over medium heat; mist with cooking spray. Add chicken and taco seasoning. Cook stirring for 2 minutes.

2. Add bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes; stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in salsa and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

4. Add cream cheese. Cook, stirring constantly until melted and blended; about 2 minutes.

5. Stir in beans and tomatoes.

6. Spoon 1/3 of mixture into an 8 inch square baking dish. Cover with 1 tortilla, then spoon in ½ of remaining chicken mixture and ½ of cheese. Top with remaining tortilla and chicken mixture.

7. Cover and bake until heated through, about 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered until cheese is melted. About five minutes longer.

Per Serving: 377 cal. 12g fat. 77mg Chol. 11g fiber. 34g Protein. 34g Carbs. 1364mg Sod.

I'm So Tired!

This past week I've been so exhausted. I fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed which is not normal for me and am pretty sleepy through out the day. Really puts a damper on the love life. I think I figured out why I am so tired. This new Weight Watchers diet. As I posted before they are focusing on lowering the carb intake. I live off of carbs. They provide your body energy to get through the day. I am having a horrible time adjusting to not eating the amount I used to. I hope this changes soon.

Tattoos

Well since I changed the URL on my blog to tattooed modern wife you all probably want to see my tattoos.


The first one I got on my 18th birthday. It is hard to see in the pictures but these are all I have for good photos. It is the head of a panther and one of its claws. The panther is holding a rose in its mouth. My mom's not so favorite part - the panther looks like it is ripping out of my skin. Claw marks and all. The panther to me symbolizes mystery, beauty, and strength. When I get my black belt this year I get to pick out an animal to embroider on my belt. I am going to pick the panther.








The second tattoo I got in December of 2009. I designed the tattoo and had an amazing tattoo artist add to it. The snake on the stake is from the paramedic symbol. The wings represent an angel flying to heaven. The tattoo is in memory of my brother Bill.

I would like to do something to symbolize the my marriage but have not decided on anything yet. I am sure many people out there would say don't do it because of how many marriages end in divorce. I do not see divorce as an option in my marriage. If you contently have one foot out the door with that type of thinking aren't you doomed for divorce? It has not always been this way for me. After 10 years you do go through ups and downs but Tony and I are in a wonderful place now and have been for a couple of years. We got married so young and really did a lot of growning together through the years. What we have today really is forever.

Movie Week

This past week Tony and I saw four movies. A lot for us in one week. We watched Case 39, Law Abiding Citizen, Food Inc., and The Other Guys.

Case 39 is with Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper. Renee plays a social worker that is trying to help a troubled child. The first 30 minutes of this movie were really good and then it turned into absolute shit. The child is all the sudden a demon and all this weird crap starts happening. Completely lost interest in it and the end was way too predictable. Don't waste your time renting this.

Law Abiding Citizen with Jamie Fox and Gerard Butler was OK. It was suspenseful and provided some intense moments. Good watch if nothing else is on.

Food Inc. is a documentary about the food industry and where our meat comes from. Tony’s cousin recommended the movie to us. She now only eats fish. I still am going to eat meat after watching the movie but am definitely going to switch to natural and organic meat. The chicken I buy is already natural with no steroids and antibiotics. I am definitely switching to free range beef with no added steroids or antibiotics. Tony and I do not eat a lot of beef so the extra cost in our budget will not be major. We do like Hormel pork loins and those do not come without additives. Something we are going to have to look at changing once we finish off what is in the freezer. It was very disturbing to see the lives of the chickens, cows, and pigs before they are slaughtered. Even if they are part of our food chain no animal should live like that under those conditions. Rent it if you want to see what I am talking about.

We watched The Other Guys last night and it stars Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell. Tony and I both really like these actors but the two of them together created a stupid movie. Still had funny parts but stupid. If you like these actors you will still laugh and enjoy the movie. If you do not like them don't waste your time.

My Fat Ass....Is Getting Smaller

Week one is over with on the new Weight Watcher plan and I am down to 137.8 so I lost 2.4 pounds in the first week. The plan is working but I wonder how long until I reach a plateau. I am glad I am just about to my happy weight which is 135-136. However, since Tony and I will be in Aruba in August I want to have a smoking body for the beach. I am targeting 125; the lowest I ever targeted in my weight loss. I do not think I've weighed that since about 2005. In 2007 when I was on Weight Watchers I got down to 128 but that only lasted about two weeks. I was 131 in Curacao and would be satisfied with that weight again in Aruba. At that weight I still have nice curves but am a bit worried any less and I may start looking like a boy...minus the implants.

Arizona Pictures

Tony's cousin Nichol, Katherine's boyfriend, Katherine, and Tony



Our friends we met in Curacao - Lisa and Ross



Foutain in Old Scottsdale



Of course Tony had to stop at the local Harley Davidson

Judging by that smile our stop to HD made his day

Oogy - Book Review

I finished the book Oogy last week. It is a book about a pit bull that was found when police invaded a fighting operation. He was only a few months old when they found him and half of his face was torn off. The little boy survived and was adopted by a wonderful family. It really is a heartwarming book about his survival and the amazing love and compassion one family gave him. Yes, he only has one year in the picture. :(

GREAT NEWS!!!

I interviewed with a bank last Wednesday and I was just offered the job! It is not much more money than what I make right now but it is a stable company with wonderful retirement benefits and yearly bonuses that can be up to 9% of my salary. More vacation too. I am not looking forward to the drive downtown and I have to work later hours but at least I am not losing my skills and moving into a company where I can grow. I am going to be working in a skyscraper downtown on the 14th floor. Once my notice is put in at work I am going to unlock my blog and change the URL address. Look for a new link soon.

Trip to Arizona and My Fat Ass

Tony and I were on vacation in Arizona Thursday through Monday. We were visiting his cousin Nichol and Katharine. We had such a great time with them. It really makes me wish we lived near them. We were even able to meet up with some friends we met in Curacao. The weather was amazing. It was in the 70’s most of the time we were there. I am not sure if I could live in a place that is so brown. There is very little grass. They even paint the buildings brown! That place is dying for some color. I only took a few photos. There really was nothing pretty to take a picture of. I will get them posted soon.

I dyed my hair before we went on vacation. Just some low lights. The gray is gone. Tony could not even tell I colored my hair but I did tell the stylist I did not want it to look like I dye my hair. He did buy me a new Michael Kors purse that I just love.

After we returned home from our vacation I was dreading getting on the scale. We ate so much food. My weight spiked to 140.2. I nearly put on all the weight I lost last year. Gained 5 pounds in the last month alone which is the most I ever gained in one month. I signed back up for weight watchers yesterday. This will be my first time on their new points systems. So far….I f*ck*ng hate it. They basically went from a low fat low cal diet to low carb. I hate low carb diets. Just about everything that was my go to food before is out of my points range. Right now it is just before lunch and I have been starving for an hour. I am doing the online program for three months. Since they revamped the points system I had to buy all new books and a calculator. Have I mentioned this diet blows?

Enough Gray Already!

This past year I’ve been having a fight with a few white hairs that showed up. I pull them out and move on with my day. Last week I pulled out a few and then this morning I found more. I finally realized this is more than the two stubborn hairs that would come through. If I keep pulling them out I am going to give myself a bald spot. I can tell they are white hair versus a different shade of blonde because they have a slight curl to them and are coarse compared to my other hair. Maybe the reason I notice them this young compared to other people is because I never dye my hair. Well that is all about to change. When I get back from Arizona I am going to find a stylist. For me this will be very hard to do. I am not one that likes spending money on being pampered and yes I consider a haircut being pampered. Tony cuts my hair. I love how my hair gets different highlights from the sun in the summer. I am going to have to say good bye to those days.

I found a picture of Jennifer Aniston’s hair color when it was between blonde and brown. I think I might go with something like that. The last thing I want is to go more blonde because I might end up looking like a playboy bunny. I know I do need a professional haircut. While Tony does a good job on my hair I can tell I need an inch or two cut off to make it look healthy again.

My Wonderful Husband

Tony was awesome this weekend. I know I complained a bit in the past when there was lack of help but after a conversation we had last week I think things really are going to change. Not like he wasn't great before, more so than most husbands, but in this marriage I like to have a partnership and now what each other do is appreciated.

He worked on Saturday for half a day. The extra money will help us with our up coming vacation. When he was working I was doing my grocery shopping. When he got home I did not expect anything from him as far as house work since he did put in extra hours at work. However, he got right to it with cleaning the floors and folding laundry.

Then after we cleaned the house he helped out my friend by picking up a TV she bought and setting it up in her house. No complaints at all. He was happy to do it and play with her dogs. Now my friend and I are something else. We met at the job I have right now. There is about a 30 year age difference between us but we could not be more alike. Tony even sees it. It is amazing how the two of us has an instant connection like we were sisters in a past life.

Our trip to Arizona is coming up so soon. I can't wait for the mini vacation and to see Tony's cousins.

Job Interviews

So now that my blog is locked down I can talk about my job interviews.

There was a company I was supposed to interview this week with but they were not paying enough for the amount of travel that is involved. As much as I really would like a different job they only way I am leaving is if I can see myself in the job and company for the long haul. I want to find that perfect job and settle down there.

I do have another interview coming up at a bank. I am a perfect fit for the job and can see myself there. My friend is also trying to get me into her company. They have not decided to fill the position yet but if they do I think it is an even better fit for me than the bank. Either way, two great potentials.

Stuffed Chicken

I tried something different and stuffed chicken breasts with goat cheese, arugula, and tomato. I rolled it Parmesan cheeses, salt, and pepper. Baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

I think I over did it on the goat cheese. If you like this idea you can do this with any type of cheese. Mozzarella would be pretty good in this too topped with pasta sauce.

I flattened out the chicken by placing it between parchment paper and pounded it out. Then put the stuffing in the middle and secured it with toothpicks. Lastly I rolled it in the Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

Cuddle Time

Is there anything cuter than dogs and cats cuddling?


Jack and Oscar changed beds


Jack watching AFV with me. He thinks he is a lap dog.



Jack and Milo getting warm by the fire



Oscar staying warm by the pillows

Sydney cuddled up with her blanket

My FAVORITE Diet Food is Back!!!!

Nearly two years ago my favorite diet food was discontinued. I love MorningStar Farms Veggie Corn Dogs. They have an amazing taste for not being meat and on the old Weight Watcher point system they were two points each. I was so mad when I found out they were discontinued that I wrote a letter to MorningStar begging them to bring these back. I only found one substitute from Trader Joes but they were not nearly as good and also higher points.

Today I was at Kroger and there they were. My heart skipped a beat. I grabbed three boxes and quickly threw them in my cart. I even called Tony to tell him what I found. Never have I been so excited about a food.

I made them for dinner tonight with french fries baked them in the oven. Tony does like the MorningStar brand. He always gave me crap for eating fake meat until he tried it. As I was putting the corn dogs on the plate I said out loud, "oooohhhh, how I've missed you." Tony laughed at me and for a brief moment thought his wife went crazy. They were just as good as I remembered and ate two of them in probably under two minutes. Now I have a stomach ache.

Just when I was about ready to type this blog post up I went to MorningStar's website to see if there was a press release or some other information about the return of the beloved corn dog. They do not even list the corn dog as a product! WTF? I ran to the box to check the expiration date. I was praying this was not something Kroger found in their back room. Date was OK. So again, I wrote MorningStar wonder what is up. Tomorrow I am going back to Kroger to buy out their stock.

Message from Heaven

I have a Facebook group called In Loving Memory of William Robert Steigerwaldt. Most people in the group are family and close friends. I had to lock the group down since there are trolls on the internet that spam the wall. Now you can only access by request for new people. Yesterday I received a request from someone I did not know to join the group. I accidentally clicked ignore request instead of confirm. I emailed the lady and told her what I did and asked her to send a new request. Out of curiosity I asked how she knew my brother. Turns out they met on a dating site years ago and used to email back and forth. She searched for him on facebook and came across the group. I am not sure if she knew Bill died. My guess would be not if she searched for him. It is amazing after how many years have gone by she was searching for him.

It may not be a message from Heaven but I can at least dream.

There Goes My Weight Again!

I was so thrilled last week when my holiday weight started coming off. I was feeling confident. Then this morning weight myself and I went from 137 to 138.2. Okay, okay...it may not seem like a big deal to you all to put on a bit of weight but this is hard for me. My new treadmill does not arrive until January 24 and as mentioned earlier walking outside in my development is out of the picture. Even if I could with my knee I need to be in a place I can get back home or to my car easily if I have problems. Once my knee is healed and I am fully active again I am giving myself a month to drop 5 pounds. If I cannot I think it will be back on weight watchers for me. I want to look great for our trip to Aruba. Not sure when my knee will be fully healed. I hope by March.

Broken Treadmill

Yesterday our treadmill broke. We had it for five years and really got the most out of it since we only paid about $500 for it. Unfortunately for Tony he was on it when it happened. I was downstairs in the kitchen when I heard a loud thud, the grinding of belt, and the motor screeching. I ran upstairs to see if Tony was OK. All I could picture in my mind is the treadmill sent him flying and half of his body went through the wall. I got up there and luckily he was fine. I do not know how it happened but one side practically fell off and the belt went the other direction.

On the plus side treadmills are on sale this time of year and I bought one through HSN. Really not an expense we needed right now with my medical bills from my surgery but I also need the treadmill for my recovery. Tony and I do not live in a neighborhood that is made for walking. There are less than 40 homes in my neighborhood and not paths or crosswalks to other areas for walking. The road outside our house is pretty busy too.

New Year's

Tony and I ended up at the Duck and Dumpling for our New Year’s Eve dinner. The restaurant has a very neat city feel to it. It is located in an old building downtown. Tony enjoyed his meal but mine was not what I expected. It was OK but nothing special. I finally was able to wear my Michael Kors black and silver stiletto heels I bought earlier this year. I was not able to wear them all summer because the fractures in my toes were still healing. I had on a black Michael Kors dress too that I scored from Ross for only $40. The outfit looked amazing!

When it comes to hot places to go for drinks and dancing Tony and I are clueless. We had no idea where to go after dinner. We stopped at a restaurant by our house for a drink and then were home by 9 PM. Wow, aren’t we a wild bunch. I made some appetizers for us to snack on since our dinner was small. I got out of my dress and into flannel PJs. Tony was just thrilled about that but he put on flannel pants too. Staying up to watch the ball drop was pretty hard. We are not used to staying up late and probably should have grabbed a coffee at Starbucks instead of another drink at the Leesville Tap Room. We laid in bed to watch the ball drop. A big mistake since we both fell asleep for a bit before the ball dropped. We both woke up when the ball was going down. Gave each other a kiss at midnight and then turned off the TV and fell asleep.

I love when Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper work together. No one makes Anderson Cooper more nervous and uncomfortable as Kathy Griffin. They had their own New Year’s Eve show on CNN. Here is a small clip from it.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/01/01/natpkg.ac.cooper.griffin.nye.cnn?iref=allsearch