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Hey there! We made it through another week of quarantine. Barely. Patience is low and emotions are high over here this week. Alabama is starting to open up some retail at 50% capacity and doing a “safer at home” approach right now. I don’t plan on going anywhere yet, but am interested to see what happens with others do.

Favorite Moment: It is never a dull moment when you are at home all day with a toddler, trying to work full time, keep the house up, cook three meals, etc. Add in some cow corralling to that…and you have my Thursday. They got out somehow from the pasture behind our house and were eating our neighbor’s azalea bushes and casually grazing our yard.

Zoe tried nutella toast for the first time this week. You could say she was a fan.

Favorite Purchase: I ordered Olaplex shampoo and conditioner to use with the #3 strengthener I was already using. I have been using them for two weeks now, and am starting to slowly see some improvements in my hair! I can feel the difference the first day!!! But the actual long term effects are starting to show a little more. Definitely worth the investment.

Loft has been having some major sales this week. I ordered this striped pocket swing dress, this eyelet swing dress in a gorgeous green color, this lace ruffle swing dress in black, and this raincoat in emerald. Right now all their clearance items like this are 40% off with an extra 15% off!

Favorite Recipe: Is anyone else tired of cooking and doing dishes???Damn!! I am trying to keep it fresh over here and try some new recipes. This is nothing ground breaking, but this everything but the bagel chicken was pretty tasty. Even Zoe ate it! Low carb/keto friendly.

Favorite Workout: Still killing it on my move goal every day. I honestly dont know how I am ever going to keep this up when I have to be back at the office sitting on my ass 9 hours every day. I tried a new youtube workout this week with Pamela Reif. She doesn’t talk at all, just plays awesome music and has a timer for each move. I really enjoyed it. This one burns the legs up quick and is only 12 minutes, so it is perfect if you are short on time….or to add on to something else.

Speaking of working out and favorite moments. I went “shopping” in my closet this week. Most of the clothes hanging are things I don’t really wear because they no longer fit properly. Too big, really worn out, etc. I purged a lot of things, but items that are too big bit still nice in a box in the attic…and have the rest ready for donations. I found this gray shirt in a drawer, and it used to be skin tight on me 6 months ago. I haven’t worn it since before Zoe was born I dont think. I tried it on thinking it was going in the donations pile. Well, it fits!!! (It is actually a little big.) I texted these pictures to my sister and said, “Can you tell if I lost anything????” My sister is the most honest person I know. She said “Yeah!!! About 30 pounds it looks like?” Actually it has only been 20, but she said it looks like 30?????? I WILL TAKE IT!!!! So I am going to dump these here for progress reminder to myself. Because the weight isn’t falling off like it was before.

Favorite Funnies:

I always think gift lists are fun. I think all I really would like to Mother’s Day is to scroll through HomeGoods alone with a Starbucks for a minimum of an hour. But, you know, these wouldn’t be bad either.

–I absolutely love the simplicity of this Kendra Scott “Y” necklace. It would pretty much go with anything and everything for any season.

–I think this Pom Pom bag would be so cute for spring/summer. A classic staple that works again for years to come.

–It has been three years since I purchased my current workout shoes. Oops. Asics are what works best for my foot, and these pink ones are adorable and a great price!

–The Bum Bum cream is one of those spring/summer splurges I like to make each year. One large container usually gets me through the season and it smells incredible!!!

–I think both the Blooming Bouquet and Absolutely Blooming from Dior smell amazing. Running low on my Nirvana Bourbon and could really use one of these for spring/summer.

–A fun spring top will be in order when we can start going places again!

My sister and I are still trying to figure out what we want to do for our mom. What is on your wish list? Do you know what you are doing for your mom yet? I hope we can actually see her by then!!!

One thing I have learned living the low-carb life, is that I don’t really miss pasta. You can have your favorite dishes without the actual noodles, and still feel completely satisfied. Making these parmesan meatballs and a chicken alfredo dish (recipe to come!!!) has completely taken over our typical “pasta night.”

This recipe is husband and child approved, so buckle up! Plus, you don’t even really need a lot of ingredients on hand and can be altered to fit your needs. It doesn’t photograph well, but trust me, it is delicious!

What You Need

1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, sausage, pork, combo, it doesn’t matter)

1 egg

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1/3 cup grated parmesan

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp minced onion

2 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

1/2 jar red sauce

pepperoni (optional, but highly encouraged)

Italian cheese mix, parmesan or mozzarella for top

What You Do

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Combine meat, egg, mozzarella, grated parmesan, garlic, minced onion, basil and salt to form meatballs. (It usually makes around 12)
3. Bake for 30 minutes
4. Top with sauce, cheese and pepperoni and bake another 15 minutes
5. Switch oven to broil for 3 minutes to really get that toasted cheese taste
6. Enjoy!!!!

As I am sitting in my office typing this up in live time, I can see the sun coming down on the front half of my neighborhood from the window. Hallelujah! The weather didn’t get as bad here yesterday as they predicted, but it still was an ugly day full of uncertainty.

We have slowed down a little at work, so I am hoping to take advantage of some time outside today with Zoe. But also, the state of the real estate market is a huge question mark right now and it makes me uneasy.

I have seen so many people post the Hell Zone twitter post this week. Here it is if you don’t know what I am talking about…

I have to say, I feel like I dip in and out of hell zone. Anyone else?

I have been taking my aggression out on our kitchen floors with the spin mop I ordered last week and a $20 box of powdered Tide. I think we have all fallen hard for the gocleanco account. I posted a story on my mop yesterday, and a local friend who isn’t a blogger was like “OMG I JUST BOUGHT THAT MOP BECAUSE OF THOSE BITCHES! ” So their reach is wide right now. (Can we all agree they work for O-Cedar or Tide??) At least we all have clean houses. Until your three year old spills chocolate milk all over the floor an hour after you cleaned them. My life right now.

Favorite Purchase: After weeks of looking at different outdoor furniture, we ordered some a few days ago! I cannot wait until it comes in!!!! We have an amazing back deck that has plenty of room for all of this, plus a dining table that I want to add later on. I thought I wanted a sectional, and that is what I had been looking at. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that a couch and chairs was going to be the better route for us and how our deck is set up. I found a picture of it styled, and I have been dreaming of what kind of pillows and side table I want to get. We already have an outdoor rug to go with it!

Favorite Recipe: I made some parmesan meatballs earlier this week that turned out amazing. There are no breadcrumbs so they are keto friendly and super simple. Zoe kept saying “mmm mmmm mmmm these are delicious!!!!” after every bite, and dancing in her chair. So clearly she approves. I will try to share the recipe next week. If you can call it a recipe. They don’t look like much. I wasn’t really planning on sharing a picture, may need to make them again to make them look pretty hahaha.

Favorite Moments: Trying to make the most out of our time at home. And stay sane juggling work and homeschooling and just coming up with things to keep the kid happy. We both have our moments where we are over all this, and sometimes it happens at the same time. Lord help us! But I have really been enjoying quiet afternoons outside.

Or turning Tuesday into a special princess party breakfast, making banana nut muffins and using our fancy cupcake liners left over from Zoe’s birthday.

And these two are pretty sweet together. Even if someone can be a grumpy old man sometimes.

Favorite Funnies:

When you live in the south, you are very passionate about BBQ. Everyone has an opinion on who has the best, and sometimes it is hard to chose because every town has at least a few places. Even where we used to live, where the town radius was like a 3 mile stretch….we had a BBQ place. And it is on the top 5 list for the whole state in my book.

But you know the one issue with eating BBQ when you are trying to lose weight?? The amount of sugar and crap in the sauce. Because lets be honest, the sauce is what you are there for!!! Enter this low carb crock pot BBQ Chicken Recipe!!!

What You Need

Chicken breast (I had just over a pound, get as much as you need. You will have extra sauce.)

15 ounce can tomato sauce

2 TBSP Swerve brown sugar (can replace with real brown sugar or completely omit)

2 TBSP Worchestershire sauce

2 TBSP mustard

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1 TBSP onion powder

1 TBSP chili powder

2 TSP Liquid Smoke

1 TSP salt

1 TSP garlic powder

What You Do

Dump it all in the crock pot on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours. Boom! can it be any simpler than that???

I threw some green onion on ours when I plated it for a little extra something something. Chris had his with a side of green beans, I ate mine over half a sweet potato because I am not longer doing keto.