Always on my mind

Everything here at the Haines household is going well. Life continues to be extremely busy for Victory but he is good about taking breaks from grading to hold little girl, help out and spend a little time with me. (I just want to know who came up with the genious idea of retesting. Victory spends so much time grading retests its ridiculous! What happened to the pressure of a test and having to study for it? Now, they can just take a test and if they don't do well they can just take it again and again! And people are complaining that kids aren't ready for college? I wonder why!)

As for me, life is great!! I don't mind working and being mom. Honestly, It's probably easier than being a stay at home mom. I'm trying to find the right words to explain why its easier. Its less demanding. I still have all the housework to do but I don't have to constantly try to keep up with the little one AND try to do everything else. I do miss her though and get sadden with I think that others know her better than I do. I only get to spend four hours at most with her a day. We'll see what the future holds. (AND THANKS TO MY MOM AND BECKY FOR BEING AWESOME BABYSITTERS!!)

Anyway, now the reason that compelled me to write is because Friday night's meal is still on my mind. IT WAS AMAZING! (I know another food post...I guess I'm just hungry?)  I kept mentioning to Victory how wonderful it was long, long after it had been digested.  OLIVE GARDEN!! I think it just became my FAVORITE restaurant (sorry Lazlos). Ever since the Chicken Alfredo when I was three months pregnant, Olive Garden began to find favor with me. Then I fell in love with their salad. I could totally eat an ENTIRE bowl of salad there! It's addicting. My next favorite find...TUSCAN POTATOES...yum! (I stole them off of Victory's plate).  Then a Friday work lunch, GRILLED CHICKEN SPIEDINI served with Tuscan potatoes! And then Friday night's meal, the meal of all meals, FOUR CHEESE STUFFED PANSOTTI with CHICKEN!! SOOOOO GOOOD!!! LOVED IT! The chicken was fabulous! I don't even want to know the fat content!!

Have a great day!!

-your hungry friend

Making Mouths Happy

My sister has been posting about her daily loves. So I thought I share one of my loves:

Kraft Light Rasberry Vinigaret Dressing.....mmm yum! Everytime I eat it my mouth explodes with flavor. It's like a party in your mouth! It's soo exciting! The first part of my pregnancy I had a strong aversion to fruits and vegetables and I just barely started eating my strawberry salad with this dressing again. My mouth finally remembered what it had been missing out on.

I eat this dressing with a green leaf salad with strawberries, kiwi, and sunflower seeds (I think most recipes suggest walnuts).  My mom includes mandarin oranges but I do NOT love mandarin oranges. gross.

TRY IT! Your mouth will LOVE you!

Taxes Taxes Taxes!

I've been playing around with our taxes and trying to figure out the best way to file (jointly or seperately) to get the largest refund. I started off using the Free edition of TurboTax and it seemed like I was always getting different numbers. Then I tried H&R Block's free edition, it's a lot more simple and somehow calculated a larger refund than any of my several attempts I had with Turbo Tax. So for those who haven't done their taxes yet, I'd recommend H&R Block. However, they do charge $30 to file your State taxes.