Monthly Archives: July 2009

Welcome to the Happy BlogNerd BASH…. Let’s Mingle!

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Welcome to Garibay Soup!! I LOVE blog parties and LOVE getting to know other bloggers. I can’t wait to go through all of the many blogs that are associated with Pity Party, Bloghop & of course, my very own Happy BlogNerd Bash!!! Grab yourself your favorite beverage… whatever it is that you enjoy while mingling with your girl friends, and get cozy… If you’re visiting me from either the Pity Party or Bloghop I hope you join in with my very own party going on here. See, Friday is my birthday and I am not at BlogHer. It’s a sore subject. But I’m having a giveaway for every day, and great subjects where we are ALL guest speakers, cuz you know all of us bloggers & tweeters always have so much to say!… so I hope to have you join in. Don’t forget to follow me on {Twitter} and to subscibe to my {RSS Feed}. That way you don’t lose your way back here for all the fun. Since today is the first day of BlogNerd it’s the introduction day!! To participate in this Bash for today you just write an introduction post, tell lots about yourself, link to your favorite posts you’ve written and you should definitely share your favorite recipe, because I will! You can snag my button on the side bar for you post ~ sharing the word that there’s a great party going on here. Don’t forget to come back every single day through 7/25/09, because there will be more stuff going on… and more giveaways!!


My name is Amanda. I have 2 beautiful children, Ella & Jayden. Ella is my cardiac baby and has given us many scares, but we’re so lucky that she’s a strong fighter. She’s turning 2 in August and it seems like she’s already going on 16…. it’s scary. My Jayden is going to be 8 this year ~ he’s going into the 2nd grade and that all in itself is mind blowing for this mom!

I’ve been married for 5 years. It hasn’t always been happy, because we’ve definitely experienced our share of troubles, but we’ve made it through so much, and I don’t think there’s anything else that we could never get through. We’re in it for the long haul ~ he’s my best friend, and I’m excited to grow old with him.

With blogging I lay it ALL OUT on the line. I don’t hold back, it’s my place for my thoughts and hopefully I don’t rub people the wrong way, but I tell it like it is. That’s what makes me ME. I blog about my personal life, the things I think up in my crazy mind, and things that probably will embarrass my kids someday. But that’s why I started this blog. I started this blog to have a record of my life, of me ~ for my kids, and their kids to know who their mom and grandma was. And see our life for what it really was. Life isn’t perfect…. and neither is this blog.

I’m an inspiration junkie. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read anything inspiring. Inspiring quotes can definitely turn a frown upside down, and get you motivated to have a better outlook on things, heck on life! So I started a new carnival called Just to Motivate Your Monday. Every Monday I post an inspirational post and McKlinky is set up for others to write something inspirational to share with others. Or you can always just share you favorite quote. It’s a very new carnival… there’s only been 2 so far, but I hope to see it grow and flourish, because we all need inspiration ~ it can paint our worlds. So make sure you check in every Monday and link up!! Let’s all help each other through inspiration. I hope to see each and every single one of you back here on Monday to give me the inspiration I thrive for…. and I hope that with this carnival I can help you get more followers, because we ALL love to have our feathers ruffled every now and then… right?

If you really want to know random things about me there’s always {THIS LIST},

If you’re interested in reading about my daughter’s heart condition, including the scary accident she just had with her medicine you can read about that {HERE}

If you want to read about my baby that never said hello, and I never got to say good bye to you can read about her {HERE}

If you want to read about how scattered my thoughts can be {READ THIS}! They may be scattered at times, but I do feel strongly about what I wrote!

If you want to see what makes me smile, laugh & cry every day of my life {CLICK HERE} oh yeah and {HERE} as well.

Of course my FAVORITE recipe in the entire world is {ENCHILADA PIE}

Well, I hope I gave you a good glimpse into my very soul, because that’s what I try to do here at Garibay Soup…. I didn’t link you to the true dysfunction of my family, because I kinda want ya to come back! We’ll just save all of that for after you’re hooked!

Now for the giveaway!!! I know, I gabbed for too long didn’t I? The lady who owns this shop is a great friend of mine. Her son also has the same heart condition that Ella has. So, we’ve bonded ~ her website is {www.rylidesigns.com} ~ click on gift ideas to see some ideas, but she does custom work. So custom, that I had her embroider Gino’s Wifey on underwear for my 5 year anniversary ~ and on the back they said 5 Years Strong… they were ADORABLE If you leave a comment you will be entered to win a $30.00 gift certificate to spend on whatever your heart desires from her.

If you link up on this post with an introduction post linking back to the Happy BlogNerd Bash you may leave 3 more comments for 3 more entries 🙂 Make sure you leave the extra comments if you link up.

If you tweet about the party linking to this post you can leave 1 more comment for an extra entry as well.

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG & ANNOUNCED ON 7/26/09 ~ LINKS WILL CLOSE ON 7/26/09 @ MIDNIGHT ~ YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS AND ALL OTHER FUTURE PARTY POSTS UNTIL 7/26/09 @ MIDNIGHT.

If you haven’t already head over to {BlogHop09} for more party fun!!!! And on Twitter there’s the #pityparty by @stop4chocolate and @waymorehomemade

Thank you so much for stopping and by and Don’t forget to come back every single day through 7/25/09, because there will be more stuff going on… and more giveaways!! AND MY BIRTHDAY IS FRIDAY, 7/24/09 ~ SO YOU HAVE TO COME PARTY WITH ME!!!

THE PARTY DOESN’T STOP HERE, AFTER YOU COMMENT, LINK UP & COMMENT SOME MORE 🙂 HEAD OVER {HERE} FOR THE NEXT PART OF THIS PARTY… AND IT’S MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! WE’RE GIVING AWAY SOMETHING I TOTALLY LOVE…. AND I KNOW YOU WILL TOO!


This is how we eat our ice cream cupcakes!

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It’s {Wordless Wednesday}….

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This is how a girl enjoys an ice cream cupcake from Cold Stone!

On another note……

I want to share one more thing! If you’re like me you are missing out on one of the BIGGEST blogger events this week. I’m pretty bummed, especially since my birthday is on one of the Blogher Conference days. So, I’m hosting a {Happy BlogNerd BASH}! I hope you’ll join me. It’s being launched on 7/23/09 and going through 7/25/09. There will be giveaways and link ups and lots of fun!! So, either follow me on {Twitter}, or Subscribe to my {RSS Feed} so you don’t miss out! You can also grab the BlogNerd button on my sidebar to help spread the word!!

I tasted heaven… then had to bathe Ella

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It’s Wednesday!!!! {Kristen} is hosting the weekly Works for Me Wednesday… head over there for more great tips.

I normally try to share an actual “tip” that will help other mom/houswives out, but today I’m probably going to discourage a lot of people that are dieting…. and I’m SO sorry for that. I too should most definitely not be eating ANYTHING like this, but O.M.G! WOW! Tonight I found a little taste of heaven.

If you’ve never had Cold Stone ice cream ~ it’s DELICIOUS! I’ve always loved it, and love how I can create whatever, well…. they created something even more spectacular! Ice cream cupcakes. Oh, let me tell you…. THEY DEFINITELY work for this mama! They worked for me and my entire family….. and as you can see, especially for my daughter, Ella. Yes, I had to give her 2 baths! It’s okay…. she had a ball bathing herself in cake and ice cream.

So, let me tell you a little bit about this delish dish! They come in a six pack of assorted flavors and they all come in a chocolate hard shell (mmmmmm!!!!). The one I had went a lil’ like this….. a Belgian Chocolate Cup, then Red Velvet Cake, Cake Batter Ice Cream, Pink Frosting and Rainbow sprinkles….. here’s a picture for you mouth to water over.

So I’m in love. It’s going to be a dangerous thing for my figure, but I LOVE IT! And luckily my birthday is Friday and I get to eat them again!

Sorry if you’re grabbing your keys, ditching your diet and heading to Cold Stone right now, but I promise you’ll thank me once you sink your teeth into this HEAVEN!

OKAY!!! Now that I’ve shared what works for me, I want to share one more thing! If you’re like me you are missing out on one of the BIGGEST blogger events this week. I’m pretty bummed, especially since my birthday is on one of the Blogher Conference days. So, I’m hosting a {Happy BlogNerd BASH}! I hope you’ll join me. It’s being launched on 7/23/09 and going through 7/25/09. There will be giveaways and link ups and lots of fun!! So, either follow me on {Twitter}, or Subscribe to my {RSS Feed} so you don’t miss out! You can also grab the BlogNerd button on my sidebar to help spread the word!!

He didn’t get the memo: Bad Attitude Sucks

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When you think that you have your children figured out they throw you for a loop. For the most part my son, Jayden, is very well behaved. The manners this kid owns put people from the olden days to shame. He has this soul about him that makes people wonder about him. I am not a believer of pasts lives, I feel like we get one chance on this earth, but it’s almost like he’s been here before. The way he talks is so meticular (I don’t even know if this is the right word to use here, but it’s what comes to mind) and it will stop you in your tracks.

My son holds a very large part of my heart in his tiny, little hands. I feel protective over him, because he has a sweet soul. He’s not a very grimy, bug searching little boy. He washes his hands throughout the day on his own, does not like to be dirty and will notice if my car is a bit out of sort…. and makes sure I know it. There’s so much of him that makes him HIM and I love it!

So when you have a little boy that for the most part listens and behaves and he switches it up on you for a day, how in the world are you supposed to handle that? Today is just a complete off day in our home. Jayden is doing every, single thing I tell him NOT to do. He kept knocking on my door (while it was open) and I asked him to stop. Did he? NOPE! So I threatend to take today’s swimming trip away if he knocked 1 more time – he did it! The kid completely tested me…. so no swimming trip. Well, since there’s no swimming trip, now he decides to go and knock on EVERYTHING in my room – including me, my pillows, everthing he could knock his little hand on.

It made me feel like I wanted to put a pillow over my face and scream as lousd as I could. WHY is he acting like this? Nothing different is going on in our home, I just don’t get it. After things cooled off I went up to his room to talk to him and he said he couldn’t stop himself. He had to knock. Does he have OCD or something?

I know that everyday is not suppposed to be perfect. I know that my son will soon be changing and developing attitudes, become more secretive about things and it all scares me. The attitude I’ve watched slowly trying to sneak into his soul is scaring me to death about what’s to come. Being a parent is such a gift, but boy does it have it’s trials!

**The picture here I took last night of him holding his new baby cousin, Paxton.

Just a Motivating Monday – Positivity

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Welcome to the 2nd EVER Just a Motivating Monday! If you are just joining us here’s the scoop.

-Write a blog post about ANYTHING at all that inspires you, or something you feel will inspire others.

-Please link back to Garibay Soup

-Please snag my Just a Motivating button on your post.

-I hope that we can all go and visit each other’s blogs and read what everyone has linked up ~ I hope that this carnival can bring more traffic for you 🙂 So, spread the comment love!!!

With that being said……

Last week I gave away a copy of the book The Secret. The reason why I gave away a copy of this book was mainly because it has inspired me more than words can describe. I have ALWAYS looked at the negative side of things. Before that book came into my life I thought negatively, I spoke negatively, I lived negatively. Guess what… my life became quite negative.

When reading the book I thought, there is absolutely no way that just changing the way I think will bring upon different results in my life. If I’m tired, it’s because I’m tired. I can’t change that by thinking about being awake. So, I tested it one day. I was so unmotivated, exhausted and saw no hope in me getting off the couch, away from my movie and cleaning up the mess of a living room my kids made. So, while my mind was thinking how I couldn’t do it, I decided to stop dwelling on the fact that I was too tired, and started thinking about how wonderful it was going to be to have my living room clean. I got this jolt of energy, had it done quickly and was motivated to move on from there.

I promise, it works!

This book also explains the importance of gratitude. If you’re not grateful, what makes you think the universe (or God in my eyes) will grant you more wishes? Wake up grateful everyday for the things you have, and not dwell on the things you do not have. You may think this is easier said than done, but I’m doing it now, and that’s HUGE!

I feel like I have changed my life, my family, my marriage, my financial situations all because of positivity and this book. When I’m not feeling right, or being depressed I instantly change the way I feel and watch myself transform right before my eyes.

The mind is the most powerful thing, and we have power over our minds. Use them for the better, change your ways to positivity and be grateful…. see your life transform right before your eyes!

A few of my favorite quotes out of the book:

Bob Doyle: The emotions are an incredible gift that we have to let us know what we’re thinking.

Therefore, if your emotions aren’t positive I can pretty much guarantee you that you aren’t attracting anyt-hing positive into your life.

Robert Collier (1885-1950) “See the things that you want as already yours. Know that they will come to you at need. Then let them come. Don’t fret and worry about them. Don’t think about your lack of them. Think of them as yours, as belonging to you, as already in your possession.”

Regarding that quote… this is something that my husband does ALL THE TIME. He even got a Chrysler 300 this way…. he visioned, knew it would happen and one day I just went and traded my car in for it ~ he got his wish… and it was a surprise. The car is his dream car, and all he did was put it out in the universe.

Charles Hannel “To acquire love… fill yourself up with it until you become a magnet.”

I hope this inspired you ~ and I can’t wait to read what inspires you!

On another note, if you won’t be attending the BlogHer conference I’m holding a Happy BlogNerd bash here! Please join me on 7/23/09-7/25/09 for some fun, and giveaways!!! You can snag my button on the side to spread the news.

I am Simply Blessed

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I love it when I find carnivals that has a purpose for something I like to write about. Today I stumbled upon a blog called {Simply Blessed}. The carnival that she hosts is something that I was going to write about today anyways, and this just gave me an idea to spin it off in another direction.

My husband and I have been married now for 5 years. We have lived together for going on 9. From the time I turned 18 my husband and I have been together. Choosing to spend your life with someone at such a young age can sometimes lead to unhappiness, divorce, trials….. or you could just be lucky and have truly found life’s bliss.

I didn’t find life’s bliss at such a young age. I found that love is nothing like the movies. I found that fighting can pierce your heart. I found that happiness doesn’t exist every, single day. I found that becoming parents at such a young age can put so much pressure on your relationship that you forgot how you even liked each other to begin with. I found that keeping house is downright impossible especially when it wasn’t just me to keep up after. I found that silence hurts, that screaming relieves, that breaking phones releases. I discovered what it was like to hate, I think he discovered this as well. I found that sins are easy to make, and take a long time to heal.

So how is this all a blessing? Because despite the above we stuck together. We made it work. After changes to ourselves and for each other we are happy. We love each other. It’s not like in the movies, but it’s our love. It works for both of us and I go to bed with a smile on my face almost every, single night.

My marriage is a blessing. I couldn’t be more thankful for my best friend and the heart of my soul. He has grown into a man that I am proud to say is my husband. A man that I am proud to say is the father of my children.

There is no bigger blessing to be able to say that this marriage has overcome some things that people get divorced over and we’re still growing strong. I truly am blessed, and madly in love.

On a different note:

Join me on Monday for my carnival Just a Motivating Monday it’s an inspirational carnival, where we as bloggers share things that have inspired us, or things we think will inspire others. And on Thursday 7/23/09-Saturday 7/25/09 for the {HAPPY BLOGNERD PARTY}!! It’s for us nerds not making it to BlogHer and to celebrate my BIRTHDAY ~ GIVEWAYS WILL BE HAPPENING!!!!

Because we won’t be at BlogHer

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This year I’m missing out on 2 things. The first is my Wildtree convention in Florida and the other is the Blogher convention in Chicago. Oh how I would LOVE to attend both, but they are both on the same days and I had other arrangements that prevented me from attending either.

BlogHer seems like such an amazing thing to be able to attend. I could only imagine the inspiration that people will leave with. The joy they’ll feel finally being able to put a voice & name w/a blog. I know I’m not alone, so I decided in honor of my birthday and Blogher I’m having a BASH!

My birthday is on Friday 7/24 and it’s a day most bloggers will be attending the Blogher conference. So, I hope you’ll join Garibay Soup from 7/23/09-7/25/09 for the Happy BlogNerd Bash! It’s for us nerds that aren’t able to make it to BlogHer ~ yes, we’re nerds for not putting more of an effort to make it!

There will be a giveaway each day, link ups and topics that we’ll be discussing (we will all be guest speakers!). The first day 7/23/09 will be a day where we introduce ourselves, get to know one another & get ready for the party! The other days are SURPRISES!!

If you don’t yet, follow me on {Twitter} or subscribe to my {RSS Feed} so you don’t miss out on the prizes or the fun, and snag the party’s Button off of my sidebar to display on your blog.

Hope to see you here!

I call it stupidity… who would’ve thought

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I come from a snobby family, well not all of them, but a couple of us are. I’ve picked up their traits and probably created a bunch of my own.I’ve changed into things I never was before, for the better, since I moved to Oregon. One thing I have yet to let go is where I grocery shop. In Sacramento if you go into a cheap food store it’s so ghetto you want to disinfect your food before you bring it into your home.

So, I was always a Safeway shopper. In my eyes we were getting amazing deals! I didn’t have to deal with the grimy feeling I felt when going to the less expensive stores. Then we moved to Oregon, where we remained a Safeway shopper, later discovered Fred Meyers, which was like 10x better than Safeway, because it was like having Target and Safeway combined! Yes, it was a dangerous thing, since we always ventured in to the fun part of the store and bought things…. things that are still sitting in my garage waiting to be used. Basically, Fred Meyers was sucking my bank account and I thought I was making out, because I didn’t have to drive all over town for the different things I needed.

I never understood why people would shop at places like Winco, Food 4 Less and other ghetto looking places. Haha, I know what you’re thinking…. what a snobby little biotch ~ just stick with me here…. a rare occasion is about to happen!

Last night my friend Brittany (she’s my new nephew’s mom) needed to go grocery shopping. Being that her baby is so new and the entire thing is just new to her she needed a helping hand to make sure it all went smoothly. I had no intention on buying a thing, because we were going to Food 4 Less. I walked in and it was like a light shone in my eyes and I heard angelic music. THIS STORE WAS AMAZING! The prices were completely unreal ~ it wasn’t dirty, sure there were some trashy people there, but I was more in awe over the store than being concerned with them! How could the bread I buy for over $3.00 a loaf only be $1.89??????? What in the fricking world was I doing shopping at Fred Meyers?

I spent less than $50.00 and got quite a bit of stuff! They even have organic and natural sections… you can buy brown rice by the pound! The milk is a whopping dollar less than Fred Meyers……. the mayo ~ don’t get me started I can’t believe I ever paid more than what I did last night on the stuff.

I think my husband is a bit relieved that his wife who thought she was too good for a good deal is over herself. I’m relieved that I’m over myself, because I’d rather not spend what I spend on groceries. It’s ridiculous! I’m anxious to sit down, menu plan for next week and head to my new found, glorious store to discover what’s down those aisles, and have the prices sing to my heart!

I AM NOW A


GIRL

I’m still sappy – oh, and a bash is coming soon!

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I’m still pretty much in shock at what happened with Ella. I really feel like it’s given me a different outlook on my life. I’ve stopped fretting the small stuff, and while I know this won’t last a long time, I sortof hope it does.

The other day while we were driving Ella dumped popcorn all over her, the next day it was lemonade. Before I’d be so frustrated and dwell on this, that it would effect me. Now it doesn’t. It’s not that big of a deal that I’m going to have to clean something up ~ thank God she’s here so I can have something to clean up. What would my life be like if she wasn’t? I’d probably be praying for her to spill that popcorn a million times if I could just get one more smile, one more hug, one kiss.

I promise the depressing posts will stop soon, but for now I’m lavishing in the fact that my daughter is okay.

I’m going to say that I don’t blame myself for what happened, because I honestly did not expect her to get up on the counter and get her medicine, but the fact that it was me who put that medicine on the counter puts a little bit of a blame on my shoulder. I’m not going to dwell on it, I’m going to use this as a learning experience. I’ve learned that bad things can happen to my kids, and unfortunately all it takes is a couple of seconds and they could be fighting for their lives. This scares me. Life is so scary. I hope that my story will help other moms out there realize that it can happen to you.

On a completely different note…. I’m announcing something that’s coming to Garibay Soup from 7/23/09-7/25/09 ~ it’s a Happy BlogNerd Bash! It’s happy, because my birthday is 7/24/09 and it’s BlogNerd, because it’s for us nerds that aren’t able to make it to Blogher this year.

Stay tuned for more details and a button to share on your blog 🙂 Also feel free to start tweeting and sharing the word that Happy Blognerd is coming to Garibay Soup 7/23/09-7/25/09 ~ if you don’t follow me on Twitter you can do so {HERE}

Things I Love Thursday – Grapeseed Oils

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Things I love Thursday….. oh boy, there are so many things I LOVE, but I’m going to share one of my favorite things right now ~ {Wildtree’s Grapeseed Oil’s}.

I LOVE Lemon flavored things. Cheesecake Factory’s Lemon chicken is OH SO DELICIOUS, and I found a way to have something just as delicious at home. It’s a lot less money, and it makes my taste buds SING!

A regular meal in my home is Lemon Rosemary Chicken and it is easily made using 2 of my favorite products. {Lemon Rosemary Blend} and {Zesty Lemon Grapeseed Oil}. I mix some of the blend w/some of the grapeseed oil, doubling the directions on the Lemon Rosemary Blend.

The first thing I do is take my veggies and roll them around in the mixture (asparagus are the best) and then I take my chicken and dip the chicken in the mixture. I then saute the chicken in Zesty Lemon Grapeseed oil and YUM!

These oils are very {healthy for you} and are infused with delicious flavors that flavor your food just right.

Do you want to share something that you love? Go over to {The Diaper Diaries} and share…. or read other people’s 🙂 Plus she has a pretty cool giveaway going on!