Country Livin'

[I know I JUST changed my header and background, but I just wasn't loving it. So hopefully these will stick for a little bit longer ;-)]

On Wednesday, Paula Dean fried up some homemade potato chips. They looked so delicious, I decided to try my hand at it. We have a deep fryer, and I have to admit that I use it a lot! I like to make homemade french fries, mozzarella sticks (it's a really great recipe made with string cheese! maybe I'll share it sometime), fish sticks, chicken fingers, etc. But I had never tried crispy potato chips until yesterday.

I used 4 Yukon potatoes.

After rinsing them off, I peeled them, and sliced them into the thinnest little slivers I could:

Next I threw them in the fryer

And waited about 6 or 7 minutes until they started getting golden brown:

I took them out, used a paper towel to soak up all the grease, and poured some salt on them.

They turned out pretty delicious!

They were so easy! I might try to keep some on hand at home a lot of the time for two reasons: #1 - hopefully guests will feel special when they get to eat some homemade potato chips at the Wallace house. And #2 - A whole bag of potatoes is always too much for Luke and I. I always have to throw a few away when they get old. So this is a good way to use up a lot of potatoes if I need to get rid of some.

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I'm helping my sister house-sit and pet-sit for my parents while they are in Myrtle Beach this wek. Yesterday while I was feeding the dog and cat, I decided to play photographer again and take a bunch of pictures of their beautiful flowers. My mom was a florist and her parents owned a nursery for years and years. So she's really into flowers, and they're beautiful! Here are a few, just for fun:

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And just in case you were wondering, date night was fun last night! Our dinner at Olive Garden was delicious! Luke dressed up which was sweet. And he was such a gentleman all night...it felt like we were dating again :-)

We went to see "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage at the dollar theater after dinner. It was a really strange movie. I was expecting an action movie. It started out almost like a horror/suspense movie (I was a little freaked out by a few parts, and I don't scare that easily anymore) and ended up as a weird sci-fi movie. The ending was strange, and Luke and I both left the theater saying, "huh??" It made sense, but was just kind of out there. Not what we were expecting. If you're into sci-fi you'd probably like it, though!

And one of the best parts of the evening happened when we got home. Luke was figuring out our budget, and how well we've been sticking to it this month when he realized he HADN'T BUDGETED IN HIS THIRD PAYCHECK (it worked out weird since there were 5 Fridays this month). Next month is already budgeted for, so we had a bunch of extra money on our hands! Yay! We decided to use it to pay off one of our credit cards. (We're following Dave Ramsey's plan, and he says debt is a no-no). We're so excited, because we only have one more credit card to go and we will be DEBT FREE!! Except for the house. It pretty much made our night :-)

I'm off to enjoy this beautiful weekend!

Lovely Day

It's so close to summer I can taste it! Today has just been one of those perfect, warm, sunny days.

Last night we had a little get-together at our house for the Cavs game. It was fun (even though they lost by 1 point). My best friend, Rachel, came over. For once I wasn't the only girl there and I loved it! Rachel just finished nursing school, so she has some spare time again. I couldn't be happier!

Rachel and I are also cousins and neighbors. We're a lot different, but we think alike. Take last night for example. I decided to make some chocolate, peanut butter brownies at the last minute. When Rachel walked through our door, what did she have in her hands? Chocolate, peanut butter brownies (in the shape of cupcakes). We laughed at the coincidence. Luckily the guys pretty much devoured all of them anyway. We somehow end up doing things like this a lot. (dressing alike, getting the same haircut, having the same ideas, etc).
Tonight is going to be a special night. Luke and I have not had a date night, just the two of us, in MONTHS. Not an actual, planned ahead, just for fun, date night. We have kind of been doing our own things lately, and the busy-ness of life has been overwhelming. We decided we had to spend some quality time together this week! I'm so looking forward to it :-) And the whole date should only cost $2!! That's because Luke got a gift certificate to Olive Garden for his birthday so that's where we're going for dinner. Then right after that we're going to the dollar theater to see"Knowing." We may also shop a little bit since my mom's birthday is coming up. Sometimes I get so focused on the house and the things I need to get done FOR my husband, that I forget that it's probably more important to spend time WITH him. I really can't wait until tonight :-)

I keep forgetting that this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, but everytime I remember, I get a big smile across my face. Yay for a 3 day weekend! The whole town of Damascus is red, white, and blue right now. I should really take a walk later and take some pictures, because it's just too darn cute ;-) (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE living in the tiniest town you could imagine??) We don't have plans for Memorial Day yet, but hopefully some of our families or friends will have a get-together! It's supposed to be sunny and 75 degrees and I'm ready for some burgers, baked beans, and potato salad ;-)

Well I should hopefully have some fun posts after this weekend! Tonight is our date night (although not technically the weekend yet). Then tomorrow night is another Cavs game, Saturday my parents get home from Myrtle Beach, and Luke and I might be taking a day trip to Pittsburgh to see his little sister in a volleyball tournament. And Sunday night a bunch of us are headed to Cleveland for the Cavs watch party at The Q! Should be fun to fun to watch the game with thousands of fans for free! And Monday is Memorial Day. It feels like the first weekend of summer, although school isn't quite out yet :-)

Here's to long weekends, day trips, and date nights :-D

Great Website

I found a great website last night that I'd like to share!

http://www.avirtuouswoman.org/

I was browsing last night, and stumbled upon this site. You can set up your own profile, kind of like facebook. Then you can chat, blog, read articles, and lots of other neat things. I plan on spending lots of time here. The whole website is based around women striving to become like the Proverbs 31 woman.

One thing I really liked about this site, were the household notebook printables that can be found along the left side of the home page. There are housework charts, blank menus, to-do lists, calendars, even chore charts for children. I plan on filling my home organizing binder with a bunch of them, which will make my life a whole lot easier! I have been reprinting them out on my computer from my own template, but that was just hard and took forever. I think things will go a lot more smoothly if I use these pre-made ones!

Well, happy homemaking! I hope this website inspires you as it did me :-)

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And one more thing just for fun. I was feeling crafty yesterday, and I decided to jazz up a tissue box. It was so easy, and it turned out really cute! I just wrapped it in wrapping paper. The wrapping paper doesn't really match any room in my house, but it was the cutest kind we had.

Before:After:

At least I have one custom piece in my house now ;-)

Weekly Splurge and Reorganize

This week's weekly splurge was super cheap, and it made one corner of my living room look 100% better! (If I do say so myself :-P)

Here's my simple little purchase:

I love the natural-looking brown vase which I got for a mere $6. I bought 2 sets of sprigs to put inside for $1 each. So in all I spent $8. I bought it all at Family Dollar on a whim because I needed some cat food on my way home from work. Here is how this simple little purchase spruced up one corner of my living room.

Here it is before...pretty boring, a little unorganized. Needs some work:
And the fact that this cord has been showing for the past 6 months (can't believe we've already lived here for half a year!) has been DRIVING. ME. CRAZY.

Here's my simple solution:
Just by moving things around, I hid the cord and created a more interesting space! Plus, by moving more baskets into the bottom of the TV stand, I created more storage space, which cleaned off the coffee table! I also brought a wedding picture and my wedding memory jar over to add another touch. And because they were cluttering my bookcase on the other side of the room. I like it!

I still hate the TV stand and I think we need to paint the little brown baseboard/heater thing (on my to-do list for this summer!) But for a mere $8, I think I did pretty well! I might put a little basket on the other side of the TV, because the fact that it's not symmetrical annoys me :-P

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And just for an update on life in general, I found out yesterday that the school I work for wants me to be a math intervention teacher next year. I would enjoy this a lot more than what I'm doing now, and I'd have my own classroom! But there's one problem: they are expecting me to do the exact same job as the READING intervention teacher (except in math, obviously :-P) who gets paid a teachers salary, but they are still calling me an "aide" and not raising my pay or anything. It's kind of like a big slap in the face. But it will make it easy for me to tell them "no" if that's what I decide.

I could take this one of two ways. I could be thankful that I have a job, deal with the lousy pay and NO benefits, and just comfortably keep going day-to-day, glad that I have my own classroom, but not really HAPPY. Or I could take this as a sign that I should get the heck out of there and pursue something where I'd really thrive and be able to be used by God. This might be my reason to say "no" to the school, and find out what God has for me next.

Hmm, I'm going to be doing a lot of thinking in the next few months! They don't need to know my answer until right before the school year starts.

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful May day like I am! Today is my sister's last day home, so I'm taking her out to CiCi's for dinner, and then we might meander through the mall for awhile after that :-) I'm excited, but I'll miss her until the next time she comes home!!

A Special Day

[First and foremost, thanks, everyone, for your cookie suggestions! I think it might have something to do with the butter/margarine issue, and the fact that I softened it in the microwave (I had forgotten that was a no-no). I might try to bake some more next weekend for my parents when they get home from vacation. Hopefully they'll turn out better!]

I love Sundays. I really think that they should be a special day. God has set it aside as our designated day of rest. He also tells us to "remember the sabbath and keep it holy." I've gotta tell ya, I have had a HARD time really knowing what that means, especially in today's nonstop world. I've thought about it a lot, and I really think it means to just stop everything, worship God, spend time with the loved ones He's blessed us with, and SLOW DOWN to enjoy his creation for one day. We all need a day to rest, regroup, and stay in touch with our Father (we should do this everyday, but there's just something more sacred about Sundays, I guess).

Today was a perfect Sunday for me. I feel totally renewed, refreshed, and connected to the Lord. First thing this morning I went to church. The sermon and worship were amazing. It just really touched me today, and made me realize that even though the stress of life has gotten to me lately, God is in control and everything's going to be all right.

After church I did my little devotional and Bible reading before spending the afternoon with my sister. We went to see "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" at the local theater ($2.25 for a matinee there!) It was an okay movie...I love a good chick flick! After the movie, my sister and I went to Grinders for a late lunch/early dinner. I got the loaded vegetable pizza, and it was AMAZING.
Peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, cheese, pesto sauce....Heaven. I am excited that I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, too!

At dinner, Julie and I got into a pretty deep discussion about both of our futures. It was just fun to laugh and dream with her. And she is really the first person I've spoken seriously to about the fact that I might be turning away from the education profession. She understands me more than anyone else. Luke's a close second, but we've only been together for (almost) 5 years, married for (almost) 1 of those. That can't quite make up for a childhood/adolescence/early adulthood shared with a sister whose sentences I can complete and whose mind I can sometimes read. She totally understands, and told me that she would support me no matter what. It was a special time, and I'm glad I got to share it with her.

After that, I came home to REST. Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, right? I laid down on the couch while Luke was out playing softball with some friends. I meant to take a nap, but somehow got distracted by the internet :-P I spent a long time looking at homemaking websites and blogs. My passion for this area is growing daily, and I'm wondering where God is leading me with this! It's kind of exciting :-)

I really wanted to get up and just start doing things around the house: cleaning, organizing, decorating, etc. But I decided that Sunday is a gift God gives us to PREPARE for the week ahead. Not to work, so much. So I set up my home organizer for this week. Then a bunch of random things that need to be done just popped into my head AFTER I had already planned my weekly housework. So I decided I needed to a sort of to-do list notebook. Somewhere that I could write down random things on top of what I already have planned, and then schedule them into my weekly chore list later.
I know, I'm a crazy list-maker! But I can't help it. I have finally learned that this seems to be the only way I can get things done. So now I have 3 places to write things down: in my home organizing binder where I keep my final copies, my grocery list goes in another mini tablet, and my running to-do list goes on this cute, pink tablet above. 3 isn't too complicated, right?? I'll have to stop while I'm ahead :-P

Now I'm going to see if my husband will spend the rest of the evening with me. Maybe we can go for a walk, watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition together, or even just take a nap! I just haven't seen him much today, and want to spend some time with him.

Praise God that he gave us an extra day to spend with Him, our loved ones, and resting up and preparing for the week ahead.

May this be a blessed week for you :-)

Calling All Experienced Cookie Bakers!

Ugh...

It's a peaceful, rainy Saturday here at the Wallace house. I've been happily shopping and cleaning since I woke up this morning. I might have even taken a break to eat some potato soup and watch the end of Little Rascals (the movie - it was one of my favorites when I was younger!) at lunchtime. Everything is going great, Luke took my car to his parent's house so he could change my oil in their huge garage. I was alone in the house, and couldn't think of anything better to do than to bake cookies! Then I would have something to give Luke in return for changing my car's oil when he got home. As I was adding the ingredients and mixing the batter, I was expecting my cookies to turn out something like this:
I have not made chocolate chip cookies too many times in my oven at the new house, but the last time I made them I used THE SAME RECIPE, and they turned out so plump, soft in the middle, and crispy on the outside, just how I like them. Today, however, they turned out more like sad little pancakes. The only difference was that last time, I used regular chocolate chips, and this time I used Ande's Mint chunks. Could that change the whole consistency of the cookie??

I'm thinking that might be the reason. I made a second batch today with caramel chips instead of the Andes Mints, and they didn't turn out great, but they were a lot better!

I'm just wondering...why is my cookie-baking so inconsistent?? What could have caused my cookies to be totally flat and crunchy today? Why did I have to practically use a chisel to scrape them off of the cookie sheet today???

Is it because the last time I baked choc. chip cookies it was in January and this time it is a hot, humid day in May? I bet that has something to do with it too.

Well I would appreciate any advice any domestic divas out there could give me. I hope this is the last time I turn cookies into crunchy pancakes :-P

Speechless

I just watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy that I DVR'd last night (don't read on if you haven't watched it yet and plan to!). I am blown away. Like, not in a good way. I know I shouldn't get so into a show that it almost becomes reality to me, but I just can't believe that my 2 favorite characters are gone!
Seriously, I was talking to the TV and crying while Luke and Gabby were in the room. It was bad. And I was a little bit joking, but still! I just can't believe it! I knew they were both leaving the show, but I didn't know they were going to kill them both off! And maybe next season they'll show that they actually revived them both, but maybe they won't! Can I just tell you that when that elevator door opened and George was standing there in his uniform, I. LOST. IT. I don't know if Grey's will continue to be one of my favorite shows without George and Izzie.

Moving on...Not sure how great tonight is going to be because I desparately want to go out and DO SOMETHING, but I'm just so exhausted! Who knew getting these teeth taken out would cause so much fatique. A lot of it is probably just from the pain pills I'm taking, and because I went back to work today which was tiring. But I'm just gonna be honest. I'm grumpy! I want to go out and I want to be able to eat solid food! My jaw is still really sore and my cheek is so swollen I can't bite down without biting it. I think I'm going to take a nap and try to get into a better mood!

Well, I found out today that no one in my dad's department will be laid off! (I wrote yesterday that his company is down-sizing). Praise God! And he and my mom are headed down to Myrtle Beach tomorrow for a week! They're going with two of their friends, and I have to admit, I'm jealous. This is one of our family vacation spots, and they've never gone without my sister and I. And mom told me earlier that she'd rather be going with the two of us as a family trip than with their friends, which did kinda make me feel better :-) She said next year we'll have to go on a family trip somewhere, so I'll be looking forward to that.

Hopefully this nap will take away some of my grumpiness and the depressed feeling I got from watching Grey's Anatomy. I know, I'm pathetic :-P But if you watched it, you know it was a pretty heavy and depressing episode! I'll look forward to the fact that I have 2 fun birthday parties and a graduation party for my dear best friend who just finished nursing school to go to tomorrow. I'm just praying I can chew solid food by then, because there is guaranteed to be some good food at those parties! At least I'll probably be able to handle cake by then ;-)

I apologize for such an overly whiny post. I promise a more positive one next time :-)