Join Me in the Kitchen

I thought I would invite you into my kitchen tonight since I decided I'd try some new things :-)

#1: Poppy seed chicken. I found the recipe browsing online, and it sounded delicious.

#2: Mashed Potatoes. I have seriously never made them. The first meal my mom ever made my dad was mashed potatoes and gravy, and she said the gravy was like mashed potatoes (thick) and the potatoes were like gravy (runny). I've been scared to try to make these because of my mom's horror story.

I threw the chicken in a pot to boil, and went about cutting up the red skin potatoes (my best friend/domestic goddess next door told me they make the best mashed potatoes) I realized....DUH! I need GRAVY for my mashed potatoes. Oops...things like this are why I've gotten a reputation as a ditz! Oh well, I decided to make some parsley red skin potatoes instead, since I don't really know how to make gravy either :-P

Moving on. So here is the process I followed to make the poppy seed chicken. I told you I was inviting you into the kitchen :-) (It was delicious, you should try this recipe!)

I Boiled 4 chicken breasts
I mixed a 16 ounce container of sour cream, 1 can cream of chicken soup, and one can of cream of celery soup together.

I'm a little grossed out that it calls for a whole 16 ounce container of sour cream. Are we going to have heart attacks later tonight??
Looks kinda gross so far
While I waited for the chicken and potatoes to be done, I turned these crackers:
Into this
this recipe is one that you should make when you've had a bad day so you can take out your aggression on the defenseless crackers :-)

I had a chair sitting beside the counter so I could reach all my ingredients in the cupboards...Gabby decided she wanted to watch me cook. She so desperately wants some "people food." We're not sure why. She's never had any before, so we don't know why she begs like a dog for it. Oh well, she's cute anyway.

Anyway, when the chicken was done and cooled I tore it into bite-sized pieces. Or slightly bigger than bite-sized, because it was getting late and I was in a hurry! I got a late start because my sister called me and talked for about an hour (she is in the middle of a crisis with her roommate I guess). Grey's is on at 9, and I want to finish reading "The Constant Princess" so I can return it to the library tomorrow. I needed to hurry!

Next I put the chicken in the bottom of a casserole dish, spread the sour cream mixture on top, sprinkled on the crackers (1 stack, crushed) and poppyseeds (2 tsp). Then I realized the recipe called for THIS MUCH butter...we really are going to have heart attacks later:

It calls for 1/2 cup melted, in case you're wondering.

I drizzled the butter on top of everything else. Here's what it looked like before going into the oven. Is anyone else thinking it looks gross right now? I was a little nervous at this point
Right before I went to put it in the oven, I realized...oops! I had forgotten to preheat the oven to 350 degrees...that didn't help the fact that I was in a hurry! Anyway, it needs to bake for 20 - 25 minutes.
I made my potatoes while the chicken cooked. And of course poured two tall glasses of freshly made sweet (VERY sweet) iced tea...it's pretty much all we drink. We're not healthy people :-P Although I'm working on it!

And here you have it...the finished product. (Still working on making the food look pretty on the plate. Apparently I haven't learned that skill yet. Ha!)

Ready to be eaten at 7:30. We never eat that late! We were both starving. Anyway, it was a hit! Luke is very picky...he liked it and told me to make it again sometime! It was pretty easy, and it made a lot. I'm thinking it will be perfect for family reunions this summer :-)

That's all for tonight...another kitchen disaster avoided (those are my thoughts everytime I cook something that I don't horribly mess up somehow!)

Weekly Splurge

Yes, it's that time again!

Last night, Luke and I apologized and realized we were both being immature after our little stubborn fighth. We all have our moments, right? I must say, I feel a lot better today! That could be because of the retail therapy I took part in after work :-)

I had to buy some laundry detergent and a few other random things today. I decided I'd just hit up Family Dollar for my few purchases. Let me just tell you, I never knew Family Dollar had cute clothes! I'm a little bit embarrassed, but I bought 4 tops there! They were so cute, and dirt cheap...perfect for my weekly splurge! I couldn't pass these cute items up. Here they are:

2 tank-tops for $4 each!!
And 2 casual tops for $6 & $7...pretty hard to beat. And I thought they were adorable

Payless is right across the street from Family Dollar, so I can't go to one and not the other. I ended up spending some of my splurge money there as well. I will wear the white shoes with my Easter outfit (which I have yet to buy). And I couldn't pass up the flip flops.

I wear size 5, and Payless is about the only place that actually carries that size. Target and Walmart do, but they all run huge. I used to work in a shoe store and I can seriously tell a shoe's size just by looking at it most of the time...it's a wonderful talent, I know :-P But Walmart and Target size 5s are about the same size as a normal 5W or 5.5...too big for me! I'm sure you were just dying to know that :-P But yeah, I love payless.

In other news, it's April!! (Happy April Fool's Day! I fell for a few tricks at work. Those students get me every year :-P) And it's supposed to be 70 degrees tomorrow!! yay! I'm thinkin I need to wear flip flops to work! Here is proof that spring is here...a flower bud I found outside our house!
Just wait until it blooms and I can finally start filling out my spring firsts list:-P

Well I'm going to go...I need to give myself a pedicure so I can break out my toes and my sandals. In honor of the first day of April, I think I need to wear my new flip flops to KBC tonight ;-)

Happy spring! And don't let anyone fool you today!

Bad Night

Okay, I'm venting here. So don't read this post if you don't want to read some negativity :-P

Yesterday I wrote about how Luke and I were supposed to go out for dinner and shopping tonight. Well Luke played basketball for 2 and a half hours last night, and he was extremely tired and could barely move today. He decided he was too tired even to drive on our date night. I hate driving, so I was already annoyed. Luke just didn't seem like he was into the little date night, and I got mad. I told him I wasn't going if he was going to act like that, so I ended up pulling into a Taco Bell in Salem (a town about 10 minutes from our house), eating a nasty dinner, and then going home.

I guess we both had bad attitudes, and I'm still a little annoyed and so is he. I don't know why I'm being so honest here, but I decided to keep it real today. I hate it when people are fake when they blog, and act like everything is perfect, so here I am being honest, I guess.

So anyway, I'm sitting here trying to swallow my pride and go apologize. I thought maybe blogging would make me feel better :-P

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Sorry for all the negativity...I promise I won't post in a bad mood again for awhile :-P

Oh, I guess I do have something positive to say. Last night while Luke was at basketball, I watched "Music and Lyrics." I had gotten it at the library on Friday...gotta love free movies! I never rent anymore! Anyway, it was such an adorable chick flick! If you're ever in an extra girly mood, this is a good one to watch :-)

There, I ended on a positive note...

Another Random Post

I have absolutely nothing of interest to write about today. So I thought I'd just list a few random updates

1. I am sick. Not sick enough to call off work, but sick enough to feel miserable. Burning sinuses, watery eyes, and major congestion made it a very un-fun day at work today.

2. On top of being sick, I have a gigantic toothache. I think my wisdom teeth seriously need to be taken out. My gums are completely swollen around the bottom left one, and it HURTS. Almost unbearably. I wish I wasn't so terrified of the dentist! My mom is very "teeth conscious" because she was a dental assistant for a few years before I was born. My sister and I were subjected to many hours in the dentist's or orthadontist's chair when we were little, and it is still a terrifying place for me now. There's only one kind of doctor I hate going to more than a dentist. Bet you can probably guess what kind. lol

3. Luke finished our little platform for our grill. Pictures to come soon. We grilled cheeseburgers yesterday. I made carmalized onions with brown sugar to go on them and it was delish! Also, I made pasta salad, half a sweet potato for myself, and I fried up some french fries for Luke. Can't forget the huge glasses of sweet tea we had as well! It was such a summer-y meal, although we had to eat it inside. It was only 40 degrees out!

4. There was snow on the ground this morning when I woke up. Yuck. It's all melted now, thank goodness!

5. Jon and Kate plus 8, The Bachelor, Secret Life of the American Teenager (yes, I'm a dork and watch that show), AND The City all had their season finales in the last few weeks. Whatever will I do tonight?! j/k, I'm sure I'll find plenty to do around here!

6. Apparently I am awesome according to the 4th grade class I work with because I have read some of the Twilight books and I like the movie. Score! :-P

7. Luke and I are going out to buy our Easter outfits tomorrow night. I always use Easter Sunday as an excuse to buy a new dress. Here we are last year...note that Luke is OF COURSE wearing scarlet and gray, and I have had over 10 inches cut from my hair since then. I think sometimes I miss my long hair. It will probably never be that long again, though. It was becoming a pain. It's not fun when you shut your hair in a car door. Seriously. Multiple times.
It's sad to say I don't think I fit into that dress anymore! Oh well, I'm working on it. It's getting closer to swimsuit season, so I'm eating a lot more healthily. Is that a word? Oh well :-) Anyway, we are heading to Boardman right after work tomorrow to hit the mall and probably the food court as well. Because of Dave Ramsey, we don't go out too often and we especially don't buy things for ourselves very often, so we're excited to spend some money! lol

8. Speaking of Dave Ramsey, we have our last Financial Peace University class next week. It has seriously changed our lives. I recommend his program and any of his books. Luke and I have saved up money in an emergency fund, and paid off 2 of our credit cards in just the 3 months of the class! We plan on paying off the rest of our debt (except the house) and then living without credit cards or loans. It's the way to go, I think. Please check out his website or his books on Amazon if you are interested. It will change your life if you follow his plan! Anyway, next week we "graduate." We're having a mini party with cake and ice cream afterwards. And there are drawings for restaurant gift certificates for people with perfect attendance and who have finished all of their homework. Luke and I qualify, so we're crossing our fingers! lol

9. We have a 4-day week next week for good Friday, and the we get Monday and Tuesday of the next week off as well. Yay for a spring break, even though it is short.

10. Luke turned off his basketball last night (he's soo into March Madness, and seriously has at least 20 brackets!) and watched Jim Gaffigan on Comedy Central with me. I was so glad that he gave up watching basketball so we could watch something togheter that we both like. And we ended up almost crying we were laughing so hard. I think he's my favorite comedian. He's absolutely hilarious, but he keeps it pretty clean. I would love to see him live sometime, and I kind of hinted that to Luke. lol...we'll see, I guess!

I guess I had a lot more to say than I thought I did! Ha! Have a great Monday, and thank the Lord that it's almost over! At least the boring part for me is over!

Carpe Diem

Today was fun. I had planned to go visit my grandpa in the hospital, come home and grill burgers for dinner with Luke, and then go to Bible study. Well, there was a change of plans. Sometimes you gotta just seize the day :-)

I still ended up going to visit Grandpa. I went with Mom, and it just so happened that Julie (my younger sister) was free for the afternoon. My Grandpa is at a hospital in Canton, which is right in between where me and Mom live, and Akron, where Julie lives. So she met us at the hospital. Mom asked if we wanted to go out for dinner and some shopping after we left the hospital. I decided that since I don't get to spend much time with Julie, I'd abandon my plans and spend the rest of the evening with my two favorite women :-) I called Luke to make sure he was okay with it, of course. The burgers can wait until tomorrow, right?

Well Grandpa was doing very well! He was up out of bed, so that was good! He was in a great mood, and very talkative. The only thing he's upset about is his soft-food diet. He's pretty picky, and does not like all the mushed up food they are making him eat! But it's better than the all liquid diet he was on last week! They are sending him to the Community Care unit of our local hospital on Monday, and he should be released to go home on or before Friday from there. He can't wait!

Later we went to eat at one of my favorite places: Chik-fil-a. It was delicious, as always. Then we spent a long time at JoAnn Fabrics and Target before Julie had to head back to campus. I found the material I'll be using for my piano bench project (I'm turning an old piano bench into a little bench with a cushion for our bedroom).You like? The pink is a little girly, but it's the only pink I've added to the whole house. And it's my favorite color, so hopefully Luke can deal with it! I painted the piano bench white last weekend, and I can't wait to put the whole project together!

Although I'm missing Bible study and my dinner with Luke tonight, I'm glad I decided to spend some time with Mom and Julie. Luke decided to go out with a friend for fast food, so I'm sure he's glad too. And tomorrow we will spend the whole day together. We have church together and We're grilling our burgers for lunch, then we were invited over to his parents house for the afternoon Cavs game and dinner, and then we have our FPU class in the evening. Then we will probably come home and unwind as we like to do on Sunday nights to get ready for the week ahead.

I feel a cold coming on. I've been sneezing all day. Is it bad that I'm hoping i'm sick so I can take a day off from work? Summer really can't come fast enough. And hopefully I'll be in a better place next school year!

All right, well I'm off to read until Luke gets home :-) Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

P.S. I just found out it's supposed to SNOW Sunday night into Monday morning. Dang it, I thought we were done with that already! Dare I hope for a delay or snow day? I better not get my hopes up!

Vampires and Boleyns on the Brain

So I had lots of random thoughts today. I thought I'd share a few.

- This morning I went outside with the fourth grade science class because they were on a mission to find living things. It was cold, foggy, and wet from last night's rain, and we were out beside the foreboding trees in the forest behind the school. For a moment there I felt like I was in Forks, and I half expected Edward Cullen to fly by and sweep me up in his arms. Loving my daydreams at 8:00 during science class. It reminded me that I MUST order the Twilight blu-ray on Amazon ASAP!

-I also realized I need to finish reading the Twilight books!! I'm only halfway through the series.

- I got pulled to sub AGAIN this afternoon (3rd time in a week), and wondered why I always seem to end up with recess duty when I am pulled to sub. So today I got to enjoy my everyday playground duty from 7:30 - 8 in the morning (kids come to school early for some reason and I get to baby-sit them :-p) AND I got to have recess duty for another half-hour around noon. At least it gave me some more free time out in the sun. And maybe I daydreamed about Edward Cullen some more. And of course I daydreamed about my own husband who I have decided is the William Stafford to my Mary Boleyn ;-)

- Spent my break time in the afternoon on Wikipedia researching all of the Boleyns while the kids were at gym. Yes, I am a nerd.

- After work I made a quick jaunt over to the library where I picked up "The Constant Princess" and "A Voice in the Wind." I cannot wait to have some free time to jump right into those books! I'm visiting my grandpa in the hospital tomorrow with my mom, and I plan on reading during the 45 minute drive.

-Had pizza at my parent's house for dinner! Score! Free food and I didn't have to cook.

- Visited my poor grandma, who is missing my grandpa very much while he's been in the hospital. She's been drowning her sorrows with QVC purchases...we thought she needed an intervention. But seriously, it was nice to visit her and I think she appreciated the company.

- Just finished watching "The Other Boleyn Girl" with my mom. The book was 10,000 times better, and the movie was WAY more depressing than the book.

- Luke and I are about to watch "Role Models" at 11:15 PM. I need something funny after that heavy book and movie! I guess it will be a late night for us, and I'm wondering if I can even stay awake for even half of the movie!

Have a wonderful evening. I'm off to laugh with Luke :-)

Must-Read

I just finished reading "The Other Boleyn Girl" (finally!) It was such a good book, but slightly depressing! I kind of feel like it has made me lose all hope in humanity. Just kidding...sort of :-P I know I'm making it sound horrible, but it really was good, and I highly recommend it! It's pretty long, and spans many years, so it's a good one to read when you have lots of free time to just escape into the world of the Mary and Anne Boleyn. I read it because I have no life :-P

I'm excited about going to the library tomorrow and picking up "The Constant Princess." It's by Philippa Gregory, who also wrote "The Other Boleyn Girl." According to a website I found today, "The Constant Princess" takes place chronologically before "The Other Boleyn Girl." I guess I kind of read them in the wrong order. There are a few more books that take place after TOBG that I'm excited to read as well! Looks like I'll be busy reading this spring and summer!

Once I finish this next book, I'll finally try some Francine Rivers books. I'm just too caught up right now to switch gears. I'm not quite ready yet to move on from Philippa Gregory :-)

This post may be totally boring you, but I just wanted to let you know how wonderful TOBG was.

Also, for a Grandpa update. He's doing well, they think his stroke was just a mini stroke. He should be released from the hospital in the next day or two, but he will not be able to go home quite yet! They want to send him to the Community Care unit of our local hospital for about a week before he goes home. This was supposed to be 1 simple surgery, in and out of the hospital in a day or 2...however, he is going on 2 weeks of being in the hospital, with another week expected after this. I'm just happy that he's okay, and it looks like he might be coming home soon. Thank you for all your prayers!

Goodnight :-)