The way things are...

I haven't posted in a while... well, let me take that back, I tried to post, and I had a long post about freezer crock-pot meals, and how awesome it was... and then it didn't post, and it only saved half of what I had typed out and it was long.  Then... the rest of the month went to crap.  Today, I found this, and it was perfect.  I <3 you Hallmark.

Once things get a little better, and I'm feeling more up to it, and less like slamming my head into a wall, I will update the world on what all has been happening.

Promise.  :)

Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna

Today's post is brought to you by Pinterest.  I freakin' LOVE Pinterest because it gives you so many good ideas for so many different things.  I've pretty much stopped searching the internet for new recipes because my Pinterest friends post enough delicious looking stuff that I want to try. Seriously, go look at my Pinterest food section.  Drooling yet?

While I haven't made everything that I have collected on there so far, I have made an effort to try at least one thing on there a week.  A few weeks ago Jason and I tried some grilled Brussels sprouts with an aoili dipping sauce that was delicious, but I need to snag the picture from him so that people know what the food really turns out like.  That's the one thing I hate about cookbooks.  No ones food ever turns out that pretty.  Let's be real.  

Anyway, on with the food!

This weeks venture was Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna, which was adapted from Tasty Tidbits.  I am usually not a fan of noodle recipes that require working with the noodles (like stuffed shells or lasagna noodles) because they always break or something else tragic happens.  But, I am a fan of cheese, and artichokes, so I thought I would give it a try.  This is a sauceless recipe, as well as not including ricotta cheese, which was ok by me because I think ricotta has a funky texture, (I'll eat it anyway) but it is a super creamy, and super deliciously cheesy recipe.  How can I go wrong?

It was a little pricier than I'd like it to be, but some of the more expensive ingredients (see: sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, which cost us almost $10 for an 8oz jar) can be used for several recipes as we only used about 1/3 of the jar.  It turned out delicious!  Even Mr. I-Hate-Casseroles liked it.  Unfortunately I didn't have any fresh basil so I ended up using dried, which I am sure impacted the flavor a bit, so I would definitely recommend making the effort to find some fresh stuff, but it was still incredibly delectable.  It made at least 6 very hearty sized-portions, and I'm sure you would be able to get 8 or more out of it if you included a side salad or bread.

Chicken and Artichoke Lasagna

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts 

1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped 

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes 

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened 

1 cup milk 

1/2 tsp. garlic powder 

1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil, chopped

12 lasagna noodles, cooked

Directions

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COMBINE chicken, artichokes, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan and tomatoes. Beat cream cheese, milk and garlic powder with mixer until well blended; stir in basil. Mix half with the chicken mixture. 

SPREAD half the remaining cream cheese mixture onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with 3 noodles and 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat layers of noodles and chicken mixture twice. Top with remaining noodles, cream cheese mixture and mozzarella; cover. 

BAKE 30 min. or until heated through. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve. 

Today

I woke up, made banana bread from scratch... and butter. :) Both were delicious.

This is just the beginning...

Some of you may have heard from Jason that I went a little crazy with some bins... here is just one small portion of what I have done:

Thats right.  They all have their own little bins with their own little categories.  Jason's favorite is the 'Osama Bin Ramen' bin, which sadly enough is actually filled with ramen.  I really don't know what we're going to do with all of it... more to come...

Personal Goals

So I have made two recent personal goals:

1. Update this more often then once every few months. (Whoops!)


2. Organize! Organize! Organize! I have been reading a few blogs, and I think it may be an epidemic. You read one blog where someone organizes, and you're like, wow, why didn't I think of that? And then you pick up a magazine with new ideas on how to save space as well... and it just starts a whole mess. As we are trying to save money right now, we have to start small. I'm starting in our pantry, which is a closet full of mess! I really wish I had taken before pictures because it would make even the slobbiest of slobs cringe. I read in some magazine that you can use wire or see through bins to help organize into categories, and I was hooked at that very moment. I have't been able to find any cheap wire or see through bins (sad) so I am stuck with some plain ole' plastic ones. Target had some on sale for $2 each, so I snagged a few. However, they only had black, fuchsia, and lime green. We took the last four black ones at that store, and plan to pick up more tomorrow. I already see an improvement in space and it feels great. I think it will also help with our grocery shopping issue where we just buy frivolously and in excess because we don't know what we even have. Some of the space issue was old stuff, and we literally had items that expired before we even moved into this house. Eeesh. I plan to tackle the garage sometime soon as that is also a big disaster and we can barely even walk in it, much less get a car in it. However, I will have to wait for it to cool down before I take on that job. The kitchen, and our den need some work also, but I figure baby steps are a good thing.

In case you haven't heard the news:

We are famous now:
http://www.chapelonthefarm.com/weddingsreceptions.html

We painted a room in our house, goodbye ugly green, hello nice blah bland colors <3!

[caption id="attachment_514" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Looks lovely!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_512" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Looks great with all the brown (yeck)"][/caption]

We finally built the sewing/craft table Jason got me for Christmas:

[caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Spaaaace!"][/caption]

Aaaaaand I now cook fancy schmancy things at home like Chicken with a Reisling-Orange Sauce.  All.  Made.  From.  Scratch.  Check me out:





I also learned today, that dad, no matter how hard he tries, is NO MATCH for momma's comfort in a thunderstorm.  I love our puppies.

A picture says a thousand words

Except in this case, not really.  I'm just lazy, so here, have some pictures:

Invitation Madness

All Done

 

I wish I had a job at Food Network. Look at that presentation!

Memorial Day Corn. Why yes, yes it was delicious.

 

That's all.  Goodnight.

 

Tra la la

Jason is working until 2 am, so I am trying my hardest to stay up until he gets home.  It is currently 42 minutes after my absolute bedtime (10.)  Generally, if Amanda doesn't get to be in bed by 10 she is a TERROR.  I can only imagine what the children will be like.  :P  I need my sleep, and I value it completely.  I did take a nap this afternoon as I have NOT been sleeping well at all... however, I slept through the timer, and woke up at 6:05.  I flipped out, thinking it was a work day, and why hadn't the alarm gone off, and OMG, where is Jason, why is he not in bed with me, where did he go... a few minutes later... I realized: oh, it's Friday, work is over, and it is 6 pm not 6 am-- we are all good.  Phew.  That is how much sleep I have been getting.  I don't even know what day it is.

So as a few of you may know, Jason caved into my crazy last weekend, and he allowed me (I didn't give him a choice really) to take our pups to a Dog Whisperer.  Not The Dog Whisperer, but a really good one, that not only helped us communicate, but gave us a lot of help with other things in training aspects.  Her name was Krista Cantrell, she has actually written several books, and been on TV and blah blah blah... and totally not a hoax, as I am sure know some of you thought she was... She had some AMAZING insight and knowledge.  Jason was skeptical until she got to Lucy, and then he was sold.  I recorded the session, that we went to with two of my co-workers (as one had been to her before, so we set up a "group" like session) but unfortunately, we had to stop recording during Lucy's session, and when I went to save it, having not used the program, screwed something up, and the last hour (which was ALL Lucy) was not saved.  There are some interesting tidbits in there from Maggie (co-workers dog who went first), Landon, who is a ham, and Sadie (other co-workers dog), plus about 5 minutes of Lucy before we had to stop.  The file is about 2 hours long, but interesting.  You can find a zip version, and the straight MP3 version, here. 

A few weeks ago, I built a garden.  I think I mentioned it.  I put up pictures of it in the gallery.  Well, our sweet devil of a dog, Lucy, decided to jump into it, and have a hay-day in the dirt yesterday, demolishing everything in there.  I was so upset, I didn't know what to do.  All the onions were shredded, and there was no saving them, and I got to save five out of the 6 jalapeno plants.  Luckily, we have a separated yard, and we moved the garden into the back yard, where they cannot get into (now anyway.)  Sadly though, I don't think the jalapenos are going to make it.  I replanted them yesterday, and when I went to water them today... they were all shriveled and... almost dead.  So sad.  :(  Luckily she only got into one bin, and not both.  The tomatoes, cucumbers, and artichokes still have a chance.

As for the gallery, I added a few new pictures / categories:

• Camping


• The Garden


• And the kids and Jason sleeping on a Sunday  (really important, I know.) 

Enjoy!

A day like any other...

… except much, much worse.

The one, and generally only thing I like about my birthday being where it is, is that while everyone is worrying about their New Year’s resolutions for the first week of the year, I am sitting back, calm, and cool, because I know I can slack off, and start my «year« 9 days later than everyone because… it’s my birthday! :P The day wasn’t as bad as some I’ve had in the past, but it was pretty stressful. Usually my birthday is overlooked due to the fact of two major holidays back to back, and the hustle and bustle are not gone… Amanda’s birthday? Amanda who? That’s usually how it goes.

This morning didn’t actually start out bad. Jason is such a doll. He let me sleep in a few extra minutes, and when I woke up, he gave me my birthday stash, two new pajama pants (which, may seem like a mediocre gift, however, I loveeeeee pajamas and would live in them and go everywhere in them if I could, so I was beyond thrilled.) I also got a glowing light bulb (which is hard to explain, but it looks cool) along with my Froggie Fudgies, and an I Love My Geek shirt (because I do, and now I can tell the world!) The second we closed the front door to our safe little domain… everything just exploded into a bad day of doom.

My boss was being a (fill in mean word here, because I honestly can’t think of one that wouldn’t offend someone) and had already upset me the day before.  Jason and I gave him the courtesy of calling him to tell him we would be like 10 minutes late, and instead of just letting us be late, he insisted that we go buy donuts for everyone to «make up for it.«  That irritated me because he knows we’re short on money, and then I had room to think about it more, and not only did that make us even more late, both losing 30 minutes a piece, but the donuts, cost more than what we actually make combined for the time that we lost, so it was a bum deal.  When we walked in, of course we got, «the look« which pretty much just put tears in my eyes, and then my mom called to tell me happy birthday, which then set me off, and I had to go sit and cry in the bathroom to regain control, then everyone is asking what’s wrong, and I just wanted to crawl under my desk and go back home.  Then once everyone was thanking us for the donuts, I just got more upset, and wanted to shove them up their noses!  One of my sweet co-workers however, took it upon herself to get me a card that everyone signed, and got me a burrito from Sonic, so that lightened the mood.  I trudged through the morning grudgingly, having to do favors left and right for people I really didn’t want to do favors for, and then my boss announced he was going to take me, Jason, and the office manager out to lunch.

We ended up going to California Pizza Kitchen because one person would suggest something and someone would turn it down, and I didn’t care where we went… and that’s where we ended up.  The rest of the work day just drug on and on; I finally go to do my job at about 2:45 when I was finally allowed to get back to doing my own thing instead of everyone else’s.

Once we got home, we snuggled with the puppies for a bit, which can’t help but make anyone feel better.  We then headed to Walgreen’s to get a prescription filled, where we found 100 white lights for 99¢ so we bought 12 boxes of them because quite frankly, I’ve searched high and low on Craigslist for used items like this for our wedding, and they just don’t have much in that line, or we have to drive super far, so I’d say $12 for 1,200 lights wasn’t too bad, and if we can’t use them, it wasn’t a huge waste of money anyway.  I also figure we probably only need 10 strands, but wanted to get a few extra in case there were issues and we needed more.  We also got 2 bags of 25 bows each for 10¢ and 4 rolls of ribbon (in wedding colors of course) also for 10¢ so we really didn’t do too bad.  I stinkin’ love clearance!

Once 7:00 rolled around, we headed for Buca, where Jason had made reservations for the kitchen table.  When we got there, he begged and pleaded with them to not sing, and they didn’t (thank god, I don’t know if I could handle that on a normal day, much less today.)  This time, was so much more active than any other time we had been there.  We got a glimpse of every meal that left the kitchen, and the head chef that was there was so friendly and nice, and chatted with us for a bit, and had his staff whip up a free plate of fried mozzarella, which was soooo good.  We also tried one of their salads as an appetizer instead of our normal pizza, and that was also so good.  Seriously, Olive Garden has NOTHING on Buca di Beppo.  Nothing.  This place is so good, that if anyone ever comes to visit us, I insist that we go there and eat.  Everything is so darned delicious, and the portion sizes are humongous, I am not even kidding.  For example, we have not had them, but their meatballs are the size of a softball, not a small baseball, but like one of those huge softballs.  We usually have enough for a meal and a snack or two more meals the next day, that’s how much food you get for your buck.  After dinner, (well we were pretty much full by the time we had the salad) I got my free birthday desert of Apple Crustata, (which is like fried apples with almonds, and caramel layered on a flaky crust) which was to die for.  TO DIE FOR.  Jason was going to let me have that while he took the ice cream, but he took one bite and insisted that I share :P  Needless to say, Jason left there after loosening his belt three notches, and he made it clear that his pants were not falling off when we left.  Now we are home and absolutely miserable.

I have soooo much more to update, and it’s really important too, but we have to get up early tomorrow for the bridal fair!

Setting things in motion.

1. We are canceling our home phone.  According to the phone company, we only use it 100 minutes a month (which, even that much is shocking) and they are raising their rates... so if you have the 602.441.2472 phone number, go ahead and delete it.  We have the number until mid-January, but the phones aren't even hooked up, and it goes to my cell phone anyway.


2. Jason had a job interview on Wednesday.  According to him, it went well (due to the fact that a friend, and former co-worker apparently wrote all the interview questions specifically so that only Jason would know the answers) but they told him they had 47 more applicants to go through, and he wouldn't hear anything for at least two weeks, which sucks for two reasons:
   
   
   
   1. Our vacation starts in two weeks.
   
   
   2. Should he get the job, this shoves him back to not working for two months, and I am not sure if we can actually (financially) survive that.  :(  * But at least he will have a job... right? * : /
   
   
   
   


3. We finally got to meet with the caterer, and despite the original flub, we love her!  Her prices for everything (being tables, chairs, linens, tableware, food, servers and bartender, no drinks though, we have decided to provide those per her recommendations, as it will save us money) was under $4,000.  However, that does not include the DJ, cake, flowers, or photographer; she can contract those, but does not specifically "provide" those services, and such, cannot give us price quotes, pictures, descriptions, anything.


4. We booked the caterer for the 3rd of October 2009.  It was only $100 and we can change everything up until something like 10 days before the event.  Didn't seem so bad, since the people before us had the 3rd weekend in October, and they were the last slot.  However, we don't know if the venue is still available, and if it is, we still don't have the $1,000 deposit for it.  Anyone want to loan / give us a grand and a little piece of mind?  Heh.


5. We went and blew some of the gift cards we got for Christmas.  I got some much needed pants, and we got the doggies some treats.  We also got Lucy the cutest little hoodie but it didn't fit and she bit Jason so we had to return it.  :(

[caption id="attachment_284" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lucy loves her bone... so much that in 24 hours its already 2/3 gone."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_285" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Landon also loves his bone, however, his is still whole, and he likes to carry it around and thump it against things."][/caption]

Hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!
: )

Some answers, and the Christmas list

If you have ever wondered why we haven’t invited you over, it is because we are slobs. Gross, disgusting slobs.

A while back we decided that we wanted a doggie door. The only “good” place (it’s not even that good of a place) to put it, was in the room that we used for an office (although we will have to do some yard modifications.) For a few weeks now, I’ve been on this get everything disinfected and clean kick (I blame the dishwasher) and cleaning things like mad. I am sure we create as much dust as the next guy, however, our dogs are dirt magnets. There is so much dirt in this place it is disgusting. We dust the TV on a Saturday, by Monday it has a nice thick layer of dirt on it. It is nearly impossible to keep anything clean. Anyway, back on track, Jason and I decided that moving our computers into the big spare bedroom would be better, because now that I have my lovely sewing machine, I need a room to store all the stuff, so instead of us being in separate rooms, we will combine into one big one. Yesterday, we went to IKEA so that I could get an early birthday present of a lovely desk. If you didn’t know previously, I have literally been computing out of a closet. Before that I had a small glass desk on wheels that couldn’t fit everything that I had / wanted on it, and it was nearly impossible to do school work on it, as I had to set up TV trays to even hold the books. Anyway, I went from this:

[caption id="attachment_259" align="aligncenter" width="202" caption="The Closet Desk"][/caption]

To this:

[caption id="attachment_260" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Awesome desk of awesomeness!"][/caption]

I have always wanted a hutch desk, as I like the whole storing up instead of out / sideways. Walls have always been such a waste to me, especially since we have no awards, degrees, or pictures to even hang on them for the most part, and the ones we do have, we have never taken the time to hang. Needless to say, I LOVE IT! It is actually two parts, the desk, and then the hutch were both sold separately, and then Jason let me get the glass top because I like to spill things, and we got the whole shebang plus a cord keeper, two baby surge protectors (which have already been used, even though Jason didn’t think we needed them) and a bottle opener for just over $200. We don’t really have the money to spend, but I’ve been holding back $500 in my ING account for “emergencies” and this will let me be more productive with school and such! (I promise!) Also, it let Jason not feel like shit for, in his words, a bad Christmas because he didn’t have a job, and didn’t get me “everything” I wanted. I think he did fine, and I had a GRAND Christmas, but he doesn’t feel that way.

Oh yeah, so back to us being slobs. While cleaning out the other room (the one where the dogs have been staying) we literally went through half a box of dust cloths (like the Swiffer ones, but generic brand because not only are we cheap, we go through them like air.) So gross. We also vacuumed, and I am sure the bag is overflowing with dirt. We are both still sneezing our brains out left and right because of it. I have to take breaks from cleaning the old office just to get a breath of fresh air, well, that and the shredder keeps heating up. I just want to get everything clean and fresh for the New Year!  We did however, have to put out mini-fridge to rest, which broke my heart, even though its been broken for months.  I will miss you mini-fridge... I loved how you cooled my Diet Pepsi.  : (

On with the Christmas talk!

We both got off work at about 1:30, grabbed a bite to eat so that we didn’t have to “waste” time by making something ourselves. (Gosh, we are lazy!) Once we got home, we ate, got the dogs riled up, and then had to search the entire house to find all the presents we had misplaced. Once we finally got the car packed and everything together, we left at about 4:30… can you imagine what we would be like if we had children? We’d have to plan for weeks in advance simple trips to the grocery store! We headed out of town a different way than we usually do, trying to miss all the outgoing traffic from Phoenix. Shocking enough, even though we were skeptical, it worked and we arrived in Tucson at about 6:15. We waited for my mom to get home from church, and Jason messed around... as per usual:

Once dinner came around, I had delicious prime rib, while everyone else had lobsters.

[caption id="attachment_263" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jason named his, Esteban."][/caption]

The majority of the rest of the night was spent wrapping presents, which lasted until about 12:30, and we were exhausted. I woke up at 8ish, dragged Jason’s butt out of bed around 8:45, and we had bagels for breakfast, and then started opening up our gifties!

I honestly don’t know how it happened, because I know everyone is tight on money, but we got some AWESOME gifts this year:

Jason
Flowering Tea Pot
Tiki Wind Chime
Slippers
Stuffed Penguin
Curious George at the Aquarium
Penguin Bank
Snowman Ornament
Beverage Warmer
Marley & Me (from my mom)
Penguin Ornaments
Bartending for Dummies
Star Wars : The Force Unleashed (For Wii)
Contigo Coffee Cups (x2)
Wooden Puzzles
4,000 Wii Points (Which have been spent on the Wii Browser, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros 2 and 3, and Bubble Bobble, with more points to spend.)
Poopin' Penguin
Waddling Penguin
Audio Cord (so he can plug his Zune right into his car, and play music)
Phone case
Glasses Cleaner

Amanda
Stuffed Dalmatian
Curious George and the Firefighters
Snowman Bank
Snowman Ornament
Staple-Free Stapler
X-Ray Bag
Scarf (Handmade from one of my mom's clients)
Tape measure / screw driver / flashlight combo
Marley & Me (from Jason)
Snowman Coin Purse
Wii Fit Mat
Tripod and Camera Bag
Sewing Scissors (8" Dressmakers Shears & 5" Knife Edge)
USB Owl
Sewing Machine (even though I got it a month before, it was "for" Christmas)
Hungry Girl Cook Book
Fire Jewel Swarovski Necklace
Poopin' Reindeer Key chain
Meh. Hoodie
Popping Edamame key chain

For both of us
Entertainment Book (omg, yay a years worth of coupons, I'm in heaaaven!)
Dip / Cheese Ball mixes
Duracell Color Mini Charger (Green with 4 AAA and 4 AA batteries included)
Camping Shower (no more stinky campers!)
Shower Bags (x3)
Lantern (with added propane and extra mantles)
$30 Bed Bath and Beyond Gift Card
$50 (2-$25) Safeway Gift Cards
$25 Joann's Gift Card
$25 Kohls Gift Card
$25 AMC Gift Card
$25 PetsMart Gift Card
Lotto Tickets

For the puppies
Food bowls (for grandma's house so we don't use her Tupperware anymore :p)
New blankets (red for Landon, pink for Lucy)
Mans (that they fight over constantly, and Landon had "dis-armed" his within the first 10 minutes)

I hope I didn't forget anything...  but see what I mean?! :D

Being fat pays off.

Yeah, you heard me.

The $1,100 that we spent on food alone in the last 3 months (that doesn't include alcohol or other crap that we buy) saved us $1.10 in gas, knocking it down to a whopping 42.9¢ per gallon.

Our final bill was $5.27 for almost 12 ¼ gallons of gas.  Sweet justice.  We are sticking it to the gas man!

Carrying on…

Ok, so where did I leave off?

So last night, I spent the majority of the night experimenting with peppermint bark. I made a double chocolate batch, and cinnamon bark, which came out… just not really as I had planned. We could not find cinnamon candy canes anywhere, so Jason suggested I try cinnamon imperials and break them up by blending them. That worked great until the blending part, which turned them into cinnamon powder, and I went ahead with it anyway. It was an “interesting” batch to say the least, and I don’t think I will be sending any of it out. I think next time I will keep them whole, they are about the size that the candy canes should be when you put them in, but then again, the candy canes, which are easy to break when you don’t want to, I had to end up wrapping in a double Ziploc bag, and then a towel, and smashing them with a hammer. The cooking life is not easy, let me tell you.

This brings me to my next item on the agenda, the cooking site. I’ve already posted a few recipes that I had from way back when, and some of the new things I’ve tried. It’s been very active as of late, but once the holidays are over, it will probably slow down a ton. But you should check some of them out. I think they are pretty tasty. :) (And they all come with a picture that isn’t all fancy-schmancy-cookbook-beautified!)  There is also a list of the most recent posted recipes off to the right.

Tonight, Jason and I went to Souper Salad, because they are cheap, give unlimited food, and provided us with a nice non-distracting environment to do Jason’s midterm (that he finally got the access code to.) We were there for about an hour, and I helped him with notes and picking out the parts he had to include in his project. It brought back bad memories, because I only took that horrible midterm two months ago. Good riddance!

We were also slightly celebrating. Because my boss is so awesome, and we are getting short-handed soon, and super busy (like really busy, like I actually want people to stop dying, we’re getting in 3-6 cases in a DAY, and have 20+ concurrent, which means super busy workload) and he said that he would hire Jason for odd jobs, but basically wanted him in the system so that he is ready to go when we need him. Jason just has to take the drug test tomorrow, and I think he’s set. He will be doing a lot of work for me, because I am currently doing two and a half jobs because no one else has time to do them (and I’m not sure why they think I do) so my paperwork has been so behind. I probably have about 50 files sitting on my desk, and the pile grows larger daily, of files that need to be finalized and filed away. We also had a HUGE project a few weeks ago which included pulling files from a specific insurance policies and a specific casket company to get rebates on caskets, which was a huge profit (well maybe not in their eyes, but it was over twenty-thousand dollars worth, so I’ve heard) so all those files (probably 100+) need to be filed away in various storage locations as well. And then there’s running. I will lose my runner, Fred, at the end of December because he is taking two weeks off, and while the job has already been asked upon someone else, she is probably going to be put on services (as we are losing a Funeral Director for surgery) and then Jason could be my runner. I don’t really know how it’s all going to work out, but at least it will be something for him to do, he’s already going stir crazy at home. Plus, haha I just can’t stop, my boss wants him to be on the payroll for future computer issues that may arise. So hopefully he will be kept busy, and I will have a load off.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="189" caption="Preeeettttty (LG Lotus)"][/caption]

The other day, I met my dream phone on TV. Tonight, before dinner, we went in to the Sprint Store, and looked at it. It is so beautiful, I could cry. It is a purple PDA flip. Since I’ve had my MotoQ for almost a year, I can’t imagine going back to a normal phone. The one thing I don’t like about my phone (well the main thing) is that I have to lock it every time I put it down, or I end up calling Guatemala! Pain in the ass, but that’s where the flippy awesomeness comes in. Santa, if you want to drop one of those beauties in my stocking, I won’t mind. ;) Did I mention it’s purple? Yeah, its purple, metallic purple, even the keys illuminate purple. I love it!

I don’t know why, because our Christmas shopping is pretty much complete, but I have been looking at home-made gifts a lot, and I’ve found a few that I thought we’re just too good to keep to myself. The first one, is more kid oriented, and is a Pocket Advent Calendar. It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it’s so adorable. I wish I had someone to make it for… although it’s a little late now. Another thing I came across was Homemade Gifts in a Jar, things like brownie or muffin mixes prepared in a jar so all you have to do is mix and bake. I’ve always thought these were cute, and very simple ideas, but again, it’s kind of late for me to do it for Christmas, especially this year, but some of them could be year-round type gifts. I am definitely bookmarking these for next year.

And lastly, something I haven’t posted about in a while: The Wedding! This Friday (well, hopefully) we are starting to look at locations. The one I am trying to set up an appointment for is the Waterfront. I found a list of wedding vendors online. The list had everything from reception sites to wedding cakes, and this one was ranked as $ versus the rest of Phoenix which was $$-$$$$ and Jason and I both really liked it. There were a few other places, but I wasn’t so big on their pictures, so we are checking this place out first. Also, I’m kind of bum on the whole wedding deal not only because of the financial situation but because of my “wedding court”. My Maid of Honor, whom I still haven’t asked, has been kind of giving me the brush off and unless I plan on asking her through MySpace, I don’t know when I’d get the “chance” to ask her in real-life time. One of the other people that I was going to ask has decided that she hates me, and until I have my Maid of Honor set, I don’t want to go any further in the asking process anyway. Ugh, I just hate this. This is supposed to be one of the most exciting times in my life, and so far, it’s been nothing but trouble. Even according to The Knot, I am behind. This is their to-do list:

• Begin envisioning your wedding --- formal hotel or friend's loft? Backyard barbecue or exotic beach? (Eh, sort of)


• Decide on a budget and hash out who's contributing.


• Knot Hint: For a quick and easy way to determine a budget, use The Knot Budgeter.


• Make sure to insure your engagement ring.


• Pick your preferences for a wedding date and time, and finalize after okaying with important guests, location, or officiant.


• Begin interviewing wedding consultants (if you'll have one) AND / OR start asking family AND friends for local wedding vendor recommendations.


• Brides: It's never too early to begin thinking about your gown. Start by figuring out what style will look best on you.


• Start interviewing caterers.


• Scout out reception sites. (Starting)


• Start looking for an officiant who suits your style and spirit.


• Book your reception site as soon as you see something you love that’s available on your date.


• If you're having an engagement party, set a date, draft a guest list, and purchase your invitations.


• Get organized! Start a notebook/file folder to house all your wedding-planning paperwork in one place.


• Begin working on a preliminary wedding guest list and decide on your wedding's approximate size. Request lists from both sets of parents and create your own wish list.


• Choose your bridesmaids/groomsmen and ask them to be in the wedding party. (Hahahaha right now...)


• Find a ceremony site if one hasn't been determined by your choice of officiant or reception site.


• Hire a consultant (if you're having one) and sign a contract.


• Contact newspapers to announce your engagement (you may need to have an engagement photo taken as well).


• Choose a color scheme, if you so desire, taking into account the decor of the rooms/areas you have reserved for your ceremony and reception.


• Decide on a caterer. Hash out a rough price per head and begin working on a menu.


• Brides: Begin looking at pictures of wedding dresses online and in magazines.  (Being doing that since I was old enough to know what a wedding was :P)


• Brides: When you've found some gowns you like, head out to the stores to try them on.


• Start investigating any ethnic customs or cultural traditions you might want to incorporate into your ceremony or reception.


• Finalize the guest list.  (Knot hint: When you’re done, make your life easy by entering everything into the Guest List Manager.)


• Sign your caterer contract and send in a deposit.


• Start auditioning reception bands or DJs.


• If you've chosen an outdoor ceremony or reception site, look into tent and lighting rentals.


• Set up appointments with various florists to discuss options.


• Decide on and meet with your officiant to discuss ceremony structure and any religious requirements (such as counseling).


• Interview and get price lists from several wedding photographers and videographers.


• Book reception band or DJ, sign the contract, and send a deposit.


• Brides: Narrow down your gown choices and make a final decision.


• If you plan to use frequent flyer miles to travel to your honeymoon destination, book your flight now.  (Honeymoon?  Yeah, I don't think so... not even close ;/  )

The crossed out, is N/A and the bold is what we have done. Pretty sad. : ( Also, should I actually have bridesmaids, although the outlook is currently grim, this is the dress I liked for them.

Anyway, I think this is quite long enough for now, its bed time.

The Trickster

I feel like such a sneaky devil. Twice on Saturday I got Jason to eat something disgustingly healthy and before he knew what it was, he said “its ok” or “this is really good.” Buwhahaha. The first thing was in the morning: Breakfast Cookies that are loaded with fiber and good stuff for you. I had never had / made them before then, so it was new to me too. They were a bit odd because the outside was crispy like a cookie (kind of) but the inside was very cakey/bread like but they were delish! Then for lunch I made a “meatless” tamale pie. I used soy beef crumbles, and some healthy alternatives for other ingredients, and Jason really seemed to like it, he even went back for seconds. I wouldn’t tell him what the “secret ingredient” was until he told me if he like it. When he said he did, I told him there was no meat in it, and he just looked confused… he was positive the meat was turkey until I showed him the packaging. I will get us both healthy yet! I really need to work on the recipe page so I can post some of these recipes to share.

As for the rest of today, it was spent doing homework and finals. I am officially done with school for the year! Wahoo, I hope December goes by super slow so that I can enjoy my time off… although I know it won’t, we’re busy most weekends with work (for me) and school stuff (for Jason.)

Friday, since I took the day off, my mom came up and we went shopping for a sewing machine, because a couple months back Jason had talked about splitting the cost for a Christmas / Birthday present. Obviously, that can’t happen now; but what mother doesn’t want a totally domesticated daughter? :P We ended up getting the Emerald 183 from Husqvarna Viking. I can’t even pronounce the name, but that’s ok. My mom decided that one with a computer would probably be better for me because I’d end up getting frustrated having to change all the manual dials. I did grow up with a computer attached to my fingers ya’ know. All this manual stuff kills me. (I kid, I kid, I still use a typewriter on a daily basis at work, and I’m not that old-school-technology impaired.) Anyway, it’s still sitting on the living room floor. I’m scared to open it because we have no real place to put it for now, but I’m also afraid I’m going to be addicted to it. Jason says that I’m getting all crazy with all the cooking and being domestic, but I just can’t stop! This time of year is sooo great to do pretty much anything. We’ve had our doors and windows open for the last few days now. It never gets hot in the kitchen, so I just can’t stop baking… I have more to do tomorrow! Bake, bake, bake.

Also on Friday, we decorated our hour with an obnoxious amount of decorations. Last weekend I took down all the Halloween stuff, and hung up the outside Christmas lights, but ole grinchy wouldn’t let me turn them on until after Thanksgiving. So when we got home Thursday night, guess what got plugged in. :P We put up our “new” (new to us, we bought it last year after Christmas on super discounted sale prices) tree, and decorated it. Then we decorated our small tree and put up the gajillion snowman items I have. Our living room is so bright with lighted items; we almost don’t need a lamp in there anymore! I should have pictures soon. :)

News for you, all smooshified.

Currently, Jason is outside grilling our dinner: turkey burgers with avocado, Swiss, and Pico; one of our new favorites.  I know, it sounds like we're a bunch of hippies.  I swear we're not!  Last week, Jason went to the doctor to have some blood test results, and they basically told him a lot of bad news.  First, he's allergic to everything... and by everything... I mean, I am actually shocked he's not allergic to me.  He's allergic to pumpkin, corn husks, pecans, grass, and sadly both our dogs and cats.  The last two were killer.  I know he says he could easily get rid of Damien, but personally, I don't know if I could get rid of Jack, I've had him far too long, and I know we both couldn't get rid of our bratty pups.  He was pretty mopey most of the day, but eventually got out of the funk, and went on living his life as though he never talked to his doctor.  Haha.  Anyway, his doctor also told him that his cholesterol was high.  I know, I was amazed too.  Even though he's packed on a few pounds since we met, he's still a bean stalk and eats like a horse... which was probably the issue.  Now he's trying to eat healthier, which is weird, because he's attempting to do it cold turkey.  I've been trying to eat healthier for months, but it really sucks when you don't have someone suffering with you.  Yeah, he was supportive through the whole thing, but support only gets you so far when you're eating fruits and veggies, and the guy next to you has a nice juicy burger, and some scrumptious French fries, drenched in fatty ranch.  (Makes me drool just thinking about it.)  Anyway, his diagnosis will be better for both of us, I am convinced!

Today was an interesting day at work.  For those who don't know, I work at a mortuary.  Don't worry it's not even HALF as cool as it sounds.  I push papers all day long, as well as a multitude of other various tasks, but pretty much I push papers.  (However, I push all the papers; I do the permits, the death certificates, and service print work.)  At any rate, last week during a service our coach (i.e. the nice way of saying hearse) was literally stolen.  That's right; some random guy got in a hearse and drove off, got out a few blocks away and just walked off.  It was pretty funny, even though I was pretty much the only one laughing.  Don't worry no one was in it, they found it, and the family never even knew because we snagged a coach from another home before they actually needed it.  So a week later, the cops show up, and start questioning it.  It actually is just like the movies.  The detective had all these off the wall theories about what could have driven the guy to do what he did.  He seemed most stuck on that it was revenge of some sort.  C'mon the guy was 80, and had Alzheimer's, what kind of revenge could someone want?  I guess he not only walked off with the keys, after driving it literally a few short blocks, but also walked off with a burial permit.  The whole thing is just weird to me.  But whatever.

While I was at work, I started looking up wedding "things".  I really want to get married in October because the weather is so nice at that time, and well, October is when all the magic started to happen.  ;)  That would almost give us a full year to plan as well.  I've signed up for a few websites to help us plan, but mainly I'm looking to The Knot for the expertise.   Today, I started looking at photographers.  It all made me just want to cry.  First, I can't believe that I am even looking at wedding photographers, for my wedding, (exciiiiting!) and second, holy crap, everything is so expensive!  We are trying to tough this one out ourselves, because we are too old to be relying on our parents, especially for such a large sum of money, but I don't know how we could afford one photographer, much less an entire wedding.  I know personally, I want to do a lot of things myself; things that seem crazy, like make all the food.  It could be a momentary lapse of insanity; I'll let you know on that later.  We really need to start budgeting better.  Currently, we pretty much live paycheck to paycheck, and every now and then we get a few extra bucks, and get so excited we blow it on something ridiculous.  :P  That's how we are I guess.  I've got a few ideas in mind of how to save money.  None of them are that great, but I was considering since I am a coupon junkie, taking all the money we "save" on things and putting it into a high interest savings account (which I just so happen to have) but it will be a tedious process and I have a feeling it won't last very long.  It probably won't add up to much, but I'm sure taking the $60 we save on groceries will get us a little bit closer.  I wish we could start like some sort of business of just being awesome, where the money just rolls in, but that seems too good to be true.  ;)  We do save a lot of money on carpooling however, because instead of filling up one car every week and both cars every other week, we are filling up one car every week and a half.  It also helps a TON that gas has dropped so drastically.

So, I think I've babbled on and on long enough.  Obviously this site is under severe construction, and there is a ton of stuff missing, but we are adding it as we can.  I hope everyone enjoys this nice little peek into our voyage.  :)