Grr!!!

What the heck www.Joann.com!?!? I placed my order for my fabric and it went through. They charged my account. I get an email from them and I open it expecting it to be the shipping information but noooooo. Evidently they don't have it in stock so they're refunding my money...at some point. Ugh!!

Brrr...it's freezing in here!!

Well, not really...but I'm doing a ton of cooking and freezing. I'm not really sure what has gotten into me but I like it!

This method works really well for us. The husband isn't left scrounging in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning to find something that is P90X friendly, delicious, and relatively easy for him to put together.

I decided to try my hand at frozen "breakfast bowls" and our version of chili. For storage space and easy defrosting, they're not in bowls. Instead, I measure them into one cup portions, pour into ziploc baggies, and spread out what's inside the bags so I can get the air out AND they freeze/defrost much easier when they're flat. This way you just cut the side and they slide right out (you can't just open the top because the corners where the zippers are block it). Nuke them on a plate in the microwave for a minute and they're perfect!!

Just in case you were curious...the breakfast "bowls" are made up of egg beaters, half a package of mushrooms, two stalks of celery, and several sliced of ham (NOT the lunch meat type). As well as our seasoning staples: black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.

Our version of chili involves one carrot, one celery stick, one polish sausage, 2.5 cups of previously cooked black beans, and all of our seasoning staples.










One last thing, let the food cool some before you bag them. This way the plastic baggies don't melt and make all your hard work pointless!!

Curtain Fabric Reveal

I went ahead and made a decision on fabric. The color surrounding the fabric in the photo is close to the color of my couch. I reallllly hope this fabric works with my huge pain in the butt sectional. Soooo.....9 yards of this is on the way.....





Wait for it....










Keep waiting....










Be patient!......










This is so exciting! I'm excited. Are you excited???










Okay, okay...here it is!!!

Thrift store finds altered for the kid!

I've found some pretty cute things at second hand stores lately but they are never in my daughter's size! So, I figured I could edit the things I liked. It is incredibly easy with skirts and tank tops.

Step 1


Step 2


Step 3 - Sew along the marks, then cut off the excess fabric. Turn the skirt inside out again and you're done! Super, super easy!



Here is my darling daughter modeling one of the skirts I altered. This isn't the one in the alteration pictures but you can see the original in the top corner of the first photo!


This is an easy way to get the perfect outfit, inexpensively. :)

Breakfast burritos!

I won't lie...we partake in quite a few store bought frozen waffles. Occasionally I decide to make an alternative. This week it was breakfast burritos.

Ingredients:
Turkey sausage
One red bell pepper
One yellow bell pepper
Half a package of fresh mushrooms
Half a yellow onion
10 whole wheat tortillas
Half a carton of egg beaters or 10 eggs
Low-fat sharp cheddar cheese
Fat-free sour cream
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper

This is pretty straight forward and easy to edit for your preference. The husband and kid really like this mixture but it's a bit sweet for me. If I was making it just for myself I'd replace the yellow and red bell pepper and yellow onion with a white onion and green bell pepper.

I diced everything up and sauteed the ingredients (not the eggs, obviously) in a pan. Then I moved that mixture into a casserole dish and made scrambled eggs. I seasoned both the ingredient mix and the eggs while they were cooking. Then I combined everything together in the casserole dish.

I set up my "fill station" with wax paper and tortillas on my kitchen counter. I ran out of wax paper only two burritos in so I switched to plastic wrap. I put a little bit of cheese on the tortilla, a big spoonful of the mix goes in the middle of the tortilla, then you fold it up (duh). I put both sides on a hot pan for a minute to brown the tortilla. This also helps hold it together. If you're going to thaw these in a toaster oven, I'd skip this step or they might be "too brown." I let them cool for a bit and wrap them up in wax paper/plastic wrap, then stack them in a large freezer ziploc bag, mark it with the date, and pop it in the freezer. These thaw in the microwave in a minute or two (depends on your microwave settings). They are super awesome for school mornings, running late to church, or if the husband needs a protein boost and I'm not available to make him a smorgasbord.

As far as calories and carbs go....I really have no clue what's in these babies. We cook/eat by P90X's quick foods and portions rules. So these are healthy, but I can't give you facts and percentages to prove it...because I'm lazy...and I don't like math...and it doesn't like me!

Ground Chicken Burgers

I have not cooked with ground beef in years. We used ground turkey for a couple of years and then moved on to ground chicken about 6 months ago. I had used it before maybe once or twice to make meatballs years ago and the were so unbelievably dry that I said never again! I guess either my cooking has improved or ground chicken has. I'm guessing it's my cooking...

Anyway, chicken burgers are a huge hit in our house. They aren't dry, have lots of protein, and are no where as greasy as beef. In fact, they're not greasy at all. What you put in the burgers keeps them from getting dry.

I dumped a pound of ground chicken in a large bowl, add in about 3/4 cup of whole wheat Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of skim milk, and 3 tablespoons of BBQ sauce (or soy sauce, A1, worcestershire). Then I put on my handy dandy latex gloves because raw chicken FREAKS me out. Next, I miss it all together and form the burgers. I season each side with garlic, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Place the burgers in the pan, cook on each side until they are a nice golden color. Always use a meat thermometer to double check done-ness.

I served these burgers on whole wheat buns with provolone cheese and BBQ sauce, broccoli, and brown rice with garlic and black quinoa. They were so good that the kid and husband were happy...but the plate was happy too! Check out that smiley face!

By the way, ground chicken is substantially cheaper than other ground meats in this neck of the woods.

Which fabric do you like?

My unexpected change in decor preferences has led me to the decision to change my living room and entry way curtains altogether, rather than alter them like I originally planned. Which fabric do you like? I'm leaning towards 1 or 2. I like options 3 but it's looking a little too feminine. Option 4 is really great and elegant but maybe too formal. What do you think? Help me decide!!

25 Things You Never Wanted To Know About Me

1. I love Santa Fe salads. I don't care what is in them. I'll eat it if it's called that.
2. My favorite color is moss green aka puke green if you ask my husband.
3. I'm adopted.
4. My "real" family is my adoptive family. They're awesome like that.
5. I have 5 best friends (I promise I'm not in middle school).
6. I have MS (If you've been paying attention, you know this).
7. I have a 9 year old step daughter that I'm in the process of adopting.
8. I'm 26.
9. My husband and I dated for only 9 months before getting married.
10. We've been together 7 years this September.
11. He's older than me. I like it that way.
12. I only like animals if they're hurt. This isn't because I'm a sociopath. I just feel sorry for them and that cancels out my dislike for all things furry.
13. I like being occasionally ironic.
14. I can never remember the difference between sarcastic and facetious.
15. I will never wear color nail polish on my fingernails.
16. I don't like Cool Water perfume/cologne because it makes me think about being young and dumb.
17. I have 2 sisters and 8 bio-siblings.
18. I take around 17 pills a day and almost all of them are optional supplements.
19. I'm shifting from a modern preference to a shabby chic/country simple preference with my decorating.
20. I want to be an occupational therapist when I grow up.
21. My last name is also the name of a country.
22. I pretty much only wear grey, blue, green, and yellow. What is that about??
23. I LOVE organization. I hate cleaning. See number 13.
24. I secretly love Enrique Iglesias' new song "I Like It." I DO like it. A lot. Don't stop baby. Don't stop baby....Sorry, got sidetracked.
25. I can type 115+ words a minute accurately.

MS. Copaxone. Me. You. Education. Got it?

Feel like getting your education on? Then keep reading! I'm sure no one wants to see me stab myself in the leg with a needle...so I'll spare you video and just show you pictures! Allow me to take you through this very, very complicated process.

First, I google my pharmacy's phone number because as usual, I forgot it. I call the pharmacy and refill my prescription. It is supposed to be over-nighted but in this case, it took them a week or so to get stuff straight with my doctors office. Anyway, the very nice UPS guy drops this box off on my doorstep. Upon opening it, this is what you see:


I get 90 days worth of shots at once. You can keep them out of the fridge for up to 30 days at a time (no one has been able to tell me why 30 days). Since I have quite the stash, it takes up the bottom part of my fridge.


The syringes come prefilled. Which is a great thing because I'd likely make a mess if I had to fill them myself. They come in "blister packs."


Next step, open the blister pack (duh!). I don't normally do this on my kitchen counter or with oven mitts. I needed something for contrast because of my blinding camera flash.


Please forgive the awkward injection technique. This was the first time I used the supposedly handy syringe gripper. It wasn't so handy. It just got in my way. The trick to injecting is to rotate your injection sites. Copaxone can make the skin hard and leave welts for up to a couple weeks. I inject in the top of my thighs, the backs of my arms, my stomach (below the belly button), and on both of my hips. The stomach and leg injections hurt the least but they leave the ugliest marks.

The next step is how to do the injection. Wash your hands, clean the area with an alcohol swab, pinch the skin, insert the needle all the way to the skin (I do this at a 90 degree angle because I'm so gosh darn muscular I'll hit muscle otherwise), release the skin but hold the needle steady so now about half of the needle is showing, inject slowly over 10 seconds, pull out, dispose of properly. Ta da!


Copaxone is a glatiramer acetate injection that is supposed to limit the number of flares a patient with MS has to less than twice a year. In theory, less flares means less lesions and scarring on the brain/spine, which should mean less loss of mobility, memory, and function when I'm older.

If you're curious for even more information check out the website at www.copaxone.com. Please feel free to ask questions!

Okay, class, that is all for today. This WILL be on the quiz. Dismissed!

Art Appreciation

What does art appreciation mean to you? I think it is obviously different for everyone. Me? I have no desire to have copies of great works of art on the walls in my house. The masters of art appeal to me...I just feel as if the originals kick the prints in the butt any day. There really is no rhyme or reason for what appeals to me with art. I seem to kind of skip around some. The art I end up loving is mass produced and you could probably find plastic framed copies in Dollar General.

As of right now, every art piece I have on my walls (that I didn't make) is by Tandi Venter. I really, really liked her stuff about two years ago. She's doing this "modern" thing now that I like, but wouldn't buy. Anyway, the pieces I currently have were motivated by color theme and well, just what appealed to me at the time. Now, I feel like the pieces are too "retro" for my taste and I'm itching to get away from the blue and brown combination that our old house was. For some reason (I really have no clue why. I'm sure if I dig deep enough into some of my psych text books I could figure it out...but I'm lazy.) I have this huge need to move towards soft colors...with lots of yellow and green but then again, I feel like some rooms in my house should be filled with warm red, orange, and yellow. See? Random! I'm getting sidetracked again...Here are the pieces I currently have in my living room.



Now...onto what I want to replace my current art with. First, I need to fill you in on logistics. I want to keep the frames from the current pieces in my living room because my lovely uncle carefully made them for me and they're wonderful. I am moving the two square frames in to my dining room and hopefully I will pair them with the prints below. I LOVE the rich colors together and they work perfectly for a room that will either stay white or at some point...if I get the energy...may become some neutral tone.

My kitchen, dining room, and "sunroom" all flow together so they have to work together. I'd like the rooms to have some individuality though. I think the key to this is going to be the purpose of the room (obviously) and the art!

Let's talk framing, hanging, and location. Frames are incredibly expensive when you're hanging something that isn't from Dollar General -cough cough- or something that is an odd size. Meaning, it isn't going to fit into the generic 4x6, 5x7, or 8x10 frames you find in stores like Target.



Dining Room:
* The two large pictures of flowers are 24x24, by Daphne Brissonett, and are named Sunset I and II. I'm using the frames my uncle made.
* The butterflies are 8x8, by Katie Pertiet, and are named Mocha Butterfly, Apricot Butterfly, Cranberry Butterfly, and Ochre Butterfly. I may actually try to frame them if I can find 10x10 frames. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't. If I can't find frames I think I'll mod podge them to thin boards.



Kitchen:
* The chicken and market prints are 12x12, by Daphne Brissonett, and are named Morning Call I, Morning Call II, Vine Ripe III, and From the Market IV. I'm going to hang these as they are pictured here. A lot of people in blog land are using 12x12 scrapbooking paper and mounting it on boards or foam, then hanging it on the wall. I'm going to mount these on 3/4 inch 12x12 foam boards from a local craft store after painting the foam a dark brown.
* The fruit signs are 14x11, by Grace Pullen, and are named Fruit Stand and Fruit Stand III. I am undecided on what I'll do with these for framing. Any ideas?



Sunroom:
* These prints are all 9.5x12, by Chad Barrett, and are named Gilded Songbird I, II, III, and IV. These prints are getting mod podged onto thin boards and I'm going to tack 2 pieces of ribbon to the backs of each print, tie the ribbon into bows, and hang them in a row.

In case you can't tell..I like lists, organization, and planning. Just in case you were beginning to worry that I'm not cultured I'm going to leave you with a few paintings by the greats that personally speak to me. Resemblance, no? (Don't worry, all of those web cam pictures of me are from ages 17-19. I worship my face far less these days.)

Where have I been?

Between a particularly difficult and intricate set of finals, playing secretary, and the lovely every-day-life stuff that seems to sneak up on me...I find myself sidetracked! Oh whoops, I forgot, I am apparently nearly blind. I'm thinking that whole vision loss may have thrown a wrench into a thing or two...Oh, by the way, I got a perfect score on both of those finals. :) My brains are huge!

Do you SEE that pesky A-?? Of course you do, I circled it in red. That's not the point..the point is that this A- has dropped my GPA from 4.0 to 3.97. Excuse my French, but WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??? I need a moment to wallow on the floor....



Okay then...This is the part where I provide you with a list of future post titles to entice you to keep coming back..all three of you...and two of you have to because you're my best friends. So, yeah. Here we go...

Amazing-future-you-can't-miss-these-posts That Are Coming Up In No Particular Order:

Photo Wall - Yeah, I can't talk this one up. It is exactly what it sounds like...

Kitchen Table - To paint or not to paint? (This one is almost as good as Shakespeare)

Copaxone - You follow the intense and amazing journey that I take from ordering my refill all the way to my right (or left) leg injection. With pictures!

Living Room Curtain Redo - This was a DUH moment for me.

A's Bedroom - I'm sure this is the post you've all been waiting for...Finally, the completion of what was to be pink and green and has morphed into pink, green, blue, purple, and yellow room...but don't worry! There is still a concentration of pink and green.

Master Bedroom Curtains - Our bedroom window must be right next to the sun. Black out curtains...additional panels...thicker blinds...nothing keeps that baby out! So I just got M a sleep mask and said screw functionality, we're going with beauty!

25 Random Things You Never Really Wanted to Know About Me - This post is sure to be a smash hit...if I can think of 25 things. Also, for my numerous readers that have close personal knowledge of me, you will be shocked and amazed with what I reveal in this post. Seriously.Life.Changing.

We apologize for this interruption...

...and we will return to normal broadcasting soon...

Two huge finals due in one week kicked my butt last week. I am taking a much needed computer break! Wait, does facebook count?