1.22.2014

wordless wednesday. my first snow blowing experience.




nick talked me through starting it over the phone. phew! had shoveled about a third of the driveway before he was able to get in touch with me! was worried i was going to have to shovel the whole thing. might have been easier. my carpal tunnel is not a fan of the snow blower!

those tracks belong to the fed ex truck. i did not have the balls to try to get little miss hybrid over the snow plow hump and through the 10 or so inches to the garage! and nick had made a quick pass before we left for the morning. lake effect snow is bananas.  but hooray for this much light at 5pm. ;)

 {iphone photos 1.21.14}

1.21.2014

ten on tuesday 1.21.14

- whenever i wrote/typed the date yesterday it weirded me out to see 20/14!

- shh, i'm typing this at work. not looking forward to my commute this afternoon. 20 inches of snow. ugh! i'm so over winter.

- saw nut job last night with ben. john and the girls invited us last minute. meh. glad to spend time with everyone but wasn't impressed.

- ben was playing a video game and i asked him what the name of it was... he replied, 'bad guys fighting the world.'

- cannot power through this last bit of allegiant. {divergent trilogy) i really don't like who that picked to play tris. maybe i'm boycotting?

- think little miss has her first cold. has had quite the runny nose. hoping it doesn't get worse!

- feeling lucky. love my friends. love the laughter they bring into my life. wish i saw them more. xo.

- have a terrible itch to go shopping. hoping i can reign it in!

- trying to make a to do list for this month and realized it's almost over. eek. maybe i can get one project done.... maybe?

- waiting for hubs to help me with new mac and external drive. {the new computer has no hard drive. well, a tiny bit.} when that happens, the wip posts will resume. hoping i can corner him sometime this week!

1.14.2014

ten on tuesday 1/14/14

- i suck. last week really threw a weather fork in my plans. i was all out of sorts. and then last night, nick didn't play volleyball and amelia fell asleep at 630pm. i didn't know what to do! i will get on track.

- just watched my first episode of orange is the new black. obsessed.

- ben wants to marry baby. so cute.

- ben was 'playing' football in the house during one of the playoff games. he kept saying it was bears against peckers. ha! he meant packers.

- purchased an add on item from amazon. it didn't ship with the rest of the order. so my order came in two packages. doesn't that defeat the purpose?

- am grateful for my new iphone. thank goodness for warranties and husbands who took care of it. my battery was jumping from like 50% to 23% when i turned it on. i forgot what it was like to have a phone that held a charge!

- nick did a home improvement project already this year! rain gutter bookshelf next to ben's top bunk, so he didn't have to sleep with a million books in his bed.

- i think my force counts when i rock melie and when i play with her and raise my arms. i had almost 4,000 steps by 9am. i spent about 30-45 minutes rocking her last night... when she woke up at 2am after falling asleep at 630!

- my coworker kills me. today she said the computer says i'm 'o-beast.' um, i think you mean obese.

- i think this four day work week is going to kill me! haven't done it in like a month thanks to holidays and chiberia!

food for thought. more recipes!

grilled cilantro lime shrimp: was a big hit with the shrimp eaters. i'm not a huge shrimp fan. i did try a bite. the flavor was good. i just don't like the consistency of shrimp!

asian flank steak skewers: so good. a bit salty. darn soy sauce. in the future, i'll be buying reduced sodium soy sauce. yes, i'm aware that makes me like 73. whatever. ;) but was a big hit. even with the non steak fans.

crock pot buffalo chicken lettuce wraps: yum. and make her dressing. i didn't go all fat free, just saying!

broccoli cheese and bacon soup: really good. i cheated and used precooked bacon. served it with pretzel rolls. yum.

one pot creamy chicken and noodles: meh. i added more noodles. about 2/3 of the box. still needs more flavor. will up the spices if i make it again. oh and the directions don't mention cubing the chicken first. i did...

thai peanut chicken and ramen soup: phew that's a mouthful.  was yummy. weird ingredients, but i gave it a go. followed the recipe exactly. came out kinda stoupy. maybe only needs three packages of noodles? nick was a huge fan. yay!

crock pot manicotti. no link. can't find it. make as usual and place in greased slow cooker. {some sauce on bottom and on top. cook on high for 2 hours.} was too rubbery for my liking. might as well put in the oven!

salami/pepperoncini wraps: did some whole peppers and some slices. they were tasty! a good addition to our usual ham and pickle wraps.

apple pie fries: mine did not look as cute as they do in the picture! added some cinnamon to the sugar sprinkle on top. got thumbs up from all that ate them, i didn't even try one!

caramel apple pie cocktail: so good.

pineapple upside down cocktail: had these as a shot at a friend's house over the holiday. searched and found this recipe to make a drink so i could sip the deliciousness all night! we used vanilla vodka instead of the cake flavored one.

5 ingredient broccoli cheese soup: would have been better if it didn't curdle. that's what happens when you're trying to cook and take care of the kids! oh and i didn't measure chicken stock. just threw in two cans. and i used kraft finely shredded cheese.