Sad Day, Bad Day but Great Dinner

Gotta look at the little things, right?

After a weekend of steadily getting worse, we decided the best thing to do was to put Torrie down. I am not a big animal person, but Torrie was such a sweet and loving fluffball. She was a very gentle and nice cat who loved her Mousie! RIP, there's a special spot in kitty heaven for you.

Last night, I dropped my laptop on the floor - AGAIN. I always trip over the cord. Well, this time the back cover popped open and in trying to get it back on, I screwed up the hard drive. It worked for a little this evening then boom... went to black and now it can't find Windows. A new laptop was NOT in the budget... and what good is paying off a credit card if  you just put stuff back on it? AURGH!!!!

If you know any laptop deals PLEASE let me know!!

Knowing it was going to be a bad day, I decided to make oven fries tonight. We were already going to BBQ chicken, and then Jeff kicked it up notch with bacon and cheese :) So I thought oven fries would be a good compliment to that. They are really easy to make but they take a long time to cook. I just started making them and wish I'd been making them all along lol Tonight I used my silpats to make them and it was SO MUCH BETTER!!! A little burning but NO sticking!!!! 

Here's the recipe: (picture to come later)

Take some russet potatoes and slice into fry shapes. I like mine thin. I use 5 or 6, that way we have leftovers.

Pour some oil into a deepish, flat bottom dish. Canola or olive oil are what I prefer. Enough that you think it'll coat the potatoes.
Add some spices - garlic powder, garlic salt or regular salt, paprika, Italian spices... whatever you prefer!

Add Parmesan cheese. We just use the kind in the green container. Add about twice as much as the rest of the spices - this is what coats the potatoes.

Mix up then add the potatoes some at a time.

Stir to coat, pick up with tongs and let some mixture drip off.

Put into jelly roll pans - heavily sprayed or with a Silpat.

Cook at 450 for about 45 mins or until brown and crispy and soft. Turn halfway through.

I love this recipe because it makes me feel like a "real cook" by not measuring!!

New Year!

Happy New Year!

We are getting off to a sad start here, as one of Jeff's cats is very sick. She is old and probably has kidney failure. :( So sad to see her going downhill. We are doing what we can for her but she probably won't last much longer.

Exhausted...

Exactly how are we to survive when we have kids? LOL

Will get pictures of Christmas up soon....

Cookie Madness Begins...

Have been spending the evening looking up cookie recipes. Going with some standards and a few new ones.  Thinknig about chocolate peppermint cookies.

But i am STUMPED on candy. Can't seem to find a fairly easy non-chocolate candy recipe. Any suggestions?

Pre-Christmas Cookies...

I had not been to the grocery store since before Thanksgiving... Jeff and I were living on tidbits, rummages and the things my parents left behind... It was crazy. We went to the store today and are all filled up. Hopefully we can last until Christmas... but of course I realized tonight I am almost out of sugar! I stocked up on everything else. Oh well.

I NEVER buy cookie mix but... ;) I got it for pennies. However, I couldn't just make a cookie, I needed to dress it up a bit. I found this recipe: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars except I only had one block of cream cheese. Until today! So I decided to make it to hold us off until the Christmas baking begins!

All ready to go into the oven!

The comments on the Web site say you should use 2 bags of cookie mix, so there's more on top. That is a very good idea!

I added mini chocolate chips to make up for the lack of topping ;)

MMMMM delicious!

Favorite Christmas Ornaments (Blog hop)

I have seen this on other blogs and thought i would give this a try on here!

The Blog Hop theme for this Monday is "CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS". Show us a pic and/or tell a story behind your favorite Christmas ornament. Your photos and stories will help others with ideas for ornaments in the future.

It was really hard to choose one or two! I always get a new one every year nad since meeting Jeff have gottn WAY into the Hallmark ornaments! They are all so cute!

My grandparents got me and my brother these ornaments and a couple more when we were young. It is so simple but one that always reminds me of Christmas growing up.

This was the first ornament Jeff gave me. <3 It is really cute - this is a bad pic!

Hi there!

Long time no post! I got caught up in preparing for my parents Thanksgiving visit. They were here a week, and it was FABULOUS!!! Always great to see them. We had turkey day at J's parent's house. There were 18 people. So much fun!

A few days later, J and I went on a quick trip to Walt Disney World! We met up with a few of our friends and rushed around looking at all of the Christmas stuff. Osbourne Spectacle of Lights is purely amazing. Jaw dropping! The castle lighting was spectacular as well!

All in all a great weekend - and now  am back home with a cold! I will get into the swing of things soon!

Menu Plan Update!

The inspectors canceled on  Tuesday, but they came today (thankfully J's father is retired so he could sit in case they came early). And we passed! This ...experience.. is almost over!!

As I was typing this post, UPS came to the door.. It was the PJ Moose I won from the Tanger Outlets Facebook! He is so cute.... see for yourself!

his cute little backside!

Menu plan update...

MONDAY: I forgot to make the potatoes, totally forgot.We just had the burgers with no side.

TUESDAY: I remember! They're actually pretty good too, for a box.

WEDNESDAY: was "Anything goes" so we had leftover potatoes with bacon and scallions. A great idea that my hubby made up!

TODAY: The maple glazed chicken is a og, but DH bought baking potatoes instead of mashing potatoes, so we're having oven fries instead. And really? I have been craving them so this is a good thing! I think I have convinced him to help cut them, too ;)

Hope everyone is having a good week... it's almost Friday!!!

:) LB

Easy Ways to Live Green!

Twittermoms.com and Airwear are having a living green contest.

Here are my green tips!

1) RECYCLE.  I know, this is like, the oldest and most basic tip, but it works! Most communities have curbside recycling. What could be easier than rinsing out your containers and throwing them in a recycle bin?NY also has a 5 cent bottle return. J and I drink quite a bit of diet soda, so those nickles add up. You are already paying for it when you buy the soda, so why NOT help the planet and get your own money back in the process?

2) USE REUSABLE BAGS. Reusable bags are everywhere now - and many companies are giving them away for free. I have never bought any - except for the ones I bought for the out of town bags for my wedding guests. You can also buy them cheaply. More and more stores, even CVS, gives you afew cens back for every bag you use.

3) TURN THE WATER OFF WHEN YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH.  Have you noticed a theme here - living green saves you money! The same is true for tip three... yet another oldie but goodie, and also J's contribution. Water conservation is a HUGE deal. I will admit that  I like hot showers, and while my morning showers are short, it does take awhile to get the water hot. One way to counteract that is to keep the water off while you brush your teeth. Easy, painless and it saves you money on your water bill and helps conserve water. Win-win! :)

There you go.... three easy, money-saving green tips!!

:) LB

One Week!

In one week I'll get my test scores back... I am pretty sure that I passed but you never know!! Then I have to immediately plunk down $80 for the 2 required classes and $96 for the fingerprint kit. It'll be $12 to get fingerprinted. I REALLY want all this done by Jan so I can find a job. But first I have to pass the test LOL

Today we were supposed to have the building inspection for our breezeway and converted rooms. Of course, it was already supposed to have been done but is a long story in the saga of our house lol.  After having FIL come over at 8 a.m. in case the guy showed up when we were at work... well at 9 he called to say he was coming Thursday. So now FIL has to come back. But hopefully then this process will be TOTALLY done... it has been going on since Feb!