Treats

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We all know and love these lil' beauties! Rice Krispie treats. They are of course made with marshmallows, butter and the one and only Rice Krispies Cereal.

Have you ever made "treats" with a Rice Krispie alternative??:

I think I have had the Fruity Pebble alternative at party or something in the past... I think. But I can't be sure. I do know I've had the Golden Grahams and the Reeses Puffs! Both are delicious options!

Here's a recipe for "treats" try something new this weekend and let me know how you liked them!

Maybe this post is a side effect of my job- I stock the cereal aisle? Who knows?

The New Years that could have been

I had this idea of what New Years in our new house, with our new friends could have been like. The vision in my head included delicious food, Wii Mario Kart tourney's, other games and delicious drinks:

Exhibit A:

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Strawberry Champagne Sparkler Cupcakes, courtesy of DC Cupcakes. I saw these on Oprah (obvious, by the picture) and thought they were freaking awesome. Click here for the How-to Video and here for the recipe. 

Exhibit B:

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Pomegranate Martini... What's not to like? Seriously? Find recipe here.

Alas, my New Years Eve looked a lot more like this:

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I can lie to myself and you all and say it was just "low-key" but really we didn't do a.damn.thing. I was asleep by 1030 and watched the ball drop (via AFN) at 8AM (Midnight MST). All I can do is keep my rocking' awesome ideas handy for next year and know that everything will be different 364 days from now. 

Hope you all had a great 2010 and had a blast bringing in 2011--- here's to a great year! 

I Want it Wednesday...

I want... Bristol Palin OFF Dancing With The Stars! It's ridiculous she's on this long. Can we just talk about how she was considered a "star" in the first place? She got knocked up at 16 or something and is the daughter of one of the most radical Republican/ Tea Party politicians ever. hmmm. Star. Right. I get it now. Is nothing sacred anymore? It's Dancing With the Stars for goodness sake! I think people forget it's a dancing competition not a political arena to pass you vote for underage pregnancies. Hello, Teen Mom I'm lookin' at you! If she wins the show, God help me I'll boycott! 

I want... whoever thought up my BF Jesse McCartney's newest music video wiped off the face of the planet. It's awful. But he's still friggin' adorable! 

I want... to get organized. I miss my own space... you know the idea of multiple rooms (living, bed, bath, ect) of my own. I'm kind of over this living in someone else's guest room. It's wearing on me. 

I want... everyone to know that my father has volun-told me to handle this year's Thanksgiving feast for ummm, a measly 16 people. Me and my 22 pound buddy, Turk, got this! Gobble Gobble!

I really want... to know WTF this is about:

Seriously?! ugh... Here's praying to God this is nothing more than a publicity stunt. I'm so sick of Taylor Swift. I'm happy for her success on some level. But, I'm not a fan of hers. I find her voice annoying. She's made a name for herself regardless of my lil' ol' meaningless opinion so good for her. But really Jake... oiy! 

I want... to know when the craziness will stop, Bristol, Jake and Taylor.... This world is a crazy place. haaaHA

I Want it Wednesday...

On this lovely, cool and crisp day with dare I say virtually Fallish weather I want....

I want... German Pretzels. I saw on a fellow blog of someone currently residing in Germany, said that they attended a Pretzel Festival. I'm not sure there is anything greater on the planet. 
I want... to lose weight. I believe I've convinced my sister to venture out into this weight loss world with me. Hopefully we can motivate each other and find away to be successful!

I want... to attend the dueling rallies in Washington DC on October 30th.

  

If you don't know Jon Stewart is trying to Restore Sanity and Stephen Colbert is trying to Keep the Fear Alive. Check it out. Now you know.

I want.... my bed back. ={

Mother's Day

What'd you today? How'd you celebrate your mom and the other moms in your life?

I was volun-told yesterday that I would be making breakfast this morning for my momma and the rest of my family. I was semi-overwhelmed because I didn't have anything in the house and I had to get over to Erin's for her birthday shin-dig. All's well that ends well. I made Baked French Toast with Praline Topping (courtesy of Paula Dean- who I really can't stand but that's another topic for another post), scrambled eggs, bacon, and Potatoes O'Brien. I should have taken a picture of the spread but I forgot! Boo... Here's a picture and link to the  French toast recipe:

Paula Dean's French Toast Casserole

This was such a hit! Everyone absolutely loved it. I'm sure it was because it was really healthy and contained no calories- at all. I did take the advice of one girl and use 6 eggs instead of 8, and 2 butter sticks instead of 4 in the Praline topping. 

PS: Anyone else see Betty White on SNL!? 

CLASSIC. 

HILARIOUS.

that's all I have to say about that.

Free Food for My MAN!

November 11th is Veterans Day. Applebees is doing their part to appreciate the service of our military and offering free meals for all Active Duty and Vets!

Check it out!

Incase anyone is interested, my all-time-favorite menu item at Applebee's is the Maple Butter Blondie... my mouth is watering. Swell.

Pass on the good news about Applebees! :)

Weekend in Review

Saturday:

Kevin and I took the old-yucky-cafeteria-style light. Sadly there was a pretty descent sized hole underneath it. BOO, for ugly style lights! :( So Kevin went to work {attempting} to patch it. 9 hours later, Kevin was back at Lowes purchasing a patch-kit-thingy. This worked but took the remainder of the night to dry.

I spent the morning putting together homemade soup! It was another gloomy-guss kind of day! Soup of was perfect! My sis and Nephew came over to hang out. After the soup was "thrown together" and getting all yummy in the crock pot we headed out to the mall -- leaving Kev at home to hang shelves (which went fairly smoothly, and look fantastic) and the new light fixture (didn't go so well)!

Later, we sat down to my YUMMY soup. I was so happy that it turned out so good. It was the first time that I'd made it from scratch all. by. my. self! Since we were waiting for the ceiling in the kitchen to dry Kevin and I went to the mall for pedicures! Both of our feet were in desperate need of some attention. You see, I claim to be a good wife but even after a year in the desert in stinky combat boots I refuse (yes, I said "refuse) to rub my husband's feet! That's where I draw my line; foot massages. Yuck. I do, on the other hand, enjoy a good foot rub from my hubs. Yes- I'm hypocritical and unfair, get over it. I like my feet rubbed like every other broad on the planet! Moving on, Pedi's were great!

Sunday:

The ceiling was dry. Light-hanging commenced. At this point we were both exhausted and pissed off. Kevin had spent the majority of Saturday on a latter, and I was being overrun by OCD and desperately wanted my house/kitchen back!!!! Anyway we were finally successful and we now have a new-more-prettier light in our kitchen! Yeay! :)

With the light hung in the kitchen, I spent a good chuck of the morning cleaning like a crazy person! This brings me a ton of happiness! Later in the afternoon Kevin and I went to a friend's daughter's ice skating competition where she took 3rd!! She's adorable.

After all of that excitement we journeyed up to Target and picked up a few things: (!!!)

{Sunbeam- We love your affordability and that you're black, which means you match my appliances}

{Something about cupcakes makes me happy!}

{FINALLY! Target, you had my organizer! I got TWO!}

All of this means, my husband is AMAZING! The mixer and cookbook are my anniversary presents! Some may think that's sexist or something, but really it's what I wanted (obviously, see last week's I Want it Wednesday!), so I'm a happy girl! Speaking of anniversary-- our two year is TOMORROW! I can't believe it. It just feels like it's been 5 minutes since we got married instead of two YEARS!

With one vacation down (NJ), we're headed to Oregon tomorrow! Can't wait to get away! Wooo

I Want It Wednesday...

It's official, I want:

{so go over to Life of a Busy Wife}

and... Put the two together.. and I think you know where I'm going with this!

Yummy in the tummy!

Jersey Food

As previously reported Kevin and I spent this past weekend in New Jersey with my family. The purpose of this trip was my Grandmothers 75th Birthday. My aunt's and mother have been planning a surprise birthday party for her for months. Fortunately, Kevin and I were able to be there as well. It was touching go last Thursday. But we know how the Army can be... everything is last minute.

All the same, we made it! :) We flew into Philly, since it's closer to where Gramma lives. Aunt Kathy picked up Kevin and I from the airport and we headed to the hotel to pick up Katie and Nathan. Mom, Gramma, my great-Aunt Dolly, and Aunt Marie were all in Atlantic City and were supposed to be meeting us at Seaside Heights {picture above; driving into Seaside}.

Well, I should start by telling everyone my family loves the food in Jersey more than any other aspect of the east coast. So we knew when we started this journey, that food was going to be a huge participant. This was Kevin's first ever visit to Jersey. I know that for some of you this will also be your first trip "down the shore"... brace yourself:

{Nathan loves himself some Kohr's}

{One-of-a-kind: both the SLICE and my hubs}

OK, so we went straight to Seaside... Gramma and everyone else arrived shortly after we did. She was totally surprised to see Kevin and I! It was great. We hung out on the boardwalk for awhile. Can you guess what we did? I had vinegar fries (yummM), some of the family had sausage and pepper sandwiches, the hubs had pizza (obviously), we also consumed copious amounts of ice cream! Sadly no Zeppoles were had! :( That was one things I was excited for Kevin to try that we didn't get around to! Oh well, there's always next time!!!

Good news is that my "other" Aunt Marie (Long story there; but basically she's a friend of the family) brought some of the WORLDS BEST Cannoli's to my Gramma's surprise birthday party!!

~***~

So far we've ingested ice cream, vinegar fries and pizza on the infamous Jersey shore: Seaside Heights. That's not all that was had though. I swear I put on 10 lbs... I feel so weighed down. I digress. Aside from the boardwalk I also introduced Kevin to Jersey bagels (plus) pork roll (equals) YUMMiNessS!!

I think my favorite treat from this trip was Gramma's homemade/handmade pasta! Can I just say OMG!! It was delicious. The food from the surprise party was also amazing. Hmmm, I think that's where I'll stop! I can't post about everything all in one post, of course.

More pictures and stories from Jersey to come. :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

~***~

Maybe I'm still on east coast time or maybe it's these strangely vivid dreams I've been having I'm not sure; either way it all comes to the same place I was up at 3 AM. :( I apologize now if this post was incoherent! Kevin is up getting ready for work now. I suppose its time for me to attempt to shut my eyes. I'll never last the rest of the day! :(

Coffee and Waffles

I love gloomy-guss kind of days! Just love them. I think today (being a gloomy-guss kind of day) will be wasted on me. I feel unusually motivated. I popped right out bed completed excited to find that the sky was full with grey cloud cover.

I rushed downstairs started a pot of coffee and some waffles for the Hubs and I. :)

I used Aunt Jemima's Waffle recipe on the back of the box -- they were YUMMY!

Perfect breakfast. Perfect start to this gloomy-guss day!

~~~

I need to hit the gym today and I think we're planning on visiting with my Aunt for a while. We haven't spent much time with them since Kevin found his way home.

~~~

I have to say I really appreciate the response to yesterday's post!! I love that I'm not the only one who's been down this path. I love that my readers appreciate the truth and that it isn't always easy or all love-making and being so happy you could just shit rainbows... ;)

I love my readers!!!

Happy Gloomy-Guss Sunday!!

The Stuff: GI Joe. FR-Useless!. Chick-pea Salad.

Yesterday was a fairly good day: Pool in the AM with Nathan and sister. Then came home to bathe and fix myself for the day. Then my sister forced me to go see GI Joe! You see, her and Mr. Channing Tatum have this 'thing' going. So she had to go support his career. Does anyone else find it completely LAME that there were Army Recruiters set up in the lobby of the movie theater?? I thought that was lame. All the same, the movie was about as corny as you would assume it was going to be. However, there were some legitimately funny parts (Funny- HAHA. Not Funny- "are you kidding me"-funny.)There were also little pot shots at the Air Force through out the movie... which I guess is half-expected I mean the movie is titled "GI Joe" after all. It was all in good fun people. I have to concede looking at Channing Tatum was a great way to spend the afternoon. Although, all of the movie theater snacks didn't set well with my tummy (after dieting and such)! All and all it was enjoyable (but wont be taking home Oscars. What a shocker huh?).

~~~~~

Today was my final FRG Meeting. WOOO HOO! Right? WRONG! I wish that somebody, anybody would have had more specific information to give. That would be nice right? Instead they provided me with an 8-day window; the 16th-24th!?? Huh- Seriously?? You have got to be kidding! How is that helpful... in anyway? I guess that is helpful for females that don't speak to their husbands (for one reason or another) but that absolutely does not help me in the slightest. When I'm done blogging about my complete and utter disappointment in this FRG I will have to pow-wow with my MIL, as her and my FIL are road-tripping it out here for the Homecoming ceremony!

~~~~~

Tonight I made the chick-pea salad I blogged about last week. The lemon juice really stole the show here! It is fantastic! Try it folks!! :)

~~~~~

Who likes give-a-ways?? I DO! Please go check out my friend Jen! I love her blog and I want her free stuff! :) LOL!

I'm sure I'll have more to add later... But at least now you're caught up. ;)

Victory...

NehNehNeh NA nEH! :-p

So after consulting with Lola, I've decided that if you use the "List" Gadget when creating a list (imagine that) that you are unable to alter the HTML code at all. So I just used the Text gadget instead and had no problem using the codes that KiKi gave me yesterday! :) Woo Hoooo

~~~~~

I had an extremely lazy Sunday. I left the house at 730 PM, and only because my MEAN MEAN MEAN sister-in-law, Mindy decided to update her status on FB with something about Brownies! Damn her! ;) Well... I ran to the Safeway and got myself one of those desert things that you add water and heat up and some vanilla ice cream to throw on top of my warm gooey, yummy brownie!

~~~~~

I'm waiting for the lunch-time rush to pass so that I can hit the gym, so I flipped on the Food Network (a favorite of mine) and saw Sandra Lee (the Queen of cost-effective cooking) making a Chick-Pea Salad! I am going to have to give this a shot. It looked great, canned and drained chick-peas, red onion, green pepper, olive oil, carrot, lemon juice, s&p... YUMMM! I'm just sad they didn't have a picture for you all to see.

~~~~~

PS: I CANNOT WAIT FOR MY HUBS TO GET HOME! This anticipation is killing me!

Grilled Pizzas (44 Days)

Last night Lauren came over and we had grilled pizzas! They were super yummy, but nothing really over the top or unexpected. Grilled pitas with pizza sauce, Mozzarella, pepperoni and fresh basil... they were soooo easy and really good! The grill really makes the pita crunchy and yummy! Lauren said she liked them also. I'm excited to try different versions in the future!

Other than that lately I have really been mulling over the whole procreating decision... It's a huge decision to make. Lately I've been excited and anxious about the idea. I'm afraid that I've been just swept up in the excitement swirling around, with my sister's IVF. All the family has been talking about is baby names, how many babies she'll have, boys versus girls, ect ect. Lets just pretend for the sake of argument that I am ready to birth some spawn. It's really not practical for where Kevin and I are right now, to be having children. It wouldn't be fair to us or our perspective "spawn". Doesn't change the fact that we want them. We have more than some but is it enough?

PS: I say "spawn" with all the love and affection in the world people. I am not some evil wench who resents kids. =) just FYI for those of you who really don't know me or my sense of humor that well.

T-minus 45 Days

Hey there! Well, I actually don't have time to be writing this post. I have to hit up the gym. Then I have to get to Sam's Club for a few things, Target, stop by my mothers for fresh basil and put gas in my car!! And be available to talk with my hubby at 1230! Hmmm... I best get my ass in gear. huh?

But I don't wanna- lol! Yesterday I had Kaitlyn and Korben over for dinner. I made this asian-type "salad" that I found in some magazine at the dentist' office. Yes, I'm that person... the evil broad who tears out the pages I want! Get over it... Any who the recipe in the mag calls for spinach, imitation crab meat, edamame, seedless cucumbers, rice, shaved carrots and radishes. Well I changed it, because I hate imitation anything-meat and spinach. I substituted Romaine Lettus for the Spinach, and I marinated 2 chicken breasts in Sesame Ginger dressing and pan fried it sliced all my veggies mixed it together and viola! Kaitlyn said overall she dug it but I am still on the fence. ha ha The cucumber really kind of ruined it for me. Next time that will not be included. I think maybe some lime juice would be good to balance everything. Sometimes a lil' citrus is necessary!!! We'll see. Oh.. and like an A-hole I forgot the carrots. Oh well. ha ha

Tonight after my excessive errands I am cooking grilled pizzas for Lauren and I! Maybe it's not obvious by now but I love the FOOD Network so I've been picking and choosing some new things to try. This grilled pizza craze is very interesting to me. We'll see how it works out. If I'm going to have Lauren here and be grilling I guess I'll have to find time to pick up some dog poop! GREAT! SWELL! I must go now ladies. Tootle-lou!