cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning!

So, in an effort to be more organized I am going to start a cleaning regimin. I have never done this before, I just clean when the house is dirty, but I feel like I need to assign days and times to do things around the house now. We will see how this goes.

Kitchen: Will get done daily after I cook and make a mess.
Floors: Tuesday's
Bathrooms: Wednesday's
Laundry: Thursday's
Living room/vaccuming: Monday's

I think if I do it this way things will stay much cleaner and I won't be so annoyed. I am so bad at sticking to schedules, but I am really going to try this. I will report back in a few weeks to tell you how it's going!!

All my love!

Summer in Washington

I have spent most of my summer in Washington State. I came the end of May for my nephew's first birthday, and ended up staying the whole month of June! I had a wedding on July 2nd that I was in, and it didn't really make sense for me to go all the way home for a few weeks, and then come back, so I stayed and had a blast. Josh ended up getting two weeks off to come back the end of July, so we loaded up the car and drove over. So, needless to say, I have had one of the best summers in a long time! I love being home, and spending time with family and friends. It's really the best medicine!

I applied for a police dispatching job in the itty bitty town I live in, was really hoping I would get it, but didn't end up getting it. So, I am not looking forward to going back to job searching! I need something to keep me busy!

Hope your all doing good!! Enjoy the rest of your sunny day!

I want Chocolate!

I wanted chocolate so bad earlier today. I looked in my pantry and found a Hershey's chocolate bar, some leftover peeps from Easter, and some graham crackers! What does that make?

A beautiful peep smore. I made it in the microwave, because I wasn't near a campfire :(. It was still delicious!

Go make this now! You won't regret it!

Happy Tuesday!

I have been bloated ever since Easter and have still been eating the yummy left overs. Here is my Easter dinner over view.

Ham: I used this recipe from Paula Deen. It turned out fabulous, and everyone loved it!

I made a 7 layer salad from my mother's recipe. It has lettuce, bacon, onion, celery, cheese, egg, and a mayonnaise dressing. This is always one of my favorites.

Mashed potatoes... Pretty self explainatory.

Pretzel salad: Another family recipe: Bottom layer is pretzels, middle layer is cream cheese and cool whip, above that was jello with strawberries, and cool whip on top.

That was our Easter dinner. If you would like recipes of these I can send them just shoot me an email. Everything turned out fabulous, and we enjoyed ourselves.

I hope your Easter was great too!!

Happy Easter!

It's a beautiful sunshiny day! I'm excited that God decided to shine down on us today! Ahh, it's amazing. Today I am cooking for a few friends that are coming over.

On the menu:
Ham
Mashed potatos
Fruit salad
Prezel salad
Green bean dish

I will report to you on the recipes I used as well as how it all turned out tonight.

I hope you all have a very happy easter, and all goes well!! Hope the sun is shining on you as well!!

Brownie in a mug

Ok, get ready because this is one of the best and easiest recipes EVER! So chocolatey when you need that fix! Sorry about these pictures, I really need a new camera!! Maybe for next christmas :)

Brownie in a mug:
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp cocoa
pinch of salt


Melt butter in your mug then add water and vanilla then add your dry ingredients, microwave for 1 minute then enjoy!! So good!!

Master Bedroom

It's time to start thinking about my master bedroom! It has been neglected for a long time now and I am at a loss for what to do with it now. You see, the ceilings are very low and I can't figure out how to put a headboard in for our bed. I originally wanted to DIY a fabric headboard, but don't know how I would put it in or where to put it. So, here are some pictures, any ideas would be fabulous!

Spring gardens!

It's been quite a while since I last blogged. I decided to grab some coffee and get back to blogging my life away.

I was a little depressed over the our winter here in Montana, it was long and boring and I didn't like it one bit. We had foot after foot of snow dump down on us this first winter here and it was horrible. I am such an outside person, I like to work out and hike, and go on long walks with the dogs. I couldn't do that for 7 months :(. Not fun. The dogs didn't like being trapped inside either. Poor things.

Now that it is getting sunny and the snow has finally melted, I am planning my garden and flower planting ideas. My yard is going to be epic this summer!! I am going to plant some tomatos, peppers, lettuce, watermelon, and cucumbers and then I'm going to can a lot of tomatoes for the winter time.

I already started to plant my herbs in little pots and they are inside on my window seal. The basil is already starting to pop up!!

That's all for now, hope your all doing well!

Car sold!!

My car for the past 5 years has finally been sold! I can't believe how fast it was sold (I put it up on craigslist 3 weeks ago!). I kinda miss it, but know that I will love the new car I pick out!! The best part is that it went to a family that really needed it. A church group called us up and said that they raised money to buy a car for an older couple that didn't have a car. They had lost their home in foreclosure a while back due to medical bills (She had tumors). Someone actually gave them a home to stay in! Stories like these make me so happy, and I just had to sell the car to these people. I felt so good leaving it! I just know they are going to love the car, and it is reliable for them :).

Other news!

I accomplished another goal! I payed off all of our credit card debts, so it will be easier to get a car loan. I want an SUV for the rough Montana winters. I'm leaning towards a Honda CR-V, hopefully we can find a good deal! We got our tax money back, so it's a great time to pay those credit cards off. We only had $1500 dollars in debt, but it still feels great! I don't like credit cards at all!!

My new ride! Soon :)

Lasagna

I made lasagna last night for dinner. It was the best lasagna ever from PW. Lasangna is one of my favorite meals!! Here is the recipe:


1-½ pound Ground Beef
1 pound Hot Breakfast Sausage
2 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 cans (14.5 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes
2 cans (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
2 Tablespoons Dried Basil
1 teaspoon Salt
3 cups Lowfat Cottage Cheese
2 whole Beaten Eggs
½ cups Grated (not Shredded) Parmesan Cheese
2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
1 teaspoon Salt
1 pound Sliced Mozzarella Cheese
1 package (10 Ounce) Lasagna Noodles
(add 1/2 Teaspoon Salt And 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil To Pasta Water)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain half the fat; less if you’re feeling naughty. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil and salt. After adding the tomatoes, the sauce mixture should simmer for 45 minutes while you are working on the other steps.

In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. Cook lasagna until “al dente” (not overly cooked).

To assemble:
Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat/sauce mixture over the top.

Repeat, ending with meat/sauce mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.

Either freeze, refrigerate for up to two days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.


Loved every bite of this dinner! I ate it with garlic bread, yumm!

Now time to stay warm, it's -40 outside right now -60 with the wind chill!! I think I'll stay inside all day!

Product review: Jamba Juice!

The other day I was in Wal Mart shopping for some much needed stuff since we live so far from an actual store! Yes, I would prefer Target much better!! Anyways, I was in the freezer section and noticed these awesome mix at home Jamba Juice smoothies! I absolutely love Jamba Juice, and when I noticed these I just had to get some and try!

I got my blender out this morning for my breakfast smoothie, and started whipping it up. It called for 1 cup of apple juice on the package although I did have to add a little bit more for it to mix well. I have to say, they were pretty tasty! I loved every sip of these. The best part is they are all natural, and healthy for you. I got an apple juice with no sugar added, and just pure apple juice so it really was a healthy breakfast! And they are only $2 for a package of these and they make 2 servings, much, much cheaper than buying an actual smoothie in Jamba Juice that's for sure!!!

Marathon Training!

I am doing my very first half marathon in May! I am super excited about it, and hope my time is good :). I am going to start my training next week. I downloaded an app for my phone that put in weeks and days of my training and what I should be doing to train myself. Some day's will be running, others will be cross training, others will be strenght training. It will be a very long and hard road, but I am ready to accomplish one of my 2011 goals!

In other news, I have finished 3 books in 2011!

Here they are:

The Help
Dear John
Safe Haven

Currently reading:

Faithful Place by Tana French

Getting Back on Track!

I have not been eating well in the past few months due to stress with the wedding, and just not feeling like eating healthy. I know excuses, excuses right?

Well I have been feeling like crap in the past few weeks, I have been getting major headaches, and tummy aches... And have been so very tired. I am tired of feeling bad, and am ready to get back on track.

I am going to start out by doing a detox. I am going to eat no meat, or dairy for 2 whole weeks!! Crazy I know!! I am also going to take a detox tea, and lemon water. I will also need to drink a whole bunch of water.

After two weeks I am going to slowly add in more stuff in my diet. I will let you all know how I am feeling after every day. I am excited to see how it goes!!

A few of my favorite things!

1. The Keurig coffee maker!







This is so convenient and fast. It makes one cup of coffee small, medium, or large sized. It is nice because someone like me only drinks one or two cups in the morning so it's much easier than making a full pot of coffee in the morning and wasting over half of it. You put your k-cup in the filter and it makes the perfect cup of coffee. They also make k-cups in hot chocolate and tea's.

2. The Miche Purse!

I was just introduced to these and fell in love with them. I absolutely love these. There is a base that you buy, and then they sell shells for them. The shells are interchangeable, and you can change the look of your purse whenever you want! So fun, and easy. The picture shown is my most recent purchase of the shells. I love this one. For more info you can go here: http://www.michebag.com/

3. My Amazon Kindle!

This is probably my favorite out of these. I can download books from Amazon and read them on my device. I feel like it is much easier to read than an actual book for some reason, I'm not sure why. I have read so many books on this and I will never get tired of it. And, it saves me money rather than spending full price for books sometimes they even have free books available. It keeps all your books in one convenient place as well, which I love!

I swear I am not a spokesperson for any of these things. I just love them so much I thought I would share with you! They are all awesome!!

Maui Bound!!

My family has decided it's a good idea to take a big trip to somewhere warm over Christmas time. After my wedding they thought it was so much fun that they wanted to take a trip every year, and this year they decided... Maui!! I can hardly wait! I have never been, and am so excited.

My aunt is working on getting some timeshares and we can all hang out!! It will be a blast!

December can't come soon enough!

Recipe of the week!

Chicken noodle soup for the healthy soul!

I felt a cold coming on a few days ago, and I was not ready to get sick, not one bit! It has been really cold over here in Montana the last few days and I wanted nothing more than a warm bowl of soup.

So, I made chicken noodle soup to kick the cold that was coming and make me warm up from the cold outside :).

I have been scared to make chicken noodle soup. I always thought it was to hard to make or took to long. Neither of those are true. The recipe I chose from Pioneer Woman Cooks was one of the easiest ever, and most delicious homeade recipes I have ever tried!

Ingredients

1 whole Cut Up Fryer Chicken
2 whole Carrots, Diced
2 stalks Celery, Diced
½ whole Medium Onion, Diced (optional)
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoons Turmeric
¼ teaspoons White Pepper (more To Taste)
¼ teaspoons Ground Thyme
2 teaspoons Parsley Flakes
16 ounces, weight Frozen "homemade" Egg Noodles
3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour


Preparation Instructions
Cover chicken in 4 quarts water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove chicken from pot with a slotted spoon. With two forks, remove as much meat from the bones as you can, slightly shredding meat in the process. Return bones to broth and simmer on low, covered, for 45 minutes.

Remove bones from broth with a slotted spoon, making sure to get any small bones that might have detached.

Add the carrots and celery (and onions, if using) to the pot, followed by the herbs and spices. Stir to combine and simmer for ten minutes to meld flavors.

Increase heat and add frozen egg noodles and chicken. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

Mix flour and a little water. Stir until smooth. Pour into soup, stir to combine, and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until broth thickens a bit. Test and adjust seasonings as needed.

The hubs loved this soup as well! He helped himself to 3 giant bowls of it :).

Frugal Friday Blog Hop!

Welcome to Frugal Fridays! Frugal Fridays is a weekly link-up hosted by The Frugal Free Gal and co-hosted by Inspiring You To Save. The hop includes links for Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Twitter, Giveaways, and Your Favorite Post of the Week. Here's how it works:


Become a follower of Inspiring You to Save and The Frugal Free Gal.
Add our Frugal Fridays button on your blog somewhere.
Link up, visit other blogs, and make new friends!

The Help

"You is kind, you is smart, you is important"

The help

I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It is one of the best books I have ever read. Seriously! It is one of those that I wanted to ge to the end to find out what happens, but at the same time I didn't want it to end. I could hardly put the book down!

The Help is about a young white woman in the early 1960s in Mississippi who becomes interested in the plight of the black ladies' maids that every family has working for them. She writes their stories about mistreatment, abuse and heartbreaks of working in white families' homes, all just before the Civil Rights revolution. That is the story in a nutshell - but it is so much more than just stories.

That's all I'm telling you!! Read the book!! It's simply amazing!!

Wandering Wednesday!

Welcome to Wandering Wednesday! Wandering Wednesday is a weekly link-up hosted by Inspiring You To Save! and Paisley Passions. It was created for socializing and to get new followers, subscribers, and readers. Every Wednesday a new linky will be posted. Here's how it works:

Follow the hostess and co-host (first and second spot on the linky)

Leave a comment if your a new follower with your web address and I will follow back.

Grab the link-up button and post "Wandering Wednesday" on your blog to help spread the word.

Link up your blog post for "Wandering Wednesday". The more people that know, the more that will join in, the more fun it will be!!
Have fun!
Thumbnails: This is a Blog Hop! 41 entries so far... you're next!

Schwan's

Growing up my parents used to have our regular Schwan's man come over and they would order single serving sized pizza's and ice cream, and fudge sicles. Once a month they would order those things from them. I remember the pizza's weren't all that bad for microwavable pizza's, but then again I was kid, what kid doesn't like pizza??

Now they make and sell all kinds of different stuff. They have meats, fruits and veggies, drinks, pasta, chicken wings! All sorts of stuff!! I was looking through a catalogue from them the other day and it brought me back to my childhood. I loved eating those fudge sicles growing up!!

I think I might actually order a few things from them. Since my nearest big store is quite a ways out it might be easier to get some frozen fruits and vegetables from them. I'm not sure if I am keen on buying meet from a truck yet :).

Brings me back to my childhood!!

-24

-24 degrees that is! Yes, I woke up this morning to find the temperature way below zero! It is so cold out!

Makes me wish I was back at the beach chilling in 80 degree weather while everyone was freezing over here in the winter months! Ahh, atleast I can dream :)

Making my home feel like a home!!

So I really need to decorate and make my house feel like a home. Now that the wedding is over I think I have some time to do this. It's crazy, I have 2 curtains in my whole house and they are in the living room, and don't really match the theme. It's like they are thrown up because I needed something there, which is true, I didn't want the neighbors peeking through my windows. So, I didn't mention this in my previous post about my goals, but this is definately one of my major goals I want to accomplish this year.



I will start with the bathroom. It is a very small space, and I am not sure how I want to decorate it yet. It has a tan color on the wall, which I MAY change.

As you can see, it has no shower curtain up except for the ugly white base one. The colors are bland. I want color and to liven it up a little!

This is what I have come up with! I love the colors in this room. I think this is something I can accomplish.

I will update you all when I finally start my projects, I am super duper excited!!

Loves!