Shits and Giggles

It's Friday!  I've been neglecting my promise of weekly Shits and Giggles.  Oops.

SHITS

- Someone almost hit me while I was backing out of the driveway this morning.  Our house is situated at the bottom of a hill, right before a stop sign, but also after a sign that indicates a speed of 25 MILES PER FREAKING HOUR.  Not 50.

- Do not stand directly in front of the elevator door while waiting for it to arrive.  I think I'm going to start walking out of the elevator with my fist straight out in front of me to teach them a lesson.

- I hate being busy at work on a Friday.  I just want to go home.  How this differs from any other Friday, I don't know, but I just have an extra urge today.

GIGGLES

- I had sushi for dinner last night and it was spectacular.  Twix also enjoyed some of the tuna.

- We have big plans of running errands tonight after work, and I'm really excited about it.  A trip to the Sharp Shopper is in order, our snack supply is running low, and I know that I can get 32 snack-sized bags of chips for $10.  That is what we call a deal, friends.

- Tomorrow, we have tickets to the Vineyard at Hershey's Merlot Release Party, so I'll basically be drinking from noon to 6 PM.  Should be fun.


Welp, I do believe I'll take a nap for the remainder of my lunch hour...nighty night, kids.

Best Husband Award

So, something awesome happened last night.  I came home from work and volleyball to dinner already made!  Miah made chicken stir fry and it was SO good.  He even took pictures like a good little blog husband.

I have to referee another volleyball game tonight, and I can't say I'm really looking forward to it.  People acted like jerks last night during the match, and I was just super annoyed with the whole thing.  The problem is that players have been doing whatever they want ALL season long, since our regular games are not refereed.  Don't look at me like that for calling a blatant carry on your ass.  I'M THE REFEREE.  I totally pulled that card last night and blew my whistle.  BOOYAH.

On another note, traffic was a big cluster-eff this morning.  There were accidents on virtually every route into the city.  I, however, was a smart girl and took my super-secret back way to work, and it was heavenly.

Don't worry, I slowed down to take this picture and then tweet it.



Weekend Recap

What a weekend.  Basically every second of every day was jam-packed with something going on.  Friday, I got off at 3, which was delightful, and meant that I could sit at my co-worker's pool with a drink and some yummy food.  The weather was great, I kind of wish I could've sat there all day.

Saturday, we had a wedding to attend, which meant as soon as we woke up that morning, we needed to hit the outlets to find outfits for both of us, because every time we have an event, we both feel the need to buy new clothes.  Normal.  I think we did pretty good, however, on our selections.

The ceremony was outside, and it was HOT.  Thankfully, the reception was indoors, and they had the AC crankin'.  The rest of the wedding was only okay for me.  The food was meh, the DJ was awful, and the mixed drinks were super weak, and not free.  After the reception, we went to our friends' house for a little, but were still home by 10 since we were exhausted and sick of being in our wedding clothes.

I had high hopes for the wine festival on Sunday, but I'm pretty sure I'll never go again.  There were way too many tickets sold for the amount of space and wine vendors that were set up.  They really need to take a page from every other beer/wine festival in the world, and do two sessions, limiting ticket sales so those that attend can actually enjoy themselves instead of waiting in line for the entire day.  The event went from 1 to 6 PM, but we left around 4:45, since we were hot, miserable, and bored. 

It was nice being home at a reasonable hour on Sunday, and we just laid around on the couch all night.  It was awesome.  My mom and sister came over on Monday, and we christened our new deep fryer with fries and wings.  I regret not taking a picture because they were SO good.

After all that was the weekend, another busy week is ahead of us.  Volleyball every night for me, whether it's refereeing or playing, and then it's Friday, when we're hosting Miah's dad and grandma for dinner.  I'm making the Pioneer Woman's chicken parm - yum!

I'm tired already, and it's only 9 AM on Tuesday. 

Hey, you're a crazy week...

Is it weird that I sometimes miss the "first day of school" feeling?  I haven't been a student in almost 10 years, but I still can remember how exciting the first day was.  And although I can sort of live vicariously through Emma, I really can't wait to have my own kids to see off to school the last week of August.  I want to be able to post a picture on Facebook of my smiling kindergartener with a backpack bigger than him or her.

Speaking of kids, my weekend was filled with soccer, soccer, and more soccer.  Unfortunately they didn't fare too well in the tournament, and it felt like it was 142 degrees on the turf field they played on, but I think she had fun nonetheless.  I would have a better time if it weren't for the negativity spewing out of some of the parents after/during every loss.  Newsflash: they're 10 years old, and this is not the World Cup.

This week is going to be crazy, and I'm already stressed out about the fact that I basically have zero time to relax, other than tonight since we're going to a Senators game with tickets that have already been paid for.  I'm refereeing two volleyball playoff games Tuesday and Wednesday, and later on Tuesday, we have our online Fantasy Football draft.  Thursday I have a hair appointment with a new stylist at a new salon I've never been to.  I'm a little scared, and I'm hoping that it doesn't cost me 8 million dollars for highlights.

I can almost guarantee I will not be posting any recipes this week, as our tentative menu consists of the following:

Monday -- Spot dogs at the game
Tuesday -- grilled chicken breasts marinated in whatever bottled salad dressing I pull out of the pantry
Wednesday -- brats on the grill
Thursday -- pork tenderloin in the crock pot (if I'm feeling fancy, maybe I'll do something special with it and tell you all about it because I know everyone cares so much about what I'm cookingNOT)

And then it's Friday...we have a wedding on Saturday during the day, and a wine festival on Sunday.  And then, it's Labor Day.  Yay, for having a day off, but Boo, because it signifies the end of summer. 

I am still alive, for those of you who were wondering.  It's been a crazy couple of work days, as well as the weekend, but I've finally found the time to get a few words down.

ALSO, I made a new recipe last night, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, whose life I would give my right arm to have.  Seriously, if you've never seen her show on the Food Network, don't torture yourself. 

Anywho, I made her salisbury steak, and it turned out amazing.  Throw away any images in your head of the frozen, gloppy, TV dinner-style recipe that you might have.  While it's not the most attractive thing ever, it sure as hell was delicious!

Anything covered in mushrooms and onions is heavenly.

Since the Pioneer Woman has 42 kids and a cowboy husband, the recipe made a little less than a shit ton.  I'll be having it again for lunch today, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

So, back up a little bit to the weekend, where we had grand plans of going camping Saturday and Sunday, just the two of us, following the "outage kickoff party" for Three Mile Island on Friday night, where my brother-in-law works.  Our out-laws also worked there (they're retired, but still get tickets to the parties), so we typically get to buy their "+1" tickets and go to the Christmas parties, so we were pretty excited about going to a summer party at a local golf course.

Friday evening comes, we pick up Miah's brother at his house, and he informs us that we're meeting Micah (his wife) and some others at the Vineyard at Hershey to have a glass of wine or two before the party.  Okay, fine.  We get there, and after talking to the employee at the door, he directs us to where they're sitting.  We found Micah after wandering around for a few minutes, and received a HUGE surprise: she threw us a freaking wedding party/reception, and somehow managed to pull it off without us having any idea.

My first reaction was of course to scream, "SHUT. UP." because I'm super ladylike, and then begin to bawl my eyes out.  The whole thing was so awesome, the decorations were perfect, the food was outstanding, the weather was great, and the wine was spectacular, as usual.

Unfortunately, I have zero pictures of anything because I was too much of a mess to take any.  My sister-in-law took a bunch though, so I'll post them when I have them.

Saturday was consequently spent laying by the pool, because of the large amounts of wine and beer consumed. 

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend, even though we did absolutely nothing as planned.  Weekends are funny like that sometimes.

Good Morning, Sunshine

Despite the fact that for the first two hours of the morning, I thought it was Thursday, I am having a spectacular day so far.  I need to remember how much better I feel when I wake up before 6 and get to the gym.  And I've mentioned it before, but weather like this makes me so happy.  I love driving to work with the windows down without sweating my balls off.

We had stuffed peppers last night for dinner, and unfortunately for you, I failed at taking any pictures.  I made them in the crock-pot, and while they were really good, they would've been ten times better if I had used Italian sausage instead of the apple sausage I had on hand.  Recipe below...this made enough for Miah and me, plus two containers of leftovers.

10 banana peppers (the long yellow ones, with just a little heat)
1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 lb (approx) sausage
1 cup cooked rice
1 egg
1/2 a medium onion, chopped finely
Italian seasoning
garlic powder
salt and pepper

Turn your crock-pot onto low heat, and pour enough sauce into it to coat the bottom.  Mix all ingredients together (except the peppers and the tomatoes) until combined, and stuff the mixture into the peppers.  I used a small spoon and chopstick operation to get the stuff in there, however, I'm sure there are other efficient methods.  I had quite a bit of leftover stuffing, so I just formed them into little patties/meatballs-ish things, and put them on the bottom of the crock-pot.  I then put the stuffed peppers on top of the patties, so the patties would still get some of the pepper flavor into them.  Cover it with the remaining sauce, put the lid on, and if you're fancy enough to have a crock-pot with a timer on it, set it for 6 hours.

I also made cucumber salad as a side, since Miah brought home two enormous cucumbers.  I have no idea where they came from, and I really didn't care, because I love free food.  One of the cucumbers is probably 15 inches long, and 3 inches in diameter, so tonight, I'm going to try my hand at pickling, in hopes of making perfect burger-sized pickle chips! 

And for dinner tonight, since Emma will be over, along with her friend, I'm making them pizzadillas.  I'm pretty happy that I can make fun food "for the kids" when really I'm probably more excited than they are.  I shall return with pictures tomorrow.

Ole!

The weather today is absolute garbage.  And I'm pissed at myself because said weather prohibited me from crawling out of bed to go to the gym this morning.  I kept thinking, 'Well, I have volleyball tonight so I'll at least get SOME exercise...' However, now that it's a complete downpour, it's not looking promising.

So last night, I spent majority of the evening slaving away in the kitchen, which I'm pretty much okay with.  I made chicken enchiladas and this tuna pasta salad thing that Miah was obsessing over since his sister made it over the weekend.

My enchilada recipe is pretty simple, and the best part about making it last night was that I used shredded taco-spiced chicken from the freezer (that may or may not have been from Christmas).  I used this recipe to make the chicken originally, and I highly recommend it.  It's super easy, and SO good!  The chicken can then be used for tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, nachos, etc. and it will blow your mind in any form.

ANYWHO.  This made about 8 enchiladas - and these measurements are super precise (not).

1 "small square"-sized Ziploc container of cooked, shredded chicken from the recipe link above
2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese, divided (I used the finely shredded stuff this time)
1 tiny can green chiles
taco-sized tortillas (I use flour, but corn is good too)
2 small cans Rotel tomato and chile sauce (courtesy of my new favorite grocery store, the Sharp Shopper, for 30 cents a can!) (you can also use whatever enchilada sauce you like)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the first three ingredients together, only using about 3/4 cup of the cheese.  Pour just enough sauce in the bottom of a baking dish to coat it, just so the enchiladas don't stick.  Put about 1/2-3/4 cup of the mixture on each tortilla, roll it up tight, and place in the baking dish seam-side down. 

Somewhat unrelated, but we recently bought a fancy schmancy can opener, and I am happy to report that I finally know how to operate it.  LOOK - here I am, OPENING A CAN!

Once they are all in the dish, cover them with the rest of the sauce (however much you like), and approximately a shit-ton of shredded cheese.  Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starts to turn a little brown.

 

I have a weird thing about sprinkling green stuff on top of whatever I make.  In this case, I put a little dried cilantro and also some chili powder on there.

 

...and the finished product!

Throw some sour cream on top, and whatever else you like, and voila.  And another awesome thing about making these is that there's always leftovers - which means I'm having myself a spectacular lunch today!