Chicken Noodle Soup

This weekend has been a long one... and not in a good way. Andy is sick. Very sick. I won't go into details because it wouldn't be pretty. Just know it is bad. Really bad. In hopes of making him feel better and warding of this flu myself, I made chicken noodle soup.

 I found this recipe on allrecipes.com It is called Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup and that is exactly what it is! The great thing about this recipe is that it's fast but still has the freshness that the canned stuff can't hold a torch to!

I mean... the chicken. You control the quality. I used the run-of-the-mill boneless skinless chicken breasts...

The veggies, also fresh and they smell so darn good as they are cooking.

The big cheater moment is the canned chicken broth... I wish I has the time to make it from scratch... actually, I take that back. Even if I did have the time, I wouldn't. The canned stuff is so easy.And the even easier part of this soup is the finale. Throw everything in the pot an let it cook.

It takes a real culinary genius to make this soup ;) Someone wise once told me, don't reinvent the wheel. I didn't. So far, no flu for me and Andy is on the mend.

Happy Birthday!

I just want to give a big happy 5th birthday to my furbaby Capone! I know you hear a lot about Dillinger because he is so naughty, but Capone is his mama's baby.

Capone is a true man's man.

Capone is a lap cuddler... and just incase you didn't know. If he had the choice Capone would leave his Mom and Dad in favor of Grandma and Grandpa... I think its all the good food Grandma gives him ;)

He is a thug.. aka guard dog. 

'He's a chewer.

He's a lover of belly rubs.

 

Happy Birthday to Capone!

A short rant...

I know hearing me rant is probably the highlight of your day. Isn't that why you are reading this post? HAHA.
The long and short of it is... I don't know who I am more mad at to be honest... my dog (who is 2 years old... old enough to know better) or this boy who lives with me who's last name I happen to share.
Seriously. Can't I go to the gym without coming home to a living room floor that I can see? Seriously. My dog dragged an entire bag of garbage from one room to another... ripped it open and devoured it... along with some other random things that he grabbed off of our kitchen table. How do I teach him that this is naughty when yelling at him doesn't help?

Why was there a bag of garbage sitting on the kitchen floor you ask? BECAUSE Andy took it out of the garbage can but was too lazy to bring it outside. Why didn't I bring it outside? TO PROVE A POINT!  Well, that bit me right in the ass didn't it?

Where was Andy when all of this is happening? 1 guess... oh yup! you got it! Playing video games. Do they ever grown out of video games? What if we have kids... will it stop then? Or will I come home to a toddler playing with knives in the living room? Ok. I realize I am jumping the gun and being dramatic. But SERIOUSLY!

Now, they are both hiding out... Andy in the basement (playing video games no less) and Dillinger is in his hiding spot.

I DON'T CARE HOW CUTE HE LOOKS. THIS DOG IS ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

Are you missing me?

Every night I mean to post on here, but I've got so much going on right now! 

Work has been crazy! As you may know, I work at a bank and last week I was in training for a new fandagled machine called a cash recycler that we just went live with yesterday. As a supervisor, this turned into a pretty consuming project and my brain has been hurting. Everything went well, so hopefully now that it is installed and everyone is getting trained it will be smooooooth sailing! :)

Last weekend some friends of mine from high school tied the knot and I was helping them celebrate their marriage. The bride was beautiful and Andy and I had a very good time! It was great seeing some friends that I haven't seen in years and catching up with everyone was surreal. I swear, everybody has babies!

This weekend my baby brother is getting married to a fantastic girl so we've been busy with all of those wedding things as well. I love bachelorette parties... just saying! I am looking foward to a gorgeous wedding and I will be posting some pics next week.

I just wanted to let you all know that I do have some craft projects to post and I haven't forgotten about all of you. Thank you for sticking with me! <3

Bridal Shower Recap

Hey there strangers! Last weekend was my soon-to-be sister's bridal shower. I gave you a sneak peek of the centerpieces, but I am sure you are all dying to see them on the tables!

In  addition to the decorations, I also created a book for the bride that has words of advice for a happy marriage from all of those who are near and dear to her. A friend of mine did something like this for my wedding and I think it is still fun to go back and look at and so I thought I would pass on this idea. To make this project you simply need blank 3x5 notecards, a binder ring, a piece of ribbon, and a computer. I chose a title for my book and printed that on the front page along with the bride and groom's names and wedding date.

 

On many other cards I created pages for their family and friends to write words of advice on. This is one of my favorites... after a wonderful year of marriage, I totally agree with this bit of advice!

Ahhh! Fall!

 This weekend was the first weekend that felt like fall. Fall is my favorite of all the seasons. I love being able to wear jeans and sweatshirts, I love cackling campfires, I love changing leaves, I love apple cider, I love pretty much everything about fall. This fall will be even more special because my little brother is getting hitched to a beautiful lady that I can't wait to formally dub my sister! With weddings come the pre-festivities... ie: bridal showers, bachelorette parties an all that jazz. I volunteered to head up the decoration department for Miss Aimee's shower. I toyed around with center piece ideas for awhile but I settled on this fall beauty. I do believe that this centerpiece is not only beautiful for a bridal shower but also, for a dining room table.  It is a simple mason jar filled with candy corn and flowers. I used artificial flowers and leaves because mine need to last a while, but real flowers would be an elegant touch. It is perfect for bringing the feeling of fall into your home as well! Enjoy!

Dresser Re-do

So, I will preface this post by saying that this dresser was the reason that I kept my first and only secret from my husband during our marriage (ok... so it's only been a year... so I've got time to keep more secrets... but this was a biggie!) If all you want to see is the before and after, here you are...

BEFORE

AFTER

 And even better yet, this dresser was like a box of cereal. It came with a prize in the drawer! FREEBIE!

If you want to find out what happened with my husband read on!
 
It started as any innocent day of rummaging does... cash in the purse, empty trunk, my husband carefully keeping track of all of the "junk" I am buying (One man's trash is another man's treasure!)

We pull up to this rummage sale that is pretty dismal, old tools, garbage, old magazines all piled up on two tables. My husband doesn't get out of the car but I've got my wing-men (my parents!). So we are poking around and I notice that these two tables happen to be 2 dressers... i almost peed my pants! I ask the old lady how much she would want for those two  beauties.. she says $50 bucks... i hem and haw and offer her $30... she says ok! THEN Andy jumps out of the truck and says no. So alas, I leave the rummage sale, my trunk still empty and my money still intact. (Does anyone need to go get a kleenex? It's ok to cry...)

My heart was broken... apparently, it also broke the hearts of my wing-men because we dropped Andy off and my mom informed me that we were going back. (GOING BACK?!) Luckily, when my mom and I get back to the rummage sale, the dressers are still there... so of course I buy them. and i don't tell my husband. In fact, my parents bring the dressers to their house, where I continue to not tell Andy while I am prettying them up. It's D-Day. I need to get them moved back to my house so gently tell him what I did... and BOY WAS HE MAD. Yup. but I think he doesn't hate them as much as he is acting like that because how can you hate something so beautiful?! He keeps referring to them as "firewood"...but I think he means that these dresser lit a fire in his heart rather than him using them as actual firewood.

Dillinger

Meet Dillinger. He is my baby. He is a cuddler. He gives hugs. He kisses alot. He is a bed hog and a begger extrordinare. He is mean brother. He is naughty. He chews up important papers and steals food off the table. He ruins every new piece of furniture we buy.  He's been a part of our family a year and we still can't let him be home alone. However, its been a year where I sometimes would rather be home cuddling, getting kisses and watching his antics than doing anything else.