Sunday, October 28, 2012

Lonely Island Halloween

So, it seems (unbelievably!) that a lot of people don't know about The Lonely Island.

This is crazy people!  Come on now :) Youtube it right now!

Well anyways, this year we decided to dress up as characters from their videos.

(Joshua actually asked me today if it was corny that he wants to continue 
to do family themed Halloween costumes...  Oh dear, I think if I had any doubts ever in 
my mind about him--I didn't--they are entirely gone now...)
Joshua my dear, you are my perfect match <<<<---- okay enough mush now, moving on.

So I decided to be a creep :) from this video The Creep.  
here are some pictures of me portraying the creep.  (but seriously, watch the video.  Joshua and I agree it is the first time we actually really enjoy hearing Nicki Minaj sing)

Yeah, check those argyle socks out!  I wish you could see the pencil mustache better.  we spent forever on it! 


Joshua decided to be Justin Timberlakes recurring character.  He is featured as this character in the music videos Dick in a BoxMother Lover, and 3-way.

Here are some pictures for his portrayal. 


Evelyn did a portrayal of the Sax Man.  Now this is on The Lonely Island's album, but is performed by Jack Black.  This was the only song that didn't mention sex, so that is the one we chose for her lol.  There is no music video for this one, so if you want to hear it (which I recommend) just type in Jack Black, or Lonely Island, Sax Man.  Here is her costume.


Our family pictures :) 


We went trick or treating at a local university.
Evee had so much fun!  She made out like a bandit as well!


I think my favorite part of our costumes though, was the fact that we only spent $5 total on all of it.  
We had everything, except the blow up saxophone.  We bought it on Amazon, and since we are
Amazon Prime members, we got a good deal on it.  :) 

I think next year we might do our original idea for this year (Rock, Paper, and Scissors) or we have discussed going as a ghostbuster, the librarian ghost, and the green slime ghoul.  

Happy Halloween! 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Inspired

I like to be friendly.  I think most of the time I come off that way.
For Halloween, I decided that I would make the other people in our building, something for the holidays.  I found a sale at our grocery store on halloween themed cookies.  Since I would be making a bunch, I thought this would be easier than doing them from scratch.

I made them, and then as an added decoration, I took some Halloween ribbon I had found a while back, and made the bags festive.  This is what I ended up with.


Simple, and thoughtful :)   I put them outside each neighbors door.

This was last weekend.  I believe I put them out Sunday night.
Today (Thursday) we opened our door, and this is what we found :)


:) I was not expecting anything back, but this was just so sweet.  
I love these types of surprises.  Not the candy (though ummm hello, delicious!)
Just the all around spread of kindness.  They did not have to do anything, but they did.  
I am glad I live in this building.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Funny Moment

So Joshua loves to sing.  He sings all the time.  He makes up songs on the spot.
He once was in the shower (this was recently) and was singing a song about Transformers, to the tune of Winter Wonderland.  I don't remember all of it, but it was pretty awesome.

So today he is sitting on his computer, finishing his breakfast, doing a little homework, and listening to Pandora.

Unchained Melody comes on.  He decides he needs to serenade me.  Pandora for some reason, mutes on his computer randomly sometimes.  So in the middle of him singing, it goes out, and he goes into "oh Pandora, why must you..." etc.  :) Then he was like damn.  I asked if he was serenading me still.  He said yes, he was wooing me.  :)

Okay so it was funnier in person than it looks typed out.  But oh well, I am sharing anyway.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Dinner and Dessert

So tonight I wanted to have breakfast for dinner.

My original plan was for waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon.  Joshua however wasn't in the mood for waffles, so I wasn't sure what I should do.  Should I just do eggs and bacon?  I wanted another flavor since this would be our final meal.  I decided I would make some croissants to go with it.

Then, as I was cooking the bacon, I decided I would make pockets!

They came out amazing.  I took one bite, and my immediate reaction was (excuse my language) "Holy shit Josh, these are freaking delicious, come have one!"  Then he took a bite and he immediately said "whoa."  Then he continued to eat them.  He is one for portion control, but he had 6 of them.  He felt they needed one more thing though, some spicy salsa to dip in :)

They were so freaking good though.  Plus they were filling!  I only needed 2.  I usually can out-eat Joshua, but this time, he took over.



Here is what I did for the egg and bacon pockets.

4 pieces of bacon, cut into smaller pieces
5 eggs
1 pkg croissant rolls
Shredded cheese of your choice (I used Mexican style)

Preheat oven to 350*
while the oven is preheating, cook the bacon on the stove top in a skillet
When the bacon is still soft (or if you want it crunchy, go for it) but cooked, add in the eggs right on top.
Cook them until they are scrambled.  Still a little glisteny, but firm.
Spray your cookie sheet with non-stick spray (I use a water/vegetable oil solution in a spray bottle)
Set up the croissants on top of it, so they are ready to roll.  Cover with desired amount of cheese.
Spoon the egg and bacon mixture on top of the croissants, and roll them up.  You will have spillage on the sides.  Roll like you would normally do a croissant, and then pull a little from underneath each side, so it forms a pocket, and contains a little of the spillage.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown.  Mine only took 8, and they were perfect.  Depending on your oven though, you might need longer.

This dinner was soooo good!  I think it could also work with sausage.  I might add some peppers or mushrooms next time too.

So after dinner, I wanted dessert.
I have been watching DC Cupcakes (not a huge fan of Sophie, but I just like the food porn) so I decided to make cupcakes!  I had previously found a recipe on Pinterest, entitled cupcakes for two, but I could not find it :( I know I pinned it, but clearly I am silly and didn't put it in the right place.  So I did a Pinterest Search, and found this one.

I made a couple small changes, and they came out great!



Now one pretty obvious change I made, was that I did not use a cupcake liner.
This wasn't my first idea, but I could not find my liners anywhere.  I have no idea what I did with them!
:(
But still, it worked out okay.  A tiny bit of the bottoms came off, but it was really small.
The only other change I made, was that I used 1/2 a tsp of almond extract, and 1/2 a tsp of vanilla, instead of the full tsp of vanilla.  They were definitely almondy.  I thought it was a little much, and said that next time I thought I would do a little less of the almond, or make a double batch (4 cupcakes!!!) and not increase the extract.  Joshua, however, disagreed.  He said the almond was wonderful.

I also added a little more milk than what it suggested.  They were very yummy, so it must not have been a bad thing :)

I decided to put a little dab of Nutella on them while they were hot, and that was my icing.

Here is the recipe I used, with my alterations

1 egg white
2 tbl sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbl melted butter
1/4 C. ap flour
1/4 heaping tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 tbl milk

preheat oven to 350 (which was easy since I had just made the pockets at 350!)
Use liners, or grease your muffin tin
In a bowl, mix the sugar and egg white together.  Add in the extracts and butter, mix.
Next mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir until blended, and add in the milk until it is all nice and smooth and you just want to eat the batter (try to resist)

Put in the oven.  The original baking time recommends 10-12 minutes.
I tried for 10, but the middles were still gooey.  They ended up going about 14 minutes.  Maybe because of the extra milk?  I don't know, but they came out soft, moist, and delicious!  Just keep an eye on them :) Enjoy!


Oh, and Evee loved them too!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Anniversary

I just wanted to make a special post, since Joshua and I are coming up on our anniversary.

We met on October 28th, and started our relationship on November 2nd.  This is something I never did.  I would at minimum, casually date someone for at least 2 months before being their girlfriend.

I hated those people who would dive into a committed relationship head first, and then find out something in under a week that made them incompatible.  Then they would break up, and mope, and weep, because they lost their "one true love."

But from the moment I met Joshua, something just felt so incredibly right.  Something I never felt before.  He told me right away he wanted me to be his girlfriend.  I was the one who said no... then a few days later I changed my mind :)  I think that is as close to "love at first sight" as myself, or anyone, could ever experience.

We met through E-Harmony.  I know that some people consider online dating cheesy, but it worked for us.

I wanted someone who wanted a real relationship, not just a physical one.  I figured if they paid the money to be on the site, they wanted that too.  :)

I love you Joshua!

I hope to have many more years to enjoy you <3 and for you to put up with me hehehe


Our first December

Our Summer 2011 (excuse the size, I was pregnant hehehehe)






Our first family photo


Our first family Christmas


New Years 2011-2012


Spring 2012


Lunch date to watch Kung Fu Panda (Summer 2012)


Our daughters first birthday party


<3

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

!0 things I never knew about pregnancy and babies.


So recently one of my friends has gotten pregnant (well not too recently, she is due in a couple months haha) and she asked me what to expect.  This had me thinking a bit, and I decided to make this list.

I think most women growing up, get a basic idea on what to expect when they are pregnant.  Pickles and ice cream, a big belly, eating a ton, and then a beautiful baby!  What a great experience :D

Well, while most of that is true... there are some other things I thought I would mention...

In no particular order of shock or surprise, here is my list of things that I never knew about pregnancy, giving birth, and having a baby :)

1.  Heartburn.  This didn't set in until about 7 months, but once it was there... it was intense.  Tums were my best friends.  It happened daily, especially at night.  Sometimes it was so bad that I felt bile in my throat.  I actually ended up googling "can you overdose on tums?" because I was taking them so often.  Turns out, too many of them is not good for you.  I did fine though :) I kept it in the appropriate limit, and alternated with some baking soda water (gross, but better than heartburn!)

2. Swollen feet.  It did not matter if I was off of them for a few hours, put them up on pillows, or anything.  My feet were freaking huge.  About a month after giving birth, I looked at my feet, and shrieked to Joshua "OMG I have skeleton feet!!!"  They were back to normal :)

3.  Hemorrhoids.  Itchy sometimes painful giant (well it feels giant) sacks of blood sicking out of your asshole (I don't mean your man either ladies, and excuse the language...).  I tried witch hazel, and mothers love roid balm, and some other products and suggestions.  It did not help me get rid of them, but it did help relieve symptoms :) Make sure you eat a TON of fiber.

4.  Headaches.  I didn't know that being pregnant could cause massive headaches.  Some so bad that you feel dizzy feel like you are going to pass out.  Now of course, not everyone experiences this... but I had the luck to be part of those that do.  I never drank much caffeine before I was pregnant, but after trying a few different things, I went to my doctor, and she suggested it.  I was shocked.  Everything I have ever read said no caffeine, bad mom, no caffeine!  So it surprised me a lot when she told me to try to have a cup of coffee whenever I got a headache.  It worked though.  She explained that it would get blood going to my brain and help relieve the tension.  I hated the dirty looks I got from people, but it was this or pass out on the floor at work :) so I took it!

5. Water breaking.  It is not like the movies.  In fact, most women don't have their waters break on their own.  Mine however decided to break.  I had no idea though.  I thought I had peed myself, which was very depressing since I had not done so the entire pregnancy (lucky me! it is pretty common to do so).  I was walking up our sidewalk to the porch of our apartment when it happened.  It was warm, wet, and seriously felt just like I was peeing, except I couldn't stop it.  I stood there for a second terrified that someone would see me and realize what I was doing.  Then I walked up the couple flights of stairs, saw our roommate in the corner on his computer, ran up the next flight of stairs to our bedroom, and immediately texted Joshua.  At this point I am still thinking I peed myself.  So to test it, I go to the bathroom.  I had what felt like a full bladder, so then I really thought it must be my water.  Not wanting to tell anyone else though, in case it was pee, I wanted to do more tests.  I had texted Joshua "don't panic, my water might have just broken."  So what did he do?  he panicked a little :) He asked me if he needed to come home (he was at work) and I told him not yet, I was doing experiments.  Yes, that was the thing to tell him to calm him down.  I am a genius.  I decided to put a towel between my legs to see if I kept leaking.  If I did, I would assume it was not pee, and go to the hospital.  Finally I told him okay, I think it was, come home, and he did :)

6.  Water breaking pt 2.  This is a whole different situation than #5.  I assumed that once my water broke, and it all came out, it would be done.  Wrong.  Everytime I stood up, or did anything, or even just laying there, there would be a sudden gush of liquid.  It was sticky and uncomfortable.  The nurses changed my towels often, but I felt bad asking.  At the same time, I was really feeling gross.  I was in labor for 16 hours, so fun.  I finally asked when it would stop, I couldn't imagine that I could possibly hold that much liquid in my body.  They then told me that it continues to make it.  awesome.  thank you world for preparing me for that.

7.  IV meds and the epidural.  I went into labor around 1pm, and gave birth at 4:21am.  I did good until around midnight, and then I was exhausted.  My contractions were just bad enough to keep me awake, but not bad enough that I wanted the epidural.  Having a needle taped to my back (inserted and taped to my back) was not something I wanted unless I had to have it.  The nurse told me though, if I wanted, I could have IV meds.  She said they would just help me sleep.  They did so much more than that.  They took hold immediately.  I felt so light and happy, and I fell asleep.  I woke up though, with really bad contractions.  It was the most horrible experience.  I would wake up, in extreme pain, and then fall back asleep instantly as soon as it subsided.  But then it would happen again.  Being yanked in and out of sleep without feeling like you have any control is nuts.  Finally, I couldn't take it any longer.  Around 2ish I asked for the epidural.  Here is the next part of #7 :)  No one ever told me that to get the epidural, you first have to have two iv bags full of a special liquid, pumped into your body.  It took about an hour for them to get in my body.  They activate with the epidural apparently.  Then we had to wait for a specific doctor to come up and put the needle in my back.  After all of that was done, they told me it would take about 15 minutes to kick in.  So almost an hour and a half from the moment I couldn't take anymore, until there was relief.  But it wasn't relief, not completely anyway.  I know all labors are different, but this is what mine felt like.  Severe period cramps, mixed in with constipation cramps.  So bad that you want to buckle over and cry.  I did not want to wait an hour.  I wanted relief.  Well the epidural got rid of the cramping, which was wonderful, but I could still feel an intense pressure (similar to constipation) that was quite unpleasant.  It honestly just felt like I had to poop.  So make sure you learn about medicine before you take it! The last part of #7 is when the IV meds are still in you after you have the baby.  I have very hazy memories of the moments after my daughter was born.  I remember pushing, I remember kissing her head.  Then she was taken away, and I was being sewn up a little.  I don't remember holding her after she was cleaned or anything.  It makes me very sad.  But at least I remember the first moment I saw her.  Better than nothing I guess.

8.  You bleed after you give birth.  I thought we were just lucky and didn't get our periods for 9 months.  Wrong.  That blood all comes out after you give birth.  I was lucky and only bled about 4-5 weeks, but some women go 8 weeks bleeding.  Make sure you stock up at the hospital on the heavy duty pads!  Especially the blue diaper like ones.  So comfy!  and offer so much protection when you sleep.  You aren't supposed to use tampons, so seriously, stock up!

9.  Some women cant breastfeed.  I feel so ignorant that I ever thought formula fed babies were only done so because the parent chose to do so.  This is not the case!  Some women are physically unable, or their babies wont.  My baby had really bad jaundice when she was born.  I kept trying to feed her, but she would not latch.  I had to pump and give her a bottle for a while.  She had some formula too.  Finally after a month or so she started nursing, and I still nurse her in the mornings now that she is 13 months old, just starting the weaning process.  However I no longer feel any ill will towards any mom that chooses, or has to formula feed.  Everyone is different.

10.  Projectile poop.  I did not realize babies could projectile poop.  One day, when Evee was just a month or so old, I was changing her diaper.  I heard a loud rip, and knew she had just passed some massive gas.  I looked down at Joshs leg, a foot away from us, and saw a splatter of baby poop on him. we looked at the bed, and there was nothing on it.  nothing on her diaper.  nothing on me.  She shot it right out and over a foot away.  That's my girl!

So those are the 10 things that sprang to mind.
As I was writing this though, I thought of a couple other things.
I am not going to give them numbers, but just give a brief mention.

* A baby can cuddle up on one side of your belly.  Picture waking up, and half of your belly is just as flat as it was before the baby, and the other half looks like a giant easter egg is hiding under your shirt.  Completely lopsided, and freaky.
* Do not buy a nursing bra until after you give birth.  I was a 32 A.  Bought a 24 B while I was pregnant.  Bought a 36 C after I had her.  Most recently I got an E.  I look at my A bras in pity these days.
* If you can, freeze meals ahead of time!  Makes things easier on you, and on the dad or other caregivers!
* second hand is perfectly fine, and much cheaper!  That leaves you with more money to get things that she will keep forever, brand new.
* All kids develop differently.  Don't worry too much.  Evee is 13 months with only 2 teeth.  She knows how to do itsy bitsy spider, high five, kiss, patty cake, where several body parts are, and how to raise the roof.
*if they can grab it, it will go in their mouth.
* buy hats with the velcro straps if you want them to stay on.
* don't forget, you may have gone through the labor, but your partner has gone through something too.  don't expect support if you aren't going to return it (I love you so much Joshua <3 for all you do for us).

:) have a lovely day!  Oh and here are some pictures!


Creepy sono that we think looks just like the con from transformers :)


22 weeks pregnant :)


27 weeks pregnant


on IV meds, and very, very out of it.  Joshua loves this picture.


Evelyn Autumn Jade :) <3


My family <3


So much personality, even from the first day.
She still has her tongue out all the time :)


Admiring his girls :) I love this picture.
I just looked up, and this was what I saw.
I didn't want to forget that moment, so I took a photo.


Joshua and his daughter.


Thank you for reading my blog!
Remember that what I posted is from my own personal experience.
While some things listed will happen to everyone, others will not.
For me though, I would rather know what might happen, just so I can prepare.
!!!!

Applesauce Brownies



I went into this dessert wanting something a little healthier.  
I am trying to lose the last of my pregnancy weight, but I don't want to go on a diet.
I find that diets just make me crave what I can't have, so changing my diet, rather than dieting, is a better idea.  That way when I crave chocolate, or ice cream, I can still have some.  I just have a smaller portion, less often, and it all works out!  Since most of what I eat is good for me anyway, I don't think I am making too big of a compromise with this theory.  

So I had seen on Pinterest, all sorts of posts about bananas and applesauce replacing ingredients for baking.  So I looked up healthy brownies, and found this recipe for Applesauce Brownies.  It happened to be a diabetic recipe site, so lower sugar, and a happy Ashley :) 

I followed the recipe pretty precisely, but I like my brownies thicker, so I used an 8x8 pan instead.

I tried to be more vigilant with my pictures this time.

Cocoa

Vegetable oil and applesauce

Dry ingredients

 Mix, mix, mix!

All done!  :) (Joshua said that the batter was not tasty in his opinion)

I put it into a floured 8x8 pan, and baked it.

I must say, they came out delicious!


I have just a couple things I would like you to keep in mind when making these brownies.
These are not boxed brownies, so will not be as sweet, or as moist.  
This recipe produced cake like brownies, rather than fudge like ones. 
If you cut into them while they are still warm, they will crumble.  If you wait until they are cool, they cut easily and keep their shape much better. :) enjoy!

Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375
Combine oil, applesauce, and cocoa in a mixing bowl.  Slowly add sugar until blended.  Add in the eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and soda.  Add mixture to batter slowly until fully incorporated.  No need to use a mixer, just a rubber spatula, or a wooden spoon work fine.  
Pour into floured (or greased if you want) 8x8 pan.
Bake about 30 minutes (depending on how your oven heats, check at 20/25).  Toothpick should insert and come out a little stained but clean.  

The next time I make these, I think I will add a half cup of chocolate chips to them, or maybe some walnuts on top.  Enjoy! 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Mmmm Grapefruit



So I have read tons of things all over the internet, and in a couple health books, about grapefruit.
I have had grapefruit before.  I did not like it.  It was bitter and gross.
(unless I put a giant pile of sugar on it hahahaha).

But since it is so good for you, and I am trying to lose some weight, I decided to buy some this week.
So many people like it, I thought there had to be something to it.  
Maybe at the very least I could get used to the taste of it.

I looked up "how to cut grapefruit" and found a yahoo answers link.  Let me try to find that real quick.

So today I am eating my second grapefruit, and I am astonished.  I do like it.  It isn't that bad.  The trick is just to cut down the membranes, because that is the nasty bitter part.  If you just eat it with a spoon, you are getting lots of bitter nasty (have I said bitter and nasty yet?  That is because I mean it!!!)

:) now it is much more enjoyable.  I think I will enjoy my week of grapefruit, 
and come grocery day, I will buy some more.  I also got more cereal at the store, 
because I don't like to eat the same thing Every day.

Monday, October 8, 2012

The Cheap Life


Well, I guess we could have less money, but we are by no means rich.
We still know how to have some fun though :) 

So here are some things we did this week on our budget!

Cookies -  I called these "Pantry Cookies."  I started out with making peanut butter cookies, and then...
                  I looked at my pantry shelf and decided to throw a bunch of stuff together to make these :)


Like I said, I started out with a basic peanut butter cookie.  
So I started with the sugar.


Then I thought, maybe it would be even better with some
butterscotch chips!  Mmmmmm


So then I went to add the peanut butter to it.  But I didn't have enough creamy :(
Then a stroke of brilliance, CRUNCHY!!! 

But why stop at cream and crunch peanut butter, when there is Nutella on the shelf!


Who doesn't like nutella? 


^^^ These were the results.
This cookie is not for those on a diet (clearly) and are very sweet.  
The peanut butter and butterscotch also make them very savory.
Definitely need milk with this cookie, and it is a crumbly cookie (best warm IMO)
It has a slight crisp on the outer shell, with a nice soft crumble middle.
Joshua, Evelyn, Joshua's brother, and myself are the official taste testers, and we all approve!

Pantry Cookies:

1 C Granulated sugar
1 C Confectioners sugar
1 C Light brown sugar
0.5 C Creamy peanut butter
1.5 C Chunky peanut butter
0.5 C Nutella
1 Large Egg
2 TBSP water
1/4 C. Vegetable Oil (If I were to remake this, I think I would use coconut oil instead)
2 Tsp Hazelnut extract
Half of a bag of butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray non-stick spray on pan (I use a mix of 2 parts water, 1 part vegetable oil, in a spray bottle).  I mixed the dough with my hands because it was easier with all the chunky stuff in it :) then I rounded the cookies into balls a little over an inch tall.  I put them in the oven for about 7-8 minutes, then immediately pressed them down with the spatula, and put them on a cooling rack.  They were delicious :) 



Halloween Decorations - Halloween is my favorite holiday, and Autumn is my favorite time of the
                                          year.  Unfortunately, I never have the money to buy all the stuff I see in the
                                          store to decorate :( sad panda.   But luckily I found an inexpensive way to
                                          bring in some holiday cheer :) 

I have a one year old in my house, who eats a ton!  I know I can not be the only one.  After throwing so many baby food jars away, I started feeling horrible :( So instead I started washing and saving them.  I had no idea what to do with them, until recently when I figured it out :) 


I already had the jars, and each bottle of paint can be found for less than a dollar at craft stores.
I used a sharpie for the black lines.  The tall ghost on the far left was made from a Gerber treat tub.

Also, you may notice the sticky decorations on the windows (the clingy ones).  I got those after Halloween last year.  It was on sale and I got two packs of them for 20 cents each.  Seriously how awesome is that?  I always get them, and other holiday decorations, after the said holiday. 


I also used some chicken noodle soup cans :) 



50 cents at Michaels the week after Halloween! :)  


^^^ also 50 cents :) This is on our front door.

Now this is my favorite thing that I have done... I painted a cheap flat canvas, and then put it in an old frame that I didn't have any other use for.  I decorated the frame with google eyes, and just used dabs of paint for the glue.  Then I put it on our front door, so our neighbors could see :)


I also got a black skull table cloth, an orange candy bowl, and a Halloween sign for the kitchen.
I got them all at Dollar Tree.  So for all my decorations, I didn't even break 10 dollars.
It is amazing how much stuff is around that I no longer have a use for, that I can turn into a craft.




Romantic Dinner - I wanted to do something special for Joshua and myself, so I made dinner last night.


Unfortunately, sometimes you cant be too, too cheap lol.  Over the weekend I bought a bottle of Mascato from World Market.  They are awesome and have lots of wine discounts :) So I got a bottle for 8 bucks (and it is delicious)!!!!  This is not the too cheap part, this cheapness was awesome!  

The cheap part was the steak I bought :/  I got a pair of steaks that were in the clearance spot because they were only a couple days away from expiration.  Since we would be having them very soon, I didn't think too much of it.  I marinated them all day with my own marinade (apple cider vinegar, lea and perrins, soy sauce, a little brown sugar) and then cooked it in a seasoned pan (onion powder, my own non-stick spray, a little garlic, and basil).   Joshua likes his rare, and I like mine medium.  However they were so thin, they both cooked up really fast.  My fault for going the cheap route.  The flavor of the steaks was delicious!  But they were chewy :( and I actually choked on a little of it.  It made for some really nice laughs though :) and now we have a fun memory of the horrible steak lol with the delicious flavor.  Next time I think I will have to splurge and pay more than 4 dollars for a pair of steaks haha.  

We also had scrambled eggs :) with a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  They were yummy :) 

So "steak" and eggs, with a glass of wine :) I finished my wine first and he poured me some from his own glass so we could toast.  Another great memory... 

Josh pours some wine in my glass from his, I go to take a drink, he said NO!  We have to cheersy.  Cheersy? I asked.  He thought for a moment, laughed and said toast!  We have to toast!  I teased him a little, and we "cheersyed" and drank the rest of our wine.  Not a perfect evening, but at the same time, perfect <3  Less than 15 dollars for two orders of steak and eggs and wine.  With lots of leftover eggs, and wine.  Though really I think I have to pay more for steak next time :/  

Cheers!


Excuse the mess.  I keep cleaning, but she keeps playing.  Silly baby :) just kidding!
But I thought it was okay to take an evening off and just enjoy it!




Bubble Bath Fun - Evelyn was kinda cranky this week.  She has had a cold so I understand :( 
                               poor baby girl!  So I thought she would like a bath :) I had wanted to use shaving
                               cream for some sensory play.  However we didn't have any (you can however get
                               some at the Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, one dollar).  We did have some no 
                               tears dollar shampoo.  I put some in and made her a bubble bath.  Then I gave her
                               some blue and green food coloring, and let her go nuts!  She had sooooo much fun.
                               Total cost was less than two dollars!







She loved it!  :)