We made it a year?

So, coming up this month (actually on Thursday) is the anniversary of my hubs and I moving into the lovely apartment we are still living in.  We got a crash course on adulting without help and how to cook, which you lovelies have gotten sporadic updates about.

Recently my adult lessons have included bug massacre, bathroom fixing, and how to use an IMac thanks to the people who were getting rid of it and said to my hubby, "want one?" and he said, YES! but then gave it to me, because frankly he hates Mac computers... so here I am typing to you from my newish IMac.

Want to hear about my bug massacre? OF COURSE YOU DO!  I'm actually going to do a nice little review of one product I used because I am loving the results.  IF YOU DON'T! scroll down, read about my awesome trip to Penn State!

I think I'm jumping around a bunch here but everything makes sense.  My birthday was October 5, so I of course, in tradition of my birthday, took the day off, AND my sister just had her new baby, so now I have a nephew and a niece to love and spoil and hand back to their mother when they scream too much.

BUG MASSACRE!!!

On my birthday, I took a lovely trip to Lowes at the suggestion of my BFF for Bug killing products.  I had told her I wanted like bug REPELLENT and he went,
"Go to Home Depot, they have that stuff everywhere!" but Lowes was closer, so I went there and bought not only basic ant traps and roach traps (we THINK we saw roaches, but I'm not an exterminator, and I'd rather be safe than sorry...), but I got Ortho Home Defense and it said to spray it around doors and windows, so I did.

I also sprayed it around the vents in my house because I saw a couple bugs near one of them.   No Joke, I LOVE this stuff.  Our maintenance guy fixed out screens, and I sprayed this EVERYWHERE and I have not seen a single bug since...

We had a big ant problem too (I'm making us sound like dirty people and we're not! Bugs just really seem to like our place).  Exterminator was coming, nothing was helping, and I finally realized that they were coming from the cracks in the bathroom tiles, so I also went out and got some squeeze tube clear sealant and got that issue solved.  Only saw one or 2 today and they were all dead.  I'm thinking I may have to check the bathroom again for cracks where they could be coming in.

WE ARE.... EATING CREAMERY ICE CREAM!

So I went to PSU for my birthday weekend with my lovely sister and BFF (not the sister with the babies, the other one with the degree about fish and teaching people).  My sister is currently living up there and so BFF and me stayed with her.
We drove up Friday (10/2) and were there all day Saturday and part Sunday.  PSU won (of course...) and we actually had really good seats, even though we were sitting down at the Army end...

Those are the Army cheerleaders, fyi.

It rained the ENTIRE game, no joke.  It rained and rained and rained.  Thankfully my sister got us poncho's and i was warm under my little plastic poncho and like 4 layers.  I seriously was wearing, two hoodies, a t shirt, a thermal shirt, sweat pants, leggins, socks, and snow boots, WITH my hat and scarf my sister gave me for my birthday! because she called Hubs and went, "what does she want!?" and he said, "she is kinda bummed she doesn't have a PSU beanie for the game" basically because I went there and have like NO PSU apparel for cold football games... BUT now I have a scarf, beanie and hoodie for the next one!

My hoodie I got on Sunday so I couldn't wear it to the game...

ON SUNDAY we got possibly the best bagels I could have eaten... and while my sister went to swimming, BFF and me went shopping.  Gots my hoodie, gots some magnets, bought a PSU planner, mainly because it was only 4 dollars and back home a regular one would be like 8 or 9 dollars...  Also got hubs a tshirt, that he is wearing right now, and looks good on him.  He may not have gone to Penn State like I did, but he sure looks good in their clothes!

Jumping around again...

We went to this INSANE church on Saturday, because we are very good Catholic girls who go to church every week.  The priest started mass late, and was really upset we didn't all like SHOUT 'good evening!" at him when he said it so... and then he talked forever, and then they had a guest speaker, but it was definitely not what ANY of us are used to so that was an experience.  Got mexican food, which was good.  I've had better I think... but was still good.

Of course we got creamery ice cream on Sunday, and I brought some back for hubs and myself, and I am very sad to say it has all since been eaten...

So I forgot to tell them I wanted Jimmies on my ice cream, so they legit gave me a bowl of Jimmies... I lost my mind.  I got jimmies in every bite and it was GLORIOUS.

THEN before heading home we stopped at  CIDERY.  Did NOT know they existed, but it was AWESOME.  I personally love Ciders.  They are usually gluten free because they used apples, rather than wheat to make the drink, unlike beer.  They served it like beer, but bottled it like wine, it was crazy!

Here is our samplings of Ciders.  I brought home two bottles, not gonna lie...

FINALLY!

This place we went to on Saturday used MEDICAL FILE FOLDERS as their menus.  I was seriously confused when someone handed it to my sister, and then went, 'OMG THATS THE MENU!' had to text it to a friend because I was like, "thats crazy!" 

Clearly I am easily entertained...

SO basically besides BFF and me getting lost and having to drive way out of the way to come home, like we added another half hour to our drive... BUT we knew where we were and how to get home, so we are now referring to it as "that time we got really lost but not really because we knew EXACTLY where we were and how to get home...", I HAD A PRETTY GOOD TWO WEEKS.

I hope everyone is doing awesome and enjoying MY personal favorite season FALL!!!    Enjoy this lovely photo of a mountain I took.  You can see the leaves starting to turn colors!

taxikab

I stirred the gravy - cheesy loaded potato and stuff soup.

I've decided to make a section on the blog for my trials in the kitchen, my hubby seems to enjoy my cooking (though I do think he's lying most of the time) and I want to start actually MEASURING things and writing them down, because currently I just throw stuff in a pot and go with it.
In honor of the days when I would tell my husband "I made dinner" when we were dating, this new portion is going to be called "I stirred the gravy".

I call this "Cheese loaded potato and stuff soup"  The "stuff" is optional.  You can simply do a loaded potato soup using this recipe and forget the other veggies, but if you think anyone in your family who doesn't USUALLY eat veggies, will eat soup with copious hidden veggies, throw as many kinds as you can in there!  Though I don't suggest peppers or REALLY flavored veggies as they'll change the flavor.  MOVING ON!!   Some of these you can do ahead of time, I did the veggies during dinner on Wednesday night and made the bacon at breakfast with the rest of the bacon... i just remembered to put some aside.  This soup serves 3-4 people we learned... If you want to have MORE soup, simply add more ingredients.  My dad says the potato rule is 1 per person when making mashed potatoes, so I follow that same rule with any potato recipe.  Also, don't be like me, don't read bits of the recipe then realize you could have made a short cut after you did like 3 hours of work... read the WHOLE recipe before starting anything.  Check your ingredients, make sure you have everything.  It sucks to have to go out and get something after you've started cooking... I hate it.  ANYWAY.

Cheesy Loaded Potato and *Stuff Soup.
Ingredients
Large soup pot
3 medium potatoes
1 container Cream soup starter
half cup milkmilk
half cup half and half or cream
half a bag of Sargentos three cheese shredded cheese (if you have a shredded cheese you prefer, use that)
bacon
olive oil
salt
pepper
vegetable seasoning (OPTIONAL)

Additional *"stuff"
1.5 bags baby carrots
1.5 small heads of broccoli
(see bottom for additional notes and additional suggested veggies)


Chop carrots, broccoli and potatoes.
The broccoli will separate slightly as it is cooked, so just make sure you have it where people can eat it with a spoon...
Carrots should be cut into small medium thick slices.  Like 2/10th's of an inch.  I used baby carrots and just chopped them.  If you use large carrots, I suggest slicing them in half THEN cutting them into little slices like I did the baby carrots.
Potatoes, I cut them in half, then slice length wise into 4s, then chop them into about 1inch of less pieces.

Cook the broccoli as you would to serve it by itself.
I cooked mine in water with the potatoes, then drained it all.  DO NOT OVER COOK YOUR POTATOES.  They will become mushy and be cubes of mashed potatoes...  Bring your water to a boil with broccoli and potatoes in it, reduce the heat to light medium, wait 5-10 minutes, turn it off.  Drain these veggies.

In the same pot that is now empty.  Drizzle olive oil, add carrots, turn on medium heat and let the carrots cook for about 10 minutes. When the carrots are done, add the potatoes and broccoli back to the pot and set that aside.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and if you're using it, vegetable seasoning.  I used it, I love it.

Cook the bacon.  If you want you can cook the bacon in the oven while you prepare the veggies, I find cooking bacon in the oven to be really easy so... and less time consuming than stove top...  Save the bacon grease for flavor to the soup.

Add the cream starter to the veggies.  Stir with a large spoon (its easier with a big spoon), set to medium heat.  Add milk, stir.  Add cream/half and half , stir.  Let it bubble stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.  Throw in one more sprinkle of salt and pepper, give it a stir, check that the temperature is warm enough for you and your family and ENJOY!



Remember!!! Any recipes I put on here are not a strict YOU MUST FOLLOW! list of instructions.  These are guidelines.  If you want more veggies than broth, add more veggies, if you are trying to get your family to eat more veggies, again, ADD MORE.  Double the carrots, triple the broccoli, throw some celery, spinach WHATEVER in.  Just be sure that you don't add something that will drastically change the taste, like adding sweet peppers when you want mostly a cream flavor, or chicken flavor.  Don't be afraid to add or take away from the recipe.  I never follow a recipe to a T.  Recipes should be guidelines not strict rules, cook some things with a recipe then find your own.  Make it you, not everyone's taste is the same so explore, throw some stuff in a pot and stir the gravy!  Good luck!

Keep warm all still in cold!

winter coats to spring coats...

...and all that in between.

So here in PA we literally went from crazy snow storm where we all had to be cooped up in our homes and it being like 10 degrees outside to 50-60 degrees and sweat shirts... I'm ready for picnics and there is snow on the ground... nuts.

During this lovely cooped up in our home weekend, my hubs had a birthday, which he and I originally planned to go away for the weekend, but thanks to the snow, that didn't happen so we ended up sledding with my sisters and my nephew instead.  Note to self, nephew is not the biggest fan of snow.  He did not enjoy the snow flying up in his face.  I think I'm safe in saying my family is a family of beach people... we like warm weather and sand beneath our toes, and the occasional 70 degree breeze that requires me to wear a light jacket... why we all live in the northern middle east coast of the US baffles me...
BUT! we took baby bear (who is now 2 by the way.  Crazy right? I did a whole entry on my sisters baby shower for him and now he's 2!) sledding and he preferred making snow balls.  Hubs tried to get him to throw a snow ball at me going, "here, I'll make  you a snowball to throw at your Aunt Kelly."   Smarty pants that baby bear is turns to me and goes, "Aunt Kelly, make me a snowball to throw at Uncle Dylan"  love it.  I am severely out of shape and the boots I was wearing were not good for ice.  I ended up having a hard time walking up the hill after sledding down the long hill, then even had a hard time walking up the "baby hill" because it was so packed down from us sledding on it with the baby bear.  One little girl tried walking up a certain spot and baby bear goes, "YOU CAN DO IT!'  to the little girl, lol.  My sister (not his mother) goes sledding down one long hill by herself and he continues to shout at her, "WATCH THE TREES!!! WATCH THE WOODS!!!" from the top of the hill.  When baby bear said, "Mommy, I don't want to walk up this hill anymore" I immediately went, ME TOO! and we all went home.  To prevent him falling on the ice, I was asked to carry him, big mistake.  My slipper boots slipped on the ice and I went tumbling down taking baby bear with me.  Thankfully I like tugged my head down trying to keep my nephew from smacking his head, and we were both ok.  Two like teenage girls shrieked and the one went, 'OMG ARE YOU OKAY!"  My sister immediately said the same thing, whereupon my husband picked up my nephew from me (who appeared unharmed) and went, "more important, are you okay bud?"  He was and is fine by the way.

Got to knit during the cold too.  Nothing is more comfortable than some hot chocolate and a little yarn while you watch the snow fall.  Working on a baby blanket for someone.  Not me, I also apologize again to the friend I showed it to who thought it was my way of going HEY IM PREGNANT!  Little Lohkempers are coming!  Nope, no baby yet!

Change of topic! Hubs and Me are Catholic, so we've been limiting how much meat we are taking in and since its Lent and we can't eat meat on Friday's anyhow we just decided we wouldn't include meat in the grocery list, at least until Lent is over.  We had bacon in the freezer from before Ash Wednesday and knew it was going to go bad, so we cooked that for breakfast on the Thursday snow day thanks to Winter Storm Thor.  This lead to me making soup for dinner that night as I had already cooked the veggies meant to go in it.  I had potatoes I needed to use, so I made loaded potato soup, and just kind of added carrots and broccoli... it was pretty good.  I had the remainder of it for lunch today.  I feel a piece of Italian bread would have gone well with it.  Ironically, my mother made soup tonight, and I ended up with soup as two meals today.  I had to stop there to pick up stuff and she was like, 'take soup!'  I didn't mind, I got to relax for some time before the hubs got home from work so.  yay!

Thats all for now people!  Enjoy the coming spring!
taxikab

Shrimp, Rice, and whatever...

For our snow day dinner the hubs and me made shrimp and rice.  It was this or pizza bagels... I suggested stir fry, so we made what we THINK is stir fry...  I do enjoy using my wok.  This recipe involves alot of dishes... so if you're lazy like me, and hate dishes, make your partner/husband/family member/friend assist you, or just make the shrimp and rice, and no veggies.  We just added whatever vegetables we had in the house because we are trying to eat healthier and increase our veggie in take.  You can add whatever vegetables you prefer eating.

Shrimp and Rice, and whatever you want:

Ingredients:
Shrimp
Rice
Teriyaki sauce
Vegetable Broth
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Eggs
Any three vegetables you want.

Lohkemper vegetable suggestions:
Carrots
Snap Peas
string Beans

Tool:
Wok (or a large pot)
Quart pot (or one large enough to suit your servings needs)
strainer (for cleaning your vegetables)
pan (for eggs)

For those of you who are lazy like me, you can leave out the eggs and have one less pain to clean later.

1.  We used pre-cooked de-shelled shrimp, so if you don't use it, steam your shrimp, then leave it to cool so you can dice it up later.

2.  Cook your rice and leave it to be added to the other ingredients.

3. clean and chop your vegetables.  If using snap beans, cut in half width wise, if using string beans cut into thirds also width wise.

4. Place vegetables into wok together, add about 2 tlbs of teriyaki sauce and 1/4 a cup of vegetable broth.  cook over medium heat.
Keep stirring those veggies!  Teriyaki sauce can burn real fast if not cooked right or at too high a heat.

5. Add about 1/2 a tablespoon of butter.  Stir it in.

6. Cut the shrimp into bit size pieces, or in thirds.  Add that!

7. Make the eggs.  You can scramble in a bowl first, or crack them in the pan and scramble a little in there.  they should not be fluffy eggs! just let them cook a little in the pan and then chop them up with your spatula.  Add them to the pan.

8. Finally, add the rice.

Stir everything together, then turn off the heat, stir again.  Add about 1 teaspoon of salt, give one more stir.  Serve.

When you stir everything the rice will get more sticky and appear weird because it will absorb the remaining teriyaki and vegetable broth.  Don't be worried, that’s just what it looks like!  Enjoy!

This recipe is not a strict, by the book recipe.  Change it up to make it to your taste, use it as a guideline to make something that's your own.  Experiment!  Add more veggies, don't use any, make it with chicken, make it with beef, do what you are going to do, and do your own thing.  Enjoy!

taxikab

"So hows married life treating you?"

I know I keep not updating this, I update once a year, blah blah blah.  I make promises to do it, I don't, blah blah, repetitive yearly update information insert here...  So here we go.

Since my last post, I changed my wedding date, still got married in 2014, but about 3 months later, which also gave me 3 months more to plan things, which did help.  Final date was in August and my now hubby and I left immediately for our honeymoon, a week in Jamaica.  I highly suggest Sandals and that you shop for trips with them around Black Friday or other major sale weekends, because I got what I consider to be a pretty good deal.

I've now been married about 4 months, the hubs and me haven't killed each other yet, but there is a weekly discussion about his comforter hogging, and my mattress hogging.  Basically I like to sleep in the middle of the bed, and he likes to curl up like he's a caterpillar in a cocoon.  We are coping.  No war yet!

I consistently have people asking me, "How's married life treating you?" or "how's it like now that you're living together!?" and I had friends and others who are married tell me its SO different, or you don't realize how much you love them til you're married, or how annoying they are until you are married.  Frankly, I have experienced none of this.  I imagine this is what everyone calls the "honeymoon stage" and that we haven't finished it and once day I'll become thoroughly annoyed with things he does more than leaving dirty tissues places other than the trash can, or stealing the comforter, and he'll be more annoyed with things besides my hair in the drain or me trying to sleep in the middle of our bed...  Basically, everything in our relationship is the same except we're pretty much together all the time... I go to bed, he's there, I wake up, he's there.  I do not see this as a problem... he does his thing, I do mine, lifes good!

One thing I have figured out while being married, that has changed drastically is I can cook... like actually cook.  I cook incredibly simple things, but I do it.  I accidentally made alfredo sauce one day, crazy.  I enjoy making sauces.  They're fun.  I've basically been taking recipes I'm finding online or people gave me and going, "How can I make this incredibly more simple and with only the stuff in my kitchen...  Since we just moved in like 3 months ago, theres almost nothing in our pantry, I'm slowly building my spice cabinet.

I've decided I'm going to keep doing the whole, "this looks good, but that takes FOREVER and I don't want to use all these ingredients.  How can I make this simple..."  I also have to do this because I don't have much time to make dinner after I get home from work.

I've also started couponing.  Not enough that I'll get free groceries and have this giant hoard of detergent and toilet paper, but enough to save us a little money on groceries, and keep to our new 2015 budget.  Hopefully we can put whatever excess money we save on groceries and other money saving stuff can help us buy a house sooner.

Here we go...

Happy Life!  Keep Creating!

taxikab

pants feel better when they fit...

So don't buy ones that don't fit people.  I know, that made NO sense... BUT!  I keep majority of my jeans, regardless of my weight, because I hear people constantly complain that "I threw out my clothes when they were too small" then they buy all new clothes, rather than working on their weight to fit in the old clothes.  I am one of those people, except I'm a slight hoarder, so I don't throw out like anything...  BUT!  I recently fit into a pair of pants I was trying to fit into.  YAY!  I am also down about 10 pounds since I started really focusing on losing weight.  All that lack of solid food in the morning must be helping...  Gets me to eat a large amount of fruit in the morning.  I also have started adding small amounts of spinach, slowly easing myself into green smoothies.  I need to start interchanging between the smoothies and some other healthy breakfast foods because I'm eating my smoothie, and then I'm STARVING by "snack time" at work.  Then I want to eat cheetos!  They're so good...
But I've started making chicken to try to spice up some salads and like wraps and stuff.  Its kind of working... I mean I'm eating it, lol.  I'm adding different fruits and these addicting string cheese snacks to eat instead of cheetos, and instead of like potato chips and stuff.  BUT! I have not cut these foods out of my diet completely because I'm not just trying to lose weight, I'm trying to change how I eat so I never get to be these weight again.  Today I tried making a cheese sauce for a burrito, or this thing my fiance and I refer to as "soggy nachos".  Wasn't as good as restaurant quality cheese sauce... I think I need more cheese, and more varieties of cheese.  Like you know, taco blend cheese, not just american cheese... and I will NOT use cheese wiz, though, being from Philly that should be a staple in my kitchen, just saying...

Working on articles for The Right Brain Bunch, and trying to design my own wedding invitations because I am not finding anything I like, and they all pretty much look the same, or I think my fiance would go, 'ugh, no... don't like it...'  but I also think he'll just yes me to death (like hes kinda been doing lately, lol.  I asked him which invites he liked, he said invited B. and when I said I like invited A. he changed to those, AND BACK AGAIN, when I changed my mind... so, lol)  Just signed up for some online video course things (not for college credits, just for fun) to aid me, in aiding all you lovely people in learning to knit better.  But educating MYSELF so I can educate YOU.  Thats how that teaching stuff works right?  just kidding.

All for now!

taxikab


**UPDATE!**
I forgot!  I've apparently gained a green thumb... I have like 7 sunflowers growing in my classroom at work, one crown of thorns, and 2 Gourds that came from seeds that a client gave me.  Love it.  Pictures will come later, as the sunflowers won't blossom until august apparently... but the large stems look cool!

I'm not good at this posting thing...

...and because of that, this blog will never be crazy popular, but thats ok, because then I can post obnoxious crazy comments on here and no one will criticize!

I ALWAYS say "I'm going to update my blog today" and then everything goes nuts (or I get lazy...) and I don't.  So update!  here goes!

Although I've been saying for what like a year... "I'm going to get out of bed at 5am and exercise!" I still have yet to do that, and have decided that is never going to happen, so I'm done with it.  But i'm still exercising at the gym atleast 2x a week, and I'm lifting weights at work with my clients (its the only way I can get them to do it...) and I'm eating healthy, like for me, crazy healthy.  Due to our conflicting schedules, the fiance and I have een going out like once a week, rather than before when it was like once every other day...  I'm one pound away from 10 pounds and I'm barely trying now, I gave up on "GOTTA EAT ALL THIS AND NOT THIS!" and once I did, the pounds started coming off.  Still eating smoothies.  I stopped with the yogurt though.  It was too much.  But now I'm eating like greens and protein shakes with fruit in it and I keep cheetos in my car for those days where I REALLY want something fattening and crunchy and has tons of stuff I probably shouldn't eat in it...  BUT I have the snack bags, so once I'm done that snack bag, I'M DONE and no more Cheetos, until you know, the next day that I'm like DAMN I WANT SOME CHEETOS! lol.

Since eating healthier foods, my stomach is more sensitive to like, cheese-steaks...  this is a problem people,  I LOVE cheese steaks.  I grew up in Philly, if you can't in cheese steaks, you need to move to Jersey or like right outside the city, because it just sucks.  Everyone has them.  My fiance and I went with some friends to the bar and afterwards were like, LETS GET AUTHENTIC CHEESE STEAKS!!! Got them, paid an arm and a leg for them... weren't that great... I was like, "this is what we feed to people visiting Philly?  Is this a joke? I've had better ones at *insert multiple places here...*"  I was slightly ashamed of my city for putting this place on a pedestal... just saying.  But since eating like, lettuce, and spinach... (which I LOVE, just saying) I can't eat like, chicken wings, and beef with fake orange cheese on it... whats that about?

I've slowly started throwing spinach into my smoothies too.  I clean it real good, and just toss it in the blender with my strawberries.  Everyone I work with is like, "ew..." but you can't taste it, seriously.  Especially if you have the fruit flavors crazy overpowering it.

Current Favorite smoothie?  I'm back to the strawberry banana thing... BUT I'm mixing it up with vanilla protein powder, or chocolate protein powder.  If its just berries, I do vanilla, if its a banana, I do chocolate.  Can't have a vanilla banana, thats just weird, you need the chocolaty goodness.

This is how I prepare for all of last week and this week.

You need
  - 2 pounds of strawberries (now remember, this is 2 WEEKS and my berries were on sale at giant when I went shopping...)
  - 2 bananas
  - protein powder (chocolate is my preference)
  - Almond Milk (my mom out of no where bought it, and now we have no more dairy milk... its all almond, and I forced myself to like it...)

and a blender.

Section off the berries into little baggies, I did like a cup and a half of strawberries, and then cut my banana (I only had one...) into 2 of the bags.  I put everything in the freezer and made them the next day.  Thats it.  Stick those suckers (one bag a day people...) in the blender, add your almond milk, and protein powder, or heck just the milk... blend, and drink up!

 I bought a little single cup blender, because I didn't feel like cleaning this HUGE blender to make one smoothie, it was dumb, and I know consumer wise "why buy a blender when you have one?" time and energy wise for ME makes sense, AND! I have the same one at work... So if my strawberries aren't blending because they're TOO frozen, or I'm running late, I have the same blender at work, and the cups are interchangeable WHAT!?  So I've actually gotten up a couple times this week and made them at work before clocking in, because everything is still cold by the time I get there, BUT! its softer and blends quicker.  Yea.  Theres your once in a blue moon update.  ENJOY!!

Taxikab

PS!  Head over to Right Brain Bunch its a website my sister my mom and me put together (actually my sister put it together and we're pretty much just writing stuff to put on there...).  If you want to hear my lovely voice, and watch me knit, go to the Textiles section, but check out everything!  We're working hard!  That websites one reason I haven't updated in a while, I've been writing for that too! (and working ALOT! and planning my wedding...)