shiny happy rachel

More Swap-Bot Stuff

2012-02-06T06:41:00.003-07:00

After some thought I've decided to NOT post pictures of what I'm sending. Most people like "surprises" and if they happen to sneak a peek over here they're going to see what they're getting. :)

Last night's post was made about 15 minutes before I was going to bed so I didn't have time to get into what I actually like to swap. Most of my swaps consist of Kawaii. Kawaii means "cute" in Japanese. It covers a wide variety of items including, but not limited to brands such as: Sanrio, Crux, Q-lia, Kamio, Pool Cool, Cram Cream, etc.. If you don't feel like googling it, think "Hello Kitty" who is probably the most popular Kawaii character in the US. My favorite characters are of course Hello Kitty, Rilakkuma and lately I've also been into Fairy Tale World, most especially Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood.
I'm also big into swapping stationary items. I run a "note card" swap every month and I try to run a pen swap or at least join one every month. This month I went a little overboard and I'm in 4 pen swaps. Probably because I have a new love. The PaperMate InkJoy pens and I'm bound and determined to make sure all of my friends get one... lol

In the last few months 90% of the swaps I've been in are group only swaps. I'm tired of getting flaked on (when your partner doesn't send out their items) and I'm tired of people not sending the required items or just flat out sending garbage.
That being said here are the swaps I'm in at the moment. If you see one you'd like to participate in and you're not in that group just send a request to join. As long as you meet the rules of that particular group you're most likely going to be invited. :)

I also really enjoy profile swaps and if your rating is good enough and you have enough swaps under your belt I'm into higher dollar private swaps.
I'm easy though, if you're interested in any sort of private swap just drop me a comment (with your username) or send me a message on swap-bot. My username is rachelcdoyle. :)

Happy swapping folks!
Rachel

Things I like to do!

2012-02-05T21:04:00.003-07:00

So, I've been a member of Swap-Bot.com for 4.5 years now. I was pretty inactive for awhile because of health issues and I was just too busy to be able to devote time into participating.
For the last 10 months or so though I've been swapping left and right.
Since I started blogging again, I've mostly kept to recipes and not too personal information. I had A LOT of crappy things going on in my life for the last 3 or 4 years but things are starting to fall back into place and so as I'm passing my blog address around to my fellow swappers you regular readers might be seeing things that confuse you.
I could take a crap load of time and space explaining to you exactly what swap-bot is but I provided a link and if you're really *THAT* interested feel free to follow it and check it out. In a nutshell, swap-bot is a pretty cool website that you can use to meet other people who love sending and receiving "snail mail" as much as I do. I used to pen-pal quite a bit but since the internet took over the world that really died down. Some people think it's the end of the world to have to write a letter with a pen on a piece of paper and actually put a stamp on an envelope. I, on the other hand LOVE IT!
At swap-bot you can swap pretty much anything you can think of. Letters, crafts, craft supplies...ok I could go on and on but really, I linked to it already.

The point of this post is to introduce people to swap-bot as well as say "hi" to my fellow swappers and start posting pictures of some of the cool stuff I get to send and receive.

If you have any questions though, feel free to drop me a comment or an email and ask away (rachelcdoyle@gmail.com).

Thanks!
Me <3

The Best Pork Chops EVER!

2012-01-22T20:16:00.003-07:00

Pork Chops with Fresh Tomato, Onion, Garlic, and Feta

Ok, I'm going to post this recipe "as written" and then put my changes at the bottom. I didn't go crazy changing anything, I just modified it a little to our tastes.

You're going to need:

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 pork loin chops, 1 inch thick
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1/2 pint red grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 pint yellow grape tomatoes, halved
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook until golden brown. Set aside.
Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in the skillet. Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and place in the skillet. Cook to desired doneness. Set aside and keep warm.
Heat remaining oil in the skillet. Return onions to skillet, and stir in tomatoes, garlic, and basil. Cook and stir about 3 minutes, until tomatoes are tender. Mix in balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Top chops with the onion and tomato mixture, and sprinkle with feta cheese to serve.

Here are my changes:
* I got the onions started cooking and then just cooked the chops with the onions on a lower heat so that the onions didn't go crispy or out-right burn. I then set the chops aside as directed and started working on the topping.
* I didn't bother with the measuring of the pints of tomatoes. I bought the standard size packages of red grape/yellow grape tomatoes (10.5 oz. each) and just used them ALL. It was a little more than called for but we love tomatoes.
* I didn't use a tablespoon of basil. I used 2 teaspoons.
* I didn't use a 2.5 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, I used 1 tablespoon, which actually might be right around the "right" amount. I don't know measurements. I always have to google to find out how much of what goes into what. :P

I wish...

2012-01-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

I was as witty and sassy as I was 3+ years ago. Maybe I'll try working on that again.

My Early Present To My Valentine.

2012-01-21T20:33:00.002-07:00

Believe it or not I'm always struggling to find fun, unique and thoughtful presents for Gary. Sure, I can stick with the never-fail Barnes and Nobles gift cards, cash or Newegg gift certificates but sometimes I just like to be like... ya know?

This is what I came up with this year and you're more than welcome to steal it from me. I'm not very "crafty" so I'm pretty proud of my damn self!

I started with 20 to 25 Valentiney looking note cards with envelopes, a hole-puncher, a 1.5 inch metal book ring thingie (you can get them at office supply stores or at craft stores) and a crap ton of Valentine's stickers.
I sat down at my desk and started writing.
In each card I wrote something special just for him, little love notes, "pick me ups" and other random thoughts.
I sealed the envelope up. Then I punched a hole in the top left corner of each one and put them on the book ring. I decorated the front of the envelopes with stickers and rub-ons and left him directions to only open them on days he's feeling "down" because I've come to realize that my bi-polar ass isn't the only one to get down around here.

This is what the final project looked like.
NOW, keep in mind I'm NOT crafty so you'll probably make yours a lot prettier blah blah blah. I just keep telling myself it's what I wrote on the inside that matters! LOL

Another Quagmire Update

2012-01-07T14:53:00.004-07:00

Thursday started off normal and the whole day was rather uneventful and boring. Gary got home from work around 4pm. I was sitting in the computer room when I heard him open the door. He came through to me about 5 minutes later and tells me that he doesn't know where Quagmire is because Quags usually comes running when Gary gets home. Anyway, I freak for a second. Maybe I had left him outside but I check the living room by the front door where Quagmire is usually sleeping and I see him there TRYING to stand up but failing miserably. 3 days later that sight haunts me. The little guy just wanted to come see his Daddy and couldn't.
Anyway, we figured he had just had another seizure and was getting over it. We didn't take him to the vet but I did call them to set up an appointment for this coming Monday. I explained that it was financial and of course they told me that wouldn't matter and if we needed to come in to just come in. We decided to wait it out because in the end there isn't anything they can do immediately for a seizure.

So, now it's 10:20 pm. I'm sound asleep and I wake up to Gary calling me telling me to come to him. Of course I'm in some sort of crazy daze because I had taken a sleeping pill and was out COLD. I stumble into the kitchen and see him there sitting with Quagmire. Quags is trembling pretty bad and trying to walk but can't do it. I'm FREAKING out at this point. In my sleepy head all I could think was that this was the big one and Gary had called me out to say goodbye. Quagmire recovered from this one pretty quickly after I got up. It had started at 10pm though so this one was much longer and more intense than the one 6 hours prior. I took him in the bedroom and was laying on the floor with my pillow next to his with every intention of sleeping on the floor with him but that got him all excited and he was pretty set on getting up in bed with us. He was even TRYING to jump into our bed but his legs are too short so it's just a cute little hop he does. Anyway, he sleeps with us and I'm up at 6:45 in the am to call his vet and make him an appointment. They had me bring him in right away so I do and once I'm there with him I go through everything that had happened the day before.

So, here we are on Saturday. He's a little lethargic, panting, thirsty (all symptoms of his new medication) and this is what the doctor is saying.

She said we COULD pay for an MRI for him. They don't do it but there is a vet downtown who will. The cost is $2500. She says it's not even something she recommends per say (because of the price) but that it is an option.
She started him on Phenobarbital and Bromide for seizures. He's on an aggressive dose because he had 2 in one day. He'll be on the Pheno for about 4 months. We'll test his blood then to make sure his Bromide level is high enough to stop seizures then they'll take him off the Pheno. It's a good med but the liver damage risk is much higher on Pheno than on Bromide and he already has a bad liver.

They're also going to test him for Cushings. Here's a link if you're interested in reading about THAT. He's got most of the symptoms except that he's a little young for when dogs usually get it.

I'll post more later when we get test results back. :)

Things that make me STABBY STABBY on Facebook

2012-01-06T13:17:00.003-07:00

Things I hope to not see on FB in 2012:

1. Duck lips - no explanation needed. This also includes "holding the camera over your head".

2. Taking a picture of yourself in the mirror and posting it on FB. It's just... tacky and even more so when you've got the camera showing. Call me and I'll come snap some of you. That's for 12 year old kids (who shouldn't be on FB anyway) and very conceited people.

3. Song Lyrics - Seriously? Someone else wrote it and sang it and let's leave it that way. Write your own song.
Journey's "Small Town" lyric wars are the only exception.

4. #MOTHERFLIPPINHASHTAGS!!!!! 90% of you don't even USE Twitter so WHY do you use hashtags? #itdoesntmakeyoucooler

5. EVERY.SINGLE.FREAKIN.SONG.YOU.WATCHED.ON.YOUTUBE.TODAY. That's the reason 90% of the people I've blocked from seeing their news feeds are blocked.

6. People who use their kids/pets as profile pictures. That's what the photo albums are for. Unless YOU are in the picture with that animal or child it shouldn't be there. Special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and things like that don't bother me but really? All the time? Every time someone comments when they use a kid or pet as a profile I think to myself, "A dog wouldn't say that".

7. Your bodily functions and schedule. How many times a day do you need to update? Sometimes I miss important things from friends and family because someone has filled my news feed up with about 15 posts in 15 minutes. I get to hear "I woke up" - "I ate breakfast" - "Took my morning poop!" - and so on and so forth. It's called Attention Whoring and it's not attractive. Just because people haven't acknowledged a post doesn't mean you have to change tones and make another one just for more attention. K?

8. If I see one more person throw their personal business on Facebook and then say "This is not any of your business" I might scream. If you don't want people in your business DONT PUT IT ON FACEBOOK!!!

9. Kids - I have VERY few kids on my friends list and I'm not going to censor myself because they are there. Don't have your kids request to be my friend because it's not going to happen. Kids should be seen and not heard... or seen actually. If you have to change your birthday to make it "legal" for you to be on FB then you shouldn't BE on FB.... you're too young. Period!

10. And last but certainly not least!!! This has gotten really bad in the last few months... but for the love of all that is good PLEASE stop bombarding my screen with all those stupid pictures with "positive and uplifting" quotes on them... or bitchy quotes, or girl power quotes, or love and romance quotes or anything along those lines at all. If you really really REALLY can't think of something on your own to say then just shut up? One a day would be acceptable but some people I know download and then upload them all to their FB posting 100's a week. It's killing me. It's turned into the world of "I can't think of anything to say so I'm just going to borrow someone else's shit to say."

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT HAVE ANY ONE PERSON IN MIND. JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK THIS MIGHT BE ABOUT YOU DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS ABOUT YOU. IF YOU *DO* THINK IT'S ABOUT YOU THAN MAYBE YOU SHOULD RECONSIDER YOUR HABITS ON FACEBOOK. MAYBE YOU'RE JUST IRRITATING PEOPLE. :)
These are MY opinions and by no means am I stating that everyone thinks or should think this way. These are my opinions on my blog. You're probably only pissed off because you're guilty of one or all of them anyway. #kthnxbai

Dear Walmart, I hate you!

2012-01-05T09:44:00.003-07:00

My health care insurance carrier is TriCare. They use Express Scripts to handle their prescription plan. A few months ago I got word that Express Scripts was not renewing their contract with Walgreens so I was going to have to find a new pharmacy (after 13 years).
I was told by Walgreens and by Walmart that it was "painless and easy" to transfer prescriptions from one pharmacy to another.
The first 4 I did at the beginning of the month were. They were a little rude/short and took a LONG time to get them ready (24 hours???) but in the end I was relatively happy.
So, yesterday I go back in to transfer 3 more prescriptions. They tell me 24 hours again. I show up this morning 24 hours later to find out not only do they not have my prescriptions ready but they won't fill them because when they called Walgreens they gave them the wrong RX number which had 0 refills left. I said to the girl "Well, call back and get the right ones and fill them.. easy right?"... WRONG. She tells me that *I* have to go to or call Walgreens and get the right ones and give them to her. Meanwhile above my head is a TV loudly telling Express Scripts customers that it's easy to transfer prescriptions to Walmart. Ironic right? Has the pharmacist come up to me at all during all of this exchange (and I got a little loud) to find out what the problem is? WHY OF COURSE NOT! The Walgreens pharmacist knows me BY NAME people... so does her staff. This Walmart ass didn't even bother to LOOK at me.

So long story short, I have to go back to Walmart in 2 hours to pick up my new prescriptions but that's after waiting in line behind 15 people waiting to pick up theirs.

Here's a big EFF YOU Walmart. Next month I'm going to Fry's.

And that's that...

2011-12-19T15:17:00.003-07:00

So it's the 19th. Six wake-ups til Christmas people!! Are you ready?? I am for the most part. My baby sister flies in on Thursday, my parents fly in the night after. This will bring a sweet wrap-up to a year that I've actually been able to visit my entire family. I got to see Lisa and Dan in September when Gary took me home on the promised vacation and I get to see my baby sister this Christmas.

I'm trying to avoid the traditional "end of the year" blog post. I've almost always done one but honestly most of my year has been a struggle filled with wonderful times and bad times but mostly private times and I'm not the same girl I was 7 years ago. The days of "Bitchalicious" and me spewing every detail of my life online are over. All that being said, it HAS actually been a good year even given the crap I've dealt with the 3 years prior to that and with 2010 being the most miserable in my entire life, 2011 has been good. It HAS been a struggle. I made the decision to stay with Gary and work HARD on our marriage and it's brought us so close I dare say it's been the best year for our marriage yet and I'm looking forward to see what 2012 brings.

How many of you stuck to your 2011 resolutions? I know I did. I just went back through my Facebook Timeline trying to find my NY resolution post I made but apparently I was so drunk (which I don't remember...which is weird because I don't drink so you'd think I'd remember being drunk)... anyway I digress. For my 2011 resolution I told myself that I was going to tell someone special to me that I loved them at least once every day of the year. No one in particular but SOMEONE in my life who was special to me... for 365 days and I did it. Obviously it didn't start off being the same people it was by the end of the year. My, how life has changed in 12 (long/short) months. I've been thinking about what it's going to be for 2012. I have a few things in mind but I haven't narrowed it down and who knows? I might do more than one!!!

This post has been sitting in my drafts for about a week now. Mostly because I don't know how to bring it to an end. I don't think that 2011 and I have had our closure and I'm not sure we will so I'm just going to leave it like it is...

My husband is nuts

2011-12-15T05:18:00.001-07:00

3 days ago Gary went to McDonalds for the hot chocolate that he gets almost every morning. They told him they couldn't sell him one but would he like a peppermint mocha instead. He said that he really just wanted his hot chocolate. WELL, then they told him they couldn't sell him one because the machine was dirty because they had forgotten to clean it the night before.
NOW, Gary is boycotting McDonalds... not just this one but ALL of them... because "the employees are idiots".
He said that a written apology would stop the boycott so now I'm off to email McDonalds...

/facepalm

Get Gone

2011-12-13T13:15:00.001-07:00

How many times do I have to say to get away, get gone.
Flip your shit past another lasses humble dwelling.
You got your game, made your shot, and you got away
With a lot, but I'm not turned-on.
So put away that meat you're selling

Cuz I do know what's good for me
And I've done what I could for you
But you're not benefiting, and yet I'm sitting
Singing again, sing, sing again

How can I deal with this, if he won't get with this
Am I gonna heal from this; he won't admit to it
Nothing to figure out; I gotta get him out
It's time the truth was out that he don't give a
Shit about me

How many times can it escalate
Till it elevates to a place I can't breathe?
And I must decide, if you must deride
That I'm much obliged to up and go
I'll idealize, then realize that it's no
sacrifice, because the price is paid, and
There's nothing left to grieve

Fucking go-
Cuz I've done what I could for you, and I do know what's
Good for me and I'm not benefiting, instead
I'm sitting singing again, singing again, singing again,
Sing, sing, sing again
How can I deal with this, if he won't get with this
Am I gonna heal from this; he won't admit to it
Nothing to figure out; I gotta get him out
It's time the truth was out that he don't give a
Shit about me

Oh look! It's not a recipe!

2011-12-07T09:36:00.002-07:00

Where have I been?

Well cooking obviously... and actively avoiding life for various reasons.

1. Going through some shit that involved bills and finances (solved)
2. November/December is the year anniversary of some bad memories.
3. Always have a hard time around the holidaze so I've been (again) actively trying to stay out of Bi-Polar Depression mode. (so far successful)
4. The weather has been downright ridiculous around here in Phoenix so my fibro is screaming at me. This brings fatigue ... lots of fatigue.

Speaking of weather... SERIOUSLY??
It was 32 this morning when I woke up. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, I KNOW that's not cold compared to *here* or *there* but this is Phoenix. I'm acclimated to 95+ and honestly no matter where in the country I have lived (and it's been quite a few places) 32 has ALWAYS been cold to me. If you're honestly tired of listening to me complain (mostly on Facebook) that it's cold then I'll stop but I swear to God I don't want to hear a BLOODY word in the summer from you whiners.

Are you ready for Christmas? I AM... I have been since almost August. I mean I have a few things to buy still but I have KNOWN what I was doing since August. I started way early this year because it was planned rather early on for my Mom/Dad/Sister and her family to all come out here for Christmas and I wanted to spend the last 2 weeks preparing for that, not running around like a chicken shopping .. ya know?
I AM really excited though.

This month brings the end of 2011. It started off as one of the worst years of my life (the last 3 years have been contending for number 1). It's ending up to be ... ok maybe not one of the best but better off than I have been the last few so I'm not going to complain. I still have a LOT of CRAP to work through in my head but I'm getting there. :)
I've been able to see my entire family this year, including my brother whom I hadn't seen in SIX years. That was great.
I've been able to finally work on things with Gary without past behaviors looming in the dark corners just putting a damper on anything we've tried to do in the past. It's felt real, it's felt nice. I love him.

And that's all I've got to say about that! /Forrest Gump

p.s. I just saw that my template has somehow messed up and so I'll be fixing it/looking for a new one later. :)

Irish Soda Bread

2011-10-07T15:24:00.003-07:00

You'd think, being married to an Irishman, I'd make this bread more but I really don't, and the last time I did he left half of it un-eaten. I made some today. It better be gone by Monday!!!

First off make this bread at least 5 hours before you'll actually need it. This is not a 'serve warm or hot' bread.

You're going to need:
3 cups all -purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk ***
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 325 F (165 C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Blend the egg and buttermilk together separately then add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix until just moistened. Stir in the melted butter. Pour into the greased pan.

Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean blah blah blah. Cool for about 5 minutes on a wire rack. Wrap the bread loaf in foil for several hours UP TO overnight for the best flavor.

*** if you do not have buttermilk you can make your own with some milk and white vinegar. 4.5 teaspoons per cup of milk.

Enjoy!!!

Seafood Pasta on Linguine

2011-10-07T14:20:00.003-07:00

I've made this with and without the seafood. It was a hit both ways! :)

You're going to need:
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of white wine or chicken broth (I use the broth)
2 can (14 oz) diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon oregano (I prefer to just use Italian seasoning)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 package (16 oz) linguine
1 pound sea scallops
9 oz. peeled and de-veined shrimp.

So, in a large skillet, saute onion in butter and oil until tender. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add in the chicken broth (or wine) and bring to a boil. Cook this until the mixture has been reduced to 1/2 cup.
Add the tomatoes, rosemary, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes.

Cook linguine according to the package.

Add scallops and shrimp to tomato mixture; cook for 4-5 minutes or until the shrimps and scallops are cooked.

Serve seafood mixture over the cooked linguine.

Enjoy!!!

My New Chili Love

2011-10-06T13:57:00.002-07:00

It's called "Texican Chili" in the recipe book but the girl who submitted it is from Utah? Anyway... on our search for new recipes Gary wanted me to try this one. He's NOT a fan of chili since he hates beans but this one didn't call for that many. It's delicious. He loved it. He loved it even more the next day. Melia and I just ate it for a quick lunch 3 days later and I swear it got even better!!

Now, living in Phoenix it's really hard to make "comfort foods" being that it's over 95 for 9 months out of the year. It's a problem with Gary since most of his favorite foods consist of heavy red meats and lots of starches. The day I made this it was 98 outside but the beauty of this is that it cooks in the crock pot!! NO standing over the stove stirring, heating up your kitchen.

Now, you're going to want to start this early because it IS a 9 hour cook. So, now I'll stop talking and start sharing!! You're going to need a BIG crock pot. Mine is 5 quarts and it was full!

You're going to need:
8 strips of bacon, diced
2.5 pounds of beef stew meat in 1/2 inch cubes
3 cans stewed tomatoes (14 oz)
2 cans tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 can kidney beans (16 oz drained and rinsed)
1 cups sliced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley (I skipped this, not a fan)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Start by cooking the diced bacon in a skillet. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towels. Brown the stew meat in the bacon grease.
Transfer the beef to your crock pot.
Add the bacon to the beef and then add the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 9 to 10 hours or until the meat is tender and falling apart. Stir occasionally.

We topped it with diced raw onion and shredded cheddar cheese. I also made cornbread to go with the chili. Gary inhaled it all. Dinner success!!!

Key Lime Pie

2011-09-10T18:21:00.005-07:00

I'm preemptively posting this because ours is still in the freezer but the mix tasted good and the whipped cream turned out perfect so I'm just assuming it's going to be perfect. (CROSS FINGERS!)

You're going to need:
1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons white sugar
5 tablespoons of melted butter
(The above if is you want to make your own crust - I cheated.. nuff said)
3 eggs
1/2 Key Lime juice. (NOT regular limes, little key limes)
1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch cream of tartar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 regular lime sliced for garnishing.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 F (165 C). Mix graham cracker crumbs with sugar and melted butter. Press into 9 inch pie plate and bank for 5 minutes. Let cool.

Separate 2 of the eggs, placing the 2 egg whites into a mixing bowl and the yolks in another mixing bowl.

To the yolks, add 1 whole egg, the lime juice and sweetened condensed milk. Whisk until smooth. In the other bowl with clean blades or whisk beat the egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until stiff but not dry. Fold the whites into the filling mixture. Pour filling into the pie crust.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes (Just watch it get a little yellow). Let cool at room temperature and then pop it in the freezer for 4 hours (to overnight) but in our case we set the alarm to go off at exactly 4 hours so we could smother it in whipped cream and eat it.

Oh yeah, the whipped cream. Put the cup of heavy whipping cream into a bowl and just beat the crap out of it until it forms little peaks. This recipe calls for 1 cup but we're fond of whipped cream so I just used the whole container (got a small one, not a large one).

EAT!

BEWARE OF GREEN KEY LIME PIE! Key Lime pie should never, ever, ever, ever be green. It should always be a yellowy color. If it's green it means they did NOT use Key Limes or they added a crap load of food coloring. And now you know. :D

Quick, Easy, Delicious Jambalaya

2011-09-09T18:08:00.004-07:00

Ok you purists, bite your tongues. If you look up the definition and then look at this recipe this IS a Jambalaya!

I was going through a cook book the other day looking for something new to make and ran across this. I'd never considered making it before because I thought Mr. Picky Pants wouldn't like it but I showed it to him and he said it sounded good so lets go!
First off, I took a few shortcuts. My energy level is low these days and I didn't feel like standing over a stove for too long.

You're going to need:
12 small sausage Links - cut into one inch pieces (See Below)
1 cup finely chopped onion (I just used a whole medium sized onion)
1 cup finely chopped green pepper (I used a whole good sized pepper)
4 garlic cloves, minced (I used like 8 cloves :D )
2 tablespoons or so of olive oil
1.5 cups of cooked cubed chicken (See Below)
1.5 cups of cooked cubed ham (See Below)
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes un-drained
1 cup uncooked long grain rice (brown)
1 can (14.5oz) chicken broth
3 tablespoons fresh parsley (or just shake a bunch of dried in there)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

OK HERE GOES!
In a LARGE skillet, saute the sausage, onion, green pepper and garlic in the oil until the vegetables are tender. Add in the chicken and ham. Cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Transfer to a 2 qt. baking dish (go bigger if you want. 2 quarts was VERY full). Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour or until the rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Personally I cooked for about 1 hour and 20 minutes for ALMOST al dente rice and some liquid left (we like broth).

ATTENTION!!! This comes out of the oven EXTREMELY HOT! Please let sit for a little bit, especially if you're going to be serving it to little ones. Thanks :)

My shortcuts:
For sausage I used Johnsonville Italian Sausage (mild with 6 big ones to a pack).
For chicken I used Oscar Mayer Carving Board Roasted Chicken w / no additional flavors. I used the entire container.
For ham I used Oscar Mayer Carving Board Slow Cooked Ham w/ no additional flavors, the whole container.

(Thanks for your help making it too, Baby!)

Quagmire update!

2011-08-12T17:15:00.002-07:00

Hi people,

I haven't updated about Quagmire in quite some time and since he just had another round of blood work a few days ago I thought I'd take a moment and update people.
His valley fever (1 to 32) is right where it was 3 months ago. They'd like to see it around 1 to 2 or 3 to 4 so we have a little ways to go. He really needs a dental cleaning but they can't do anything about it until his valley fever drops. They are estimating he should be ok for that in November so keep praying.
His pancreatic levels are a little high but they said that is normal for dogs who have previously had pancreatitis.
His liver enzymes are elevated mostly due to the fluconazole that he's on for his valley fever. I'm picking up a liver-protecting pill for him in a little while.
His thyroid is PERFECT! We FINALLY got the right medicine at the right level. That's only taken .... 9 months!
His triglycerides are a little high. He needs to stay on the low-fat/high fiber that he's on right now. And bland, very very bland.
Um... A few other things are a little elevated but it all points back to his valley fever. Man that valley fever is a pain in the butt.

His weight is down almost a pound. I was looking at his records on Wednesday and his highest was 20.8 about 9 months ago and now he's down 16.2 so over 4 pounds and that's a LOT for a little guy. We'll be happy with about 2 more pounds. But with his diet and his thyroid under control now that should be going down just fine.

I think that's it. He's looking good!

Love you guys and thanks for all the prayer for my little dude.

Not really sure...

2011-08-08T14:20:00.001-07:00

... what you're looking for here but you're not going to find it :D

I need your help again.

2011-08-06T18:57:00.002-07:00

For those of you who do not know the story behind my recent store postings I'll briefly explain.

My best friend (who I call my sister) Melia, was in a terrible car accident on Feb. 19th of this year. Her 15 year old son (my nephew, Riley) was in a coma for a month. They didn't expect him to live. They didn't expect him to wake up and "be normal". He has defied the odds. He is a walking miracle thanks to all the prayers and thanks to God himself. Her 11 year old daughter (my niece Destiny) was killed.

Since 2-19 I have watched this little family struggle to get back on their feet. I've seen the pouring out of support to help them. Melia is in NO WAY shape or form ready to go back to work. She spends 5 of the 7 days of the week taking Riley to and from his Physical therapy, Occupational therapy, speech therapy, eye therapy ... and so much more. She takes herself to and from doctor appointments.

We raised a crap ton of money in February and March to help cover medical costs and funeral costs and help Melia pay normal every day bills on top of EVERYTHING else she's been smacked with since then. However, she's been hit with something else now.
On Thursday I went with her and Riley and her oldest daughter Hailey (who was not in the car) to the funeral home. I had to watch my sister pick out a headstone for her 11 year old baby girl. It was heartbreaking. We cried all day long. I cry every time I think about it. I'm crying now.
It was honestly a lot cheaper than I was expecting but it's still $2600 that she just does NOT have laying around.
This is where we come in. I'm asking.. no I'm BEGGING for just a little more help.
Our dear friend Jan drew the most gorgeous rainbow in honor of little Destiny back in February. We've taken that rainbow and put it on tee shirts, sweatshirts, magnets, notepads, note cards, mouse pads, mugs... just about anything we could think of and put it all in this little store.
She gets $3 for each item that is purchased so if you see anything in there that you'd like I'm begging you to help us out. If you don't see anything but still want to help out we have a Paypal account set up. You don't need a Paypal account to donate, you can just use your debit/credit card and make your donation. Every little penny counts. If I get $5 from each of my friends that raises $955. How many friends do YOU have? I'm just dreaming of the possibilities.

If you can't help out financially can you help out by sharing this Facebook note or the link to the blog post I have made? I'd appreciate it SO much, you have no idea.

Here is the link to our store: http://www.cafepress.com/Team_Melia

Here is the donation link to Paypal:

Thanks again,
Rachel Doyle

Gummie's Brownies

2011-07-26T12:56:00.006-07:00

<----- ready to pop into the oven!

Do not misread that title. These are not "gummy brownies". Gummie is what me and my siblings called my maternal grandmother for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure if it's just something that stuck because one of us couldn't say grandma or if she named herself that. Either way, these brownies can also be referred to as "little chocolate bites of heaven".

You are going to need:
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of butter (TWO STICKS)
4 squares of unsweetened chocolate (this comes in bar form. Usually individually wrapped squares)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of flour
2 cups of miniature marshmallows

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs until they are thick and lemon yellow.

2. Melt the butter and all of the chocolate. You can do this over the stove or in the microwave. I used the microwave. I did it for 5.5 minutes on 40% then I stirred it up and did it again for another 3.5 minutes on 40%.

3. While the chocolate is melting, add sugar to the eggs gradually. Continue to beat and add in the vanilla.

4. Mix the chocolate/butter mixture into the bowl with the eggs and mix together.

5. Fold in the flour and then stir in the marshmallows.

6. Bake in a greased pan (I used a 9x13) for about 30 minutes at 350. (My sister said DO NOT OVER COOK - so I'm not!)

She also said to let this sit as long as humanly possible to actually LET chocolate sit around uneaten before cutting and serving. They DO taste better then next day to be honest. which is unfortunate because they are baking right now and the smell is driving me CUHRAZY! I WANT TO EAT THEM NOW RAWR!

These brownies do have a copyright. You may NOT alter this recipe in any way and still call them Gummie's Brownies. If you do make these brownies you must pay tribute to me by making me a batch and sending them to me. Period!

Eight years ago today...

2011-07-21T23:04:00.003-07:00

Eight years ago today I was out in Texas visiting Gary while he was in tech school. We woke up one Tuesday morning and he said "Hey, let's go get married today!". I thought he was joking at first. Not that I didn't WANT to marry him, it was just very spur of the moment. We had talked about it a lot for the year before so it took NO convincing me at all. I knew he was the love of my life and I knew that I wanted to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him.

Now, it's been an eventful 8 years. We've had great ups and some serious downs. I know in life it's hard to remember and think about the "ups" when you have so many "downs" flooding your thoughts but if I write it all down in my head we've had a million more good times than bad and that's what I try and focus on every day.
This man is one of a kind. He IS the love of my life. I couldn't imagine life with out him as my husband and most of all my best friend.

I love you Gareth John Doyle and I'm looking forward to allllllllll the years we have ahead of us.
You've made this week great and today is going to be special and I'm never going to forget it.
I love you so much baby.

Check your comments at the door.

2011-07-11T12:36:00.002-07:00

Ok, Short and sweet.
I KNOW it's dry here about 9 months out of the year but our hottest months consisting of July/August/September is Monsoon season. Google it ok?
It's over 110 most of the time and our humidity is 50% and up. Is it as high as the south east coast? Nope but it's NOT dry.
I don't see any of you guys packing your bags to come visit us those months because you're a bunch of chickens. ;)

If I hear "But, it's a dry heat" one more time do NOT be surprised if our phone call is suddently disconnected. K? Thnx and Bai.

p.s. The day I took that picture it was 68% humid outside. Is that dry? No, I didn't think so. :)

Greek Chicken Pitas with Sauce

2011-07-07T14:01:00.006-07:00

I made this for our dinner last night and it was just too delicious to not share. It's very a very simple, tasty crockpot recipe that takes about 3 hours from start to finish! (and 2 hours and 45 minutes of that it's cooking in the crockpot!)

You're going to need:
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
1 medium onion cut into 8 wedges
1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
Greek Seasoning and Salt
4 Whole Pita Rounds

For the sauce you're going to need:
1/2 cup of PLAIN yogurt
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of regular yellow mustard
Greek Seasoning and Salt

Optional Ingredients (to top the prepared Pitas with)
Sliced Cucumbers
Sliced Roma Tomatoes
Feta Cheese
Sliced Olives
(really whatever you'd like to top your pita with - I used cucumbers, tomatoes and feta)

Spray your crockpot with some cooking spray. Place the bell pepper strips and onion wedges in the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken and drizzle with the olive oil. I sprinkled a generous amount of Greek seasoning (about 1 or 2 tablespoons) and about 1/4 teaspoon of salt on top of the chicken.
Cook it all on HIGH for about 2.5 hours (until the chicken has NO pink in the middle).

Remove the chicken and slice or shred. Mine was sorta messy but who cares, it's going in a pita and into your tummy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the veggies so they're not all soggy.

Prepare the sauce. Combine the yogurt, mayo, mustard and I added about 1 teaspoon of Greek seasoning and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix until it's smooth.

Warm pitas according to the package instructions. Cut in half, open and layer with chicken, sauce and toppings of choice.

Notes: 1. Normally I don't use green bell peppers. They're usually too strong for me but I went ahead and did it this time and they were not strong at all and I'm not sure a red/yellow one would have any taste left in it after 3 hours in a crockpot.
2. This made about 4 servings. (4 whole pitas so 8 pita sammiches).
3. If you can't find Greek seasoning (I found mine at World Market) the following makes a perfect substitution.
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
- 1/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic

(Lisa, I'm sending you some Greek seasoning in the mail probably next week!)

I put off True Blood for this!

2011-06-26T20:08:00.001-07:00

Well, HBO Go is loaded on my computer right now. The first 2 episodes of True Blood season 4 are ready to play however I WANT to update this blog once a week because my mom doesn't use Facebook so I try to keep her as up to date as possible since we can't always talk every week.

One thing I remember about my childhood is my mom always made sure that I had books to read. She either packed all 4 of us up and took us to the library or sometimes she would buy books for me. The series I remember the most are the Trixie Belden books. Trixie Belden was a 13 year old "detective" and what I didn't know until recently was the series started in 1948 and lasted until about 1986. There are 38 books in all.
Anyway, I got off track. My mom started getting these for me sometime starting around 3rd grade I think. I LOVED THEM. I connected with Trixie Belden as much as a little girl could. SO, when I found the first 9 books as a set on eBay I was blown away. I HAD TO GET THEM right away for my niece. She turns 11 in less than a month and I'm 100% convinced she is going to love them as much as I did. (The set was actually missing book 5 so I purchased that one separately and it BETTER get here before I mail these out for her birthday!) When I got my grubby little hands on them a few days ago I started flipping through the first one and each page I skimmed across I was thrown back in time. I KNEW what happened next! I'm pretty sure that my mom has most of the books she bought me as a little girl in her attic and since we'll be home in September and it won't be 12030253 degrees up there I'm going to drag Gary up there with me and search every box until I find them because Gary and I will be driving from my mom's house to Lily's house a few days later and I'd LOVE to show up with the rest of them. Man oh man, I really hope she loves these books, and with 3 sisters in tow I'm hoping each and every one of them gets to enjoy them as much as I did.

As far as what happened this week it was pretty mild. I had sedation last monday to get the last set of injections on my back. This time he went into the nerves and heated them up and I'm telling you, even sedated the tears were rolling down my face. It hurt so bad. AND they could only do one side of my back (the right side) so on 7/11 I have to go back in to get the left side done and I'm dreading that pain so much. Other than that I pretty much relaxed all week. My energy level was low so my house is looking like a bomb hit it. I did spend Friday with Melia and Riley running some errands with her. Saturday night Gary and I went over to their house to set up her new computer and eat some pulled pork sammiches. I however, forgot the power cord so it's all set up but you can't turn it on. I'm going back on Tuesday to remedy that little problem.
This coming week is packed full of little gems. I had a bunch of doctor appointments that I had to schedule but I specifically skipped this coming week. I really need a week off from being poked and prodded and questioned and xrayed and blood drawn and yeah, I just need a break. I planned a ice cream date on Monday with my "nephew" Lane and a Starbucks date with his sister on Thursday. I like taking Sandra's kids out on outings, I just can't handle all 3 at a time so I split them up and that way I get some one on one time with them and it's great fun all around. It was really cute when Lane found out it was his turn. He comes up to me and says "Rachel, I really don't want to go to Starbucks". (That's where I take his sisters) and I just said "Lane, you silly goose we can go WHENEVER you want!" so he picked Baskin-Robbins.

Hmmm, yup that's pretty much it. A few movies Gary and I wanted to see came out this weekend but we decided to wait a week or two to skip the crowds. We ran out this afternoon for some quick errands and ended up at Ah-So. It's a teppanyaki grill close to our house. I remember as a kid my mom and dad took me and my siblings to one and we all threw a fit because we just wanted hamburgers and probably embarrassed the crap out of my parents who really thought we'd enjoy watching the food get cooked and now it's one of my favorite places to go. Sorry Mom!

My life isn't as exciting as it used to be. It makes for a boring read, however I'm happy so .. meh.
This concludes this weeks boring update. =D

It's Summertime!!!

2011-06-22T13:26:00.001-07:00

It's time for pedicures and sandals and breezy dresses because 115 is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little of this and that

2011-06-22T11:14:00.006-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated. The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind!

Things with me and Gary are going very well. Since my doctor upped my Lamictal my moods have been 99% under control. We've had a few "Meh" moments but nothing to worry about.
It's getting stinking HOT here so we did some summer clothes shopping. Lots of shorts and tees for him and dresses and tanks for me. It's just SO HOT! It's supposed to be 115 today and tomorrow and it's only June... we still have July/August/September to go!

Speaking of September - I booked our airline tickets to go home at the end!!! We'll be gone 9/19 til 9/27. I'm already nervous as crap to fly but I have 3 months and I can't just worry about it the entire time. I have to find somewhere to board Quagmire. I'm hoping our old vet still boards. He's a special needs dog and I really trust them to take care of him properly. We've never gone on vacation without him and this is going to be a long one. I'm going to worry about him the entire time I'm gone and probably drive the vet nuts calling to check on him daily... if not 2 times a day. :D
I'm pretty excited though. Even though Mom and Dad were out here November '10 (wow it's been THAT long?) and Mom was out here last December for my surgery, WE haven't been home in I think July will be 4 years. At that time my sister Lisa was still living in Florida and now she's in Maryland so I finally get to see her and meet 2 of her babies I haven't ever met and 3 I haven't seen in YEARS!!!
It's going to be exciting. We're also going to drive up to NY to visit Gary's family. Yeah, it's going to be a fun trip!

Good thing about living in Phoenix is there is no "Spring" so you can skip Spring Cleaning all together... which has left my house in an atrocious state so I'll be doing that for the next week. Guestroom is done and all I need to finish the computer room and bedroom are 2 bookshelves which I think we're going to run out and get this weekend.
We also need to grab a new printer (our current one is a piece of crap that doesn't work AT ALL now) because I found the cutest little PDF files you can print out to keep you more organized.
Here are some pictures of what I have and if you're interested in any of them let me know via email (rachelcdoyle@gmail.com) and I'll mail them to you to!

creepy?

2011-06-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

My week in a nutshell

2011-06-09T15:03:00.003-07:00

It started off slow but has picked up in the last 2 days.
I took Quagmire for grooming on Wednesday. I had noticed that the gunk in his eyes (normal for yorkies) was a different color than usual so I asked the groomer to look at it and if it looked infected to please have the vet look at it. Well what do you know... it's infected.. with a bacteria AND a fungal infection. I swear this dog is going to be the death of me... So, he got a nice shot in his butt and sent home with a few pills. That was yesterday. Early this morning the vet calls me back, apparently the medicine that he's already on for his valley fever will help clear up the eye infection that he has already .. the fungal part that is, so I returned the meds a little while ago and got a refund. I'm not going to complain about that!

Today (It's only Thursday!?!?). I was up at 6am to take Gary to work. Then I have to take the car to Mazda. When it was getting repaired 2 weeks ago they took the time to get grease all over the hood liner and the visor and I wasn't about to try and wipe it out so they said they would detail clean it for me. So, 2.5 hours later they call to tell me it's ready. Sandra, who had picked me up so I wouldn't have to wait there, dropped me back off. You would THINK after 2.5 hours that they would have detailed the ENTIRE car since after all they left the grease in there but nope, they just got the spots out. UGH.. did I mention that they would NOT give me a loaner car which meant I had to sit there or put someone else out of their way? Not a good experience with them and I'm going to remember that when I'm car shopping in a few months.

Tomorrow, I have NOTHING to do. That's because Gary ordered like.. probably one of everything at newegg and he's been stalking the newegg website and the ups website and knows where these parts are at any given moment. Well, they're supposed to all get delivered tomorrow and newegg requires signatures so yup, here I am stuck at home waiting for the UPS guy.. who I hate but that's a different story.

Saturday is going to be a busy day from start to finish.
I'm starting the day with an early afternoon baby shower. It's for my friend of 6 years who also happens to be my hair dresser (which reminds me, I need to get rid of these roots Friday night). I'm hoping to not have to stay too long because then I have to run home and change because I'm headed to Melia's house for her BIRTHDAY BASH!!! Cake and ice cream and presents OH MY!
We're going to go to dinner, eat some cake, open some presents and then I need to head home to the husband who's going to be neglected all day but he won't care because he'll be playing with new computer parts.. which is ANOTHER reason I'm hoping they get here tomorrow or he's going to be heartbroken that he has to wait until Monday (actually Tuesday because no one will be here Monday to sign for things).. yeah UPS better be here tomorrow. I won't be happy if I sit around all day and no one shows up.

Sunday, DAY OF QUIET - FINALLY (not that I am complaining that my week is so busy with fun things :) )

Is it over yet?

2011-06-02T18:03:00.005-07:00

It's been a really rough month. In the middle of working my ass off on my marriage (Gary is too) and making sure my friends are ok I've lost track of ME. I saw my shrink today and I had to tell him for the first time in a while that I'm NOT ok. My moods are a complete mess. I can go from bitchy to crying to happy in a matter of 15 minutes. I'm responding to situations in a fashion I wouldn't normally respond. (Crying about things that aren't sad, mad about things that wouldn't normally make me mad). My bipolar feels out of control. I told Gary last night that I feel like a stretched out rubberband, just waiting to snap. All that being said, Dr. Bisla went through my meds and he said that I've been on the same doses for about 3 years now and maybe between that and the fact that my life IS complicated right now I could use a few changes. He upped my Lamictal by 100mg. He said that SHOULD do the trick. I really hope it does. Having a little more control over my emotions would be great. But, it's kinda why I've been avoiding phone calls and visiting people because I never know what's going to set me off and I don't want to take it out on any one that I really care for. It's also why I really haven't posted.

Over all though, it has been a good week or two. Busy weeks but the weekends are nice.
Saturday (the 28th) I picked up Melia and Riley and we headed over to Sandra's house so that Melia could take her family pictures. (I sneaked a peek and they are awesome!) Sandra has such a gorgeous family and Melia is a fantastic photographer.
Also, I've known Melia about 8 years and Sandra for about 4 years and I have NO pictures (good ones anyway) of me and Melia or me and Sandra so I got my wish AND they turned out really great!!! I can't wait to print them out and use the new frame I got with these pictures in mind.
After the pictures we went and grabbed Gary from home. Gary, Melia, Riley and I went out to get ice cream from ColdStone and then headed back to their side of town to take them home.
Sunday was a day of relaxation and since it was Memorial Day Monday was as well.

This week was hectic. I told Gary today that it's been the LONGEST 4 day work week ever. Every day seems to be dragging by and that has a lot to do with my emotions and how busy I've been.
I have a nice weekend planned though so I'm really looking forward to that.

Enough rambling from me for now (which is a side effect of out of control emotions). I love you guys and if the weekend goes as planned you'll hear all about it on Monday.

(Me and Sandra)

(Me and Melia)

(Melia, Me and Sandra)

Ignore this post mom. :)

2011-05-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

Dearest Jeromy Shepherd,

Love,
Melia's best friend

I'm a millionaire!

2011-05-29T17:54:00.003-07:00

A few years ago... 2 or 3 maybe, my niece Lily sent me a dollar bill. She was 8 or 9 and my sister told me that a dollar from Lily was serious business. She's a huge saver and the fact that she felt it in her heart to send it to me was tugging on my heart strings. This wasn't for my birthday or anything at all, it was just a card from my niece with a dollar in it. What a sweetie.
So, what I did was write her name on it and put it on my fridge and it's been there since the day I got it. When people visit me and see it they always ask me about it and it gives me a minute to brag about her and what a sweetheart she is.
Now, most of you know that my husband is in the military and I'm a disabled housewife. We're not rich. We're not even close to rich. We have a nice roof over our head, reliable transportation, food on the table and my pets are all fed and happy. We both have what we'd like to have within reason and please don't misunderstand, we're not lacking for anything and both of us are happy.
That being said sometimes when the checking account is running low or an unexpected bill rolls in and I'm a little stressed I can always stop and look at the dollar bill on my fridge and know that I have the equivalent of a million dollars in the eyes of a little girl stuck on my fridge with a little magnet. It always seems to ease my mind. My sister has done a marvelous job raising Lily and all of her other children and I'm blessed to be able to call them family. :)

Quagmire's Weekend

2011-05-22T19:49:00.002-07:00

Quagmire gave us a little scare over the weekend. By "little" I mean HUGE.
Saturday started off pretty normal. I made breakfast for Gary and I and saved 1/2 an egg for Quagmire to eat with his breakfast. Around 1:30 he had his lunch. I was going in around 5pm to feed him his dinner and noticed he had gotten sick in the living room. It was just all his dry food lunch. Gary went to check on him (love on him and make sure he was OK) and I was cleaning the carpet and all I remember is Gary calling out Quagmire's name pretty frantically. So I look over and I see Quagmire trying to walk but his front legs wouldn't move and then his back legs gave out so *I* of course start to panic and then I don't remember HOW he got to me .. maybe Gary carried him but he was next to me leaning on the wall shaking ... so Gary is running around getting his shoes on and getting the leash out and I'm running around throwing clothes on and calling the vet just to remember they close at 3 on Saturdays and Sundays.
So, we pile in the car and head out to the ER vet. About 3 miles down the road Quagmire seemed to have snapped out of this "seizure" of sorts and was just panting (hot car) and looking pretty tired. We decided, having dealt with the ER Vet before, we'd honestly rather wait to take him to his own vet in the morning since he seemed to have come around and was doing OK (pupils not dilated and responding etc...).
When we got home Quagmire drank a bunch of water and got sick again... all I can think is it's the pancreatitis all over again.
After that we did tablespoons of water at a time and 2 tablespoons of some rice and corn, all of which he handled just fine.
After a crappy night of sleeping and waking up all the time to check on him, we woke up early today to be at the vet by 8am. Quagmire was as hyper as could be. His nose was MUCH cooler than it was the day before. He really just wanted us to get up and give him his breakfast like we do every morning. We skipped it and headed to the vet. He had NO fever, his heart sounded fine and his pupils were fine. They had just done his blood work 2 weeks ago so they didn't want to do any more quite yet. They don't really KNOW what's going on. It's possible that his valley fever (while getting better) has settled in his nervous system or that he's developing epilepsy or something. Really, we just need to keep an eye on him. If it happens again they'll want to do some sort of an MRI on him or something. They changed up his valley fever meds to a higher dose of fluconazole which enters the nervous system (his other medication didn't).
He left the vet a happy puppy and they only charged me HALF of what they said they were going to charge me so I left a very relieved mom. We've been monitoring his water intake all day to make sure he doesn't gorge himself and get sick.
Tomorrow I have to run errands all day and I'm really nervous about leaving him home alone but I think he's doing fine now. I just won't leave an endless supply of water out for him. Just enough to keep him from dehydrating.

So yeah, that was our weekend scare with Quagmire, my little problem child.

Yay!

2011-05-15T19:23:00.006-07:00

One more reason why I love my mailman(lady). She brings me fun things in the mail!

I was at Amazon the other day looking for one of these... While I was in there I went ahead and ordered my shiny new pizza wheel. I go through pizza cutters like they're going out of style. Wheels are always falling off, so I was whining about it on Facebook one night and Donna recommended the Pizza Wheel. Well, it was sitting in my box when I checked the mail today and I can't wait to make pizza this week. It was super cheap and looks really sturdy. I'm going to be HIGHLY disappointed if this thing falls apart too. I also picked up this cookbook that must have been sitting in my shopping cart for a LONG time because I haven't been on Amazon in forever. I'm not too sure about it because it seems to use a lot of short-cut ingredients but I'm sure I can find one or two things in there that taste good and for $10 that's a steal. With Mr. Pickypants as a husband that's going to be a challenge.
Over all though it's been a nice weekend.
Yesterday morning (Saturday) I got up bright and early and headed out to downtown Phoenix for a Beauty Control class. Sandra is a consultant and signed me up as a seller. I have no intentions of ever selling but it's a sweet discount and if I went to this class I got a $99 microdermabrasion kit for FREE. Then Gary and I went out to eat at The Parlor. The Parlor is a swanky pizza joint in Tempe. We both ended up eating one of their fantastic salads instead. Mom, next time you're out here remind me to take you there. You'd love it. Really good food. THEN after that Gary and I headed to Melia's house to hang out with her and Riley. Hadn't planned on staying all that long. I just needed to drop something off but they're such great company it ended up being a while. I took advantage of Melia's great photo taking skills and had her snap a few pictures of me and Gary. She got some with her totally fabulous camera which I don't have yet (no hurry lady!!) and I had her take one with my camera so that I could put it on Facebook/Flickr and HERE!
I love it. I hate pictures of me but as far as they go this one turned out great in my opinion. We haven't had pictures taken of each other since .. December '02 (and it was horrible) and then a few here and there with my arm stretched out as far as I could get it.. you know those kind. I saw the ones she took and they're fantastic. I can't wait to get them to print them out and put them in frames! :)

That's enough rambling for one day. My goal is to update with something other than recipes at least once a week. This one has been excruciating because I spilled Pepsi on my keyboard this morning and as it dries my keys are getting stickier and stickier. It might be time to nag that handsome man up there for a new one.. *hint hint*
I bought him a really really nice one for our anniversary last year (the craptastic one) and so I think it's my turn right?!?!

Meet Jack

2011-05-14T20:56:00.003-07:00

This is Jack (short for Jackson). He's the newest member of our little furry family. A few months ago my best friend Sandra's dog had puppies and although I told myself I WOULD NOT take one when I met this little guy I couldn't resist, and at the time I really needed something to cheer me up.
He's about 10 weeks old in this picture and about 15 weeks old now. He's growing like a weed!
We still have his brother, JD. JD was supposed to be a present for Melia and we're bummed out about it but her landlords aren't too happy about her having a puppy so I'm currently looking for a home for JD. I THINK I have one lined up but until I get the money in my hands I'm not holding my breath and unfortunately if the man doesn't get back to me soon I'm going to have to bring him to the No-Kill shelter. He will make a great pet for someone I'm sure but he's just too much for me to handle, especially already having 2 cats and 2 other dogs.
It took a little bit for Quagmire to warm up to them but he's hanging in there. He's not quite sure how to play with them because he's been an only dog for so long so he kinda just stands there and barks at them while they're rolling around on the floor. Right now having both puppies they entertain themselves so I'm hoping when JD is gone Jack can find his place in the family and that him and Quagmire become good friends.
So yes, he's my newest fur-baby and I just love him to death. (Gary is even falling for him, although he won't admit it! LOL).

Yeah Lisa, I said RUMP ROAST!

2011-05-13T12:18:00.001-07:00

The rump roast recipe I used yesterday turned out DELICIOUS so as promised here is what I did.

First off, it's very important to use a rump roast or the texture is just not going to be the same. They're a little more pricey than a pot roast so yeah. I used a 2.75 lb one for just Gary and I and there was enough left over for leftovers for a person or 2.

In a small bowl mix the following:
1/2 Tablespoon of black pepper
1 Tablespoon of paprika
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of mustard powder

Rub it all over the rump roast and throw it in your crock pot with 1/2 a cup of water.
Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. (I did 8 hours with the size that I had and it was perfect)

When it's done you have a delicious rump roast. Strain out the juices and you have a great Au Jus. :)

Enjoy!!!

(sorry, no pics this time)

It's summer time: Pedicures and Cooking!

2011-05-12T11:49:00.001-07:00

So, once again it got pretty dusty in here but it's been a pretty ... traumatic year to say the least.
By now most of you know that Gary asked for a divorce last August and after putting me through absolute hell for the better part of 8 months he decided that he really wants to work things out and I've decided that I'm willing to do this (again) but this will be the last time. Obviously there are a lot of stories and details that I'm leaving out but I'd rather just move on. :)

I have a new pain doctor. I started seeing him about 2 months ago for my fibro and I'm in love with him. He told me that the hip pain and the lower back pain that I have is NOT related to my fibro but .. well he explained with a bunch of medical jargon and talked so fast I barely remember what it was but it boils down to the fact that a few injections in my hips (every 3 to 6 months) and in my back (ever 12 to 18 months) will wipe the pain out. So far I've had the hip ones done and he's right. It's amazing. I"m having the back ones done in about an hour and I'm looking forward to being able to sit or stand for long periods of time without the dull ache I always have in my back.

I had a chest Xray in December to clear me for the surgery I had then (tubes tied and a cyst removed). During the xray my doctor found some lung "nodules". She went ahead and cleared me for the surgery but wanted a follow up Chest CT 3 months later. It appears they are growing. She isn't 100% sure that they are growing or if this CT was at a slightly different angle. I panicked from the initial phone call til I actually saw her a few days ago. She isn't too worried and said she'll deal with a follow up CT in 3 months (July) and we'll go from there.

As far as all my health goes I think that's it for now.

So, I've pretty much been busy hanging out with my best friends/sisters Melia and Sandra. Taking care of the house and Gary and the zoo we have acquired here (2 new puppies, however one of them is leaving soon). Playing WoW in my downtime and a little bit of reading. Also a LOT of cooking.
I'm trying a new rump roast recipe tonight and if it doesn't turn out like absolute dog poo then I'll post it tomorrow!

Love you guys and thanks for being patient and understanding with me. :)

I'm here.

2010-08-16T14:41:00.001-07:00

I'm just going thru some stuff in my life that I'd rather not plaster all over the internet. Those who need to know do know and that's the way it's going to be for now. :)

Reposting this from Facebook

2010-07-17T21:54:00.003-07:00

This is one of my mom's recipes that I've always loved and I never make because the only thing in here Gary would eat is the potatoes and salt probably but whatever. I made this Thursday evening and it will be gone by Monday morning. I've had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.. lol.

Summer Italian Salad

You're going to need:
- 5 cups cooked potatoes (big cubes)
- 1.5 cups celery chopped
- 1 cup diced Provalone
- 3/4 cups Summer Sausage
- 1/4 cup pepperchinis (save the juice)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1.5 cups sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon oregeno (I use Italian Seasonings instead)
- bunch of cherry tomatoes (I usually cut these in half for salads but I left them whole this time... luhhhazy)

Directions:
1.Toss together the potatoes, cheese, celery, sausage, onion and pepperchinis.

2. Blend together sour cream, pepperchini juice, oregeno and salt

3. Mix the dressing into the potato mixture.

4. Fold in half of the tomatoes and chill for several hours.

5. Top with the remaining tomatoes.

- I use the whole stick of summer sausage because I just do.. no reason.
- I'm not really sure HOW much pepperchini juice to use measurement wise. I just pour it in until the dressing is thin enough to coat everything in the salad.
- I used 2 cups of sour cream instead of 1.5. I HATE dry salads.
- I used double the banana pepper rings too.

Lisa's Blueberry Crisp

2010-07-04T14:50:00.002-07:00

Ok, the first time I saw this recipe I was convinced that my pregnant sister had lost her ever loving mind and would just eat blueberries even if they were covered in kerosene or something. WRONG!
I made this twice before today. I just had to make sure it was perfect before posting it of course. Then since I ate the other two I had to make it again for pictures... see? I'm good at these excuses things.

Lisa's Blueberry Crisp.

4 cups of fresh blueberries
1 cup of all purpose flour
3/4's cups of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1. Preheat the oven to 350 (175 Celcius)
2. Put the blueberries into an 8 inch square baking dish.
3. Stir together the flour, sugar, cinnamon. Stir in the mayonnaise until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle this over top of the blueberries.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the oven until the top is lightly browned.

EAT IT!!!

Substitutions:
1. you can use frozen berries. Lightly dust them in flour to help with the moisture problem.
2. I like EXTRA crumble and there is only 2 of us so I use half the berries but the entire crumble mixture.
3. The recipe calls for mayonnaise NOT MIRACLE WHIP DO NOT USE THAT DISGUSTING STUFF!!!!!!!!

Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad

2010-07-01T16:38:00.004-07:00

So I got up early this morning and pulled out my crockpot. I threw in 3 chicken breasts and a cup of water with a chicken Oxo cube. Have I ever mentioned just how much I LOVE OXO? They're probably the best bouillon cubes in the world and if any of you would like to try some just holler and I'll send you a few boxes.
So anyway, 4.5 hours later I pull the lid off the crockpot and dive in with 2 forks and shred all this delicious juicy chicken to bits and pieces. I now have a tupperware full of shredded chicken. Why? Because I'm making 2 pasta salads this week that need chicken.

Here's the first one.

Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad

* 1/2 cup Caesar Dressing
* 3 cups pre-cooked chicken breast, skinned and shredded
* 3 cups hot cooked penne pasta
* 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
* 1/2 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
* 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
* 1/4 cup carrots, shredded
* 1/4 cup fresh parsley
* 1 (4 ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled
* 1 garlic clove, minced

Put it all in a big freaking bowl ... mix and chill.. and EAT IT ...

Substitutions:
1. I didn't feel like making a Caesar dressing so I used Marzetti Supreme Caesar Dressing. I also used well over half a cup. I don't like dry pasta salad.
2. I didn't shred my carrots, I used my Pampered Chef chopper and chopped the hell outta them.
3. I couldn't find fresh basil anywhere so I used a bunch of dried basil. Probably a good 3 tablespoons.
4. I doubled the garlic. I really love garlic.

The 5 Love Languages

2010-06-18T23:10:00.001-07:00

Gary and I took this little test about a year and a half ago and the results were interesting. We're both completely different.
Basically the way it works is this:
1. You take the test.
2. You get the results.

YOUR love languages (generally the top 2) are what your spouse/partner needs to show you for you to feel love. Your spouse/partner's love languages are what THEY need from you in order to feel loved.

Mine are "Physical Touch" and "Words of Affirmation". Gary's are "Quality Time" and "Acts of Service". (I have explanations of each coming.)
It's a common mistake couples make to give their spouse what they themselves need to feel loved. For example: While I'm sure Gary appreciates touching and loving words that's not what he needs to feel loved and vice versa. It's very important to know their love languages in addition to your own. :)

You can take the test here:
The 5 Love Languages

Here are the results you can get:
Words of Affirmation
Actions don’t always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, “I love you,” are important—hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten.

Quality Time
In the vernacular of Quality Time, nothing says, “I love you,” like full, undivided attention. Being there for this type of person is critical, but really being there—with the TV off, fork and knife down, and all chores and tasks on standby—makes your significant other feel truly special and loved. Distractions, postponed dates, or the failure to listen can be especially hurtful.

Receiving Gifts
Don’t mistake this love language for materialism; the receiver of gifts thrives on the love, thoughtfulness, and effort behind the gift. If you speak this language, the perfect gift or gesture shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring the gift to you. A missed birthday, anniversary, or a hasty, thoughtless gift would be disastrous—so would the absence of everyday gestures.

Acts of Service
Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an “Acts of Service” person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: “Let me do that for you.” Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don’t matter.

Physical Touch
This language isn’t all about the bedroom. A person whose primary language is Physical Touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. Hugs, pats on the back, holding hands, and thoughtful touches on the arm, shoulder, or face—they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. Physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive.

It's pretty simple.
It's also fun when your spouse/partner knows what your love languages are and passive-aggressivly goes out of their way to make sure you receive neither. Yup, tons of fun. Thanks.

I'm trying really hard...

2010-06-02T23:17:00.003-07:00

...really really really really really hard to be the wife that I WANTED to be, not the wife I have become. I'm making some serious changes.

I love you Gary.

You know dear...

2010-05-25T18:08:00.002-07:00

Oh lookie, I have some more red baby tomatoes. That's enough to make half a salad... now if they'd start growing in with maybe oh 10 to 20 red ones at a time I'd be happier. Stupid gardens.

I haven't been up to much of anything. Just hanging low keeping to my own business and trying to keep my marriage from falling apart.

Two weeks ago we had marriage therapy. When we were leaving I asked the girl at the front desk to cancel my personal therapy appointments. It just wasn't working out with that lady and I didn't want to try again. A week later I get a call from the same girl telling me I had missed my 2:30 appt with Dr. So and So that day. I said, LAST WEEK I told you that I cancelled all my appointments with her. And on that note if I had this so called appointment today why didn't anyone call my house to verify this like you guys are supposed to. She had nothing to say so I said very clearly "Please cancel all of my personal therapy appointments that are on the schedule".
So we get there today at 2:30 for our marriage therapy. We're filling out a questionnaire we have to fill out every time we go in and she comes scampering out of the back and says "you know when you had me cancel your appointments..." I cut her off and said "Let me guess, you cancelled this one too".... and she said yes so I started to crumple up the questionnaire and she says no no no I can still get you in and I say when because I don't have all day and neither does Gary. So I uncrumple and keep filling it out. Meanwhile she disappears and out comes the doctor who's been my personal therapist for a few times and she said that Airman so and so is very sorry and feels horrible but that we can reschedule and I'm like Um.. she said she could fit us in and she said no.. your doctor just stepped in with some other people... ok first of I'm already pissed off at Gary before we even get here... I'm even MORE pissed off at Gary because of some of his answers and now I'm FURIOUS with this stupid IDIOT they have running this office. So I recrumple the paper and walk the eff out of there. Gary stays behind to reschedule. NOT UNTIL JUNE 14th CAN THEY SEE US.. hopefully I haven't left him by then.
I started a journal the week after I found out he had cheated on me last August. EVERYTHING I predicted would happen over the next few months after has HAPPENED.
I gave him a 3 month ultimatum 1.5 months ago. Maybe my vacation to visit my baby sister in Hawaii won't be a vacation but a moving in. We'll see.

Right now I'm too furious for anymore words than this.

Aloha

2010-05-20T15:46:00.002-07:00

My sister (Mandie) lives in Hawaii now (she's in the Army). Her husband is leaving for the desert (again) in late June so my plans are to slip off for a long weekend/short week in Hawaii sometime in July.
My dilemma is having to leave Gary home alone. Look what he did when I was in the same house as him.. or down the street for a few hours.. now I want to leave the continental US?

I'm right here!!!

2010-05-18T10:36:00.004-07:00

I haven't updated because I have no memory of this last week. I know we did stuff I just don't remember any of it.
Wait, yes I do.
We went to the commissary on Friday. That was a disaster. Not only was it military payday (I forgot) it was also the quarterly case lot sale at the commissary so it was a FRACKING MADHOUSE!
We had to fight our way down aisles and the line to check out was wrapped around the store. Luckily it was only about 30 minutes to wait to check out. People were very crabby by the time they got there though. Two ladies decided Gary and I had cut them off in line and cried about it for 5 minutes. Honestly if they had just shut up I would have let them in front of us but since they wouldn't STOP TALKING about it we decided to ignore them and keep our place.

Also, we went to some snobby restauraunt in Tempe for lunch last week. The food was DELICIOUS. The employees were very nice but I really needed to go home and shower the snot off of me. To give you an idea of where we were. There was a Saks Fifth Avenue on one side of us and a Coach store (not outlet) on the other side. I'd go back though. It was really good food. We've been trying to go out to lunch every Wednesday since it's the only day of the week he doesn't have to be in an hour early for P.T. This week I'd like to stay on this side of the valley though. 45 minute drives are... long.

We spent the weekend vegging out. Actually, I spent the weekend vegging out. He spent it writing a research paper that he procrastinated on. His brain was melted by the time he was finished but he'll probably ace it because he's stupid smart.

Other than all that my weeks been pretty ... average.

I did get one cherry tomato off of my plant though! Hopefully the other ones turn red around the same time...

Oh and we went to see the new Robin Hood movie on Sunday night. Don't waste your money. It's too long and too slow. I wouldn't even recommend renting it unless you want a good nap.

Things that...

2010-05-12T13:02:00.003-07:00

...might possibly scare the living crap out of you when you're home alone at night because your husband is at work.

1. Having the phone company hurl new phone books up your driveway banging against your garage door.
2. Having your recycling can fall over ... loudly
3. Closing your cat in your closet and having him thump around for about 2 hours.

When all THREE happen, it's acceptable to sit by your desk freaked out with a great big huge butcher knife. Just sayin'

Water anyone?

2010-05-10T13:58:00.004-07:00

Gary hasn't quite learned how to finish one bottle before opening another one. At least we recycle!

What a weird week...

2010-05-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Between Gary's horrible schedule this past week and my uncle passing away it's just been a really weird week.
He did take me to lunch today. We went to one of our favorite Japanese restaurants called Ah-So.
This was our chef. (It's a horrible picture with my cell phone and their bad lighting) ... he was great though. Very entertaining and the food was delicious. He did all the typical habachi grill things like the smoking onion and throwing food at the patrons (Gary caught both broccollis in his mouth!)

Notice the people in the background? They were the only other people at our table. It appeared to be a man, his wife and one of their mothers. Let's focus on him.
He looked like a cross between George Wendt from Cheers and Peter Griffon. The holier-than-thou attitude was unbelievable though. He was one of the most neediest people I've ever had the pleasure of sitting next to in a restaurant. While shoveling food in his face he managed to call the waitress over about 15 times for water, wine, appetizers, more appetizers, butter for his lobster. He spoke to her as if she didn't understand a lick of English. He had the personality of a pet rock. Even our lovely chef said that he was just going to entertain US because THEY weren't even acknowledging his presence. Just a real piece of work. I did manage however to put all this aside and just enjoy a nice lunch/dinner with my husband. We really did have a good time just joking around and relaxing. And the people at Ah-Sos? They gave me a pretty red rose on the way out the door. How sweet is that??

Then we went to Barnes and Nobles so I could find some things for my nieces' birthday in July (yeah I wanted a headstart) and hit the jackpot. I love that place.

Now, to talk my husband into finding me a hugemongous pile of chocolate from somewhere because I NEED IT NAO!!!

On a side note: My sister (and husband and one of her babies) and my mom and dad are all driving to KY for my uncle's funeral. There is still a lot of flooding and road damage in KY so if you could just keep them in your thoughts and prayers that would be really nice.

Special Days are special

2010-05-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is my Dad and my sister (Lisa) and 2 of her 4.5 children.. actually that's really 2.5 of her 4.5 children... but I digress. Why is this picture on my blog?
BECAUSE IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY AND IT'S FREAKING EXCITING THAT'S WHY!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad! Love you tons and tons. (and I'll call you ...later today rather than at midnight which is tempting.)

Cake for Breakfast (and lunch and dinner)

2010-05-06T13:05:00.006-07:00

My sister (Lisa) told me about this recipe... I made it last night, frosted it this morning and tried it about 5 minutes after frosting it and BOY OH BOY... super sweet, super moist.. (I hate that word) and super delicious!

Coconut Cream Cake
You'll need:
* 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
* 3 eggs
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
* 1 (14 oz) can coconut cream
* 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup heavy whipping cream
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 cup flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, water and coconut flavoring. Beat for 2 minutes and pour into 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
3. In a medium bowl, combine coconut cream with sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth. When cake comes out of the oven, poke holes into it in even rows using a large fork or chopsticks. Pour milk mixture over, allowing it to soak into the cake. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
4. In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle top with flaked coconut.

Notes:
1. You can find coconut cream in the alcoholic mixer section of the grocer OR also sometimes in the Ethnic food aisle.
2. pour mixture over cake right away but let sit to room temperature before putting into the fridge.
3. Use your judgment on the mixture. I only used about 2/3rds of the 28 oz total.
4. Try toasting your coconut before putting it on top. It's nice and crunchy. I think next time I'll leave it un-toasted and see which one I prefer.
5. This is NOT diabetes friendly so don't over do it. :D

Things That Annoy me #85324

2010-05-05T18:08:00.002-07:00

It annoys me when I go to get my brows waxed and the girl gets wax in my HAIR and has to CUT IT OUT (don't worry, you can't see it) and then offers me a free pedicure .. pawns the pedicure off to some guy who works there who then gets pissy because he has to do a free pedicure (I was GOING to tip him)... then treats me like crap the entire time...

"you want free pedi?" Next time I'll pass...

I'm off to go finish cooking this coconut cream cake. :)

I'm peeking my head out.

2010-05-04T23:26:00.001-07:00

I've been on my new dose of Abilify for about a week now and I'm noticing a H.U.G.E. difference. I'm not on edge, wanting to kill people and irritated at the world. I don't feel like sleeping all day or doing absolutely nothing. I'm still not 100% yet but I'd give it a good 90%. :)

This is a weird week though schedule wise. Gary worked nights on Monday, Days on Tuesday, Nights on Wednesday, Days on Thursday and Nights on Friday and he has weekend duty Saturday and Sunday but hopefully won't have to go in. This is reeking havoc on my sleep schedule and Quagmire is confused as hell but whatever, at least he is home and like not deployed or anything. :)

I see Diabetes Dr. on Thursday morning - had blood work done and she wants to go over it with me.. and probably change my meds all around because she loves to do that for some reason... whatevs.

I actually got cards in the mail TODAY. Things wont be late this year! (Yeah, you have about a day to get your Mother's Day cards in the mail so they're not late!)

I just tracked the e-cigs I ordered and they SHOULD be here tomorrow.

My tomato and my cherry tomato plants are blooming all over the place and I have about 10 cherries growing and one tomato growing.

And this post of random thoughts is pretty much how my brain has been working all week on this new dosage. It will settle down soon... can't wait.

Smoke free?

2010-04-30T13:29:00.002-07:00

I've been trying to quit smoking for about 3 years now.. and DAMN that crap is hard. I envy those who can take Chantix (I can't take it) and those who can go "cold turkey" without killing someone.
So my girlfriend Hope, told me about electronic cigarettes. They DO have nicotine but they DON'T have all the tar and chemicals and crap. They come in various strengths of nicotine all the way down to zero (if you just want the taste and hand to mouth feeling).
There is no smoke involved. You inhale vapor and you exhale vapor. (There is a short video on the page I linked.)

Let's talk about the cost. The initial cost is kind of high. It's about $90 for the starter kit but they currently have a 19% discount and they're always having discounts. There are different levels of starter kits but they all come with 5 "Cartomizers" which is equivelent to 5 packs of cigarettes. A pack of 5 Cartomizers costs roughly 9 dollars (not including their discounts) and if you were to buy 5 packs of cigarettes in Arizona off base that would cost you about $32.50 instead of about $7.30. If I buy it ON base it's $21.50 so either way I'm saving a LOT LOT LOT LOT LOT LOT of money and saving money always makes me happy.

I started with the VAPOR KING-Ultimate Ultimatum Automatic Kit ($71 with the discount) plus an extra 4 Cartomizers and with shipping it was 114.32. That is 45 packs of cigarettes costing me $7 more than if I had just purchased regular cigarettes. This is with the STARTING kit. If I buy 4 Cartomizers a month including $9.95 shipping I'll save $132 a month... not including any discounts they're running. If I lost you in all the math basically it's saving you a buttload of money so when it gets here and I've given it a fair trial I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Oh, and since there is NO smoke, only a pleasant smelling vapor (because they have 1000's of flavors you can choose from) I don't have to go outside!!! Double Score!

quack

2010-04-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm back from appointment 2 with this new therapist and I won't be going back. I go in feeling just fine and leave SO PISSED OFF I'm ready to kill people. The "issues" I'm having are with Gary so it makes sense that we handle it in our marriage therapy... why our therapist thinks I need to see my own is beyond me and I'm just going to flat out tell her on Tuesday when we go back that personal therapy isn't working, isn't necessary and isn't going to happen. If she doesn't like it well tough luck and maybe I'll stop going to her as well.

that's that.

All is well in Rachel Land

2010-04-29T13:55:00.001-07:00

I wasn't going to post anything about this until I was sure that I had it under control which I do now.
The last month or so have been hell. I've been really really really down...way down in the dumps. I have absolutely no interest in doing anything that I normally like to do. I went to see my psychiatrist yesterday and he upped my Abilify a little bit. I haven't had my meds adjusted in a few years so I guess it was about time. Hopefully within the next few days I'll be feeling better again.
I see a new therapist today. I saw her once a few weeks ago, cancelled last weeks appt. (because Gary was on leave and I didn't feel like going) and so I'm going in today. She annoyed me for the most part, asking your basic quintessential stupid therapist questions. There wasn't really a "click" and I don't spill my guts if there is no "click". We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath. heh

Delicious Pork Chop Rub

2010-04-27T19:07:00.003-07:00

This is for my sister:

4 Tablespoons olive oil
4 Tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons chili powder
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Mix all ingredients and rub on pork chops.
Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight.

This makes a THICK rub for 4 pork chops. Obviously if you want a lighter rub you can cut in half or use more pork chops.

I'd recommend grilling the porkchops on either side until they're done. It caramelizes and makes a great chop. However, if you bake them some how magically it makes a delicious sauce.

Things That Annoy me #920392

2010-04-25T23:58:00.004-07:00

Making any sort of noises and/or distractions other than laughter and screams at appropriate times during movies. This includes TALKING the entire film while sitting right behind me and TEXTING the entire movie while you're sitting in front of me and I am BLINDED by the glare of your phone. Yeah, I pretty much hate you.

Day 3, 4 and 5

2010-04-25T19:49:00.002-07:00

We've spent the last 3 days chilling out at home with the occasional errand and dog walk. Lots of WoW and raiding and just hanging out.
Friday we went to Jamba Juice and watched a movie that night (The Fourth Kind - it was "ok".. weird but not bad).
Saturday we spent playing WoW all day and I tried to read more of "The Lovely Bones". I'm TRYING to get into this book. It's halfway done but it's just weird. I guess I'm just a Sheldon/Coben girl at heart.
Today we woke up early to raid with some friends... we're 10/12 now for ICC .. not bad for a non-raiding guild. Hung out some more, cooked dinner (which I hated so I wont be posting that recipe) and tonight I'm getting dressed up and he's taking me to see "Date Night" at our favorite theater. I really love date nights with Gary. :)

Tomorrow life goes back to normal.

Day 2

2010-04-22T20:14:00.004-07:00

Today started off slooooooooow. I was super tired and in a lot of pain. It's been chilly here the past 2 days and my fibro has been bad. I didn't even want to get out of bed but I had to get to the pharmacy first thing in the morning because I was out of one of my diabetes meds. My meds were free .. again so I called my insurance company when I got home to find out why. Apparently I met my family cap on April 22nd so I have no more co-pays til the fiscal year resets in October. YAY!
I did make it to the library today. I've been meaning to read The Lovely Bones since before I even knew a movie was made but one thing always led to another and I never got around to it. So far it's really good and I'm wondering if I should watch the movie or has it been so mutilated that it's just going to piss me off... opinions?

I made my weekend pasta salad today. A great greek salad. I'll post the recipe later but it's GOOD. And then tonight, Gary took me to PeiWei for dinner and I had a delicious Japanese chili ramen bowl. To.Die.For!

and that's that. No plans for tomorrow yet... :)

Spaghetti Bolognaise

2010-04-21T17:26:00.005-07:00

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic diced or minced
1 lb ground beef
1 15oz can tomatoes chopped
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
13 oz spaghetti

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is tender (about 2 minutes). Add in the ground beef and cook over high heat until the beef is well browned. Use a fork to break up any large pieces.

Add the undrained can of tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and basil. Bring all of this to a boil then lower the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

Serve over cooked spaghetti with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

This will serve about 4 people or in my case (since Gary doesn't LIKE spaghetti meat sauce) about 5 days worth. Mmmmmm

Notes:
- Usually I use about 4 to 6 large fresh tomatoes and a cup of water but the commissary didn't have ANY tomatoes that looked nice so I opted for the canned tomatoes this time.
- Also, you can make this sauce up to 2 days in advance and just reheat it and serve over the pasta when it's dinner time.
- I also add in a teaspoon of kosher salt because I really like salted food and in my opinion kosher salt is the only salt to cook with.

(also posted here)

Day 1

2010-04-21T15:57:00.003-07:00

The look on his face when he saw the Custard mix was priceless... the look on MY face when I found chicken Oxo was probably the same. The problem is that they might not ever carry this stuff ever again and I hate ordering it online as it costs a fortune.

So, today is day one of his 5 day vacation. So far we have done nothing productive except go to the commissary.
I'm making him a beef curry for dinner and a spaghetti bolognaise for myself (and yeah, I gave spaghetti w/ meat sauce a fancy name).

Dear Aunt Flow

2010-04-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

That is all.

Meh

2010-04-19T14:19:00.002-07:00

It was a pretty good weekend. As stated before we played WoW most of it. Sunday he took me out for a sushi lunch and then stopped by Ford to test drive a Fusion. I fell in love with this car. We have to go to Mazda this month to get the oil changed in his car so I'll look at the Mazda 6s but most likely when the pieces fall where they should I'll be picking out a Ford Fusion.
We went and saw "Death at a Funeral" last night. Most of it was down right hilarious. Meh, we had a good time.... even though I was falling asleep on the drive home. (We went to a LATE show).

Gary put in for leave this week. No particular reason, just to have some time off - I like to think it's for me. :D I want to take advantage of a quiet weeknight off to go see that new Steve Carell movie "Date Night".. THAT one is going to be funnnnnnny.

I also have a lot of cooking to do this week. I like when Gary is home because then he can help me and we have fun when we cook together. I'll be posting some recipes here and Donna likes to have pictures on her posts so hopefully my camera doesn't make my food look disgusting.

This has been another boring post from my boring life.
Now to go finish making turkey meatballs for Quagmire and get started on Gary's dinner... nothing fancy - just some shrimp and pasta with a nice salad.

pee ess

2010-04-17T23:27:00.001-07:00

Project Free TV totally rocks my socks. I've spent all of my week catching up on shows I wanted to watch but missed the first half of the season... for free... no commercials!!!

jammie days are fun days

2010-04-17T23:21:00.001-07:00

Today was a good "first day of the weekend".
Typical Saturday. We got up early to play some WoW with friends. I hung out (in game) with one of my bestest friends who I've called "sister" for about 11 years now.. holy crap it's been 11 years. I did my trip to World Market which is always a good time to me and spent the rest of the day in jammies hanging out with Gary.
Tomorrow is fun day. Have a few things to do in the morning then we're off to get some Blu Sushi for lunch. I can hopefully talk him into a short grocery store trip and then we're going to a movie. The plan is to see "Death at a Funeral" but I'm also interested in "Clash of the Titans" or "Date Night" because Steve Carell is freaking HILARIOUS.

Great... now all I can think about is Sushi.

p.s. Thanks for that pasta site recommendation OCB. I'm going to give this greek salad a whirl next weekend.. minus the mushrooms .. gag.

Well at least Gary made out...

2010-04-17T15:49:00.004-07:00

I just got back from World Market (I love that place). I didn't really find what I was looking for (for me) but Gary is making out like a bandit.

Also stopped by the vet for more meds for Quagmire. $75 for 2 antibiotics. I'm in the wrong business. This dog is quickly turning into my million-dollar baby. Did I mention that one of the pills are gigantic and it's hard enough getting him to take tiny pills? UGH!

Gimme some yum!

2010-04-17T01:05:00.003-07:00

Now that it's Friday night and Gary is home I'm feeling better. (It's always harder when he's at work and I'm home alone and my mind is wandering) but anyway that is not the point of this post.

I've been thru Donna's little blog of recipes and I can't find anything close to what I'm looking for so ....
Does anyone have any good pasta salad recipes? Hot or cold, it doesn't really matter. I just like to keep one on hand over the weekend because we play WoW all weekend and I need a quick yummy food on hand. You can email me or leave it in the comments!

(It's 1am and I'm going to bed!)

Not so shiny and happy...

2010-04-15T22:40:00.003-07:00

I should probably call my shrink tomorrow and set up an appointment. He needs to take a look at my meds and probably make some adjustments. I've been in a huge depression lately and can't seem to shake it. I don't want to talk about it and I don't want to "hang out" to " get my mind off of things". It might work for your [insert random name here] but it doesn't work for me so don't ask.
I don't feel like getting dressed and making an effort to look nice for Gary. He doesn't notice anyway. He sure notices when I "let myself go" but when I make an effort (which I've done almost every day since Aug. 4th 2009) .. nothing.. unless we're headed out on a date and it's the obligatory thing to say.
I don't even feel like cooking. His "girlfriend" was a chef so I just feel.. inadequate.

Yes, inadequate. That about sums up exactly how I feel right now. Is this shit supposed to end anytime soon? 8 months and I still feel like absolute crap. Is it my job to make things better? I'm not the one who crapped on my self-confidence and emotions in the first place... why do I have to be the one who cleans it up?

RAWR!!!

2010-04-14T12:27:00.002-07:00

I got him to eat a bowl of baby rice and baby turkey... I should have stuck his pills in there... but NOOOOOO I decide to shove his pills down his throat and squirt water right behind them. It worked on one. On the other he kept spitting it back out so I shoved it back down, held his mouth closed, blew in his face and rubbed his throat. I waited until he swallowed and let him down.. he gets on the floor and sneezes and the pill goes flying across the living room. I GIVE UP! No barf for 12 hours though.

I also bribed Gary today. I told him I would make him curry chicken for dinner if he went to the commissary with me. BIG MISTAKE. He spent 45 minutes in the commissary harassing the crap out of me. Every 5 minutes it was "OoOOooo [random grocery item]"... I was ready to smack him. Then he texts me from the pepperoni aisle? I'm tempted to leave him home next time but it's much more fun to watch him suffer. :D

p.s. Very happy I found Oxo at the commissary today. I was out and now I don't have to have my MIL order me some from Ireland.

p.p.s WTF!!!

Ugh

2010-04-14T09:26:00.001-07:00

Please tell me the highlight of my week isn't going to be cutting out the ingrown toenail I've had for like a year...

Or the commissary trip I'm about to take...

Can't always get what you want..?

2010-04-12T11:59:00.003-07:00

So "Quagmire" ordered flowers for our vet on April 7th for delivery on April 9th. It was a gorgeous bouquet of 6 giant sunflowers and greenery. Well, we showed up yesterday at the vet to have them check out why he's feeling bad again and I looked around and didn't see any sunflowers. I saw a HUGE, ostentatious bouquet of flowers with tulips and hibiscus and some baby roses and well I guess they were ok but I wouldn't have ever picked them out. So anyway, we're sitting in the exam room and the vet and tech walk in and just start gushing over the flowers we sent and I said "Oh you got them! Good, I didn't see them" and they said that the HUGE bouquet out front were the ones that got delivered.
I just got off the phone with ProFlowers. Apparently there was a glitch in the system and they just sent out "flowers" to whomever had ordered to make sure they got something on delivery day. I guess that's a nice thing but I really wish they would have called me rather than send this ugly bouquet.
Oh well, the vet LOVED them and ProFlowers refunded me half my money.. (half? ugh.. but it's better than a credit).

Quagmire Update.

2010-04-11T11:13:00.002-07:00

He threw up a few times last night. I gave him a pepcid this morning and it seems to be working however he's a little sluggish, his tummy is making funny noises and he's burping a lot. We're hoping that it's because he just missed his Pepcid yesterday. (There were 2 pills in his food bowl and he ate one and we're not sure which one it was). So yeah, I'm a little worried. I might bump his appointment up from next Friday to earlier in the week.
Let ya know later what's up.

Doin' much better than last weekend!

2010-04-10T12:36:00.003-07:00

SOMEONE is totally chillin' out on the couch today while Gary and I are in the other room raiding ICC10 (it's a WoW thing)... but yeah he looks comfy and feeling SO MUCH better. (I'm updating between bosses ... )

Reasons I married Gary #27

2010-04-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

- killing spiders!

Since Gary isn't home...

2010-04-08T14:38:00.004-07:00

Everyone who knows Gary knows that he is an extremely picky eater and won't eat a lot including pasta.
So since he's at work tonight this is what I'm making myself for dinner... (and it makes GREAT leftovers!)

Mac & Cheese
Ingredients:
1 pkg. (16 oz.) elbow macaroni
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
2.5 cups milk (I use 1%)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (I use garlic salt)
1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg (3 oz) softened cream cheese
1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (feel free to substitute - this is a strong cheese)
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
Cook the macaroni (just do til al dente)
In a dutch oven or pot, melt the butter. Stir in the flour until it's smooth. Gradually stir in the milk and all the seasonings. Bring to a boil (and watch it because milk makes a HUGE mess if it boils over); cook and stir for about 2 minutes or until it's thick.
Reduce heat and add in all the cheese and stir it until it's a melted pot of cheesy goodness. Stir in the sour cream and stir in the (drained) pasta.

Enjoy!

I'm allowed to change my mind

2010-04-08T10:44:00.004-07:00

I've decided to NOT import all of my old posts.
1. There are too many and ...
2. after reading them I don't feel like editing the content (man I used to swear like a sailor) and I was also pretty crabby so yeah.. no thank you.

Today's agenda is to take the recipe in the previous post (just the meatball part). Substitute turkey for hamburger and leave out the spices and make meatballs to keep in the fridge for Quagmire's meals. He's still on a bland diet but he is hungry ALL THE TIME and the Hills I have him on is expensive for one and apparently not supposed to be used for an extended period of time. So yeah, his spoiled butt is getting turkey meatballs. Plus meatballs will be easier to tuck pills in to.

Speaking of pills, I need to go choke down all of my diabetes meds... like a small handful of them... blah

Beef: It's what's for dinner

2010-04-07T22:05:00.003-07:00

To make Albondigas you're going to need:

3 cans of Campbells Beef Consume (10.5 oz)
3 cans of Swanson's Beef Broth (14 oz)
6 cups of water
2lbs ground beef
1 bundle of green onions diced
4 roma tomatoes diced
1 3/4s CONVERTED UNCOOKED white rice (has to be converted)
Cilantro (I don't use much but I don't like a lot of Cilantro - maybe 1/3rd of a bundle)
1 tablespoon of veg. oil
1 teaspoon Salt (I use Kosher salt - for everything)
1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 cup or 2 of sliced carrots
1 cup or 2 of sliced celery
some avocado slices and lime juice (to garnish and flavor on each serving if you'd like)

Aight, so you get a big pot.
Saute the tomatoes and green onions in the veg. oil. Then you add the consume, broth and water and heat to a boil.

While that's heating up get your meat ready.
Ground beef (thawed), 3/4 cup of converted white rice, the salt, pepper and garlic salt. Mix that up really well.

Once the liquid is boiling start pinching off meat bundles into the liquid. Don't worry about making meatballs. It takes too long and seriously just pinching the meat off and dropping it into the water will get it done in about 3 minutes and the pinches stay together perfectly because the liquid is boiling.

Add in the cilantro, carrots and celery and the rest of the rice (1 cup) and let it all simmer for an hour.

Slice up some avocado and juice some limes and toss it on the top of each serving.

That's all Folks!

Black is the new red... I swear

2010-04-07T14:15:00.003-07:00

Last week before Quagmire drama I decided to color my hair red again. It didn't go so well. The roots took it GREAT and the rest of my hair stayed black. I guess it's a sign because I'm headed back into the shower to dye it back. Hopefully it won't fall out from all this coloring. So yeah, stained forehead and fingers. I can't wait!

p.s. Quags just ate food FROM A BOWL!!!!

It's been 2 years.

2010-04-07T12:56:00.003-07:00

I can't believe it's been 2 years since I burnt my hand. The scars are still very much there but I have absolutely no movement problems or pain or anything at all. (I'm done blaming Dana for this by the way.. :D )
I'm also (if I can remember how to log into my old blog) going to be transferring all of my archives from my old blog (juiciestbite not all the ones before that) over the next couple days. I'm not taking the comments. Just the posts.
And now I'm in the mood for a chocolate, diabetes coma.

Patiently waiting for...

2010-04-06T23:27:00.003-07:00

- my husband to come home.
- my dog to start eating.
- food to get in my belly.
- my percoset to kick in.
- my husband to come home.... (did I mention that one?)

Life is good...

2010-04-06T17:54:00.002-07:00

Nevermind that 3 days ago I was crying my eyes out but I sincerely thought we were going to lose the puppers. I picked him up about an hour ago and noticed he smelled like heaven and they said that they gave him a courtesy bath and I said ... "I know what he smelled like.. so basically you're saying you couldn't handle the odor" and we all got a chuckle and we hit the road.
I washed all of his blankets this afternoon and had already lined the couch. You should see this couch. It's huge. It could sleep 7 people and somehow this 15lb dog takes over the ENTIRE thing. I gave him a little water and he hopped his chunky butt right up on the couch and he hasn't moved for an hour. I think he's pretty stinking happy right now. Could also be that I told him he could sleep with me tonight and that Gary would be on the couch. Not sure how that's going to go over with Gary but oh wells...
Now I get to spend the next few weeks making homemade dog food for this dog. Rice, chicken, hamburger, turkey, cottage cheese, chicken noodle soup... these are all foods the vet said to be feeding him. Sounds gross to me but I imagine for a dog he's gonna be pretty happy.. oh and eggs.. he's allowed to have scrambled eggs.. he LOVES scrambled eggs.

I about had a heart attack but someone paid for Quagmire's visit today. Every last penny. We still owe $1350 and have some blood work to pay for next week but that is about $550 we don't have to worry about (right this second because I WILL be paying it back). Our friends and family have been amazing and we love you all so much. Thank you!

So yes, life on a couch with a sweet smelling puppy is good...

Mobile post

2010-04-06T13:22:00.002-07:00

Oh, I almost forgot to check posting by phone which is totally cool in my opinion!

HOW could I forget?

2010-04-06T12:52:00.002-07:00

As almost everyone in the world knows, my dog Quagmire has been pretty sick for the past week. We got great news from the vet this morning and I'm going there around 4pm to pick his chunky butt up to take home. At some points over the last few days I really didn't think he was going to make it so even though the call came in at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am it was the best phone call I think I've ever received!
Thank you for all of the prayers and donations for his astronomical vet bills. Gary and I really really really appreciate it!

Wiping the dust off...

2010-04-06T12:23:00.001-07:00

Ok, so after blogging for 8 years and not blogging for about 18 months I've decided to give it another whirl. I can't promise any great words of wisdom or witty posts because let's face it, I lead a boring life that revolves around my husband, my pets (mainly my dog) and cooking and WoW.
I'm going to use blogspot because I'm slowly letting all 22 paid domains go and I don't want to start up with designing again and I'm keeping myself clean of all previous blog drama and just wanna hang out with friends.

And on that short note, I'm off to go drink a V8 and eat an activia because I'M OLD and that's what we do.

p.s. This blog title was approved by Donna who allowed me to shamelessly steal it from her.