Don't Worry..

...I am still alive. I have been super busy and haven't really had the time to post. Were in the middle of moving, and I start school next week. YAY! I am really excited. We are moving to a more affordable apartment next to my school. Our goal to buy a house this year is not looking so great. We have yet again changed our plans. This happens on a daily basis. Anyways were only moving about 15 minutes away so hopefully all goes smoothly. In our new apartment we will have a fireplace..ooohh ahhhh...minus the over sized tub we have now. I guess its a pretty even trade. Our apt now is pretty much a disaster.

Buggas is ready to move!

Valentine's day was pretty good. I came home to flowers and candy. The thing about H is he likes unique so I was pretty excited that he didn't get me the plain old dozen roses. So boring. Instead I got white lilies. :)

 I got him a cake, and made dinner. We had beef stew, so weird I know but that is what H was wanting. It turned out pretty good actually.

On Monday I went to "picture day and uniforms" at my school. I had to try on the sample scrubs, pick my size, and order 2 pair. Well...let me tell you. I am right between the medium and the large. They don't make in between. I looks like a clown in the large, and my booty was all over the place in the medium. So I will be buying my own comfy scrubs (they allow this), and get my other school scrubs tailored. I tried a different style with my hair that I found on Pinterest. (Absolutely addicted to pinterest.) It was adorable. I love it, and will be doing my hair like this often. Here is the tutorial I followed:

 I did take some pictures, and made my braid just slightly larger. All in all way cute! It also looks way cute up in a messy bun with the braid over the top.

When Life Gives you Lemons.......

....make grape juice, then sit back and watch the world wonder how you did it

....throw them at somebody's head and get a good laugh

....stick them down your shirt and make your boobs bigger

....you should make lemonade then find someone whose life has given them vodka, and have a party

....squirt them into your enemy's eyes

....keep them because, hey, they're free lemons

....make life take the lemons back

....make lemonade!

~Life is Good~

I am going back to school. I am pretty excited about it. Lots of exciting things happened last night.
1. H got accepted into the police academy!
2. I passed my entrance exams for college!
3. We received our "lease expiring" notice, and have a plan to move out within the next month!



I am seriously jumping with excitement. We plan on moving close to my college, and getting an apartment for cheaper. H is starting academy in June or July, and we will not be able to depend on his income anymore since he has to put himself through. Still have to work out the kinks in that. I start school on February 29th I believe, or the 28th. I am going into the medical field, and can't wait. Oh and one of the great perks is I get to wear these! SCRUBS! They looks super comfy.

Anyways H and my motto will be "He shoots them, she fixes them." I know I'm funny. We came up with that one all on our own! Hahaha

Were hoping everything goes according to plan. We'll see. Were hoping to go look at the apartments on Saturday, and then signing a lease to start on March 1st. That way we have a month to move our stuff out before our lease expires on April 1st (Pyro's birthday.)

Oh and its my MIL's birthday today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Look at that face!

For the Love of Hair

So this morning I woke up early to make something for our "breakfast party" at work. I ended up making a recipe from Betty Crocker which was "eh" in my opinion. So I had a lot of time to get ready.

I decided to curl some of my hair. Just with a few cute curls. Definitely not my entire head or that would take forever!



My hair isn't really this slivery ugly color. My camera is a POS. Enough said.

I was half way done with the back, and I have to make my curls super tight because they fall out within seconds. So this is pretty much this morning's hair with a few touch up curls afterwards.

This is done for me. I did notice that my hair was super flat on top because I didn't wash it right before. I am still mastering that skill. But it was good enough for the day. Oh and again my POS camera takes an "orange" picture. I really don't know....

So by the end of the day my hair was pretty much flat with a few waves of curles. Again with the odd color of hair but you get the point. One day I will buy a smancy camera, and it will show my true colors! Pardon the pun.

and

at

the

end

of

the

night

you

get

this

This is what you call my lazy bun.

This Weekend I am Going to

Hang out...

Kick It...

...and Relax

Life and its Crazy Ways

This morning I started out by waking up at 7:15. This is pushing it for me since work is 15 minutes away, starts at 8:00, and I had to.... (takes a deep breath)

• Take a shower
• Find clothes to wear
• Find the keys
• Take the dog out
• Put on makeup
• Brush hair
• Eat breakfast
• Make lunch

All in 30 minutes. Just as I was entering work thinking that I pulled it off I got a call from H. "Do you have the keys to the car?" OMG I did. Sitting in my purse from last night and of course we don't have a spare. So I pulled into work, ran up the stairs, and clocked in. Then I ran out (running because H had to be at work at 9:00am) and drove back home. Keys were dropped off, and I was on my way again to work. Whew! What a morning. Glad I had a little breakfast.

I have actually discovered something healthy that I love.

I have always stayed far away from V8. I dislike the smell, texture, and taste. H brought this home, and told me to try it. I believe we have the tropical orange. It is soo good, and made with 100% fruit. YUM. So I sipped on that this morning along with a toasted egg sandwich. The only reason I got to eat breakfast this morning is because of H. Thank you babe!

After work I have to stop by the grocery store (yuck) and pick up a few ingredients for this week's dinners. Hoping I follow through. Tonght I'm going to make Beef Stroganoff over noodles. It is so very very good. My mom gave me the recipe. Here it is!

Beef Stroganoff

1 Large Round steak (tenderized and cut into strips)
2 cups Sliced Mushrooms
16 oz Cream Cheese
16 oz Sour Cream
2 tbs. butter
1 cup beef broth
1 package of beef stroganoff mix (I buy McCormick)
1 tbs of parsley
Egg noodles

1. Cut steak into strips (or you can request meat depart. to do this for you). Brown in skillet over medium heat over a little bit of oil.

2. When lightly brown, add butter, mushrooms, beef broth, salt, and pepper.

3. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for about an hour or until meat is tender. 1/2 hour before it is done add the package of mix.

4. When done, turn off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients.

If it is too thick add a little milk, and if too thin add a little bit of corn starch.

Serve over noodles. Add a couple pinches of parsley.

A Couple of Favorites

There have been a lot of up and coming actors lately. Here are a couple favorites~

Emma Stone

Her personality is what makes her HER. She did go blonde for a while but I think she is definitely a redhead. She is like a breathe of fresh air.

How cute is she? The first time I noticed her was in The House Bunny. I loved her in that even though she wasn't the main attraction.



Then I think everyone started to really notice her in Easy A. It was a cute movie, not the best I think but cute nonetheless. I think what really set off her career was The Help. She did a great job in that movie. I also loved her in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Again not the main start but way cute with Ryan Gosling who is also getting way popular.

 

Zooey Deschanel

I first noticed Zooey in Failure to Launch. The character she plays is hilarious! Then she played in Your Highness which is a pretty stupid movie, but again hilarious. More and more I have been noticing her, and I know she recently came out with a new show call "New Girl" which I haven't yet seen. I just think she has a certain beauty about her that has a quirky and strange look. She totally pulls it off! 

  

I first noticed Zooey in Failure to Launch. The character she plays is hilarious! Then she played in Your Highness which is a pretty stupid movie, but again hilarious. More and more I have been noticing her, and I know she recently came out with a new show call  "New Girl" which I haven't yet seen. I just think she has a certain beauty about her that has a quirky and strange look. She totally pulls it off!
 

 Leah Remini

I have been watching King of Queens lately, and it is so relatable I love it. Cary is hilarious, and I just love her spunky personality. I also love that she can pull off most any outfit, and she's not stick skinny but has the pretty curves!  

The Lucky One.....Not So Much

So Friday night I went gambling with my H, mom, dad, and grandma. My dad gave me some money, and so did grandma for gambling. It was a blast. I think the funnest I had was with my dad teaching me the machines. The ONLY time I was really winning anything was with him.

When we got there it was stormy, and windy (My kind of weather ;)) We went in, and started playing the slots. I won some cash here, lost some there but was staying pretty balanced. I walked over to my grandma who was playing a slot, and she had me sit down for her and pull the slot. Well on lucky pull #3 I won $550. KABAAM! Lucky right?! Ehh for grandma was. I got $40 out of it. Anyways as the night went on we got some food. We were standing in line at the buffet (massive line mind you), and H whispered to me "I'm going to go over there, I'm not hungry." I already knew this was a lie since he uses this one often. I called him out on it, and he said I don't really want to get pushed around for food. So then I convinced everyone to go to the Cafe. I knew my dad really wanted the buffet but we'll go there without grandma, and get some during day. :)

So after a few hours of losing money everyone decided to call a quits....well everyone except grandma who was pushing 100 dollar bills in the machine as quickly as she was losing them. We rounded her up, and split.

It was definitely a good night.

The next day H signed up to enroll in the Police Academy, test for it anyways. He passed his physical, and won't know his written test results until 2 weeks pass. I guess they haven't opened up the testing since a few years back so we were pretty lucky to come across it. He came home around noon yesterday, and after we went to Sam's Club. LOVE IT THERE. We were pretty well trained to keep our noses out of the stuff we didn't really need, but wanted. We got out of there for $70 with a bunch of fruit, snacks, and healthy stuff. After that we came home, and relaxed the rest of the night.

I made the stuffed chicken breast with cream cheese and olives. I was not impressed. It didn't really have a flavor so it blended with the chicken. i probably wont be making it again, but it didn't turn out badly. Just too much work for and "ok" meal. I served it with chicken rice, and overcooked green beans.

He went to work at midnight, and I slept. Oh boy did I sleep! I just woke up today at 2pm. I feel like a teenager again! So I have started today with a much needed shower, and a bowl of oatmeal with fresh blackberries. YUM. Oh and of course a hint of sugar. We shall see what today holds.

A Sweet Ending to a Great Day

So today is my 21st birthday. Well technically it is 2AM in the morning on the 20th so yesterday was my birthday. The point is I had a pretty good day. I am a very very impatient person so when I came home from work on Thursday, and saw a present sitting on the table. It was screaming to me "open me now!"

I knew it was from H, and I walked in gave him a hug, and ran to the bathroom. (My bladder is about the size of a peanut so this is a regular routine thing.) So he told me I could open it after I asked over and over again. So look what I found......

Sooooo gorgeous! I was really excited, and love it! I am not too much of a "pink" girl so he definitely did a good job. He usually does.

....and not only did I get a stunning necklace....

I also got a pair of matching earrings that I so desperately needed. I am pretty cheap when it comes to buying earrings so the ones I do have turn my ears green. Gross! I usually only like the stud kind since I have this fear of me wearing dangles, and someone ripping them out. I know, so gross but that is the thought that comes into my head when I see those type of earrings. Anyways before I opened the present he said "Well one will need to be returned because it is broken." Well he bought me some blue stud earrings that matched the necklace perfectly. The little stone fell out however.

So the next day we went to the store, and he went off and returned the earrings on his own. He came back to where I was clothes shopping and said "Well the lady tried to fix them, and I think they look bad." I checked them out, and you could tell that it was super glued, and the metal placement was smashed against the stone. I was slightly relieved when he said that we should exchange, or return for a different pair of earrings since they didn't have replacements for the ones he originally bought.

So we came out with these.

My camera could not grasp the concept of clarity tonight. You get the gist though. They are exact same color of the necklace. What I really like about them though is that I have 2 piercings in each ear, and sometimes get tired of wearing 4 earrings. These I only pinned to my second hole at the top, and the bottom half covers my other hole. Tada!

Also while I was browsing around in the store I found a pair of jeans that were on clearance that were a size to small. I figured "Hey why not?" since I had time. I tried them on and guess what? They fit perfectly! I was SOOO happy. Nice to know that my 10lbs that I lost previously paid off. That was my many of "happy moments" of the day. 

Then for my birthday MIL bought me a Sam's club card. I only went to Sam's once or twice when I was little so I don't really remember it. H and I were both extremely impressed with the sizes of food you could get for the price! We went down every isle examining prices of food, and stuff we typically buy. We will definitely be shopping there when we get some money honey.

So today is payday and I have to admit that we were behind in a couple bills. Well guess what?! Not anymore. We just paid off 2 of our latest bills, and one more to go. It is such a huge relief to get it over with. I get so excited when I can pay them off. This is one of the reasons I am currently awake at 4a.m. right now. H is working a graveyard shift so we have been texting, and trying to keep awake.

Tonight was a lot of fun though. We went out to pizza with MIL & FIL, and Sandy. Sandy is a co-worker of mine, and she is such a sweet woman. You can tell she has a good heart. Anyways we had a good time, and I stuffed my face with pizza, and chicken wings. Soda too that I am not supposed to have but hey if any day to have soda I guess if should be my birthday! Also FIL made me a birthday cake. A specially requested Tres Leches Cake. It was soooo yumm! He followed the Alton Brown recipe and oh was it gooooood! Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/tres-leche-cake-recipe/index.html 

So tomorrow (really today) I will be sleeping in MAJORLY since I decided to be so diligent crazy to stay up and write this post. I am meeting my mom, dad, and grandma for dinner tomorrow. Still don't know where we are going but maybe some gambling will be involved? We shall see.

Off to bed with me! Goodnight~

A Banana a Day Keeps the Doctor Away?

Lately I have been trying to just eat healthier without dieting since the last diet fueled a kidney stone to pass with all of the protein I was eating. Instead of my daily snack at 10am of crackers, chips, chocolate...I replaced it all with a banana. H has been really liking them too. They are cheap, and good for you. So I am hoping that I at least maintain my weight, or even lose some! I used to not like bananas, and a lot of other things but I have decided I need to open up my fruits and vegis, and I have been doing a lot better of a job at being less picky. Still picky...just less picky.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I am finally turning 21! Woohoo. Tonight H and I are going to my grandma's. She wanted me to stop by and pick up my birthday card, and bring her In & Out.

Now how good does that look?!

Now if you are not from California then you are definitely missing out. In & Out has pretty much some of the best burgers around. At first I was hesitant because my grandma has diabetes, and needs to lose weight. But who am I to tell her what to eat? She is an adult, and can make her own decisions. We have persuaded and told her, but she doesn't listen. Anyways back to me, tomorrow I have the day off and will be meeting MIL and FIL for pizza. Then on Friday my parents and other grandma are meeting up, having dinner, and going to the casino for the first time. Well my first time anyways. I'm pretty excited.

And nooo no alcohol for me. I just don't like the taste, and why drink it if I don't like it? I think it is more of a glorified "thing you do when you turn 21" then actually do it. I am excited that I do get to finally buy whatever I please now. For Christmas H wanted Bailey's Christmas set so I went to Target. I put it in my cart and while shopping around I realized..I can't even buy this yet!
Also on Saturday I will be trying a new recipe. It is olive and cream cheese stuffed chicken breast. I'll let you know how that one goes. Never stuffed chicken before so we'll see. :)

Swedish Meatballs in a White Cream Sauce

By no means am I a good cook, or a cook at all for that matter. Sometimes I will try out recipes just for fun, but usually it requires motivation.

But can you say yum? I was a little hesitant at first but they turned out pretty good. I made some egg noodles so put the sauce and meatballs over and it was delish together. I modified the recipe slightly fitting it to the needs of my pantry.

Meatballs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup 2% Milk (I forgot to add this but the meatballs came out pretty good anyways)
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup Quaker oatmeal cook in 1 minute
1/4 cup fresh parsley (I used a little less of the dry stuff)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef (90% lean)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

First in a large bowl mix hamburger meat with egg, milk, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, oats, parsley, salt & pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix with hands. Shape into 1 to 11/2 balls. Sift flour over each one, and place on greased (Pam) cookie sheet.

Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn meatballs; bake 12-15 minutes longer or until meat is no longer pink.

Sauce

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram

salt and pepper to taste

1 can (14 ounces) chicken broth (low sodium)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (again I used the dry stuff)

Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour, marjoram, salt, and pepper until smooth. Gradually add broth and cream. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Now my sauce didn't really thicken to the consistency I wanted so I added a little corn starch, and water.

While cooking the sauce I cooked my egg noodles that I was going to serve under the meatballs and sauce. I get tired of the same old same old noodles. So I made a little sauce for the noodles.

8 ounces uncooked wide egg noodles

3 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove, minced (I used garlic powder)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dill weed

I melted the butter, and then added the rest of the ingredients. I added it to my cooked noodles.

Finally I put everything together on the plate, and added a touch of parsley for the top.



So good! This is one of the few recipes I have made that I will definitely be making again. It was easy with simple ingredients. Also not very expensive if you already have most of the seasonings. I would have preferred a little more sauce so next time I may double the sauce ingredients.

Bon' Appetit!

Updates & a Not So Cold Winter

This winter has been absolutely horrible. It is completely freezing but bright and sunny. This is the weather I hate the most. Usually by October we have rain that continues right through March. But not this year. I think the most annoying thing is having to use an ice scraper in the morning for my windsheild, and not even having any thunderstorms to make up for it. So that is my rant for today.
Here are a few updates on previous posts:

Diet- Non-existant-I have been eating crappy food, and not cooking. This is a slight issue moneywise, and fatty wise.
Kidney Stones- Diagnosed with 6 on January 4th! (3 in each kidney.) Coninuing to go to Doctors for blood tests. They lost my kidney stone at the lab so they still don't know what the stone is made out of. Yayyy Boooo Kaiser. Anyways the Dr thinks that I have calcium oxalate stones which basically means:

More water, no salt, less tea.

I guess my biggest issue is both the water and the salt. I am okay with quitting the tea (I am allowed to have herbal tea), but I am a salt-oholic. Seriously. I love my salt, and to take it away is just a crime. But I am trying, and I will be going to the grocery store to check out substitues.To solve my drink more water issue my plan is to buy a hugenormous water bottle, and try to carry it around with me everywhere. (Well besides shopping, and stuff cause then that would just be weird.)

Military- H and I made a big decision to not join. Because our goal have changed, and we are qualified for a house we decided against it. Is it a mistake? We don't know but I guess you just have to take chances. H is now working on becoming a Police officer so watch out everyone!

Kids- Holly has been doing great. She is healthy (at least I think) engergetic kitten who plays until her heart's content. Her and Buggas have been getting along great. At first they were a little iffy, but now they are best friends.
Buggas on the has not been doing so great. For the last couple weeks he has been extremely mellow (very unlike him.) When I pick him up he just growles, and screams. At first we thought it was because we gave him and Holly lobster. He did seem like his tummy was upset. After I gave him a little bit of medicine he seemed to be doing better but still grumpy and lazy all of the time. I will be keeping my eye on that boy.
Pyro is his normal self. He has had soo much energy lately that it is impossible to live with him if we don't take him on a walk. Over the weekend I did give him a bath, and a good brushing but he still smells.

Work-  Has been extremly and overwhelmingly crazy. I got to see Barb yesterday which was nice. Definitely miss her. My lunches have been pretty crappy this week, and so have H's so I'm thinking we need to go on a much needed grocery shopping trip.

I am planning on posting a lot more. I figured I would get caught up on everything I've missed so I can start from new.

-Katylou

V for Vendetta

A couple years ago I watched the movie V for Vendetta. I thought it was very confusing, and it was ok. It was on sell for $3 so I thought hey maybe give it another try. I am older now so maybe it will be easier to understand.

It is now one of my favorite movies. The more you watch it the more meaning of the story is portrayed.


One of my favorite part in the movie is when V recites this:

"But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V."

I am still trying to get a grasp on all of what he is trying to say since the V words are not really common at all. But I understand the gist.

Hello 2012

Now I was pretty pessimistic going into 2011. 11 is not a good number for me and always poses as bad luck. However 2011 turned out to be a pretty amazing year. So far we have bought a car, celebrated our 1 year anniversary, learned to deal with money a little better, moved in to a nice apartment, bought a truck and made a life changing plan. I'm sure we did much much more but I don't wont to confuse all my goodness of 2011 with 2010.

So my resolutions for this year are:

• Buy a house!
• Buy his and her motorcycles
• Get caught up with money
• Cook more, and make more recipes
• Eating healthier & losing weight
• See my grandma more often
• Pay off my student loan
• Do NOT dye my hair

The first goal is my foremost priority. H and I are working out the kinks right now (paying off bills) to get ready for the big one.

So hopefully at the end of this year I will be able to cross off most of the goals on my list.