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.

A Good Christmas

The last couple years Christmas has been very "EH." Usually could not afford presents or family arguments. BUT...this year was great. Christmas eve we went to my parents house, and ate ham and yummy turkey. I got a nook! I wasn't really interested in them but I have been playing with it for the last couple days and love it so far. I was pretty biased to the kindle just because I would prefer to buy from Amazon rather then Barnes & Noble. What really tripped me out about the nook is that the screen looks exactly like pages of a book. You can't even tell that it is electronic. Right now I'm reading Divergent which so far is a pretty great book. It does remind me of the Hunger Games but it is a little different. I was up reading it late last night. Well late for me anyways.

Nook Simple Touch

Then on Christmas day we went to M & FIL's. We had prime rib, and we were pretty stoked to get an ice cream/smoothie maker. Can't wait to use it. Oh and my favorite....the pasta boat! LOL. Seriously though pasta is a pain in the a$$ to make, and I'm pretty excited to use it. I'm thinking spaghetti for dinner tonight. :) 

Yonana!

I also got a set of really pretty bracelets. They are a set of bangles, and they are way cute. H got a nice set of Bailey's coffee liqueur. We tasted it last night in hot chocolate, and it is way yummy. I want to try the caramel next!

I also went shopping with my grandma, and she bought me these boots.


So your probably wondering how the diet is going. Well the last couple weeks of December the diet has been non-existent. H would bring home cookies, fudge, and every baked sugar sweet food possible. So we were defeated. BUT amazing but true I am still losing weight! The last week I have been eating only once a day (which I know is horrible) but I have noticed that I am no longer hungry 24/7. Next time we go grocery shopping we will be eating healthy. I am currently at my 10 lbs loss. Woohoo! Oh and I have a stack of jeans that I have been keeping for years so I can fit back into. Well guess what?! Out of 6 pair I got 3 back. Slowly but surely I will fit into the skinniest ones I own.

Next let me introduce you to the newest member of the family. Meet Holly!

She was my "Christmas present" to H. I got her a few days before Christmas and surprised him after he got off work. She is way too cute for her own good, and right now her and Bugga's have been getting better at being friends. At first he was very mean to her (trying to establish dominance). He was pinning her down and biting her on the neck. He still does this but way less, and now he will let her play next to him. He is slowly getting used to the fact that she is not going away. When I brought her home I noticed she did have fleas. She also obviously had worms so off to the Petco I went. We got rid of the fleas with shampoo. She wasn't infested or anything but she did have a few on her as well as lots of eggs. Now we are working on killing the worms. I have been giving her medicine 3x a day. Hoping it is working. I think it is but we'll see. After the 2 weeks I will take her to the vet for a wellness exam, and all of her wonderful shots. I have some really good pictures at home that I will upload later.

All in all it was a pretty decent Christmas. Hoping next year is just as good if not better.

Happy Retirement Barb!

So 6 months ago exactly, a wonderful woman by the name of Barb let us know (company at work) that she would be retiring. I have worked along side Barb for about 3 years so I was extremely surprised to hear the news.

She had been working with the company for 18 years. 18 years! Can you believe that? So much dedication. When you would see her in the morning she always had a cute outfit on, and just always cheery. Yes a cheery HR person. Were talking one in a million here. Her personality was off the charts. Fun, and when she had to get down to business.....you could tell she was doing her thing. I always loved her sayings (usually coming from her mom.) I remember a few but one day I was complaining about someone not being fair at work, and her response was "The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but is always replaced first." She definitely gave me a new prospective on a lot of things in life. Oh and I will never forget "YIPPEE SKIPPY"! One of her more common phrases.

Yesterday was her last day, and it definitely will not be the same without her. I always labeled her "Oh wise one" since she was always there when I had a question, or just in general someone you could talk to about anything. I was very bummed to hear at first but I  have slowly come around that it is just a new chapter in her life, and I will definitely be staying in touch as I consider her as a close friend. Without her around I will have to man up and figure things out for myself. It was a bittersweet day yesterday. We all brought in breakfast goodies, and yummy treats. Oh and the fun idea my MIL had to bring a wreathe with little bottles of alcohol. It was completely adorable, and she loved it! Then at the end of the day it was just...quiet. Without her around there was a weird feeling, and will be hard to get used to. In the end though she definitely deserves it, and can now go to being a full time grandma!

Happy Retirement Barb! You deserve it.

Her favorite holiday is Halloween

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater...literally

I haven't posted in a while because guess what? I had a kidney stone. Yep another one. Last year I passed a kidney stone on December 15th. I guess I'm just lucky. It has been going on for a couple weeks actually. I would get a few pains on my side so I would just take some Ibuprofen, and that would do the trick. Then the pain woke me up at 2AM on Wednesday the 7th, and would not go away. I tried a previous medication the DR. prescribed me when I last had a kidney stone. Nope...still didn't do it. So then H drove me to the emergency room, and they treated me there. I believe I arrived around 3:30am, and was released around 7am. They put me on an IV, and some pain medicine. I still did not pass the stone when I left so I was up to my head in drugs. Finally on Friday morning I passed the stone, and took the entire weekend to get my body up to speed again. Hoping this time the DR can tell me what is wrong, and why I keep getting these little painful devils. It is unbelievable that a stone the size of a grain of salt can cause so much pain! Anyways that was my fun week.

Oh and the diet. 1 word. Cheater. Yes I am a cheater. When I was sick I didn't eat anything. I barely could get water down me, and maybe a Popsicle. My lovely mom came over to check on me, and brought me pizza. So I did eat 1 slice of pizza. So sinful I know. Let me tell you.....it was sooooooooooooooo goooood. Then I went back to the diet. I did slip up an eat an orange but I figured if it was going to be a cheat, it should be something healthy. Oh and it didn't stop there.

H came home with a dozen chocolate chip cookies, peppermint bark, pretzel clusters, pumpkin cake with glaze, and gingerbread cookies. Tis the season right? What a BUTT! He received it all from work. These were not just store brand either. They were homemade all the way. He ate the cake (CHEATER) and I ate some of the cookies, and clusters (CHEATER.) I am still sticking with the diet more or less. Staying away from fast food, and the dirty processed food. Trying to eat healthier in general. So all in all I have lost 8lbs! WOOHOO. Now if I can keep going that will be a miracle. We'll probably cheat a little more during Christmas but come January we are going strict.

Day # F-I-V-E

Good morning! Usually I wait to write until later in the day but I thought I would be an early bird today. I started off with a protein drink that is actually pretty good. It is the Special K powder drink mix (flavor is pink lemonade.) I am really craving a Starbucks white hot chocolate with caramel but I am resisting! Moving on with my diet, I am still going strong. Thank you, thank you...I did have the mint episode yesterday but we are passed that. On to a new day! So yesterday I forgot to grab my lunch yesterday so I ended up buying a salad. Bummer :(. So today I remembered my lunch and...forgot my purse. Oy. I'm thinking a check list is in order before I leave the house. So today I was playing with my hair and put it up in a ponytail, and it looked so boring. Then I tried halfway up and it was eh. So this is how I ended up doing my hair. Only took me like 2 seconds, and it looks like it took longer. It is a little messy today because I was running late but you get the gist.

At work I like to keep  my hair up in some form because when it is down it always tends to get in my way so finding ways to get my hair out of my face is a must. I wear ponytails all of the time so its nice to explore. So after a lovely little fight H and I had last night we have come to the conclusion that we need a coat rack. So I was checking out coat racks today, and I don't really like the stand alone ones just because we are tight on space at the moment living in the apartment. So I thought these were kind of nice.

Just something simple that gets the job done, and doesn't take up too much room.

Katylou~