Weekend Recap

Let’s see how I did on my weekend goals!

• Try out the new PS3-Netflix Watch Instantly integration
• Vacuum the whole house
• Clean up our vegetable beds
• Pull out the dead(ish) plants from their planters
• Get some new fabric
• Watch the Colts game in my new jersey (more about that next week!)
• Finish organizing my office
• Plan meals for next week and go grocery shopping
• Have a fun time at a party we’re going to Saturday night
• Try to resist getting a kitten

That’s a whole lotta green going on!

Friday night I stopped by at Joann’s and got some new fabric to make Darby’s dismat. I actually made it on Saturday, but neglected to take any pictures. But that’s mainly because I didn’t read the directions closely and kind of messed up. Not noticeably or anything and I still gave it as a hostess gift on Saturday night, but I plan to make another one. And make it correctly this time.

Saturday we were up bright and early thanks to Alton insisting that we get up at 7am. That means that we were out in the yard by 9 pulling everything out of the vegetable bed. I am so glad we’re done with that! I also cut back our hostas out front, pulled a few weeds, and trimmed some bushes. And all before 10am! Then I was out to run some errands and do some super secret shopping (more on that later this week). I did go to the pet store and was successful in NOT getting a kitten. Mainly because they didn’t have any there. We went to a friend’s house Saturday night and had a fun time hanging out and playing some games (and eating some yummy food).

On Sunday, Matt was helpful enough to help me with the vacuuming (I think he was worried it wouldn’t happen) before we went to the bar to watch the Colts defeat the Texans in our new jerseys. I was a little worried that wearing the jersey might jinx us, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. I planned our health-conscious meals and hit up the grocery store after the game. Now I’m just doing laundry and watching football. And dreading Monday morning. It always comes too soon!

How was your weekend?

Meal Planning: Week of November 8th

I just put together my meal list for this week and thought I’d share. Matt & I are trying to start watching our girlish figures, so these are all from the low-cal, low-carb, low-fat sections of the Food Network’s website. We only have 5 meals planned for this week (Sunday-Friday) since Tuesday is our 2yr anniversary and we’ll be going out to dinner.

I don’t assign meals to specific days since what we’re in the mood for can vary, and what I feel like cooking can vary.

• Chicken Piccata (recipe is for turkey, but I’m going to use chicken) with a side of Zucchini Parm Crisps (given that they still have zucchini at the store)
• Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes (I don’t do broccoli, but I might give it a shot)
• Brown Rice, Tomatoes, and Basil (I’m going to add some shredded chicken too)
• Asian Chicken and Orzo salad
• Chicken with peppers and onions (This is a Kesler Expressler original, kind of. We usually make this with sausage– like kielbasa — but I have a feeling that isn’t super healthy. Essentially you cook the sausage with the peppers and onions. Sometimes I make a little sauce and serve it over egg noodles. Should be interesting with chicken this week.)

What’s cookin’ at your place this week?

Welcome, Weekend

Weekend Time! Score!

Here are my weekend plans/goals:

• Try out the new PS3-Netflix Watch Instantly integration
• Vacuum the whole house
• Clean up our vegetable beds
• Pull out the dead(ish) plants from their planters
• Get some new fabric
• Watch the Colts game in my new jersey (more about that next week!)
• Finish organizing my office
• Plan meals for next week and go grocery shopping
• Have a fun time at a party we’re going to Saturday night
• Try to resist getting a kitten

What are you doing this weekend? Any crafts? Yard work? It’s supposed to freeze this weekend, so I figure I might as well clean up all of our dead/dying/decaying plants.

Y’all have a great weekend!

Blog Parties: Dare to DIY

Kim over at Newly Woodwards is putting together a holiday blog party. This sounds like a great deal of fun and I can’t wait for it to get started. Some of the tasks might be a stretch for me (like table settings- eek!), but I’m excited to give this a go!

Check out Kim’s post about the Dare to DIY Blog Parties over at Newly Woodwards and join in!

Review: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Have you met the Pioneer Woman? If you haven’t, hop on over to her blog lickity-split. When I first stumbled upon it, some time in 2008 I believe, I probably spent 12 hours going through old posts and reading up. Anywhoo, the Pioneer Woman has recently released her first cookbook. And it’s awesome.

If you like Paula Deen, you’ll love Ree. She has a similar ‘I’m not perfect. I cook with loads of butter’ style. But it’s all so darn delicious!

A lot of the recipes in the book are available in the cooking section of Pioneer Woman, but there are some new ones. I ordered the book from Amazon when it came out and it was on my doorstep two days later thanks to Amazon Prime.

I haven’t made anything new out of the cookbook yet, but I have read it (mostly) cover-to-cover. The cookbook is filled with Ree’s photography of her family and their ranch in Oklahoma. She also has some stories about her family throughout. It’s almost like a cookbook-scrapbook hybrid. I don’t know, but it’s great.

I highly recommend you pick it up. Unless you’re trying to lose weight. Or eat healthy. Or you’re allergic to butter. Cause there’s lots of that goin on here.

Shower- 1, Leigh- 0

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I want to attempt to recaulk the shower. Again.

Yep. I tried. I broke out the box cutter and shredded that silicone caulk to bits. Or not. Because it wouldn’t budge. I got a few peices, and after 30 minutes of squatting in the shower, I was dunzo.

But! These projects are all about having the right tools. A coworker is letting me borrow this little caulk-ripping-contraption (the black thing):

So hopefully now I can get all that nasty caulk out, bleach the shower real good, and get some anti-bacterial silicone caulk in place. And not be grossed out every time that I shower. It’s so bad and embarrasing that you guys wont ever see a picture of its nastiness.

Consider yourself lucky.

Have you ever recaulked a shower? Do you have any tips or tricks for me?

Toilet Paper vs Cat

Yesterday over at Young House Love, they were asking which way you hang your toiler paper- over, under, or (in the case of many men) just put the roll on the top of the toilet tank.

We came home to this one day when our cat Alton was a few months old.

Thankfully, this hasn’t happened again!

It was okay though, because he was so darn cute as an itsy bitsy kitty!

Sure makes me want another kitty!

Vegas Recap!

Back in October, Matt & I went to Vegas for a long weekend and a much needed vacation. All in all, it was a great trip. We didn’t take many pictures, but check out this hotel room!

View from the hallway, sunken living room:

View of the bed area from the living room area:

Ahh the bathroom!

Our View:

I love these mountains. I wish we had real mountains like this in Virginia.

After staying in this room, I want mirrors all over the place. It was such a nice effect.

Have you stayed in any super awesome hotel rooms lately?

Breaking News!

Well, not really. But I had to get your attention! I just saw this link on Twitter and wanted to share.

Real Simple:
“Cookie lovers–sign up for our cookie-a-day newsletter to get a new recipe  everyday thru New Year’s. http://bit.ly/2uonaI“

Sign me up, baby!

Last Night’s Leftovers: Pasta with Brie

Last night I tried out a recipe in the November issue of Real Simple, Pasta with Brie, Mushrooms, and Arugula.

Photo from RealSimple.com

The first problem, however, is that I don’t do mushrooms. So I skipped that part. But just pasta for dinner is not quite enough, so I pan-seared some chicken breasts for a few minutes on each side, then transferred to a baking dish and popped them in the oven to finish cooking.

The second problem is that I’m currently out of white wine.

Let’s take a second to let that sink in. No. White. Wine.

But, I happened to still have some chicken stock in the fridge, so after the red onion had cooked a bit, I tossed some of that in the pan. Deglazing or something that like.

After the chicken was done (and the pasta was almost ready), I sliced it up and tossed it with the onions. Then I drained the pasta, mixed in the Brie, threw in the chicken/onions, and added some baby Arugula (I couldn’t find normal Arugula at the store).

The verdict: We’ll make this one again. But this time we’ll axe the Arugula. So really, it’ll be Pasta with Brie, Chicken, and Onions. And maybe I’ll make it with white wine next time.

Have you added any new recipes to your repertoire lately?