A New Favorite...

Two Unknown Facts about Me:

1. I have a secret obsession with Aldi's

2. I am grossed out by milk and most dairy products as well

Ever since I was a little kid, I have been freaked out by milk. I hate touching jugs of milk (especially in the summer heat), having to wipe up spilled milk, cooking with milk, etc...it just grosses me out! Therefore, if I absolutely have to use milk in something I'll use either soy milk or dried milk flakes that I add water to...and to keep things weird, I will not mix them together and add them to the recipe. The flakes go in the pot, then I add the water!

As a result of my milk phobia, I really don't like dairy products in general--ice cream upsets my stomach, I hate the texture of yogurt, cottage cheese is too runny for my liking and the list goes on. But the one exception is cheese--I absolutely LOVE cheese! Luckily enough, it doesn't upset my stomach either :-)

So what does this have to do with Aldi's? Let me say, Aldi's is the best place on earth--especially for your pantry items, bottled water & canned veggies. You can't beat 49-cent canned green beans and 99-cent PAM cooking spray! However, there are some items you just don't buy at Aldi's if you can help it. A lot of their food is highly processed and duh, that's why the price is low! But that's why I like buying my basics at a cheap price because then it opens up the grocery budget for fresh fruits & veggies, whole grains, my weird "super foods", etc.

Anyhow, I was at Aldi's the other day and they had some yogurt smoothies in the refrigerated section. I looked at the nutritional label and they were surprisingly low in sugar (and no crazy sweetners were added!) and had a good amount of protein. And I'm all about protein!!! I must have been hungry because I became EXTREMELY curious about these smoothie things, to the point of where I was shaking the bottle to see how thick or runny the drink was. I'm sure someone watching me would have been convinced I was crazy, but whatever!

Since they were extremely cheap, especially for a 4-pack, I threw them in my cart. By yesterday, I had talked myself into trying one and they were super yummy! The consistency wasn't like yogurt at all, but more like the Naked-brand juices. I was in protein heaven! I'm sure these little bottles of loveliness will become a staple item on my grocery list, so I've already started praying to the protein-angels that Aldi's continues to keep them on their shelves!

"Leash" Me Go!

As I was cruisin' through the library parking lot today, this is what I saw...

For the life of me, I cannot figure out the kiddy-leash concept. Seriously, I put my dog on her leash when we go places where she'll be distracted. If not, it's guaranteed that Mitzy will turn off her doggy ears, take off on a run and make friends with the closest person or animal.

But putting your child on a leash??? Especially when going to the library??? I just don't get it!

And to any parents I may know that use a kiddy-leash, I apologize in advance but yes, I will still wonder about your tactic ;-)

My Love Affair

I started taking this magical little pill one month ago...and yes, they sell medicines that say "KU" on them in Manhattan! It's your good old prescription-strength omeprazole which is also known as Prilosec. And I'm in love!!! Last night I made an awesome dish of Spicy Thai Basil Chicken...the sauce was incredible, so I decided to brave it and ate four bites of the chicken. 15 hours later and I still haven't gotten sick! I'm hoping that if I don't jinx myself by publishing this blog and all continues to go well, that maybe I can enjoy a little meat here and there and not become painfully sick afterwards! Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

Dining in Style

Included in the purchase of our house was this 1980s-Vegas-Sheek ceiling fan smack dab in the middle of the dining room...

I'm not sure that I can recall ANY dining room that has a ceiling fan it...especially a black-and-gold one!

I had been looking for the perfect light fixture and thought I found it a few months ago. However, when the drum pendant arrived, it was just way too small for the space. And the ones that were big enough cost an arm and a leg!

Last week, I was running errands and saw that Manhattan's new repurpose store was open. I stopped by T-La-Re to see what fun stuff they had and I found a painted chandelier with crystal accents. The crystal was the perfect touch and the price couldn't be beat!

I brought it home and immediately realized neither Justin nor myself had any idea about hanging light fixtures! I was pretty sure we could get the ceiling fan down but I didn't know where to go from there...other than to call my friend Stephanie and ask about hiring her husband to do the job!

Fortunately, Robert was able to come by on Monday afternoon. Thank God we had him! The fan didn't have a "box" so Robert had to go buy one to install, in addition to buying this support thing to put in the ceiling before we could hang the light...I'm beyond grateful that we had his help because our plaster ceiling would have crambled if we tried to do it--and our light source would have been the attic!

The dining room is slowly coming together...now that we have the big pieces we can start finding stuff to hang on the walls, picking out window treatments, accessorizing the space and just plain ENJOYING it!

Comic Relief

It has been one of those days...wait, one of those WEEKS where every little thing is driving me up the wall. I have grant stuff to get done at work but instead my clients (and even some non-clients) are calling to tell me the most ridiculous, unnecessary things.

Instead of pulling my hair out and beating my head against the desk, I just look at this picture and it makes me laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

Lil Debbie will probably kill me for letting the cat out of the bag, but these are her garden gnomes! Thanks to Dad's awesome sense of humor, I was able to capture a picture that brings me comic relief whenever I need it :-)