All Cooped Up

I promise we're not white trash!  However, we have had a near-white-trash experience the past couple weeks.

The other day, Mitzi was itching like crazy...after half a day of this, we flipped her over and saw fleas all over her belly.  Gross!  She had been at the Doggy Hotel during our wedding so we assumed she must have picked them up there--but she was still getting a flea bath right away!

About a week later, she was itching again.  She has very sensitive skin to begin with but I'm sure that bathing her in insecticide probably didn't help it any.  I kinda brushed it off but Justin flipped her over and the fleas were back...grrrrrrrrr!

At this point, we decided that Malcolm must have had them as well (even though he didn't show any signs)and they jumped off of him and back on to her.  We spent a Saturday evening giving Mitzy her second flea dip and Malcolm his first one.  First of all, giving a cat a bath sucks...it takes the both of us to keep him in the tub.  But then he has this way of wailing that sounds like a small child being tortured.  It's horrible on our ears and I'm sure people think we're doing awful things inside our house!

Finally, both animals had been "treated" and we were so glad to have the fleas behind us.

Or so we thought.

A few days later we found them on Mitzi for a third time!  I was beyond fed up with the situation.  She was absolutely miserable and keeping us up at night from all the itching.  We had just given both animals another dose of Frontline and all the flea dips weren't doing anything.  I called the vet and our only other choice was giving her a daily pill...at $7 a pop!  I didn't like the cost or the fact that she would be putting that kind of stuff INSIDE her body.

I called out to Horticultural Services and they had an insecticide that we could apply to the yard...for $12 :-)  I went out there after work and we applied it to the yard that evening.  The lady at Hort Services said this has been a horrendous year for fleas...guess we weren't white trash after all!  The next day we had a large rain and the insecticide was good to go!

It's been about 10 days since we treated the yard and we haven't found any more fleas on Mitzi.  However, we have kept Malcolm inside this entire time and he is driving us nuts--especially during the weekends when we're home with him.  He's used to going out first thing in the morning, coming in at lunch to eat his food, going back out for the day and by bedtime he's waiting at the back door. But his new routine is a different story--once the sun comes up, he starts crying the most god awful cry nonstop...when that doesn't work, he starts flipping up the edges of the rugs, jumping all over the furniture to get in the windows, pawing on the backdoor and trying to push open the storm door.  After a couple hours, he gives up and finds a sunny spot to sleep in.

All chilled out!

I know he's all cooped up and just wants to be outside, but until we have a few nights of below-freezing temps, he's staying indoors.

We have no idea if our yard already had fleas in it from the previous owner, if they were jumping off other dogs walking down our sidewalk or if Malcolm was bringing them in from roaming the neighborhood.  But regardless of the cause, it was not a fun experience at all!

Blueberry Brew

I'm starting to feel a bit like Oprah...not because I'm filthy rich and rule the world (I wish!) but I'm blogging more and more about my "favorite things"...when I find something good, I just naturally feel the need to share it with other people!

I was cleaning out the cupboard this evening and in the midst of all my Tulsi tea boxes, I found this...

I bought it earlier this summer and obviously forgot I even had it!  I'm a sucker for iced tea--I am particularly fond of Dara's and Sonic's ice tea...even when I was little, I loved the Lipton's instant tea.  Yes, instant...it was so gross but so good!  When Dad would come in from the field during the summer, I would make him a glass of instant tea and myself a glass of instant tea and then we'd drink it together...it always seemed that I looked forward to chugging the cold frothy tea but in hindsight, I think it was because we got to see Dad during the daytime--which in the farming world, rarely happened--AND it kinda made me feel special :-)

Anyhow, back to my story--I "brewed" some of the tea this evening and it's super yummy!  I love blueberry anything--in fact, that reminds me that it's been forever since I've had any chocolate covered blueberries from Mr. Bulky's...those are heaven!  But I also like the fact that this tea is a cold brew--by the time I heat up regular tea bags and the water actually cools down, I've given up on making iced tea and am headed to Sonic.  However, with this stuff I just pour cold water over the tea bags and it's ready in 5 minutes!

On a random note, we have been revisiting our household budget and looking for easy things to cut...in the past 2.5 weeks, we have only eaten out once and we used a gift card that had been given to us!  It's amazing how quickly a few stops here and there for a drink or small snack really adds up...but now that I have found my super yummy blueberry brew, I have no more excuses for Sonic Happy Hour and that should "earn" me a few extra bucks in my wallet!

Cold Blooded

I absolutely love this time of year...the humidity is gone, the leaves are changing and the holidays are right around the corner.

And for the most part I don't mind the cooler temperatures...until this year!

I've always been "cold blooded" and it's kinda fun to dress in layers and bundle up.  We haven't had our AC on at the house for several weeks now and we haven't had to turn the heater on yet.  But it's a different story when I head to the school!

A few weeks ago, I was absolutely freezing in my office--I looked forward to my lunch breaks just so I could crank the heater in my car.  I figured it had something to do with my cold and week-long fever...I would alternate between goosebumps and sweating bullets.  My desk is made out of metal and I was too scared to bump it because that even gave me the chills!  I've pretty much given up on wearing crops or dresses because bumping exposed skin against my desk just gets old.  We have already adjusted the room's thermostat to 73 degrees so I figure I'll just suck it up for awhile.  I've been wearing my fleece most days and if I have to I'll start bringing a blanket with me!

Yesterday, I was leaving the building and noticed that all the other thermostats were set to 65 degrees.  No wonder I'm always freezing while I'm there!!!

What I can't figure out, though, is this...they're always looking for ways to save money within the district.  Have they ever done an audit on what they might save if they adjust the building temps a bit?!  The normal comfort zone temperature is 72-73 degrees and they have it at 65.  Especially with the cooler weather, it doesn't make sense...is it unreasonable to turn the AC off already and have fans move the air around instead???  But all I know for sure is this--it wasn't my fever making me cold and I'm counting down the days until they turn the heat on!

An Oozy..Goey..Cheesy..Greasy Treat!

Tomorrow night I'm trying my hand at bunco--last time I was supposed to play, I wound up sick...looking back, it was probably my silent GERD so I'll be sure to take my Prilosec (and some Tums for good measure) before I head out the door.  Man, do I sound like an old lady or what?!

I was looking up recipes earlier today as we're all supposed to bring a treat...I found a recipe that seemed intriguing but it required a deep fryer...and I'm not going to stink up someone's house with a hot greasy mess!  Upon further inspection, the recipe was lacking something.  It was for "Mexican Rangoons" and only called for the wonton wrappers and shredded cheese.  Blah!!!

Justin is ALWAYS hungry when he gets home from work...he's like a little kid coming home from school!  I decided to shake up the recipe a bit and the results turned out great!  Like--I could eat all of the mixture and still crave more.  Something tells me I better get back in my gym routine before my pants stop fitting!

Unfortunately, I will not be taking them tomorrow night but I ultimately decided to take some tortilla pinwheels.  I've never made them before!  They're so easy and yummy--and if there ARE leftovers, I know we would devour them on our own :-)

MY Mexican Rangoon
1 Tub Chive & Onion cream cheese, softened (we used the 1/3 less fat kind)
1 small can diced green chiles
4 oz. any Mexican cheese (I found some habernero cheese at Dillons), crumbled
Cilantro, however much you like
Cumin, dash
Salt, dash
Wonton wrappers

Mix the first 6 ingredients together while the oil heats up...dab the edges of each wonton wrapper with water or egg.  I used water and it held really well.  Place 1 teaspoon or so of the mixture in the center of the wrapper and fold the wrapper however you wish.  Tranfer to the oil and fry until the rangoon begins to float!  Drain on paper towels.

I'm still trying to figure out a good dipping sauce for these...maybe some type of refried bean/bean dip???   The habernero cheese made the ragoons quite spicy which was fine for us--but I'm sure some Colby or Pepperjack would also make a cheesy, greasy delight!

Slowly but Surely...

Our living room is starting to come together...We still need to get another armchair and console table, plus some wall hanging and knick-knacks.  But it's starting to look a bit more cozy :-)  Hopefully people will stop asking if we're moving out!

We finally hung curtains this summer...however, we have plaster walls and that makes me super nervous.  I tend to make a few "mistakes" when trying to hang rods and that doesn't work so well with plaster.  We ended up hanging the rods in the window frames where the previous owner had already drilled holes for their curtains.  I love the look of floor-to-ceiling window treatments for the added flair but guess it won't be happening in this house!

Personally, I can't wait to hang stockings over the fireplace for Christmas!  I know the exact stocking hooks and stockings that I want to buy--thank you Hobby Lobby for adding more stuff to my "Wish List." 

The color of the living & dining rooms on Closing Day

Our living room after Mom and I painted it!

The "final" fireplace color...it looks different in person & I'm not completely sold on it, but after painting it several different colors I'm done with it for awhile!

The living room so far...at eye level

The living room...looking up

On a final note--I think I may have to charge up my camera.  I've been taking all these pics on my phone and grrrrrrr, the lighting turns out horrible and everything is so dark!  Someday I'll get around to it... ;-)

Mixin' It Up

A few weekends ago, I made some Pumpkin Cookies for Justin...he loves anything pumpkin!  Last year, I made some pumpkin bread out of the Libby's kit and he took it to work--he was bragging to everyone that it was homemade.  Dumb me, as he's telling me this, I revealed that they were made out of a kit!  Apparently, his whole world fell apart for about the next two hours and then he was over it.

But this year, I decided to make some cookies from scratch...I got out my old handmixer that I've had since Freshman year of college.  As soon as I turned it on, it sounded like a squaking bird was being torchured to death...the sound was absolutely god awful and got worse as I tried increasing the speed.  Even the dog ran out of the kitchen!

I'm guessing I paid around $10 for my little Magic Chef when I first moved to Omaha...I rarely use it and now I remember why!

Thankfully, we had a new handmixer on order from Williams-Sonoma and I knew I wouldn't have to listen to squeals of death for very much longer.  Our friends Jill, Joe & Joe Joe--or was it mostly Jill's doing?--gave us a super generous gift card to the store and I was over the moon!  Justin isn't familiar with Williams-Sonoma, but he was still excited because that meant I would be buying something that would have to deal with cooking and him eating the end result...

The mixer arrived yesterday and it's AWESOME!  It's a gorgeous stainless steel Cuisinart that has a built-in timer...so no more trying to watch the clock and still forgetting how long it's been!  The mixer also has an automatic sensor in it so it knows what speed it needs to mix at.  I'm beyond thrilled with it and *hopefully* I can find time to make some goodies and try it out :-) 

Another Recipe for the Books

We're almost two months into the school year and I'm still on my slow cooker kick.  I've think we've only cooked 2 or 3 meals either on the stove or in the oven this entire time...it's so easy to come home over lunch to let the dog out and bring the cat in to eat, throw some stuff into the crockpot and come home to find supper waiting on us!

For the most part, we've been able to avoid rotating recipes.  There's so many sites on the Internet that we could probably have a different meal every night for several months.

Justin and I tend to like our food on the spicy side...in his world, that also means salty.  I'm not sure how he equates salty to mean spicy, but to me--spicy is just that, spicy!

I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com while preparing our weekly grocery list.  As we've both been fighting colds and our heads are full of congestion, I figured a little chipotle pepper might clear out our sinuses!  The recipe called for about 3 peppers--I put in 7 or 8...it had some heat but unfortunately it did not solve our head problems ;-) 

CREAMY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup melted butter
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup (we used the light version)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (once again, the light kind) cut into cubes

3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1 tablespoon adobo sauce from chipotle peppers

Directions

Place the chicken breasts into a slow cooker, brush with butter, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and minced garlic. Pour in the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth, and add the cream cheese, peppers, and adobo sauce. Stir the mixture gently. Cover, set the cooker to Low, and cook for 6 hours...I just put some butter straight from the fridge into the crockpot and it didn't make any difference--I didn't cube the cream cheese either.  A good stirring at the end combined everything very well!  Also, I chunked the chicken before serving...slow cooked chicken breasts just aren't visually appealing to me :-)