We did buy a crock pot for something I'm making for a Super Bowl party but unfortunately it wasn't this particular one from Target. However, Jake said I can have this (not available in stores) crock pot so if anyone needs a slow cooker let me know as I'll eventually be handing down the one I just got.
It seems like every year there is an anthro dress that I just have to have. There was the airplane dress and then the lobster dress and now this, which I call the little birdie dress. Anthro always has pretty dresses but occasionally one comes along that really speaks to me and my insides hurt until I find a way to come up with the money to make it mine. I find this to be quite hilarious as growing up I had no interest in dresses and wore shorts to school everyday for much of my childhood. It was much easier to play wall ball when you didn't have to worry about a pesky dress. I still don't wear them super often but when I find a good one, they make me so happy.
I was sitting in the VA waiting room the other day while Jake had a doctor appointment and I was getting pretty bored. I started flipping through the giant stack of Family Circle magazines they had there (it was that or the Marine newspaper, like I want to read that propaganda) and found all kinds of recipes in the back. So like any decent 80 year old woman, I ripped out the pages with the recipes I wanted and put them in my purse. A few days later I made their Farfalle with Peas and Goat Cheese recipe which is super easy and is now a favorite. There weren't any leftovers (which made me kind of sad) because we scarfed it all.
I was really craving an egg salad sandwich but my house stinks so badly like burned egg now that I feel like puking when I even think about eggs. It's all my fault. I put 7 eggs in some water to boil and then I stuffed some kleenex up my nose and laid down. I've been sick for the last several weeks and the runny nose is grossing me out. Anyway, Jake came in the room and said, "honey, you need to come see this." I figured he was probably talking about our cats cuddling or something because that's what he usually says when there is cute animal happenings but alas, no. My eggs had blown up and the kitchen was full of smoke. I had put the eggs on medium heat, and I meant to check back on them, and I did once, but then gave into the grogginess. So the water boiled out, the pan burned and the eggs blew up, all over the stove, the side of the fridge, the counter top and the floor. Our house stinks of burned egg, I'm really glad I still have kleenex shoved up my nose.
So this is a little awkward but I have to tell you about my favorite cat litter. I like the pine kind. I don't care which brand you pick, just be sure to get the pine pellets. It is a natural odor absorber and makes your house smell 100% less like cat litter. I never knew it existed until I was cat sitting for my friend Buzzy and saw how his cats love it. After it has been used a little it turns into sawdust which absorbs even more. The problem is finding it in stores. I guess Feline Pine is one brand but I bought a bag of that once, didn't really read it, and it was some weird green stuff. I must've bought the wrong kind. Now, I'm not just gushing over this cat litter because it looks pretty and eco friendly. I love it because I've tried every cat litter there is, literally, every single kind and this is the best. It smells the least (the corn litter stuff stinks) and it doesn't get wasted with the clumping, it doesn't give off strange chemical odors. I could only find it in one store back home and was having a hard time finding pine litter here as well but PetCo carries several varieties. yay! Now my cats are happy again.
I went to Ikea today. It's in Draper which is on the far side of Salt Lake from where I live so it's about an hour away but it's Ikea, which means totally worth it. I got a pretty duvet which matches the grey in our wall.
I also bought this tray that I love and these cute coffee cups even though neither of us drink coffee. They were too cute to pass up. I do drink tea but I already have my favorite tea cup from Anthropologie. Maybe I'll invite people over so they can use my cups but then again, maybe not.
What is wrong with these people? The Huffington Post recently reported on how the Susan G. Komen Foundation spends about a million dollars a year suing smaller mom and pop charities for using the term "for a cure". What the hell? Who gives a shit if they're Kites for a Cure or Mush for a Cure, how about, you're all trying to raise money to make the world a better place so leave them the fuck alone and let them raise money to find a fucking cure for what is ailing the people of the world. I've refrained from donating to Komen in the past because I had heard of other shady goings on with that company. Instead, I donate to the American Cancer Society (mainly because my sister used to work there and sends out emails occasionally making it so I only have to put in minimal effort to donate) or I donate to various MS foundations. I could understand if it was McDonald's or some other for profit corporation trying to maintain their income but you're a freaking charity, be charitable.
So I saw these aprons posted on the blog Take Heart. It's a sweet little blog (a little too Jesusy for me) where she posts links to cool shops and what not and the photos she takes of her family. Anyway, she posted about some aprons and I immediately fell in love with one. I mean, head over heels. It arrived in my mailbox today. Woot!! It's from Sugar & Spice Aprons on etsy. S&S makes vintage reproduction aprons from the 1920s to the '50s. They're really freaking cute and make cooking a lot more fun. I love mine because it has tulip pockets and tulips are my favorite flower ever.
I kept asking my mom what she wanted for Christmas. She wanted a Kindle, instead she's getting this photo. Sorry mom but I am anti e-readers and anti Amazon. Talk about a shitty company. If you're anti wikileaks, I'm anti you. (My siblings got her one anyway, what is wrong with them?) By the way, we're wearing these ridiculous hats because Jake needs a haircut but we keep forgetting to get him one and I wanted the picture in front of the tree but our tree is going to catch on fire at any moment because it's so dry the branches are snapping off under the weight of our super cheap plastic ornaments. So we had to take the picture asap, hence the stupid hats. Also, I'm pretty sure we both have lice now, Santa hats creep me out.
I made sugar cookies. I didn't roll them out enough, they were a little thick so my gingerbread men look a little bloated. I was decorating them and I decided to make one be Jake, and then I gave him chicken pox, except I told him that they were herpes. haha. So then I made him a WoW cookie to make amends.
It's a druid thing.
I don't eat meat, but my boyfriend does and so therefore I made him some ribs tonight. I remember this recipe from my childhood. My Aunt Daisy (Dae-dae) used to make it and I just remembered how good it smelled and how obsessed with it my little brother was.
It turned out to be a big hit here too. Jakes excited to try the brown sugar and soy sauce marinade this summer. He likes to grill.
I found a recipe online for something called "almost parmesan risotto" and it is amazingly delicious and easy to make. The only thing I had trouble with was finding the arborio rice.
I used more garlic than the recipe called for, of course, my family always goes garlic overboard. Also, be sure to cut the onions into little pieces. I tend to go for larger chunks of onion but it's really much better if these are small pieces of onion, which totally sucks with the whole crying thing. With the amount of onions I use in cooking, I need one of those slap chops.
Here is our Christmas tree. There are few tree lots here so we went to Lowe's, but it was fun and we found a very very round tree; he's plump. Jake didn't have any tree stuff since he never puts one up so we went to WalMart and bought a bunch of cheap ornaments. I'm slowly collecting good ornaments. My mom has a lot of ornaments that were given to me while I grew up from my Aunties that she's going to send me, someday.
I really really love our star. It was $10 and I'm pretty sure would break the first time it even thought about falling but I love it so much. Jake wants to try and find a similar one made out of better materials.
That's our heart ornament for our first Christmas together.
